Cruises - Cruise Options Departing out of NOLA

Hey guys,

GF and I (mid-20's) are booking a cruise for the last week of March and I need some help deciding between two options:

Carnival Elation - CC Rating 4.3 - ~$400
RC Voyager of the Seas - CC Rating 4.5 - ~810

Anyone had any personal experiences with these ships? I'm trying to figure out if the RC ship is significantly better to justify double the price.

Thanks!

are the cabins equal?....both inside, for example....the ships ~ the same pax capacity?

Voyager of the Seas by a long shot. Waaaay more entertainment options, bars, restaurants, newer design of ship. I will look at Carnival, but not that class of ship as our personal tastes range to the larger ships. You are also comparing a 4 or 5 day cruise on Carnival to a 7 day on RCI so that explains the price difference. You might look at the Carnival Conquest, which would be a more fair comparison ship-wise to the RCI ship.

We did Voyager in Europe in 2007 and had a great time. The ship was extremely well maintained, service was excellent and the bars, restaurants and entertainment were better than average.

I have been on two of the sister ships of the Carnival one, they are smaller and a bit older then the Conquest. You will probably only get 1 maybe 2 ports on a short cruise where the 7 day you get about 3. The conquest is a nice boat also, i did a 7 day ob her (prior to Katrina and the movement to Galveston for a few years. Haven't been on it since its return). As others have said, make sure your are comparing apples to apples. (Cabin type, cruise length, number if ports etc).

Voyager of the Seas by a long shot. Waaaay more entertainment options, bars, restaurants, newer design of ship. I will look at Carnival, but not that class of ship as our personal tastes range to the larger ships. You are also comparing a 4 or 5 day cruise on Carnival to a 7 day on RCI so that explains the price difference. You might look at the Carnival Conquest, which would be a more fair comparison ship-wise to the RCI ship.

Yea, I was afraid of the entertainment options on the Carnival. That post just swung me over to the RC option.

Thanks!

Yea, I was afraid of the entertainment options on the Carnival. That post just swung me over to the RC option.

Thanks!

Yeah, the Voyager class is a very nice class of ship. My favourite class so far. I don't however think you would have been disappointed with the other Carnival ship I mentioned, the Conquest. It's a large ship as well, although not as big as Voyager. It has numerous dining and entertainment options, and nice sized cabins.

But the the Carnival Elation just isn't a fair comparison to make. I'm sure that class of ship was awesome 20 something years ago when Carnival debuted it, but to me, given all the newer ship designs since then, I don't even look at them on the search engines. If you were after a cheap, long weekend getaway, then that might the ship to look at.

We have done the Conquest (7 day) and the shorter cruise out of MSY. The Conquest was very nice. The shorter one was the worst cruise ever. No comparison. Do NOT take the shorter cruise.