Older Carnival Ships Vs. Newer Carnival Ships?

[kimdeaton1]

Ok so here is one for all of you cruisers.. I know a lot of you will say that its all about preference but I still wanted to do this post anyways. I have been on 8 cruises, the only slightly modern one I went on was the Carnival Destiny but that was when it was new back in 1998. I'm curious to know what the ships of old are missing from the ships of new? And is anything lost from the old ships that you don't get now from the new ones?

Because these ships are so massive now, I was wondering if it loses some of the personableness perhaps? I know in the smaller 50,000 ton ships you'd practically become friends with staff by the end of the week. Is that hard to find on the newer 120,000 ton ships?

 

[glo-ree-bee]

I have been on l huge ship (not a Carnival) and it definitely is not my type of cruise. Too big, not much mixing of passengers (conversation etc), just a lot of milling around. Waiters seemed rushed and not the pleasant chit chat that goes along with a more intimate smaller setting. Now this IS just my opinion but I prefer the less mega sized ships. I like the smaller Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Carnival ships.
Our very first cruise was on the Fantasy and I fell in love with cruising on that ship and for me it was gigantic (in my eyes) and now after having sailed many more times on different sized ships, I still love the feeling of being known by passengers and crew and for me to not feel overwhelmed by just a huge, overblown, glitzy, souless ship. Size is not what sells me!

 

[bob]

I think it depends on what you are looking for.
Our first cruise was on Carnival Tropical, little did we know, this was the smallest and oldest ship in their fleet, (they had retired the Carnivale) everything else was Fantasy class ships. We had a great time and it started us on a path that now includes over 30 cruises, some still on Carnival though we have moved on to lines we prefer more.
Currently the smallest in Carnivals fleet are the Fantasy class ships, they are still a nice easy to get around in ship. We were on the Spirit a while back and it was a pain to get from here to there, to me the ship just didn't flow....
If you are comfortable with Fantasy class, doesn't matter, they are all the same, just different colors inside. That said, if you want to move up in size, give the grand class Princess ships a look, bigger but the only downside is that it is a long walk from front to back, and yup, there are no elevators that go that direction.

 

[sailaway2010]

Ok so here is one for all of you cruisers.. I know a lot of you will say that its all about preference but I still wanted to do this post anyways. I have been on 8 cruises, the only slightly modern one I went on was the Carnival Destiny but that was when it was new back in 1998. I'm curious to know what the ships of old are missing from the ships of new? And is anything lost from the old ships that you don't get now from the new ones?

Because these ships are so massive now, I was wondering if it loses some of the personableness perhaps? I know in the smaller 50,000 ton ships you'd practically become friends with staff by the end of the week. Is that hard to find on the newer 120,000 ton ships?

I've been on many Carnival ships, old and new. Each has it's own merits. It depends on what you're looking for. For me, the older ships have more open spaces (i.e. you can eat breakfast on the deck without the glass enclosure), along with more quiet areas where you can grab a lounge chair and quietly relax, read and/or listen to your music. The newer ships are much larger, glitzier and have more crowded and noisy common areas. But they also offer more dining opputunities and have more things to participate in.

I've never had any problems with the ship's staff on any ship. I've found most of them to be very personable. You just have to remember that on the larger ships, the staff has more to do, after all they are at work. People are people no matter where they are or what they're doing. Some are friendlier than others.

 

[Giles612]

I feel like there is a trend going that the newer and larger the ship is the less you feel like you are on a ship. This may be by design but my absolute favorite thing about being on a cruise ship is that I am on a ship. For that reason I like the Fantasy class ships as I don't feel like I am being shielded from nature. When I was on the Legend I was not happy at all with all the glass shielding and such and the doors to the more open area on the front of the ship were locked. I do understand that the wind can be overwhelming and I can certainly understand why that would be a problem for some people, but I like to camp out on the front of the ship and the more wind the better.

 

[Goguinness]

Our first cruise was on Carnival's Festivale in 1979. It was 38,000 tons, and carried 1400 passengers. It had a lot of deck space, and many places to sit quietly while reading a book, or just watch the ocean gliding by. I find it hard to read a book in this situation. I'll read a few pages then look at the ocean, and before I know it 15 - 20 minutes have passed by. We were recently docked next to one of Carnival's newest, largest ships in Cozumel. The sound from the movie screen by the pool was annoying on our ship, much less on it. I wondered where people could go to read quietly if they had not sprung for a balcony. I guess an idle lounge.

 

[SUNNYDAY]

i like the way you remember all your vacations year after year i sometimes can't remember what ship i was on last years vacation.

 

[Mbandy]

I've been on 21 cruises. I've been on old and new ships. To be honest, I've never met a ship I didn't like.

 

[mgrimes]

For me, I have been on the Fantasy Class ships on Carnival. I can not wait until our cruise on Carnival Magic in 2013. I can finally experience the small vs large.

 

[sailaway2010]

The older ships have more open quiet deck spaces and are easier to navagate.