Royal Caribbean / Carnival Showdown!

After travelling on two different cruise lines, I've deemed a favorite between the two. 

Last summer we went on the Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas for our honeymoon.

This June we traveled on the Carnival Sensation.

I enjoy trying out new things, so we booked with Norwegian last fall, but that fell through when they changed their itinerary from the Caribbean to Cuba. 

Since we wanted to try out a new cruise line and it was already January, we decided to go with Carnival. Now, I fully prepared myself that the cruise wouldn't be as nice as Royal Caribbean's because that's what I had heard. We wouldn't have our nice balcony room that we had gotten at a great price and the ship might not be as nice, but we wanted to see, so we booked it anyway. 

So here's what I loved and hated about each cruise line. 

Royal Caribbean

• The overall atmosphere of the cruise ship was nicer. 
• Our room was nicer. Now we did have a balcony room and a handicap one because all other rooms were sold out. The room was huge!
• Any time room service. It was nice to order something at anytime that you were hungry. The bad part was the food was cold by the time it got to us.
• Buffet had more options.

Carnival

• Price was cheaper. 
• There are more ships, so there are more options of places to go and various length options of how long to cruise. 
• Night time entertainment was AWESOME! Comedians, Shows, Trivia, Cruise Director
• Faster to the Fun is supposed to get you onboard and into the action cheaper. It's NOT worth your $$! We got on the ship 20 minutes before my in-laws (who didn't have Faster to the Fun.) While we could go to our room, our luggage didn't arrive earlier than the others, so we couldn't use it any sooner. The only port that allowed us to get off earlier was the port where we had an excursion and had to stay on the ship to meet our group. 
• A pipe burst down the hall from us and one room was flooded. There were fans everywhere and it smelled a little odd. 
• Buffet smelled like grease and not as many options as Royal Caribbean. I'm really weird with smells. I hate the smell of grease, and that's exactly what the buffet area smelled like. We ate outside or on a balcony whenever we could. 
• Buffet was often out of certain items. Ex. ice cream, ice cream cones, ketchup, plates, etc.
• Limited options for room service. You could only order certain things at certain times unless you wanted to pay more. 
• Some lights didn't work. 

So we had a great time on both ships. 

We had so much fun that we're already looking into another cruise on another cruise line next summer. 

Now if I had to choose between the two that I've already cruised on I would almost completely choose one line over another. 

The only exception would be if you are going with a group of friends and don't really care about luxury but just having a good time. 

My winner would be...

ROYAL CARIBBEAN

I think Royal Caribbean is an overall nicer cruise line. 

The food was better, the amenities were better and it seemed cleaner and newer.

Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't ever book with Carnival again, but if it were just Alex and I we would probably go with Royal Caribbean. 

We've already discussed going on a friends cruise, and I would definitely look at Carnival's options for that because we loved the entertainment, and I'm sure that would be high on our friend's list. 

I do love all of the different cruise routes and options, but my favorite would have to be Royal Caribbean. 

I'm interested in if you've been on any cruise lines. 

What were your thoughts? 

Did you like one over another?

Have you had any horror stories on a cruise ship? What about excellent stories of success?

Here's to dreaming of more vacations!

Have a great 4th! 

#USA #Americarocks!

2017 Exotic Eastern Caribbean Carnival Cruise- Days, 4-6

I'm back to recap the rest of our Carnival cruise. 

On Sunday we woke up and were at Nassau. 

Alex and I had been to Nassau before and weren't impressed, so we booked an excursion. 

His parents wanted to do a bar-hopping tour, so we followed suit. 

I'm not much of a drinker, but I thought we'd go along with it. 

This was our first stop on the bar-hopping tour.

Viola's is a smaller resort that's not beach front. 

It was so pretty!

And I guess that's all of the pictures I took of the tour. 

We went to Margaritaville, Fish Fry ( a local bar) and Senor Frogs. 

What I liked more than anything was seeing different parts of Nassau.

We were back on the ship and ready to get cleaned up for the evening. 

It was fun seeing the towel animals each afternoon!

Alex and I loved the entertainment at night. 

We would head to the main dining area around 6:30, eat at 7, and then enjoy entertainment until 12 or 1.

This day was also our 1 year anniversary!

 So we left Nassau and headed to Half Moon Cay (Carnival's private island).

I always love the private islands. 

There's something about the white sandy beaches and clear water. 

We started off with a bike tour of the island. 

Alex wasn't thrilled that we had to wear helmets, but it was a neat little ride.

One stop was to see the stingray's

And we spent the rest of the day at the beach. 

The water was pretty chilly, and we couldn't find a place that didn't have lifeguards on duty. 

At Coco Cay we were able to be on the opposite side of the island as the public beach, and we could go out as far as we wanted and saw a ton of wildlife. 

I wish we had that same opportunity here.

That afternoon we were the last tender boat to leave and again got ready for a fun evening. 

The next morning we were in Grand Turk.

It was a little cloudy.

As you're entering the island, we grabbed chairs to the right. 

We had a clamshell that was free. 

The ones to the left cost $.

This side of the entrance is more rocky, but I didn't mind since I just planned to lay out. 

The left side seemed so busy, which I'm not a fan of. 

We laid out for a while. 

It rained a little, but I hid in the clamshell, and then we went to get some lunch.

This place was nearly right behind where we were laying out. 

It seemed more of a local place than something like Margaritaville.

We ate beside the Grand Turk police and one of the singers from our ship. 

We loved the view!

They even support Pitt with the best ketchup ever!

 We spent the rest of the day at the pool at Margaritaville. 

It's complimentary. 

We wanted to do a tour of Grand Turk, but we missed getting tickets. 

Back to the ship for another fun night!

Waiting for dinner and listening to some live music!

