CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[Bethany10]

Looking at the Victory. I know she's an older ship but looks like she just came out of dry dock.

We've never cruised before, so I have nothing to compare it to. Since we'll be going sans kids our needs are different. I need an adults only area where DH can plop down with his book, only getting up for meals and disembarkation. (I'm kidding, but not by much).

The drink program appeals to me as we will be sans kids. I am looking at more to do that's aimed at adults (for me) as I can read my book for only so long before I start getting antsy. I'm neutral on the shows, I suspect given the choice between Disney and any other programing, DH would choose the latter. Neither of us are gamblers, nor do we smoke so the casino doesn't interest us, and my only concern is smoke smell there.

thank you all for your insight, I appreciate it.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Vista (and probably Horizon and Panorama) has self-serve beer! Just sayin'.

 

[mevelandry]

Looking at the Victory. I know she's an older ship but looks like she just came out of dry dock.

We've never cruised before, so I have nothing to compare it to. Since we'll be going sans kids our needs are different. I need an adults only area where DH can plop down with his book, only getting up for meals and disembarkation. (I'm kidding, but not by much).

The drink program appeals to me as we will be sans kids. I am looking at more to do that's aimed at adults (for me) as I can read my book for only so long before I start getting antsy. I'm neutral on the shows, I suspect given the choice between Disney and any other programing, DH would choose the latter. Neither of us are gamblers, nor do we smoke so the casino doesn't interest us, and my only concern is smoke smell there.

thank you all for your insight, I appreciate it.

I think it's an excellent ship to start cruising.

I'll be on the Victory again in April and will take a lot of pictures and videos and post them here. I loved her pre-dry dock and I believe they added good stuff on her. I'm very excited to sail on her again.

You will love the Serenity section on the ship as it is adult only. In the library, your could borrow books there to if you finish your own.

I find the Cheers package to be one of the most affordable drink package on the market. It's worth the investment if you are going to drink at least 6 drinks (I hear it happens fast if you get Evian water + specialty coffee at the coffee shop on top of that).

I'm not a fan of the smoke either so when I go through the promenade, I hold my breath.

 

[mevelandry]

Vista (and probably Horizon and Panorama) has self-serve beer! Just sayin'.

It's on the Victory as well! My DH is a fan.

 

[Bethany10]

My only concern is will there be a party atmosphere? Can we escape it in the Serenity section? I'm hoping by going in early May we're in between spring break and summer break. I don't want to be gone more than 4 nights (5 when you take into account the night before) as my MIL is generously coming to stay with our kids and we've never been gone this long before. I know everyone will be fine, but I don't want to burn out my MIL either.

We're both big readers so I fully intend to stock my kindle before boarding.

What kinds of activities are available during the day? Is there a place I can see the Carnival equivalent of a Navigator?

 

[robinb]

Yes and also Royal jewel of the Seas, but we got a great rate on the Wonder within $300 of the jewel. We have young kids coming so I thought Wonder would have more to do for them.

That's a WIN!

 

[mevelandry]

My only concern is will there be a party atmosphere? Can we escape it in the Serenity section? I'm hoping by going in early May we're in between spring break and summer break. I don't want to be gone more than 4 nights (5 when you take into account the night before) as my MIL is generously coming to stay with our kids and we've never been gone this long before. I know everyone will be fine, but I don't want to burn out my MIL either.

We're both big readers so I fully intend to stock my kindle before boarding.

What kinds of activities are available during the day? Is there a place I can see the Carnival equivalent of a Navigator?

The "party atmosphere" is probably the most common fear among those who have never sailed Carnival. For some reason, the "party" reputation seem to stick. I've sailed on a 4 nights before and had no problem whatsoever.

There's a good way to avoid the party atmosphere: avoiding the deck party at night and the clubs at night. The Aft pool is usually much more quiet than the main pool. The Serenity section is usually very quiet.

The Carnival journal is called the Fun Times and if you google, you can find many of them online. There are a lot of trivia games, there's bingo (for a fee, it's expensive but it's the most fun I've had in a bingo game), DH and I loved the mini-putt on the Victory. There is an afternoon tea during the sea day and many other activities but I recommend you read Fun Times as I can't remember them all.

You can also plan excursions ($) in Key West and in Cozumel during port days. I think they are very well organized.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Regarding 1: John Heald mentioned recently that they want all ships to be updated with 2.0 by the end of 2019. It's good news.

Regarding 2: Have you seen Vrooom on the Carnival Victory? It is fantastic. When we saw it, we were very impressed.

I've seen part of the show Flick on the Vista. Visually, it was magnificient but unfortunately, one of the principal male singers' pitch wasn't perfect and... well, many music teachers in my life thought I may have "perfect ear" (I'm not sure if it's true, all I know is it makes me ultra picky and I notice every single note that it flat or sharp...) I couldn't handle it. That's too bad because the show has the potential to be amazing.

