CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[hdrolfe]

I'll definitely try it once if it does end up going fleet-wide. I imagine it will considering how popular Guy's is! I also think the Blue Iguana breakfast is really yummy too and I actually might prefer it overall over Guy's. *Gasp!* And I'm always in favor of more "included" food options. Not to be negative, but I do feel food options are something that DCL lacks and other cruise lines do much better with.

Oh yeah, a nice breakfast burrito. Mmm. I do like Blue Iguana for lunch too, the taco salad bowl is so good! I really need another cruise so many food options...

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Wow... The sloth’s head is almost doing a 360. What is in his mouth? What is the mission of the sanctuary?

(Sorry for all the questions, I’m a bit obsessed with animals).

She was eating a flower from the hibiscus plant, their diet is all plant based. Fun facts about sloths, they sleep about 20 hours/day, eating nothing but plants and only go to the bathroom once/week.

I can hardly wait to try Guy’s for breakfast!!!! Bring it on. Also agree with a previous poster that DCL is really behind the other cruise lines when it comes to included food options, they don’t hold a candle to Carnival and the others.

 

[smmco]

I got my flights booked for our Mardi Gras cruise out of Copenhagen. It was a bit of a challenge. It took about 6 weeks of checking the AA sight 50 times a day for AA business class award flights. When the return flight popped up for a 3 pm departure out of LHR I felt like I'd won the lottery. I'd given up on the outbound and was going to settle on economy when AA had a sale on flights to Prague. I had been looking for flights to LHR. My plan was to fly to LHR spend the night and then fly BA from LHR to CPH. I've never been to Prague,.....so I thought why not? We're spending three nights in Prague and then 2 nights in Copenhagen. There's a little snafu getting from PRG to CPH which I hadn't anticipated. There's only one airline with non-stops and only two flights a day. The reviews are horrid. I've never flown these cheap European carriers so I'm a little nervous about it. I have enough miles left to fly BA back to LHR and then on to CPH, but it would mean spending night in LHR. I'll probably do that meaning I will only have one night in CPH.

I think I'm ok with that hotels in Copenhagen are expensive. I'm pleasantly surprised with Prague. The hotels are reasonably priced. The Marriott courtyard I booked actually has two queen beds, free breakfast and is only 150.00 a night. If you're familiar with traveling in Europe that's a rarity.

We're sailing on Allure of the Sea super bowl Sunday. I didn't know when I booked this cruise the Superbowl was in Miami. We're spending two nights in Orlando and visiting Seaworld. I got the 40 dollar black Friday tickets. The closest I could get to Fort Lauderdale was West Palm Beach. Everything in Miami and FLL is sold out. The only hotels I could find were the ones that look like you'd book by the hour and I'm sure those will be busy that weekend. Luckily I have some Hyatt points or the Hyatt Place in West Palm beach would have cost me 400.00 for the night.

Seriously, I watch the NFl every week and I had no idea the Superbowl was in Miami until I started looking for a hotel a month ago. It should be a fun weekend in Florida. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[mevelandry]

Just happened to be scrolling through my morning CNN newsletter and saw the 2019 Cruise Critic Editor's Pick Awards. Not sure how much stock is put in these or what the parameters are, but just for fun, here's the list!

Best New Ship: Norwegian Encore
Best Ship Refurbishment: Oasis of the Seas (Royal Caribbean International)
Best for Adventure: UnCruise Adventures
Best Cabins: Celebrity Cruises
Best Dining: Holland America Line
Best Entertainment: Royal Caribbean International
Best for Families: Disney Cruise Line
Best Itineraries: Holland America Line
Best Nightlife: MSC Cruises
Best Service: Carnival Cruise Line
Best Shore Excursions: Princess Cruises
Best for Solo Travelers: Norwegian Cruise Line
Best Suites: Royal Caribbean International
Best Value for Money: Carnival Cruise Line
Best North American Homeport: Seattle, WA

Some are no surprise, but I thought it was super interesting that CCL won for Best service! And now the Norwegian Encore win makes me more interested in trying NCL.

