buckeyemom16
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2012
- Messages
- 181
This is going to be long but here are my thoughts on the Fantasy compared to CCL and the value for what we paid. By no means do I think that my one experience on DCL makes me any kind of expert about cruising with them but wanted to compare what I know. I am a very detail-oriented person and like to feel that my dollar is going as far as it can for the best experience it can. I have done four CCL cruises and one NCL. Our last cruise on CCL was on the Carnival Freedom last August and was a truly a fantastic experience. This will mostly be a comparison between that cruise and the June 16 Fantasy Eastern cruise. We did Anytime Dining on the Freedom and had an unbelievably great team of servers we were lucky enough to be seated with every night. I am admittedly a fan of CCL but open to new experiences and trying out different lines. I was very, very excited to land an unbelievable VGT about 95 days out rate that disappeared the moment after I booked and it never re-appeared. We had been wanting to try DCL but cost was always a big factor as I do not, and will not ever plan vacations two years in advance. Just not my style. I usually book our vacations late winter/early spring of the same year. Cruising with me was DH, DD8 and DS1.
Embarkation: The experiences are very different. On CCL you do stand in a pretty long line to get through security and to check in as there are no assigned arrival times. I like the assigned arrival times as it seems that everyone is not trying to get on the ship at once. I did not like the mass crowds just hanging around everywhere. It seemed to be a little chaotic. DH was taking the rental car back so the kids and I went straight through security, got our KTTW cards and were told to head over to get DD's Mickey band. Did all of that in about 15 minutes. Then we got in line for Minnie in front of the ship model and hoped DH would show in time for the picture because the line was very long. He ended up getting held up at the line for security as it was longer than when we had just come through. No biggie. They called our number (10) when he got into the terminal, he went and got his photo for the KTTW card and we headed over to board. We stood in line for photos for a few minutes then we were off. I'll admit I got all teary when they announced our name. Embarkation goes to DCL.
Ship: The ship is breathtaking. I loved the feel of it the moment we stepped in. Felt very classic and upscale to me. I loved all the details. One thing Disney does best is details. I was very taken by the chandelier in the atrium along with the carpet (weird I know). The feather detail carrying out through the whole room is beautiful. CCL tends to be a bit flashier but it doesn't bother me. On another note, we went high up on the hill in St. Thomas and seeing the Fantasy docked next to the RCCL ship, it just did not compare. She truly is a magnificent ship, again very classic looking. Ship look and feel goes to DCL.
Food: I'll talk about service in a moment but I wasn't overly impressed with the food on DCL. Had some non-memorable dishes other than the lobster on the Captain's Gala night (semi-formal). It was the largest and best tasting lobster I have ever had at sea. Some of the food was downright bland or horrible tasting. I don't ever recall something tasting so horrible that I spit it into my napkin on CCL but I did on DCL a couple times. One was a salad dressing, I want to say cranberry or something like that? I ate a lot of seafood at dinner because the beef/other meat dishes just didn't sound that great. There were a couple nights I really just picked the thing that was the best of the worst choices I have seen. CCL has a "favorites" type offering that are the same four dishes each night that you can rely on if nothing on the regular menus suits you. One of the reasons I like to cruise is so that I can try new foods but most of the time the dishes just didn't sound that good or were some version of something I've had at Applebee's or Ruby Tuesday's. The kids menu was fine and DD and DS got their bellies full enough each night. We never managed to make it to lunch at Cabanas for some reason but did Royal Court one day, Enchanted Garden another and Flo's the other days or we were in port. I thought lunch at EG on embarkation day was good but the second time there wasn't really much to choose from so DD and I ordered from the kids menu. Breakfast was at Cabanas or room service and I thought Cabanas was good. Loved the Mickey waffles and the scrambled eggs. In the end though food goes to CCL for better offerings, larger portion sizes, and all around better tasting food.
