CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[cyclenut]

The ships are designed to get you to pass through the casino as much as possible, hoping you'll stop by at some point and put some money in the machines. It's very intentional. A non-smoking casino is a bad idea in terms of revenue. My last cruise on the Breeze had a non-smoking night though. That was pretty cool. If you don't like the casino, sail Disney. They don't have one.

My wife and I do like having a casino on board, but don't miss it when we sail Disney.

 

[mousefan73]

The ships are designed to get you to pass through the casino as much as possible, hoping you'll stop by at some point and put some money in the machines. It's very intentional. A non-smoking casino is a bad idea in terms of revenue. My last cruise on the Breeze had a non-smoking night though. That was pretty cool. If you don't like the casino, sail Disney. They don't have one.

My wife and I do like having a casino on board, but don't miss it when we sail Disney.

We had originally booked Carnival as we needed 2 staterooms. DCL simply too expensive. 2x as much. DH can't go now. So my mom , me and kids now cancelled and booked DCL. The casino issue was THE thing that kept me thinking if only we had booked DCL. If was the only negative thing for Carnival. Like a black cloud hanginh over our vacation. I hate casinos. The only place casinos don‘t bother me is Vegas. Those for some reason are different. Every other Casino I have been to depressed me. Atlantic City the worse. Sad, white trashy ( sorry to offend) for me the retired grandma with her virgins slims on the slot machines. ( think Joey‘s agent Estelle on Friends). I know not every Casino is like that... but I justgew up around them. worse was as kid watchiing old men sit all depressed at the bar and playing the machines ( the ones that say for amusement only but the bar pays out regardless under the table) .. drinking by themselves etc.. ( my dad dragged me too much to the Legion)

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

We were not thrilled about casinos in ships either, but it wasn't something that I actively cared about. Never been to a casino in my life. Not a rigid thing, just never ended up going to one. But we decided we could just "ignore" it and try other lines anyway. There are lots of things that annoy me everywhere, so mentally I just put it in that basket. Well... turned out to be a non issue. On NCL, the casinos seem to be placed where you walk through them, or maybe it is just the cabins we have had. It was actually kind of fun to walk through and see the lights and all the people playing. Some of those slot games looked ridiculous and our teens were making fun of them. Who comes up with that stuff? But we never stopped, just walked through. On Carnival, we only walked through the casino a couple of times. The walk through the casino on Carnival also didn't seem to put you right up against the games, so I do not remember seeing many details. And it was always empty. Not sure if that was just our cruise, but very few people in the casino on Carnival.

 

[mevelandry]

The ships are designed to get you to pass through the casino as much as possible, hoping you'll stop by at some point and put some money in the machines. It's very intentional. A non-smoking casino is a bad idea in terms of revenue. My last cruise on the Breeze had a non-smoking night though. That was pretty cool. If you don't like the casino, sail Disney. They don't have one.

My wife and I do like having a casino on board, but don't miss it when we sail Disney.

Oh yeah, it's definitely a "marketing strategy". However, I am quite immune to the appeal of the casino.

We go a little when there is one on the ship because my husband likes them. The rest of the time, I hold my breath and pass through them as fast as possible.

 

[mevelandry]

We were not thrilled about casinos in ships either, but it wasn't something that I actively cared about. Never been to a casino in my life. Not a rigid thing, just never ended up going to one. But we decided we could just "ignore" it and try other lines anyway. There are lots of things that annoy me everywhere, so mentally I just put it in that basket. Well... turned out to be a non issue. On NCL, the casinos seem to be placed where you walk through them, or maybe it is just the cabins we have had. It was actually kind of fun to walk through and see the lights and all the people playing. Some of those slot games looked ridiculous and our teens were making fun of them. Who comes up with that stuff? But we never stopped, just walked through. On Carnival, we only walked through the casino a couple of times. The walk through the casino on Carnival also didn't seem to put you right up against the games, so I do not remember seeing many details. And it was always empty. Not sure if that was just our cruise, but very few people in the casino on Carnival.

They can only open when you are sailing (But at night there are all those shows and dinner...) I noticed the casino was full on sea days.

 

[cyclenut]

We had originally booked Carnival as we needed 2 staterooms. DCL simply too expensive. 2x as much. DH can't go now. So my mom , me and kids now cancelled and booked DCL. The casino issue was THE thing that kept me thinking if only we had booked DCL. If was the only negative thing for Carnival. Like a black cloud hanginh over our vacation. I hate casinos. The only place casinos don‘t bother me is Vegas. Those for some reason are different. Every other Casino I have been to depressed me. Atlantic City the worse. Sad, white trashy ( sorry to offend) for me the retired grandma with her virgins slims on the slot machines. ( think Joey‘s agent Estelle on Friends). I know not every Casino is like that... but I justgew up around them. worse was as kid watchiing old men sit all depressed at the bar and playing the machines ( the ones that say for amusement only but the bar pays out regardless under the table) .. drinking by themselves etc.. ( my dad dragged me too much to the Legion)

I totally get the price issue with DCL. We found ourselves walking through the Casino several times on Carnival, but if you think ahead, you can avoid it. You just need to traverse the ship on one of the upper decks. We sometimes went up, across, and then down. I don't like going from one end of the ship to the other in stateroom hallways, but you could choose one of those decks as well. While every ship is different, this method of using an upper deck seems to work for us on virtually every ship. RCCL designs their ships with a central promenade, which put you past all the shopping areas, but not through the casino. Pick your poison.

