CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[mevelandry]

I'm sad to hear this, as I think you would like RCCL WAY more than Carnival. Growing up in FLorida, I've cruised ALOT. We always consider Carnival line to be the booze cruise, cheap getaway thing. (haven't tried 2.0 but i'm scared to because of past experience). RCCL has always had nicer ships, better service, better food than carnival. I say give it try and find out what you are missing. I'm waiting for my kids to get older so we can go on a family RCCL cruise.

We can't miss what we've never tried.

RCCL is next in line and I definitely want to try it in 2018. Norwegian is on my list too. I wish I could try all cruiselines this year but I would need more vacation and more budget.

 

[cruiser21]

We've only done the 7 days on the Breeze. I never found it to be a booze cruise. I have had some horrible experiences with their customer service call centers. The latest has me considering canceling my Vista cruise. I spent 2 hours on the phone and the issue was never resolved. Basically I called to ask how much it would cost to take 2 people off my reservation because I was thinking about booking two rooms, and the CSR did it without even confirming with me that I actually wanted to do it, and charged me a 250.00 dollar penalty. When I asked to talk to a supervisor she put me on hold for 30 minutes and then disconnected me. I called back and it happened again. I finally got someone that was able to reverse part of the damage, but like I said it was a 2 hour ordeal. They acted like they were doing me some sort of favor by giving me back the 250.00. It left a really bad taste in mouth. It's not the first time I've had issues with their phone reps. It's a shame because I really liked my Carnival cruises. I may cancel and use my 300.00 dollar credit to cruise on the Vista out of Galveston when the prices are better and I'm not so angry. It's interesting because every time I've had a bad experience I've gotten a survey the next day, and was able to explain the issue, but have never got a call.

One thing I will commend DCL on is their call centers. Everything has always been easy. Of course DCL doesn't have multiple promotions, different rates, and different penalties so that make it a little easier. I've never had a problem with NCL either.

 

[mevelandry]

We've only done the 7 days on the Breeze. I never found it to be a booze cruise. I have had some horrible experiences with their customer service call centers. The latest has me considering canceling my Vista cruise. I spent 2 hours on the phone and the issue was never resolved. Basically I called to ask how much it would cost to take 2 people off my reservation because I was thinking about booking two rooms, and the CSR did it without even confirming with me that I actually wanted to do it, and charged me a 250.00 dollar penalty. When I asked to talk to a supervisor she put me on hold for 30 minutes and then disconnected me. I called back and it happened again. I finally got someone that was able to reverse part of the damage, but like I said it was a 2 hour ordeal. They acted like they were doing me some sort of favor by giving me back the 250.00. It left a really bad taste in mouth. It's not the first time I've had issues with their phone reps. It's a shame because I really liked my Carnival cruises. I may cancel and use my 300.00 dollar credit to cruise on the Vista out of Galveston when the prices are better and I'm not so angry. It's interesting because every time I've had a bad experience I've gotten a survey the next day, and was able to explain the issue, but have never got a call.

One thing I will commend DCL on is their call centers. Everything has always been easy. Of course DCL doesn't have multiple promotions, different rates, and different penalties so that make it a little easier. I've never had a problem with NCL either.

I have to say, I've always found them (Carnival and DCL) equal in efficiency but I've never had to make such a big change before so I cannot compare with you.

I heard nothing but excellent reviews about the Vista. I think you should not let one employee (over the phone so you will most likely never meet or even talk to that person ever again) ruin your joy to try their best cruiseship and have a nice trip.

 

[cruiser21]

I have to say, I've always found them (Carnival and DCL) equal in efficiency but I've never had to make such a big change before so I cannot compare with you.

I heard nothing but excellent reviews about the Vista. I think you should not let one employee (over the phone so you will most likely never meet or even talk to that person ever again) ruin your joy to try their best cruiseship and have a nice trip.

