Looking for a Christmas Cruise. I'm a cruise virgin, so looking for some recommendations.

As of right now, I see a Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Sea and Carnival Magic for the same departure and length. Carnival is about $200 cheaper and both have 4+ star ratings on CheapCaribbean. I have always heard Royal is the way to go, but wanted to get some insight. Thanks!

depends if you want a young crowd or an elderly one..

If you want young go on carnival.

let's be fair here. Yes, Carnival has a younger crowd, but to imply that RCCL is an "elderly" crowd is going a bit far.

RCCL passengers are more reserved than Carnival, but that is just as much of a reflection on the typical passengers on Carnival as RCCL. There are plenty of young people that enjoy RCCL, because they don't want the constant party of Carnival.

RCCL is hardly Holland America or Celebrity when it comes to elderly.

Never been on Carnival but my first cruise ever was on the Mariner when it was based in Florida. Great ship.

I went on Carnival last summer. We had a great time, so we booked on Carnival Magic this summer. I am looking forward to it and have heard great things, but I cannot give an opinion of the ship yet.

However, in comparison of the cruiselines, I believe Carnival is more centered around families. There are lots of children's activities. RCCL does not have as much of this. I do not believe there is necessarily a huge difference in adult ages just that one is more centered on adults, and the other is more focused on family.

Young, old, party, non-party, and whatever other misconceptions people think up all go out the window for all cruise lines at Christmas. Christmas is a very busy time for cruising as children are out of school and families are traveling together. Basically, it's a melting pot of passengers of all ages and varieties, regardless of cruise line.

It's one of the most expensive times of year to be taking a cruise. The prices for the two weeks around Christmas and New Years will be significantly higher than the weeks preceding and weeks following. Demand is very high and cabins fill up pretty far in advance, especially triple and quad occupancy cabins.

As far as the Carnival Magic and Mariner of the Seas, they're both fairly similar as far as quality. The Magic is newer and will be less worn than the Mariner. The Mariner is still in good condition, though, and generally has a wider range of activities for it's passengers.

As long as Carnival is overall solid quality, I don't care who is on the ship as long as they let me eat, drink and be merry.

I can tell you more on August 5th upon my return. I hoping it will be the vacation I want it to be. We have a balcony room, and we are so looking forward to it.

Also, www.cruisecritic.com is a great resource with reviews of every ship (passengers and journalist reviews)and message boards with lots of information.

We went on the Carnival Magic in January. If you want to eat, drink and be merry, you'll be just fine on the Carnival ship. We've sailed Carnival and Disney so that's all I have to compare. I'd take Disney over Carnival, but Carnival is a great line. We found the party crowd stereotype to be misleading. There were people of all ages and backgrounds on the boat. We liked it enough to book future cruise credits while onboard.

I was advised by a cruise veteran that the age of the ship will be a factor on your cruise. And the Magic is new...not sure about RCCL.