 

[RedSox68]

Oh yeah, it's definitely a "marketing strategy". However, I am quite immune to the appeal of the casino.

We go a little when there is one on the ship because my husband likes them. The rest of the time, I hold my breath and pass through them as fast as possible.

Too funny -- I tend to hold my breath too otherwise it flares up my asthma. We have just learned to go up and over to avoid it. Every single cruise we have been on with a casino I have never seen the casino full -- even on sea days. They are sadly empty with only about a handful of people -- and the rest of the people are simpling using the seats to wait for someone LOL.

Princess had a wonderful layout in the promenade because the casino was all on one side and you could walk around the left side and nicely avoid it all. It would never deter us from sailing -- and I certainly wouldn't sail DCL just to avoid a casino onboard because their prices are too outlandish anymore. I can get two vacations for the price of one Disney cruise!

 

[mevelandry]

Too funny -- I tend to hold my breath too otherwise it flares up my asthma. We have just learned to go up and over to avoid it. Every single cruise we have been on with a casino I have never seen the casino full -- even on sea days. They are sadly empty with only about a handful of people -- and the rest of the people are simpling using the seats to wait for someone LOL.

Princess had a wonderful layout in the promenade because the casino was all on one side and you could walk around the left side and nicely avoid it all. It would never deter us from sailing -- and I certainly wouldn't sail DCL just to avoid a casino onboard because their prices are too outlandish anymore. I can get two vacations for the price of one Disney cruise!

Which Princess cruiseship?

We are going back to the Carnival Victory on our next cruise (can't wait to see what it will look like after all the refurbishments)... I like the fact that there is some kind of "promenade" (They call it "Neptune's way") on one side of the casino where you could walk instead of having to walk all through machines and tables. Of course, you still get a little smoke but it's like a highway to get out of hell. LOL

Here's a screenshot I took from a youtube video that shows Neptune's way...

The Neptune's Way is represented by a green arrow.



Source:

 

[RedSox68]

Which Princess cruiseship?

We are going back to the Carnival Victory on our next cruise (can't wait to see what it will look like after all the refurbishments)... I like the fact that there is some kind of "promenade" (They call it "Neptune's way") on one side of the casino where you could walk instead of having to walk all through machines and tables. Of course, you still get a little smoke but it's like a highway to get out of hell. LOL

Here's a screenshot I took from a youtube video that shows Neptune's way...

The Neptune's Way is represented by a green arrow.

It was the Royal Princess -- which is still our favorite ship of all time just behind Disney Magic (because that was our first week long cruise). I do like this set up on Carnival though as it does give you a little more "space" to get past the casino without being in the middle of it all.

 

[mevelandry]

Someday I'll try Princess. Someday...

 

[RedSox68]

Interesting news -- I just got off the phone with RCCL (who were trying to fix our royally screwed up reservation) -- and was told that they are changing their policies on smoking in the casinos because they consider it a confined area! Maybe the trend will spread. I (personally) think they would get more casino business if they didn't allow smoking.

 

[mevelandry]

Interesting news -- I just got off the phone with RCCL (who were trying to fix our royally screwed up reservation) -- and was told that they are changing their policies on smoking in the casinos because they consider it a confined area! Maybe the trend will spread. I (personally) think they would get more casino business if they didn't allow smoking.

What are the changes to the policy, exactly? (Not sure what they were to begin with).

 

[RedSox68]

He made it sound like no smoking will be allowed at all in the casinos because they are declaring it a "confined space". Hope that's true because, IF we take this cruise (story on the RCCL thread -- they changed our ship and messed up our room), our new room is on the same deck as the casino, but on the other end. No smoking would be awesome.

 

[mevelandry]

He made it sound like no smoking will be allowed at all in the casinos because they are declaring it a "confined space". Hope that's true because, IF we take this cruise (story on the RCCL thread -- they changed our ship and messed up our room), our new room is on the same deck as the casino, but on the other end. No smoking would be awesome.

So cool! Which ship?

 

[RedSox68]

So cool! Which ship?

They transferred our itinerary next year from the Empress of the Seas to the Majesty of the Seas. When I balked about being on the same floor as the casino, that's when he mentioned the smoking ban. Not sure when it goes into affect -- if ever.

 

[Pens Fan]

Interesting news -- I just got off the phone with RCCL (who were trying to fix our royally screwed up reservation) -- and was told that they are changing their policies on smoking in the casinos because they consider it a confined area! Maybe the trend will spread. I (personally) think they would get more casino business if they didn't allow smoking.

I believe that Celebrity's casinos are already smoke free, so it could be something they are moving to corporate - wide. Oh, how I wish that all cruise lines would do this. The less smoke the better!

 

[mevelandry]

Not sure if I am allowed to say this here but... If you are booked on a Carnival cruise, John Heald just announced a shore excursion and spa treatments discount codes for Black Friday on his Facebook page.

We just saved 70$ for our three excursions (for four adults). Kinda cool!

 

[RedSox68]

I believe that Celebrity's casinos are already smoke free, so it could be something they are moving to corporate - wide. Oh, how I wish that all cruise lines would do this. The less smoke the better!

I agree! Hope it does move to RCCL before we go next year.

 

[mevelandry]

I agree! Hope it does move to RCCL before we go next year.

Ooohhh, I'd love that. First cruise with RCCL should be happening in October 2018.

 

[RedSox68]

Ooohhh, I'd love that. First cruise with RCCL should be happening in October 2018.

Never cruised on RCCL and now we are doing two cruises next year! Our first one is in August to celebrate our 40th with my maid of honor and her husband!