I’ve seen Flick 3 times on the Vista, the first time was the inaugural entertainment staff and they were excellent, especially Flick himself, (his real name is Brett), - he had an injury and has been doing developing choreography but will be on the Horizon when she sets sail in a couple months. I don’t know if Horizon will have Flick or not, but it would be be worth sailing her just to see him in that role. This past year the singers weren’t nearly as strong but I still love the show.

 

[mevelandry]

I’ve seen Flick 3 times on the Vista, the first time was the inaugural entertainment staff and they were excellent, especially Flick himself, (his real name is Brett), - he had an injury and has been doing developing choreography but will be on the Horizon when she sets sail in a couple months. I don’t know if Horizon will have Flick or not, but it would be be worth sailing her just to see him in that role. This past year the singers weren’t nearly as strong but I still love the show.

Visually, it was beautiful. Very high quality.

 

[mevelandry]

Breaking news my friends!

Always pending on how life treats us (well, I hope) we have just booked a cruise with NCL for March 2019.

Departing from San Juan on the Norwegian Dawn (Which I know NOTHING ABOUT!) on a 7 nights round-trip cruise visiting:

-Barbados
-Antigua
-Dominica (which I have just learned has nothing to do with Dominican Republic LOL)
-St. Lucia
-Tortola

Based on travel advisories I have read that with the exception of San Juan where you have to be a little bit more careful, all those islands are pretty safe.

Hopefully, life treats us well until then. OMG!

 

[Pens Fan]

Breaking news my friends!

Always pending on how life treats us (well, I hope) we have just booked a cruise with NCL for March 2019.

Departing from San Juan on the Norwegian Dawn (Which I know NOTHING ABOUT!) on a 7 nights round-trip cruise visiting:

-Barbados
-Antigua
-Dominica (which I have just learned has nothing to do with Dominican Republic LOL)
-St. Lucia
-Tortola

Based on travel advisories I have read that with the exception of San Juan where you have to be a little bit more careful, all those islands are pretty safe.

Hopefully, life treats us well until then. OMG!

Gotcha covered!

Here is a link to a hilarious live review of the NCL Dawn. Now, this poster likes to live it up, and from what I've read on your posts, he probably cruises a little differently than you do (or we do for that matter) . But it should still give you a good feel for the ship and honestly his live reviews are hilarious and pretty legendary on the NCL Cruise Critic board. It's long, so grab a cup of coffee, settle in and be prepared to laugh!

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2426171

 

[trvlgirlmq]

San Juan is one of my favorite ports. I never felt unsafe and we walked everywhere. So much history and beautiful architecture.

 

[mevelandry]

Gotcha covered!

Here is a link to a hilarious live review of the NCL Dawn. Now, this poster likes to live it up, and from what I've read on your posts, he probably cruises a little differently than you do (or we do for that matter) . But it should still give you a good feel for the ship and honestly his live reviews are hilarious and pretty legendary on the NCL Cruise Critic board. It's long, so grab a cup of coffee, settle in and be prepared to laugh!

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2426171

Thank you so much. I'm going to check it out!

 

[mevelandry]

San Juan is one of my favorite ports. I never felt unsafe and we walked everywhere. So much history and beautiful architecture.

Not gonna lie, it's one of the ports that intrigues me the most. I originally booked because I've had a crush on St. Lucia & Tortola for a while but I'm very excited with the idea of visiting Old San Juan.

 

[robinb]

What do people think of the Carnival Dream? I’m thinking of doing a cruise out of NOLA. We were originally looking at a respositioning cruise through Royal but my DH can’t get that much time off.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

It was our first cruise back in 2012. I can't say how the ship has held up but it should be in good shape. There were some upgrades in dining locations added during it's last drydock and there is a ropes course and water park. Cruising down the Mississippi is very cool too!

 

[mevelandry]

Second breaking news of the day...

After seeing how beautiful San Juan, Antigua, Dominica, St.Lucia & Tortola look... We started to realize that Bermuda are VERY EXPENSIVE for what we were getting.

And although we were very excited to try the Anthem of the Seas, we really felt like the cruise wasn't the best value for the price (like for the same price you can have a 7 nights cruise on the Oasis or the new Symphony, which we would love to try in 2019 or 2020)!

Conclusion: Cancelled the Anthem/Bermuda, booked the Carnival Sensation and we are now going to Half Moon Cay & Grand Turk! We have never been there, both were on my bucket list so... Here we go!

What a crazy day!!!

 

[trvlgirlmq]

I adore Grand Turk. Going for the 3rd time in June. It's kind of like a private island, but not!

 

[mevelandry]

I adore Grand Turk. Going for the 3rd time in June. It's kind of like a private island, but not!

Tell me more!

 

[trvlgirlmq]

The ship docks right at the beach. There is a big shopping plaza and then Margaritaville where you have use of the giant swimming pool (no charge,don't have to purchase food or anything). The beach has some chairs for rent (closest to water) and some for free (further back under the trees). You can walk along the beach to Jack's Bar or go shell collecting. Its just a nice, relaxing day where you don't have to spend any money (my kind of day).

The ship from the GT Beach. It's that close.