Disney VS Carnival

[m2house]

We've been on 11 Disney cruises. We have done several cruises on Carnival also. We were on the Carnival Dream last summer. We had a great cruise. We have two boys 13 and 7. They both had a great time. The older one didn't go to his club. The younger one went to the club and loved it. They did sand art, edible sand art, spin art, etc. We were on the MV of the Disney Dream and I have to admit that the food was better on the Carnival Dream. Carnival Dream served lobster tail on formal night, Disney Dream offered a medallion of lobster on top of filet in Royal Palace.

 

[beccadoby]

Good choice of DCL Dream over CCL Fantasy.

Now on to your new delima,
CCL Dream vs DCL Dream

Now thats a lil closer comparison. I sailed CCL Dream May '10 and as I mentioned in my earlier post DCL Dream recently.

CCL Dream was nice and we had a blast. We did the eastern and had no issues with ship nor crew.
I am sure you could sail her 7 night Eastern for WAY less than the 5 night DCL Dream.

IMHO, both had awesome service.
Good luck on your choice.

I have pics of CCL Dream and DCL Dream on my facebook page. If you would like to look at them, inbox me and I will send u the link.

 

[Chief71]

Their is no way to compare these two cruise lines. This is like trying to compare a BMW to a punch buggy.... DCL is a much higher class of food, service & most of the time people. Carnival is more of your BBQ type and diner foods.

 

[disneydreamer82]

Their is no way to compare these two cruise lines. This is like trying to compare a BMW to a punch buggy.... DCL is a much higher class of food, service & most of the time people. Carnival is more of your BBQ type and diner foods.

That is not accurate at all......especially the people comment! On our last cruise with DCL a guy puked, yes PUKED in the adult pool and it had to be drained, cleaned, and refilled while he was taken away in a wheelchair because he was so wasted. On our last cruise with CCL, it was nothing like what people claim it is like, great environment, no "drunken people falling off the ship" or anything remotely close. In all honesty we felt the adults & children were much better behaved on CCL than we have seen on DCL, especially the teenagers. As for food that is subjective, everyone has their own opinion about it and IMO we found the food on the Liberty to be a step above what we have had in the past on DCL, with the exception of Palo, but CCL's steakhouse was PHENOMENAL! Service was wonderful on CCL as well......have you even cruised DCL to be making a comparison of the two???

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Their is no way to compare these two cruise lines. This is like trying to compare a BMW to a punch buggy.... DCL is a much higher class of food, service & most of the time people. Carnival is more of your BBQ type and diner foods.

Not true at all we have done both cruise lines many times and found Carnivals a notch above DCL's.

Rob

 

[PrincessYessenia]

This is purely opinion based, so no flaming please, but I hate Carnival. Sailed on the Fanstasy once with 10 members of my family out of PC and we hated the entire trip. Mind you this was in 2003, so things may have improved. Firstly, all of the pools were closed (not exaggerating) for the entire trip I never really knew what the problem was exactly. I was 14 at the time and there was nothing that I or my cousin (who was 15) could really do. Well, nothing that was entertaining to us,anyway. There was karaoke one night and that was decent. That is honestly the only good memory I have from that trip. People smoked EVERYWHERE! In the elevators, the hallways...it sucked because we don't smoke and we hate cigarette smoke. But to each his own.

During dinner they wanted to split us up into 4 different tables with other people. When we expressed that we made our reservations together and expected to sit together the maitre d got a huge attitude about it and didn't even try to accommodate us. We basically sat down almost an hour late at dinner because of the problem When it was 17 of us on the Wonder for 10-Nights in 2006 we all sat at one table every night with no problems. And the food on the Fantasy was mediocre at best. Again, my opinion at the age of 14

Now, I really hate to base my opinion about the entire CCL fleet on one really bad trip but first impressions last. We've never gone back ever since, and never plan to. But then again the trip I took could have been a "freak accident", if you will, and that may have never happened before.

But as I see here on The DIS all the time some people really love CCL and that's great for them. What one person hates another person may love. They are a successful cruise line so they're obviously doing something right. They're just not for everyone. Different strokes for different folks. Just my "two cents"

 

[disneyholic family]

It will be 5 people. kids and adults. One of them is 18 so i guess cruise lines consider that as an adult. Both go to to Bahamas--5 nights. Carnival: Freeport and Nassau. Disney: Nassau and Castaway Cay twice. Both look great. Last time we cruised was to Bahamas for 4 nights on Disney Wonder. We hope things have changed at DCL especially that we went on the Wonder last time and its on the west coast now! HAHA!

