CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[mevelandry]

Yes. The Tv choices were awful. The kids usually wind down watching a bit of tv before bed. We didn't do that all this trip.

Last week on the Liberty we watched the news (Notre-Dame was burning. Not cool.)

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Thanks for the review, loving it so far.

 

[BrookeMQ]

Day in Roatan

The last time we were in Roatan it rained most of the day and didn't get to snorkel. The plan was to go see the sloths and then head to West Bay Beach to snorkel.

We decided to hire a private driver thru Rony's. It was $25 per person plus any entry fees. Our driver Brian was awesome and the car was clean, ran well and most importantly had AC.

Our first stop to the see the sloths was at Manawakie Eco park. It just opened so there were no crowds there. In fact it was just us and one other family. It was $15 a person to get in.
We were never rushed and got to spend as long as we wanted with the animals.

First we got to hold the sloths. We all took a turn. My poor daughter got too scared and didn't do it. Poor thing

 

[BrookeMQ]

We also got to hold monkeys. They are crazy. They went down my shirt and down my husbands pants.

My son also got to hold a bird.

Overall it was a good experience. If going to Roatan check out Manawakie. They do their own tours and pick you up if needed. Our friends did the Daniel Johnson sloth place and to wait a long time to hold any animals and were limited on their time with them. This was not like that all.

 

[BrookeMQ]

Roatan continued:

We talked with Rony before our trip about donating supplies to some children. He told us what to collect -- school supplies. I gathered everything and had my work donate some soccer ball lunch bags and soccer balls. We met the kids at a church and passed out the supplies. They were all very sweet.

 

[BrookeMQ]

Roatan continue:

We then headed to West Bay beach. We couldn't get in the beach club we wanted (three ships had everything crowded). So we were a bit too far away from beach snorkeling. So we had someone take us out in a boat to the reef it was awesome. Best snorkeling I have done so far.

We stayed and played at the nice beach for awhile too.

I would definitely recommend Rony's tours. They have basic tours where you can go with a group to the place of your choice. But we really liked creating our own tour and having a private driver.

 

[BrookeMQ]

My daughter got a cute picture with thing 1 and thing 2 later.

 

[Monykalyn]

My daughter got a cute picture with thing 1 and thing 2 later.

Love this picture!

 

[mevelandry]

Roatan continued:

We talked with Rony before our trip about donating supplies to some children. He told us what to collect -- school supplies. I gathered everything and had my work donate some soccer ball lunch bags and soccer balls. We met the kids at a church and passed out the supplies. They were all very sweet.

They are adorable!

 

[BrookeMQ]

Belize
We decided to skip a beach day and see some Mayan Ruins. We picked the Xunantunich. Its a 2 hour drive by bus. We used the carnival excursion since its so far away. The bus ride was a good time for the kids to just rest. The bus was clean and air conditioned. We brought the kids tablets and had them watch movies. Once we go there the tour was great. They gave us lots of info and were able to climb the big pyramid. Our time there was a bit rushed since it so far away. But we knew that ahead of time. Lunch was provided. It was chicken and rice and beans and coleslaw. We all enjoyed it. The bus ride back was long and we slept most of the way. Overall it was a good day.

 

[BrookeMQ]

Belize

Our last trip to Belize we went to Goff's Caye. We used Island marketing for our tour. Goff's caye is a small island in the middle of the ocean. It was very pretty. the tour included a snorkel tour. My husband did and I stayed with the kids so I can't comment on it. But we loved the little island. We were the only boat there. My in laws went instead of coming to the ruins with us. They are into snorkeling and after Roatan the snorkeling just wasn't as good and the water was choppy. They also weren't the only tour there so I think that soured their opinion since the island isn't very big. But we loved it.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Belize

Our last trip to Belize we went to Goff's Caye. We used Island marketing for our tour. Goff's caye is a small island in the middle of the ocean. It was very pretty. the tour included a snorkel tour. My husband did and I stayed with the kids so I can't comment on it. But we loved the little island. We were the only boat there. My in laws went instead of coming to the ruins with us. They are into snorkeling and after Roatan the snorkeling just wasn't as good and the water was choppy. They also weren't the only tour there so I think that soured their opinion since the island isn't very big. But we loved it.

46 days and I’m there, I can hardly wait. Thanks so much for posting this right now, it’s helping me get so excited.

 

[BrookeMQ]

Cozumel

We have been here many times. We have done Tulum, Chichen Itza, Chankanaab, and Paradise Beach (a few times). I wanted to do something different. The underground secret river looked cool but I thought it would be too much for out kids especially the last day.

In my research I found a beach called El Cielo. It looked beautiful. I wanted to go there. There isn't a lot of tours that go there and the ones I did find had very mixed reviews. Somehow I found "Fishing with Pedro". He takes you deep sea fishing, snorkeling and then to El Cielo. All on his own boat. And only with however many people you want to go with. I contacted them. Pedros wife was very responsive. She gave us all of the instructions and how to meet them.

