| You need to talk to your travel agent to get the actual
difference in price, it can vary a lot depending on date etc.
Make sure the cabins are similar etc. I assume you are booking two
cabins, four people in one cabin is cheaper but not all that
pleasant. The Monarch out of San Juan is very popular and even though
it is the same ship as Sovereign/Majesty of Seas and cruise is
same length it is almost always the most expensive of the three
for same cabin/date.
If cruise is not during a vacation week or summer then Monarch will
not have many kids, Carnival will usually have more, but in either
case the week of the cruise determines a lot. In winter on a large
ship the number of kids can go from 50 to 100 out of 2000 on a non
holiday week to 500 to 600 out of 2000 say for a school holiday week.
I am fairly certain that Monarch has a Teen disco if this is
something they like, I believe most Carnival ships have these.
As said in 472.3, Carnival has younger age group, more party oriented,
maybe more fun for teenage kids. RCCL has older average age,
better food and better service.
I think if you compare similar cabin, similar location and same
cruise date then probably difference is not $300 per week but may be.
Festivale is older (I am pretty sure). Also if older be careful, on
older ships of any line the least expensive cabins may have bunk
beds. Monarch does not have any bunk beds, I believe all cabins
have two twins which can be made up as a queen.
Another note just to keep in mind. On a cruise a few years ago we
sat with a travel agent. One thing she said was Carnival paid a
higher than normal commission, 15% vs. 10%. Not sure if this is
still true but if so could affect what agent recommends ?
She also said, after 4 cruises a year on average for a long time,
she preferred RCCL over Carnival any time, but her older teenage kids
preferred Carnival.
If you really want good service and food under Carnivale then you
will have to pay more and cruise on Holland America which Carnivale
owns.
Should have a good time either way.
Harold C.
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| Ah, to be sitting on Coki Beach in St. Thomas drinking a Red-stripe
beer and gazing at the incredible turquoise water...oh no, back to
reality!
Our April 22, 1994 cruise on the Festivale was a blast! Cruising with
your best friends enhances an already wonderful way to vacation - the
party never ends!! I'll try to summarize our highlights in the
following trip report.
CARNIVAL & THE FESTIVALE:
Although an older ship, the Festivale certainly exceeded my
expectations. Very well maintained, clean and polished. The decor is
somewhat dated, but it didn't detract from our enjoyment. The rooms
are typical of older cruise ships - functional but not fancy. We had
an outside room on "Upper" deck which was very conveniently located mid
ship near the Pursers lobby and Dining Room. We felt very little sway
(also had pretty smooth seas the whole trip) and I'd recommend a
similar location for those prone to motion sickness. A number of our
friends had lower level inside cabins at the front of the ship and they
rolled-around a bit more. They also woke up very early every morning
we were in port, as all the ropes, anchors, etc. were operated above
them!
Some of our favorite areas on ship were the Lido deck(s) with fairly
good sized sunning areas around 2 small pools "dip-size". We didn't
have too much trouble getting lounge chairs, but on days at sea it's
adviseable to send someone out by 9-10 a.m. to stake out a few chairs.
People seem to come and go frequently, so you can usually turn up
chairs. Our favorite evening hang-out was the Tradewinds lounge. A
smallish bar with bamboo chairs and palm trees that featured a great
husband/wife band. They played classic rock songs that we all like to
sing and dance to..."Mustang Sally", "Old-time Rock & Roll',
"Margaritaville" etc. If we weren't on the dance floor, we were
tapping our feet and singing in our chairs. A fun spot!
The food was of course ample, but not nearly as good as we've had on
other cruise lines. Appetizers and soups were usually quite good,
salads bad, and entrees hit or miss. Beef dishes were always good,
some fish outstanding, others lack-luster, and pastas very good. The
real disappointment were desserts - most looked better than they
tasted. Oh well, maybe that helped keep a few extra pounds off. We
certainly had plenty to eat! And the best thing is, if a dish was
served that you didn't like, all you had to do was say so, and another
meal was quickly brought to you. Our service was terrific - our busboy
Omar had a smile that stretched from ear to ear, and we had a great
time joking around with the head waiter.
This itinerary has lots of days in port, but there were still plenty of
on-board activities. There didn't seem to be a big push by the staff
though to get passengers to attend activites. I'd heard Carnival was a
party atmosphere, but I think that may just be a reflection of the
younger crowd that frequents their ships. The activities were not much
different than those we participated in on NCL. There was a masquerade
night, but it wasn't hyped by staff in advance. Two of our group won
first prize for their Wayne and Garth costumes, but it wasn't too
difficult with only two other contestents! They had a great time
acting out their parts all evening on the dance floor and with other
passengers though! Evening entertainment ranged from great to tacky.
