CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[belle032]

Happy New Year everyone! PLEASE cross all your fingers & toes we can get cruising again in the near future!!

We just have Alaska booked in Sept 2021 on the Norwegian Encore as of right now. I think Canada may play a large part as to whether or not we sail, which I understand. If it doesn't happen, hopefully we can push it back a year and get something else scheduled.

I want to book a Southern Caribbean sailing (or any Caribbean sailing really) sooooo badly, but I'm just hesitant until I know what the cruising experience will be like. We may try to sneak a WDW trip in this year, but it's really difficult for us New Yorkers to travel out of state at the moment with the testing/quarantine requirements. I hope as more people get vaccinated that it will change, but for right now, it's tough.

 

[braysmommy]

Our pre-cruise package is: the room, 2 drinks, breakfast for two and shuttle to the port.

Did you try a restaurant at the hotel? If you did, how was it?

We didn't try restaurant in the hotel since DS woke up early so we went out for a walk and grabbed something while we were out.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We’re booked for 2 weeks on Mardi Gras the beginning of June, I’m also going to book 2 weeks the beginning of July as a safety net, in case June cruises don’t happen .

We’re also booking 10 days at WDW for the first of June, so we’ll have something if cruising doesn’t happen. I am going to get a vacation in 2021!!!!

 

[jane01jp]

If anyone ever decides to try a Carnival cruise, I would recommend avoiding any that originate out of Charleston, SC. We have done that, and the terminal is used so infrequently that operations at the terminal are pretty spotty.

 

[belle032]

Ugh CCL cruises cancelled through March. I really can't believe it's been an entire year since ships have sailed. And we though this thing would only last a few weeks. I really thought they would try to get up and running in some capacity for the typical Spring Break vacationers, but now maybe summer?

 

[hdrolfe]

Ugh CCL cruises cancelled through March. I really can't believe it's been an entire year since ships have sailed. And we though this thing would only last a few weeks. I really thought they would try to get up and running in some capacity for the typical Spring Break vacationers, but now maybe summer?

Some of their ships are cancelled well into later 2021 as well. Fascination is until 2022!

• Carnival Freedom sailings through and including April 10, 2021
• Carnival Splendor sailings through and including April 19, 2021
• Carnival Breeze from Ft. Lauderdale sailings November 7, 2020 through and including March 7, 2021
• Carnival Sunrise
  
  • Ft. Lauderdale, New York and Norfolk sailings through and including October 19, 2020
  • Miami 7 and 8 day sailings from October 9, 2021 through and including April 30, 2022, excluding the March 5, 2022 sailing
  • Miami 5 day sailing January 3, 2022
• Carnival Radiance
  
  • Sailings through and including November 1, 2020
  • 9, 12, and 14 day sailings from May 2, 2021 through and including April 29, 2022
  • 5 day sailings December 23, 2021 and December 28, 2021
• Carnival Legend sailings through and including March 26, 2021
• Carnival Paradise sailings through and including May 31, 2021
• Carnival Magic sailings through and including September 24, 2021
• Carnival Imagination and Carnival Inspiration sailings through and including April 19, 2021
• Carnival Valor sailings through and including September 11, 2021
• Carnival Miracle sailings through and including September 16, 2021
• Carnival Liberty sailings from September 17, 2021 through and including October 18, 2021
• Carnival Spirit sailings through and including June 12, 2021
• Carnival Fascination sailings through and including January 9, 2022
• Carnival Sensation sailings through and including March 31, 2021, and March 3, 2022 and March 7, 2022
• Mardi Gras sailings through and including April 17, 2021
• Carnival Sunshine sailings from October 11, 2021 through and including November 13, 2021
• All Other Ships sailings through and including March 31, 2021

​

 

[belle032]

@hdrolfe Thanks for clarifying, I just saw the announcement on FB and didn't read through all the specifics!

Wow that is a lot. Looks like Breeze, Sunrise, Radiance, Legend, Liberty, Sensation (just retire this one already!), Sunshine, Horizon, & Vista have the first shot? I imagine this throws a wrench into previously planned drydocks as well.

And I wonder if the Fascination will just never return.

