Carnival 7 Day Southern Caribbean Cruise Reviews / Feedback? Worth Taking?

Hello All,

My family and I are currently shopping around for a 7 Day Southern
Caribbean cruise from San Juan, Puerto Rico for February. We are
specifically looking at cruises that visit the following 5 islands: St.
Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua. After doing some
research we've discovered that Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Carnival
all offer cruises with the same itinerary.

We've sailed on several cruises with Royal Caribbean and one with
Princess. We've had a great time on each cruise and never had any
negative comments. None of us have ever sailed Carnival and I'm hoping
some of you out there can give some feedback about the cruising
Carnival. I've heard very mixed reviews about sailing with Carnival and
would like to hear how Carnival's food, service, cleanliness,
activities, atmosphere, etc. compare to Royal Caribbean and Princess?

The cruise we're looking at will be aboard the Carnival Destiny ship.
Have anyone sailed this ship before, if so, how was your experience? If
we were to sail Royal Caribbean it would be aboard the Serenade Of The
Seas and for Princess it would be aboard the Crown Princess. Any
comments about either of these two ships?

Any feedback would be a great help.

Thanks,

- Dave

Thus spake :

Hello All,

My family and I are currently shopping around for a 7 Day Southern
Caribbean cruise from San Juan, Puerto Rico for February. We are
specifically looking at cruises that visit the following 5 islands: St.
Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua. After doing some
research we've discovered that Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Carnival
all offer cruises with the same itinerary.

We've sailed on several cruises with Royal Caribbean and one with
Princess. We've had a great time on each cruise and never had any
negative comments. None of us have ever sailed Carnival and I'm hoping
some of you out there can give some feedback about the cruising
Carnival. I've heard very mixed reviews about sailing with Carnival and
would like to hear how Carnival's food, service, cleanliness,
activities, atmosphere, etc. compare to Royal Caribbean and Princess?

The cruise we're looking at will be aboard the Carnival Destiny ship.
Have anyone sailed this ship before, if so, how was your experience? If
we were to sail Royal Caribbean it would be aboard the Serenade Of The
Seas and for Princess it would be aboard the Crown Princess. Any
comments about either of these two ships?

Any feedback would be a great help.

Dave, some will proclaim that the drinking is to the excess. I
personally have never seen any. The one thing, however, is that the
cruises were all during the summer, when there were more families on
board. February may be different. May be different.

My main complaint is the smoking. Around the pool there's a smoking
and nonsmoking side, but sometimes smokers would come over to "our"
side. And the staff would do nothing to stop them, even when asked.

Service has been pretty to very good and the food has consistently
been top notch. I really look forward to sampling Celebrity if their
food is in fact better.


Thanks,

- Dave
--
dillon

I didn't climb to the top of the
food chain to become a vegetarian.

Hi, Dave,

That's a lovely itinerary you're contemplating.

The ships can't really be compared "apples to apples." The Destiny is quite
a bit older and will feature fewer bells and whistles, not to mention some
very gaudy/glitzy interiors as compared to what you've enjoyed on Princess
and RCI. I think she has been in drydock fairly recently for a face lift,
but bottom line, there is no way you can compare the Destiny to the other
two ships, at least on "hardware" alone. For my tastes, the Serenade is the
most gorgeous ship I've ever cruised--we were on her inaugural voyage in
August 2003. And then, there's the Crown. She hasn't even made her debut,
has she? I have read lots of interesting things about that ship, and hands
down, if you are looking at what the ship will offer, then I think the Crown
is the most intriguing of the bunch. I also imagine the three cruises are
priced accordingly, with the Destiny being quite a deal and the Crown being
premium, but only slightly ahead of the Serenade. Price for all three is
probably going to hold strong as February is peak season. Are you going over
President's Day/Week by any chance? That is a high demand week, and more
families with kids will be cruising due to school holidays, which could be a
plus or minus for you.

