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

[suzannef]

oooh shipboard romance how exciting!!!! Hey you never know Have fun and post us all about it when you get home

 

[firemans wife]

Holly-Glad you are having a great time!!! Can't wait to hear about your new friend Also looking forward to seeing more pictures. Have a great time in Nassau today,

Lorna

 

[HollyTyler]

Holly:

Can wait to hear about your new friend!!! You haven't mentioned Cindy in a few days. Is she still on the ship???!!!

See you Monday.

Jan

Jan: Yup, despite her aunt's strong desire to throw us both overboard for giggling uncontrollably at 3 or 4 or 5 a.m. most nights, Cindy was still on the ship. She was just busy playing lots of bingo and doing other stuff while I was spending time with my new friend Mike. Picture coming soon after I upload to my computer.

 

[HollyTyler]

I know that they have a soda package that you have to purchase on board instead of the free drink station that DCL has, do you know the cost of that and do they give you a card or mug or what?

Hi again! I'm so sorry, but I forgot to check for sure on the price of the soda deal. But I do know that the price is around $40 for unlimited soda and you don't get a separate card or mug or anything. When you buy soda, and they swipe your room card, it automatically shows up on their computer that you bought the soda deal. I think they only have Coke products, but I only bought one soda, so I'm not 100% sure. Hope that helped a bit.

 

[HollyTyler]

Sorry for my abandonment, but when cupids calls, I listen!

Here's something I learned on the last night while eating frozen yogurt and watching us pull out of Nassau. The buffet restaurant has 2 levels, which I already knew, but I never went up there because I thought it was just extra seating. Wrong! There is a fish & chips counter up there. Yum! Too bad I didn't know it on time to use it. So in the buffet restaurant, in addition to the main buffet for lunch and dinner, there is also a deli counter with hot and cold sandwhiches, fish & chips, the pizzeria, the grill (hot dogs & burgers), oriental, a bar, and a couple self-serve ice cream & frozen yogurt stations. Needless to say, this is a large area.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but there are 2 ATMs onboard. Carnival warns that they might run out of money before the end of the cruise, but they didn't because Cindy used one very late on the last evening. It only gives $50 bills and the fee is $5.50.

I was pleasantly surprised with the debarkation process after how unorganized and long embarkation was. Regarding luggage, you have 2 options. 1) You can have Carnival take your luggage off the ship (like Disney) and you have to put it outside of your room between 8 and 10pm the last night; or 2) you can do what they call self-assist and just take your luggage with you when you get off the ship. This is what I did because I had an early flight (noon). The morning of debarkation, the cruise director makes announcements telling people when they can get off. First, at about 7am he started calling the self-assist people. He called 2 or 3 decks at a time and they want all self-assist people off by 8am. Then everybody else can get off, but I'm not sure if they can all get off at once or not because I was already gone. The elevators and stairways were a little crowded with everybody lugging their suitcases, but it really wasn't bad and I'd definitely do it that way again because after making it to the gangway, I was in a taxi in about 10 minutes tops. Good deal!

Overall, I'm still addicted to Disney and can't wait until I'm back on the Magic in November, but I'd definitely cruise on the Liberty again. It's absolutely beautiful and was a great experience! I highly recommend it, but only if you're not taking small children because there's nothing for little kids to do. Teenagers would have a blast though because their club was really cool! There always seemed to be lots of kids in there having fun. I believe the extreme partying I heard about on Carnival ships is probably on the shorter cruises and the guy I sat next to on the plane on the way home today verified that. He just got off a Costa cruise today and he told me when they were at one of their ports, a Carnival ship pulled up next to theirs and everybody was yelling and screaming on deck, waving their drinks all over, and even mooning the Costa ship from the balconies! Not something I'd want to be a part of, but I couldn't help laughing!

 

[HollyTyler]

OK. For inquiring minds, here he is! Here's a picture of me and Mike, the guy who stole me away from the message boards. His family loved me and we're definitely keeping in touch and have already discussed taking turns visiting each other and, of course, planning another cruise together. He wants to try Disney with me since I raved so much about it!

