CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[RedSox68]

Well............after seeing some of the opening day prices today, I gotta say I’m so excited that we’ve found Carnival and can stomach the prices so much easier.

Oh, boy do I agree! Just when you think you're prepared for the pricing, it gets more shocking than the year before! I got four quotes for different dates and none of them are even within range of what we can get on Carnival or NCL! Even Princess has better pricing.

One of my biggest regrets. I have never found the time to watch a Dive-in movie when I was on the Vista.

We never have either on any of our sailings

 

[mevelandry]

This for example is for 2 people. We’re booked on Carnival Horizon for that summer on the 8 night Southern Caribbean. We currently have 2 Havana insides which is $8000 total for 4 people, including insurance and pre-paid gratuity. It’s my 50th birthday cruise so I may be upgrading to 2 Havana Cabanas which will bring the total for the 4 of us to about $10,400.

If I am not mistaken, 11A is an inside cabin?

 

[RedSox68]

This is Disney's price for next year for the 7-Night British Isles Cruise from Dover [Dover, Dublin, Belfast, Greenock, Liverpool, Dover] P 7A 3A $6,646.68 [2458|2458|770] no OBB yes ins/trans

Our price in 2015 on Princess for a 10-night British Isles cruise, which left Southhampton and included the above ports plus two in Scotland, for 3A in a full balcony, was $7,155, but that price included pre-paid gratuity, all transportation to and from the port and airport, two specialty restaurants, free drink package and free internet. It's not a huge difference, but for three extra nights and all the amenities, it was a good deal.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I just do not even call in early to get pricing anymore. I hate the whole feedy frenzy thing they do by releasing after everyone else. I find it off putting. I feel like, sure Disney, I'll get around to checking out your pricing on my schedule. Or maybe I won't.

 

[iamporch]

I have been trying to play around with multiple cruises for next summer. Am I late in the game for RCCL and Carnival? I am looking at July out of Florida or even TX. I need 7 rooms for extended family. I have not been able to find any cruise that has that many rooms open in the same category.

 

[Pens Fan]

I just do not even call in early to get pricing anymore. I hate the whole feedy frenzy thing they do by releasing after everyone else. I find it off putting. I feel like, sure Disney, I'll get around to checking out your pricing on my schedule. Or maybe I won't.

I pretty much feel the same way. I think the whole thing is ridiculous and not just for cruises. We are planning a WDW trip right before Christmas and every time I sit down to plan something, I get annoyed and quit. Having to figure out which park we are going to be in each day six months in advance (for dining reservations ) and plotting what rides we want to be on two months in advance is just crazy. We want to do some backstage tours, so we've got to plan that out and be on the phone at a certain time on a certain day or we might not get them ..... It never ends. We will be on a cruise when our fast pass booking window opens up. So instead of getting off early and exploring Portland, I will be sitting on our balcony cursing my cell phone reception and Disney's app trying to make fast pass reservations. My husband has already made plans to be far away from me and good for him !!! There's no need for both of us to be miserable.

But I digress - this is the cruise board. I just completely agree with your "feeding frenzy" assessment of the Disney product. They have built up this environment where everything must.be.done.now or your whole vacation is ruined. I'm pretty much over it. I'm sure we will have a blast at WDW, but as much as I love planning trips, I'm done treating vacation planning like it's a military operation.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I pretty much feel the same way. I think the whole thing is ridiculous and not just for cruises. We are planning a WDW trip right before Christmas and every time I sit down to plan something, I get annoyed and quit. Having to figure out which park we are going to be in each day six months in advance (for dining reservations ) and plotting what rides we want to be on two months in advance is just crazy. We want to do some backstage tours, so we've got to plan that out and be on the phone at a certain time on a certain day or we might not get them ..... It never ends. We will be on a cruise when our fast pass booking window opens up. So instead of getting off early and exploring Portland, I will be sitting on our balcony cursing my cell phone reception and Disney's app trying to make fast pass reservations. My husband has already made plans to be far away from me and good for him !!! There's no need for both of us to be miserable.

But I digress - this is the cruise board. I just completely agree with your "feeding frenzy" assessment of the Disney product. They have built up this environment where everything must.be.done.now or your whole vacation is ruined. I'm pretty much over it. I'm sure we will have a blast at WDW, but as much as I love planning trips, I'm done treating vacation planning like it's a military operation.

The image of someone docked in a port booking fastpasses for an upcoming wdw trip is hysterical and sums it up completely!! That would be me too. The things we do for Disney!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

If I am not mistaken, 11A is an inside cabin?

That is correct, inside cabin

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I have been trying to play around with multiple cruises for next summer. Am I late in the game for RCCL and Carnival? I am looking at July out of Florida or even TX. I need 7 rooms for extended family. I have not been able to find any cruise that has that many rooms open in the same category.

You should be fine for Carnival, you’ll just have to do some digging, we just barely booked our Horizon 2019 cruise and there’s a lot of stuff available, just not everything shows online. I’d definitely recommend Horizon, (Miami), or Vista, (Galveston).

 

[hdrolfe]

I have been trying to play around with multiple cruises for next summer. Am I late in the game for RCCL and Carnival? I am looking at July out of Florida or even TX. I need 7 rooms for extended family. I have not been able to find any cruise that has that many rooms open in the same category.

You would probably be best off to call both if you want to book so many cabins at once, they would be able to help you get them all together rather than digging through the sites. Do you mean 2018 or 2019? 2019 you should have lots of options! perhaps not be able to get cabins all in a row at this point, but likely near each other or on the same floor. I believe both RCL and Carnival show you 10 or so cabins in the category and floor you select so you wouldn't be able to see everything available at once.