 

[hdrolfe]

@hdrolfe Thanks for clarifying, I just saw the announcement on FB and didn't read through all the specifics!

Wow that is a lot. Looks like Breeze, Sunrise, Radiance, Legend, Liberty, Sensation (just retire this one already!), Sunshine, Horizon, & Vista have the first shot? I imagine this throws a wrench into previously planned drydocks as well.

And I wonder if the Fascination will just never return.

I wonder about that as well. Fascination is a smaller ship and perhaps they will sell it?

I am not sure if the list I posted is up to date as of today, it's from Carnival's website but I feel like it may be misleading in a few cases, like Breeze, which is not sailing until April at least but from the list looks like mid-March? Perhaps more to come... I'm sure other cruise lines will follow if they haven't already... I just want to be able to cruise again!! Hopefully by December... Hopefully the cruise lines can recover from this. I acknowledge a lot of industries will need time to recover as well but this is a discussion about Carnival so mentioning cruising in specific.

 

[mevelandry]

Apparently a bunch of cruises were cancelled today (March and some specific cruises even going up to November).

Check your emails and your junk (because cancellations seems to go directly to junk mail most of the time).

 

[belle032]

Ughhh we are strongly leaning towards rescheduling our Alaskan cruise we have booked for September. It seems so far away now, but I truly feel it's not going to happen anyway. The season is so short to begin with so if they don't get off the ground in May/June, I think the entire thing will be a wash.

However, we would wait until any kind of cancellation/rescheduling info comes directly from NCL before doing anything on our own. If it does sail with a ton of stipulations, I hope cruise lines will let us decide if we want to go or not.

I think we will get a WDW trip in this year at some point (tentatively scheduled to go to a family wedding in March in Atlanta, so ideally would tie it on to that trip) and if we postpone Alaska, but can get on some kind of Caribbean sailing this fall/winter, we'll definitely consider that opportunity.

 

[mevelandry]

Ughhh we are strongly leaning towards rescheduling our Alaskan cruise we have booked for September. It seems so far away now, but I truly feel it's not going to happen anyway. The season is so short to begin with so if they don't get off the ground in May/June, I think the entire thing will be a wash.

However, we would wait until any kind of cancellation/rescheduling info comes directly from NCL before doing anything on our own. If it does sail with a ton of stipulations, I hope cruise lines will let us decide if we want to go or not.

I think we will get a WDW trip in this year at some point (tentatively scheduled to go to a family wedding in March in Atlanta, so ideally would tie it on to that trip) and if we postpone Alaska, but can get on some kind of Caribbean sailing this fall/winter, we'll definitely consider that opportunity.

I would suggest you wait a few more weeks/months before you cancel.

I don't know if it's the same for you but here in Canada, there will be a "boom" in vaccines availability on March 15, 2021 that could change everything and they recently announced that everyone living in long term care facilities will be vaccinated within the next two weeks... Which makes me very hopeful that before the end of the summer, we will be vaccinated and back to a somewhat normal life.

Our experience is that NCL was not great with cancellation. They offered us a refund (which took two months)... They offered a 10% off but our PVP's never replied to our requests for a rebooking.

 

[belle032]

I would suggest you wait a few more weeks/months before you cancel.

I don't know if it's the same for you but here in Canada, there will be a "boom" in vaccines availability on March 15, 2021 that could change everything and they recently announced that everyone living in long term care facilities will be vaccinated within the next two weeks... Which makes me very hopeful that before the end of the summer, we will be vaccinated and back to a somewhat normal life.

Our experience is that NCL was not great with cancellation. They offered us a refund (which took two months)... They offered a 10% off but our PVP's never replied to our requests for a rebooking.

Thank you for the info! We're in Upstate NY relatively close to the border!) and our vaccination distribution has gotten off to shaky start, to say the least. I'm still hopeful for the future though.

Don't worry, I don't plan on making any changes to our reservation until NCL either confirms that they are cancelled or there is some announcement that gives us the opportunity to postpone/cancel ourselves. Our PIF is the middle of May, so plenty of time.

