7 things that surprised me about cruising with Carnival Cruise Line!
I’ve recently cruised with Carnival Cruise Line on two of their Vista Class cruise ships: Carnival Panorama and Carnival Horizon. As a British cruiser, I don’t know many people who have tried the Carnival experience, and so I wasn’t really too sure what to expect. Today, let me walk you through 7 things that really surprised me about cruising with Carnival - some were positive, but others not so, depending on your mindset! If you do enjoy this post today, I’d really appreciate it if you’d come over and support me on YouTube - you can find my channel by searching ‘Fraser at Sea’, or by clicking here - every subscriber over there really does help me to reach more people, so THANK YOU!
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Anyway, let’s get started! If you’d like to see more on YouTube from my time cruising with Carnival, here’s Episode 1 from my Carnival Panorama cruise - dive in!
So, what surprised me about cruising with Carnival Cruise Line?
1. The ‘to go’ food offering - not at all what I had been expecting!
Ok, putting my cards on the table, my Carnival cruise was really good value. I expected the food to match what I’ve seen from some ‘low cost’ European providers, where it’s nothing to write home about, and is just ‘okay’. I’d say that I wasn’t thrilled with the food in the Main Dining Room on my Carnival cruises (it was fine - nothing bad, but not amazing, but again - remember the cost point for these cruises!), but it was the ‘to go’ food that really impressed me!
On a Vista class Carnival cruise ship, you’ve got quite a few options for ‘to go’ food: Guy’s Burger Joint, the poolside Mexican, the pizzeria at the back of the ship, and also Guy’s Smokehouse further down inside the ship to name a few, and I’d say that all of these were absolutely fantastic. To prove my point, there were multiple nights on my cruises where I opted to get food from these venues and retreat back to my room to eat, or eat on the open decks, instead of going to the Main Dining Room. Sure, you miss out on waiter service and it’s REALLY informal, but if you’re looking for a good feed, think about the ‘to go’ offerings on these ships, for sure!
2. Let’s talk towel animals…
Over the last few years, I’ve seen more and more ‘cutbacks’ from cruise lines, which is understandable given what’s happening with costs everywhere right now. One area that I’ve noticed lines saving money on is housekeeping. For some, this means that there’s only one visit from a housekeeper each day, with that member of crew then being deployed elsewhere for the evening, instead of visiting your cabin again. For others, it’s stopping things like towel animals, which would be considered a luxury.
I was really pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn’t the case on Carnival. Infact, I got a towel animal made every single day of my cruise - I haven’t seen this on a cruise ship in a long time! There was also one morning of the cruise that featured a towel animal ‘explosion’ - they were EVERYWHERE! If you’re planning to cruise with Carnival, you must try and find out when this is going to happen, as it was incredible to walk around the top deck and look at all of the towel animal creations - I’d never seen anything like that before!
3. The onboard entertainment…
Being totally honest, I didn’t have the highest of expectations for entertainment on my Carnival cruise. I’d heard about the ship parties (we’ll come back to these), and I knew that Carnival brand their ships as ‘fun ships’, but I didn’t think the entertainment would be up to much… When I looked at the deck plans for the ships I was cruising on, there wasn’t a theatre, which backed up my thinking. Instead, they had a multi-use venue at the front of the ship, which looked like it would change setup depending on the event in there. I’ve seen this on other ships (Costa Cruises most recently), and I wasn’t a fan - I love the traditional cruise ship theatre.
However, how wrong was I? The entertainment on both of my Carnival cruises was absolutely fantastic - the quality of the venue, and the standard of performers totally outweighed what I’ve seen on some far more premium lines! Each evening, the show lounge would house some form of entertainment - sometimes, it would be the onboard entertainment team (who were decent) pulling together some sort of tribute or something to that effect, but then others would be the more professional cast performing a full Carnival production - these were EXCELLENT! Here’s a few pictures from inside the theatre/show lounge venue - I was SO impressed! We even had a drone show as part of one of the shows in here, which was STUNNING!
