Anyone else only sailed Disney, considered another cruise line

[starvenger]

For me the primary issue is the smoke. It's a health issue for me, not just something I prefer to avoid. But honestly it's the whole package, too. The lights and sounds and stuff. It's just not something I care for, and it takes up space that could be used for something else. I know why most lines have them, but I still prefer to not have them. And that's ok. We can all prefer different things and that's why there are different cruise lines out there.

In terms of space you're probably looking at swapping the movie theatre for the casino. It wouldn't be bad to see that on other ships (even if I'm not one to watch movies on a ship. I've watched exactly 2 movies in a cruise ship movie theatre - Enemy Mine (a looooong time ago) and Avengers Age of Ultron. But I digress), but I doubt that those ships would have the luxury of showing first run movies, which is a nice perk for DCL to have.

I feel like casinos on board of cruise ships are mostly frequented by older people. Sooooo quiet. People are way too absorbed by their slot machines to party. LOL

You need to lurk around the table games. Especially craps if there's a bunch of people. Not saying one has to play, but a lively craps table is rather entertaining as far as casinos go.

(I'm not a fan of the slots)

 

[mevelandry]

I see this A LOT! Especially when it comes to Concierge and Castaway Cay cabanas. I've read countless posts here and on other social media sites where people say something isn't worth it but they've never even tried it. It's just human nature.

This reminds me that I said many times in the past that Club Level wasn't worth it... Until we've been upgraded for free at the Disney's Yacht Club. (I felt like a real dumb-dumb after that.)

 

[mevelandry]

In terms of space you're probably looking at swapping the movie theatre for the casino. It wouldn't be bad to see that on other ships (even if I'm not one to watch movies on a ship. I've watched exactly 2 movies in a cruise ship movie theatre - Enemy Mine (a looooong time ago) and Avengers Age of Ultron. But I digress), but I doubt that those ships would have the luxury of showing first run movies, which is a nice perk for DCL to have.


You need to lurk around the table games. Especially craps if there's a bunch of people. Not saying one has to play, but a lively craps table is rather entertaining as far as casinos go.

(I'm not a fan of the slots)

My husband does that sometimes (looking at people play on tables) said he saw someone bet ... 10,000$ on poker once, I think?

 

[VTNuke]

Sorry but I can't help ... ( It's not you: In the past, I had pretty similar thoughts --before I tried Carnival-- now I see things differently but I still see similar comments) ...

The truth is we usually don't know much about the ships that are docked next to us. We're not there to experience the real feel and the ambiance ... And we can't see the interior of the ship. We can't judge the entertainment, the cruise director or the food, because we're not there.

And how can we assess the inside and the cleanliness of the ship from that far? By the hull? Wouldn't we all agree that rust is easier to spot on a white hull than on a black hull?

Now that I've experienced different kind of ships on Carnival (from very old to brand new), I come to the conclusion that decor is just decor. My least favorite decor was definitely on the Sensation but I had a great cruise regardless.

I've done Carnival before and it wasn't close to an acceptable level for me, and that trip was given to me as a gift. I've done the research on what ships are kept up and which have historical issues. I also know that if I showed up to a port and looked at that particular Carnival ship, I'd want my money back. Now, you're right about the fact that I didn't taste their food, or go into one of their porthole cabins, which was 80% of their rooms, but you didn't see how bad that ship looked. This ship was a few levels lower than the Dream and the balconies I could see had yellow dirt/rust/mold all over them. I also watched as they tested all of the lifeboats on one side and was surprised at how many of them weren't lowering or raising with ease. I've seen a few of the Fantasy's lifeboats lowered before and they certainly didn't have the issues their's did.

In the end, I really don't care if other people want to save money and do another line. It's not that important to me that everyone has to love DCL and for pricing, it's probably better if more people want to do a Carnival trip over a DCL. I'd be willing to try other lines if I'd done the research on the ship itself before booking. I'd never want to role up to the port and be instantly disappointed that I spent that $300 for a 5 night trip on a ship like that. I also wouldn't stay in the Bates Motel the night before. There's a level of expectation I have when I travel.

 

[mevelandry]

I've done Carnival before and it wasn't close to an acceptable level for me, and that trip was given to me as a gift. I've done the research on what ships are kept up and which have historical issues. I also know that if I showed up to a port and looked at that particular Carnival ship, I'd want my money back. Now, you're right about the fact that I didn't taste their food, or go into one of their porthole cabins, which was 80% of their rooms, but you didn't see how bad that ship looked. This ship was a few levels lower than the Dream and the balconies I could see had yellow dirt/rust/mold all over them. I also watched as they tested all of the lifeboats on one side and was surprised at how many of them weren't lowering or raising with ease. I've seen a few of the Fantasy's lifeboats lowered before and they certainly didn't have the issues their's did.