 

[mevelandry]

Thank you for the info! We're in Upstate NY relatively close to the border!) and our vaccination distribution has gotten off to shaky start, to say the least. I'm still hopeful for the future though.

Don't worry, I don't plan on making any changes to our reservation until NCL either confirms that they are cancelled or there is some announcement that gives us the opportunity to postpone/cancel ourselves. Our PIF is the middle of May, so plenty of time.

*Fingers crossed*

 

[mevelandry]

My husband and I were supposed to visit Aruba-Curaçao, etc on Carnival Horizon in October 2022... The cost was actually much higher than our Carnival Mardi Gras cruise we have panned at the beginning of 2022, on top of having to fly to Miami which always involves much higher costs.

Since we are now planning a Disney Wish family cruise early 2023 ($$$), it‘s a bit too much on our plate so we decided to cancel the Horizon cruise.

I have my eye on a shorter Royal Caribbean Labadee-CocoCay cruise instead which would cost us half the price (in part due to the fact that we would fly to Orlando instead of Miami) of the Horizon.

We won’t book right now because we want to explore our options.

I checked Carnival cruises for the same period of time but I haven’t seen any itinerary that looks exciting and doesn’t involve Nassau or Cozumel.

To be continued...

 

[hdrolfe]

I just want to get on a cruise ship sooner than later. I have also been looking at an RCL with Labadee and Coco Cay (mostly because my son would love both ports, we've been to both but Coco was pre-updates and Labadee he was too young to zipline). We have yet to get on a Disney cruise! Maybe someday...

We have the Mardi Gras booked in December but I am not sure if B2B will be allowed by then (fingers crossed) so haven't booked the second cruise, and also considering either RCL Harmony or a week at Disney or a week at Universal instead... So long with no trips has left me wanting to do EVERYTHING. Not sure December will be happening though.

As for Miami being more costly to fly to, you can fly to FLL instead and from Montreal there seem to be a few options for that. I often check prices from Montreal and Ottawa since we like direct flights and there are more from Montreal.

 

[mevelandry]

I just want to get on a cruise ship sooner than later. I have also been looking at an RCL with Labadee and Coco Cay (mostly because my son would love both ports, we've been to both but Coco was pre-updates and Labadee he was too young to zipline). We have yet to get on a Disney cruise! Maybe someday...

We have the Mardi Gras booked in December but I am not sure if B2B will be allowed by then (fingers crossed) so haven't booked the second cruise, and also considering either RCL Harmony or a week at Disney or a week at Universal instead... So long with no trips has left me wanting to do EVERYTHING. Not sure December will be happening though.

As for Miami being more costly to fly to, you can fly to FLL instead and from Montreal there seem to be a few options for that. I often check prices from Montreal and Ottawa since we like direct flights and there are more from Montreal.

Yes, usually FLL is usually a bit cheaper than Miami... We had a good experience doing that but we find it a bit more stressful to travel from FLL to Miami. In comparison, Orlando airport feels like home.

I hear you for wanting to do everything. I now have 5 to 6 trips planned for 2021-2022. Lol

I hope you can do your back to back.

 

[hdrolfe]

Yes, usually FLL is usually a bit cheaper than Miami... We had a good experience doing that but we find it a bit more stressful to travel from FLL to Miami. In comparison, Orlando airport feels like home.

I hear you for wanting to do everything. I now have 5 to 6 trips planned for 2021-2022. Lol

I hope you can do your back to back.

We haven't sailed from Miami yet, have a B2B booked on Horizon in April 2023 (The latest booking available at the time). My plan is to use a shuttle service that picks up at FLL airport hotels, it's about an hour from what I understand, which is the same distance (time wise any way) from Orlando to Port Canaveral. We love cruising from PC just because it's easy to add on a few Disney days. And FLL, we have cruised from there twice and it was so easy, you can almost see the port from the airport, very close and easy. Carnival doesn't seem to cruise from there but I think either Oasis or Symphony will be? That would be a good choice too.

I have the December cruise and still the MSC 14 night in Jan/Feb 2022. Depending what happens, I will book something else in 2022 when things improve. I hope. I'm just waiting... and waiting... for things to improve or show signs that travel will be ok. While this winter has so far been much milder than last year, and I am working from home so not having to drive in snowstorms and such, oh I long for some heat and beaches. And fancy fruity drinks while I watch the ocean and flying fish go by. And maybe some food I don't have to cook? Or clean up after.

