Before we left, we had tried to inquire what the real difference between Carnival (which we thought was one of the lowest/cheapest cruises) versus our regular Royal Caribbean...well, here it is.

We left from Montreal and arrived in Florida. Getting on the ship was easy and no problems. We were on the ship within about 5 minutes of arriving at the port (got there about 3). We had our luggage quite quickly (by 6). We were met by our room steward who wanted to know all about us. We had signed up for a different dinner time (630) but were given 8pm...don't wait in line to get it changed on the first day. You wait a LONG time and you will be just as successful if you do it either at dinner that night or the next morning at breakfast. Just go to dinner at the scheduled time and get it changed to whatever time you want. They is a lot of switching of tables after the first night. We had an outstanding tables with couples who were all in their 20/30s and we ended up spending most of our week with them at the ports. Our waiter was friendly and helpful and got to know us well. The food is great and very similar to RCCL. I did find that Carnival had more selection that our RCCL ships (Grandeur/Empress which are small ships in the fleet so maybe we are comparing apples to oranges given we are comparing a smaller RC ship to a large Carnival ship). Carnival had a sushi station, deli with great sandwiches, a fish and chips place, pizza bar, grill and a lot more drink selection (hot chocolate, lemonade, juice, tea which were available 24hrs a day). I found on RCCL, certain drinks were only available at certain times (juice was in am, ice tea at lunch and dinner so you really were stuck with water or ice tea). Carnival also serves the melting chocolate cake--OH LA LA!!! everynight for dinner. You can often get seconds or thirds or variations of things if you want....kitchen seems to be flexible. You can ask deli to create other sandwiches other than the ones listed (grilled cheese etc.)

Our inside room was bigger than our previous RCCL window room...shower was bigger, bed was bigger (king v. queen) and had a great duvet (Heavenly Bed). They had a basket with razors, deodorant etc. upon arrival. Beach towels were better on Carnival but if you lose them or have them stolen, you have to pay which is stupid since I had mine stolen while in the hot tub. People get crazy about their towels. Read more