CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[mevelandry]

I've started looking for cruises for 2019... I kinda have my heart set on Aruba & Curaçao BUT...

I kinda have the fear of missing out. I mean... Other ports must have their own charm, right?

What are the best ports you have visited?

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

My favorites are Curaçao and Grand Turk. GC because of the amazing beach right next to the ship and Curaçao because of the charm and cleanliness

 

[mevelandry]

My favorites are Curaçao and Grand Turk. GC because of the amazing beach right next to the ship and Curaçao because of the charm and cleanliness

The Aruba & Curaçao cruises usually stop at GT (With Amber Cove OR La Romana). Of course, GT is on my list too!

 

[trvlgirlmq]

If you sail Dream or Vista class all the muster stations are indoors. I've also sailed a couple older Fantasy class and was inside. Guess I have been very lucky!

Getting closer to our Southern Caribbean/WDW vacation and I am getting antsy. I hate winter.

We are also rethinking the British Isles cruise we have booked for 2019. It's a pretty penny and I am just not sure if I can make it work. Waiting on NCL to see if they will offer anything similar.

 

[mevelandry]

Getting closer to our Southern Caribbean/WDW vacation and I am getting antsy. I hate winter.

Me too! Winter here in Canada has been way colder than in the previous years (the heating bill is going to hurt!) and we have received record amounts of snow.

Our cruise cannot happen fast enough!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I've started looking for cruises for 2019... I kinda have my heart set on Aruba & Curaçao BUT...

I kinda have the fear of missing out. I mean... Other ports must have their own charm, right?

What are the best ports you have visited?

We loved Aruba and also Grand Cayman. Both felt really safe and had lots of excursion options. But we are also suckers for private islands: Castaway, Great Stirrup. Looking forward to going to Half Moon in 4 weeks. Next year we are going to Harvest Caye. And actually we love Nassau, kind of feels like a second home. Lol.

 

[mevelandry]

We loved Aruba and also Grand Cayman. Both felt really safe and had lots of excursion options. But we are also suckers for private islands: Castaway, Great Stirrup. Looking forward to going to Half Moon in 4 weeks. Next year we are going to Harvest Caye. And actually we love Nassau, kind of feels like a second home. Lol.

Ohhhh I loved Grand Cayman. I would go back in a heartbeat but it's hard to do so without repeating the same itinerary with Jamaica and Cozumel over and over.

I would love to see GSC, HC, Princess Cays and HMC. Loved Castaway Cay.

However, we've done the Bahamas itinerary 4 times so we are trying to avoid Nassau as much as possible.

 

[cyclenut]

Was looking at Southern Caribbean cruises last night. Want to include St. Lucia as so many have talked about how beautiful it is. The Freedom of the Seas has a New Years Eve cruise sailing Dec 2019 from Puerto Rico that includes St. Lucia that is VERY intriguing. We've sailed the Freedom before and really loved it. Second favorite ship behind the Disney Fantasy I've ever sailed.

Sailing Panama Canal and Fall Canada from NYC this year. Have done Alaska, Caribbean and the Bahamas. I think Southern Caribbean should be next on our list. Maybe target a European in 2020.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Ohhhh I loved Grand Cayman. I would go back in a heartbeat but it's hard to do so without repeating the same itinerary with Jamaica and Cozumel over and over.

I would love to see GSC, HC, Princess Cays and HMC. Loved Castaway Cay.

However, we've done the Bahamas itinerary 4 times so we are trying to avoid Nassau as much as possible.

I feel the same way about GC, Jamaica and Cozumel. The first time we were there I was amazed by how huge the anchor chains were on the Fantasy as we floated by in the tender boats.