In the end, I really don't care if other people want to save money and do another line. It's not that important to me that everyone has to love DCL and for pricing, it's probably better if more people want to do a Carnival trip over a DCL. I'd be willing to try other lines if I'd done the research on the ship itself before booking. I'd never want to role up to the port and be instantly disappointed that I spent that $300 for a 5 night trip on a ship like that. I also wouldn't stay in the Bates Motel the night before. There's a level of expectation I have when I travel.

Which ship(s) are you talking about exactly?

p.s.: I'm an overplanner... so I've reviewed all ships I sailed on prior to sailings. FYI, I also think they should retire old ships (Fantasy Class) because they can't compare to their new ships.

p.s.: And I'd stay at Bates Motel if Freddie Highmore was there. LOL

EDIT: If I may add... My point was: I don't care about rust on a balcony... We all get the same ocean view.

 

[tidefan]

I agree that it's the smoke that annoys most people about Casinos. I am (cautiously) optimistic that at some point cruise lines will improve this. Celebrity has some (maybe all??) smoke free casinos. NCL enclosed a separate smoking section inside the casino on their newest ship, the Bliss, so the exterior portion open to the rest of ship remains smoke free. I have read (mostly) positive reports on that over on boards frequented by NCL cruisers. Maybe the industry is getting the message.

As others have mentioned, the amount of smoke that carries outside the casino depends on the ship and location. The two ships we've been on recently (NCL Gem and Sun) had casinos, but we never really noticed the smoke unless we happened to be passing through there. The couple of times we did walk through, it's not as if we absolutely had to. There are always other ways to get around, and we just chose that path as it might have been slightly closer to where we were going. Smoke really was not an issue for us on either cruise, and we are pretty sensitive to it.

Other than the smoke, I'm perfectly fine with casinos on a ship. We don't gamble, but I greatly appreciate the fact the passengers that do are helping to supplement our cruise fare .

As posted before...

One of the many great things about our Regal Princess cruise...

 

[Intr3pid]

I have a question... Why do people hate casinos so much? I mean... Nobody forces anyone to play. There are lots of lights and colors in there. I'm not a fan of them but I don't hate them.

The only thing I hate about them is the smoke. Seriously, all the smoking indoor has to go!

A better question to ask is, why would anyone like a casino? The industry averages more than a 40% gross margin, so why would anyone want to toss away a part of their hard-earned money like this? Of course, the entertainment element. The lights, the sounds, and the thrill. It's competing with the movie theater.

Except that the theater is going to cost you a fixed amount per hour of entertainment. Not so with gambling. I've seen people run thousands of dollars of gambling bills - or, worse, run themselves into a financial ruin as a result.

And this is the sort of 'entertainment' we would like our kids to stay away from. At least until they can understand its consequences as an adult. Then, it's their own call. And that's where Disney delivers and gets our business.

Now, the movie theaters are roughly the same size on most ships, so how does DCL reclaim the casino space? Mostly, the expanded kids clubs (and possibly roomier cabins). I would much rather our kids get entertained with an Oceaneer Lab activity or active social interactions with other kids than growing up to see gambling getting our blessing.

I have no issues with casinos on an adults cruise if located separately. In fact, on bigger ships where it's difficult to use the space above or below an atrium efficiently, a tucked-away casino will be fine. I can rest well knowing that the losses of those playing are helping subsidize the room rates for the rest of us.

 

[mevelandry]

A better question to ask is, why would anyone like a casino? The industry averages more than a 40% gross margin, so why would anyone want to toss away a part of their hard-earned money like this? Of course, the entertainment element. The lights, the sounds, and the thrill. It's competing with the movie theater.

Except that the theater is going to cost you a fixed amount per hour of entertainment. Not so with gambling. I've seen people run thousands of dollars of gambling bills - or, worse, run themselves into a financial ruin as a result.

And this is the sort of 'entertainment' we would like our kids to stay away from. At least until they can understand its consequences as an adult. Then, it's their own call. And that's where Disney delivers and gets our business.

Now, the movie theaters are roughly the same size on most ships, so how does DCL reclaim the casino space? Mostly, the expanded kids clubs (and possibly roomier cabins). I would much rather our kids get entertained with an Oceaneer Lab activity or active social interactions with other kids than growing up to see gambling getting our blessing.

I have no issues with casinos on an adults cruise if located separately. In fact, on bigger ships where it's difficult to use the space above or below an atrium efficiently, a tucked-away casino will be fine. I can rest well knowing that the losses of those playing are helping subsidize the room rates for the rest of us.

1st paragraph: Because just like cellphones, apps and video games, slot machines have been created to keep our brains hooked.

 

[pixiedustedme]

What cruise lines you guys consider superior to Disney? For example, I consider the Red Carnation Hotel Collection to be vastly superior to Disney resorts.

I've never sailed Crystal, but might do it someday when my son is older. They are reputed to have better food & service than the mass market lines like Disney.

