CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[lklgoodman]

Wow, I hadn't heard Trump did that. I feel bad for those affected, especially the Cuban people.

 

[mevelandry]

Anyone know what brought this decision on? I haven’t been following this. We haven’t considered any Cuba cruises because they seem more expensive than others. Dh isn’t too interested in going there either, but I am open to going anywhere. I keep pushing the Panama Canal, but dh isn’t into that either.

From my Canadian point of view and trying to remain as "not implicated" as possible because it's a delicate subject: Trump reverses what Obama has done during his 8 years as president.

The cuban culture is fascinating and every single friend I have that have been to Cuba has told me that cubans are amazing and very friendly.

 

[Kennywood]

Carnival just plead guilty to pollution and probation violations. They were fined $20 million.

I wonder what environment-friendly cruisers will do about this.

 

[mevelandry]

Carnival just plead guilty to pollution and probation violations. They were fined $20 million.

I wonder what environment-friendly cruisers will do about this.

If you're really environment-friendly, you should not cruise as cruises are absolutely terrible for the environment.

Carnival did something wrong and they paid for it. Hopefully, they will learn a lesson.

Now, while we are on the subject, they have just announced major changes to the cruise line in order to become "more environment-friendly". Also, LNG fleet is coming. I guess it's a good start.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Greetings from the Amazing Carnival Vista! I’ll check in with y’all next week

 

[mevelandry]

Greetings from the Amazing Carnival Vista! I’ll check in with y’all next week
View attachment 407463

Ahhhhh tell her I miss her!!!! ❤

 

[mevelandry]

I took a chance and asked for DCL prices for the cruise that my friends and I are supposed to do together in December 2020 (3 nights to the Bahamas).

Carnival: 284$/pp
RCCL: 328$/pp
DCL: 794$/pp

Carnival being almost one third the price of DCL and RCCL being less than half the price of DCL.

Conclusion: We confirmed our cruise with RCCL.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I love staying on the ship on port days

 

[mevelandry]

I love staying on the ship on port days View attachment 408093

So empty! Which port is it?

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

So empty! Which port is it?

We’re in Cozumel right now. Can see the Disney Fantasy up the coast. This pic is from Lido on Vista, Looking across the Carnival Valor. As much as I love cruising carnival, Disney ships are still the prettiest at sea.

 

[Mika02]

I got to do a ship inspection on the Carnival Sunrise they did a great job on the renovations from what I remember sailing twice on
Triumph rooms feel a lot larger. Didn't get to see a lot of the common spaces waiting for someone I met to send me more photos.

 

[mcd2745]

I love staying on the ship on port days View attachment 408093

The way things are going down there, one port we'll be staying on the ship is La Romana. However, based on our cruise's FB group...so will most guests. So it will not look anything like your picture. They better clean things up in the DR, otherwise they are going to lose a lot of their tourist revenue.

 

[mevelandry]

The way things are going down there, one port we'll be staying on the ship is La Romana. However, based on our cruise's FB group...so will most guests. So it will not look anything like your picture. They better clean things up in the DR, otherwise they are going to lose a lot of their tourist revenue.

It's not a new situation though. DR has been considered dangerous for as long as I can remember.

 

[belle032]

It's not a new situation though. DR has been considered dangerous for as long as I can remember.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing cruise lines cancel or limit their stops to the DR. I’m sure cruise line sponsored excursions wouldn’t be too unsafe, but what is the point if you port there and a vast majority of guests are too nervous to even leave the ship? So unfortunate!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Okay. Help us choose for a fall 2020 cruise. We have been going back and forth for about 6 months!

1. CCL radiance, 8 night from orlando. St. Martin, St. Kitts, Grand Turk, san Juan. One balcony, one interior. About $4700

2. Ncl escape, 7 night from orlando. St.Thomas, Tortola, Great Stirrup Cay, Puerto Plata. One balcony, one interior. About $5800

Here are the pros and cons.
Pros ccl:
1. St.Kitts is a new port for us
2. Radiance will be "new" ship
3. Balcony is extended (big for us because we use it).
4. New chicken restaurant. Lol.
5. $300 obc
6. Self service laundry. Lol
7. Kids love the kids club. Teen loves CCL ( his favorite line).
8. Less expensive cruise with an extra night. ($117/ person/ per night)

Pros ncl:
1. Tortola will be a new port for us.
2. Well... the Escape. Cool ship. Awesome ropes course and waterslides.
3. Comes with 3 night free dining package for 4 of us. Also comes with one other "free" perk but honestly there are not any available that we would use.
4. We have 2 cruisenext certificates to use with ncl. (Worth $500, paid $250, both expire shortly after this cruise, but I have seen that you can sell them on ebay and recoup some cost as they are transferable.)
5. Dh loves the ncl buffet


Cons ccl:
1. The only cons I can think of is that we sail ccl a lot and it might be nice to branch out. But we also love ccl and are very comfortable with them-- that is why we keep booking with them. So not sure it is a negative.