I wish it was one person unfortunately it was four people. I really didn't need to make a change I was just inquiring about one. Unfortunately the CSR made a change without my permission. I think my big mistake was calling at night. Companies never seem to have their most competent, experienced people on at night. Honestly I'd be better off canceling and rebooking the Vista or Horizon in 2018-2019. Prices have come down a lot. I guess the newness has worn off. I could cruise on the Horizon or Vista in 2018 for less then what I owe on this cruise. One thing I'm certain of I will never book an early saver rate again. I will also use one of their PVP's which I've read is the way to go with Carnival. It's hard not to lose confidence in a company when you have a bad experience with customer service. Especially a bad experience that cost you money. I have some time to think about it and look at other options. In the interim I have a WDW trip coming up in a couple of months.

Just to add my cruise experience on the Breeze was just fine. No complaints at all.

 

[mevelandry]

I could cruise on the Horizon or Vista in 2018 for less then what I owe on this cruise.

In that case...

I think you would lose only 50$/pp for rebooking when you book another cruise. If it's less expensive than the one you booked originally, you won't even feel it.

 

[mevelandry]

I wish it was one person unfortunately it was four people. I really didn't need to make a change I was just inquiring about one. Unfortunately the CSR made a change without my permission. I think my big mistake was calling at night. Companies never seem to have their most competent, experienced people on at night. Honestly I'd be better off canceling and rebooking the Vista or Horizon in 2018-2019. Prices have come down a lot. I guess the newness has worn off. I could cruise on the Horizon or Vista in 2018 for less then what I owe on this cruise. One thing I'm certain of I will never book an early saver rate again. I will also use one of their PVP's which I've read is the way to go with Carnival. It's hard not to lose confidence in a company when you have a bad experience with customer service. Especially a bad experience that cost you money. I have some time to think about it and look at other options. In the interim I have a WDW trip coming up in a couple of months.

Just to add my cruise experience on the Breeze was just fine. No complaints at all.

Oh and what is PVP?

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Oh and what is PVP?

Personal Vacation Planner, they're CSR's assigned directly to you. We have one that we have direct phone number and email so he books all our Carnival cruises for us. Just makes for an easier experience because I always deal with the same person.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I wish it was one person unfortunately it was four people. I really didn't need to make a change I was just inquiring about one. Unfortunately the CSR made a change without my permission. I think my big mistake was calling at night. Companies never seem to have their most competent, experienced people on at night. Honestly I'd be better off canceling and rebooking the Vista or Horizon in 2018-2019. Prices have come down a lot. I guess the newness has worn off. I could cruise on the Horizon or Vista in 2018 for less then what I owe on this cruise. One thing I'm certain of I will never book an early saver rate again. I will also use one of their PVP's which I've read is the way to go with Carnival. It's hard not to lose confidence in a company when you have a bad experience with customer service. Especially a bad experience that cost you money. I have some time to think about it and look at other options. In the interim I have a WDW trip coming up in a couple of months.

Just to add my cruise experience on the Breeze was just fine. No complaints at all.

We loved the Vista last year and have a B2B coming up in June. We were planning on booking Horizon for 2018 but the summer itineraries didn't really appeal to us, we were really hoping for Northern Europe. There is so much to do on those 2 ships.

 

[cruiser21]

I thought I would follow up with you all. Carnival came through and came through in a big way. It wasn't easy and I spent 2 hours on the phone today and that is no exaggeration. We were originally planning a back to back Fantasy/ Vista cruises in Sept. Since I was able to book a room on the Panama cruise in April which has to paid off Dec 8 and were also going to WDW this May. I wanted to downgrade to a 6 day Vista/4 day Dream or we may skip the Dream and go to Universal. Long story short I needed to save some money on our September Vacation to put towards Panama. Changing the Disney cruise took 5 minutes. Carnival OMG. I first booked the new 6 day cruise on the phone. I got a sweet little old lady with a southern accent that was slower than molasses. It took 30 minutes she put me on hold for 30 minutes only to come back and tell me that she needed to transfer me to another dept. I waited 10 minutes hung up went for a jog came back poured a glass of wine and started over.

I finally got "that" agent you know the kind that work at Disney. She was awesome. She couldn't cancel my old reservation because of the credit given for the agents screw up 2 nights ago only a supervisor could do it. The supervisor couldn't solve the problem an hour into the call (and well into my second glass of wine)she escalated it to a higher dept. Long story short I was able to get Family Harbor room for 1600 hundred dollars. They transferred the 700.00 hundred dollars I paid, waived all penalties and I am now booked with refundable deposit. I will never book with an early saver rate again. If a mistake gets made you can see what a nightmare it is too fix .