4. The deck parties - oh my goodness…
Okay, I’ve been on lots of cruises, and I’ve seen lots of ‘parties’ on the top deck. However, I can genuinely say that NOTHING matches the experience of a Carnival deck party. Think co-ordinated dancing, think sing-a-longs, think dance-offs and so much more - they’re so much fun! On my 7-night cruises, we had 3-4 parties up on the top deck, and every one of them was SO well supported - it would appear that Carnival cruisers absolutely love them. I had heard about these before taking my first Carnival cruise and, being totally honest, I assumed this would be my worst nightmare. However, I found it to be so fun, and I even had fellow cruisers (who I’d never met before) encouraging me up from my chair for a shuffle.
Up on the top decks, you’ll find easy access to the buffet, and you’ve also got a full bar setup out there, so the area lends itself perfectly for a late-night party. If you’re cruising with Carnival in colder weather, or rainy weather, I’m not sure what they would do - perhaps the party would move into the theatre venue last minute? Hopefully they don’t just cancel these - they were brilliant fun!
5. The design of the ships…
As I mentioned at the start of this post, both of the ships that I cruised on from Carnival were part of the line’s ‘Vista Class’, which essentially means that they were almost identical from a build point of view. The only noticeable differences were that the names and general theming of some venues was a little different, but the actual layout across the ships was the same. From my research, it would seem that what I’m about to say would apply to most, if not all, Carnival ships.
I’ve seen so many modern cruise ships come away from the idea of having a ‘main atrium’, and I always think it’s such a great shame - I love when a ship has an atrium, as it often feels like ‘the heart of the ship’. I’m delighted to report that Carnival, even on these newer ships, seem to be holding onto the concept of the more traditional atriums - you’ll find a few shots below to show you what these spaces look like on the ships I cruised on. By day, this space would be nice and quiet - perfect to relax with a nice coffee. Then, as the day turned into night, the atrium would really come alive, with the main bar below filling with people, and some party nights being hosted here, too!
6. It wasn’t all ‘party, party, party’!
If you’ve followed my travels for a while, you’ll know that I don’t thrive in a party environment day after day. Yes, I enjoy a good bit of fun, but I also need some ‘down time’ to recharge. After my first night onboard my first Carnival cruise ship (Carnival Panorama), I was really concerned that it was going to be a loud, fun and potentially quite crazy cruise. However, I was absolutely thrilled to discover that this just isn’t the reality on a Carnival cruise ship.
Yes, if you want it to be loud every day, you can go and spend time up at the main Lido/pool deck, but there are LOTS of spaces onboard these ships to relax in peace and quiet, even when the top deck is in full swing. The below photos were taken in the middle of the day, and I couldn’t believe it was SO quiet - I spent a few hours down there, and I could count on two hands how many people walked past me. Perhaps this is a real ‘hidden secret’ for your next Carnival cruise! On this note, if you’d like to read more of my tips for your next Carnival cruise, click here to check out that post now!
7. I could do my laundry before leaving the ship!
This might not be on the top of your priority list for your vacation, but I was cruising on Carnival as part of a number of ‘back to back’ cruises, where I wouldn’t be going home in between ships. If you’ve ever used cruise ship laundry services before, you’ll understand why I hated using them - they’re often really expensive, and you need to give your clothes to the laundry team for up to 48 hours - I just don’t love doing this. I was amazed to find laundry rooms onboard my Carnival cruises, and found them to actually be really good value. In terms of how it works in here, you pay for the use of a washer, followed by a dryer, and you also pay for your detergent - this comes from a vending machine on the wall.
The washers on both Carnival Horizon and Carnival Panorama would run for 33 minutes and the dryers would run for 72 minutes, so you’d just need to set an alarm to remind yourself to go and collect your washing, otherwise you’d run the risk of annoying your fellow cruisers.
If you’re planning to use this facility at the end of your cruise, I’d always recommend not leaving it until the last day of the cruise. The reason is simple - at the end of the cruise, so many more people will be looking to do exactly the same as you - do it the evening before! Oh, there’s an ironing board in here too, so you don’t need to worry about your shirts or dresses being crushed after you travel to the port!
So yes, there were LOTS of factors that really surprised me about cruising with Carnival Cruise Line. Personally, I found these to be pretty positive surprises, but I also appreciate how a few of them may be frustrating if you’re not expecting them…
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