 

[lucyddr]

Our first cruise in 2005 was on Disney. We fell in love and thought nothing could possibly compare. Then, we wanted to cruise again on our honeymoon and Disney didn't offer a 7 day cruise that left on Sunday. So....we tried Carnival. We thought we would hate it, but agreed to go into it with an open mind. Guess what??? We loved it too!

We then went back to DCL in 2009 and had a less-than-great cruise. Poor and super slow service, no change in menus, same show offerings...just wasn't magical for the price. So....we left and have cruised Carnival since (with one Royal short trip in the middle). Our children are now 6, so we are coming back to try Disney again 10 years later.

I'm curious as to how we will feel. This will be cruise #4 for our twins, so they have a good idea as to what to expect. If we fall in love again, we will stay with DCL. If not, no biggie!

If it matters, we are a high income family that grew up super poor. We very much value budgets, so we certain take costs into consideration. We also often spend more on private excursions that the cruise price and consider the ship to be a moving hotel. We are very low maintenance travelers. Cleanliness and the taste of food matters to us! We aren't big gamblers, but will spend around $100/week in a casino just because I enjoy Roulette. We do not enjoy dressing up, though will on DCL as it's expected.

If you are cruising for the cruise/ship experience, DCL may win. If you care more about the itineraries, then other lines offer far more.

 

[pixiedustedme]

It wasn't meant to be snarky. If you take kids on a cruise that's predominately known for having an older demographic you can't be surprised that some of the passengers don't like kids. I know people that cruise Hal and Celebrity for the pure fact that there's hardly any kids. It would be like taking a Disney cruise and then complaining about all the kids on board. Hopefully you'll get a chance to try one of non cruise disney lines that caters to families.

That poster's kids were poorly treated by multiple fellow passengers on HAL, so he shared that with those on Disboards so they would be aware & not have the same thing happen to their kids. So that is helping others to pick a cruise that is right for them, and is nothing that requires you to chide that poster.

No one should have to assume that older cruisers would hate having kids around, which is what that poster was referring to, btw. I was surprised by the negativity that he described encountering. A lot of older people like encountering well-behaved children. The poster did nothing wrong.

 

[mmmears]

As posted before...

One of the many great things about our Regal Princess cruise...

View attachment 393654

For some of us a smoke free night means nothing. A smoke free ship is another story. Even if nobody is smoking in a room when I walk through it, it doesn't mean that it doesn't reek of smoke and cause breathing problems. Was it just that one night?

 

[starvenger]

A better question to ask is, why would anyone like a casino? The industry averages more than a 40% gross margin, so why would anyone want to toss away a part of their hard-earned money like this? Of course, the entertainment element. The lights, the sounds, and the thrill. It's competing with the movie theater.

Except that the theater is going to cost you a fixed amount per hour of entertainment. Not so with gambling. I've seen people run thousands of dollars of gambling bills - or, worse, run themselves into a financial ruin as a result.

And this is the sort of 'entertainment' we would like our kids to stay away from. At least until they can understand its consequences as an adult. Then, it's their own call. And that's where Disney delivers and gets our business.

Now, the movie theaters are roughly the same size on most ships, so how does DCL reclaim the casino space? Mostly, the expanded kids clubs (and possibly roomier cabins). I would much rather our kids get entertained with an Oceaneer Lab activity or active social interactions with other kids than growing up to see gambling getting our blessing.

I have no issues with casinos on an adults cruise if located separately. In fact, on bigger ships where it's difficult to use the space above or below an atrium efficiently, a tucked-away casino will be fine. I can rest well knowing that the losses of those playing are helping subsidize the room rates for the rest of us.

So I guess the takeaway here is that you're fine with the casino (assuming you never have to go through it), but you'd rather be on a cruise without one? Seems fair if that's the case.

 

[cgolf]

That poster's kids were poorly treated by multiple fellow passengers on HAL, so he shared that with those on Disboards so they would be aware & not have the same thing happen to their kids. So that is helping others to pick a cruise that is right for them, and is nothing that requires you to chide that poster.

No one should have to assume that older cruisers would hate having kids around, which is what that poster was referring to, btw. I was surprised by the negativity that he described encountering. A lot of older people like encountering well-behaved children. The poster did nothing wrong.

I recently saw a thread on CC that had loyal Celebrity cruisers say that they would bail because Celebrity did a kids sail free promotion on select trips. The hatred of kids appears to be real. My real life experiences though tell me that kids nowadays get a bad rap, many are still very friendly and respectful and I don't see the sense of entitlement everyone goes on about.

 

[starvenger]

Sounds like that adage where a small number of people ruin things for everyone else.

 

[hubbard53]

That poster's kids were poorly treated by multiple fellow passengers on HAL, so he shared that with those on Disboards so they would be aware & not have the same thing happen to their kids. So that is helping others to pick a cruise that is right for them, and is nothing that requires you to chide that poster.

