DCL vs. Carnival....here are my thoughts!

[Corl4]

My family and I are huge Disney fans, have taken 2 DCL cruises, and have one booked for next summer, so it was with some trepidation that my husband and I booked a Carnival cruise out of NYC to Bermuda. There were several reasons for doing this...

1. Since we are from PA, NYC was within driving distance for us.
2. We wanted to travel to Bermuda.
3. The cost for a week cruise was comparable to the Disney 4- day.

I had done alot of research and heard good and bad things about Carnival but decided to go with an open mind. SO here are my comparisions:

The Ships: equal - Both are beautiful and well maintained, lots of space to sit and relax...

The Food: DCL has Carnival beat in this catagory. The Carnival food was very good but not as good as DCL. Although their equivalent to Palos was every bit as good but pricier...$25 per person. I did think the buffet lines on Carnival had more of a selection than DCL though.

The Entertainment: Carnival has DCL beat! Every night there was a top of the line show or act that was great for kids as well as for adults. The 3 big shows were Broadway quality with a live "big" band and great dancers. Other acts were an amazing balancing act, a juggler, and a great fiddle player.
Carnival had lots of live music all the time...a great house band in one of the lounges, a great sing-along piano bar, a great jazz trio in a lounge...any kind of music you wanted to hear was playing somewhere on the ship! Although we are not gamblers we did enjoy the casino on Carnival. There seemed like there was more to do later at night on Carnival than on DCL.

The Cabins: Both ships are equal in this area although Carnival does not have the split bath like DCL.

Can't compare the kids programs since we left our kids at home this time...we were celebrating our 20th anniversary!

Overall, we loved our Carnival experience and would do it again. The conveniece of leaving from NYC is a big plus...no airfare. And Bermuda is even more beautiful than Grand Cayman or Mexico! But we are still looking forward to DCL western next June!

Any questions?

Beth

 

[tchrmom]

Beth,

Thanks for the post!

I have a Bermuda question for you.........

We went there on our honeymoon 16 years ago, Aug.1st. Every morning, there was a man, standing at the round-a-bout, greeting everyone. As I remember, he seemed old then. It doesn't seem possible, but is he still there?

What about the Parakeet rest.? ( a favorite with the locals)

What about the Hog Penny?

Is it still as pristine as I remember?

Glad you enjoyed your trip!

Let me know if I can answer any Western carribean questions for you!

 

[noseybuddy]

I noticed that when I was looking into a Bermuda cruise that the ship was in port for 4 days in a row. Is there that much to do?

 

[kajohn]

Thanks for taking the time to post! It's is good to hear about others experiences. I've had a tendancy in recent years to snub my nose at Carnival, like many here do to any other line other than DCL. Thanks for opening my eyes that Carnival is still a possibility!

 

[Corl4]

I'll try to answer your questions...

tchrmom,
Yes, that guy is still standing in the roundabout, greeting people in the morning. We did see the Hog Penny but didn't go in..as far as the Parakeet, I don't remember seeing it. Yes, Bermuda is still as pristine as I'm sure you remember it and the people are so friendly!

noseybuddy,
No, 4 days isn't too much time. We left NYC on Wed,. docked in Bermuda on Friday around 2 so there wasn't too much of the day left to do much sightseeing. We spent the afternoon looking around the Royal Navy Dockyards, since that's where Carnival docks. We spent all day Saturday touring St. Georges, seeing the Crystal Caves, having a few rum sizzles in the Sizzle Inn, and seeing the town of Hamilton. Sunday we spent at Horseshoe Bay which is the most incredible beach we ever saw! Monday we had to be back on the ship by 3:30 so we spent that day on the beach too. DH and I agreed that we would have liked to have had one more day on the island...oh, well, we'll just have to go back again!!

Beth

 

[my3kids]

Corl4 Which Carnival ship were you on? I'm looking for another line to try and researching them all. When I find someone who knows Disney AND has been on another, I jump at the chance to pick their brains.

Was the ship smokey? I worry about people smoking everywhere. Was it a more fraternity party atmosphere than on DCL? My husband worries about Carnival given its former reputation.

Were the cabins as quiet as on DCL? I don't want to hear music or neighbors at night.

Did the passengers seem just like the group on a Disney cruise? Were they older? Less families or more? Much younger?

I'm sure I'll think of more, so please check back!

 

[Corl4]

my3kids,

I'll try to answer all your questions! We were on the Pride and she is a beautiful ship....done in an Italian Renaissance theme.
As far a being smokey, I hate smoke and the only place I really minded it was in the casino at night. THat's why we did the little bit of gambling we did during the day! Smoking is only allowed at certain places on the ship so it didn't become a problem for me!

No frat party atmosphere...lots of families with kids from little on up to teens. THe closest we came to seeing a "frat" party was the guy we sat beside at the blackjack table one night....has was drunk but not obnoxious...we actually had a lot of fun with him!

Cabins were very quiet..we had a family on one side of us and never heard them!

Any other questions...just let me know!

Beth

 

[marypopfan]

my3kids, can you tell me if you have found some info on Carnival? My daughter is going to be dancing on the ship "Holiday " with the rest of her competition team in June and I have been looking for any info the I could find, I haven't been too lucky. If anyone can send me to a site please do. Thanks

 

[nuke]

Marypopfan, have you tried Cruisecritic.com? That is a great site about cruising and cruise ships. They have discussion boards broken down by cruise line.

I went on a Bermuda Cruise back in the late 80's. I loved Bermuda. It is a beautiful clean island with such freindly people. I also did it on a cruise but with Royal Caribbean back then. Every day we were in port we did some sight seeing and were never bored. The caves and the perfume factory were our favorites.

 

[padisneyfan]

Corl4--- I see that we are neighbors. We also sailed on the Carnival Pride, but did the Western Carribean in May. We also enjoyed the Pride as much as the DCL. We have been on the Wonder twice and Magic once, but will be returning on the Magic in Oct. We would gladly cruise again on Carnival. We liked the food better on the Pride, but liked the shows better on the Magic. We also didn't mind the smoke. I was impressed that there was alot of non smoking areas on the ship and that smokers on the open decks were isolated to one side of the ship.

We are in our mid 50's and the majority of the people traveling in May were couples near our age. We had a balcony, and liked the setup of the room better on the Pride then on the Magic. IT was easier to move around in the room with the bed by the window instead of the sofa.

I would like to try a Bermuda cruise in the future. To bad the Pride is going to the West coast.

Nancy

 

[Mjasp]

You mean the Pride is NOT doing Bermuda next summer?

Was wondering why I couldn't get a price.

Joanna

 

[padisneyfan]

The Carnival Legend (sister ship to Pride) also did Bermuda this year and I believe they may be doing it again next year.

Nancy

 

[mac_tlc]

The Legend is doing 8-day Caribbean cruises out of NY this summer. So far, it is scheduled to return and do the same 8-day cruises next summer.

We cruised her last month and enjoyed it a lot, especially the extended time at sea, since it takes almost 3-days to get from NY to San Juan..

mac_tlc

 

[heart4dis]

I am a former neighbor from Leola (Bareville to be exact which doesn't have its own post office). I remember Akron well...Schaub's corner in Brownstown to Akron...

Thanks Corl4 for the post. I'm surprised that the shows were better on Carnival but that's good, I guess.