1/6/07 Eastern-Live DCL/Carnival Comparison Report

[HollyTyler]

 

[HollyTyler]

This is very interesting Holly. Thank you for sharing. I have a good friend who was very much into Carnival cruise lines until his cruise on the Liberty last year. I believe he took 16 CCL cruises in 8 or so years. He was very disappointed in his cruise on the Liberty so much so that he wrote a letter to Bob Dickinson to share his displeasure and that that was his last cruise. He now cruises exclusively with RCI and Celebrity.

I have always been somewhat fascinated with Carnival, and would like to try a Carnival cruise just to check it out. After cruising with Disney now, I don't think I could do that.

Glad to know I'm not boring everybody to tears! Interesting about your friend's experience on the Liberty. Carnival (at least this ship) isn't as bad as I had heard, so far. But as you've read here, there are lots of areas they could improve on. I'm trying to keep an open mind and stop saying things like, "Yuck, Disney doesn't do that." So far, I don't see anything that would prevent me from coming again if I saw a great price, but I'm counting down the days until I return to DCL!

 

[mruhaak]

I think the lobby looks really kinda neat!

 

[suzannef]

Wow the pictures are very nice. For some reason when I thought of a carnival ship I was picturing much tackier lol Keep posting and have a great time!!!!

 

[cheriemek]

Thanks so much for writting this up, and for including all of those great pictures. I have only been on one cruise (Disney) so I had no idea how the rest of the world cruises. Your pictures are fantastic! Keep them coming!!

 

[HollyTyler]

I think the lobby looks really kinda neat!

I do too, but unfortunately, I don't have a good enough camera to really do it justice, but I'm glad you're getting the feel for it.

 

[HollyTyler]

Wow the pictures are very nice. For some reason when I thought of a carnival ship I was picturing much tackier lol Keep posting and have a great time!!!!

Exactly...me too! But I think the older ships are the tacky ones people described. The Liberty will be just 2 years old this year, so I guess Carnival has decided to upgrade its look. I have more pictures coming later tonight. Glad you're enjoying them!

 

[HollyTyler]

Thanks so much for writting this up, and for including all of those great pictures. I have only been on one cruise (Disney) so I had no idea how the rest of the world cruises. Your pictures are fantastic! Keep them coming!!

I'm really glad you're enjoying this! I've only cruised Disney too and have always wondered what other cruiselines look like too, so I thought I'd share for inquiring minds like me!

 

[HollyTyler]

I forgot one picture from yesterday. Here's our towel animal from day 2 (we didn't get one the first night):

 

[JanDave]

Hi Holly:

We're (yes, the office is actually reading your DIS thread!!!) enjoying your report and pics.

Ok - whose Ernie is that? Your or Cindy's?

Check with another bartender and find out if he/she knows how to make a BBC?????? That would be one of my criteria for cruising other than DCL!!!

Do you get the same servers each dinner?

Jan

 

[HollyTyler]

Hi Holly:

We're (yes, the office is actually reading your DIS thread!!!) enjoying your report and pics.

Ok - whose Ernie is that? Your or Cindy's?

Check with another bartender and find out if he/she knows how to make a BBC?????? That would be one of my criteria for cruising other than DCL!!!

Do you get the same servers each dinner?

Jan

HI Jan! Ernie belongs to Tyler. He wanted me to take it with me. I'll try to remember to ask if anybody knows how to make a BBC. Our servers are the same every night for dinner, according to the rest of our group (I've only gone once to dinner).

More report to follow. Had internet problems last night so I have a lot to make up for. Lots of pics coming!

 

[HollyTyler]

A couple more differences I thought of: 1) The fridge in the room is stocked with a variety of cans of beer, bottled water, and mini bottles of alcohol and like a hotel, they’ll just charge you for what you use, as compared to the fridge I had on Disney that was empty but wonderful to keep extra drinks in. 2) Tips are automatically charged to your account on the first day of the cruise in the amount of $10 per guest per day. If you don’t agree with that for whatever reason, they will remove that charge upon request and give you tipping envelopes to tip as you see fit. I’m leaving it as is because that way I don’t have to worry about setting aside that money for the end of the cruise. 3) On Disney my credit card was charged at the end of the cruise because I remember paying cash the day before to reduce the amount that would be charged to my card. Carnival charges your card as you go. I suppose I like that because if I lose track of my spending (which happened in the casino today), my card gets disabled and I can’t charge anything until I give them cash or another credit card.

