We chose the dark side - Carnival VS Disney

[kaseyC]

I love how they created outdoor seating at most of the restaurants and the Serenity adult pool area looks amazing! I'll be boarding in 31 days, woo Hoo.

The outdoor seating is going to be fantastic in the Med.

 

[Ofinn]

The ship does look amazing. I can't wait to sail on her....if I can ever make up my mind which cruise to book. It's hard for me to think past my upcoming cruise, but the pictures are making me antsy to book.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

The ship does look amazing. I can't wait to sail on her....if I can ever make up my mind which cruise to book. It's hard for me to think past my upcoming cruise, but the pictures are making me antsy to book.

I'm just worried we won't be able to experience the whole ship over 8 days.

 

[kaseyC]

I'm just worried we won't be able to experience the whole ship over 8 days.

I'm sure we won't be able to during our 10 day cruise. It's port intensive with only 2 sea days. We'll be off the ship for about 8 hrs or more each day. I know from past port intensive cruises that we are so beat by the end of the day, it's usually dinner and then maybe a show. We rarely stay out late because we have such early mornings.

 

[Ofinn]

I'm sure we won't be able to during our 10 day cruise. It's port intensive with only 2 sea days. We'll be off the ship for about 8 hrs or more each day. I know from past port intensive cruises that we are so beat by the end of the day, it's usually dinner and then maybe a show. We rarely stay out late because we have such early mornings.

That is a great itinerary. I've been a little bummed about canceling that cruise in favor of Iceland. My son is super excited about Iceland though so that makes up for it. I think Iceland/Norway is probably a better cruise for their current ages of 11 and 13. I can't see my 11 year old being too thrilled with all the touring. My dh would love to do the TA on the Vista.... not sure he can switch his vacation around for that, but what a awesome cruise that would be. We will probably end up sailing on one of the 5 or 6 day Caribbean cruises in Dec. Enjoy your cruise. Please report back. I'm hoping for similar itinerary's when the next ship launches in 2018.
I've noticed from your ticker you've done a lot of TA's. Did you enjoy those? I'm thinking about that for next year. Most likely westbound.

 

[kaseyC]

That is a great itinerary. I've been a little bummed about canceling that cruise in favor of Iceland. My son is super excited about Iceland though so that makes up for it. I think Iceland/Norway is probably a better cruise for their current ages of 11 and 13. I can't see my 11 year old being too thrilled with all the touring. My dh would love to do the TA on the Vista.... not sure he can switch his vacation around for that, but what a awesome cruise that would be. We will probably end up sailing on one of the 5 or 6 day Caribbean cruises in Dec. Enjoy your cruise. Please report back. I'm hoping for similar itinerary's when the next ship launches in 2018.
I've noticed from your ticker you've done a lot of TA's. Did you enjoy those? I'm thinking about that for next year. Most likely westbound.

My girls who are 20, 15 and 13 are not fans of the long touring days but they deal. We are doing all private tours with just our family of 5 so I can easily adjust the pace and itinerary. DH is flying home after the cruise but me and the girls are spending a week at a beach resort in Mykonos, so they can rest then.

I love transatlantic cruises. We've done 3 with Disney and two with NCL. We were never bored and if anything would have loved for the cruises to be longer. The 3 DCL TAs had port stops but the NCL cruises were inaugural TA's bring the ship homeroom Southhampton to the US. They both were straight sea days and no ports. Gave us plenty of time to explore all of the offerings of a brand new ship.

 

[mevelandry]

Ok, stop it, I'm jealous now.

 

[RedSox68]

I'm sure we won't be able to during our 10 day cruise. It's port intensive with only 2 sea days. We'll be off the ship for about 8 hrs or more each day. I know from past port intensive cruises that we are so beat by the end of the day, it's usually dinner and then maybe a show. We rarely stay out late because we have such early mornings.

I remember that on our DCL Med cruise -- 6 ports in a row before a sea day. It was grueling, but so worth it!

 

[Love2Cruz]

I'm just worried we won't be able to experience the whole ship over 8 days.

