CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[starvenger]

16+. But I believe that the solarium cafe is open to everyone.

 

[tinkerone]

16+. But I believe that the solarium cafe is open to everyone.

The bonus to that though is the kids do not need to go through the adult only area to get to the solarium café. I know that lots of people get very heated when the children walk through the adult only area on the DCL ships even though it is sometimes hard to avoid. Its a true adult only area.
Not a lot of children do utilize the solarium café (at least from what we have seen). Crew members said it was because the burger/taco/buffet places are at the other end of the ship so most kids go that way. We saw a few at dinner but not like the MDR's.

 

[hdrolfe]

Here is a Carnival question...which ships have adult-only pools? I know some have an adult relaxation area without a pool, and I know Vista class ships (like Horizon) have Havana rooms with a pool that is exclusive to that area (no under 12) until 7PM. Or what other lines have adult areas with pools? Not Haven, can't afford that. But pricy or not, we spent a lot of time in the DCL adult pool last summer and DH really enjoys his pool time--we raised our kids and like to stay away from "kid soup" pools.

Conquest (Conquest, Glory, Liberty, Valor, Freedom) Class have a pool at the aft that is adults only, as well as Splendor & Victory I believe. On Dream class the aft pool is not adults only. I believe all of their ships have a Serenity area. Most have hot tubs, I think Sunshine has a pool in the area as well (so that would be adult only).

 

[mevelandry]

The new ships Vista, Horizon, etc all have aft adult-only pools too.

 

[hdrolfe]

The new ships Vista, Horizon, etc all have aft adult-only pools too.

I don't think they are. But I haven't been on those ships yet. I know Magic, Breeze and Dream are NOT adult only. Everything I have read is that the aft pools on Horizon and Vista are family friendly, and not just for adults.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Day 5: San Juan

We ordered continental breakfast to the cabins on San Juan day. No charge. We bring ones and tip $2/cabin for this. Carnival does a great job with room service continental breakfast. Forgot to take a photo. Great presentation. Coffee, hot chocolate, cereal, milk, pastries.
We had purchased kites at home from Walmart and were planning on flying them by El Morro and going to see the 2 forts. When you dock in San Juan and walk through the port exit, there are many people who actively try to sell you "tours." For us, they kept saying, "a tour for the family." It takes a bit to walk through them. Lots of people at folding tables selling things too. Reminds me a bit of nyc for some reason. Very entrepreneurial in San Juan! Our teen asked if I wanted a Gucci bag. No thanks, I'm not a Gucci girl real or fake. Lol.


After walking through the crowds by the port we finally started toward El Morro and the heat hit us. We had forced Mr. Camp Ocean to come with us with the lure of a star wars kite, and after our 20 minute walk we were hot and sweaty and the kids had finished all the water we had brought and there was, on this cliff by the sea... no... wind. Ugh. We set up a couple of the kites anyway and ran around in circles and... nothing. So we went to see the fort, and the kids' were momentarily interested by our Pirates of the Caribbean comparison but were done about five minutes later. We got the National Park passport books for the kids last summer, so we got them stamped. The entrance fee at the fort is $7, kids free, and they do not advertise this at all but if you save your receipt you can use it to get into the other fort that is about 3 blocks from the port, or vice versa. After we walked around we headed back to the port with lots of complaining along the way, saw the umbrella street and then we grabbed a bite to eat on the ship and dropped both kids at Camp Ocean. We were planning on going to the chocolate shop and finding something to eat in old San Juan, but we've learned not to fight the power.

Views from El Morro. Awesome.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Day 5 Cont....

After sitting around for an hour on the ship in port while dh did some work, we decided to head back out without the young kids and go to the other fort. It was 1:30 and the ship was leaving at 3:30. We made it back with a half hour to spare. There was one other ship in port, the HAL Oosterdam and unlike the NCL and Princess ships the day before, which were similarly sized to the Breeze, the HAL ship looked smaller ( but refined).

When we got back on the ship, we picked up the kids and took them to the waterslides.


We sat on the funky Carnival chairs by the waterslides and watched both the sailaway and watersliders. After about an hour they kids were done and wanted to shower and get pizza. They then went back to CO and we ate dinner in the main dining room with our teen. Our server was great and from Serbia. After dinner, our teen went to see Jurassic World Dive in Movies. We walked around and picked up the kids.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

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

Unfortunately we did not see the pizza place. Sounds great, so it's on the list for next time! We did not explore enough. We walked all the way to the left down the beach because I had read there was some decent snorkeling that way.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

It sounds like Carnival has a new "boarding zone" concept? (I have never seen this before...) We are assigned a boarding zone on the boarding pass.

We have been assigned C1.

From what I understand, A1 is the first group to board the ship.

Is there a table of some sort explaining when we'll be allowed to board? I'm lost. LOL

p.s.: We are embarking at Port Canaveral.