I don’t want any Carnival fans to get upset with this next bit…..it’s just an observation and not a slam against Carnival by any means. I went to check out Camp Carnival, just out of curiosity, to see if it looked like something my DS4 would even be interested. It was empty, so the workers let me come in and look around. The room I looked at was for ages 2-5 and the next group was 6-8, but I didn’t bother checking that one out. It was one room about the size of 2 of my staterooms combined. Against the walls were all sorts of containers and shelves of basically baby toys. There’s nothing for the older kids of that age group to climb on and nowhere for them to really run. My son would be absolutely miserable after what he’s used to on DCL. Granted, I realize Disney caters to kids and Carnival isn’t geared towards kids’ interests, but I just wasn’t expecting such a major difference in the kids’ clubs. So if I ever cruise with Carnival again, it will definitely be without my son again because there isn’t much to occupy him.

Got into Puerto Rico at 3:15pm instead of 5, which made everybody onboard happy. It was such a rocking ride today that most people were eager to walk on solid ground. Doesn’t bother me though! It’s fun to be wobbly! I ate before getting off the ship to try to avoid the mob wanting to shove their way out the door immediately. So far, I’ve learned that the pizzeria and the grill, both by one of the pools, are about the same as DCL. The only difference I saw is that the grill doesn’t serve chicken strips. Only hot dogs and burgers. And the pizzeria here offers more kinds of pizza than Disney, but both ships have equally yummy pizza.

There is an air conditioned terminal building here in San Juan that Carnival shares with RCI. Radiance of the Seas is parked on the other side of the terminal. It’s the gathering place for people going on excursions so that nobody has to stand out in the hot sun waiting for their tour to start. Nice idea.

San Juan has beautiful cobblestone streets, lots of hills, old but pretty buildings, and a couple of parks still completely covered with lighted Christmas decorations. I didn’t do an excursion, just walked around doing a little sightseeing and shopping on my own. Bought a 2L bottle of Diet Pepsi so I can continue refusing to buy the expensive sodas onboard. I definitely made up for the workout I missed this morning walking up the hills here. Felt great! Everybody has to be back onboard at 11:30pm and the ship leaves at midnight.

 

[HollyTyler]

Approaching San Juan:

 

[HollyTyler]

Getting closer to the pier. We docked on the other side of the Royal Caribbean ship in this picture:

 

[HollyTyler]

A little park in San Juan still decorated for Christmas:

 

[HollyTyler]

I'm thinking this might be a seal?

 

[HollyTyler]

Day 4

The ship arrived at St. Thomas this morning around 7:00. St. Thomas is my absolute favorite port and I have about a billion pictures from last September’s cruise, so I was able to just enjoy the scenery instead of taking pictures. Before getting off the ship, my 2 roommates and I (my friend Cindy and her aunt) took advantage of one of the spa’s port specials and got a facial and massage. Very nice and no sales pitch for their products like I’ve heard about. The woman just told me what she recommends for my face and how much each product costs, then led me to where I needed to pay for the services. Feeling very pampered & relaxed, we had a quick breakfast and headed off the ship to go shopping. Cindy was fascinated with the pens we bought that have men who become naked when you tip the pen upside down. Just like the girly ones everybody has seen, but with men instead. I’m pretty sure that’s her favorite souvenir of the trip so far. I fell in love with a white gold Caribbean Blue Topaz ring, 2 carets with ¼ caret diamonds on each side of it. The stone was a millennium cut, which I had never heard of and absolutely stunning! I was really close to buying it, but decided I’d better wait because we still have 3 more ports where I might find something I like better. Shopped until we almost dropped. We only went to the stores right at the pier, didn’t take a taxi to the downtown area. Then I made sure I did something I regretted skipping last September: Paradise Point Skyride. The tram ride up to the top is quick, the scenery is breathtaking, and the bar up at the top is really cute, with live Caribbean music. Had a Baileys Bushwacker (excellent drink!) and was feeling very relaxed after just a few sips. If you haven’t had one before, here’s what it consists of: 6 oz. Baileys, 3 oz. Kahlua, 2 oz. Dark Rum, 2 oz. Amaretto, 3 oz. Dark Cacao, 2 oz. Vodka, mixed with crushed ice, topped with nutmeg and a cherry. Can you say: crawl back to the ship?! I got the drink and a nice souvenir ceramic mug for $7, so I just had to take advantage of that deal!

Another difference I noticed. Unlike Disney, Carnival doesn’t have hand sanitizing stations set up outside when you re-board the ship at ports.

 

[HollyTyler]

One of the pools--I think it's at the front of the ship. At the back of the pool, up a little bit, are 2 hot tubs. These are the hot tubs that are for adults only (I think).

 

[HollyTyler]

Sorry about the picture being blurry, but this is the buffet restaurant. There is another identical buffet on the other side of the wall that is behind this buffet.

 

[HollyTyler]

Seating area of buffet: