Overall Impressions
The ship was absolutely beautiful. This was our first
DCL cruise. We have previously travelled to WDW 4 times as a family and gone on 3 Carnival cruises, both were our basis for comparison.
I will do a quick comparison of this trip to both WDW and Carnival.
DCL vs WDW
We love WDW: the parks, hotels and restaurants are all part of the trip for us.
DCL was a wonderful racing vacation compared to our typical 8 day trips to WDW.
Due to early morning parks and ADRs we are usually up early. On our cruise there was only 1 day when we needed to set an alarm.
Characters were plentiful on the cruise and while there were lines they were nothing compared to the 60 min plus waits to see the princesses in Toontown on previous vacations.
The food which we always enjoy in WDW was equally good on the cruise and Palo and Remy provided even more culinary options.
Overall we felt the DCL was WDW without the rush. While there were no rides, the aqua duck and excursions at the different ports provided lots of activities. The shows were amazing and very Disney and the character interactions were terrific.
The only thing we preferred at WDW was the photography. $349 for the photo CD was much more than I was prepared to spend. I do wish that it was priced closer to the WDW photo pass CD which we usually buy on our trips.
We purchased 1 8x10 for 19.95 and a photo book for $149.95. The photo book allowed us to use most of the shots we loved in a memory book which we though would be more useful than a bunch of 8x10s.
DCL vs Carnival
Let's just say its all about the little things.
I have enjoyed all 3 of my 7 night Carnival cruises and I'm sure that if I was to sail with them again I would enjoy that cruise, however there was a long list of things that made this cruise better. Now we paid at least $1200 more for this cruise so the question to you is how much my list is worth to you.
The extras that made the DCL experience better.
1. The decor, it wasn't tacky or over the top. It was beautiful.
2. Pop/soda. It wasn't so much that it was included in the price, but more that it was available without having to go to a bar and available in the dining room. Even when we purchased a soda card on Carnival you had to find a server or bar to order a drink, they were often slow to get it for you as they were not tipped for a no cost soda, and if you ordered a soda at dinner it was often desert before you received it.
3.Dining room. I like DCL set up of a head server rather than maitre'd. We saw our head server every night and he was always helping the different dining teams. Also I prefer the drinks being managed by the ***'t server rather than a bar server as it led to drink orders being filled much quicker.
4. Cabins, they were beautiful, the bedding comfortable, we enjoyed the split bathroom and the size was terrific.
5. Kids clubs, there is just no comparison here. How do you compare Carnival's supervised kids room with a dance party with Pluto, cooking lessons or a science experiment to make flubber. We also like that the hours were continuous unlike Carnival and there was no charge for evening activities. (with 2 kids this was a bonus for us and saved a lot of money)
6.Shows. I was not a big fan of the Carnival shows, I found them to be cheesy. The DCL shows were amazing both for quality and content. We made sure to catch them all. I did miss Carnival's comedy club and while we enjoyed one of DCL's cabaret performers, the other 2 were just ok.
7. Private Island. I love both Half moon Cay and Castaway Cay. I do think that Carnival has priced their cabanas much more appropriately, however the DCL cabanas do come with a private beach area. I still think the DCL cabanas will remain out of my price range however I wouldn't hesitate to book one again on Carnival.
8. Shops, most of DCL shopping is Disney related and there is much less jewelry etc. there was also no cheap $20 watch sets being fought over like on Carnival, which to this day I still don't understand. We found the overall quality on DCL to be better.
9. Drinks, DCL allows you to carry on alcohol to consume in your stateroom or with a corking fee in the dining room. We found drinks in the lounges to be pricy, however a 10.50 martini in Skyline is worth it for the atmosphere. Elsewhere drinks were cheaper than on Carnival. A piña colada at the show was only 5.75.
10. Atmosphere. Yes there were more families, but the ship didn't appear over run by kids. What was noticeably different was there were fewer intoxicated adults (I will never forget the drunken fight we witnessed between a couple on our last Carnival cruise), less food hoarding, I did not see a single plate loaded with 5lbs of bacon which explains why DCL does not feel the need to police the bacon ( you'd have to have sailed on Carnival to get that reference) and overall it was much less of a roudy party atmosphere.
11. Fireworks
12. The really little things; cold wet towels when you return from port, not having to sign your life away to get a pool towel, no waiting around to disembark. There were lots of really little things that just made this cruise better.