In all fairness to the early saver rates the agent did say she had never seen anything like this. I went from owing 2500 on a 8 day cruise to 900.00 on a 6 day. I paid the 500.00 dollar refundable deposit so I am almost paid in full. The rates on the Vista have seemed to come down on every cruise except the one I had originally booked. I'm very happy with the outcome, but I would never want to repeat the 5+ hours on the phone it took to resolve it. Now I'm on my third glass of wine.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Glad it worked out for you!

 

[mevelandry]

UPDATE: I just added a section about the Internet service.

 

[tinkerone]

Just wanted to share; I just booked a b2b on RCL's newest ship, The Symphony, for Nov. 2018. It will be her second and third sailing in the Caribbean. Called DCL last week and requested my holder deposit back, I just can't justify the cost at this point in our life. Probably try one of the new ships but till then......
I certainly have come a long way from ''only DCL for me''. Very happy I spread my wings.

 

[mevelandry]

So lucky!

I'm currently booked on the Carnival Paradise for a Key West-Cozumel cruise next fall (the ship has some problems so our plans could change. If we do, we would have to book another Carnival ship because I would have a credit to use)...

... but I'm checking the Oasis of the seas right now... OMG, It looks amazing (It's so big that I would absolutely book a verandah on this one because I would need to feel the "ocean" around us.) ... I have tears in my eyes just watching videos. The Anthem of the Seas looks awesome too.

I may be wrong but I think I'll be a Royal Caribbean girl. I find their ships absolutely breathtaking and they look so much fun!!!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Just wanted to share; I just booked a b2b on RCL's newest ship, The Symphony, for Nov. 2018. It will be her second and third sailing in the Caribbean. Called DCL last week and requested my holder deposit back, I just can't justify the cost at this point in our life. Probably try one of the new ships but till then......
I certainly have come a long way from ''only DCL for me''. Very happy I spread my wings.

I think Symphony will be our first Royal cruise as well. We have 3 Carnival, (Vista, Vista, Horizon) and 2 Disney (Magic, Wonder) booked between now and June 2018, but will take an 11 month break then do Symphony for my 50th Birthday in 2019. We really like being able to book connecting cabins for us and our kids on Royal and Carnival, we can't do that on Disney anymore.

 

[cruiser21]

I think Symphony will be our first Royal cruise as well. We have 3 Carnival, (Vista, Vista, Horizon) and 2 Disney (Magic, Wonder) booked between now and June 2018, but will take an 11 month break then do Symphony for my 50th Birthday in 2019. We really like being able to book connecting cabins for us and our kids on Royal and Carnival, we can't do that on Disney anymore.

Did you find a Baltic cruise to do? I'm curious about the Horizon. I haven't really looked at the itinerary's. Is the Horizon sailing anyplace new? Are there going to be any differences between the Horizon and Vista that you know of? Were sailing on the Vista this Fall.

 

[cruiser21]

Just wanted to share; I just booked a b2b on RCL's newest ship, The Symphony, for Nov. 2018. It will be her second and third sailing in the Caribbean. Called DCL last week and requested my holder deposit back, I just can't justify the cost at this point in our life. Probably try one of the new ships but till then......
I certainly have come a long way from ''only DCL for me''. Very happy I spread my wings.

What ports? I can afford DCL most of the time. I just can't find anything that jumps out at me and says book me. I love the EBTA itinerary, but moving the clock forward everyday...not sure about that. I like the British Isles cruise in Sept, but 7 days seem so short for such a long flight. I'm waiting to see the WBTA..could that be the one? I've done the Med, and I've done Norway. Would love a Baltic, but out of price range on DCL. NCL... maybe? I can't go to Europe July or August. It needs to be May, June or September, and so far nothing is really exciting me for 2018.
I hope you write a review on the Symphony. It looks pretty amazing.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Did you find a Baltic cruise to do? I'm curious about the Horizon. I haven't really looked at the itinerary's. Is the Horizon sailing anyplace new? Are there going to be any differences between the Horizon and Vista that you know of? Were sailing on the Vista this Fall.