From a "software" standpoint, we've cruised all three lines, but in the
Carnival line, only on a Spirit-class ship. (Destiny is a Destiny-class
ship!) The Spirit class is the one class of Carnival ship that draws mostly
high praise from all and is easily comparable in many categories to RCI and
Princess. We felt the food and service were above average on that Carnival
cruise and, in fact, competitive with Princess. We didn't let the "Fun Ship"
features like singing waiters and cheesey games distract us (see other
thread below), but we do prefer the more understated ambiance of Princess.
RCI is our first choice when it comes to entertainment. What are your
tastes, and what's important to you when you cruise? This kind of discussion
is sooooooo subjective..... I'd certainly recommend that you study many
firsthand reviews of the Destiny if you are leaning in that direction. You
can find a bunch over at www.cruisecritic.com and also at
www.cruisereviews.com

Of course, another way to look at that trip is, the itinerary is so
port-intensive, the choice of ship/line might be less significant to you
than the finer details of the itinerary, relative value considering the
amount of time spent on the ship, etc. I am a traveler who frequently
analyzes cruises that way--especially because we travel as a family of 4, so
travel gets expensive--but by my observation, most cruisers are much more
emotionally invested in the cruise ship as a destination. If you are going
for the cruise as much or more as you are going for the ports, I think most
would agree, the new Crown would have to come out on top, with the Serenade
a close second. And in this case, I think I'd have to reason that having
invested in the RT air fares to get to San Juan, it is silly to pinch
pennies over the cruise when the difference in cruise experience is
potentially so great, i.e., I, personally, do see the Crown and Serenade as
being much better choices than the Destiny.

My opinions are just that, my opinions. I'm sure others will weigh in, too!

Note, we hit St. Thomas, Dominica and Barbados last December 2005. If you
want to look at our port reports, they are posted here and can be accessed
via Google Groups search of rec.travel.cruises by using, e.g., Dominica as
the keyword, my handle "D Ball" as author, and date after 1/1/2006.

Take care, have fun researching your trip!

Diana Ball
near Houston, TX

Thus spake :

Hello All,

My family and I are currently shopping around for a 7 Day Southern
Caribbean cruise from San Juan, Puerto Rico for February. We are
specifically looking at cruises that visit the following 5 islands: St.
Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua. After doing some
research we've discovered that Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Carnival
all offer cruises with the same itinerary.

We've sailed on several cruises with Royal Caribbean and one with
Princess. We've had a great time on each cruise and never had any
negative comments. None of us have ever sailed Carnival and I'm hoping
some of you out there can give some feedback about the cruising
Carnival. I've heard very mixed reviews about sailing with Carnival and
would like to hear how Carnival's food, service, cleanliness,
activities, atmosphere, etc. compare to Royal Caribbean and Princess?

The cruise we're looking at will be aboard the Carnival Destiny ship.
Have anyone sailed this ship before, if so, how was your experience? If
we were to sail Royal Caribbean it would be aboard the Serenade Of The
Seas and for Princess it would be aboard the Crown Princess. Any
comments about either of these two ships?

Any feedback would be a great help.

Oh yeah, glitzy. Possibly to excess.


Thanks,

- Dave
--
dillon

I didn't climb to the top of the
food chain to become a vegetarian.

In article ,
Dillon Pyron wrote:

Thus spake :

Hello All,

My family and I are currently shopping around for a 7 Day Southern
Caribbean cruise from San Juan, Puerto Rico for February. We are
specifically looking at cruises that visit the following 5 islands: St.
Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua. After doing some
research we've discovered that Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Carnival
all offer cruises with the same itinerary.

We've sailed on several cruises with Royal Caribbean and one with
Princess. We've had a great time on each cruise and never had any
negative comments. None of us have ever sailed Carnival and I'm hoping
some of you out there can give some feedback about the cruising
Carnival. I've heard very mixed reviews about sailing with Carnival and
would like to hear how Carnival's food, service, cleanliness,
activities, atmosphere, etc. compare to Royal Caribbean and Princess?

The cruise we're looking at will be aboard the Carnival Destiny ship.
Have anyone sailed this ship before, if so, how was your experience? If
we were to sail Royal Caribbean it would be aboard the Serenade Of The
Seas and for Princess it would be aboard the Crown Princess. Any
comments about either of these two ships?

Any feedback would be a great help.

