My Carnival v. Disney experience

[Mom24Princesses]

First let me say we LOVE everything Disney and we loved everything about our two Disney cruises. (except the cost - but I totally get it!)

DH and I did an 8-night Carnival out of Fort Laud on the Freedom. For the money - it was a great cruise. Cabin was nice, food was very good (even buffet). Shows were fun - we knew they would not be Disney.

I like all the options CC has out of Florida as we are drivers and there are a lot of options. I perfer the Eastern/Southern Islands too which CC goes to more.

We went to St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, and Nassua.

If I had kids under 17 with me I would go Disney but we will do CC again. (We hope to do DCL again in 2015).

 

[klc1923]

I've been on several carnival cruises and had a good time - First Disney Fantasy coming up soon.

On Carnival I order coffee and pastry the night before to be delivered by room service each morning by 6:30am (we are early risers) and have coffee on the balcony - my favorite part of each day.

Does Disney delivery coffee that early or will I have to wait until a later time?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I've been on several carnival cruises and had a good time - First Disney Fantasy coming up soon.

On Carnival I order coffee and pastry the night before to be delivered by room service each morning by 6:30am (we are early risers) and have coffee on the balcony - my favorite part of each day.

Does Disney delivery coffee that early or will I have to wait until a later time?

Room service is available 24 hrs/day except the last morning. I'm not sure the exact time that they stop on that day. I think it's 1am.

During the rest of the cruise, DCL has a hang tag you can put outside your door the night before with various timeframes for am delivery. I find they tend to come on the early side of that timeframe. They usually call to say they're on their way when the hang tag is used.

 

[MisterOJ]

My wife and I did a 5-night Carnival cruise out of New Orleans last month, after having previously only cruised on DCL. We were very leery at first, because of what we'd read on here about was not flattering for Carnival.

But, this was a theme cruise that we really wanted to take, so we did it anyway.

We were very pleasantly surprised with the cruise though. It was on the Elation, which is one of CCL's oldest ships and reminded us (as far as size) of the Wonder and Magic.

Here's just a few things that really stood out to us.

DECOR: As has been noted on this thread, the decor of the ship was... hideous. No other way to describe. It was just over the top wild colors and ugly. Our stateroom was this hideous orange. But here's the thing.... after the first day or so, we stopped noticing. Once we got used to it, it was fine and really, it didn't affect our vacation at all.

FOOD: One thing that really stood out was the food. I thought it was head-and-shoulders better than anything on Disney. The MDLs were very comparable, but the buffets and quick-service food blew Disney's away big time. We only had dinner in the MDRs twice because all the other food was so good and convenient.

We loved the nightly sushi bar that set up outside the casino. And the Mongolian wok and hamburger bar that was on the pool deck at lunchtime. The themed lunch buffets were awesome too. The buffet food was really better than anything I've ever had at Topsiders or BBB.

The availability of the food was much better too. They always had a midnight buffet that went from like 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. with fried chicken, pulled pork sandwiches and breakfast foods like bacon and scrambled eggs and has browns. They also had a deli for sandwiches that was open till about 2 a.m. or so. And the pizza station was open 24 hours.

SERVICE: We thought the service was fine. Nothing outstanding, but we didn't have any complaints either. Well, one, but that was only because the servers at shows and whatnot came around a lot hawking beers and mixed drinks. It was obvious they were really trying to sell the alcohol to turn a profit. It was a little annoying, but not overly so.

One thing we liked was that in the two nights we went to the MDR, we had anytime seating. So we just went when we felt like it and they seated us. So, we were just assigned a random server. We liked this because we didn't feel like he was schmoozing us in order to get a big tip at the end of the cruise. That has always happened to us on DCL. I like good service, but I don't want to feel like our server to go over the top. On Carnival, our server took our order and got our food out quickly and efficiently. It was perfect. I didn't feel obligated to chit-chat with him because he was being overly friendly.

I also liked having the option of going to the casino. I'm not a huge gambler, but I enjoy it occasionally. (And by occasionally, before last month the last time I had stepped in a casino was probably 5-plus years ago.) But I did play poker one night and blackjack one afternoon. Lost a little money, but not much and I had fun.

I can't really speak about the entertainment, since it was a theme cruise and not the kind of entertainment you normally get on Carnival. And we did this cruise without kids, so I can't say anything about the kids club either.

But everything else was either just fine or great. We're booked on another DCL trip in October on the Fantasy. And we're really looking forward to that trip. But, after that, I think we'll be looking into a different line for our next cruise vacation after that. Maybe another on Carnival, or perhaps we'll try RCCL or NCL.

ETA: I just wanted to add something about the beach towels. I liked the big, dark blue towels you can "check out" on Carnival. You could get as many as you liked, you just had to give them your room number, that way if you didn't return them in, they would charge you for them. We took them off the ship when we went to the beach in Cozumel and they were great. We thought they were much better than the smaller white towels DCL lets you take off the ship.