 

[belle032]

We haven't sailed from Miami yet, have a B2B booked on Horizon in April 2023 (The latest booking available at the time). My plan is to use a shuttle service that picks up at FLL airport hotels, it's about an hour from what I understand, which is the same distance (time wise any way) from Orlando to Port Canaveral. We love cruising from PC just because it's easy to add on a few Disney days. And FLL, we have cruised from there twice and it was so easy, you can almost see the port from the airport, very close and easy. Carnival doesn't seem to cruise from there but I think either Oasis or Symphony will be? That would be a good choice too.

I have the December cruise and still the MSC 14 night in Jan/Feb 2022. Depending what happens, I will book something else in 2022 when things improve. I hope. I'm just waiting... and waiting... for things to improve or show signs that travel will be ok. While this winter has so far been much milder than last year, and I am working from home so not having to drive in snowstorms and such, oh I long for some heat and beaches. And fancy fruity drinks while I watch the ocean and flying fish go by. And maybe some food I don't have to cook? Or clean up after.

FLL to the Miami port really isn't bad, so I wouldn't worry about it! We usually fly into FLL because Southwest didn't fly into Miami (until now!), stay at a hotel in FLL and Uber to the port on embarkation day. It honestly seemed like less of a drive than Orlando-Port Canaveral. I think it's less than an hour for sure. Not bad at all.

Although I do agree about flying & sailing out of FLL. It was SO easy! The quickest embarkation I've ever experienced. Carnival did have at least a ship or 2 there in the past few years because that's who we sailed with, but I think this year everything is focused on Miami.

So many sailings I want to book, but we just can't plan that far out. I think I'm going to focus on a potential WDW trip for this year and wait to see how cruising pans out before diving into that.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I just want to get on a cruise ship sooner than later. I have also been looking at an RCL with Labadee and Coco Cay (mostly because my son would love both ports, we've been to both but Coco was pre-updates and Labadee he was too young to zipline). We have yet to get on a Disney cruise! Maybe someday...

We have the Mardi Gras booked in December but I am not sure if B2B will be allowed by then (fingers crossed) so haven't booked the second cruise, and also considering either RCL Harmony or a week at Disney or a week at Universal instead... So long with no trips has left me wanting to do EVERYTHING. Not sure December will be happening though.

As for Miami being more costly to fly to, you can fly to FLL instead and from Montreal there seem to be a few options for that. I often check prices from Montreal and Ottawa since we like direct flights and there are more from Montreal.

Are they not allowing B2B cruises when they start sailing again? I know they can’t do more than a 7 day itinerary but hadn’t heard if B2B is a no go yet. We’ve got a B2B in June booked. I’m not even positive we’ll be able to one leg at this point, so we have a 2 week WDW/Universal trip as a plan B

 

[mevelandry]

FLL to the Miami port really isn't bad, so I wouldn't worry about it! We usually fly into FLL because Southwest didn't fly into Miami (until now!), stay at a hotel in FLL and Uber to the port on embarkation day. It honestly seemed like less of a drive than Orlando-Port Canaveral. I think it's less than an hour for sure. Not bad at all.

Although I do agree about flying & sailing out of FLL. It was SO easy! The quickest embarkation I've ever experienced. Carnival did have at least a ship or 2 there in the past few years because that's who we sailed with, but I think this year everything is focused on Miami.

So many sailings I want to book, but we just can't plan that far out. I think I'm going to focus on a potential WDW trip for this year and wait to see how cruising pans out before diving into that.

Depending on traffic, it’s 45-60 minutes. We have done it with a shuttle, we have done it with a cab as well (thought the cab driver would kill us as he was a terrible driver) ... We just prefer having the shorter drive possible between our hotel and the port when in FLL/Miami. Somehow I like the road between Orlando Airport and PC, I find it to be a little bit more scenic.

Sailing from FLL is truely the best. Such a short ride between the airport/the port/the beach.