CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[mevelandry]

Had not seen that. Looks good.

Just saw this. New "island."
https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-confirms-newest-private-bahamas-destination/

Oh yay!!! I'm usually quite fond of private islands (Castaway Cay/Half Moon Cay) so I'm excited about this!

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Wow, it's been awful slow around here!

We booked our first (and possibly only) organized excursion for our Legend Med cruise in 2020. We booked with Kotor Shuttle which is owned by the same group as Ephesus Shuttle whom we used in 2016. We are doing their small group Coastal Montenegro tour. I really wanted to get up in the mountains to see some of the towns but the roads are all switchback and my mom gets motion sick so we are sticking to sea level!

 

[mcd2745]

Wow, it's been awful slow around here!

With our NCL Bliss cruise now behind us (boy did I miss the warm weather already), our next cruise is on the Horizon - which we just happened to pull in nose-to-nose to upon our return to Port of Miami on Saturday morning - in August. So, I may start looking to pick some brains for Carnival info, since it will be our first after 6 DCL, 3 RCCL, and 2 NCL.

 

[DCLfam]

With our NCL Bliss cruise now behind us (boy did I miss the warm weather already), our next cruise is on the Horizon - which we just happened to pull in nose-to-nose to upon our return to Port of Miami on Saturday morning - in August. So, I may start looking to pick some brains for Carnival info, since it will be our first after 6 DCL, 3 RCCL, and 2 NCL.

We were on the Horizon last may Barcelona-NY for our first venture away from DCL.

 

[mcd2745]

We were on the Horizon last may Barcelona-NY for our first venture away from DCL.

Thoughts on the ship? I'll refrain from asking service-related questions since they were probably still working out some kinks at that time.

 

[DCLfam]

We liked the ship. It was myself, DS12 and my mom. We stayed in Family Harbor Cove Balcony until they had to move us due to noise and Carnivals customer service was impressive. I called to ask to be moved and they jumped on it even calling the next day to see how we were and gave us a huge credit which I didn't expect. Compared to DCL where my mom took a very bad fall, having to visit medical onboard, and never a call to see how she was.
We loved all the lunch options but 14 nights of main dining did get a little boring on Carnival. For my DS a big drawback was that the pool wasn't heated so pretty chilly swimming while crossing the Atlantic. Also, the theater is awful compared to DCL as it is not tiered on main floor and many seats on balcony have limited sightlines so get there early. Would we sail again? Probably if the price/itinerary were good. That being said our next cruise is DCL Hawaii 2020.

 

[mcd2745]

We liked the ship. It was myself, DS12 and my mom. We stayed in Family Harbor Cove Balcony until they had to move us due to noise and Carnivals customer service was impressive. I called to ask to be moved and they jumped on it even calling the next day to see how we were and gave us a huge credit which I didn't expect. Compared to DCL where my mom took a very bad fall, having to visit medical onboard, and never a call to see how she was.
We loved all the lunch options but 14 nights of main dining did get a little boring on Carnival. For my DS a big drawback was that the pool wasn't heated so pretty chilly swimming while crossing the Atlantic. Also, the theater is awful compared to DCL as it is not tiered on main floor and many seats on balcony have limited sightlines so get there early. Would we sail again? Probably if the price/itinerary were good. That being said our next cruise is DCL Hawaii 2020.

Thanks. How bad was the noise? We are booked in a Family Harbor oceanview (balconies & suites were already sold out). The itinerary (Southern Caribbean) was one of the biggest draws for us.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Wow, it's been awful slow around here!

I've been thinking the same thing. I think everyone is hibernating. My least favorite months of the year are January and February. We are on the Breeze in less than 2 weeks. I will try to do a report. Does anyone know if sprint has "free" cell service in San Juan and/or St. Thomas?

Your European excursion sounds great.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Thanks. How bad was the noise? We are booked in a Family Harbor oceanview (balconies & suites were already sold out). The itinerary (Southern Caribbean) was one of the biggest draws for us.

I can tell you that we were under the galley on CCL Dream and it was awful. From what I have read from people's reviews, however, some cabins are awful and then a couple of doors down is fine, so it seems very room specific. I might post the specific cabin number on cc and see if anyone has any details about that cabin. That itinerary you are on is amazing. We did it on Vista a couple of summers ago. Best itinerary we have ever been on.