Dave, some will proclaim that the drinking is to the excess. I
personally have never seen any. The one thing, however, is that the
cruises were all during the summer, when there were more families on
board. February may be different. May be different.

My main complaint is the smoking. Around the pool there's a smoking
and nonsmoking side, but sometimes smokers would come over to "our"
side. And the staff would do nothing to stop them, even when asked.

Service has been pretty to very good and the food has consistently
been top notch. I really look forward to sampling Celebrity if their
food is in fact better.


Thanks,

- Dave

And sometimes the nonsmokers come to the smoking side and then bitch...
;-)

wrote:

We've sailed on several cruises with Royal Caribbean and one with
Princess. We've had a great time on each cruise and never had any
negative comments. None of us have ever sailed Carnival and I'm hoping
some of you out there can give some feedback about the cruising
Carnival. I've heard very mixed reviews about sailing with Carnival and
would like to hear how Carnival's food, service, cleanliness,
activities, atmosphere, etc. compare to Royal Caribbean and Princess?

The cruise we're looking at will be aboard the Carnival Destiny ship.
Have anyone sailed this ship before, if so, how was your experience? If
we were to sail Royal Caribbean it would be aboard the Serenade Of The
Seas and for Princess it would be aboard the Crown Princess. Any
comments about either of these two ships?

Dave,

To compare the three ships and what they have or don't have, go to
this link and click on each ship in turn.
http://travel.travelocity.com/ecruis...ce=TRAVELOCITY

We have found food and service to be very good to excellant on
Carnival. The negatives are the singing/dancing waiters, but that
isn't a deal breaker for us. The major problem we have with Carnival
is the smoke in the casino and in most of the lougnges. The other
thing to consider is that the Destiny is an older ship, but you can
find out if it meets your needs by going to the above link.

Royal Caribbean we have also had good service, but the food was not
very good. I have heard some reports of the food improving and you are
talking about a newer ship, so the food "might" be better on the
Serenade of the Seas.

The Crown Princess has not sailed yet, first sailing is the middle of
June and we are booked on one of her August sailings. She is a
slightly improved/expanded version of the Carribean Princess, which
has always gotten good reports. I have always had good food and
service on Princess ships, nothing to complain about.

Of these three choices I would pick the Crown Princess since it is a
new ship and I have always been pleased with Princess food, service
etc. You are the only one who knows if what "I" consider a problem on
Carnival or Royal Carribean would be problems for you.

In addition to the links Diana gave you, you can read reviews at:
http://www.seacruisereviews.com/reviews.asp

sue

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello All,

My family and I are currently shopping around for a 7 Day Southern
Caribbean cruise from San Juan, Puerto Rico for February. We are
specifically looking at cruises that visit the following 5 islands: St.
Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua. After doing some
research we've discovered that Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Carnival
all offer cruises with the same itinerary.

We've sailed on several cruises with Royal Caribbean and one with
Princess. We've had a great time on each cruise and never had any
negative comments. None of us have ever sailed Carnival and I'm hoping
some of you out there can give some feedback about the cruising
Carnival. I've heard very mixed reviews about sailing with Carnival and
would like to hear how Carnival's food, service, cleanliness,
activities, atmosphere, etc. compare to Royal Caribbean and Princess?

The cruise we're looking at will be aboard the Carnival Destiny ship.
Have anyone sailed this ship before, if so, how was your experience? If
we were to sail Royal Caribbean it would be aboard the Serenade Of The
Seas and for Princess it would be aboard the Crown Princess. Any
comments about either of these two ships?

Any feedback would be a great help.

Thanks,

- Dave


I've been on about 30 cruises and did one on Carnival. It will be my first
and last on Carnival.

This group tends to be very divided on Carnival. Half seems to love
Carnival. The other half don't like Carnival. Me... I won't go on Carnival
again if it was free.

I would rate Carnival lower than the likes of Princess and Celebrity as far
as food, service, and cleanliness. Though many here like Carnival's food.
The ship designs tend to be on the hideous side as far as interiors.
Activities are pretty similar to other lines, though we found the comedians
and cruise directors a bit more "low class" than you'll find on other lines.
On our sailing (on Destiny FWIW)... we had a barrage of fart jokes from
comedians and John Heald, the CD. Another comedian featured a serious of
jokes that were very derogatory of women. My wife walked out halfway
through the show.

