Carnival Cruise:
Ship The Carnival Spirit out of San Diego
Ports The Mexican Riviera (Acapulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo, Manzanillo)
Dates January 1, to January 9, 2008
Passengers Mom, Daughter 19, Son 14, Son 10
Embarkation: Went smoothly. We arrived and showed our ids and tickets. We then walked with our suitcases to a drop off location then into the building and got in line. It was a large warehouse looking building. The line moved pretty quickly and we got up to a window and were issued our sail and sign cards (same as key to the world cards). Then we went thru security. Anyone over 18 also has their photo taken at security. We then walked up and couple of staircases and went across the gang plank onto the ship. When we first walked in we noted that the lobby looked similar to the Magic with two staircases coming down, and with glass elevators. But we also noticed the huge bar and the bottom of the staircases and that to the right upon walking in was a large casino (you could smell some smoke residue). Not bad though definitely different from Disney!
Food - There is a lot of food available on this ship. Room Service is free, but has a limited menu. You can get pizza, breadsticks, pasta and salad 24 hours on the lido deck as well as ice cream. There is a buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Picture a large food court with various buffet lines all around you. There is a themed buffet each day (Mexican, Greek, etc), There is a salad bar, a dessert area Food everywhere. Now the buffet food is just that nothing to get majorly excited about, but very edible and plentiful. You are assigned a table in the dining room that you have every night should you choose to go. There is an early 5:45 or late 8:15 dining choice. Our server was very nice and attentive. Equal to a Disney server we had in the past. If he had done any magic tricks, etc.. he would have been equal to all of our Disney servers. They do have a kids menu with mac an d cheese, pizza, etc. We had two formal nights on our cruise. There is also a pay upgraded dinner club which I did not utilize. It featured a live band for dancing which was a nice touch.
Rooms We booked a inside guarantee (lowest possible). We were upgraded to a category 5A which is a room with French doors that have a lifeboat obstructing the view. We were thrilled to have any natural sunlight. When sitting on the bed by the doors you could look down into the ocean. The doors even opened for fresh air. There is a plexiglass blocker when you open them so kids could not fall out. We noticed that the French doors were the same doors used for balcony rooms so our room looked like a balcony room with doors till you looked out and saw the lifeboat. We were happy with this room and appreciated the upgrade since we had only paid for an inside guar room (the equivalent on Disney with a Cat 12 guar). Our room steward was great equal to Disney. He left towel animals, surprise decorated smiley face cookes and mints in our room at turn down. I did leave a some fives for him in the room at times to keep up the excellent service. He even remembered our names, etc.. equal to any Disney room steward we have had.
Entertainment Here is where we saw a big difference from Disney! During the day the entertainment was similar (name that tune, trivia, towel folding, etc ). The games were aimed towards adults with the trivia questions and songs though we did have fun playing as a family, There was one family name that tune that my 10 year old really enjoyed. We won first place and got a cute carnival ship trophy. There is live music by the pools and in the clubs. At niight after dinner the shows were adult oriented with the dancers wearing Vegas style costumes and had some suggestive songs and moves. Not too over the top. I did see children in the audience, but they were bored. My 10 year old hated the first show. Another night there was a better show with a few songs he recognized and we liked that one fine (no where near a Disney level production, but entertaining). There was also a magician and a comedienne. The last night show as a Legends show in which passengers were recruited to be Madonna, Britney, Elvis, etc. We all enjoyed that show. It seems that we started to warm up a lot more to Carnival as the days went by. It was hard because we went in a staunch Disney cruise addicts! Overall we were just as busy, though the evening entertainment for families is much better on Disney.
Shore Excursions They had many choices. Once you get off the ship they are all the same so it doesnt matter what ship you came on. We released baby turtles into the ocean, went on a boat ride thru an area that looked like the everglades, saw a coffee plant, a volcano, went to a beach day and had fancy pineapple drinks .
Kids Clubs Here is another big difference. The kids club area on Carnival is very small vs Disney. There is also no free play. The kids have to do the planned activity. Often the club is closed for lunch and dinner (unless the parents are in port then they will feed them). If you are on the ship you are asked to pick them up for meals. Also the kids are often (daily) sent on unsupervised scavenger hunts all over the ship. If you leave your child (9 to 11) on the ship while you go into a port they will be running around unsupervised on scavenger hunts while you are gone! I personally would not do this. I did see a lot of kids on the hunts though and they did seem to be having fun. My 10 yr old son only did a few activities with the club, but he is not really that much into the clubs on Disney either. He did want to spend extra money in the arcade though. My 14 yr old never even went to his club. My 19 year old daughter tried to meet people at a singles event, but not many showed up. We spent a lot of family time together as we had planned anyway. If you have kids I will say that some kids did seem to be having fun at the clubs. You can also borrow board games and play them in your room or anywhere on the ship. There was also the standard ping pong and basket ball court. They also had a miniature golf course, but it is too windy to play when sailing and at ports we were off the ship so we did not get to utilized the golf. There is no movie theater on board. We did order a pay per view movie one evening for our entertainment.