No Baltic for us unfortunately. We're doing a Disney Alaska cruise then flying to NYC to spend a couple days there, then doing Horizon to Bermuda. It's only a 4 night cruise. The only other itinerary she's doing is an 8 night Bahamian from NYC, but that's what we're doing on the Disney Magic this fall. Our son graduates next year and he really wants Alaska so that's what we're doing.

Now we wait for the new Carnival mega ship to launch in 2020 and hope she does Baltic that summer. The new class is being built in Finland so we're hoping she does. That's the year our daughter graduates and she wants Baltic really bad.

I haven't heard of any changes between Vista and Horizon yet. I was actually a little surprised by Horizon prices however. We're paying the same price for our 4 night Bermuda on Horizon as we did for our 8 night Mediterranean on Vista, exact same room category.

 

[cruiser21]

No Baltic for us unfortunately. We're doing a Disney Alaska cruise then flying to NYC to spend a couple days there, then doing Horizon to Bermuda. It's only a 4 night cruise. The only other itinerary she's doing is an 8 night Bahamian from NYC, but that's what we're doing on the Disney Magic this fall. Our son graduates next year and he really wants Alaska so that's what we're doing.

Now we wait for the new Carnival mega ship to launch in 2020 and hope she does Baltic that summer. The new class is being built in Finland so we're hoping she does. That's the year our daughter graduates and she wants Baltic really bad.

I haven't heard of any changes between Vista and Horizon yet. I was actually a little surprised by Horizon prices however. We're paying the same price for our 4 night Bermuda on Horizon as we did for our 8 night Mediterranean on Vista, exact same room category.

That's quite an adventure Vancouver to New York. I had booked the NCL Bliss in Alaska. Amazing ship their building just for Alaska. The only problem is it leaves from Seattle so the port days are shorter then I'd like. Since it's a new ship it's also priced pretty high. Not Disney high, but high for NCL. I am considering the Alaska cruise in May on the Wonder if I can't find anything else. I'm still waiting to see the WBTA on DCL.
I didn't know the Horizon was sailing to Bermuda. I'll have to check it out.

 

[luvavacation]

My family has sailed on NCL (2x), Carnival (4x), and Disney (11x). Each cruise line will appeal more to some, not so much to others, depending on what you are looking for. My family prefers excellent service, distinct differences between adult and family entertainment, and a feeling of safety (amongst other things), but we really just want to get away sometimes so not every cruise has all that we wish for. But they all rock me to sleep at night!

I tend to worry, and no matter where we are, I always have an escape in the back of my mind for any calamity. Therefore, a cruise line that gives me a good sense of safety from the beginning gets to the top of my list right away. Of the three lines we have sailed, DCL is at the top for sense of safety.

The lifeboat drills on Carnival and NCL were a joke. Neither our Carnival nor NCL cruises had lifeboat drills where I felt the crew really cared about keeping us informed and alive. On my last Carnival, the crew leading the lifeboat drills weren't even checking people in, just telling you to go take a seat, and then looking at things on their cell phones instead of leading the drills. Neither of my NCL cruises had any semblance of order, and my last one on the Getaway, the crew just gave up because no one would quiet down, so the crew walked off to a corner of the room. On DCL, nothing happens until every room is checked in and everyone is quiet. I know it is up to me to get my family to safety, but I sure do feel better about safety if the crew gives the impression of being prepared!

This all makes me wonder how the lifeboat drills and sense of safety are on RCCL and Celebrity? What about MSC? I will enjoy a cruise, no matter the cruise line, because I am on vacation and on the ocean, but will another line take the lifeboat drill as seriously as DCL does? For me, that is what is very important when I choose my next cruise.

 

[Dug720]

All lines take it seriously. But Fathom took it the most seriously I have seen - you took your life vest and were to wear something warm and take a small bag with any necessary medications TO THE DRILL. Muster stations were in the lounge or the dining room depending on if you were forward or aft. At the end of the drill, you put on your vest and it was checked as you left (which eliminated the dragging ties as they made sure they were fastened.