PS we are ''even'' on both cruise lines. Carnival gives us location advantage but Disney gives us a more luxury advantage....

the 18 year old might like carnival better, i don't know as we've never been on carnival....

DD was 18 on our first DCL cruise and 21 on the second...
both times DCL was disappointing for her as there was nothing at all organized for her age group....she was dying to meet the other 18-21 year olds....and there were some on the ship.....they were obvious as they were hanging out with their parents in the adult section...bored to tears...

it's been my one suggestion to DCL over the years...organize something for the young adults..

i don't know if carnival organizes anything for that age group or not...
but in our experience, disney doesn't do anything for them..

having said that, an 18 year old is permitted to go to the teen club if he/she wants....
when DD was 18, the teen club said she could participate...but she wasn't interested in hanging out with her 15 year old brother and the other 15 to 17 year olds in the club...

but if your 18 year old is happy hanging out with you, none of the above matters..

DD loved hanging out with us....howeever, given that she is a very social animal, she would have had a far more enjoyable time had there been organized activities for her age group...

 

[WAHMto5]

We were on the Carnival Dream this past October and loved it!!! Our stops included: Cozmel, Roatan, Belize, and Costa Maya. We had a cove balcony this time, that was incredible being so close to the water line! Not one complaint

 

[Fawn]

the 18 year old might like carnival better, i don't know as we've never been on carnival....

it's been my one suggestion to DCL over the years...organize something for the young adults..
QUOTE]

Not sure how long it's been since you cruised, but there is a college meet for that age group. There was only one cruise where there weren't many there, but every other one they've had a great group to hang with.

They need to go to the first one on the first night...I believe it's in Diversions around 10pm. After that, the schedule changes around.

On Carnival, we cruised them for different ports, and it was a good choice for us. But my girls were older...not sure I would have been comfortable with decor, shows, etc, when they were younger. As college age, they had a blast!

Having said that, when I offered Disney or Carnival this spring break, they chose Disney!

With the right attitude, odds are good you'll have a great time no matter who you cruise with...

 

[disneyholic family]

Not sure how long it's been since you cruised, but there is a college meet for that age group. There was only one cruise where there weren't many there, but every other one they've had a great group to hang with.

They need to go to the first one on the first night...I believe it's in Diversions around 10pm. After that, the schedule changes around.

On Carnival, we cruised them for different ports, and it was a good choice for us. But my girls were older...not sure I would have been comfortable with decor, shows, etc, when they were younger. As college age, they had a blast!

Having said that, when I offered Disney or Carnival this spring break, they chose Disney!

With the right attitude, odds are good you'll have a great time no matter who you cruise with...

yes, it was a long time ago...the last one we were on was 5 years ago..

on the two we were one, there was a meet on castaway cay that no one showed up to - except my daughter...
if they now have the meet earlier that's good...

on both cruises, i spoke with the cruise director and asked why that age was so terribly ignored by DCL.....on both cruises they said they knew it was a problem but they didn't know what to do...

i said, "why not make an introductory meeting for them on the first day just like you do for all the other age groups"
her response? oh we can't do that..
i'm glad to hear that they've changed how they do it..

but hanging out still isn't 'organized'...
i know my daughter would have enjoyed at least some organized events especially for them...

whatever....my kids are way past that age (she's getting married in 3 weeks, and DS married two years ago)..

the truth is, i'm getting more and more down on disney.....disappointed with their increasing prices and declining service...

 

[Deffenm]