Wait. Best service for Carnival over DCL? Not gonna lie, knowing how DCL hardcore fans rave about DCL having the best-service-in-the-whole-wide-world, this made me giggle a little bit. (Slightly ashamed of this *schadenfreude* moment)

 

[mevelandry]

Did you guys see this? At first I though yuck, but when I told my kids about it they were so excited that I re-thought it and am now pretty interested. My kids were already not thrilled about our next cruise being on princess instead of carnival, but now they are really not happy. Lol

https://cruiseradio.net/guys-burger...c_EsmHhMUJQK2n53_ZOWdGuI8C46GmeOSZNjHDw4VE0RI

It sounds a bit heavy but I keep hearing that breakfast is the best time of the day for heavy meals.

 

[mevelandry]

She was eating a flower from the hibiscus plant, their diet is all plant based. Fun facts about sloths, they sleep about 20 hours/day, eating nothing but plants and only go to the bathroom once/week.

I can hardly wait to try Guy’s for breakfast!!!! Bring it on. Also agree with a previous poster that DCL is really behind the other cruise lines when it comes to included food options, they don’t hold a candle to Carnival and the others.

Thank you for the info. This looks very interesting.

 

[mevelandry]

I obviously haven't been, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like a family run sanctuary that started as a hobby and just grew. Website says that most of their animals have come from locals that realized they couldn't take care of them.

I'm also an animal lover so I'm happy to book an excursion that not only looks so fun and has great reviews, but also gives back to something I care about!

It’s reassuring since animal ethics is very important for me (I don’t do dolphin swims and I am not the biggest fan of zoos unless those are filled with animals that can’t be reintroduced to nature because they were injured or domesticated) ... Now I wanna go. LOL

 

[Lynne G]

Less than 30 days now, for our first foray into another cruise line. Happy to hear a breakfast burrito may be had.

Did book port adventures for all four of our stops. Seems the ship may be busier than my cruise mates over on CC think. Only suites seem to be left. And here is hoping a stop at the food guy, we get a private table. Seems many other lines allow you to say table preference before cruise. Carnival does not. Another oh, different than DCL.

 

[belle032]

I got my flights booked for our Mardi Gras cruise out of Copenhagen. It was a bit of a challenge. It took about 6 weeks of checking the AA sight 50 times a day for AA business class award flights. When the return flight popped up for a 3 pm departure out of LHR I felt like I'd won the lottery. I'd given up on the outbound and was going to settle on economy when AA had a sale on flights to Prague. I had been looking for flights to LHR. My plan was to fly to LHR spend the night and then fly BA from LHR to CPH. I've never been to Prague,.....so I thought why not? We're spending three nights in Prague and then 2 nights in Copenhagen. There's a little snafu getting from PRG to CPH which I hadn't anticipated. There's only one airline with non-stops and only two flights a day. The reviews are horrid. I've never flown these cheap European carriers so I'm a little nervous about it. I have enough miles left to fly BA back to LHR and then on to CPH, but it would mean spending night in LHR. I'll probably do that meaning I will only have one night in CPH.

I think I'm ok with that hotels in Copenhagen are expensive. I'm pleasantly surprised with Prague. The hotels are reasonably priced. The Marriott courtyard I booked actually has two queen beds, free breakfast and is only 150.00 a night. If you're familiar with traveling in Europe that's a rarity.

We're sailing on Allure of the Sea super bowl Sunday. I didn't know when I booked this cruise the Superbowl was in Miami. We're spending two nights in Orlando and visiting Seaworld. I got the 40 dollar black Friday tickets. The closest I could get to Fort Lauderdale was West Palm Beach. Everything in Miami and FLL is sold out. The only hotels I could find were the ones that look like you'd book by the hour and I'm sure those will be busy that weekend. Luckily I have some Hyatt points or the Hyatt Place in West Palm beach would have cost me 400.00 for the night.

Seriously, I watch the NFl every week and I had no idea the Superbowl was in Miami until I started looking for a hotel a month ago. It should be a fun weekend in Florida. I'm looking forward to it.

