opinions, RC Allure or Carnival Horizon or Breeze

[daisyx3]

Another cruiser thinking of taking the plunge from DCL. While DH and I are cruising on the 3 night Fantasy this summer to get our grand slam, I started looking at next summer and the 4 night double dip would be 4200 for us, 5000 if we include our college son (who will be 21). I started shopping around and see I can get more cruise for less money. Plus we've done Nassau 3 times after this next one and even though I love CC, I'd like to branch out.
My choices:
Carnival Horizon--can get a Havana Cabana for 6 nights for the three of us.
Carnival breeze--6 night for even less, even with a spa balcony room.
RCCL Allure--7 nights, with an extra sea day, Labadee, Falmouth, Cozumel. Price same as the 6 night on the Horizon, but in a regular balcony.

I'm not worried about the "leaving DCL" angle, although DH thinks we love the cruises because of the Disney, and I think we just love the water. I'm just wondering which of these lines might be better, especially for my son. Last time we cruised DCL he was 17 and LOVED the teen club, but as a 21 year old I'd rather he had things to do other than drink like he was at his frat house. I know both lines have stuff he would enjoy, but also have to have good food. ALSO, if I book now, and he gets an internship or something for next summer, can I just remove him from my booking and keep the room, or do they move me around to something for 2 that I might not want.
So any opinions wanted. Fire away.

 

[Frozen2014]

Can't speak for the Carnival ships but Allure is an amazing ship, and would be great for college kids (heck, we went with out 6 and 10 year old and they loved it). There is so much to do...rock wall, flowrider, zipline, sports court, ice skating, pools, and various activities. Shows are amazing and a variety (Mamma Mia, Aqua shows that are something to see, cirque du soleil type show, ice skating, and headliner). Food is great and large variety, different "neighborhoods" and the ship itself is beautiful.

As for booking and cancelling...I'd check wtih Royal. They do have refundable (up to final payment) and non-refundable...just not sure the rules if it's just one person who cancels.

 

[OKgirl]

We've been on the Breeze as well as Oasis and Harmony (Allure's sister ships). Breeze has been my favorite ship with carnival and Harmony was my favorite ship with RCL! Both are great options and you'll have a blast either way. For me, I'd go with the longer cruise! RCL seems to have a lot more activities to do during the day so the pools never seem as crowded as they do on Carnival. RCL has better shows but I feel like Carnival has a bit better night life if you're into dancing, bars, etc. Carnival also wins on comedy shows (which my husband prefers) - they are dirty, raunchy, and politically incorrect the entire time, but we always laugh until we cry! (We laugh even harder when someone gets offended and marches out of the room!) I prefer Broadway shows so I love RCL's shows! We found food to be excellent with both but prefer the poolside options on Carnival ships. (You have to get dressed and go into the buffet on RCL's ships, and sometimes fight for a table). We love to just grab a burger and fries when we feel like it and eat outside on our chairs! I'm not sure if Allure has water slides (Oasis didn't but Harmony did). The Breeze has water slides if this is important to you. Good luck with your decision!!

 

[starvenger]

I think @mevelandry would probably have a good comparison of Carnival and Royal.

I've not done Carnival, but going on Allure for the 3rd time in August, and 4th overall on an Oasis class. I do want to try Carnival at some point though.

So with Allure's itinerary, I'm sure you're familiar with Falmouth and Cozumel. Labadee is a nice private peninsula, but I do like Castaway Cay better. Recommend taking the ferry to Columbus Cove - it's a little calmer and has less people.

With the ship itself... it is a BIG ship. You do get used to the size, but you will be doing a bit of walking, for certain. And as previously mentioned there is quite a bit to do if your son is active.

 

[mevelandry]

I think @mevelandry would probably have a good comparison of Carnival and Royal.

I've not done Carnival, but going on Allure for the 3rd time in August, and 4th overall on an Oasis class. I do want to try Carnival at some point though.

So with Allure's itinerary, I'm sure you're familiar with Falmouth and Cozumel. Labadee is a nice private peninsula, but I do like Castaway Cay better. Recommend taking the ferry to Columbus Cove - it's a little calmer and has less people.

With the ship itself... it is a BIG ship. You do get used to the size, but you will be doing a bit of walking, for certain. And as previously mentioned there is quite a bit to do if your son is active.

I haven't tried Royal yet (October 2019) but I have done 3 Carnival cruises, one of them being on the Horizon's "sister ship" Vista (Horizon sound even better than the Vista).

To vulgarize, I'll just say that everything we enjoyed on the Disney Dream, the Vista had it or did it better. The Breeze has a lot of fans among the Carnival cruisers. Althought I have not sailed on them yet, I honestly don't think you can go wrong with the Horizon or the Breeze.

I've done a spa cabin on the Vista. I loved it so much that I booked a Cloud 9 Spa cabin on the Sunshine for next year.

I haven't tried Havana yet but I've seen it from the aft pool and if I could it's definitely something I would do. I haven't read one bad review about it yet.

The perfect cabin would be a Havana Cloud 9 spa cabin but they did not invent those yet. LOL

 

[starvenger]

Oops, thought you'd done Royal once. My bad.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

I did the Carnival magic a year ago and took my 22, 20 and 18 year old for the 18 yr olds sr trip. My 20 year old felt bored - if he had a friend other than his brother or sister (and her hs friends) there it would have been better for him. He felt stuck in the middle - too young to drink and too old to be in the teen clubs. He was bored on the ship itself.

The Magic was a really great ship - same class as the Breeze I believe. I am sailing on the Vista very, very soon and I can let you know how that is. I sail on the Allure in September and am looking forward to the comparison myself. I know they will be 2 very different experiences but I look forward to each!

 

[Pigletpal40]

We've done three RCCL cruises on Explorer, Navigator and Allure. All three are beautiful, but Allure is fantastic. We had a tenth floor Boardwalk Balcony view right on the corner and had both Boardwalk and Ocean views as well as Water Show and nightly movies right from our balcony.
We Cruised NCL Getaway this year and missed the Promenade and both Central Park and Boardwalk.