CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[hdrolfe]

I’ve been checking our panorama cruise in June and it is $2000 more than when we booked??!!! Of course we booked on opening. But I am wondering if we should cancel and try to pick up a deal instead?

Panorama does look like a very nice ship, not sure of the itinerary as I haven't really ever looked at doing the Mexican ports. If you got a good deal I would stay with it.

 

[wombat_5606]

I'm leaving a post about our last minute cruise on the Liberty that some of you helped me with. We had a great time. It was myself, my daughter and a friend of hers traveling in a OV cabin.

First, the cabin had plenty of room and was more than adequate for our needs(We didn't even come close to using the drawer and closet space.) and was very clean and very well maintained. I loved our room steward- always a hi when he saw us and in and out of the room without impacting our day.

We had lots of delicious food, but mainly ate in the buffet and pool area. The pizza and burgers were favorites. I promised to report back on Guy's breakfast. It was not available on our ship the first of Feb. We went to breakfast and dinner in the dining room once each. For the short cruise, we just didn't make eating a priority.

Sadly, my one regret was not going to the Alchemy Bar. The girls aren't big drinkers and honestly, I should have taken myself over there for at least one drink. Oh, well! There is always another cruise.

We played Bingo the first day and the friend won free wifi for herself and $100 OBC, along with $10 in the casino! We were having some fun now!!!

We saw all of the shows and they were very good, especially Flick....amazing! I will say getting into the lounges late at night for the comedians was hard to do. You have to get there early!

We had one evening at the Piano Bar with Lady Red. We had fun with her clean act and then the one that followed....not for the faint of heart. But, that evening is where our trip took a nasty turn.

My daughter got sick. It was the evening after spending all day at HMC and she at first thought her day of sun and grilled food had gotten the better of her, but alas, that was not the case. We believe it was the co-worker that had come to work with the flu the day before the cruise.exactly 3 days prior to the day. She interrupted my sleep till the wee hours when I got up and went to Guest Services to see if they had any green apples or saltine crackers available. Unfortunately, they did not have those onboard the ship but she did suggest ginger, which I had forgotten I had and for her to take a dose of Dramamine. We finally got some rest. The friend and I stayed outside on deck the entire sea day and my daughter self-quarantined. We did self disembark early the next morning. (The friend and I never got sick.)

I will say that getting an elevator to disembark was the only thing that I thought was "bad?" on the cruise. I'm not saying it was bad, but some people would perceive it that way. But, we found it was easier to split up and take whatever elevator came next that could take at least one of us. Then we did cause a slight glitch when we got to the deck to disembark. They have the line forming for disembark from where you leave the elevators and don't really have a place for someone to stand if their party is not together. They made it work for us. The girls did learn my trick for getting a porter to take your bags as soon as you leave the escalator. It is money well spent in my book.

We did end up getting off the ship in Nassau, but only to go to Del Sol to buy sunglasses. My daughter broke her one pair and we were in port with no open onboard shops, so what could we do? One nice perk is that they have a lifetime guarantee whether lost or damaged.

HMC tender was absolutely no problem. We wanted to go early and we were able to get on the first tender with no issues. Beautiful day, even if a bit chilly for us in the water. Lunch was delicious but we were unprepared for all of the seating areas scattered around.

I did have a couple of unusually nice things happen that I didn't expect. I use a cane to walk if the distance or time spent walking is long or if I have to stand for a long time, due to severe back issues. I was using my cane when it came time to muster and the staff steered us to a seated lounge instead of on deck. So thankful for that. Also, we got two one liter bottles of water in our cabin for being past passengers, I think?? Unexpected, but still super nice.

I want to add my voice to once again dispel that never-ending rant that you hear every time you mention Carnival Cruise Lines. I didn't see one drunk, obnoxious person on my short 4 night FUN cruise.

So, thanks everyone for your contributions to my questions and helping us have fun! We had a great time even with the way it ended.

 

[mevelandry]

I understand sickness fears, especially for the elderly or those with young children, but I'm still not at the point where I'm scared to travel. At least domestically. All I know is these cheap cruise fares are REALLY tempting. $100 for 4-5 day cruises?! If we lived closer to a port, I know we'd be jumping on them in a second.

Where did you find 100$ cruise fares?