We were disappointed with the stage shows on formal night - a little
too "Disney World." But there were terrific calypso bands, dancing,
contests, comedians, and parties. To make your drinking dollars go
farther, be sure to attend the early evening lounge specials - 2 for 1
night,
captain's complimentary cocktail night, guacamole & margarita party
etc. But as I said before, when you're with friends, you can make your
own entertainment just about any time, any where! The two formal
nights were very special - all our men in tuxedos and women bejeweled.
The first formal night there were only a handful of men in tuxes (this
had been a full day in port and I think a lot of passengers were
dragging that night), but the last gala farewell formal night everyone
seemed to really dress up - about 1/4 of the men had tuxes - great fun!
PORTS & ACTIVITIES:
San Juan - since we were flying from the West Coast on red-eye flights
(which Delta did a great job of screwing up!) we opted to come in a day
early and added on a night at the Condado Beach hotel. A wise choice
in preventing jet-lag and we had a lot of fun in San Juan on Saturday.
Sunday mid-day we dropped our luggage at the docks, then went to old
San Juan, had lunch at Hard-Rock Cafe and then boarded ship around 4:00
after walking off lunch. We left port around 10:00 p.m. surrounded by
lights from other cruise ships, stars twinkling above and a calypso
band providing dance music - Anchors away!!
St. Thomas - Our favorite of all days! We hired a taxi van right at
the ship dock who was at our beck and call all day for $20 each. We
spent the morning shopping - most of us bought jewelry and snorkel
equipment. Then our friendly cabbie took us back to the ship for lunch
and we changed to swim gear. We asked him to take us to a beach with
good snorkeling that won't be frequented by other cruise ship hoards.
He took us to paradise - Coki Beach!! A small bay near "Coral World"
where the snorkeling was outstanding, the sandy beach white, the water
crystal clear and the crowds minimal. The locals come out and sell you
a beach chair if you want for $5.00, and they'll serve you cold beer
and pina coladas. No Problems, Mon!!! We saw fish of all shapes,
sizes and colors while snorkeling - the best we encountered on any
island.
St. Maarten - Again, we hired a van for the day, shopped in the morning
and spent the afternoon basking on the beach. We found shopping in the
Dutch Phillipsburg pretty comparable to St. Thomas. Then we went to
the French side of the island to Orient Beach - the infamous "swimsuits
optional" attraction. The beach was beautiful, snorkeling poor,
sightseeing very interesting! Some of us crossed "the line" and sunned
and swam over on the optional side, while others choose to remain on
the conservative side. Driving around the island was interesting,
especially as narrated by our driver, who would pull off the road for
us to take scenic pictures, and filled us in on all the history.
Dominica - Unfortunately, we were not allowed to Port as scheduled that
morning. There was civil unrest on the island because of a new tax
that had been imposed. We were disappointed because we had heard the
Emerald Pool tour in the rain forest is outstanding, and some of the
group had arranged for a scuba dive. The cruise line refunded all tour
monies and gave each passenger a $20 credit to be used aboard ship. It
was actually nice to have a day to lounge on deck and play
shuffleboard after so many days on the go.
Barbados - As mentioned in other notes, the highlight here is taking
the Bajan Queen Rum Boat tour package! If you like to drink and party,
this is the ticket for your day to really tie one on! We went into the
city briefly in the morning (to replace travelers checks one of our
group lost!) but weren't too impressed. We found the taxi drivers to
be almost hostile towards us - not fun and cordial like the other
islands. We heard from others who toured outside the city that the
island was beautiful. But we opted to spend the afternoon on the
Bajan. They anchor the boat off a beach and you spend the day diving
off the third floor diving board into the ocean, or swinging out from
the side of the ship on a long rope swing then dropping into the water
(yes, this can be a real experience after a few of their rum punches!!)
Then as you cruise back to port, the music is kicked up full force and
the conga line begins. Non-stop dancing and partying - what a day!
Martinique - The most picturesque of the islands we saw. After a
hair-raising cab ride into the town, we wandered through the local
crafts booths and picked up some tinkets. Then we took the ferry boat
across the bay to Baqua Beach. This was a resort area with manicured
beaches, straw huts, rental chairs and beautiful waters. We found some
good snorkeling here too - swam behind a school of 30 squid - really
cool! I would like to have had more time to explore the island - it
looked very lush. Guess we'll just have to make another trip back!
I can't say enough about our trip - can you tell? Our group was
already making plans for the next cruise before we arrived home! The
itinirary is great if you want a lot of ports and activity and we would
recommend the Festival and Carnival to future cruisers! Have fun!
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