 

[Tower]

We were returning a Budget car, and the wait for the shuttle was unmanageable. We waited an hour for the first shuttle to come, with the second coming in right behind. The line was so long, we didn't get on either. We opted to split a taxi with another party costing us $15.

We rented from budget, but I dropped DW and kids off at the port first with the luggage. That way it would be easy for me to hop on the shuttle with only a carry-on.

I have to say the buffet was probably the worst I have ever experienced on a cruise ship. We did not eat there for lunch again. We did try it for breakfast the next morning, and it was just as bad as lunch, except for the waffles, which had a bit of vanilla flavor to them and were quite good. From there on out, we went to the dining room for breakfast, which was better.

Matches my view exactly. I also noticed the buffets opened later than posted leaving people waiting in line longer than Disney would have.

Our stateroom was fine. Not as well decorated as Disney's, but functional and clean. Our cabin steward did a good job. We received some unusual towel creations; a flower, a bunny rabbit on Easter.

Agreed.

The main dining room was pretty good for dinner. I would say it was similar to what I have experienced on Disney. Our servers did a good job.

Good to read that some servers are decent on Carnival.

We went to a couple shows. They were okay, but not up to the level of what Disney presents in both talent, costumes and set. I don't think Disney can be matched in that department.

Yep!

Probably the biggest disappointment was the kids program. I can only speak to what they call Circle C, which is I believe 12 - 14. It was very lacking, in my opinion. My son has always loved the clubs on Disney, but only went to Circle C about 1 hour out of the whole cruise. It had very limited hours, and it was usually some activity held outside of the club area. For example, a dance in one of the discos, an ice cream party on the pool deck or pizza party at the buffet. Not much in the way of organized activities. If you don't have a real social kid, it's not very good. I had hoped to have some relaxation time kid-free, but it didn't happen on this cruise.

Our experience exactly!

Probably one of the biggest annoyances was the sign in and out for towels. They had one girl on the pool deck in charge of this, and the line could get up to 20 people deep at times. She was trying to write down people's info on her clipboard, and it just seemed ridiculous. I hope Disney never goes to this system.

Because of this, people were taking towels signed out by others to keep as souvenirs, having the charge put on someone else's bill.

We chose self-debarkation, as we normally do with Disney. No real problems here, except we were a bit surprised when we got outside the terminal. They directed us to what seemed like an open parking lot where different car rental, hotel and airport shuttles would pull in. No place to form proper lines, and it just seemed like an every-man-for-himself type situation as far as trying to get on a shuttle.

Our experience exactly! It took forever to be picked up again! Very confusing and people were actually prying themselves into line in front of kids to get ahead of them and then carry their own kids aboard!

Overall, it was a nice cruise. The price was obviously less than what I would have paid for Disney, but there's a reason the price is less. It's just not the same experience. And I guess the extra money you pay for Disney is for that extra experience. It's not really an apples to apples comparison between the two.

Agreed, and the reason we'll return to Disney again and again.

 

[nsiordia]

Good review.

That's my impression of CCL. Not as many bells-and-whistles as DCL. But overall, a decent experience. You get what you pay for.

Agreed. Well my carnival cruises have been free so I can't complain.

The first Carnival we took last year (April 2011), was just my husband and I we had a great time!

But then we went on the Disney Wonder in January of this year with the kids and we were definitely wowed! We loved it.

We just went on another Carnival Cruise at the end of March with the kids this time and while we had a good time, it definitely did not compare to Disney. The Kids club was not great either. They were open limited hours and most the time was spent watching movies. They only went for a few hours the whole cruise.

There are things that we did enjoy that Disney does not have such as the Casino (big plus).

 

[mikamomof3]

We just went on 7 night NCL over Christmas week out of NOLA. We had a great time! Like the open seating dining, but pool towels had to be signed out with them too! It was wonderful with 4 ports of call!

We are going on the Fantasy June 2nd and are very excited!!! I appreciate all of the comparisons as I did cringe a little at the BIG price difference. My kids are 11, 7 and 7 - one is turning 8 on the cruise. So far I have been a little annoyed....I have had difficulty with the website booking activites. We were unable to get a cabana for the castaway cay day and I was unable to book my 7 yr old daughter into bibbidi bobbidi boutique for pirate night. I did get my 7 yr old son a time (it is his birthday so thank goodness for that)!

We are staying at Disney right before the cruise (not going into parks though as we just did that the week of Thanksgiving) and I thought I would go to Downtown Disney to get them pirate gear there. How many kids on your Fantasy cruise got all dressed up? Was it a majority? Will I be able to possibly book my other child into BBB once we get on board for Pirate night? Do they sell pirate gear similar to what they would get in BBB in the gift shop on board? Sorry, this is my OCD personality

I was diagnosed with cancer 4/22 last year (doing great and have finished all treatment) so we have been vacationing like maniacs.....it will be interesting to see which vacation my kids end up preferring from the past year when this is done!!! Any other tips from any Fantasy cruisers would be appreciated - very hard to find info still!!!