I agree, that's why I booked 2 six months apart

 

[Ofinn]

My girls who are 20, 15 and 13 are not fans of the long touring days but they deal. We are doing all private tours with just our family of 5 so I can easily adjust the pace and itinerary. DH is flying home after the cruise but me and the girls are spending a week at a beach resort in Mykonos, so they can rest then.

I love transatlantic cruises. We've done 3 with Disney and two with NCL. We were never bored and if anything would have loved for the cruises to be longer. The 3 DCL TAs had port stops but the NCL cruises were inaugural TA's bring the ship homeroom Southhampton to the US. They both were straight sea days and no ports. Gave us plenty of time to explore all of the offerings of a brand new ship.

Just curious was there kids on the NCL TAs. I know theres always kids on the disney TAs.

 

[kaseyC]

Just curious was there kids on the NCL TAs. I know theres always kids on the disney TAs.

Yes, there were. Not as many as your usual Caribbean cruise. My two youngest DDs first non-Disney cruise was our Epic Inaugural TA in 2010. That one had a large number of kids since it was a late June sailing.

 

[mevelandry]

UPDATE: Just to make another comparison, last week I booked another cruise with Royal Caribbean (1st time with them too). I have to say that Carnival has the most user friendly website out of the three cruise lines.

 

[MsMamaBear]

UPDATE: Just to make another comparison, last week I booked another cruise with Royal Caribbean (1st time with them too). I have to say that Carnival has the most user friendly website out of the three cruise lines.

That is so true! I am pretty much decided on Carnival since I get the past guest discount, but I looked at Royal Caribbean and it's horrible! It's so confusing.

 

[Anna Chassereau]

After the PIF date, they charge depending on how many days out....I've never done that so not sure how stiff the penalties are.

Here are the cancellation rules under their website:


Days Prior to
Departure Date Cancellation Charge (Per Guest)


2,3,4 & 5 day cruises Up to 61 days
None (except Pack & Go, Early Saver* and Super Saver fares**)

60 to 46 days
Deposit

45 to 30 days
Deposit or 50% of Total Fare, whichever is greater

29 to 15 days
Deposit or 75% of Total Fare, whichever is greater

14 days or less
100% of Total Fare


6-9 day cruises (excluding: Alaska, Europe, Transatlantic and
Panama Canal cruises) Up to 76 days
None (except Pack & Go, Early Saver* and Super Saver fares**)
75 to 56 days
Deposit
55 to 30 days
Deposit or 50% of Total Fare, whichever is greater
29 to 15 days Deposit or 75% of Total Fare, whichever is greater
14 days or less
100% of Total Fare

10 day or longer cruises, as well as all Alaska, Europe, Transatlantic and Panama Canal cruises Up to 91 days None (except Pack & Go, Early Saver* and Super Saver fares**)
90 to 56 days Deposit
55 to 30 days Deposit or 50% of Total Fare, whichever is greater
29 to 15 days
Deposit or 75% of Total Fare, whichever is greater
14 days or less 100% of Total Fare



All cruises purchased under the Pack & Go fare Any time after booking 100% of Total Fare

Is this with vacation insurance or without? I was told by Carnival if I booked with vacation insurance I would get everything I'd put down back if I needed to cancel...just thinking about a future cruise with them and wondering

 

[Ofinn]

Is this with vacation insurance or without? I was told by Carnival if I booked with vacation insurance I would get everything I'd put down back if I needed to cancel...just thinking about a future cruise with them and wondering

I would assume you need a reason to cancel. Insurance company's don't just refund you your money because you changed your mind. Carnivals huge deposits, and with some fares nonrefundable deposits is the reason I haven't booked a cruise with them. I had a cruise booked, but cancelled. The fare I had booked was refundable. I plan on taking a cruise on Carnival cruise this Fall. I'm just going to wait until I'm 100% positive I want to do the cruise. I normally book my DCL cruises at 2 months out because that is when I can get discounts so I'll just do the same with Carnival.

The nonrefundable deposits on the early save rates is really weird to me. Maybe they're right you will get your deposit back if buy insurance, but I doubt you'd get the insurance cost back. The deposits for a family of four are 1000 to 1600 depending on the cruise even if the total cost of the cruise is 2000. It's the only thing I don't like about Carnival. my deposit on my DCL cruise I have booked is 330.00 with OBB and the cost of the cruise is 4,000. I tend to change my mind a lot, but if your somebody that can book months in advance and never look back it's probably fine.

