CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[mevelandry]

Hey guys, on Breeze right now and loving it. In San Juan, so I have some internet and will post a bit of TR.

CCL BREEZE
Day 1: Canaveral
We parked at port parking. First time leaving from Canaveral with Ccl. You do not pay for parking in the ccl lot until exit. $17/day. Boarding was effortless. Only thing strange to me with CCL boarding is how the people checking your passports/boarding passes are at small kiosks. No room to put anything down. DCL fantasy was also in port. Could see people on the aquaduck. We boarded around 1:15pm. Rooms already available. We brought our own Kroger canned soda for the first time. Every time we see other people boarding with packs of soda and say we should do it too but then forget the next time. Not this time! Lol. We do not get cheers or the soda package so it is fun to have the canned drinks. We always order water to the room ahead of time. Very reasonable on Carnival. Plus they give those large waters for return guests.
Went right to Guys after checking out the room. I ended up at the buffet but everyone else ate burgers. Walked around the ship some and soon enough it was time for muster. Painless. 5 minutes in Ovation theater. Went back to the cabin and luggage was all there. Our room was very clean and it was pretty exciting to see it in such good condition. I had my usual cleaning materials with me but only used the lysol to spray the carpet (something I learned to do from someone's trip report on cc. Not even sure that the report was a ccl report). For the first time I also brought other air freshener. Taking a page from Disney hotels that always smell so awesome. So we have our own "smellitizers" or however you spell it and the cabin smells so fresh and welcoming. Our room steward is from the Philippines and is really wonderful. The air conditioning in the cabin (and throughout the ship) is fabulous. Our cabin is on the sixth floor which is an awesome location. Close to deck five but also pretty close to lido. We are taking the stairs most of the time. It is our first cabin with ccl above floor 2. Unpacked and got ready for dinner. Anytime dining. New feature in the app to reserve a table. Works great! After dinner tonight we went to punchliner for a comedy show. Funny, of course.

I'm already tagging your review on the first post! Thank you!!!!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

 

[mevelandry]

View attachment 387950

That's so cool! I love that concept!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Day 2: sea day.
Started the day with the ropes course and mini golf. The Breeze looks just like the Vista on the top deck but without the skyride. Beautiful day, very small line for the ropes course. Some people right behind us got turned away for flip flops. Afterwards, we went to seaday brunch. I got the steak and eggs and they were excellent. Unfortunately our table was tucked away in a corner away from windows. I thought about asking for another table but i hate doing that. Not really a big deal anyway. We then dropped one of the kids at Camp Ocean and have had trouble getting him out of there since. Dh and I then went to the cafe for coffee. Walked around looking at stuff. Sat on deck. Read some of a book while dh tried to connect to the internet. This is the first time we have purchased an internet package on any cruise, unfortunately because DH has to do some things for work. We purchased the premium package (or his work did) and it has been spotty so far. I have not tried to use it, but I see dh staring at his computer waiting for it to respond. He has to open files and read them and comment. The files are secured and can not be downloaded. He also is having trouble connecting to the internet... and then has trouble opening the files. He has a laptop and we have an amazon tablet with us for the kids. For some reason the amazon tablet is easier to connect to the internet. So if you ever have to use the internet for anything other than recreation, maybe bring a tablet? This is a first for us and an unusual situation and hopefully DH will never have to do work again in vacation. We then went to teatime which was the best teatime we have experienced. Lots and lots of choices. The staff came around two or three times as well.
Our cruise director is Donkey, good so far but nothing special. I think Matt set the bar too high on our first ccl cruise and no one since then has come close. Lol.
It was elegant night and we ate in the main dining room. Food was great! The waitstaff offered us additional lobster but we were stuffed. I have seen the rumors of extra charges for additional entrees on other lines. Apparently not the case on Carnival. After that we watched The Green Book at Dive in Movies. Beautiful night, clear and breezy (on the Breeze lol).

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

That's so cool! I love that concept!