 

[HollyTyler]

This guy was selling conch shells out of his boat in Nassau. He gets dinner out of it and makes money off the shells. I was a sucker and bought one from him, but it's huge! And when he blew it, it sounded just like an airhorn (but I can't make it do it).

 

[HollyTyler]

The Venetian Palace is where all the major shows were held. It's 3 decks high and very beautiful! This is a picture of a jester that is on the left side of the stage and there's an identical one on the right side too:

 

[HollyTyler]

Also in the Venetian Palace, here's a picture of the light fixture in the middle of the ceiling. It's Murano glass:

 

[HollyTyler]

Close up of the previous picture:

 

[HollyTyler]

This picture came out terrible, but I just wanted to give a visual of most of the Venetian Palace. This picture only shows 3 levels because I just couldn't get it all in. The little tables are shaped like and painted like little venetian masks. Our cruise director told us that the whole theater is the width of the class of ships that can fit through the Panama Canal (I think he said Spirit class). I guess I just didn't realize how much bigger this ship is until after he said that. Amazing!

 

[mruhaak]

OK. For inquiring minds, here he is! Here's a picture of me and Mike, the guy who stole me away from the message boards. His family loved me and we're definitely keeping in touch and have already discussed taking turns visiting each other and, of course, planning another cruise together. He wants to try Disney with me since I raved so much about it!

He's cute! Good job.

Does he live a long ways away from you?

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Thanks so much for the report. I lived vicariously for a week!
Melanie

 

[HollyTyler]

He's cute! Good job.

Does he live a long ways away from you?

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Thanks so much for the report. I lived vicariously for a week!
Melanie

Yup, he's a cutie! Unfortunately, he does live far away. He's in Colorado (near Denver) and I'm in Michigan. Not good. But it's not unheard of, so we might as well give it a whirl.

Thanks for reading....and wish me luck!

 

[firemans wife]

Holly he is a cutie. I hope it works out for you. Thanks you so much for sharing your trip. It sure makes me want to be on another cruise now. I have to wait until 08 to go on Disney again. I am glad you enjoyed the Liberty. We thought it was a nice ship too! You will have to start posting on the cruise meet board for your November trip. Everyone is very nice. I post there once in a while and say hi. You will become an official nana head.

Have a good day.

Lorna

 

[Keggy]

Thanks so much for posting about your cruise!

Sounds like you had a blast!

 

[HollyTyler]

Holly he is a cutie. I hope it works out for you. Thanks you so much for sharing your trip. It sure makes me want to be on another cruise now. I have to wait until 08 to go on Disney again. I am glad you enjoyed the Liberty. We thought it was a nice ship too! You will have to start posting on the cruise meet board for your November trip. Everyone is very nice. I post there once in a while and say hi. You will become an official nana head.

Have a good day.

Lorna

Hi Lorna,

I plan on posting just to say hi to everybody on the cruise meet board for my Nov. cruise, but after seeing how many pages they've posted, I'm a little intimidated. I could never find enough time to catch up, and once I post there I'm sure I could never stay caught up. Might just introduce myself and pop in whenever I can. Maybe I can get some juice on how wild & crazy Jan got....Just kidding! Sorry to hear you can't cruise with us this Nov.

 

[HollyTyler]

Thanks so much for posting about your cruise!

Sounds like you had a blast!

You're welcome. It sure was a blast! I'm surprised people were bored enough to read my dry ramblings, but I'm sure the pictures helped! I always like reading threads with pictures too.

 

[JanDave]

Hi Lorna,

Maybe I can get some juice on how wild & crazy Jan got....Just kidding!

Holly: What happened on our Nana Cruise, stays on our Nana cruise!!!

You will be cruising with a great bunch of people. We felt like family.

Jan

 

[HollyTyler]

Oh Jan, you know I'm just teasing!

 

[JanDave]

Holly, I know you're teasing. But....ask Kathy (a/k/a Mom x 4, Grandma x 4). I was having fun at the Promenade Lounge one evening.

Jan