Carnival cruise comparison?

[annaruth674]

My mother is taking my daughter and I on a Carnival Cruise for DD's birthday next year. We're super thankful for her generosity, and are looking forward to spending that time with her! However, all we know is DCL, so we're a little unsure of what to expect from Carnival. I'm reading the forums on their site, etc, but I was wondering if anyone on here who had been on both could give me a heads up for some of the differences? Especially with the family/kid areas?

Thanks for any tips or info!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My mother is taking my daughter and I on a Carnival Cruise for DD's birthday next year. We're super thankful for her generosity, and are looking forward to spending that time with her! However, all we know is DCL, so we're a little unsure of what to expect from Carnival. I'm reading the forums on their site, etc, but I was wondering if anyone on here who had been on both could give me a heads up for some of the differences? Especially with the family/kid areas?

Thanks for any tips or info!

We've done one Carnival cruise. IMO, there really isn't much comparison. I can't really address the kid's club except to note that on Carnival the hours are more limited. And it's real hit or miss as to whether the people working there are any good.

Our experience on Carnival wasn't all that bad. But the shows in the main theatre are really awful, as far as we're concerned. While we didn't wind up on a real "party" cruise as I was worried about, there certainly were a lot more drinkers and many of the people who had kids onboard really seemed to just let them run around and do their own thing.

The food onboard I felt wasn't as good as Disney. I'm certainly not saying Disney is any great shakes in the food department, they're just better than what we had on Carnival.

There's really not specific "family" areas, but at the pool, there were hairy chest contests, wet t-shirt contests and REALLLLLLY loud music. I've read that the sound level on the lido decks has been dialed back, but I can't confirm that. All I know is when DH & I were by the pool, we couldn't carry on a conversation because of the decibel level.

 

[TravelBugg]

I know you asked for opinions from those who have been on both and I've only been on Carnival (going on Disney for the first time this Saturday), but I will share my thoughts.

Carnival has a casino which is always smokey, which can be annoying if that bothers you (no offense to the smokers, just an observation).

As far as food, we are kind of food snobs and think the food on Carnival is pretty good. We haven't tried the reservation-only dining, only the main dining, lido deck (food that's included with your cruise fare). They have a special tea time and other random events as well. Watch the Carnival Caper (if that's what they are still called, like the Navigator).

Entertainment is pretty good. We always enjoy the cover band that plays in the small club. They have Vegas-style shows in which the dancers can be dressed a little more risqué than Disney (from what I can tell having not gone in Disney). Of course there are the usual handouts like karaoke bars too.

I'm not sure how old your daughter is but there still are kids clubs and activities like scavenger hunts. Teens and pre-teens have their own hang-outs too.

I know they have a reputation as a "party boat" but we've really not experienced anything too crazy. We haven't seen the drunken fools hanging their heads over the side puking up their escargot and hot melting cake. We've always had a great time! Can't wait to take our Disney cruise this Saturday and experience this line! Have fun!

 

[Tami0220]

I've been on 2 Disney cruises and went on a short Carnival one in February. I love everything Disney so I might be biased. But the food was comparable.On Carnival I liked the food in the buffet and pool side cooked to order foods. Didnt care much for the main dining room food except for the mac n cheese and hot lava cake. They seemed to offer the same side dishes each night with a different choice of entree. I like Disney's main dining rooms better. Service on Carnival was good, Disney very good. Disney entertainment excellent, Carnival good but not great. I agree, the music level pool side was deafening. I did like that Carnival supplied toothpaste and instead of little bottles of toiletries like Disney does Carnival had dispensers in the showers. Hated walking by the Casino on Carnival due to smoke smell. Also on one deck the have some statutes around the outer edge of room. They were gold topless women. The nipples were rubbed off on quite a few. Liked my room better on Disney as well as the bed. On Carnival it was 2 twins pushed together and you could definitely feel where they were joined. Not a dreamy sleep like on Disney. So there are good and bads with both. But maintain a good attitude and you will have a great time.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I've been on 2 Disney cruises and went on a short Carnival one in February. I love everything Disney so I might be biased. But the food was comparable.On Carnival I liked the food in the buffet and pool side cooked to order foods. Didnt care much for the main dining room food except for the mac n cheese and hot lava cake. They seemed to offer the same side dishes each night with a different choice of entree. I like Disney's main dining rooms better. Service on Carnival was good, Disney very good. Disney entertainment excellent, Carnival good but not great. I agree, the music level pool side was deafening. I did like that Carnival supplied toothpaste and instead of little bottles of toiletries like Disney does Carnival had dispensers in the showers. Hated walking by the Casino on Carnival due to smoke smell. Also on one deck the have some statutes around the outer edge of room. They were gold topless women. The nipples were rubbed off on quite a few. Liked my room better on Disney as well as the bed. On Carnival it was 2 twins pushed together and you could definitely feel where they were joined. Not a dreamy sleep like on Disney. So there are good and bads with both. But maintain a good attitude and you will have a great time.