Disembarkation On the last morning you can go to the buffet or a sit down breakfast whenever you want. Not getting up at the crack of dawn if you are early dining as Disney does. I believe that because Carnival has the large buffet area and huge dining room they can offer this. For the staff it is just the regular breakfast service the norm from each day. We were given a number with our luggage tags the last night and in the morning we waited till they called our number, then walked off to a big warehouse area, found our bags and were on our way. As we waited for our number to be called we played a game in the game room and relaxed by a port hole. We actually enjoyed this time. We did not feel rushed to be removed from the ship.
Here are a few pros/cons:
Better on Carnival More rooms on Carnival are ocean view and balconies.
The day at a glance tear off sheet from the Capers. You can tear off a little sheet with a list of days activities summarized.
More formal photo set up for photo ops, also a lot more opportunities for posed casual family portraits at diff times.
Red and Blue team. My kids loved this. The ship was divided into the red and blue teams. You get your team assignment at dinner. Each team accumulates points thru participation and wins at various events. At the end they announce the winner.
More food options with the buffets, etc
Casino would be a pro to many.
You can look up your acct balance on the TV in your room
Mini golf
Extra shelves in bathroom for items
Red/Blue Team
Worse on Carnival:
No movie theatre
No Magic/Pixie dust feeling on board
Soda in not free
Nightly entertainment very adult oriented
Kids sent around unsupervised a lot from kids clubs on scavenger hunts
My kids felt like they were on a Ship for adults in which they were an afterthought. Though I am sure if they had never been on DCL before they probably would have had a different perception.
Final thoughts though it did take us a couple of days to warm up to Carnival, we eventually had a great time. For the lower price we would definitely consider another Carnival Cruise it is possible to have a good family vacation. You just cant compare it to Disney and expect the same cruising experience. All of my kids said that they would def go on Carnival again, but if they had a choice they would pick Disney first. As an adult I could like them equally, but did feel that Disney just has that extra magic/pixie dust feeling that you cant get anywhere else.
Ship The Carnival Spirit out of San Diego
Ports The Mexican Riviera (Acapulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo, Manzanillo)
Dates January 1, to January 9, 2008
Passengers Mom, Daughter 19, Son 14, Son 10
Embarkation: Went smoothly. We arrived and showed our ids and tickets. We then walked with our suitcases to a drop off location then into the building and got in line. It was a large warehouse looking building. The line moved pretty quickly and we got up to a window and were issued our sail and sign cards (same as key to the world cards). Then we went thru security. Anyone over 18 also has their photo taken at security. We then walked up and couple of staircases and went across the gang plank onto the ship. When we first walked in we noted that the lobby looked similar to the Magic with two staircases coming down, and with glass elevators. But we also noticed the huge bar and the bottom of the staircases and that to the right upon walking in was a large casino (you could smell some smoke residue). Not bad though definitely different from Disney!
Food - There is a lot of food available on this ship. Room Service is free, but has a limited menu. You can get pizza, breadsticks, pasta and salad 24 hours on the lido deck as well as ice cream. There is a buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Picture a large food court with various buffet lines all around you. There is a themed buffet each day (Mexican, Greek, etc), There is a salad bar, a dessert area Food everywhere. Now the buffet food is just that nothing to get majorly excited about, but very edible and plentiful. You are assigned a table in the dining room that you have every night should you choose to go. There is an early 5:45 or late 8:15 dining choice. Our server was very nice and attentive. Equal to a Disney server we had in the past. If he had done any magic tricks, etc.. he would have been equal to all of our Disney servers. They do have a kids menu with mac an d cheese, pizza, etc. We had two formal nights on our cruise. There is also a pay upgraded dinner club which I did not utilize. It featured a live band for dancing which was a nice touch.
Rooms We booked a inside guarantee (lowest possible). We were upgraded to a category 5A which is a room with French doors that have a lifeboat obstructing the view. We were thrilled to have any natural sunlight. When sitting on the bed by the doors you could look down into the ocean. The doors even opened for fresh air. There is a plexiglass blocker when you open them so kids could not fall out. We noticed that the French doors were the same doors used for balcony rooms so our room looked like a balcony room with doors till you looked out and saw the lifeboat. We were happy with this room and appreciated the upgrade since we had only paid for an inside guar room (the equivalent on Disney with a Cat 12 guar). Our room steward was great equal to Disney. He left towel animals, surprise decorated smiley face cookes and mints in our room at turn down. I did leave a some fives for him in the room at times to keep up the excellent service. He even remembered our names, etc.. equal to any Disney room steward we have had.