We had the zones on our passes too but just boarded right after checking in.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Do I? I've only been on 7 cruises so far...

The pizza was definitely great. Also, I don't know if you like meat and if splurging on a 20$ steak is something you'd do but DH and I tried the 20$ upgrade from the Steakhouse in the MDR and we liked it so much we've had it twice nights in a row.

And, the staff on the Sensation was most likely the best staff we've ever had.

Who will be your cruise director?

We will try this with the steak next time instead of the steakhouse. They also served prime rib 2x in the main dining room on our cruise. Lobster one night and flat iron steak every night. On lobster night they actually had surf and turf with filet mignon which I do not remember them having before (but maybe I just missed it). It was delicious. And also for steak lovers, the sea day brunch has steak and eggs, one of my Carnival favorites. They have the steak and eggs at the dr. Seuss breakfast also. We've been to that 3x now and I only noticed the steak this last cruise. I just get to the french toast which is like the second thing on the menu and order that every time lol.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Day 6: Grand Turk

For the first time on Carnival cruise lines, we opted for breakfast in the main dining room and, unlike the sea day brunch which is well run, service was slow. We almost left at one point to go to the buffet but made the mistake of staying. Live and learn. Only one of our kids came with us, and afterwards we picked up the youngest from CO (he had gone there pretty much first thing in the morning) to see if he wanted breakfast at the buffet. He ate a few things at breakfast and told us he didn't want to go to the beach and wanted to stay at CO instead! Well, big surprise. And now, the other one wanted to stay at CO too.
We docked in Grand Turk around 11am. Our port time was a bit random 11:30-5:30. The CCL Sunshine had arrived just before us but they had not disembarked and we could hear over their loudspeakers that they would have to wait to do so for us to dock. Unfortunate, but I think they arrived late and we arrived early. They seemed to have issues throughout the day. We saw ambulances drive up to the ship twice and when we were leaving they were still docked. You could hear their Captain announce that departure would be delayed due to a medical emergency and that it would impact arrival time in Canaveral.

The 2 ships docked side by side.

Grand Turk, as people have reported, has become less idyllic than it once was. The umbrella staging has become more extensive and almost reaches Jack's shack.

We just found a spot on the beach to drop our stuff and got in the water. We hung out and talked for maybe an hour and a half and clouds with light rain rolled in. We headed back to the ship. Our teen dragged us to Ron Jon's on the way. Actually I think that's the only reason he came to the beach at all. I personally think the prices in there are ridiculous, but I also buy our wdw souvenirs at the Orlando outlets. So we bought one t-shirt at Ron Jon and 3 other t-shirts at the souvenir shop next door where they had $5 shirts on one wall. Apparently everyone likes Ron Jon's because every other person on the ship was wearing a RJ shirt the following day.
We showered when we got back on the ship and checked on the kids and had coffee. We went through almost three of these cards on the ship. They don't always hand them out, so you might have to ask for one.

We ate at the buffet that night and watched the dive in movie. I think it was skyfall. As you can see we are boring cruisers and do a lot of not much. The first day I always go through all of the days and put hearts by so many things on the app and then end up doing maybe 1/5 of the things I have marked. We did see a second comedian and I think it was that night. It was standing room only and we arrived right as it started. But very funny. Unfortunately that was the last comedy show we saw-- even though I had lots of other hearts next to comedy shows. They had a lot of them. I think they have upped the number because they are so popular. I noticed a couple of night there were 4.
One other thing about GT. Not sure if you noticed in one photo you can see that to the right of the dock at GT is much more peaceful. Harder to swim there but a whole different vibe.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

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!!

We haven't been on Sensation, but Cuba sounds great! The oldest ship we have been on is the Conquest and it was my favorite ship. We've done 4 Carnival at this point, Vista, Conquest, dream and now breeze. I wouldn't hesitate to try any one of their ships, but that's just me!

 

[mevelandry]

I don't think they are. But I haven't been on those ships yet. I know Magic, Breeze and Dream are NOT adult only. Everything I have read is that the aft pools on Horizon and Vista are family friendly, and not just for adults.

I think it was adult only when I sailed on the Vista in October 2017 but I could be wrong. I don't remember seeing kids around.

 

[mevelandry]

Day 6: Grand Turk

For the first time on Carnival cruise lines, we opted for breakfast in the main dining room and, unlike the sea day brunch which is well run, service was slow. We almost left at one point to go to the buffet but made the mistake of staying. Live and learn. Only one of our kids came with us, and afterwards we picked up the youngest from CO (he had gone there pretty much first thing in the morning) to see if he wanted breakfast at the buffet. He ate a few things at breakfast and told us he didn't want to go to the beach and wanted to stay at CO instead! Well, big surprise. And now, the other one wanted to stay at CO too.
We docked in Grand Turk around 11am. Our port time was a bit random 11:30-5:30. The CCL Sunshine had arrived just before us but they had not disembarked and we could hear over their loudspeakers that they would have to wait to do so for us to dock. Unfortunate, but I think they arrived late and we arrived early. They seemed to have issues throughout the day. We saw ambulances drive up to the ship twice and when we were leaving they were still docked. You could hear their Captain announce that departure would be delayed due to a medical emergency and that it would impact arrival time in Canaveral.