Destiny would be pretty much my last choice for a Southern Caribbean
sailing. I'd rather not go than sail Destiny again.

--Tom

"Tom K" :

I've been on about 30 cruises and did one on Carnival. It will be my first

and last on Carnival.

So you say.

This group tends to be very divided on Carnival. Half seems to love
Carnival. The other half don't like Carnival. Me... I won't go on
Carnival again if it was free.

???? That is not what you said last week. If you are going to give advice
don't you think you should be constant in what you say?

I would rate Carnival lower than the likes of Princess and Celebrity as far

as food,

You are the only person I have ever seen claim Carnival's food quality is
lower than the over lines. Infact almost every single review out there says
the opposite.

service,

Depending what you mean by service yes the other lines are better. But I
never found them lacking.

and cleanliness.

You have got to be kidding! You are so out to get Carnival you need to lie?
How come you did not complain about cleanliness in your own review of your
Carnival trip when you post one? How come no-one else has?

Though many here like Carnival's food.
The ship designs tend to be on the hideous side as far as interiors.

Let me get this right, one of the most popular cruise-iines stays in business
by having hideous interiors? I think it is time you get new glasses.

Activities are pretty similar to other lines, though we found the comedians

and cruise directors a bit more "low class" than you'll find on other
lines.

Cruder jokes, using the term "low class" tells us more about you than the
comedians.

On our sailing (on Destiny FWIW)... we had a barrage of fart jokes from
comedians and John Heald, the CD. Another comedian featured a serious of
jokes that were very derogatory of women. My wife walked out halfway
through the show.

And on my cruise the lady up front said some crude things about men and the
women were laughting at us. It goes both ways.

Destiny would be pretty much my last choice for a Southern Caribbean
sailing. I'd rather not go than sail Destiny again.

Make up your mind, is it Destiny or Carnival you have a beef with?

Earl Colby Pottinger (Loved his Carnival cruise)
--
Cruising, building a Catamaran, Rebuilding Cabin, New Peroxide Still Design,
Writting SF, Programming FOSS - What happened to the time?

On Tue, 16 May 2006 18:41:59 -0400, Tom K wrote:

I've been on about 30 cruises and did one on Carnival. It will be my first
and last on Carnival.

This group tends to be very divided on Carnival. Half seems to love
Carnival. The other half don't like Carnival. Me... I won't go on Carnival
again if it was free.

Got it wrong, Tom half like Carnival, half minus you dislike Carnival.

You're freaking obsessed with your hate for Carnival.
--
http://www.punkvoter.com/anim/anim-idiot.html

Earl Colby Pottinger wrote:
"Tom K" :

The ship designs tend to be on the hideous side as far as interiors.

Let me get this right, one of the most popular cruise-iines stays in business
by having hideous interiors? I think it is time you get new glasses.

Come on now Earl. Even the hard core Carnival lovers admit that the
interiors are pretty out there. I like to think of Carnival interior
design kind of like a Michael Graves "architectural entertainment" sort
of thing. The interiors are designed to get a reaction from passengers
- they're designed to startle, surprise, amuse or offend as the case
may be. I've yet to hear anyone, even Carnival fans, say anything
positive about the Bacchus dining room on Miracle, for instance. It's
downright hideous, to use Tom's word. I'm just happy that they seem to
keep the cabins somewhat subdued. After the eyes being assaulted
non-stop during the day, it's nice to retreat to a space that's a
little more relaxing. Let's just say I was, for the most part, amused
by the Miracle's interior design, but I'm thankful that I don't have to
look at it every day of my life. It's exhausting to have to absorb that
much, all the time. I was very, very impressed, though, by the
attention to detail, and how the theme was carried out to the nth
degree. I found the Miracle to be much more pleasing to the eye than
Paradise, but I understand that Miracle is about the most subdued of
the Carnival fleet. Paradise was ugly beyond belief.

All that being said, I don't think I'd ever make a cruise choice based
on what a ship's interior design is like. It's just
decoration...background. Just not that important to me.

Lee