We actually took the kids on their first cruise last summer on the Carnival Fantasy. Lets just say our kids are now addicted to crusing. We loved leaving out of Charleston. We stayed there 2 days prior to the cruise. We actually liked the size of the ship. The food was good, my kids loved the kids clubs, they loved the water slides (spent more time here then in the pool since the pool was salt water and water play area was not), we loved Half Moon Cay. My kids actually asked if we could stay at Half Moon Cay for a few days. We booked this cruise due to the ports of call unfortuantley due to weather we were not able to go to Grand Turk. My kids even loved doing tea time on the ship. They don't drink tea but the loved the desserts. We are now looking to book our next cruise. We think we are going to do the 3 day on the dream just to check out ship. We won't get off at Nassua as we have been there twice already. I actually have a girls trip booked on Carnival's Destiny in March for 4 nights. Give me a lounge chair, a fruity drink, and some food and I will be happy, even if the ship is old. I guess my point is once you make a decision on what to book just have the mind set that you are going to have fun no matter what. I was so upset that we didn't get to go to Grand Turk as that is the main reason I picked the Fantasy. So instead I watched the ship out run the storm and did a scavenger hunt around the ship with my kids. We had a blast. Oh and I have to say the people on the cruise ship were the nicest people we have met. We were swimming at Half Moon Cay and a bunch of adults walked by and said hi to my son. I asked how they knew my son and they said they had a nice conversation with him in the pool. They asked my son if he was a Yankee since he didn't have an accent and he said no I am a Buckeye. They said they never laughed so hard in their life. We truly had a great cruise with lots of memories and I can't for our next one. May you have a magical cruise.

 

[ldo]

A 7+ day Carnival cruise on a new ship is a different experience than a 3-4 day on an old ship. The 7+ days on Carnival on a newer ship are pretty much on par to RCCL cruises, IMHO. And, my 12 day Carnvial Splendor cruise was on par with a Celebrity cruise. I think the much lower price point of the 3-4 day Carnival cruise lines has a lot to do with it--and, for $299 a person, I really don't expect much.

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

Has anyone been on the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore recently? We are going on it in November to celebrate my dad's retirement. My sister and her dh live in Philly, so that's why we picked this particular ship. I would love to hear your comments. Thanks!

 

[disneydreamer82]

Has anyone been on the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore recently? We are going on it in November to celebrate my dad's retirement. My sister and her dh live in Philly, so that's why we picked this particular ship. I would love to hear your comments. Thanks!

Haven't been on the Pride yet but have it already booked for next October, I have read alot of great reviews on it, especially the crew, service and food, hope you guys have an awesome time, come back and let me know how it was!!

 

[bauer2410]

I would recommend sailing with Disney. The service you will receive is outstanding and you will love every minute of your cruise. It's clean, the people are friendly, the food is good and its just a great vacation overall. Disney knows how to treat their customers. Hope it helped.

 

[bauer2410]

One more thing..Disney is very accommodating. I went on a cruise with my entire family...16 of us and we didn't have one complaint. They treated us like royalty!

 

[Edd]

All the cruise lines are very accommodating. Disney is just a rookie in the cruise field so they have a lot to learn. They are a very good cruise line, but not the best.

 

[mickeyfan1]

All the cruise lines are very accommodating. Disney is just a rookie in the cruise field so they have a lot to learn. They are a very good cruise line, but not the best.

Best is subjective. For a lot of people, Disney is the best, for others it's Carnival. ALL cruise lines have good and bad, it is up to anyone wanting to cruise to become educated as to ships, itineraries, activities, etc. As far as experience, DCL has done a damn good job at serving their clients, they have come far from day one with the Wonder and Magic. They will continue to learn as they grow. As do ALL cruise lines. If they were not doing so many things correctly, they would not have the repeat passenger base, either.

Blanket statements like this Edd serve only to rile people up.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

All the cruise lines are very accommodating. Disney is just a rookie in the cruise field so they have a lot to learn. They are a very good cruise line, but not the best.

Just what do they need to learn?

Disney may be the youngest cruise line out there, but they have things like the rotational dining that is a HUGE hit with the cruisers,virtual port holes in the interior rooms,the only water slide on a ship and first class shows that the whole family can enjoy together. Seems to me that they are doing things the right way I can go ice skating and climb a rock wall here at home so they have no appeal to us in deciding which cruise line we go on. Disneys service is far above that of RCCL and some what above Carnivals. Disneys food once again exceeds RCCL's hands down.

Rob

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Best is subjective. For a lot of people, Disney is the best, for others it's Carnival. ALL cruise lines have good and bad, it is up to anyone wanting to cruise to become educated as to ships, itineraries, activities, etc. As far as experience, DCL has done a damn good job at serving their clients, they have come far from day one with the Wonder and Magic. They will continue to learn as they grow. As do ALL cruise lines. If they were not doing so many things correctly, they would not have the repeat passenger base, either.

Blanket statements like this Edd serve only to rile people up.

Ditto