 

[mevelandry]

I have been trying to play around with multiple cruises for next summer. Am I late in the game for RCCL and Carnival? I am looking at July out of Florida or even TX. I need 7 rooms for extended family. I have not been able to find any cruise that has that many rooms open in the same category.

I can't answer regarding the 7 rooms but you are definitely not too late to book a Carnival cruise. I'm part of groups on FB and I have noticed that many people take advantage of sales to book last minute (2 months in advance, sometimes less.)

I would also recommend the Vista or the Horizon.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

I have been trying to play around with multiple cruises for next summer. Am I late in the game for RCCL and Carnival? I am looking at July out of Florida or even TX. I need 7 rooms for extended family. I have not been able to find any cruise that has that many rooms open in the same category.

Definitely not too late! Seven cabins may be tricky, though. Consider farming this out to a TA who can do the searching for you.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

I have been trying to play around with multiple cruises for next summer. Am I late in the game for RCCL and Carnival? I am looking at July out of Florida or even TX. I need 7 rooms for extended family. I have not been able to find any cruise that has that many rooms open in the same category.

You are not too late. Both lines only show a small percentage of rooms in any category for online bookings. Your best bet is to call and get a PVP (like a personal TA from the cruise line). They can work with you. Or, if you can get it to 8 cabins you can do a group booking and work with the groups department.

 

[Sergel02]

I remember enjoying my carnival cruise in the past. I always wanted to go because of their iconic funnel lol. They upgraded us to a balcony too which was awesome. I remember having a lot of fun as a tween on there.

The controversy with the Katrina charters, the wages for the employees, and other issues kind of leave a sour taste in my mouth though, plus other cruise lines like Disney, royal Caribbean and ncl seem to do more to lessen their environmental impact. All these factors come into play for me.

Can't beat some of their prices though.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I remember enjoying my carnival cruise in the past. I always wanted to go because of their iconic funnel lol. They upgraded us to a balcony too which was awesome. I remember having a lot of fun as a tween on there.

The controversy with the Katrina charters, the wages for the employees, and other issues kind of leave a sour taste in my mouth though, plus other cruise lines like Disney, royal Caribbean and ncl seem to do more to lessen their environmental impact. All these factors come into play for me.

Can't beat some of their prices though.

While I can’t really comment on some of the things you’ve mentioned about Carnival, the 3 new Mega-ships they are building which begin sailing in 2020 will be powered by liquid natural gas which is much cleaner than the currently powered ships. All their ships after will be powered that way as well.

 

[Sergel02]

While I can’t really comment on some of the things you’ve mentioned about Carnival, the 3 new Mega-ships they are building which begin sailing in 2020 will be powered by liquid natural gas which is much cleaner than the currently powered ships. All their ships after will be powered that way as well.

I was wondering if they were going to. Disney and royal are going to be doing it too which is nice.

LNG has some downsides but it does seem better than current fuel being used.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

While I can’t really comment on some of the things you’ve mentioned about Carnival, the 3 new Mega-ships they are building which begin sailing in 2020 will be powered by liquid natural gas which is much cleaner than the currently powered ships. All their ships after will be powered that way as well.

Ugh, for me this is another example of "environmentalists" going off the deep end. I know most people will not agree with me, but LNG is dangerous. Whereas diesel is very difficult to ignite, LNG is very flammable and an explosion will eviscerate a cruise ship and all 7000 people on it. DH works in the industry and has expressed surprise that cruise ships would use LNG because of the amount of people on board. When, not if, a cruise ship blows up, it will be as dramatic as the towers on 9/11 with even more death. We will stay on the old ships!

 

[Sergel02]

Ugh, for me this is another example of "environmentalists" going off the deep end. I know most people will not agree with me, but LNG is dangerous. Whereas diesel is very difficult to ignite, LNG is very flammable and an explosion will eviscerate a cruise ship and all 7000 people on it. DH works in the industry and has expressed surprise that cruise ships would use LNG because of the amount of people on board. When, not if, a cruise ship blows up, it will be as dramatic as the towers on 9/11 with even more death. We will stay on the old ships!

Hmm I've heard this criticism as well, but looking at data, there are a lot of standards that go into LNG that make it safer than conventional diesel. It's been transported regularly since the 60s, and if I recall the only major U.S. incident with it on a ship was in the 40s.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/liquefied-natural-gas-potential-terrorist-target

There is no question to me that there will be a cruise ship incident with so many new ships switching to LNG. I even suspect environmentalists may be using the push to try to shut down or curtail the cruising industry. But this is my opinion on it, and I do not expect most people to agree. My views are not trendy. Let's get back to more fun topics!

Hmm I've heard this criticism as well, but looking at data, there are a lot of standards that go into LNG that make it safer than conventional diesel. It's been transported regularly since the 60s, and if I recall the only major U.S. incident with it on a ship was in the 40s.

 

[mevelandry]

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/liquefied-natural-gas-potential-terrorist-target

There is no question to me that there will be a cruise ship incident with so many new ships switching to LNG. I even suspect environmentalists may be using the push to try to shut down or curtail the cruising industry. But this is my opinion on it, and I do not expect most people to agree. My views are not trendy. Let's get back to more fun topics!

Freaking out now.

I'd rather not think about it since I tend to be anxious regarding this subject to begin with.