I didn't mean my report to sound as negative as it did. Sorry.

We took a short Carnival cruise last February. My initial fears of the party atmosphere were pretty much eased. We had a very laid back group on that particular cruise. Even the CD commented during one of the shows that the audience participation wasn't real forthcoming. Most people at the shows seemed to be there to pretty much just watch.

As for the actual shows, yes, they are very much a Vegas-style show (with skimpy costumes), but one of the 2 they did wasn't too bad. The second one seemed to be a knock-off of the first show, so didn't come across as good. And the two shows were repeated (this was only a 4 night cruise). The two comedians they had (switching off on the adult/family comedy show) I found to be extremely lacking. And Carnival's definition of "family show" certainly isn't anywhere near Disney's.

I agree the décor does seem a bit more garish than DCL, but it was interesting.

The food onboard I found to be fair to bad. On DCL I've only had one dish in all my cruises that I'd consider bad. But, DCL food is typically, IMO, good to great. I found the buffet marginally better than the MDR. The only exception was I found the hamburgers served poolside to be the best burgers I've had on any cruise.

The best thing we did was the Behind the Fun Tour. We got taken in many of the different crew areas.

We took that cruise just as a quick get-away. And for that it was fine. But I don't think that Carnival will be on our dance card again for quite a while (if ever).

 

[mareed]

I have cruised Carnival once, a 4 night cruise over last Easter. Didn't have children with us, but there were many kids on-board since it was a holiday long-weekend cruise.

I agree with many/most of the previous comments. Please re-set your expectations that the cruise will be a nice get-away with the people you're travelling with and make the most of that aspect and of your time at ports. We found food comparable, but everything else was sub-par to Disney in our opinion. The main evening shows were supposedly family friendly, but some of the cruise director comments were definitely pretty far along the PG13 rating and the dancer costumes were much skimpier than Disney's (think almost thong under the shirts that would show as the girls danced). It was just not something I wanted to see and may have felt a bit uncomfortable with my children with me. Smoking allowed inside many of the lounges/nightclubs in addition to the casino that you had to walk through to get from one end of the ship to another. Entertainment at the main pool consists of things like hairy chest contest with guest women judges evaluating the contestants who are dancing right in front of them, and men doing things like pretty crude "pole-dancing" in the outside shower. All of this is with kids of all ages right at the edge of the pool with this right in their faces.

Oddly enough one of our favorite things to do was Disney music trivia! They had a larger than expected turnout for that I think and it was lots of fun.

I would absolutely have to have a balcony cabin on Carnival so that I have my private space to be outside, and I wouldn't cruise with multiple generations (my children or my parents) because their entertainment overall would just make me uncomfortable (& I'm really not a prude). We love Disney's adult night-club entertainment and I have no problem taking my 18 year old child or my parents there with me, but Carnival's adult comedy club wasn't really enjoyable even with my husband with me because they didn't seem to know anything except extremely crude humor with bad language with the F word as every 3rd word - and that was suppposed to be funny somehow...

Sorry to be fairly negative, but it's my honest opinion based on an actual cruise. If you do it, re-set expectations and plan to make your own entertainment and enjoy your travel companions.

 

[GooniesAndy]

I took a short Carnival cruise this summer with my parents and my children, and we had fun. My parents are Celebrity cruisers, and we are of the DCL variety, so it was very different for all of us but we all enjoyed it. We thought the food was good. One night my father and I ordered from the steakhouse menu (because our ship didn't have a steakhouse they had a special upcharge menu) and it was very tasty. My son was madly in love with the chocolate melting cake. And there were some gorgeous looking cakes in the coffee shop. You had to pay for them, but they were very inexpensive.

My boys were 5 and 8 and they had a great time at the kids clubs. My younger son was just about a month away from his sixth birthday and they let him switch to the club his brother was in. We didn't go to any of the nighttime shows and didn't see anything inappropriate. The one we regretted skipping was the Hasbro Game Night, which was a family-oriented game show. The boys and I used the water slides and hot tubs, and it was just fine. We participated in a family scavenger hunt, which was a lot of fun. Mom and I played a lot of trivia. The boys and I were in an outside room while my parents had a suite up top. The rooms were small, but we didn't really care.

DCL is our first love, but for an inexpensive getaway Carnival was just fine! We'll probably do it again sometime.

 

[TXDCLfan]

We've done one Carnival cruise. IMO, there really isn't much comparison. I can't really address the kid's club except to note that on Carnival the hours are more limited. And it's real hit or miss as to whether the people working there are any good.

