u/Joshua_Zeus

I recently went on RCL's Harmony of the Seas and just wanted to make a post affirming the value you get with a Carnival Cruise vacation and encourage anyone considering giving Carnival a try to book a vacation on one of their Excel class ships. I am in no way "loyal" to Carnival or any other brand, but after sailing on others over the past few years, it must be said that Carnival's overall value in terms of included food, entertainment, and "fun" represents a vacation product that is measurably better than other lines.

I absolutely agree that there are aspects of cruising other lines do better. RCL's ship designs are superior in how they handle crowds and offer multiple hot tubs, pools, and bars, and their entertainment production value is higher than that of Carnival's for sure. Princess and Celebrity have some amazing cuisine at a great value relative to other premium brands, and Disney has some genuinely great entertainment and food onboard for young families.

Having said that, Carnival's Excel class ships absolutely represent the best overall value and best entry experience for families into the cruise vacation space that any brand offers right now. The included food on Carnival's Excel ships laps anything RCL's ships offer. Carnival's emphasis on "fun" and an insistence on maintaining a minimum level of energy through a day's activities really does enhance your experience, irrespective of whether you take advantage of those activities or not. I also appreciate (and this is a personal pet peeve) that Carnival doesn't police your beach towel usage and is happy to provide each passenger their own premium beach towel in their stateroom, something I continue to be frustrated about on other lines. Carnival's investments in live music and rotating guest entertainers in the form of comedians and other talent also remain an added value other lines do not match.

I understand there is a reputation that Carnival is a "floating Walmart" filled with unruly guests, but passenger behavior is typically much more tied to the itinerary than brand. 3 or 4 day cruises from Port Canaveral on RCL's Utopia of the Seas will be much more party oriented than a 7 day vacation on Carnival's Jubilee out of Galveston, just for one example. I have never witnessed a fight on any Carnival cruise, but I have witnessed people being rude to staff or other passengers on Carnival as well as every other brand I've ever sailed with.

Carnival absolutely has areas it needs to address. Primarily, I think Carnival needs to place more consideration on its crew-to-passenger ratio as well as the passenger-per-gross-ton ratio. They seem to be set on building larger ships designed solely to squeeze as many new cabins and passengers onto them as possible. When their existing designs already feel crowded in public spaces and become almost impossible to navigate after shows and dinners, this isn't a direction they should be heading. Although I am honestly not very optimistic in this concern after seeing their plans for their next ship class, I am hopeful they balance their need to provide a positive vacation experience against their reluctance to increase fares.

TLDR: If you are considering Carnival for the first time, book a 7 day vacation on one of their Excel class ships.

I just returned from a 5 day itinerary on Harmony of the Seas and wanted to share a few impressions of crucial differences in this experience from experiences on past Carnival and other cruises given the frequent "how much better is RCL" talk that we all can't help but partake in! Before I make a few points, I am more convinced than ever that anyone who enjoys cruise vacations should make an effort to try multiple cruise brands, destinations, and ships, as each offers something unique that may mean that extra difference to you.

First, RCL does a good job at designing their ships such that common areas, elevators, and the placement and number of hot tubs and pools makes the ship feel less crowded than experiences on other lines and ships. Carnival and Disney's public spaces and elevators, for example, often require quite a bit of waiting to navigate after shows or dinners, while there was little to none of that on Harmony of the Seas. The exceptions to this are Harmony's small lounges/bars they use for karaoke and other games (On Air/Bolero's), which are often impossible to find a seat in, even between events, although this is a problem shared on other ships/lines such as NCL's Aqua.

The Fine Line is a great, high energy show that demonstrates creative use of the talented athletes and performers found on these ships as well as new engineering that can enable bigger, grander shows. Having said that, I found the overall entertainment on RCL only somewhat better than that found on other lines. The ice show 1887 and the Columbus theater show are both an amalgam of insanity so impossible to follow as to be distracting. Having sharks dance the Can-can while singing Cheeseburger in Paradise made me feel I had accidentally gotten into my edibles. Some people loved the productions; I thought some of it was "cute" but did not care for these two shows at all. Having said that, they're still better than most of the theater shows you'll see on Carnival, especially given that RCL's production value is so much better. Although I was aware of RCL's intention to move away from featuring comedy, I was unaware there would be zero comedy or feature acts onboard. Granted it's personal preference, but having a comedian or comedians in rotation among some other guest act that will come onboard (sometimes a hypnotist or magician, although the last few years have seen fewer of these acts on most ships I've been on). There are fewer activities overall on RCL compared to Carnival, but this of course comes down to personal preference.

The food on RCL is surprisingly poor in comparison to other lines. My whole group continues to remark at how disappointing the food was, especially in main dining and other included venues. Our meal at 150 Central Park was the best of our dining experiences, but Chops Grille was a letdown. Every single breakfast whether in MDR, Windjammer, or elsewhere was OK at best and typically served cold. Johnny Rockets' burger and onion rings were good but not worth the upcharge, lunch at Giovanni's was worth it, and I had some solid pork carnitas on CocoCay. Otherwise, I hope "Loyal to Royal" people understand that even just the included food alone on Carnival's newer ships absolutely laps anything RCL currently includes with your cruise fare, and that includes much of what you pay an upcharge for on RCL, too. The difference in taste, quantity, and quality cannot be overstated and is even more exaggerated than the difference even a few years ago according to some older RCL cruisers I chatted with onboard. There wasn't a single thing I ate or drank on RCL that didn't have a better equivalent on Carnival(!!!), and I genuinely hoped that would not be the case.

The service on Harmony of the Seas was outstanding. Cruise staff continue to make vacations for us special by going the extra mile, and our experience on this trip with RCL was no different.

CocoCay has lots to see and do, but the upcharges for activities like the water park are outrageou$.

Although I understand the argument that putting beach towels in staterooms can create additional laundry that might otherwise not have been necessary, not providing each person a beach towel in our staterooms but instead requiring us to "check out" a beach towel from a towel station that mysteriously only opens at random infrequent intervals with no predicted schedule or placement at the threat of a $25 charge if not returned to a towel station feels cheap and is not at all conducive to a seamless experience. Again, my personal pet peeve, but there it is!

Finally, much has been said about the behaviors of cruisers between the brands, especially when it comes to Carnival's reputation as a sort of floating Wal-Mart that sees frequent fights on their ships. There remains an assumption among many people that because RCL charges more for their product, you'll be less likely to see behavioral issues more common among first-time cruisers and those with smaller budgets. However, the primary driver of what kind of cruiser you'll see on a given cruise is typically its itinerary; 3 and 4 day cruises are party cruises whether on RCL or Carnival. Utopia of the Seas features crew members using water guns to blast champagne into peoples' mouths in the pools, something you likely won't see on one of RCL's Mediterranean itineraries. There remains at least some truth, though, that many loyal to Royal people root their loyalty in a belief that paying more for the same (or, in some ways, materially worse) product means they never have to witness such behavior. Although I have never witnessed a fight on any ship, I have definitely witnessed people be rude to staff or other passengers or not exercise simple manners when in public spaces. RCL's passengers are no different in this regard, and one only needs to read the posts in this very forum to see how insane some RCL cruisers act about these vacations.

Would I cruise RCL again? Absolutely, albeit a different ship and different itinerary. Overall, my experience on Harmony of the Seas was that of a solid vacation that would have likely been "great" had I not already been hopelessly spoiled by earlier cruises.