When is a good time to take a cruise to the caribbean? Which cruise line is better Carnival or Royal Caribbean

Question

When is a good time to take a cruise to the caribbean? Which cruise line is better Carnival or Royal Caribbean

Answer 1

Avoid the Christmas time and the winter months.  That's when everybody wants to go and rates are usually higher.

Answer 2

Royal Caribbean hands down.

Answer 3

Your posting doesn't have any information about yourself, so my answer to both is, it depends.

The cheapest time to cruise in the Caribbean is November through May. The further in advance you book your trip, the more likely you will get cheap rates. Watch both cruise Web sites for special deals -- they are available for only a certain number of cabins and then vanish.

The hurricane season hits June through November. But we have gone on four cruises during the hurricane season and never had any problems, in part because the cruise lines simply avoid the areas with the bad weather.

So if you have kids who go to school, then it's a moot point -- you probably will have to go during hurricane season (which also has the warmest weather). If you don't have kids, go during the off season and save money.

Regarding the two cruise lines, we have been on both. Most people would agree that Carnival has a somewhat younger crowd. But it still had plenty of families.

We found that Royal has slightly older people and more couples, as well as somewhat better food and entertainment. But Royal also has been driving down prices and costs, and probably the quality of what they offer to be more competitive with Carnival.

Answer 4

Avoid hurricane season (June-November).  Carnival is better for younger crowds (under 40)... and I do mean crowds.  Very party filled atmosphere.  Royal Caribbean is a bit older (the over 40 crowd) and has old people camping seats at shows an hour prior to curtain calls (very funny really).  Either is fine and lots of good deals can be found online.

Answer 5

Royal Caribbean is way better than carnival and does attract a young crowd contrary to what people say. I've been on both, and royal has better service and more activities and amenities than carnival.

Answer 6

I have been on about 20 cruises on 4 different cruise lines and so here's what I say based on my experiences.

The best time to go is outside the hurricane season.  So plan on going November through the next June.  The weather is great during all of that time period and you will be able to enjoy the water and water sports.  We went this past December to the Western Caribbean and the water was great.

You should be aware that all of the cruise lines give the best price for early bookings that are a year or more in advance. So its good that you are starting your cruise search process now. Cruise lines also list specials on their web sites so do look for those. The specials can many times save you a couple hundred per person over the price for the exact same cruise on a different date.

ROYAL CARIBBEAN:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/gohome.d.....

CARNIVAL:

http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/

-Carnival has more first time cruiser and young people who want to party, party, party. If that is what you are looking for then Carnival is the cruise line for you.

-Royal Caribbean caters most to families and has the most and best on-board activities. Many Royal Caribbean ships have things like ice skating, roller blade track, rock climbing wall, surfing on ship on the "Flowrider", mini-golf course, pool tables. full sized basketball courts, and adults only pool and hot tub area called 'Solarium".

In my opinion Royal Caribbean and Carnival have the easiest web sites to use to find cruises and specials.  Regardless of which of these two cruise lines you select, the things that are included are pretty much the same. The price of your cruise includes your cabin, all meals (including breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks and free room service)(you do pay to eat in the specialty restaurants), all shows and entertainment, and free use of all facilities on the ship except spa services. The things that you will have to pay for are:

GRATUITIES: They will amount to about $10 per person in your cabin per day; about $70 each for a 7 day cruise.

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND SOFT DRINKS: Coffee, tea, milk, juice, and lemonade and punch will be provided free but you must pay for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages and they will add a 15% gratuity to each drink and soft drink order.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Cruise lines will take plenty of photographs of you all over the ship, in the dining room, and as you exit the ship in ports. These will cost a lot, like $15 to $20 for most.

TOURS/EXCURSIONS: You are not required to book any tours and can get off and on in the ports as much as you want. But the cruise line will offer a lot of tours and these are expensive.  

SOUVENIRS: Anything you buy on ship from a gift shop or duty free shop goes on your on board account. Things that you buy on shore you pay cash or credit card for.

CASINO: If you plan to gamble on ship you will need cash for that.

If you think you want to go to the Caribbean there are really three basic types of itineraries.

- Western Caribbean cruises typically go to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and a private cruise line island.  When you go to the Western Caribbean I think that Royal Caribbean has THE best private island at Labadee.

-Eastern Caribbean typically go to St Thomas, St Maarten, a private cruise line island and maybe another island like Tortola or Puerto Rico. If you want to do a lot of shopping then pick a cruise with St Thomas as one of the port stops. St Maarten is also mainly a beach and shopping stop.

- Southern Caribbean cruise itineraries typically start in Puerto Rico and go either to Aruba, Curacao, and St Thomas and St Maarten, OR they go to the southern Caribbean islands like Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, St Lucia and maybe St Thomas and/or St Maarten. The main difference between these two itineraries, aside from the different islands, is the Aruba cruise has 2 "at sea" days with no port stops, while the other has a port stop about each day.

My favorite and recommendation would be a western Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean.