What Would You Do? (Carnival $1000 less)

[Lollipop's Mom]

I am going to be booking a cruise very soon for Jan/06. Just getting my deposit together. I found the same cruise (ports,etc.. - other than castaway cay of course) on Carnival for $1000 less. This is for an oceanview room on each line that I am comparing. I can get a verandah for another $200 on Carnival.
I LOVE Disney - but $1000 - wow! Carnival has a waterslide/kids programs and seems to be nice.....but something in my gut still wants to stick with Disney - but the savings for going with Carnival seem too good to pass up.

WHat would you do?

 

[new_yawka]

Whenever one goes to book a DCL cruise, it is not so hard to find another line with a similar itinerary for significant savings. I am not about to say anything negative about another cruise line (having tried only 2)...I will assume that you will have a wonderful experience on Carnival, if that is what you choose.

Choosing DCL comes down to the intangibles for us. We all instantly smile (inside and out), whenever we go to "Disney". It may be a "Mickey Mouse" operation, but that's exactly the way we like it. Anyone can do a kids program, but noone can do it like Disney. That has been proven time and time again over the past 50 years.

If gambling and night life are your thing, go with Carnival. If a "guaranteed" memorable family experience is what you are after, clearly my money would always bet on Disney.

Good luck and have a great time, whatever your choice

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

Yah...I think I will stick with Disney. I am looking for some good quality mom/daughter time. I am not a gambler (well -I love the slot machines), and not a nightclubber - and the shows on the DCL seem more interesting to me. Plus...I just get a warm fuzzy feeling when I think Disney. LOL.

 

[lbgraves]

Your stateroom will be larger on DCL than other lines. Also, where else can your DD see the princesses as often?

 

[jclark3]

There are several reasons I stick with Disney (and I have been on a Carnival cruise): no casino, family entertainment themes, fewer smokers, fewer drunks.

 

[JerJan]

OK...As a previous cruiser on several different lines, NCL RCL and COSTA I was suprised that in our opinion (family) DISNEY just didn't come close. The food was just OK and not alot of choices for kids...the ship seemed alot smaller than the other lines and quite frankly I personally didn't find it that clean! The kids programs, well let's just say it wasn't what I (or my children) thought it would be. Both my 12 yr old and my 5 yr old DD's didn't like the kids programs and when I looked in on my 5 year old she wasn't having a good time and the children didn't seem to be being watched very well. Now that might be because I am not used to leaving my children (5 yr old) in a daycare situation as I am a stay-at-home Mom. I will say that if I had never cruised before I might have found it more enjoyable but for the price of a DISNEY CRUISE I was expecting alot more! I think that the children's program on NCL for example was much better and so did my 12 yr old DD. In this case you DON'T get what you pay for!

 

[mitcam]

We actually have been on 3 cruises our first on DCL was last December and we are currently booked on NCL (Navigator) for this May

We loved DCL - we had not one complaint. We booked NCL for a couple of reasons:

1) We booked at a travel show in Boston - we were hoping for a special "deal" at the show. DCL offered nothing! Our first choice was DCL but we were open to other vacation options!

2) wanted to sail in May and the ship is going West so we couldn't

3) we thought that it might be nice to have "adult only" type of shows available to us. **don't get me wrong, we LOVED DCL shows but when the kids weren't with us it would have been nice to see a show without other children around

4) kids clubs actually have been rated by the cruisline industry although DCL does it right it is found that other lines do it just as good or better!


Now let me tell you some reasons why I will miss DCL

1) little fees are becoming evident as I do more investigating on NCL (i.e., Johnny Rockets $3.95pp every time we go; $15pp/hr for the waterpark at Labadee
2) childcare on NCL closes several time throughout the day and for the night at 10:00 (after hours is available for $10/hr (2kids) until 1AM) - DCL it was all included no extra - they were open many more hours than NCL is
3) DCL is what it says it is - on the Navigator we loved the idea of the ice rink (big skaters in our family) now we find out it is not open every day and very limited hours are available for the guests to use the ice!


**I could come up with 100 reasons to choose one over the other! We figure we will never know until we try out another cruiseline and do our own personal comparisons.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

Carolyn

 

[CPM]

Which Carnival ship?
You should try getting opinions from Cruisecritic.com
No offense to everyone here, but most will stick up for DCL no matter what. It is a Disney board.
We take CCL cruises too and love them just as much as DCL.

 

[CPM]

Your stateroom will be larger on DCL than other lines. Also, where else can your DD see the princesses as often?

They are the same size as most CCL ships. Actually on the newer ships the Ocenaview staterooms are larger then DCL.

 

[marycaym]

If you have been on DCL before I think you will be very disappointed with Carnival is a very, very different cruiseline and in my opinion not very kid friendly, my girls were horrified by their kids club and only spent about 15 minutes. The cost is less but I think you will be disappointed. I have Royal Carribean to be a close 2nd to Disney and very kid friendly.

