Can't afford Disney anymore. Comparable cruise line recs?

[MissKIA]

Carnival ships being party boats are a reputation from 30 years ago. It's such an old, snobby stereotype. The 4 day or less itineraries may have more of a party atmosphere (as is the case with ANY cruise line) but the longer cruises are not at all. In fact I've found that they are really no different than any other cruise line or any other vacation in general. I am not a partier at all, and I have never had an issue on Carnival, and I have never had an issue having my kids on the ship. If you don't want to see Partying (on ANY cruise line) I would suggest not staying out at the club until 3 am. Seems pretty logical to me...

 

[darkwing818]

Besides DCL (15 times) we've sailed, RCL, HAL & Celebrity. We have no issue recommending each. BUT if we had to pick just one it would be Celebrity. For us it just seemed like Celebrity (purely subjective) was the closest to matching DCL in terms of service & attention to details. Cheers

 

[phinz]

Carnival ships being party boats are a reputation from 30 years ago. It's such an old, snobby stereotype. The 4 day or less itineraries may have more of a party atmosphere (as is the case with ANY cruise line) but the longer cruises are not at all. In fact I've found that they are really no different than any other cruise line or any other vacation in general. I am not a partier at all, and I have never had an issue on Carnival, and I have never had an issue having my kids on the ship. If you don't want to see Partying (on ANY cruise line) I would suggest not staying out at the club until 3 am. Seems pretty logical to me...

If you're out at a club on a Disney ship at 3, I want to be with you, because they roll up the decks at 2, and by 1 I'm typically one of about 5 people in The Tube. I've wandered the boat from 2 when they pretty much kicked me out of the club until 4 am taking pictures and it was just me and employees in yellow jumpsuits.

Carnival has its reputation for a reason. When we were in St. Thomas this past December a Carnival ship arrived shortly after we did. Señor Frogs had *no* business to speak of until Carnival rolled in. I watched Disney passengers walk right past it. Within an hour of Carnival's arrival the music was pumping out of the Frog and people were dancing on the bar. Not that I mind, since a party atmosphere doesn't really faze me, but the atmosphere at the port changed significantly once Carnival arrived.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

RCCL would be my suggestion. Just not Carnival.............just to many issues, including safety issues with carnivals operation.

AKK

 

[Love2Cruz]

I cruise Carnival a lot and I would agree the short cruises have more of a party atmosphere...but if you go on a 6-8 day itinerary on one of the newer boats, it's actually a relaxing family atomosphere. It's a bit more livelier than Disney as there is live music on the pool deck (instead of Disney movies), but it's usually Carib/Reggae so it adds to the ambiance. Their service is excellent and there is always something going on...if you want to stay away from the crowds, then the adult sections is much more quiet.
I've never been disappointed on a Carnival Cruise, and I cruised both the Carnival Conquest (older boat, but long itin) and the Breeze (newest boat, 6 day itin) last year and I had we had a great time. I've cruised on Carnival over 10 times. My 6 y/o actually prefers Carnival over Disney...go figure.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Besides DCL (15 times) we've sailed, RCL, HAL & Celebrity. We have no issue recommending each. BUT if we had to pick just one it would be Celebrity. For us it just seemed like Celebrity (purely subjective) was the closest to matching DCL in terms of service & attention to details. Cheers

We're Celebrity fans too. We prefer their food over DCL's.

 

[cgolf]

I may get in trouble for posting this, but in doing my research for new lines to try I started some threads on another forum today for Princess, NCL, Holland, RCCL, and Celebrity that some of you may find interesting to read. I have lurked over there for a long time, but if is interesting to see some names I remember from here.

 

[tinkerone]

I may get in trouble for posting this, but in doing my research for new lines to try I started some threads on another forum today for Princess, NCL, Holland, RCCL, and Celebrity that some of you may find interesting to read. I have lurked over there for a long time, but if is interesting to see some names I remember from here.

nothing to get in trouble for. i myself have been to the other forum and have looked at and posted on the rccl site. do you have the same name? i'll watch for you.

 

[cgolf]

nothing to get in trouble for. i myself have been to the other forum and have looked at and posted on the rccl site. do you have the same name? i'll watch for you.

Cgolf1 over there. I am curious where some posters have gone? We lost a few good ones with all the stuff flying on some of these threads.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We've sailed DCL 5 times and NCL three times. I actually find NCL quite tacky and their customer service is really lacking. We won't sail with them again.

We are booked on our first Celebrity cruise this upcoming summer. So far, they've been incredibly easy to work with and I am shocked at how much more affordable they are. We were originally booked concierge on a 12-night DCL Med cruise but canceled after they changed the itinerary. We are now booked on Celebrity for a 12-night Baltics cruise and are in a much bigger stateroom with wi-fi, beverage packages, gratuities and other perks included and it is literally half the price of what we would have paid on the DCL cruise (without alcohol and gratuities included!). Not sure what our experience will be, but I'm looking forward to finding out!

 

[DnA2010]

We've only sailed on RCL (Oasis and Freedom) and on the Fantasy. We will sail on RCL before Disney again as we can book in Canadian dollars, it's just so much more reasonably priced and DD had a great time on Oasis. She loved the fantasy too - especially edge, but was disappointed there was no pool (we didn't count "zombie soup" as we called the tiny pool packed with kids staring at the tv screen) as she loved all the pools on Oasis and the flow riders. The Aquaduct was great though. We actually preferred the food on RCL- found the food on fantasy a bit bland and we loved Park Cafe.

 

[vinotinto]

I also suggest to look at RCCL. They have so many more ships than DCL and can do a variety of itineraries. I would also suggest to look at land vacations. There are many cool destinations that you can do with really good dining and great activities for less than DCL.