We took a cab to the marina and we met Pedro and Sammy. We got on the boat and were were off. The boat ride was awesome. We trolled for fish while we headed out. We stopped in deep water and caught one fish. The current was strong and no one was catching any big fish (people catch barracudas and mahi mahi). We went to shallow water and caught some yellow tail and a bunch of other fish. So my son was happy.

Then we headed to El Cielo

 

[BrookeMQ]

El Cielo was awesome. The water was amazing. So much better than all of the beach clubs. We docked the boat and swam and played. The sand was so soft. There are a couple of friendly sting rays that come because they know the fishing boats will feed them. We snorkeled and checked them out. I wish we had more time. This place was so great. We all loved it.

We rode the boat back and Pedro made fresh ceviche with our catch. It was yummy. Even my picky kids ate it.

My son declared this the best day of the cruise.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We’ve decided to cancel our transatlantic cruise on Carnival Radiance for June 2020. I just wasn’t comfortable leaving my restaurant for about 2.5 weeks. We let our daughter pick the cruise as her graduation present and she started having second thoughts on it. So instead we’re doing the 9 night Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy. I can’t believe we’re doing it, but I have to say I’m excited for the Fantasy again. She’ll always hold a special place in my heart because that’s the ship we fell in love with cruising on.

 

[BrookeMQ]

We’ve decided to cancel our transatlantic cruise on Carnival Radiance for June 2020. I just wasn’t comfortable leaving my restaurant for about 2.5 weeks. We let our daughter pick the cruise as her graduation present and she started having second thoughts on it. So instead we’re doing the 9 night Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy. I can’t believe we’re doing it, but I have to say I’m excited for the Fantasy again. She’ll always hold a special place in my heart because that’s the ship we fell in love with cruising on.

Have a great trip!

 

[mevelandry]

We’ve decided to cancel our transatlantic cruise on Carnival Radiance for June 2020. I just wasn’t comfortable leaving my restaurant for about 2.5 weeks. We let our daughter pick the cruise as her graduation present and she started having second thoughts on it. So instead we’re doing the 9 night Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy. I can’t believe we’re doing it, but I have to say I’m excited for the Fantasy again. She’ll always hold a special place in my heart because that’s the ship we fell in love with cruising on.

I'm sure it's going to be great. When was the last time you sailed on the Disney Fantasy? Which ports are you visiting?

For us, the ship we fell in love with cruising on was the Disney Dream. I'm trying to convince my friends to book on DCL instead of RCCL (one of them is dying to try DCL and especially the Dream because of Beauty & the Beast + I'm not sure I wanna do the Mariner twice within 14 months & I don't want to sail on the Carnival Liberty again, it was nice but I'd like a new ship). I'm waiting for the dates to open to book it and we'll decide later what we are going to do.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

We’ve decided to cancel our transatlantic cruise on Carnival Radiance for June 2020. I just wasn’t comfortable leaving my restaurant for about 2.5 weeks. We let our daughter pick the cruise as her graduation present and she started having second thoughts on it. So instead we’re doing the 9 night Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy. I can’t believe we’re doing it, but I have to say I’m excited for the Fantasy again. She’ll always hold a special place in my heart because that’s the ship we fell in love with cruising on.

That sounds like an amazing cruise!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I should update also that we recently cancelled an NCL cruise for this Thanksgiving because we purchased dvc (resale!) and have double "extra" points we have to use this year. So we are buying annual passes and will be at wdw 4x from this July to next May (after which we probably will never want to go to wdw again. Lol). All trips scheduled around federal holidays to maximize vacation! We have a short dcl cruise scheduled in December which we will probably cancel because it is such an odd year for us. But otherwise our next cruise will be on the Panorama summer 2020. I will still be follow along to see where everyone is going and cruising vicariously until then!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I'm sure it's going to be great. When was the last time you sailed on the Disney Fantasy? Which ports are you visiting?

For us, the ship we fell in love with cruising on was the Disney Dream. I'm trying to convince my friends to book on DCL instead of RCCL (one of them is dying to try DCL and especially the Dream because of Beauty & the Beast + I'm not sure I wanna do the Mariner twice within 14 months & I don't want to sail on the Carnival Liberty again, it was nice but I'd like a new ship). I'm waiting for the dates to open to book it and we'll decide later what we are going to do.

The last time on the Fantasy was 2014 for a western Caribbean cruise. The ports for this cruise are; St Kitts, Martinique, Antigua, St Thomas and Castaway Cay, plus 3 sea days. This will also be the first time sailing as all adults so we’ll be able to experience Serenity at CC and be able to go as a family to Satellite Falls and the adults only areas on the ship. We’ll essentially be empty nesters after that summer, as both of our kids will be off to college in Northern Arizona.

HS anyone stayed at the Homewood Suites in Port Canaveral? I’m pretty sure we’ll stay there the night before the cruise and Uber to the port.