Specialty Dining: We managed to get a Palo brunch once on board. Seemed pretty wide open when we showed up there at about 1:05pm, had my pick of times and any sea days. I was nervous because the Navigator said they would begin taking bookings at 1. Thought the brunch was wonderful. The $20pp price can't be beat for the quality of food. We had a wonderful waiter who liked to chat but we enjoyed it because he told us interesting stories about his time in Italy and stories about the different details in the dining room. There has been enough written about the Palo Brunch experience so I won't get into that, but it was very good.
On CCL we did the Chef's Table. It is $75pp so it would probably be better to compare to Remy but we did not do Remy. The Chef's Table was an amazing experience. The price includes a galley tour with champagne and appetizers with the head chef (forget his fancy title--Chef de Cuisine maybe?), a chance to make our own chocolate melting cake and an eight course meal with all the wine you care to drink. That does remind me that the chocolate melting cake goes to CCL. Portion was double the size, the center did actually melt, and tasted much better. Mine on DCL was cold. But I digress, there were only 10 other people at this experience which was held in the Captain's Dining Room, so it was very intimate. The head chef explained each course as it was served and I swear there was a waiter and assistant waiter for each couple. My wine glass stayed too full but I didn't mind
At the end we were presented with a menu to keep, a signed photo with a customized border we had taken earlier with the chef, and a CCL cookbook. Again this probably would have better been compared to Remy but I do give the edge to CCL as we felt like super VIP's at this exclusive experience.
Dining Service: Where to start? Service was so underwhelming for me. Because of all I had read here and heard from others I expected my socks to be knocked off. They were not. Our dining team was friendly but not that good with service. We had early seating and rotation RAERAER. I had changed from late dining about two weeks out, but I had to have my TA call in for this change when we were supposedly on the waitlist. We had purposely booked the nursery 45 minutes into dinner as we wanted DS to eat with us but also wanted to enjoy the full meal experience. He never made it on time. Most nights we were about 30 minutes late but one night he was an hour late. We were charged regardless of what time he showed up and this did not make me happy. I asked the second night if we could bring his food up there and was told no due to possible allergy issues. Fine, I understand that. I would ask to have his food expedited. At times it would show up quickly and sometimes it would not. I noted we were seated next to (read: practically on top of) another couple with two small children who would show up pretty late yet their kids' food came at the same time as ours. Not sure what that was all about but we didn't ask to move because our DD met a wonderful family who had girls near her age and we really enjoyed talking with them and they were seated near us in all the dining rooms. Anyway to continue about service, we waited way too long between courses. It was usually about 45 minutes to an hour between appetizers/salads and the main course. Our drinks went empty every night. Usually after appetizers/salads. Had to ask to have them filled and again, sometimes they would get filled sometimes they wouldn't. On my four CCL adventures my drinks have never gone empty. It was a joke between DH on our first cruise (honeymoon), that we would bet to see how low the drinks would get before they were refilled. The answer is not very low at all. The assistant server never got the hang of what we wanted and didn't have drinks waiting on us or anything like that. We have always had this on CCL and on my first two CCL cruises they did not offer my drink of choice lemonade (no idea why but they've since rectified this problem) in the dining room yet someone would get it for me and have it waiting each night. No problems, no questions asked. Even with Any Time dining, as soon as we were seated our wonderful team had our drinks ready and to us within seconds of sitting down. In the grand scheme of things is this a big deal? Yes, because I was under the impression Disney service was head and shoulders above everything else. I will say the Head Server seemed to be very involved, and at times brought things to us. We have never seen that level of service from the Maitre D on CCL but I believe his/her role is different than that of the Head Server on DCL.
As I mentioned above we went to EG for a second lunch day. The waiter could not have been ruder to DD and I. We had to flag him down to order our drinks and off the kids menu and when he finally delivered both he never came back to check on us. Our lemonade tasted very watery but we knew there was no chance of getting another one or getting something else. It wasn't near the end of the lunch service and I am a stickler for good manners so I don' t think it was because we came across as rude or demanding.
In the end, dining service goes to CCL. I have never waited as long as we did between courses and having the added pressure of the nursery clock ticking and my son's impatience did not help matters. If I was at Applebee's and I had to wait that long for my food on just a regular night or even a weekend night, I would be complaining to the manager and probably end up with a free meal.
