Disney VS Carnival Glory

[Database]

Thanks for the trip report and your insights into Carnival.
We've only cruised on DCL and HAL and will probably just stick with them.

Funny thing... we just received an ship board credit offer to do a Carnival cruise. Doesn't sound like the Carnival Experience is the one for us.

Thanks for taking the time to post!

 

[Pluto 2]

thanks for the report
i thought carnival was suppose to be the fun ship
they take more photographs then disney. i can see people buying a lot of photos at dcl because with all the characters.

 

[dlf246]

Thank you so much for the excellent report.

While there are hints here and there, I was wondering if I can ask about one "category" (albeit a touchy one): fellow passengers. DW and I have found that the degree of politeness, sociability (sp?) of fellow passengers is increasingly important to us. Would you care to hazard a comparison on that?

 

[OceanLvr]

I loved reading your TR, thanks for sharing...I can honestly say that my DW and I are ture Disney Sailors...We love being onboard. The food, the atmosphere, the nagical moments that happen all day and night.

As far as cruising other lines, we'll stick with Disney. We don't gamble and are both non-smokers. We've cruised with and without kids. There are 16 of us traveling in September aboard the Wonder and plan on having a great time.

But again thanks for taking the time to compare the ships, but we'll pay more and enjoy Disney anyday.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Thank you so much for the excellent report.

While there are hints here and there, I was wondering if I can ask about one "category" (albeit a touchy one): fellow passengers. DW and I have found that the degree of politeness, sociability (sp?) of fellow passengers is increasingly important to us. Would you care to hazard a comparison on that?

The people who posted for the cruise meet was a small group but they were very nice and we saw a few of them all week long. I never had any rude encounters with fellow passengers. Most would have small chit chat as you waited for shows or elevators, just like disney.


Difference would be that I saw more drunk people on Carnival, even in the morning times. We passed by a bar in the lobby where we boarded the ship and we were among the first hour or so of people boarding and they were already getting tipsy there. They just set their luggage off to the side and started drinking ASAP. I have no problem with a nice drink but they had already had more than they needed.

We had an acceptional amount of older teens on board. I was nicely surprized as most said excuse me or I'm sorry when they bumped into you.

So other than the drunks in the bar areas we had great passengers to cruise with. The people on our excursions were great!!

mom x4,grandma x4

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

I loved reading your TR, thanks for sharing...I can honestly say that my DW and I are ture Disney Sailors...We love being onboard. The food, the atmosphere, the nagical moments that happen all day and night.

As far as cruising other lines, we'll stick with Disney. We don't gamble and are both non-smokers. We've cruised with and without kids. There are 16 of us traveling in September aboard the Wonder and plan on having a great time.

But again thanks for taking the time to compare the ships, but we'll pay more and enjoy Disney anyday.

Joel,
we are true Disney fans too, but since the Magic was gone this summer and our grandkids were coming to visit and we promised them a 7 day cruise we decided to do carnival since it was close and we had heard the teen clubs were better than Disney.
Nothing could be farther from the truth!!!
we have done 14 disney cruises and 3 more already booked, so we are definately staying with Disney too.
We dont drink or smoke and normally dont gamble, I did go to the casino early morning when they opened and used the slots twice just for something to do. So just not enough to do on Carnival for us either as well as the rude crew.

mom x4,grandma x4

 

[JJCJFL]

Thanks for the great report. We did the Glory last summer, June, and are scheduled to do the Magic in Sept. This will be my 14th cruise with Disney. I thought that you hit on a lot of things that we noticed.
I got yelled at by one of the employees when I answered my cell phone in the terminal. I guess it has never rung in the Disney terminal and I didn't know that it was against the law.
There were kids everywhere even in the "adult hot tubs". We didn't use the pools or the hot tubs due to that and the fact that they use salt water.
They seated us at dinner by ourselves and ended up meeting another couple and inviting them to eat with us. We eat by ourselves every night at home. The food in the dining rooms was ok. My DH asked for a filet and the server said "What, you don't like prime rib?" They did have filet that night paired with a shrimp dish and he wanted a filet. We never connected with our server. He was very aloof.
I agree that the buffet food/fast food was better on Carnival. The chocolate buffet was only ok. There were many things that looked better than they tasted but that happens on Disney as well.
We met a great family thru the Cruise Critic web site and spent a lot of time with them over the week.
We had fun on Carnival but there is no place like Disney!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

I am so glad someone else noticed some of the things we noticed. We really did go with an open mind to just have a nice cruise knowing it would be totally different than Disney .
But it just wasnt for us, no matter how hard I tried all the rudness and such jus tkept popping up.
I thought the prices of their excursions were higher than Disney, but I need to research that to be sure.
Glad you enjoyed the report,

kathy

 

[scrap disney]

Just wanted to thank you for you detailed comparision. My husband and I have been on 2 Carnival cruises and now, we have booked a Disney cruise next summer with our 5 year old son. We are sooooo looking forward to our Disney Cruise. Thanks for the info - we enjoyed the pictures.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Just wanted to thank you for you detailed comparision. My husband and I have been on 2 Carnival cruises and now, we have booked a Disney cruise next summer with our 5 year old son. We are sooooo looking forward to our Disney Cruise. Thanks for the info - we enjoyed the pictures.