 

[mevelandry]

We have stores here running out of Advil and Tylenol! According to the pharmacist we spoke to many of them are made in China and if they are not produced there many of the ingredients come from there too. With the factories shut down there could be a shortage. We did buy some at the third store we checked! Just in case.

Interesting. We don,t have that kind of problem here (yet) but maybe we should buy some in advance just in case...?

 

[mevelandry]

I'm leaving a post about our last minute cruise on the Liberty that some of you helped me with. We had a great time. It was myself, my daughter and a friend of hers traveling in a OV cabin.

First, the cabin had plenty of room and was more than adequate for our needs(We didn't even come close to using the drawer and closet space.) and was very clean and very well maintained. I loved our room steward- always a hi when he saw us and in and out of the room without impacting our day.

We had lots of delicious food, but mainly ate in the buffet and pool area. The pizza and burgers were favorites. I promised to report back on Guy's breakfast. It was not available on our ship the first of Feb. We went to breakfast and dinner in the dining room once each. For the short cruise, we just didn't make eating a priority.

Sadly, my one regret was not going to the Alchemy Bar. The girls aren't big drinkers and honestly, I should have taken myself over there for at least one drink. Oh, well! There is always another cruise.

We played Bingo the first day and the friend won free wifi for herself and $100 OBC, along with $10 in the casino! We were having some fun now!!!

We saw all of the shows and they were very good, especially Flick....amazing! I will say getting into the lounges late at night for the comedians was hard to do. You have to get there early!

We had one evening at the Piano Bar with Lady Red. We had fun with her clean act and then the one that followed....not for the faint of heart. But, that evening is where our trip took a nasty turn.

My daughter got sick. It was the evening after spending all day at HMC and she at first thought her day of sun and grilled food had gotten the better of her, but alas, that was not the case. We believe it was the co-worker that had come to work with the flu the day before the cruise.exactly 3 days prior to the day. She interrupted my sleep till the wee hours when I got up and went to Guest Services to see if they had any green apples or saltine crackers available. Unfortunately, they did not have those onboard the ship but she did suggest ginger, which I had forgotten I had and for her to take a dose of Dramamine. We finally got some rest. The friend and I stayed outside on deck the entire sea day and my daughter self-quarantined. We did self disembark early the next morning. (The friend and I never got sick.)

I will say that getting an elevator to disembark was the only thing that I thought was "bad?" on the cruise. I'm not saying it was bad, but some people would perceive it that way. But, we found it was easier to split up and take whatever elevator came next that could take at least one of us. Then we did cause a slight glitch when we got to the deck to disembark. They have the line forming for disembark from where you leave the elevators and don't really have a place for someone to stand if their party is not together. They made it work for us. The girls did learn my trick for getting a porter to take your bags as soon as you leave the escalator. It is money well spent in my book.

We did end up getting off the ship in Nassau, but only to go to Del Sol to buy sunglasses. My daughter broke her one pair and we were in port with no open onboard shops, so what could we do? One nice perk is that they have a lifetime guarantee whether lost or damaged.

HMC tender was absolutely no problem. We wanted to go early and we were able to get on the first tender with no issues. Beautiful day, even if a bit chilly for us in the water. Lunch was delicious but we were unprepared for all of the seating areas scattered around.

I did have a couple of unusually nice things happen that I didn't expect. I use a cane to walk if the distance or time spent walking is long or if I have to stand for a long time, due to severe back issues. I was using my cane when it came time to muster and the staff steered us to a seated lounge instead of on deck. So thankful for that. Also, we got two one liter bottles of water in our cabin for being past passengers, I think?? Unexpected, but still super nice.

I want to add my voice to once again dispel that never-ending rant that you hear every time you mention Carnival Cruise Lines. I didn't see one drunk, obnoxious person on my short 4 night FUN cruise.

So, thanks everyone for your contributions to my questions and helping us have fun! We had a great time even with the way it ended.

I'm so happy you had a great experience. May I ask what you thought of the decor/furniture? When we sailed on the Liberty, some of the furniture (ex: lounging chairs around the pool) were not in great shape (rusty). I wonder if they replaced those since?

Did you eat in the dining room? If you did, what did you think of the service?

 

[hdrolfe]

Interesting. We don,t have that kind of problem here (yet) but maybe we should buy some in advance just in case...?