 

[mikamomof3]

I have taken 3 DCL cruises and will be cruising on Carnival in May. I am taking my Senior Girl Scout troop on the cruise for a final "hurrah". My family and I just got off the Fantasy on 4/14, so I know cruising with Carnival will be different. I am going to keep an open mind but appreciate any comments or helpful hints about cruising with Carnival. I plan to bring my own beach towels so we don't have to keep track of theirs!

Thanks for the info!

Didn't reply correctly but you can see my questions in previous post - thanks!!!

 

[Quagmire]

My family and I will NEVER go on a Carnival cruise again. We were totally bored. I've never been so nickeled and dimed to death on a vacation. The ciagarette smoke was disgusting. We could never get away from it and we both have asmatha. As my wife and I call carnival, it's the Wal-mart of cruise lines. You get what you pay for. We leave on the Disney Fantasy in 2 months.

 

[Had2disneycruz]

Didn't reply correctly but you can see my questions in previous post - thanks!!!

Congratulations on finishing your treatment and for doing so well!

We sailed with another family so we had a party of 12. Yes, all of us dressed up. All four adults had costumes from Halloween or other parties. Our youngest girls ages 7, 7, 10 and 12 had costumes that were bought for the occasion or were from Halloween. Our teenagers wore pirate t-shirts from Disney World or were bought while on the ship.

They did have little girl pirate outfits in the shop on the Fantasy. I am not sure if they were the same as what they had in the BB boutique. I never made it in there! (I brought my daughter's princess costumes with us so we wouldn't be tempted to spend money at BBB...quite pricey!) I don't know about booking online, except for excursions. There may be cancellations at BBB so you could ask if they have a waiting list.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise!!!

 

[Had2disneycruz]

My family and I will NEVER go on a Carnival cruise again. We were totally bored. I've never been so nickeled and dimed to death on a vacation. The ciagarette smoke was disgusting. We could never get away from it and we both have asmatha. As my wife and I call carnival, it's the Wal-mart of cruise lines. You get what you pay for. We leave on the Disney Fantasy in 2 months.

Yikes! Not what I want to hear! I am not a gambler so I hope I can stay away from the cigarette smoke! I thought folks could only smoke in the casinos. We did not pay much for this cruise...I guess that's what scares me!

 

[MisterOJ]

Yikes! Not what I want to hear! I am not a gambler so I hope I can stay away from the cigarette smoke! I thought folks could only smoke in the casinos. We did not pay much for this cruise...I guess that's what scares me!

When I was on Carnival last month there was smoking in the Casino and out in the open air on deck and that was it.

I didn't find it to be too much of a problem. I put up with it the small amount of time I was in the casino. Otherwise, there was one other time someone was smoking near me out on the pool deck, but it wasn't bad since there was a nice breeze.

 

[ilovetexas]

Yikes! Not what I want to hear! I am not a gambler so I hope I can stay away from the cigarette smoke! I thought folks could only smoke in the casinos. We did not pay much for this cruise...I guess that's what scares me!

Consider the source; you are on a DCL board. If you would like to find out about Carnival....go to Cruise Critic.

The only time I have an issue with smoke on Carnival cruises is when the person on the balcony next to mine is smoking. And that happens on DCL, too.

 

[TXDCLfan]

Yikes! Not what I want to hear! I am not a gambler so I hope I can stay away from the cigarette smoke! I thought folks could only smoke in the casinos. We did not pay much for this cruise...I guess that's what scares me!

We have done 6 Carnival cruises and have never been bored always plenty to do just like on Disney. Have no idea what the other person is talking about nickel and diming they have a steak house that is an up charge like Palo you do have to pay for cokes or you can buy the drink card.

 

[MisterOJ]

We have done 6 Carnival cruises and have never been bored always plenty to do just like on Disney. Have no idea what the other person is talking about nickel and diming they have a steak house that is an up charge like Palo you do have to pay for cokes or you can buy the drink card.

They do try and sell beer and other alcoholic drinks a lot more often on Carnival than on DCL. That was one of my main complaints about them, but I'll admit it is minor in the grand scheme of things.

 

[LeslieG]

My family and I will NEVER go on a Carnival cruise again. We were totally bored. I've never been so nickeled and dimed to death on a vacation. The ciagarette smoke was disgusting. We could never get away from it and we both have asmatha. As my wife and I call carnival, it's the Wal-mart of cruise lines. You get what you pay for. We leave on the Disney Fantasy in 2 months.

The only place I noticed smoke was in the casino.