Our experience on Carnival wasn't all that bad. But the shows in the main theatre are really awful, as far as we're concerned. While we didn't wind up on a real "party" cruise as I was worried about, there certainly were a lot more drinkers and many of the people who had kids onboard really seemed to just let them run around and do their own thing.

The food onboard I felt wasn't as good as Disney. I'm certainly not saying Disney is any great shakes in the food department, they're just better than what we had on Carnival.

There's really not specific "family" areas, but at the pool, there were hairy chest contests, wet t-shirt contests and REALLLLLLY loud music. I've read that the sound level on the lido decks has been dialed back, but I can't confirm that. All I know is when DH & I were by the pool, we couldn't carry on a conversation because of the decibel level.

We have been on 8 Carnival cruises and have never seen or heard of them hosting a wet tee shirt contest.....are you really sure about this???

 

[drb116]

We did a Carnival cruise on the Pride once and said never again (but did a second 2 night cruise to nowhere). It wasn't all bad, it just wasn't for us. We found it to be more crowded and more about the nightlife compared to a Disney cruise.

Here are a few of the things we thought were good:
- The food variety was nice and my wife actually likes the food better on Carnival. I thought they had some good dishes, but a lot of not so good dishes.

- Our kids loved the kids club. We found that Disney is very reliant on the physical club and a lot of kids just play on their own. Carnival didn't have a flashy space, but the counselors were excellent at engaging the kids and our kids really liked it.

- Most of their ships (and the one we were on) have a comedy club. We really liked this and they had a family friendly version.

What we really didn't like:
- The crowds, even in the adults only area it was nearly impossible to get a seat
- The entertainment was generally not good, especially compared to Disney
- The kids clubs were closed at random times and these times seemed to correspond to the best adult events
- There are not nearly as many activities to do together as a family

The way I see it, a day on a Carnival boat might not be as good as a day on a Disney boat, but it is better than a day at home or a day in the office!

 

[BrookeMQ]

What ship will you be sailing on? And how many days? Shorter cruises get the reputation for being the "party cruises".

We did a 7 day cruise on the Dream in january. We have 2 kids (3 and 5). They had a blast. They loved the kids club and all of the activities. They got mad when we would pick them up. they even chose to eat dinner in the kids club most nights.

We didn't experience any crazy drunk people that I remember.

The main pool area is loud. So we would just go to the pool on the back of the ship.

I thought the lunch buffet area was much better than any other ships we have been on. They had a regular buffet line but then had different food stations: tandoori, burrito bar, made to order pasta upstairs, mongolian wok, etc. They also had a deli that was pretty good. And the 24 hour pizza was suprisingly good. And of course they had the pool side hamburger/hot dog place.

On sea days you can also choose to eat Brunch in the main dining room. We all enjoyed our meals on those 2 days.

Entertainment was a little cheesy but still fun.

They had movies on the pool deck at night and also played the football playoff games.

We had a great time on Carnival and have sailed many other cruise lines before.

 

[wcw57]

There's really not specific "family" areas, but at the pool, there were hairy chest contests, wet t-shirt contests and REALLLLLLY loud music. I've read that the sound level on the lido decks has been dialed back, but I can't confirm that. All I know is when DH & I were by the pool, we couldn't carry on a conversation because of the decibel level.

formal contests or just a bunch of crazies? seems odd........

 

[kaseyC]

We've done one Carnival cruise. IMO, there really isn't much comparison. I can't really address the kid's club except to note that on Carnival the hours are more limited. And it's real hit or miss as to whether the people working there are any good.

How can you even make a comment about the Camp Carnival staff if you've never had experience with the kid's programming. I'm sorry, I know you are trying to be helpful to other posters but wow, what an irresponsible comment.

 

[TXDCLfan]

We've done one Carnival cruise. IMO, there really isn't much comparison. I can't really address the kid's club except to note that on Carnival the hours are more limited. And it's real hit or miss as to whether the people working there are any good.

Our experience on Carnival wasn't all that bad. But the shows in the main theatre are really awful, as far as we're concerned. While we didn't wind up on a real "party" cruise as I was worried about, there certainly were a lot more drinkers and many of the people who had kids onboard really seemed to just let them run around and do their own thing.

The food onboard I felt wasn't as good as Disney. I'm certainly not saying Disney is any great shakes in the food department, they're just better than what we had on Carnival.

There's really not specific "family" areas, but at the pool, there were hairy chest contests, wet t-shirt contests and REALLLLLLY loud music. I've read that the sound level on the lido decks has been dialed back, but I can't confirm that. All I know is when DH & I were by the pool, we couldn't carry on a conversation because of the decibel level.

