Anyone cruise on DCL & Carnival Glory?

[DisneyCruiseFANS]

I've been on DCL 5 times but wanted to try something a little bit different so I booked a 7 day cruise on the Carnival Glory from Port Canaveral in August. I have another DCL vacation booked for Sept. Can anyone make any comparisons? Or, am I comparing apples to oranges?

 

[Tybus]

We had cruise DCL 4 times and also wanted to try something different. We were on the Carnival Pride when it cruised out of Port Canaveral last year.

We did not take our kids with us on the Pride so I can't help with that part of the cruise - we did not even go look at the children's area.

Overall we were pleasantly suprised by Carnival. We will do Carnival again - this time on the Miracle out of Tampa with our DS7 and DS1. We also have another Magic cruise planned.

Cost - Carnival was less than half the cost of the Disney cruise for the same week we cruised for similar stateroom.

Cabin/Balcony - We always get a balcony. Usually a CAT. 6 on Disney and an 8E on Carnival. The cabins are almost identical in size and placement of furniture. The Carnival Balcony was much bigger than Disney's and we often get the far aft non-plexiglass balconies on Disney.

Embarkation - We have not gotten on the Magic before 12:15. Carnival began at 11:30. We find both to go very smoothly.

Casual Buffet restaurant was so much nicer on the Pride than on the Magic. There was plenty of space. Much larger selection with stations for many different types of food.

Dining room food - Carnival was better. Keep in mind we had had the same menus on the Magic with few if any changes for 3-4 years in a row. So we could have just been tired of the same menus - not sure.

Alternative dining - More expensive ($25 PP) on Carnival, but also a little better than Palo.

Service - Slightly better on DCL.

Spa - Much better on Carnival.

Entertainment - Much better on Disney.

Disembarkation - Easy on both. Carnival uses a color coded system and our color was the first to disembark, so it could have been we would not have had such an easy time on Carnival if our color had been the last called.

I can't think of anything else. If you have any specific questions please ask. We also would like to try the Glory sometime!

 

[hydster]

We cruised DCL and the sister ship to the Glory the Spirit with kids and it was an awesome experience and our kids actually preferred Camp Carnival over DCL's kids clubs because there were hardly any kids in them and the counselors gave them great 1 on 1 time most of the days. True they didn't have Mickey Mouse but they had a great time anyway and actually said that when we cruise again they don't want to go on DCL. They didn't seem to mind the salt water pool but LOVED LOVED LOVED the fact that we as parents could go down the huge waterslide with them. On the spirit the waterslide is kind of like the DCL one where it does not empty into a pool of water and on the Spirit the slide was at the back of the ship away from everyone and everything else! We had a blast since there weren't many people that wanted to use the slide...the wanted to lay out in the sun! We also preferred the meals on Carnival to DCL but that is all a matter of personal opinion! Our servers on both ships were just about the same in keeping the kids entertained during dinner. THe shows however are a little more risque than on DCL and if pasties or women in thong type costumes will offend or make you crazy I'd suggest skipping those shows. For us we just explained it to the kids and they were fine with it. They had jugglers, magicians, comedians and then they had the R rated shows for adults later in the evening. For us it was nice to let the kids play in the Camp while we did a little gambling just as a change of pace during the day and when we wanted to get out of the sun. They seemed to have more "games" by the pool on Carnival as well and many of them going simultaneously so that more people could watch and get involved. The most fun we had was the family scavenger hunt. Our kids still talk about it to this day! They didn't have a movie theatre on board like DCL so that is different. Our cabin wasnt MUCH smaller than DCL..maybe a little but we did miss the split bath. We didn't take our smallest with us so we all fit in 1 room. We got a really nice balcony cabin at the aft of the ship and the balcony was almost twice that on the Family staterooms on DCL. We had 2 lounge chairs and 2 regular chairs and a table to sit at so all 4 of us had somewhere we could go. Also they had a library with a TON Of books and games for the kids to check out and play. We have decided that DCL is just not for our family anymore but that is ok..we really loved the experience we had with them.

HTH
Heidi

 

[natdencro]

My sister in law cruised on the Carnival Inspiration the same week that we were on the Magic in March. They were very impressed with every aspect of the ship, but as they were travelling without young children, I think the "fun" element was missing from their vacation. However, they got return flights from UK, 7 day hotel accomodation/car rental in Orlando and 7 night Caribbean cruise for the grand total of £800 each: approx $1100? Just shows the profit margin Disney make! Guess its a matter of choice/money available. Nat