Just noticed that says party of 1-- not sure why? It was four I think. The new system is amazing.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

we"reofftoneverland - Loving your report! Breeze is my favorite ship.

 

[starvenger]

Lol. Carnival does paint their ships in port!View attachment 387948

I hadn't seen Carnival do it until this picture but I've seen DCL and RCI do some painting while in port. Gotta keep up appearances, I guess.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Refrigerator works great, appears to be new.
Ugh having trouble uploading more photos.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Day 3: Amber Cove
We took our first ever ship excursion and I am sorry to say it will be our last. We usually do non ship excursions or figure something else out, but the last time we were in DR we took a taxi to a beach that was beautiful but neglected and it was disappointing. We also had a lot of on board credit, so decided to try a snorkeling excursion through the ship. It was funny because it was called the Deluxe sail and snorkel and dh said I wonder what the non deluxe one would be like. We think the DR is beautiful but just, well, a mess. Our complaints about the excursion are the same ones you read other people have about a lot of ship excursions. Bad value for money (about $400 for 5 people- can't remember exact amount), too long of a wait for the excursion to start, too many people on the excursion, and so on. We also had people throwing up on the catamaran and some intermittent rain showers which put a damper on things. There was an element of the surreal when one of the male crew went into the bathroom and came out dressed as a very large breasted woman singing I will survive to the loud music on the catamaran. This did not faze us but it was just bizarre. Our sixteen year old is still joking about it. We met at 8:30 in the morning and did not get back on the ship until 3:30. We had a 45 min bus ride to get to the beach/catamaran. For us, the entire experience was just too long. We are also just more independent and prefer to do our own thing. Lesson learned. There were some other people on the excursion who appeared to be having a great time, so I think there is an extent to which our reaction to the excursion was personal preference. But our kids kept asking when will it be over. We have done 2 other snorkeling excursions on our own on other cruises that were half the price that we enjoyed much more.
When we got back on board we showered and went to get guy's/pizza pirate/soft serve. Our Camp Ocean junkie wanted to go back. We did not do a real dinner that night, just had more ice cream when we picked up junior later that night. I have to mention the soft serve-- wow. I don't usually do much soft serve, just watch the kids eat it, but the soft serve is really high quality, very creamy.
The dive in movie was oceans 8. I think that is the name- the one with sandra Bullock. Our teen watched some of it on deck. We tried to drag him to the teen club twice at the beginning of the cruise but to no avail. The kids in there all looked like him and looked like they were having a great time. Counselors were very outgoing and welcoming.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Day 4: St. Thomas
Somehow this was our first time in St. Thomas. Amazing. This is a great port! Fun to see all of the sailboats with US flags. We got off the boat and walked to the taxi area to catch one to Magen's Bay. The taxis are open air and the weather was perfect. $8 per person each way. It also costs $5 to get into the beach. 12 and under free at the beach. Stunning beach. We figured it would be overcrowded because there were 3 large ships in port (NCL Bliss and Caribbean Princess and us) but it was not at all. The drive to the beach is about 10 minutes each way up and down steep curves with stunning views. We stayed at the beach for about 2hours and headed back. This is our preferred length of excursion lol. We went into a few shops back at the port for tshirts.

More to this day but just want to post because we are about to leave San Juan. Supposed to leave 15 min ago.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Great cabin

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Day 4: St. Thomas
Somehow this was our first time in St. Thomas. Amazing. This is a great port! Fun to see all of the sailboats with US flags. We got off the boat and walked to the taxi area to catch one to Magen's Bay. The taxis are open air and the weather was perfect. $8 per person each way. It also costs $5 to get into the beach. 12 and under free at the beach. Stunning beach. We figured it would be overcrowded because there were 3 large ships in port (NCL Bliss and Caribbean Princess and us) but it was not at all. The drive to the beach is about 10 minutes each way up and down steep curves with stunning views. We stayed at the beach for about 2hours and headed back. This is our preferred length of excursion lol. We went into a few shops back at the port for tshirts.