Omg we’re sailing out of Miami the weekend before Super Bowl and getting back the day before. I’m still having a heck of a time finding a hotel for one night under $250 the the weekend before and we’re flying into FLL. I think I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and book one because prices are only going up. Originally, we thought about staying in Florida the night we disembark but once I realized what was going on I was like NOPE get us out of here!

We almost booked a sailing out of Port Canaveral for the same weekend and while I’m still looking forward to this one, it would have made it a lot easier travel wise!

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Some wonderful travel plans being made. We booked our flights to Hawaii for our land trip next June. They are sure more expensive than the last time I visited for the "good" flights. We ended up booking the not so great in order to save $1000. We still get 9 days in paradise though.

 

[mevelandry]

Less than 30 days now, for our first foray into another cruise line. Happy to hear a breakfast burrito may be had.

Did book port adventures for all four of our stops. Seems the ship may be busier than my cruise mates over on CC think. Only suites seem to be left. And here is hoping a stop at the food guy, we get a private table. Seems many other lines allow you to say table preference before cruise. Carnival does not. Another oh, different than DCL.

What do you mean by "table preference"?

 

[mevelandry]

Omg we’re sailing out of Miami the weekend before Super Bowl and getting back the day before. I’m still having a heck of a time finding a hotel for one night under $250 the the weekend before and we’re flying into FLL. I think I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and book one because prices are only going up. Originally, we thought about staying in Florida the night we disembark but once I realized what was going on I was like NOPE get us out of here!

We almost booked a sailing out of Port Canaveral for the same weekend and while I’m still looking forward to this one, it would have made it a lot easier travel wise!

Have you ever tried Hotwire? We got SO lucky with them so far. Always got great hotels at a very reasonable price.

 

[Lynne G]

What do you mean by "table preference"?

Meaning, private or 4 top for the 3 of us going. We are not fond of sharing a table in the main dining rooms.

 

[tidefan]

Did you guys see this? At first I though yuck, but when I told my kids about it they were so excited that I re-thought it and am now pretty interested. My kids were already not thrilled about our next cruise being on princess instead of carnival, but now they are really not happy. Lol

https://cruiseradio.net/guys-burger...c_EsmHhMUJQK2n53_ZOWdGuI8C46GmeOSZNjHDw4VE0RI

Send them to Alfredo's for Pizza (if your Princess ship has it). That will get them over that!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Meaning, private or 4 top for the 3 of us going. We are not fond of sharing a table in the main dining rooms.

If you have my time dining you’ll have a choice if alone or with people. The times we’ve had set dining we always had our own table for our family of 4.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Less than 30 days now, for our first foray into another cruise line. Happy to hear a breakfast burrito may be had.

Did book port adventures for all four of our stops. Seems the ship may be busier than my cruise mates over on CC think. Only suites seem to be left. And here is hoping a stop at the food guy, we get a private table. Seems many other lines allow you to say table preference before cruise. Carnival does not. Another oh, different than DCL.

The breakfast burritos are awesome. They have a great salsa bar too, we bring our own bags of tortilla chips so we can have chips and salsa by the pool. I haven’t been able to find tortilla chips anywhere on the ship.

 

[mevelandry]

Meaning, private or 4 top for the 3 of us going. We are not fond of sharing a table in the main dining rooms.

You can request in advance and/or on the first night. We've never shared a table with anyone.

 

[mevelandry]

The breakfast burritos are awesome. They have a great salsa bar too, we bring our own bags of tortilla chips so we can have chips and salsa by the pool. I haven’t been able to find tortilla chips anywhere on the ship.

Smart idea. On my next Carnival cruise I'm bringing Tostitos!

 

[smmco]

Smart idea. On my next Carnival cruise I'm bringing Tostitos!

No offense, but those aren't real tortilla chips.

 

[Lynne G]

Woot, breakfast burrito and chips.

I did request private table the other day, but was told have to do it on the ship, not can reserve in advance. Oh well. That will be our first stop.

And with the BF sale, got pictures package. So hoping some great shots will be taken. Think was much cheaper than our picture package on the DCL Fantasy 7 night cruise we took a few years ago.

Oh and already prepaid our tips. All paid off back in October.

Here is hoping unusually hot in the Western Gulf locations the second week of January.