This will be continued later in the day. I don't want everyone to think we had a horrible time and that I am a big complainer because I'm not. In fact, this is probably one of the other reasons why we didn't move or say anything about the dining service because I just didn't want to rock the boat, per se (ha ha). We truly had a fantastic time, and made some awesome memories. I just wanted to write a true account and comparison of what I thought and saw. Thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions.
Embarkation: The experiences are very different. On CCL you do stand in a pretty long line to get through security and to check in as there are no assigned arrival times. I like the assigned arrival times as it seems that everyone is not trying to get on the ship at once. I did not like the mass crowds just hanging around everywhere. It seemed to be a little chaotic. DH was taking the rental car back so the kids and I went straight through security, got our KTTW cards and were told to head over to get DD's Mickey band. Did all of that in about 15 minutes. Then we got in line for Minnie in front of the ship model and hoped DH would show in time for the picture because the line was very long. He ended up getting held up at the line for security as it was longer than when we had just come through. No biggie. They called our number (10) when he got into the terminal, he went and got his photo for the KTTW card and we headed over to board. We stood in line for photos for a few minutes then we were off. I'll admit I got all teary when they announced our name. Embarkation goes to DCL.
Ship: The ship is breathtaking. I loved the feel of it the moment we stepped in. Felt very classic and upscale to me. I loved all the details. One thing Disney does best is details. I was very taken by the chandelier in the atrium along with the carpet (weird I know). The feather detail carrying out through the whole room is beautiful. CCL tends to be a bit flashier but it doesn't bother me. On another note, we went high up on the hill in St. Thomas and seeing the Fantasy docked next to the RCCL ship, it just did not compare. She truly is a magnificent ship, again very classic looking. Ship look and feel goes to DCL.
Food: I'll talk about service in a moment but I wasn't overly impressed with the food on DCL. Had some non-memorable dishes other than the lobster on the Captain's Gala night (semi-formal). It was the largest and best tasting lobster I have ever had at sea. Some of the food was downright bland or horrible tasting. I don't ever recall something tasting so horrible that I spit it into my napkin on CCL but I did on DCL a couple times. One was a salad dressing, I want to say cranberry or something like that? I ate a lot of seafood at dinner because the beef/other meat dishes just didn't sound that great. There were a couple nights I really just picked the thing that was the best of the worst choices I have seen. CCL has a "favorites" type offering that are the same four dishes each night that you can rely on if nothing on the regular menus suits you. One of the reasons I like to cruise is so that I can try new foods but most of the time the dishes just didn't sound that good or were some version of something I've had at Applebee's or Ruby Tuesday's. The kids menu was fine and DD and DS got their bellies full enough each night. We never managed to make it to lunch at Cabanas for some reason but did Royal Court one day, Enchanted Garden another and Flo's the other days or we were in port. I thought lunch at EG on embarkation day was good but the second time there wasn't really much to choose from so DD and I ordered from the kids menu. Breakfast was at Cabanas or room service and I thought Cabanas was good. Loved the Mickey waffles and the scrambled eggs. In the end though food goes to CCL for better offerings, larger portion sizes, and all around better tasting food.
Specialty Dining: We managed to get a Palo brunch once on board. Seemed pretty wide open when we showed up there at about 1:05pm, had my pick of times and any sea days. I was nervous because the Navigator said they would begin taking bookings at 1. Thought the brunch was wonderful. The $20pp price can't be beat for the quality of food. We had a wonderful waiter who liked to chat but we enjoyed it because he told us interesting stories about his time in Italy and stories about the different details in the dining room. There has been enough written about the Palo Brunch experience so I won't get into that, but it was very good.