More to this day but just want to post because we are about to leave San Juan. Supposed to leave 15 min ago.

Love Magen's Bay! It is really peaceful and the water is nice and calm.

 

[hdrolfe]

Love the review! Jealous since it's our March Break and yet here I am watching snow fall. I'm already excited for next year when we'll be on Carnival Magic.

We went to Sapphire Beach in St Thomas on our first cruise and it was amazing, my son swears the water was saltier there than any other stop lol. It is so lovely there! I think if we go back I'd go to Magen's Bay.

 

[mevelandry]

I hadn't seen Carnival do it until this picture but I've seen DCL and RCI do some painting while in port. Gotta keep up appearances, I guess.

I've seen them painting the Vista once. (Top deck).

 

[Monykalyn]

Our Camp Ocean junkie wanted to go back

Cracked me up!
Sounds like a fantastic time so far.
We are on the Sensation in June-picked more for price/ports (CUBA) than anything. Kids first cruise (oldest not with us). I know @mevelandry didn't find it to be her taste but I am hoping for the kids first time it will be fine-shorter cruise, 2 port days, 2 sea days. Also hoping the kids clubs are as good on this ship...but so dang excited for Cuba don't really care about the rest...
@we"reofftoneverland that looks like a great cabin!!

 

[Linzb32]

Has anyone been on the Carnival Splendor 7nt Cabo, Mazatlan, PV cruise? This is the only cruise out of SoCal that works for my dates of end of May/1st of June. I don't like cigarette smoke, how prevalent is this? Please give me your opinion on this cruise ship and itinerary.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Day 4: St. Thomas
Somehow this was our first time in St. Thomas. Amazing. This is a great port! Fun to see all of the sailboats with US flags. We got off the boat and walked to the taxi area to catch one to Magen's Bay. The taxis are open air and the weather was perfect. $8 per person each way. It also costs $5 to get into the beach. 12 and under free at the beach. Stunning beach. We figured it would be overcrowded because there were 3 large ships in port (NCL Bliss and Caribbean Princess and us) but it was not at all. The drive to the beach is about 10 minutes each way up and down steep curves with stunning views. We stayed at the beach for about 2hours and headed back. This is our preferred length of excursion lol. We went into a few shops back at the port for tshirts.

More to this day but just want to post because we are about to leave San Juan. Supposed to leave 15 min ago.

Thanks for the review, I’m loving it. Did you try the pizza at the little shop on Magen’s Bay? I loved that stuff, just like New York Street Pizza, good stuff

 

[mevelandry]

Cracked me up!
Sounds like a fantastic time so far.
We are on the Sensation in June-picked more for price/ports (CUBA) than anything. Kids first cruise (oldest not with us). I know @mevelandry didn't find it to be her taste but I am hoping for the kids first time it will be fine-shorter cruise, 2 port days, 2 sea days. Also hoping the kids clubs are as good on this ship...but so dang excited for Cuba don't really care about the rest...
@we"reofftoneverland that looks like a great cabin!!

Oh don't get me wrong... It was our least favorite ship but we still had a great time and I am 100% sure you will!

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Has anyone been on the Carnival Splendor 7nt Cabo, Mazatlan, PV cruise? This is the only cruise out of SoCal that works for my dates of end of May/1st of June. I don't like cigarette smoke, how prevalent is this? Please give me your opinion on this cruise ship and itinerary.

The older ships are not my personal cup of tea (saying this as I have a booking on Legend only because it is Europe). I'm not a fan of the garish, in your face decor BUT I don't let that determine if I will enjoy the cruise. After a couple days it won't seem so bad! You can avoid the casino if you want by going up or down decks. Personally I just hold my breath and walk quickly.

 

[BrookeMQ]

We loved the breeze. We are heading on the magic at the end of the month. I am a little nervous to go during spring break times. I like to go non peak times But we are going with a large group of family and they picked the ship and date.

We went to Amber Cove last year. Just hubby and I. We did the 27 waterfalls of Damajagua. It was awesome. We used an outside tour company.