 

[wcw57]

oh boy....in the words of Peter P: "C'mon everybody! Heeeeeeere we gooooo!"

 

[ctseaton]

Your experience will really vary depending on the ship and the length of the cruise. I took a Carnival cruise with my mom and my son last December. It was fun. It was not a luxurious vacation. However I loved having the time with my son and my mom and it was fun.

The kids club counselors on our cruise were not nice. Like one was rude to my son and I went up to see what was happening and she was just as rude to me. So he didn't hang there. However I think that is the exception and not the rule. The casino area is smoky. However we dealt with it just fine. The service was had was pretty bad but we lowered our expectations and were okay.

Just consider it a vacation and don't compare it to DCL. As someone else said, it is better than being at home.

 

[mom4fun]

I have been in carnival 3 times and disney 4. On carnival we went on a 3 , 4 and 7 night cruise. The 2nd cruise we brought our 9 and 10 year old girls. They did not like the kids clubs and got bored. We said we would never again take young children on a cruise. We did take them back on when they were 17 and 18 and had a lot of ports to go to and had a very nice time. We decided to risk it again with our 12 year old son on Disney and we were not disappointed. There is no comparison.

 

[jmemp]

Our Carnival cruise was a huge disappointment. Mostly I think our expectations were too high. Kids clubs were a no go for my 5 and 9 year olds. They only offered to sit and watch movies. They did enjoy the slides and so that became our family time.

Of course we were on one of the older ships that "went dead in the water" - so we had 5 hours of no electricity, no water and no updates from the captain - just a perky cruise director who kept saying everything was fine (even when you could smell smoke and hear banging noises from engineering). We prefer Disney all around. My co-worker just returned from her Carnival cruise reporting "too much dental floss" on the pool deck, vomiting in the hallway and teens run amok. I think it depends on your idea of a cruise and what you need to have fun.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Oh my. My first visit back in weeks and I see this post. Hold me back folks...

 

[snownow]

So we have done two carnival trips in the last two years and Disney the year before. Before i get in to the details, you should still have a good time. Stops are the same, and if your looking for down time... cruising is still cruising.

However, Carnival will not meet the level of service you have received on Disney.

Dining;
One Disney, our dinner cast members knew our name, our preferences, the preferences of our kids and went out of their ways to make everything perfect. On carnival... Food was pre-made catering, barely eatable most nights and our wait staff on both ships was mediocre. Pool food was better on our last Carnival ship, as was the cafeteria. But we still ended up eating in the steak house a couple of nights just to have a decent meal.

Kids club
When we were on Disney my wife and I thought the kids club was amazing...But our kids wanted to hang with us and run the aquaduck over and over and do the scavenger hunts. On Carnival, the space was much smaller, hours that they were open were not a nice, but our kids made friends and they wanted to hang there (could be due to the next section)

The ship,
We were on one of the new Disney boats and found it to be amazing. First thing my wife tells me (as it was my first cruise) don't expect other ships to be like this. The amount of items for the kids to do, well you've been on it. Carnival had an obstacle course that was rarely open due to wind, some shuffle board, and a few over crowded pools. So this is why we assume our kids hung in kids camp. Also with no Casino on Disney we did not notice the smoke or as many drunks wandering around, as we did on Carnival.

The Staff.
Disney. 0 Issues. Like most Disney resorts they are selling the name, and are trained to push amazing customer service.
Carnival, Casino staff told my 10 year old daughter that she was a cheater and made her cry. Let me clarify, She won a set of Beats headphones in the arcade. A set had been won about 30 min earlier, so he told my wife it was statistically impossible to win again in a short period of time, and that she must have cheated to win. Her reply was so its rigged? A crowd formed, they checked Video and... she got the beats. But a grown man accusing a 10 year old girl of cheating So when i head to Customer service i am told they are not Carnival employees, they outsource the casino and there is nothing they can do...so have a nice day. Other than that, some staff on Carnival was great (alchemy bar ), Most other staff was so so..

Rooms,
Disney was Very nice, Carnival was also pretty nice (but we upgraded to a suite)

Over all, its still a cruise you will have fun. But With Disney new ships and amazing staff... Hands down Disney wins. (Cant wait for our cruise next Month)

 

[MC0810]

This question greatly depends on cruise length and ship you are on. My FAVORITE cruise (have been on disney carnival royal Caribbean and princess) has been a 10 day cruise on a new carnival ship. We liked it better than our disney magic cruise (but it was magic before the refurb). We def. Liked the food on carnival better than disney.

Someone said wet t shirt contest?? I highly highly doubt that...show me proof that was in a navigator.

Hope you have a great cruise! I would not hesitate cruising on other Lines.