When we were there last year on the Vista I noticed there were no anchors holding us in place so I figured they must have some below the waterline anchors. We had the privilege of doing the Behind the Fun tour on that cruise and got to go to the engineering room and, bridge to meet the captain, and several other non-guest areas. I asked the engineer about the lack of visible anchors and he informed me that Vista is equipped with stationary GPS, so they no longer dropped anchors. They just program where they want to stay into the GPS and the ship automatically stays put using the thrusters to keep her in place. For extreme weather, she still has anchors to drop but they don’t use them often. If you ever get a chance to do the Behind the Fun Tour, do it!!! You have to sign up as soon as you board the ship at the excursion desk and it’s about $95/person, but it’s so worth it.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Just found out yesterday that the Carnival Panorama, (Vista 3), is setting sail in late 2019, is going to be home ported in Long Beach doing 7 night Mexico cruises. Speculation is she’ll also be doing 15 night round trip cruises to Hawaii a couple times per year. LB is only 6 hours by car from my door step in AZ so I can drive to Disneyland for a couple days then jump on Panorama for 7 nights and head home, I’m so excited! Hopefully DCL whill have a ship over on the west coast year round too when the new ships start being delivered.

 

[cyclenut]

Just found out yesterday that the Carnival Panorama, (Vista 3), is setting sail in late 2019, is going to be home ported in Long Beach doing 7 night Mexico cruises. Speculation is she’ll also be doing 15 night round trip cruises to Hawaii a couple times per year. LB is only 6 hours by car from my door step in AZ so I can drive to Disneyland for a couple days then jump on Panorama for 7 nights and head home, I’m so excited! Hopefully DCL whill have a ship over on the west coast year round too when the new ships start being delivered.

I used to live in SoCal, about 30 minutes from Long Beach port. We sailed from there a few times. Just a little jealous they will finally have a nice ship sailing out of Long Beach now that I've moved to Texas. Galveston is just a few hours away from me though, so I'll be getting my fill of the Caribbean.

I've never done the Mexican Riviera 7 day itinerary though. I've not heard good things about safety and security (cartels). Some lines pulled out altogether because of the liability. There are not many options for West Coast sailings. Will be interested to watch whether or not a new ship creates enough of a draw. Also, the Long Beach port will need to make some adjustments to handle this larger capacity. There is room to do so, but the current cruise check in area is too small to process that many passengers on and off efficiently. Have they done any port upgrades recently?

 

[mevelandry]

Was looking at Southern Caribbean cruises last night. Want to include St. Lucia as so many have talked about how beautiful it is. The Freedom of the Seas has a New Years Eve cruise sailing Dec 2019 from Puerto Rico that includes St. Lucia that is VERY intriguing. We've sailed the Freedom before and really loved it. Second favorite ship behind the Disney Fantasy I've ever sailed.

Sailing Panama Canal and Fall Canada from NYC this year. Have done Alaska, Caribbean and the Bahamas. I think Southern Caribbean should be next on our list. Maybe target a European in 2020.

I have a huge crush on St. Lucia too but it sounds like it's only on 9 nights + itineraries.

 

[mevelandry]

I feel the same way about GC, Jamaica and Cozumel. The first time we were there I was amazed by how huge the anchor chains were on the Fantasy as we floated by in the tender boats.

When we were there last year on the Vista I noticed there were no anchors holding us in place so I figured they must have some below the waterline anchors. We had the privilege of doing the Behind the Fun tour on that cruise and got to go to the engineering room and, bridge to meet the captain, and several other non-guest areas. I asked the engineer about the lack of visible anchors and he informed me that Vista is equipped with stationary GPS, so they no longer dropped anchors. They just program where they want to stay into the GPS and the ship automatically stays put using the thrusters to keep her in place. For extreme weather, she still has anchors to drop but they don’t use them often. If you ever get a chance to do the Behind the Fun Tour, do it!!! You have to sign up as soon as you board the ship at the excursion desk and it’s about $95/person, but it’s so worth it.

I know I'll shock most people on DISboards but: I love tendering.

Ok, you got me intrigued by this Behind the fun tour.