Purell is sold out in Ottawa but I haven't heard of any problems with advil or tylenol. Yet.

 

[belle032]

Where did you find 100$ cruise fares?

A 3rd party website called Vacations to Go. I like them to research potential cruises. They have a 90 Day Ticker which lists the best last minute deals by sailing region. I was checking them out and NCL was offering a 4 day Bahamas (I think it sailed today actually!) for $99. There are a bunch listed for March that are under $200 for 3-5 days. I know you have to factor in taxes, port fees, etc. But still some great deals if you can go last minute!

 

[mom2brooke76]

I’ve just got to say WOW! Go look at Cruise Law News and their new article talks about how Carnival ships are being turned away from Jamaica and Grand Cayman, but it seems all other lines are allowed to still dock there. Someone said the Magic did today at Grand Cayman. And I’m the comments a resident of Grand Cayman was getting nasty about Carnival ships and how they want to get rid of them

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

A 3rd party website called Vacations to Go. I like them to research potential cruises. They have a 90 Day Ticker which lists the best last minute deals by sailing region. I was checking them out and NCL was offering a 4 day Bahamas (I think it sailed today actually!) for $99. There are a bunch listed for March that are under $200 for 3-5 days. I know you have to factor in taxes, port fees, etc. But still some great deals if you can go last minute!

I have looked at them a lot but never used them. Are they good/ easy to use?

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Purell is sold out in Ottawa but I haven't heard of any problems with advil or tylenol. Yet.

I think there is a run on that here too but you can still get it. Our local grocery had a table of it at their entrance yesterday with a sign that said, “Last hand sanitizer in stock.” We skipped because the price was a bit high lol.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I’ve just got to say WOW! Go look at Cruise Law News and their new article talks about how Carnival ships are being turned away from Jamaica and Grand Cayman, but it seems all other lines are allowed to still dock there. Someone said the Magic did today at Grand Cayman. And I’m the comments a resident of Grand Cayman was getting nasty about Carnival ships and how they want to get rid of them

That’s crazy! Jamaica might not want to be so picky lol. It’s not such a prize either.

 

[wombat_5606]

I'm so happy you had a great experience. May I ask what you thought of the decor/furniture? When we sailed on the Liberty, some of the furniture (ex: lounging chairs around the pool) were not in great shape (rusty). I wonder if they replaced those since?

Did you eat in the dining room? If you did, what did you think of the service?
[/UOTE]

The color scheme in the cabins wasn't really to my liking, but I can live with that because I don't spend much time there for a cruise in the Caribbean. I did think the the decor in the public areas was a little strange and at times, too dark. I didn't like those lights in the atrium at all. I've recently been cruising on the new builds on HAL and they are light and bright and I prefer that.

I feel like the whole ship has a Mexico vibe to me. I wouldn't describe this as an attractive or beautiful ship. It is definitely not to my taste.

Now that you've asked that, I can't really remember why, but something about the pool area bothered me. I don't feel like it had to do with the chairs, though. Maybe there is some rust around the pool area or on the hand rails, but I didn't take any pictures to jog my memory. I did feel like the decking needed refinishing.

We hung out at Serenity on both sea days and I have no complaints on those chairs. We always had a chair pad on them and I felt those were in very good shape. By the way, that's the only place where I saw anything inappropriate. They have those sunbeds and a couple next to us were a little too amorous, but did soon go back to their cabin and returned a short time later, but then that just made it even ickier.

We only ate in the dining room twice and both times the service was good. Our waiters weren't personable, but they gave us competent service. Without a set dining time, maybe they didn't feel like it was necessary to make small talk or be memorable. They were at our table quickly to take our order and brought the food at a reasonable pace, for me. The girls thought it could be a little bit quicker but they don't usually go out to eat. I will say that at breakfast, our waiters came by the table multiple times to fill my coffee cup, without my having to ask. I loved that and I feel like I don't often get good coffee service on other cruiselines.

Thank you for your help to make our cruise fun. I'm sure we will be back onboard in the future.

 

[belle032]

I have looked at them a lot but never used them. Are they good/ easy to use?

