Bob,
We were on Celebrity Eclipse in July and were just on Carnival Paradise last week...
To be honest, things haven't changed that much since 2009...
Our 70,000 gross ton Carnival ship sailed with over 2,600 passengers (Yes, full capacity--not "double capacity"--is 2,634 and it was PACKED)...Our 122,000 gross ton Celebrity ship sailed with 2,800...Major, major difference...
Celebrity was elegant, relaxing, comfortable...Carnival was a noisy, overcrowded ZOO...
I won't argue one point... some folks LIKE noisy, overcrowded zoos...
But, not me...
On Carnival:
** The service was POOR
** The entertainment was TERRIBLE
** The activities (which I expected to be a strong point for Carnival) were actually very limited and few...a major drop from our prior Carnival cruises
There was more to do and better and more varied entertainment on Celebrity...Better food and service on Celebrity is a given...
To be completely fair, this was a brand new Celebrity ship on a longer cruise compared to an older Carnival cruise on a short run...but, I really do not think Carnival is that much better on longer cruises and newer ships...the business model is still to overcrowd ships and cut corners...