Entertainment Here is where we saw a big difference from Disney! During the day the entertainment was similar (name that tune, trivia, towel folding, etc ). The games were aimed towards adults with the trivia questions and songs though we did have fun playing as a family, There was one family name that tune that my 10 year old really enjoyed. We won first place and got a cute carnival ship trophy. There is live music by the pools and in the clubs. At niight after dinner the shows were adult oriented with the dancers wearing Vegas style costumes and had some suggestive songs and moves. Not too over the top. I did see children in the audience, but they were bored. My 10 year old hated the first show. Another night there was a better show with a few songs he recognized and we liked that one fine (no where near a Disney level production, but entertaining). There was also a magician and a comedienne. The last night show as a Legends show in which passengers were recruited to be Madonna, Britney, Elvis, etc. We all enjoyed that show. It seems that we started to warm up a lot more to Carnival as the days went by. It was hard because we went in a staunch Disney cruise addicts! Overall we were just as busy, though the evening entertainment for families is much better on Disney.
Shore Excursions They had many choices. Once you get off the ship they are all the same so it doesnt matter what ship you came on. We released baby turtles into the ocean, went on a boat ride thru an area that looked like the everglades, saw a coffee plant, a volcano, went to a beach day and had fancy pineapple drinks .
Kids Clubs Here is another big difference. The kids club area on Carnival is very small vs Disney. There is also no free play. The kids have to do the planned activity. Often the club is closed for lunch and dinner (unless the parents are in port then they will feed them). If you are on the ship you are asked to pick them up for meals. Also the kids are often (daily) sent on unsupervised scavenger hunts all over the ship. If you leave your child (9 to 11) on the ship while you go into a port they will be running around unsupervised on scavenger hunts while you are gone! I personally would not do this. I did see a lot of kids on the hunts though and they did seem to be having fun. My 10 yr old son only did a few activities with the club, but he is not really that much into the clubs on Disney either. He did want to spend extra money in the arcade though. My 14 yr old never even went to his club. My 19 year old daughter tried to meet people at a singles event, but not many showed up. We spent a lot of family time together as we had planned anyway. If you have kids I will say that some kids did seem to be having fun at the clubs. You can also borrow board games and play them in your room or anywhere on the ship. There was also the standard ping pong and basket ball court. They also had a miniature golf course, but it is too windy to play when sailing and at ports we were off the ship so we did not get to utilized the golf. There is no movie theater on board. We did order a pay per view movie one evening for our entertainment.
Disembarkation On the last morning you can go to the buffet or a sit down breakfast whenever you want. Not getting up at the crack of dawn if you are early dining as Disney does. I believe that because Carnival has the large buffet area and huge dining room they can offer this. For the staff it is just the regular breakfast service the norm from each day. We were given a number with our luggage tags the last night and in the morning we waited till they called our number, then walked off to a big warehouse area, found our bags and were on our way. As we waited for our number to be called we played a game in the game room and relaxed by a port hole. We actually enjoyed this time. We did not feel rushed to be removed from the ship.
Here are a few pros/cons:
Better on Carnival More rooms on Carnival are ocean view and balconies.
The day at a glance tear off sheet from the Capers. You can tear off a little sheet with a list of days activities summarized.
More formal photo set up for photo ops, also a lot more opportunities for posed casual family portraits at diff times.
Red and Blue team. My kids loved this. The ship was divided into the red and blue teams. You get your team assignment at dinner. Each team accumulates points thru participation and wins at various events. At the end they announce the winner.
More food options with the buffets, etc
Casino would be a pro to many.
You can look up your acct balance on the TV in your room
Mini golf
Extra shelves in bathroom for items
Red/Blue Team
Worse on Carnival:
No movie theatre
No Magic/Pixie dust feeling on board
Soda in not free
Nightly entertainment very adult oriented
Kids sent around unsupervised a lot from kids clubs on scavenger hunts
My kids felt like they were on a Ship for adults in which they were an afterthought. Though I am sure if they had never been on DCL before they probably would have had a different perception.
Final thoughts though it did take us a couple of days to warm up to Carnival, we eventually had a great time. For the lower price we would definitely consider another Carnival Cruise it is possible to have a good family vacation. You just cant compare it to Disney and expect the same cruising experience. All of my kids said that they would def go on Carnival again, but if they had a choice they would pick Disney first. As an adult I could like them equally, but did feel that Disney just has that extra magic/pixie dust feeling that you cant get anywhere else.