 

[mevelandry]

Just found out yesterday that the Carnival Panorama, (Vista 3), is setting sail in late 2019, is going to be home ported in Long Beach doing 7 night Mexico cruises. Speculation is she’ll also be doing 15 night round trip cruises to Hawaii a couple times per year. LB is only 6 hours by car from my door step in AZ so I can drive to Disneyland for a couple days then jump on Panorama for 7 nights and head home, I’m so excited! Hopefully DCL whill have a ship over on the west coast year round too when the new ships start being delivered.

This is so nice.

Would love to do Hawaii someday...

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I used to live in SoCal, about 30 minutes from Long Beach port. We sailed from there a few times. Just a little jealous they will finally have a nice ship sailing out of Long Beach now that I've moved to Texas. Galveston is just a few hours away from me though, so I'll be getting my fill of the Caribbean.

I've never done the Mexican Riviera 7 day itinerary though. I've not heard good things about safety and security (cartels). Some lines pulled out altogether because of the liability. There are not many options for West Coast sailings. Will be interested to watch whether or not a new ship creates enough of a draw. Also, the Long Beach port will need to make some adjustments to handle this larger capacity. There is room to do so, but the current cruise check in area is too small to process that many passengers on and off efficiently. Have they done any port upgrades recently?

Good news for you - the Vista is moving to Galveston this fall and that will be her home port. Carnival Just reopened the cruise terminal and expanded it to almost 200,000 square feet to accommodate her size and number of passengers. They are also investing millions into Mexico ports to hopefully create a safer or more secure environment. Honestly, with how much I love the Vista Class ships, I could be on her for a week and not care if I stepped on land at any port. They are some amazing ships with so much to do and the Carnival Fun Squad does a great job of keeping us entertained on port days.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I know I'll shock most people on DISboards but: I love tendering.

Ok, you got me intrigued by this Behind the fun tour.

I like to tender too! We were only able to sign up for the tour because we were on a B2B. We were on the waitlist for it on our first leg, but on the last day of that cruise, they allowed us to sign up for it on the second leg. I believe they do it on every Carnival ship.

 

[tinkerone]

I'm not a huge fan of tender. I get slightly sea sick on smaller boats so just in the few minutes it takes to get to shore I'm queasy. Not the best way to start exploring an island. Then, going back, I need to have a quick lay down after getting back on the ship and to me that's time wasted.

We have a B2B booked on the new RCCL ship Symphony and I can't wait for that. Looks amazing. There are a few restaurants that I really want, something we seldom do as nothing is usually of interest. We won't be back to DCL till the new ships come out and our DGS turns 5. Then we it will be a family cruise. Till then, so many exciting ships to experience!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

This is so nice.

Would love to do Hawaii someday...

We like tendering too. But we have never experienced a situation where we had to wait long for a boat. Our kids love it-- for them it is like an extra excursion!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Just found out yesterday that the Carnival Panorama, (Vista 3), is setting sail in late 2019, is going to be home ported in Long Beach doing 7 night Mexico cruises. Speculation is she’ll also be doing 15 night round trip cruises to Hawaii a couple times per year. LB is only 6 hours by car from my door step in AZ so I can drive to Disneyland for a couple days then jump on Panorama for 7 nights and head home, I’m so excited! Hopefully DCL whill have a ship over on the west coast year round too when the new ships start being delivered.

We are dying to do Hawaii but only a roundtrip. I love the idea of having more options on this. Everytime we look into it we cannot find good dates for us with any of the lines that do it.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Was looking at Southern Caribbean cruises last night. Want to include St. Lucia as so many have talked about how beautiful it is. The Freedom of the Seas has a New Years Eve cruise sailing Dec 2019 from Puerto Rico that includes St. Lucia that is VERY intriguing. We've sailed the Freedom before and really loved it. Second favorite ship behind the Disney Fantasy I've ever sailed.

Sailing Panama Canal and Fall Canada from NYC this year. Have done Alaska, Caribbean and the Bahamas. I think Southern Caribbean should be next on our list. Maybe target a European in 2020.

We would love to see St Lucia and also St Kitts. It is so hard to find an itinerary with either island that isn't out of Puerto Rico.