Royal Caribbean Fans

Royal Caribbean Fans recently recieved an email asking us to compare Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines with Carnival Cruise Lines. As we have never cruised on Carnival, we called upon our friend Mikey Faust to share his likes and dislikes about the two lines.

CARNIVAL - Thumbs Up

- Great service thanks to a great crew! They are always very caring and willing to help you with anything you need.

- Nice cabins! Carnival actually has the largest cabins out of the main cruise lines. Obviously Silversea and Seabourn will have huge cabins, but Carnival's are the largest compared to NCL, RCI, Celebrity, etc.

- Great food! I have never had a meal on Carnival that I did not enjoy!

- Nice sized ships! I have cruised on the Carnival Victory twice, the Carnival Valor twice, and the Carnival Freedom once. These ships are the perfect size since they carry only about 2,500 passengers and because of their size, they can go almost anywhere in the world!

- The shows! On my most recent cruise I attended almost every show, because they were so good! These productions were some of the best that I have ever seen on a ship! The best one had to be, Ticket to Ride, which is generally accepted as Carnival's best production show!

- The poolside theater! During the day, Carnival plays videos highlighting ports of call, and at night they play recently released movies with lounge chairs and popcorn!

CARNIVAL - Thumbs Down

- The pools. -On Carnival, the pools can be a little small and because their saltwater, it doesn't really help them.

- The water slide. On Carnival's older ships the one water slide is a bit boring, but on their newer ships, they look amazing and are some of the best at sea!

ROYAL CARIBBEAN - Thumbs Up

- The interior design. I do look on Royal Caribbean the interior design of the ships. They sue very soft colors and is a bit more relaxed. I have been on Brilliance of the Seas, and I loved the interior design!

- The innovations. I will say Royal Caribbean has come up with some great ideas, such as the zip line, surfing, and the split superstructure idea for Allure and Oasis, but I don't really want all of that on a ship. It seems like to much to do. In fact, Princess Cruises had a commercial showing some Royal Caribbean features and they said, "tired of floating amusement parks?"

ROYAL CARIBBEAN - Thumbs Down

- The food. When I cruised on Royal Caribbean, the food really wasn't all that exciting. The Winjammer Buffet kind of bored me and it felt weird eating a slice of a sandwich that was made to serve like 100 people int he buffet. Plus, I hear a lot that people don't enjoy the food on Royal.

The most common outbreak that occurs on a cruise ship is called the Noro virus. It is a highly contagious gastro-intestinal illness that strikes mainly where people are living in close quarters, and displays symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting. There can't be much worse than getting ill on your vacation. While the Noro virus isn't too serious an illness, the aggressive way it can spread on a cruise ship makes it particularly grotesque. The worst outbreaks are notable for the sheer volume of passengers afflicted and the way the crew dealt with the illness.

All major disease-related activity on cruise ships is required to be reported to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). This information is aggregated and combined with passenger reports and other online news sources on Cruise Junkie, where information for this article was gathered.

1. Carnival Conquest, 12/12/11

This Carnival Cruise Lines ship was struck with the Noro virus and several passengers spoke out about the poor way the crew handled the situation. The crew seemed to try to keep knowledge of the outbreak at bay and neglected to inform most of the passengers that could have otherwise been more cautious about the spread. Inflicted passengers were isolated to their rooms without much in the way of food or drink. The sneaky way in which the crew kept the outbreak a secret is what worsened the situation in this cruise. Had they been a bit more forward in relaying the facts, the illness may have been less noteworthy, as it wouldn't have attracted a public outcry.

2. Celebrity Constellation, 12/9/11

After a previous cruise gone awry, this cruise ship took precautions to a whole new level, spraying down the rooms with bleach after each event and restricting all passengers from any self-serving of food. A passenger commented that, "the prior cruise Istanbul/ Turkey was so bad it was reported people got #2 at the buffet, and in the Solarium Jacuzzi!!! The men in orange suits arrived, but people continued to eat.” The ship may have been spooked by the earlier outbreak, but the fact of the matter remains that there is little you can do to prevent Noro virus from spreading since as many as a few particles are enough to spread the disease from passenger to passenger. The best method is instructing everyone to engage in their own proper hygiene, not scare the passengers with aggressive bleaching and HASMAT suits.

3. MSC Opera, 6/23/10

A disgruntled passenger wrote that "400 passengers [were] taken ill" on this ship, on a cruise that generally accommodates about 3,000 people. Passengers were so inundated with sickness that they were vomiting in public areas around the ship, unable to make it to their rooms or public restrooms. While passengers were given free doctor visits, this does little to mitigate the situation, since there is no real treatment for the Noro virus but to expel it from your system and drink plenty of fluids.

