It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog, as I was busy cruising the Caribbean for the month of December/January.  First, for a weekend on Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas for my company’s annual holiday party, followed by five days aboard the Carnival Victory with my family.

This year’s trip on Royal Caribbean was my third, and it was my first time on a Carnival ship.  I’ve also taken one Norwegian cruise.  Between some extremely harsh reviews, virus outbreaks and other various PR nightmares Carnival has had recently, I was hesitant to book a cruise through them.  But this trip was with my entire dad’s side of the family- 16 people in all- and that particular cruise had the right dates, destinations, and price that we were looking for.

I had a wonderful time on both cruises.  Mainly because of the great company that I was in, but also because of the experiences that both cruise lines delivered. There will be no nasty letters or harsh Yelp reviews written by me.  But overall, there is one cruise line that I would probably choose over the other for future getaways.  I’ve broken the article down into a few categories and shared my thoughts on each.  I’ll let you guess which cruise line I’ll be sure to return to.  (If you really don’t know by the end of this article, feel free to comment and I’ll reply!)

Booking/Check-In Process

Everything that took place up until the point where we stepped on the ship was pretty much the same.  Each cruise line requires the same things (full information, passport or original birth certificate, etc.) and both had the same check-in process at the port.  However, you are dealing with the cruise line’s employees at the port terminal (not port employees), and I will note that the Royal Caribbean employees who gave us our rooms keys and took our pictures were a little more friendly and upbeat  than Carnival’s. A word of advice to Carnival port employees: The people you’re dealing with just spent their money to board your ship to take them away to paradise.  Get them pumped up!

Ship

Both ships that I went on were older, but you could tell they were amazing when they were shiny and new.  Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas’ maiden voyage was in 1992, but it underwent a multi-million dollar refurbishment in 2007.  Although you can tell by the rooms that the ship is older, the dining room, gym, and most bars have a more modern feel to them.

When the Carnival Victory took its maiden voyage in 2000, it was one of the largest cruise ships in the world.  Although I saw the Carnival crew constantly working throughout the cruise to keep the ship sparkly and clean, much of the décor appears to be original.  According to Wikipedia, the ship is scheduled to undergo the Carnival FunShip 2.0 refurbishment sometime in the near future.  If “outdated” bothers you, I’d recommend waiting for the refurbishment before stepping foot on the Carnival Victory.

My favorite part of either ship was on the Carnival Victory.  The Serenity Retreat is a 21+ area on the 11^th deck that features hammocks, nice comfy furniture, a bar, beautiful views and two hot tubs that always seem to be kept at just the right temperature.  Not as hot as your typical hot tub, but just hot enough that you can sit in there all day long without overheating.  With a sweet, frozen drink in my hand I could have sworn it was heaven!

Service

The service was friendly and efficient on both cruises, but Carnival really blew me away on this one.  On both ships I was amused at how the housekeepers remembered all of our names after being told just once, and would remember what we liked.  I asked for some ice on the first day, and after that I had a full bucket of ice in my room at all times during the trip.

Eugene was our housekeeper for our five days aboard the Carnival Victory, and by day two he knew how each of the 16 members of my family were related to one another.  I’d randomly go back to my room for something and Eugene would see me coming down the hall, say hello and report that my brother had just left his room to go sing karaoke, my parents were resting in their room, and my other brother went to the pool with two of my cousins.  With our cell phones being out of range and shut off, it was awesome in helping us keep track of each other on the ship.

Food

Food is the most crucial factor in my decision of what cruise ship I’d rather take in the future.  As far as dinner goes, both ships did a really nice job in offering a variety of different foods that were about the same quality level.  But the breakfast and lunch situation on the Carnival Victory made me never want to return to the ship.

Let’s start with breakfast.  Both ships have the option of a sit-down breakfast with waiter service in the dining room.  Not many people seemed to opt for this, as the dining rooms were pretty empty on all of the days I went.  Due to this you’d think the service would be quick, but it’s exactly the opposite.

A 1.5 hour sit-down breakfast was nice and enjoyable on the days when we were at sea, but on the days where we docked at a port-of-call I just wanted to eat and go explore.  On these days, I hit up the ship’s buffets.

Majesty of the Seas has the right idea.  Their buffet is in a huge room with about six or seven spread out stations, each with different options.  An omelet station, a carving station, a pastry station, etc.  Each station has its own line and you can hop around.

Carnival Victory’s buffet on the pool deck is a hot mess.  The food is set up along two long rows, each with the same food.  Two of the longest lines I’ve even seen in my life.  The worst part is that you’re forced to wait in this line whether you want a full meal or just a piece of toast.

I ran into a little altercation one afternoon when I just wanted to grab a small salad from the Carnival Victory buffet but didn’t feel like waiting in line for 20 minutes first.  I nicely asked this man in line near the salad if I could pop in really quickly to grab what I wanted.  The guy went nuts at the thought of me “cutting him after he waited so long.”  Maybe the guy was an asshole, but more than likely he was just fed up with Carnival’s awful set up and took his frustration out on me.

For lunch, Royal Caribbean wins again by having options beyond the buffet.  Throughout the Majesty of the Seas there’s a deli, pizza place, and Johnny Rockets that are open for most of the day.  The only place I could find food mid-day on the Carnival Victory was that miserable buffet.  I skipped lunch on the days where we were at sea.  Because of this, Royal Caribbean wins the food category.

Suggestions

Carnival photographers, don’t be so aggressive!  On each night of the cruise, there were multiple photo stations set up along the traffic-packed walkways surrounding the casino. As we went by, I felt like a piece of meat with the photographers begging us to stop at their station for a picture.  I’m just trying to get to the roulette table!

Also Carnival, don’t ever, EVER get rid of the Serenity pool area!