The 2 ships docked side by side.
View attachment 388931
Grand Turk, as people have reported, has become less idyllic than it once was. The umbrella staging has become more extensive and almost reaches Jack's shack. View attachment 388932 View attachment 388932

We just found a spot on the beach to drop our stuff and got in the water. We hung out and talked for maybe an hour and a half and clouds with light rain rolled in. We headed back to the ship. Our teen dragged us to Ron Jon's on the way. Actually I think that's the only reason he came to the beach at all. I personally think the prices in there are ridiculous, but I also buy our wdw souvenirs at the Orlando outlets. So we bought one t-shirt at Ron Jon and 3 other t-shirts at the souvenir shop next door where they had $5 shirts on one wall. Apparently everyone likes Ron Jon's because every other person on the ship was wearing a RJ shirt the following day.
We showered when we got back on the ship and checked on the kids and had coffee. We went through almost three of these cards on the ship. They don't always hand them out, so you might have to ask for one. View attachment 388937

We ate at the buffet that night and watched the dive in movie. I think it was skyfall. As you can see we are boring cruisers and do a lot of not much. The first day I always go through all of the days and put hearts by so many things on the app and then end up doing maybe 1/5 of the things I have marked. We did see a second comedian and I think it was that night. It was standing room only and we arrived right as it started. But very funny. Unfortunately that was the last comedy show we saw-- even though I had lots of other hearts next to comedy shows. They had a lot of them. I think they have upped the number because they are so popular. I noticed a couple of night there were 4.
One other thing about GT. Not sure if you noticed in one photo you can see that to the right of the dock at GT is much more peaceful. Harder to swim there but a whole different vibe.

Woh. That is a lot of umbrellas (much more than when we were there in October). Could it be because there was two ships at the port?

 

[trvlgirlmq]

I don't think they are. But I haven't been on those ships yet. I know Magic, Breeze and Dream are NOT adult only. Everything I have read is that the aft pools on Horizon and Vista are family friendly, and not just for adults.

That is correct, aft pools on Dream and Vista are for all. The only Serenity areas that have a pool are Sunshine and Legend that I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[daisyx3]

I don't think they are. But I haven't been on those ships yet. I know Magic, Breeze and Dream are NOT adult only. Everything I have read is that the aft pools on Horizon and Vista are family friendly, and not just for adults.

I had a booking on Horizon (that I canceled) in the Havana section. The aft Havana pool is only for Havana guests until 7PM. You can't have anyone under 12 to book a Havana room. So not completely adult, but no one wearing swim diapers.

 

[hdrolfe]

I had a booking on Horizon (that I canceled) in the Havana section. The aft Havana pool is only for Havana guests until 7PM. You can't have anyone under 12 to book a Havana room. So not completely adult, but no one wearing swim diapers.

Agreed that the Havana pool is mainly adults only. I'm talking about the Tides pool on Lido deck, near the pizza at the back.

 

[mevelandry]

I had a booking on Horizon (that I canceled) in the Havana section. The aft Havana pool is only for Havana guests until 7PM. You can't have anyone under 12 to book a Havana room. So not completely adult, but no one wearing swim diapers.

And the pool looks amazing. On the Vista, we could see it from the Aft pool area. Always empty.

 

[belle032]

Conquest (Conquest, Glory, Liberty, Valor, Freedom) Class have a pool at the aft that is adults only, as well as Splendor & Victory I believe. On Dream class the aft pool is not adults only. I believe all of their ships have a Serenity area. Most have hot tubs, I think Sunshine has a pool in the area as well (so that would be adult only).

I can confirm the Conquest’s aft pool and hot tubs were adults only as we just sailed on her in September. There were even crew members stationed by the main door to reinforce the policy. It was so great to have that space.

When we got married on the Magic in 2017, we were really disappointed to see that there was no adults only pool. And it was sometimes difficult to even find a kids-free hot tub. Not sure why the newer ships don’t have the adults only pool amenity, which I know for a fact would be much appreciated!

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Conquest (Conquest, Glory, Liberty, Valor, Freedom) Class have a pool at the aft that is adults only, as well as Splendor & Victory I believe. On Dream class the aft pool is not adults only. I believe all of their ships have a Serenity area. Most have hot tubs, I think Sunshine has a pool in the area as well (so that would be adult only).

Spirit Class (spirit, miracle, legend, pride) also have adult only pools in the aft in their Serenity areas. I love that class of ship - cruise on the Pride out of Baltimore again this summer.