CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[RedSox68]

I am a big fan of "pre-paid", and so is my husband. He likes to know what will be the total cost in advance and hates having to check the bills after the cruise and/or having a bill to pay after a cruise.

I have already ordered and paid what I wanted to order for our Vista cruise. Now there's only "cruise cash bar" left to buy. We don't drink enough to make the alcohol package worth it but it's nice to have enough on board credit to cover the cost of a few drinks.

We don't drink that much either -- which is why those "free" drink packages where they add about $138 in gratuities still is more than we would spend on drinks LOL It's cheaper for us to pay along the way in that case.

 

[mevelandry]

We don't drink that much either -- which is why those "free" drink packages where they add about $138 in gratuities still is more than we would spend on drinks LOL It's cheaper for us to pay along the way in that case.

Yeah, I believe you.

The last time we had 75$ each in cruise cash bar for 4 nights. We spent it all but I bought specialty coffee and (non-included) tea during the afternoon tea with my 75$. Can't imagine myself drink 6-7 drinks or more each day... Can't drink half a glass of wine without feeling dizzy! For 6 nights, I don't think I'll need more than 100$.

I always wonder why they don't offer more affordable packages with a maximal amount of drinks a little bit lower (ex: 7 drinks instead of 15). I may be wrong but think more people would buy them.

 

[mevelandry]

BOOM! The price was right: Just booked the Anthem of the Seas for a Bermuda sailing for October 2018.

We got a reduced deposit, 30% off (we said the price we were looking for was 1000$ CND each, we got 1029$ CND each and decided that it was close enough) + 50$ USD on board credit! (Which covers the extra 29$ CND each).

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

BOOM! The price was right: Just booked the Anthem of the Seas for a Bermuda sailing for October 2018.

We got a reduced deposit, 30% off (we said the price we were looking for was 1000$ CND each, we got 1029$ CND each and decided that it was close enough) + 50$ USD on board credit! (Which covers the extra 29$ CND each).

How long is your cruise? Congrats, I really want to try RCCL so bad but my wife just wants no part of it, wants to stick with CCL and DCL.

 

[mevelandry]

How long is your cruise? Congrats, I really want to try RCCL so bad but my wife just wants no part of it, wants to stick with CCL and DCL.

It's a "small" 5 nights cruise. Bermuda cruises tend to be expensive but the Anthem of the Seas has so much to offer (I am interested in most of the shows, activities, specialty dining they offer...)

Also I am daydreaming of the Solarium pool (adult only). Google it! It looks amazing.

I have heard that you have to pre-book a lot of stuff and I know that is a downside to many but I love booking activities in advance.

I could be wrong but I really think I'll be a RCCL fan.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

It's a "small" 5 nights cruise. Bermuda cruises tend to be expensive but the Anthem of the Seas has so much to offer (I am interested in most of the shows, activities, specialty dining they offer...)

Also I am daydreaming of the Solarium pool (adult only). Google it! It looks amazing.

I have heard that you have to pre-book a lot of stuff and I know that is a downside to many but I love booking activities in advance.

I could be wrong but I really think I'll be a RCCL fan.

Where does it sail out of?

 

[cmph]

I love to have as much prepaid as well. We went ahead and booked the MSC Seaside for June 2018. We are doing the combined East/West 14 night itinerary for less than the 8 day Vista we had booked. Of course once I add in the loss of our deposit it comes out about $250 more but that is not too bad for 6 extra nights. We also get 12 drink vouchers per person so we should have nothing on our tab at the end.