The final day at sea can be summed up with this picture...

We laid in the adults only area, and I did a lot of reading. 

Every now and then I would get in the hot cool tub and then get back out. 

I met another teacher, and we had some teacher talk, but otherwise it was low key. 

So there you have it. 

Another cruise in the books. 

We had a blast and loved loved loved the entertainment on board. 

Our cruise director Kabir was awesome, but there are some things we didn't love. 

Next week I will be back with a recap of what we liked and didn't like and what I would do differently if we did it again. 

Speaking of which, I'm looking at a cruise through Princess for next summer. 

Have you ever cruised Princess?

I'm curious to get other people's opinions before we make the booking.

2017 Exotic Eastern Caribbean Carnival Cruise Days 1, 2 and 3

After a week back in summer reality I'm ready to share about our Carnival Cruise!

Last summer Alex and I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon. 

We had a great time and loved seeing the various ports, so we booked another cruise for this summer. 

Initially we booked through Norwegian, but the itinerary changed and we weren't so sure we wanted to visit Cuba, so we changed. 

Now I was a bit bummed that we had to give up our nice balcony room at a great rate, but I was glad to explore a new cruise line-Carnival. 

Now I've always heard that Carnival is a party ship and probably the most basic cruise ship. 

After this trip I would definitely agree. 

It's not that we didn't like it, but comparing it to another cruise line, it didn't have as many amenities and extras. 

Day 1 was a long travel day with a couple hours driving to the airport, delayed flights, missed connections, obtaining a rental car and a couple more hours to Marathon. 

We made it in time to catch some dinner. 

We dropped off our bags and headed to Sunset Grille and Bar. 

They are located right on the water before the 7 mile bridge and even has a pool. 

It was raining just as we got there, so no one was sitting outside. 

My only complaint was it took SO long to get our food. 

We were starved after traveling all day, and we felt it took forever to get our food. 

From there we went back to our hotel- Courtyard Marriott Marathon and enjoyed the breathtaking sunset. 

After enjoying the sunset and walking around the marina next door we headed to Sweet Savannah's.

They made our wedding cake, and since we had a destination wedding we didn't keep the top half like some traditionalists do. 

I was hoping they would have a small cake or some cake slices, but I settled for a hot fudge sundae instead!

Last year I got to see a momma dolphin teaching her young how to swim in the early morning. 

We were hoping this was a regular occurrence, so we went out early to check it out on Day 2. 

Unfortunately, no dolphins to watch. 

I did get to enjoy a little bit of time at the pool. 

It was slightly cloudy and we needed to check out soon, so we didn't stay long. 

Renewing our vows. ha!

On my way to check out the hotel the assistant recognized me and asked if I was the bridge from last year. 

She had helped with our wedding, and even remembered me a year later! Wow! Good memory!

I got to see and talk to Jill who is in charge of all affairs at the hotel. 

It was so good to see everyone, and then we headed back north to Miami. 

Along the way we stopped at an outlet mall. 

Alex and I love to shop. 

We found some great deals at Coach and Gap, so it was a good thing we ended up checking two suitcases instead of one. 

On our Royal Caribbean cruise last year we stayed at a hotel really close to the port. 

We didn't love it that much, so this time we stayed a little farther away, and it was right by the airport. 

It was so easy to drop off our luggage at the hotel, return the rental car and take the shuttle back to the hotel. 

We even got on the wrong shuttle. 

I knew it was the wrong one, but Alex thought anything that said Marriott was ours. 

We needed the Marriott not all of the other extensions associated with the Marriott. 

I finally was able to convince him it was the wrong shuttle, and as we stopped to let someone else on, we hopped off!

We found the right shuttle and made it back to our hotel. 

That evening we ate at Catch of the Day. 

It was nearly right across the street from the hotel. 

The meal was good but a bit pricey. 

It had a fun atmosphere on the deck.

The following morning I was up early and hit up the elliptical. 

We used Uber for the first time and made it to the port right on time. 

Alex and I tried out the Faster to the Fun pass and his parents who were going on the cruise with us did not. 

I was really curious to see how much faster we would get to the FUN!

His parents actually beat us through security and the initial check in.

We did board the ship before them, but it was only by 20 minutes. 

Our room was ready, but they didn't bring the luggage early like was promised. 

We did some exploring and grabbed some lunch.

Played a little golf.

And then Alex's parents went to the spa to celebrate their 30 Wedding Anniversary this past April.

Alex felt bad that he hadn't gotten me anything for our anniversary, so he told me to head to the spa too. 

 I got a nice hot stone massage, and I could definitely tell when we were pulling out of the port. 

I was a bit bummed that Carnival's relaxing room doesn't overlook the ocean like Royal Caribbean's did, but I'm going to do a whole post on the pro's and con's of each line later on. 

I got up from the massage and in my normal nature decided to nearly run down the 6 flights of steps to our room. 

I love to walk; I love to run. 

It was no different than I would do any other time, but I think something got to me from laying horizontal while we pulled out of the port to suddenly being vertical and running down 6 flights of stairs. 

I got to our room and felt a bit weird, but we decided to go explore some more and get a bite to eat before our regular dinner. 

I could barely sit up on the deck of the buffet. 

I told Alex that I thought I would be sick, and we headed back to the room. 

I've never taken seasick pills before, but I popped some of them and laid down. 

After about an hour I was feeling a bit better, so we headed to the regular dining room for dinner. 

It was good to get some regular, whole food in me. 

I'm not a great person for fried/greasy food like the buffet offered. 

We watched some music trivia, the welcome show and went to bed, ready to wake up in Nassau!

Tomorrow I will be doing a little home tour, and then on Wednesday I will be back with Days 4, 5 and 6!

Have a great Monday!