On CCL we did the Chef's Table. It is $75pp so it would probably be better to compare to Remy but we did not do Remy. The Chef's Table was an amazing experience. The price includes a galley tour with champagne and appetizers with the head chef (forget his fancy title--Chef de Cuisine maybe?), a chance to make our own chocolate melting cake and an eight course meal with all the wine you care to drink. That does remind me that the chocolate melting cake goes to CCL. Portion was double the size, the center did actually melt, and tasted much better. Mine on DCL was cold. But I digress, there were only 10 other people at this experience which was held in the Captain's Dining Room, so it was very intimate. The head chef explained each course as it was served and I swear there was a waiter and assistant waiter for each couple. My wine glass stayed too full but I didn't mind
At the end we were presented with a menu to keep, a signed photo with a customized border we had taken earlier with the chef, and a CCL cookbook. Again this probably would have better been compared to Remy but I do give the edge to CCL as we felt like super VIP's at this exclusive experience.Dining Service: Where to start? Service was so underwhelming for me. Because of all I had read here and heard from others I expected my socks to be knocked off. They were not. Our dining team was friendly but not that good with service. We had early seating and rotation RAERAER. I had changed from late dining about two weeks out, but I had to have my TA call in for this change when we were supposedly on the waitlist. We had purposely booked the nursery 45 minutes into dinner as we wanted DS to eat with us but also wanted to enjoy the full meal experience. He never made it on time. Most nights we were about 30 minutes late but one night he was an hour late. We were charged regardless of what time he showed up and this did not make me happy. I asked the second night if we could bring his food up there and was told no due to possible allergy issues. Fine, I understand that. I would ask to have his food expedited. At times it would show up quickly and sometimes it would not. I noted we were seated next to (read: practically on top of) another couple with two small children who would show up pretty late yet their kids' food came at the same time as ours. Not sure what that was all about but we didn't ask to move because our DD met a wonderful family who had girls near her age and we really enjoyed talking with them and they were seated near us in all the dining rooms. Anyway to continue about service, we waited way too long between courses. It was usually about 45 minutes to an hour between appetizers/salads and the main course. Our drinks went empty every night. Usually after appetizers/salads. Had to ask to have them filled and again, sometimes they would get filled sometimes they wouldn't. On my four CCL adventures my drinks have never gone empty. It was a joke between DH on our first cruise (honeymoon), that we would bet to see how low the drinks would get before they were refilled. The answer is not very low at all. The assistant server never got the hang of what we wanted and didn't have drinks waiting on us or anything like that. We have always had this on CCL and on my first two CCL cruises they did not offer my drink of choice lemonade (no idea why but they've since rectified this problem) in the dining room yet someone would get it for me and have it waiting each night. No problems, no questions asked. Even with Any Time dining, as soon as we were seated our wonderful team had our drinks ready and to us within seconds of sitting down. In the grand scheme of things is this a big deal? Yes, because I was under the impression Disney service was head and shoulders above everything else. I will say the Head Server seemed to be very involved, and at times brought things to us. We have never seen that level of service from the Maitre D on CCL but I believe his/her role is different than that of the Head Server on DCL.
As I mentioned above we went to EG for a second lunch day. The waiter could not have been ruder to DD and I. We had to flag him down to order our drinks and off the kids menu and when he finally delivered both he never came back to check on us. Our lemonade tasted very watery but we knew there was no chance of getting another one or getting something else. It wasn't near the end of the lunch service and I am a stickler for good manners so I don' t think it was because we came across as rude or demanding.
In the end, dining service goes to CCL. I have never waited as long as we did between courses and having the added pressure of the nursery clock ticking and my son's impatience did not help matters. If I was at Applebee's and I had to wait that long for my food on just a regular night or even a weekend night, I would be complaining to the manager and probably end up with a free meal.
This will be continued later in the day. I don't want everyone to think we had a horrible time and that I am a big complainer because I'm not. In fact, this is probably one of the other reasons why we didn't move or say anything about the dining service because I just didn't want to rock the boat, per se (ha ha). We truly had a fantastic time, and made some awesome memories. I just wanted to write a true account and comparison of what I thought and saw. Thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions.
Disney and it is the top of the list. Princess was terrible and is at the bottom. Planning Carnival for Jan. 2014 and since Princess is owned by them, I am doubtful.
