For DCL cruisers considering Carnival...hopefully this helps someone....

[DisMommyTX]

In general, the 3 and 4 night cruises have older ships, less impressive shows, and less experienced staff than the 7 night cruises. This is true for RCL, NCL, and Carnival. That being said, I don't recall us ever having a problem with cleanliness on a Carnival cruise. At the first signs of an illness outbreak, they often switch to mandatory hand sanitation, then have the staff serve everything (even at the buffets). After almost 20 cruises, none of our family has ever gotten sick, even when my kids were toddlers and they touched everything and put their hands in their mouths all the time. Any other issues we have had, regardless of cruise line, staff have been universally excellent and finding appropriate resolutions. I you do have a problem onboard, make sure to speak up.

 

[BigredNole]

In my understanding of Carnival cruises less than 7 nights, they are all Drunk Cruises. When I lived in south FL, self respecting locals knew not to go on the 4 nights cruises. I just had family and friends on a 7-night cruise over Christmas out of Miami on Carnival. All had kids. They all had a blast, no issues with drunks, and great service.

 

[Jennifer777]

Which ship was that last cruise on?

Wonder.

I think the first time you cruise DCL your caught up in the "Magic of Disney" , but the more you cruise the more that seems to wear off.

I do think there was more "magic" on our first two cruises with Disney simply because my daughter was really into the Disney princesses. She's "not a baby any more" (according to her) and not interested in them now so that did take some of the magic away but truth be told, while the "magic" was nice, it wasn't why we loved DCL. We were blown away that they seemed to bend over backwards at every turn to go above and beyond. Our first two cruises it seemed like every time I would ask for one thing, I would get two and every CM we encountered smiled at us and seemed to genuinely want to go the extra mile for us. The service was outstanding, in every corner of the ship. Our last cruise, it was not. Even basic things were not always taken care of and having to ask repeatedly for basic things just made us feel like a burden. It wasn't enough to ruin our trip and had we paid Carnival prices I wouldn't have been too bothered by it, because you get what you pay for, right? But we paid DCL prices in a large part for that outstanding service and didn't receive it. Again, I don't think this is indicative of what DCL is like as a whole, I think we had a bad experience but it did teach us that we could still enjoy ourselves even without the magic and without the outstanding service. I look forward to cruising DCL again for many reasons, but it's rather liberating knowing they aren't the only cruise line we can enjoy ourselves at.

 

[Love2Cruz]

Wow, I've always had fresh sheets and their beds are the most comfortable of all the cruises I've been on. Sorry you had to go through that...All my Carnival cruises have been excellent, but I do prefer the newer ships. I guess things like this can happen, I hope the steward gets a counseling...that would put me off too...but I wouldn't turn away from Carnival completely, their newer ships and longer itineraries are fantastic.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

In my understanding of Carnival cruises less than 7 nights, they are all Drunk Cruises. When I lived in south FL, self respecting locals knew not to go on the 4 nights cruises. I just had family and friends on a 7-night cruise over Christmas out of Miami on Carnival. All had kids. They all had a blast, no issues with drunks, and great service.

Well, not ALL of them are. Our one Carnival cruise (to date) was a 4 night cruise. But with an itinerary of Sun-Thurs, in February, it wasn't at all a "Drunk Cruise". In fact the whole ship was pretty laid back. Except for the excessively loud music/sound system on the pool deck, it wasn't noisy at all.

At night, at the big show, the CD would try to "work up the audience" and generally most people seemed to be sitting with arms crossed and a "let's just get on with the show" attitude. Not a whole lot of audience interaction.

 

[TXDCLfan]

In my understanding of Carnival cruises less than 7 nights, they are all Drunk Cruises. When I lived in south FL, self respecting locals knew not to go on the 4 nights cruises. I just had family and friends on a 7-night cruise over Christmas out of Miami on Carnival. All had kids. They all had a blast, no issues with drunks, and great service.

No not so....we have been on a few Carnival cruises that were less than 7 days and they were not "drunk cruises"

 

[Ofinn]

No not so....we have been on a few Carnival cruises that were less than 7 days and they were not "drunk cruises"

What one person considers a "drunk cruise" another person may look at it is as a "bunch of people having a good time". I tend to fall in the later category. I've seen people on the Disney Dream have a "really good time" if you know what I mean. I do think short cruises have more of a party vibe on all cruise lines.