Hope you don't mind if I pick your brain for a quick minute! What ages are your kids? I'm kind of in the middle of trying to talk DH into MSC Divina in Nov (yes, THIS Nov). My kids have the entire week of Thanksgiving off, and admins told us that would be the last time for our district... so I was like, well, maybe we should go on a trip... Being last minute and a holiday, not everything is such a great deal. But MSC has a 7 night out of Miami that would only be a bit over $2500 for the 4 of us in a balcony and I could figure out how to use miles to fly us there. They apparently have a dedicated gluten-free kitchen area overseen by the Italian celiac society, so that took care of that worry. Now it's just the atmosphere itself that I guess I want reassurance on? The more European feel doesn't bother me (half DH's childhood was in Europe) but it's hard to tell what the atmosphere (partying adults mostly?) is like. The cruise critic reviews I've read so far were adults only. The evening entertainment sounds totally not kid-friendly but intriguing (an opera singer??) but I figure that means the pools are wide open for the kids. It's a good $1000 less than the next best option (a 7 night on Princess, Mexican Riviera). You all should have seen DH's mouth drop open when I told him the price haha! But he kinda wants to go to Disneyland a bit unless he knows the kids will like this. I'm ready to throw caution to the wind. sorry everyone, went on for far too long!

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Hope you don't mind if I pick your brain for a quick minute! What ages are your kids? I'm kind of in the middle of trying to talk DH into MSC Divina in Nov (yes, THIS Nov). My kids have the entire week of Thanksgiving off, and admins told us that would be the last time for our district... so I was like, well, maybe we should go on a trip... Being last minute and a holiday, not everything is such a great deal. But MSC has a 7 night out of Miami that would only be a bit over $2500 for the 4 of us in a balcony and I could figure out how to use miles to fly us there. They apparently have a dedicated gluten-free kitchen area overseen by the Italian celiac society, so that took care of that worry. Now it's just the atmosphere itself that I guess I want reassurance on? The more European feel doesn't bother me (half DH's childhood was in Europe) but it's hard to tell what the atmosphere (partying adults mostly?) is like. The cruise critic reviews I've read so far were adults only. The evening entertainment sounds totally not kid-friendly but intriguing (an opera singer??) but I figure that means the pools are wide open for the kids. It's a good $1000 less than the next best option (a 7 night on Princess, Mexican Riviera). You all should have seen DH's mouth drop open when I told him the price haha! But he kinda wants to go to Disneyland a bit unless he knows the kids will like this. I'm ready to throw caution to the wind. sorry everyone, went on for far too long!

It seems like everyone pretty much loves Divina. My kids will be 13 and 15 next summer and they have exclusively sailed on Carnival. We picked the Seaside because of the fabulous water park, zip line and other kid stuff. Plus the price! I've also read it's more formal in regards to dress code and shows.

 

[cruiser21]

We don't drink that much either -- which is why those "free" drink packages where they add about $138 in gratuities still is more than we would spend on drinks LOL It's cheaper for us to pay along the way in that case.

It adds up fast though. I had two drinks a day one martini and 1 glass of wine and I spent over 100 on a 4 night cruise. Martinis are around 14- 15 when you include a tip. A glass of wine around 9 to 12 My son spent at least 25.00 dollars at venolopes. That place is really good. I know some people don't like up charged places but I thought it was well worth it.
The one thing on the Dream that I didn't like was there was no food available between 5 to 93O except hamburgers or chicken fingers at Flos If you wanted pizza or fruit you had to call room service. No apps in the bars either. I'm sorry but I don't want to call room service for a little snack. I really just wanted some fruit.

 

[RedSox68]

It adds up fast though. I had two drinks a day one martini and 1 glass of wine and I spent over 100 on a 4 night cruise. Martinis are around 14- 15 when you include a tip. A glass of wine around 9 to 12 My son spent at least 25.00 dollars at venolopes. That place is really good. I know some people don't like up charged places but I thought it was well worth it.
The one thing on the Dream that I didn't like was there was no food available between 5 to 93O except hamburgers or chicken fingers at Flos If you wanted pizza or fruit you had to call room service. No apps in the bars either. I'm sorry but I don't want to call room service for a little snack. I really just wanted some fruit.

We always bring ziploc bags with us. We get extra fruit, pastries and cookies at breakfast and lunch and then put the fruit in the room fridge. We have had many a late night fruit and cookie snack and we never let anything go to waste

 

[cmph]

It seems like everyone pretty much loves Divina. My kids will be 13 and 15 next summer and they have exclusively sailed on Carnival. We picked the Seaside because of the fabulous water park, zip line and other kid stuff. Plus the price! I've also read it's more formal in regards to dress code and shows.

