We're trying Carnival

[woody73]

I so agree!! I cruised the Maiden Voyage of the Magic. Not much has changed since then. For a cruise line with so many repeat cruisers, you would think they would have a lot of new shows and entertainment.

Cheryl: My sentiments exactly!

We are visiting Las Vegas. Last night we saw Lance Burton, master magician. He is absolutely amazing. It would be great if DCL booked someone like him.

Woody

 

[dairyou]

Well, we just put our deposit down and are all set...except for the waiting

My husband was thrilled that our cruise is over half paid for already. Such a change from DCL. We paid a deposit of 1000.00. Now we only have 858.00 left to pay. We've made our 4 night reservation at Old Key West so we are all set!

We are optimistic that we will have a good time on Carnival and will make sure to go in not comparing the two lines.

CPM has helped us alot with her great advice and photos. Thanks again Cheryl!

Looked at Cruisecritic and they only have one person posted for roll call on the date we're sailing. So not meeting up with anyone before hand.

Deb

 

[CPM]

CPM has helped us alot with her great advice and photos. Thanks again Cheryl!
Deb

Not a problem, I hope you have a great time!!
When is your cruise again?

 

[dairyou]

Our cruise departs Port Canaveral on 11/4/06. Now, I just found out that they took out Key West. DH may not be very happy about that and may switch to Carnival Miracle. I'm waiting for him to wake up so I can ask what he'd rather do. The Miracle is a little more expensive, but we've saved so much money already he may go for it.

Deb

 

[CPM]

ahh, I didn't realize the Valor leaves out of PC. We left out of Miami.
Key West @@. That port changes all the time because it's a Navy Base. they get first priority. It's nice, but it's one port I can live without anyway.
The Miracle is a smaller ship, you may like that better.

 

[msteddom]

I sailed on the Carnival Valor Eastern last summer and overall I was very happy with it. The ship is beautiful and very well laid out. the service was excellent, especially our room stuard. The only area I felt was lacking was the food. It seemed very cafeteria style. I learned early on to order two entrees becuae one of them was going to be dissapointing. Would I sail Carnival again? Yes, but I need to give Disney a try first!


Melissa

 

[dairyou]

ahh, I didn't realize the Valor leaves out of PC. We left out of Miami.
Key West @@. That port changes all the time because it's a Navy Base. they get first priority. It's nice, but it's one port I can live without anyway.
The Miracle is a smaller ship, you may like that better.

Hey Cheryl,

We are actually on the Glory which sails out of Port Canaveral. We wanted to be close to WDW so we could spend 4 nights there after the cruise. I just found out they took out Key West and added Nassau and Cozumel. I'm excited about Nassau because I've wanted to go to the Atlantis so here is my opportunity!

Deb

 

[CPM]

Hey Cheryl,

We are actually on the Glory which sails out of Port Canaveral. We wanted to be close to WDW so we could spend 4 nights there after the cruise. I just found out they took out Key West and added Nassau and Cozumel. I'm excited about Nassau because I've wanted to go to the Atlantis so here is my opportunity!

Deb

Duh, that's right. It was someone else that was sailing the Valor.
Atlantis is beautiful.

 

[rtphokie]

After a long discussion with DH we decided to try the Carnival Glory in November. It is almost half the price of DCL. The driving factor was being able to add another 100 points to our DVC. We wanted to cruise, but wanted to add more points, so this was a good compromise.

We've sailed RCCL and didn't like it at all. We'll see about Carnival. I'll report when we get back.

Wish us luck!

Deb

The thing about Carnival and RCCL is that your experience has a lot to do with who happens to be onboard at the time. We've had 2 Carnival Cruises and both were less than satisfactory because of falling down drunk passengers. I dont like being yelled at by someone who doesn't think I'm drinking enough for their liking.

Both lines (especially Carnival) do a lot of group business and you'll be greeted by a swarm of like minded people you didn't expect. It could be sports fans, it could be quilters, it could be fans of some radio station, it could be fans of a particular band. These groups can get rowdy, depending on the group of course.

We were surprised on our last Carnival cruise that a famous country band was on board and brought a couple hundred of their biggest fans. Their fans knew how to party too. The one plus to this was that during the private events with the band, the pools were quiet and much less crowded.

Orlando residents might have heard about a cruise planned by the "Monsters of the Morning" morning radio show. NCL was so spooked by the thought of this show and their fans on their boat that they cancelled everyone's reservations and refunded their deposits.

I dont think this would ever be a problem with Disney since they dont seem to attract huge groups, but if I ever cruise with any other line, I'm going a Google search on the sailing date to see if anything comes up. Book lovers cruise, no problem. Star Trek convention cruise, that's free entertainment! Any more cruises with bands and their fans or radio stations and their fans, forget it.

 

[woody73]

. . . Both lines (especially Carnival) do a lot of group business and you'll be greeted by a swarm of like minded people you didn't expect. It could be sports fans, it could be quilters, it could be fans of some radio station, it could be fans of a particular band.

Could it be the Amish?

 

[markey]

Since I live in the middle of Pa. Dutch Amish country I don't think their horses would make the trip or that the ports have hitching posts. I remember a post one time complaining of a Disney cruise where a large group was on board and they did not like it also. We sailed on the Glory in December and followed the Magic around for only $499 and were upgraded to a balacony, the ship is beautiful, crew was great and the food at lunch had a lot more to choose from. We love DCL, have sailed 6 times with the 7th booked for August. But without kids the Glory is a much better bargain and we saw no drunks, the age group was mostly over 50. The RCI we were on was the party ship, we saw one leaving the ship still puking his guts out on the parking lot. I think the cruise line has nothing to do with a party ship, it all depend on the passengers for the cruise you are on and possibily where the ship sails from. The RCI was out of Baltimore, a lot of local not your normal cruise crowd. The Glory was out of PC with a lot of retired Florida people.

 

[umber]

Thank you for sharing your photos CPM! They were great! I'm getting very excited about my Dec cruise!

 

[CPM]

Thank you for sharing your photos CPM! They were great! I'm getting very excited about my Dec cruise!

Glad you enjoyed them! Have fun on your cruise.