No one should have to assume that older cruisers would hate having kids around, which is what that poster was referring to, btw. I was surprised by the negativity that he described encountering. A lot of older people like encountering well-behaved children. The poster did nothing wrong.

yep. most cruisers enjoyed the kids - there were 250-300 kids aboard which was about 10% of the population. I did not see poorly behaved kids - it just seems that their mere presence was enough to turn some people off - i mean, the one guy didnt want kids in the pool AT ALL. Isn't that weird?

HAL has three Kid's Clubs - children, tweens, and teens - fully decked out in games, air hockey, art supplies, etc. They also had kidss puzzles and books in the Crow's Nest so it's not as if the line "isn't for kids" . . .

 

[Pens Fan]

I will admit that until a couple of years ago, I bought into the whole HAL is an older people cruisline stereotype. Then, we sailed to Alaska out of Vancouver in July 2017. We were there for several days before our cruise and were just hanging out at Canada Place one morning when a HAL ship was debarking it's passengers. It was a real eye opener seeing who was coming off of that ship. Yes, there were plenty of senior citizens. There were also tons of families with kids and even quite a few young couples. It was a good mix of demographics. I'm sure (like any cruise line, even DCL) the clientele varies depending on the time of year and destination, but at least for Alaska in the Summer there could be a lot of kids on board a HAL ship.

As a side note - I think those HAL ships are gorgeous and seemed so well maintained - at least from the outside. Probably my favorite of any we saw in the three days were there or in any port during the cruise (and dare I say, that included the Wonder - gasp!!!)

 

[tidefan]

For some of us a smoke free night means nothing. A smoke free ship is another story. Even if nobody is smoking in a room when I walk through it, it doesn't mean that it doesn't reek of smoke and cause breathing problems. Was it just that one night?

Far as I could tell, it was up every night. There was a smoking section for the ship, but it was on an aft upper deck (not the deck behind Horizon Court, it was above that) and that was about the only place you could smell smoke... and it was out of the way...

 

[smmco]

Speaking of smoking when is DCL going to stop kids from vaping in the vibe? iIm not sure if this happens on RCCL my kids haven’t seen it on Royal, but I know it happens on Disney.

 

[DnA2010]

It wasn't meant to be snarky. If you take kids on a cruise that's predominately known for having an older demographic you can't be surprised that some of the passengers don't like kids. I know people that cruise Hal and Celebrity for the pure fact that there's hardly any kids. It would be like taking a Disney cruise and then complaining about all the kids on board. Hopefully you'll get a chance to try one of non cruise disney lines that caters to families.

On our HAL cruise (August 2017) my sister and I had the only babies on the ship, and our teen was one of maybe 10-20 teens, and we say about the same amount of kids. Most of the passengers who saw the babies coo'd over them, but we did have one couple say in a snarky way something along the lines that HAL was not fir children

That poster's kids were poorly treated by multiple fellow passengers on HAL, so he shared that with those on Disboards so they would be aware & not have the same thing happen to their kids. So that is helping others to pick a cruise that is right for them, and is nothing that requires you to chide that poster.

No one should have to assume that older cruisers would hate having kids around, which is what that poster was referring to, btw. I was surprised by the negativity that he described encountering. A lot of older people like encountering well-behaved children. The poster did nothing wrong.

As I wrote above, we only encountered people who were 100% into our kids, other than the 1 couple.

HAL has three Kid's Clubs - children, tweens, and teens - fully decked out in games, air hockey, art supplies, etc. They also had kidss puzzles and books in the Crow's Nest so it's not as if the line "isn't for kids" . . .

our DD who was 13 when we went on our HAL cruise was pretty disappointed in the club on the ship tbh- she said it was dark, barely had anything in it, and the gaming systems/tvs and such were all broken (which I was fine with as I didn't bring her on a cruise for her to play video games )

I will admit that until a couple of years ago, I bought into the whole HAL is an older people cruisline stereotype. Then, we sailed to Alaska out of Vancouver in July 2017. We were there for several days before our cruise and were just hanging out at Canada Place one morning when a HAL ship was debarking it's passengers. It was a real eye opener seeing who was coming off of that ship. Yes, there were plenty of senior citizens. There were also tons of families with kids and even quite a few young couples. It was a good mix of demographics. I'm sure (like any cruise line, even DCL) the clientele varies depending on the time of year and destination, but at least for Alaska in the Summer there could be a lot of kids on board a HAL ship.

Crazy as we were on a HAL cruise in 2017 to Alaska out of Vancouver and we had barely any kids- our 11 month olds were the only babies on the ship and our teen was among a small group of teens, and same with the kids

I will say we LOVED the food on HAL- it was by far the best out of the 4 cruise lines we have been on!