Part of me thinks we should just wait for the Seaside... hmm. My kids will be 12 and 9 by Nov. I'll have to think about this more. After talking it over a bit more with DH, we both thought maybe we would like the Divina more if we left them with grandparents haha!

 

[mevelandry]

Where does it sail out of?

Cape Liberty.

 

[RedSox68]

OMG -- I'm sorry, but I tried to figure it out by looking back. What is a Divina? is it a ship?

 

[mevelandry]

The evening entertainment sounds totally not kid-friendly but intriguing (an opera singer??)

Not minding my own business here but... Why wouldn't children be interested in Opera? I know I was...

(I took/am currently taking singing classes and I go to see the MET's transmission at my local theater once in a while.)

 

[mevelandry]

OMG -- I'm sorry, but I tried to figure it out by looking back. What is a Divina? is it a ship?

MSC Divina... (Pretty ship!)

 

[mevelandry]

Just for the fun, I did the exercise to see how much a Western Caribbean Cruise would have cost me with DCL vs the one I got on the Vista, similar dates, the only difference is the DCL cruise has an extra night and stop at Castaway Cay and departs from Port Canaveral (there was no W Caribbean departing from Miami in October)...

Vista: 6 nights - Departing from Miami - Jamaica (Ocho Rios), Grand Cayman, Cozumel - 1298$ USD
Fantasy: 7 nights - Departing from PC - Jamaica (Falmouth), Grand Cayman, Cozumel & Castaway Cay - $3,289 USD

That's 1991$ more... (We could do one or two more cruises with that amount!)

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Just for the fun, I did the exercise to see how much a Western Caribbean Cruise would have cost me with DCL vs the one I got on the Vista, similar dates, the only difference is the DCL cruise has an extra night and stop at Castaway Cay and departs from Port Canaveral (there was no W Caribbean departing from Miami in October)...

Vista: 6 nights - Departing from Miami - Jamaica (Ocho Rios), Grand Cayman, Cozumel - 1298$ USD
Fantasy: 7 nights - Departing from PC - Jamaica (Falmouth), Grand Cayman, Cozumel & Castaway Cay - $3,289 USD

That's 1991$ more... (We could do one or two more cruises with that amount!)

But you get free soda on DCL!

 

[cmph]

Not minding my own business here but... Why wouldn't children be interested in Opera? I know I was...

(I took/am currently taking singing classes and I go to see the MET's transmission at my local theater once in a while.)

It was actually not whether the CHILD would be interested so much as whether the other show-goers would appreciate kids around. It's one thing for toddlers/pre-schoolers/elementary-aged kids to be wiggly and need to whisper to a parent a couple of times through a DCL show, kind of another during an opera performance. At least for me, as a parent, I would be more sensitive to other adults' quiet appreciation of opera than standard cruise entertainment of DCL-style shows, comedians, etc. and would be paranoid the whole time that my kid was going to stage-whisper his need to go to the bathroom in the middle of an aria. Hopefully that makes more sense? I think it would be awesome to hear opera on a ship, although I am suspicious of the acoustics!

In any case, that was meant to be one example of something the Divina offers that is quite unique but certainly not geared towards children/families. Another would be the white night where everyone wears white. OK, so kids can certainly participate, but it's clearly not geared toward families b/c only a crazy person would think putting children in all white for dinner and evening activities sounds like a fun idea. Unless it's an event sponsored by a laundry detergent brand.

 

[cmph]

OMG -- I'm sorry, but I tried to figure it out by looking back. What is a Divina? is it a ship?

Totally my fault! I was replying to PP's MSC Seaside comment, b/c Divina is another MSC ship and I didn't want to start a whole MSC thread.

 

[cruiser21]

We always bring ziploc bags with us. We get extra fruit, pastries and cookies at breakfast and lunch and then put the fruit in the room fridge. We have had many a late night fruit and cookie snack and we never let anything go to waste

They used to always have it because I always grabbed some pineapple and grapes after my gym workout and I'm usually out of the gym around 6 or 7. Some times green apples if it's rough. The Dream and Fantasy are beautiful ships, but I still like the Wonder and Magic better. I missed the promenade lounge and the adult bars of the classics.