I hope you all have a Magical cruise!!!!

mom x4,grandma x4

 

[otrax]

The only comparison that I can make between Disney and Carnival is this, the last time the Magic was in Mexico we were in Mazatlan tied up to the dock. When one of the Carnival ships came by on its way to turn around it blew it's horn at us. There were a lot of people and thier kids hanging out on thier decks watching us as they went by. As the Magic blew her horn in response you could every kid on that ship go "ahhhhhhhhh" at the same time, all of us could just laugh.

 

[JJCJFL]

I can just picture that now....

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

When we docked by the Wonder at Nassau I wanted to jump ship sooooooo badly!!!
I did wave at the few people we saw on board, and yes they waved back. I think they felt my pain.

One thing I forgot to add to my report was as we left the channel to head out to sea many smaller ships went by us. Most wave and holler as we go by however this time we had a lady on a balcony 2 or 3 down from us that was flashing the people on the boats, so we got whisltes and cheers each time a boat went by, plus one of the younger men on one ship turned around and mooned us after she flashed him.


mom x4,grandma x4

 

[cheriemek]

Thanks for your comparison. For my 25th anniversary, I knew I wanted to go on a cruise, and I knew I wanted to take my DDs (17 and 13) and my DNiece (14). I took the 17 year old with me to AAA to book the cruise. I was leaning towards a Disney cruise, but 17 year old wasn't. The TA knew nothing about Disney and so started selling to the 17 year old a Fun cruise. We went home to think about it, and I almost booked a different cruise. My DH said "You love Disney - its your anniversary (not the 17yr old's)", and so we did book Disney. The CMs were all wonderful. I felt very safe letting the 17 year old (who is beautiful and looks like she is 22) wander around with her sister and cousin. One night DH and I were going to Palo. I told the kids they had 3 options - get room service, go to one of the counter service places, or go to our regular dining. I thought they would love room service. The 17 year old said "Mom! We have to go to Luminere's! Roberto and Sanjeet will be so upset if we don't show up!" I'm glad I chose Disney!

 

[mandymouse]

Hey Kathy

Thanks for a great trip report and fab photos. I can imagine that it was difficult to see the Disney Wonder in Nassau, I would've been gutted not to be getting on

We had a great 3 night Cruise and we got home from our vacation this morning, we're all sooooo tired. I will let you know when I post my trip report.

I managed to get your friend the pins she was after and she emailed me to let me know that she'd received them

Glad you had a great time with your family

Mandy

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hi Mandy,
I am glad to hear your home now. I knew it must be close to the right time for you to be getting back. Our family just left yesterday and now it is too quiet around here.
The biggest part of our conversation to the airport was next time we will do Disney!!!!

I did receive a letter from Carnival today thanking me for my letter and like Disney they forwarded my letter to the apropriate departments. They also gave us a $100 room credit for another cruise if taken within 18 months which was nice, but I can honestly say I wouldnt go again if they gave me a free cruise!!!
I will be looking forward to reading your report, with photos I hope!!

kathy

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Anxious to read your report. We sail on the Glory in Sept and the Wonder on Sept 30th...not quite a b2b, but as close as our budget will ever support.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Thank you for the detailed report.

Can you tell me about the gym on the Glory? Do they have treadmills. I will have begun training for the Disney Marathon and the idea of running in small itty bitty circles on deck is unappealing.


Also I am a bit disheartened by your dining experience. it reminds me of our honeymoon cruise and one of our key points in NOT sailing Carnival again. We are sailing this time as it is a family cruise with hubby's family, but it was not our first choice in cruise lines.

It does serve as a reminder to keep our expectations low....and to make us appreciate the Wonder when we do set sail on it at the end of September.

Thanks for taking the time to write up a report!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

My daughter did work out in the gym, I sat in the whirl pool and watched people work out Yes they had a couple of treadmills, actually it was a large area to work out.The showers were really nice, plenty of room.

The tiny jogging deck they have is pathetic. I would get dizzy running around that small a circle for a long run.

kathy

 

[Donnica]

I enjoyed your report. I have cruised many lines and many cruises, both Carnival and Disney. I love both lines but I admit I don't like the layout of the Glory or the other ships in that class of ship either. I make sure I book on the other class of ships and it's great. I loved my Disney cruise and lets face it, Disney tends to do things right. The difference is I can take two cruises on other lines to one on Disney so I just don't cruise them as much.