 

[DCLfam]

Thanks. How bad was the noise? We are booked in a Family Harbor oceanview (balconies & suites were already sold out). The itinerary (Southern Caribbean) was one of the biggest draws for us.

We were in cabin 2429 and it was horrible. We have sailed many night on DCL and nothing compared to this. The first night my DS woke up, which is saying something, thinking we had hit in iceberg This cabin is located right under the main prep kitchen that worked pretty much all hours of the day. A huge design flaw in my opinion for a new ship. That being said Carnival handled it very well. They moved us just up, I think 2405, and while we could still hear the noise it was nothing like our original room.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Thanks. How bad was the noise? We are booked in a Family Harbor oceanview (balconies & suites were already sold out). The itinerary (Southern Caribbean) was one of the biggest draws for us.

We did the Southern on Vista last year. I loved the ports. If you are going to La Romana, DR I highly suggest a Carnival excursion. We went to another island with the most beautiful beach. It was my favorite day.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

I've been thinking the same thing. I think everyone is hibernating. My least favorite months of the year are January and February. We are on the Breeze in less than 2 weeks. I will try to do a report. Does anyone know if sprint has "free" cell service in San Juan and/or St. Thomas?

Your European excursion sounds great.

We do have our annual family summer vacation coming up in about 88 days but it's not a cruise. My next cruise is October for a quick getaway with my mom. Looking forward to going back to Cozumel for a relaxing beach day.

I love Europe and will look for any excuse to visit. Our upcoming vacation is a land trip to France.

 

[mcd2745]

We were in cabin 2429 and it was horrible. We have sailed many night on DCL and nothing compared to this. The first night my DS woke up, which is saying something, thinking we had hit in iceberg This cabin is located right under the main prep kitchen that worked pretty much all hours of the day. A huge design flaw in my opinion for a new ship. That being said Carnival handled it very well. They moved us just up, I think 2405, and while we could still hear the noise it was nothing like our original room.

We'll see. We are in 2437, i believe, so just a few doors down towards the aft of the ship from your noisy room.

 

[mcd2745]

We did the Southern on Vista last year. I loved the ports. If you are going to La Romana, DR I highly suggest a Carnival excursion. We went to another island with the most beautiful beach. It was my favorite day.

We are going to La Romana. Do you remember where you went/what excursion?

 

[trvlgirlmq]

We are going to La Romana. Do you remember where you went/what excursion?

We did the Catalina Island Beach Break. The sand was the softest, most white I have ever seen and the water was gorgeous and perfect.

 

[tidefan]

Not necessarily Carnival (but owned by Carnival Corp...)

We'll be going on the Regal Princess in a couple of weeks. I'll report back when we get back!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Not necessarily Carnival (but owned by Carnival Corp...)

We'll be going on the Regal Princess in a couple of weeks. I'll report back when we get back!

I would love to hear about regal princess!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Thoughts on the ship? I'll refrain from asking service-related questions since they were probably still working out some kinks at that time.

I can give thoughts on Vista, I loved her. I definitely recommend hitting JiJi’s or Cucina del Capitano for lunch on embarkation day. Very few people know it’s a no extra cost option at lunch. JiJi’s is essentially a stir-fry sit down at lunch and Cucina is a pasta bar, you get to choose your noodles, sauce and mix-ins, they also have lasagna but I didn’t like that. If you like seafood, the bow tie pasta with clam sauce was awesome. We eat there for lunch a lot and really enjoy it.

The salted caramel chocolate cookies at the deli are amazing, as are almost all the Carnival desserts. For a couple hours everyday at the Lido buffet, they have slow churned real ice cream. It’s so creamy and amazing, they have 2 flavors everyday and is so good.

Serenity deck has a really good salad place on sea days, if you’re a drinker there’s a bar up there also. I love serenity, it’s really amazing.

I’m pretty sure they have a white party and an 80’s party too, those are a lot of fun. Carnival is truly about having fun, go in with an open mind and you’ll love it.

 

[tidefan]

I would love to hear about regal princess!

Will do. I’ll post a quick report once we get back...

 

[mevelandry]

Wow, it's been awful slow around here!

I was struck by flu... It's been the end of the world for the last 7 days. I'm barely coming back to the surface. Doc said the worst is behind me but I don't feel much of a difference here...