4. Independence of the Seas, 11/5/09

A couple from this Royal Caribbean International cruise threatened to sue over contracting a serious bout of food poisoning on the ship. According to the couple, they "sent food back several times and also saw curdled milk and yoghurts in faulty chiller cabinets," implying a marked lack of sanitation on board. The husband experienced such intense illness that he lost a reported 10.5 pounds in weight as a result of the food poisoning. Unlike the Noro virus that must run its course, the food poisoning had to be treated with antibiotics.

5. Voyager of the Seas, 7/31/09

On this cruise, the crew took the brunt on the illness, with 60 crew members coming down with the Swine Flu and 70 showing possible signs of it. The crew was quarantined until they recovered and only one passenger was struck with H1N1. This ship did a decent job of confining the illness, although it was made more public to the media given that the Swine Flu had received so much negative attention. The Swine Flu presents typical flu-like symptoms, which are miserable to endure, but certainly not as bad as the doubled vomiting and diarrhea of the Noro virus.

Today I read a number of articles that have stated that the residents of Venice and people who are responsible for the upkeep of the city are calling for a ban on cruise ships over fears that the ships wakes are causing unnessecary waves and therefore erosion of the foundations and buildings of the city. The mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, has suggested that Porto Maghera on the mainland of Italy be used as the main port for cruise ships visiting Venice instead.

This would put an end to cruise ships sailing past St. Marks Square, dwarfing the buildings and everything around them. I have previously cruised in and out of Venice a number of times and have really enjoyed the view it allows over the city as the ships are considerably larger than everything around them. I have never thought about the impact of the ships wake on the city and if the impact of the ships is enough to put this beautiful and truly unique city in dangers then I certainly back the proposals to move the port to Porto Maghera. If not being able to sail in and out of Venice and having to travel further from the ship to the centre of Venice will mean that the city can be preserved for longer then I absolutely support it. Venice is such an amazing place and I think that everything should be done in order to preserve it for as long as possible.

What do you think about cruise ships sailing in and out of Venice? Do you agree that they should be stopped in order to preserve the city?

Yesterday I read a great article by Adam Goldstein, President and CEO of of RCI about the refurbishment of Splendour of the Seas which is taking place in dry docks in Cadiz right now.

One of the changes he detailed was the changing of the Viking Crown Lounge into Chops Grille which I think is a great idea as passengers will have amazing views from the highest point of the ship while they dine.

124 balcony cabins are being added to the ship which will be a welcome addition for those who enjoy a bit of private outdoor space. All bathrooms are being completely refurbished too.

I was onboard Splendour of the Seas in September 2010 and really enjoyed the ship. I thought it was a great size and liked the open plan feel of the two-teir dining room with its large windows.

There is also major changes taking place in the centrum of the ship (pictured above in September 2010) and a new nightclub Izumi is being created.

Thats right. I am now a co-blogger on Mikey Faust's brilliant cruise blog, mikeyscruiseblog.com. I will be posting some articles on cruising and Royal Caribbean.

More details to follow!

Hi everyone and welcome to my first post as guest blogger here on RCI Fans website.

For my first post I just wanted to share some information with everyone on my previous Royal Caribbean cruises and why I love cruising so much.

I've been lucky enough to complete 10 cruises, 5 of them with Royal Caribbean and I always enjoy the great service onboard RCI. The staff are always very friendly and accommodating which always makes for a great holiday.

My very first Royal Caribbean cruise was onboard the beautiful Legend of the Seas way back in 2005. We sailed out of Southampton to the Western Mediterranean and I totally loved it. I haven't been onboard the Legend since then but my memories of the ship are great. I loved the two tier dining room and the staff were amazing.

My most recent cruise was onboard the Grandeur of the Seas in September of this year. We sailed from Palma to Cannes, Civitavecchia (for Rome) La Spezia, and Palermo. I had been to each of these places on previous cruises but the the South of France is one of my favourite areas and Rome is a place I could never tire of so I had a great time.

As has been previously said on the most recent Grandeur of the Seas review the ship is in definite need of refurbishment, luckily this is scheduled to take place in May 2012. The ship is going to be given the full treatment including technology upgrades, speciality restaurants and many of the other features which passengers come to expect from Royal Caribbean's fleet. There is more information on Royal Caribbean's refurbishment of the Grandeur on my blog www.emmastraveltales.blogspot.com if you want to know more.

My next cruise will be onboard the Grandeur in June 2012 so the ship will have just been refurbished and I can't wait to see what will have changed. The introduction of speciality restaurants is one feature which I think I will enjoy most as I love being able to have different choices of where to dine.