Huge DCL fan and cruiser returning from first Carnival cruise Trip Report

[pensfan8771]

Theater Shows

This topic always seems to appear in comparisons for DCL to other lines. The theater onboard the Liberty was the Venetian Palace and spanned 3 decks and had alot of seating if you ask me! Shows included the Welcome Aboard show with Butch that included the first comedian, Hal Spear, the ships orchestra, and the Liberty Dancers. What was pretty cool was how Butch brought on 3 different guys in the beginning with all different marriage backgrounds. One was married for 55 years, another just got married 2 months ago, and the other just got engaged. He showed them a couple dance moves and the 3 of them did a dancing competition to see who was crowned "Mr Carnival Liberty". Very entertaining and got everyone laughing right from the get-go. Next show on sunday was the comedy and juggling of Wally and Will or "The village Idiots". Beginning was ok but I really didnt care too much for that show. Monday was just a traditional show with the Liberty Orchestra and the Dancers which I did not attend because it seemed too basic. Tuesday was a very interesting performance by Christopher Alan Graves with the Liberty Dancers and Liberty Big Band in which he did a full tribute to big band music with pieces by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis. Uplifting and fun but also included a part where he sang "Candy Man" and brought all the kids up to dance. Pretty cool show. Wednesday did not have any main show in the theater but had the biggest event of the entire cruise that night, which I will talk about later in this post!!. Friday was one of the best shows I have ever seen because it was a very creative idea that I am suprised Disney has not done yet haha. Throughout the cruise, passangers got the chance to audition in the karaoke lounge for different parts as famous singers to perform in this show called Carnival Legends. It included Frank Sinatra, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Elvis, Garth Brooks, Brittney Spears, Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, James Brown, and Sonny and Cher. It was kind of like a tribute to some of the greatest musicians of all time but with a twist with passangers being the stars and singing a song for the person they won the part of instead of crew members. Each person got loud ovations and the theater erupted everytime after they sang and the atmosphere was great!! Great end to the cruise. For broadway style shows I will give the win to DCL because I have always loved Disney Dreams no matter how many times I've seen it and same goes for Golden Mickeys (even thought its gone now). You can never beat that slight "faith, trust, and pixie dust" in their shows. If Disney had a show like the "Carnival Legends" show, it would be very popular for sure

 

[pensfan8771]

Entertainment

This is a very very tough topic to try to hit everything on as we all know. Going to talk about things like fun activities around the ship, the promenade area, casino.

Everyday it seemed like there was at least 1 or 2 bingo sessions that always had big turn outs. Sometimes they were in the theater or up top by the pool with everything shown on the big screen to accomodate all the participants!! Alot of tournaments and competitions that were going on throughout the ship that always had big turnouts like Baggo/Cornhole/Bean Bag toss (everyone has different names for it haha), ping pong, volleyball, knockout on the basketball court, air hockey, different types of trivia and the winner would recieve a gold plastic trophy of the ship...pretty cool. They even had LASER TAG onboard, which was extremely fun. It was played in a blow up arena that was in the Venetian Palace. You recieved your own nickname and played for 5 minutes (seemed longer!). So there was always something going on. There were also Texas Hold em, Blackjack, poker, and slots tournaments in the casino that were always popular.

Promenade area spanned all of deck 5 and included all of the shops (I counted 4), Gloves Sports Bar, the Czar's Palace casino, a basic bar with a stage where someone was always playing music, future cruises desk, jardin cafe, sushi bar, hot and cool dance club, paparazzi wine bar, piano man lounge, victoria lounge comedy club, arcade, "the stage" karaoke club, and the without batteries teen area. Alot of couches and seating along the Promenade (maybe more than actually needed!) and decorated very vibrant like in Vegas with color changing lights that spanned the entire stretch and the casino sounds in the background in addition to the music. This stretch was the place to be from 10pm til late at night and the atmosphere along there was always upbeat!!! The casino actually didnt cause any harm at all and the area wasnt crazy at all. Presence of it actually added alot of nightlife and most of the slots and tables were filled everyday at night. Smoking onboard was only permitted in the casino obviously, piano man, sports bar, and hot and cool club. I actually didnt notice many people at all smoking along the promenade so it really wasnt a factor at all!

 

[HappyGrumpy]

So I booked some amazing air tonight on SW to MCO. I am so back and forth on taking the RCC ship out of port canaveral! I mean I will feel like such turn coat leaving PC on another boat! Uhg! But I am on the Dream in Feb and alls I have ever done is DCL, decisions decisions!

 

[WilliamK99]

Wednesday did not have any main show in the theater but had the biggest event of the entire cruise that night, which I will talk about later in this post!!.

I am assuming you are talking about the Carnival color competition with the "Bar Hopping" Mega fun

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Entertainment
The casino actually didnt cause any harm at all and the area wasnt crazy at all. Presence of it actually added alot of nightlife and most of the slots and tables were filled everyday at night. Smoking onboard was only permitted in the casino obviously, piano man, sports bar, and hot and cool club. I actually didnt notice many people at all smoking along the promenade so it really wasnt a factor at all!

Thank you for commenting on those! Sounds just fine...