I have not used them personally to book, but my mom has with great results. I think she uses the same agent every time. They seem to offer decent perks and she’s gotten upgrade offers a few times. I believe the last cruise was $100 to upgrade to a balcony from an ocean view for a 7 day. They may price match as well, not 100% sure though.

I usually prefer booking directly through the cruise line, but if I did use a third party for whatever reason I would use them.

 

[hdrolfe]

I’ve just got to say WOW! Go look at Cruise Law News and their new article talks about how Carnival ships are being turned away from Jamaica and Grand Cayman, but it seems all other lines are allowed to still dock there. Someone said the Magic did today at Grand Cayman. And I’m the comments a resident of Grand Cayman was getting nasty about Carnival ships and how they want to get rid of them

That's interesting. I thought there was an MSC cruise that was turned away at both those ports because one of their staff had the flu. They were able to dock in Cozumel. I can't imagine why Carnival would be singled out over the other cruise lines though, Hopefully things improve soon, I mean I'd be upset over missing ports of course but that can happen on any cruise, and I'd rather be on a cruise ship than dealing with snow and freezing rain. But I would really not want to end up quarantined on a ship.

 

[Mika02]

That’s crazy! Jamaica might not want to be so picky lol. It’s not such a prize either.

This was pretty rude fyi and offensive.
They turned away ships where there was documented illness on board as they should it would be absolutely irresponsible to let a illness sweep the island.

 

[mom2brooke76]

This was pretty rude fyi and offensive.
They turned away ships where there was documented illness on board as they should it would be absolutely irresponsible to let a illness sweep the island.

The ships turned away today are not reporting any illness, so that’s not the case.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

This was pretty rude fyi and offensive.
They turned away ships where there was documented illness on board as they should it would be absolutely irresponsible to let a illness sweep the island.

Why offensive? Jamaica is a mess. Just a personal opinion.

 

[Mika02]

The ships turned away today are not reporting any illness, so that’s not the case.

The ships had not been reporting illnesses from crew members and they were sick so they started turning ships away.

Why offensive? Jamaica is a mess. Just a personal opinion.

My family is Jamaican. What you said was offensive Jamaica doesn't need to take people who have potential illnesses if it was America or Canada they have every right to turn people away regardless if they count on the tourism to fund the nation. Your personal opinion is offensive period.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

The ships had not been reporting illnesses from crew members and they were sick so they started turning ships away.


My family is Jamaican. What you said was offensive Jamaica doesn't need to take people who have potential illnesses if it was America or Canada they have every right to turn people away regardless if they count on the tourism to fund the nation. Your personal opinion is offensive period.

I agree that Jamaica should not take ships with people who have Coronavirus.

I wouldn’t be so offended just because someone thinks a place is a mess. As for the Caribbean, I also think Dominican Republic and Belize are a mess. It doesn’t mean that there are not lovely people there, or that people who might have some association with Jamaica, DR, and Belize are not lovely people. Or that there are not interesting cultural things there. I hear people say the places where I grew up are a mess all the time. Doesn’t offend me at all.

If everyone takes everything personally and is offended all the time by other people having different opinions, no one will ever get exposed to other opinions because they just write them off as “offensive.” How boring. My thinking Jamaica is a mess is no reflection upon you. I appreciate you telling me you think I am wrong or that you have a different take on it, but offended to me is just silly. Again, just my opinion and at risk of offending.

 

[Mika02]

I agree that Jamaica should not take ships with people who have Coronavirus.

I wouldn’t be so offended just because someone thinks a place is a mess. As for the Caribbean, I also think Dominican Republic and Belize are a mess. It doesn’t mean that there are not lovely people there, or that people who might have some association with Jamaica, DR, and Belize are not lovely people. Or that there are not interesting cultural things there. I hear people say the places where I grew up are a mess all the time. Doesn’t offend me at all.

If everyone takes everything personally and is offended all the time by other people having different opinions, no one will ever get exposed to other opinions because they just write them off as “offensive.” How boring. My thinking Jamaica is a mess is no reflection upon you. I appreciate you telling me you think I am wrong or that you have a different take on it, but offended to me is just silly. Again, just my opinion and at risk of offending.

Your words were that Jamaica should not be picky about the tourist they receive even if those potential tourist are carriers of an illness that could devastate the island implies something that you probably didn't mean to imply but did so yes it's offensive.