Cons ncl:
1. Kids do not like their kids club- at all.
2. One night less for more money ($165/person/night) ($151/person/night if considering cruisenext certificates)
3. Puerto Plata is a throwaway port for us because dh says he will not get off at DR or Belize again.

Sum. Both have one new port for us. (Something we try to do with each cruise). Both leave from the same port. I am not sure we would be looking at ncl at all for this trip except for the cruisenext certificates, but it doesn't seem like they make such a dent anyway. We are inclined to book ccl but wonder if we should branch out. So hard to decide!!

We just booked Radiance last night! Took us a while to pull the trigger. Thanks to all for the feedback on this. We noticed after we booked that the Radiance is getting a ropes course.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

From my Canadian point of view and trying to remain as "not implicated" as possible because it's a delicate subject: Trump reverses what Obama has done during his 8 years as president.

The cuban culture is fascinating and every single friend I have that have been to Cuba has told me that cubans are amazing and very friendly.

It never ceases to amaze me how governments have so much control over our lives. And it seems like the people get along just fine— it is the governments who do not.

 

[mevelandry]

We just booked Radiance last night! Took us a while to pull the trigger. Thanks to all for the feedback on this. We noticed after we booked that the Radiance is getting a ropes course.

So my "Tiny Vista" is getting even more Vista'd!

 

[lklgoodman]

We just booked Radiance last night! Took us a while to pull the trigger. Thanks to all for the feedback on this. We noticed after we booked that the Radiance is getting a ropes course.

I've been looking at this ship for a Spring break 2021 cruise. We don't have the school calendar yet, so I have to wait until we do. We've only cruised on DCL. My dd is 11 and doesn't really care about the characters anymore, last cruise we didn't go to any meets, it was great! I showed her all the fun activities that the Carnival ships have. She loves rock climbing, zip-lining, etc so I figured she'd be all excited to go on one of their ships. Although she said it looked fun, she doesn't want to go because there's no Mickey. I couldn't believe it! I reminded her that she doesn't even like going to the meets anymore. She said it doesn't matter. She still likes having them on the ship, lol!! I know she'll love the Carnival ships, so I still plan on booking on them once we have her school calendar. She can bring her Mickey plush with her!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I've been looking at this ship for a Spring break 2021 cruise. We don't have the school calendar yet, so I have to wait until we do. We've only cruised on DCL. My dd is 11 and doesn't really care about the characters anymore, last cruise we didn't go to any meets, it was great! I showed her all the fun activities that the Carnival ships have. She loves rock climbing, zip-lining, etc so I figured she'd be all excited to go on one of their ships. Although she said it looked fun, she doesn't want to go because there's no Mickey. I couldn't believe it! I reminded her that she doesn't even like going to the meets anymore. She said it doesn't matter. She still likes having them on the ship, lol!! I know she'll love the Carnival ships, so I still plan on booking on them once we have her school calendar. She can bring her Mickey plush with her!

We are Disney fanatics but have mostly switched over for price. We also realized that we love to cruise and would rather cruise more. We thought the kids would be the ones to “suffer” by switching to Carnival, but it is the other way around. Lol. The kids never looked back and they love ccl, where’s I still have a soft spot for dcl.. (Dh says he never wants to see golden mickeys again. Lol). Our 11 year old did a couple of scavenger hunts for the first time through the kids club on our last cruise (ccl breeze) and he LOVED it. Our kids do actually prefer the clubs on CCL, although the dcl kids clubs are beautiful. Our 11 year old actually still loves interacting with Disney characters but our 9 year old has never been big on it. We do Disney parks at least a couple of times a year and that satisfies the Disney fix. For us, we can stretch our dollar in the parks a lot further than on the cruise line. We barely drink and have never gambled (well... we did try the money claw and do sometimes play the lottery), but we really love carnival! They have some good itineraries too,

 

[mevelandry]

I've been looking at this ship for a Spring break 2021 cruise. We don't have the school calendar yet, so I have to wait until we do. We've only cruised on DCL. My dd is 11 and doesn't really care about the characters anymore, last cruise we didn't go to any meets, it was great! I showed her all the fun activities that the Carnival ships have. She loves rock climbing, zip-lining, etc so I figured she'd be all excited to go on one of their ships. Although she said it looked fun, she doesn't want to go because there's no Mickey. I couldn't believe it! I reminded her that she doesn't even like going to the meets anymore. She said it doesn't matter. She still likes having them on the ship, lol!! I know she'll love the Carnival ships, so I still plan on booking on them once we have her school calendar. She can bring her Mickey plush with her!

At 13 (2021), she might sing another song...