 

[Anna Chassereau]

I would assume you need a reason to cancel. Insurance company's don't just refund you your money because you changed your mind. Carnivals huge deposits, and with some fares un-refundable deposits is the reason I haven't booked a cruise with them. I had a cruise booked, but cancelled. The fare I had booked was refundable. I plan on taking a cruise on Carnival cruise this Fall. I'm just going to wait until I'm 100% positive I want to do the cruise. I normally book my DCL cruises at 2 months out because that is when I can get discounts so I'll just do the same with Carnival.

The un-refundable deposits on the early save rates is really weird to me. Maybe they're right you will get your deposit back if buy insurance, but I doubt you'd get the insurance cost back. The deposits for a family of four are 1000 to 1600 depending on the cruise even if the total cost of the cruise is 2000. It's the only thing I don't like about Carnival. my deposit on my DCL cruise I have booked is 330.00 with OBB and the cost of the cruise is 4,000. I tend to change my mind a lot, but if your somebody that can book months in advance and never look back it's probably fine.

No I'm with you...I change my mind a lot too. I'd wait until closer to to book but I'd be worried about no midship balcony rooms being open which is what we'd want. They do require massive deposits you're right! The one I'm looking at is on the Magic out of Port Canaveral in July...the deposit is almost $1,100. Wonder why they charge so much more than other lines?

Have you ever cruised with Carnival before?

 

[BigredNole]

I had neighbors and friends book a last minute cruise over Christmas. They were planning on vacationing over XMas, but a cruise deal popped up at $500 per person for 7 days on Carnival (not sure of the ship). It was a Western Caribbean itinerary. To keep their cost down more, they drove 12 hours to the port (there were 8 in the car and XMas airfare is insane). Excursions, cruise, taxes, travel, money on ship, and everything else, it cost a little over $1,000 per person for 7 nights. They all had a blast. A similar Disney cruise was almost $4,000 per person.

 

[Ofinn]

No I'm with you...I change my mind a lot too. I'd wait until closer to to book but I'd be worried about no midship balcony rooms being open which is what we'd want. They do require massive deposits you're right! The one I'm looking at is on the Magic out of Port Canaveral in July...the deposit is almost $1,100. Wonder why they charge so much more than other lines?

Have you ever cruised with Carnival before?

Royal has large deposits. I guess it because the cost of the Carnival cruises are so low the deposit seem out of proportion. On some of the European cruises the deposit is more than half of the cruise cost. I was considering the Breeze out of Galveston and a Verandah for the 4 of us is 2100 and deposit 1000. I might as well wait, and just pay for the whole cruise at once. Carnival has a lot of sales throughout the year and the prices don't seem to go up that much except on the new Vista. They have been offering reduced deposit sales 50.00 pp on the early saver rates. I would keep an eye out for those. Just keep in mind it's nonrefundable.

 

[mevelandry]

Is this with vacation insurance or without? I was told by Carnival if I booked with vacation insurance I would get everything I'd put down back if I needed to cancel...just thinking about a future cruise with them and wondering

I don't think so... The first time I booked with the insurance and cancelled (way before PIF date), I got most of my money back, with the exception of the deposit (500$). They kept it in my account as a "credit", charging 50$/pp to book another cruise.

And I lost the amount of the 49$/pp insurance, of course.

When I rebooked, after the 50$/pp taken, I got the 400$ remaining credit applied on my new cruise.

 

[Ofinn]

I don't know. The first time I booked with the insurance and cancelled (way before PIF date), I got most of my money back, with the exception of the deposit (500$). They kept it in my account as a "credit", charging 50$/pp to book another cruise.

When I rebooked, after the 50$/pp taken, I got the 400$ remaining credit applied on my new cruise.

No other cruise lines do this. Deposits are refundable up until the PIF date. This is something I dont like about Carnival. It doesnt mean I wont book a cruise with them, but I dont see any reason to book one ahead a time especially with all the last minute sales they have.