 

[CPM]

If you have been on DCL before I think you will be very disappointed with Carnival is a very, very different cruiseline and in my opinion not very kid friendly, my girls were horrified by their kids club and only spent about 15 minutes. The cost is less but I think you will be disappointed. I have Royal Carribean to be a close 2nd to Disney and very kid friendly.

My kids loved the CCL club. It really does matter what ship you are on. They have improved over the years. My only gripe was they charge after 10:00 pm.

 

[NCRedding]

mitcam: You're actually sailing Royal Caribbean, not Norwegian if you're going to Labedee on the Navigator with the ice skating rink.

We just booked an NCL cruise to Hawaii because they are the only ones that cruise there in the summer. I will give my report when we get back.

We tried RCCL to Alaska, hoping we would love RCCL, but it didn't happen. I look at it like this: even if it is $1000 cheaper than CCL, it is still a ton of money being spent and I would much rather go with the sure thing, even if it costs a little (or alot) more, than spend a great deal of money and be disappointed.

 

[rejobako]

We've sailed Carnival with our little one before, and had no complaints. She enjoyed the kids club there, and I was borderline astonished at how attentive the staff was to our needs. The sole reason we're going DCL in May is because, like a lot of kids, our daughter has become a Disney freak. She loves Mickey, she adores the princesses, and since we can afford it we're giving her a special treat with four nights on a ship that is everything-Disney. In terms of sheer value for the dollar, I'm guessing we're overpaying in comparison to the same itinerary/accommodations on another cruise line, but in our view, you cannot put a price on the Disney intangibles. She's only going to be 5 years old once, and I'm already dreading the day she grows out of this stage of Disney wonder and excitement.

So we splurged a bit.

 

[RKB]

I thought about looking into other cruise lines - but my kids had a fit. My son actually said Disney or nothing! Since I take the kids alone I am not looking for adult shows/activities at night. Sure the ports are the same in the day but once it is evening on the ship I can go to a show with my kids, karaoke or dancing, dinner together, a movie... Bottom line we have family time fun all evening long! I tried to envision an evening on another ship with no Disney show (maybe an adult vegas style show), No Disney movies, etc.. and it is not what I am looking for. We also love the Disney characters and Disney special touches. So for us the extra money is worth it. I know that I am going to get the kid/family friendly cruise that I am looking for. We also love Castaway Cay!

 

[Amberle3]

The comparison between CCL and DCL really depends on what kind of ship and itinerary you're looking at.

If you're looking at a shorter duration cruise (3 or 4 day) then it's probably a smaller, older CCL ship. They tend to use the older ones for these itineraries because the 3 & 4 day cruises have more partiers than the longer cruises.

I also understand that CCL has started stationing time-share salespeople on their cruises, that actively solicit passengers. I'm sure that if you really wanted to find out about the DVC on a DCL cruise then you couldn't but it wouldn't be "in your face".

If you just want a cruise, then you're probably fine with CCL. If you want a whole experience with the characters and the attention to detail that Disney is famous for, then you're likely going to be disappointed with CCL.

 

[musicgirl]

Personally, if it was between DCL and Carnival and $1000, for me it is hands down DCL!!!

Now, if it was a new ship from RCCL or another top cruiseline, I would think about it, but I don't know if I could choose over DCL because there are so many little details that I would miss.

 

[zalansky]

There are several reasons I stick with Disney (and I have been on a Carnival cruise): no casino, family entertainment themes, fewer smokers, fewer drunks.

Ditto, given the choice, I'd stick with Disney. It all boils down to personal preference. I am not a fan of gambling, neon lights, the drunkard crowd, and lots of smoking. Carnival does have great food though, I'll give them that!

 

[CPM]

It truely amazes me that people can comment on a cruiseline they have never sailed on, and go on here say.

 

[DVCajun]

It's probably a pretty safe bet that most of us on this particular board had the option of taking another cruise line at a cheaper price and chose Disney anyway. We were willing to pay about $1000 more for the privilege, too. What does that say about us?

We're hardly objective.

Cheryl, just because someone hasn't been on another cruise line doesn't mean they're not entitled to an opinion about it. Most cruise lines' advertising targets a certain audience. Gambling IS a big part of some cruises, as is a "party" atmosphere. It's not unreasonable to find that unappealing and state that opinion here.

 

[my3kids]

I think you should go to cruisecritic and read about the ship and what it offers. I loved Disney, but also loved Princess. Was excited about our Holland America trip and now am looking forward to Royal Caribbean. There are a lot of ships out there.

I've not read anything but glowing reviews of the kid's programs, until this post. Porthole Magazine ranks Carnival pretty highly. I have to believe any cruise is going to be fun, and to go home with $1000 in your pocket might make it all the better. The water slides on Carnival look super. The pools on Disney, in my opinion, were out of control and much too small to handle the volume of people in them.

Carnival rooms are supposed to be spacious and well thought out. That is something I've read a lot on the Royal Caribbean board, that although the 2 lines are pretty similar, the cabin size on RCI is not as nice as on Carnival. The newest ships are probably the nicest, and the longer cruises probably attract more families than the 3 and 4 night trips.