I'm back! Carnival vs. DCL, no contest.

[DisneyDarwin]

Well, I hope this doesn't come off as too much Carnival bashing, just DCL favortism. I don't even know if anyone cares to read this, but it does me good to write it, particularly to "my people" who will understand.

For "something different" we cruised the Carnival Conquest out of New Orleans over Thanksgiving. This was our third consecutive Turkey Day cruise, a tradition I plan on continuing. The prior two cruises were on the Magic (the dreaded sick cruise) and the Wonder (comped due to the former). The Conquest is Carnival's biggest ship and quite new. I think only the just-released Carnival Valor from the same class is newer. Anyway, it's 110,000 tons -- BIG! And, IMHO, the public areas are a tad nicer than the Magic. But the Carnival experience just doesn't stack up. The rooms are a touch smaller, but still quite nice. I missed my split bathroom. The dining room (one, no rotation) was very elegant and the waitstaff great as on all our DCL cruises, but I felt the chef's were trying to be pretentious on all their offerings --- fancier than it really was, or that we cared for. Also, more limited kid offerings. On the up side, pool food offerings were outstanding, particularly fish and chips and oysters! And, it's been quite a while since we cruised with a casino. It really is a nice extra offering, and we don't gamble that much. Entertainment, however, is the one area that drove me straight back to DCL. No Dreams. No Mickeys. No characters. Vegas butt-floss shows that weren't that good, although they carried on like they were. After one show, I told my wife "that way a very expensive show", because it convinced me that this summer's cruise would be on DCL instead of another cruise line. Also, DCL bingo was far more entertaining, plus the kids shows, and the other nightly entertainment offerings. Ask DD11 about the kid's programs, and she'll tell you DCL is way, way better. We paid (yes, extra) for her to go to a couple of kid's parties, that weren't as cool as hangin' at the lab. And how about a sports bar with no football (don't get me started). I made a no-DCL rule on the first day because we kept comparing the current cruise to our past DCL cruises and DCL was winning, thus degrading our experience. Don't get me wrong, we had much fun, but I just missed Disney the entire time. I'm a long time WDW vacation commando and we've cruised DCL 4 times previously. The Conquest was a great ship and sailing out of New Orleans and down the Mississippi is a bonus, but for us, there was no contest. So, we're back, cruising the Magic out of LA on June 4. And I'm jumping-up-and-down happy and excited to be back on DCL. Yea!

 

[allears]

Thanks for the post. We are about to take our 5th cruise, all of which have been with DCL. We're always crurious about the other lines. Our best friends were on our last cruise (which was there first). They are crusing on the Carnival Glory in February, so we're anxious to see what they think abou the differences also. In fact when we booked this cruise, we almost booked to go with them instead. But the thought of staning on the deck of the Glory and seeing the Magic was too much to handle. Thus we're back on the Magic (though just DW and myself this time)>

We think about trying other lines from time to time, but we love the DCL experience so much and we're more about being on the ship than a particular itinerary, that we don't feel compelled to explore. Especially where our kids are concerned. They are 17, 14 and 8 and have loved every minute of our previous cruises, and you don't pay extra for kid's programing.

 

[ivanova]

I'll be on Carnival's Elation out of Galveston at the end of Feb - I can't wait to compare it to the Wonder

 

[ChrizJen]

Thanks for your post! Our first (and only so far) was in 2003, and it was DCL. We know that we were probably spoiled to never even WANT to try others, but from time to time, we hear about these awesome deals with other lines, and how we could get "so much more for our money" going with the other cruise lines. Sometimes it's tempting.
But as you can see from our countdown, we've chosen DCL again. To me it seems like the few things that are better on the other lines wouldn't make up for the just plain fun atmosphere on DCL. Besides, for us, even cruising the other lines would still be a major investment, so the thought of paying all that money and then being disappointed is just not worth it. I'd rather pay a little more and KNOW that we're going to have a great vacation.
But thank you for giving a fair comparison. Obviously you had a nice relaxing vacation with the other line, and it was nice to hear the good points. But reports like yours confirm what I have thought all along. I don't know if I could keep myself from ruining my vacation by comparing every little thing to Disney.