Cruise: Carnival or Royal Caribbean?

I thought I would like RC more but we had an old ship with so many issues. Are the RC you listed modern/new? If so, I would go with that over Carnival because it's your honeymoon and Carnival was pretty party heavy. Because our RC ship was older and didn't have much entertainment, our nights were boring but on carnival, the night activities shined. The carnival one had comedy shows and more shows in general. I would recommend looking at cruise critic for reviews on your specific lines.

I love all of the cruise lines for different reasons. I think Carnival has a bigger party presence. Royal Caribbean is slightly more upscale. Lately I have been doing NCL for the free drink packages.

I love royal Caribbean!

Royal Caribbean!!

We were just on Carnival Conquest in March. We loved it. We didn't go to any of the shows at all because we were so exhausted from the excursions that we did. Our favorite parts of it were the casino (we were first timers ), the outdoor theater, and the food. I tried the spa for the first time ever and loved it. So based on what we did like about it, do most of you still think RC is better?

We've been in 10 Carnival and 1 Royal Caribbean cruise. We love carnival so much and have such a great time that we're getting married on a Carnival cruise. I like the atmosphere and anything to do. I've never had a complaint. I was not a fan of Royal Caribbean.. but maybe that's just because I'm so used to Carnival's style and atmosphere. By then I had already been on 9 Carnival Cruises.

My suggestion would be carnival! There are plenty of quiet areas if that's what you want.. And then lots of fun and entertainment.

Those cruise lines are more similar than different. With that being said I pick by itinerary and embarking port. If all are the same or similar I go with price

Royal Carribean has a much older feel. My parents cruise RC all the time and say they're always the youngest people on the ship (they're in their 60's).

I've been on about 6 RC cruises and have always loved them. I've never been on any so I can't compare. RC has always had plenty of entertainment for me. I make sure it's a newer ship before I go on it though. We just booked RC for our honeymoon and can't wait

@stacy we are going on the conquest for our honeymoon in a few weeks. So good to hear nice things about it!

How do you find out how old or new a ship is?

You can look up the name of the ship on Google and it will tell you everything about it

I've been on several of each company and I would pick RC hands down every time. Depends on where you want to go but RC is awesome.

I would just pick based on the itinerary! I think cruises are more or less the same.

So for those of you that have been on a Carnival Cruise, how does the alcohol package work. Just to give you a feel of what I'm looking for, I drink sometimes, fh doesn't drink at all. Is it worth it for me to purchase a drink package or just pay as I want one?

I went on them 10 years apart so take this with a grain of salt, but I prefer RC. I just got back from our carnival cruise and the food just wasn't super amazing, the service was bad (it took us an hour to get a waiter to our table one night) and the RC ship was just prettier.

@thewrightgirl with carnival it's I believe around $50/day and you must purchase for everyday and everyone in the cabin needs to purchase it. You need drink 6 drinks/day to break even but in your case if FH doesn't drink you would need 12. Carnival allows everyone who is 21/above to bring 1 bottle of wine/champagne on board with you. For me it's not worth it, we don't drink that much and then days you are at Port you are likely to not be on the ship that much. I saw somewhere someone posted a breakdown of the drinks I'll see if I can find it

Here it is

The oasis class is pretty spectacular- I haven't been on Carnival but the Oasis is beyond a cruise ship- if I cruised on my honeymoon that's the ship I would want to take!

@Catie I read that the Oasis class are the newer ships for RC. The 2 newest ships for Carnival (Vista for 2018 and Horizon for 2019) are not available for our dates. I'd have to check again to see what is considered newer with the other ships.

@thewrightgirl we only got the soda package and had wished we had gotten the alcohol package. in your case though, you should NOT get it and should only get the soda package. they make both people in the cabin get it instead of just one person. we had at least one drink a day and would've drank more if we weren't having to pay so much per drink.