CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[hdrolfe]

I've been looking at this ship for a Spring break 2021 cruise. We don't have the school calendar yet, so I have to wait until we do. We've only cruised on DCL. My dd is 11 and doesn't really care about the characters anymore, last cruise we didn't go to any meets, it was great! I showed her all the fun activities that the Carnival ships have. She loves rock climbing, zip-lining, etc so I figured she'd be all excited to go on one of their ships. Although she said it looked fun, she doesn't want to go because there's no Mickey. I couldn't believe it! I reminded her that she doesn't even like going to the meets anymore. She said it doesn't matter. She still likes having them on the ship, lol!! I know she'll love the Carnival ships, so I still plan on booking on them once we have her school calendar. She can bring her Mickey plush with her!

Does she like the Cat in the Hat or Dr Seuss characters? They have a really nice character breakfast (it costs $5 per person) where you get to meet a few of the characters and eat green eggs and ham (or other choices, the steak and eggs is yummy!). The ropes course is a lot of fun, and depending on the ship there are other things, like Horizon and Vista have the sky ride (biking in the sky around the ship) or Mardi Gras that will have a roller coaster! On a ship! So cool. And water slides of course Plus 24 hour ice cream. And pizza.

 

[lklgoodman]

Does she like the Cat in the Hat or Dr Seuss characters? They have a really nice character breakfast (it costs $5 per person) where you get to meet a few of the characters and eat green eggs and ham (or other choices, the steak and eggs is yummy!). The ropes course is a lot of fun, and depending on the ship there are other things, like Horizon and Vista have the sky ride (biking in the sky around the ship) or Mardi Gras that will have a roller coaster! On a ship! So cool. And water slides of course Plus 24 hour ice cream. And pizza.

She never really cared for any of the Dr. Seuss books or the characters. I loved them as a kid, so I will definitely book the breakfast. Plus I've seen pics of some of the food and it looks yummy! I showed her all the pics from the different Carnival ships, I know she'll have a blast. I've told her before, if she doesn't want to go on the vacation dh and I plan, she can stay home with her grandparents and we'll go without her, so far she's never taken us up on it.

 

[lklgoodman]

At 13 (2021), she might sing another song...

True, hopefully she'll still want to do stuff with us and won't only care about being with her friends by then.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

@mevelandry - Can you remove both my upcoming cruises from the list please. We are in a holding pattern at the moment with my oldest son and his wife moving back to the spare bedroom! Ugh. That grocery bill has sure gone up.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

@mevelandry - Can you remove both my upcoming cruises from the list please. We are in a holding pattern at the moment with my oldest son and his wife moving back to the spare bedroom! Ugh. That grocery bill has sure gone up.

I feel for you. Not fun. Hopefully they will get back on their feet soon. They are lucky to have you.

 

[mevelandry]

@mevelandry - Can you remove both my upcoming cruises from the list please. We are in a holding pattern at the moment with my oldest son and his wife moving back to the spare bedroom! Ugh. That grocery bill has sure gone up.

Oops...

Sure! No problem.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

From my Canadian point of view and trying to remain as "not implicated" as possible because it's a delicate subject: Trump reverses what Obama has done during his 8 years as president.

The cuban culture is fascinating and every single friend I have that have been to Cuba has told me that cubans are amazing and very friendly.

That's absolutely true and I realize this topic sort of veers this thread off course, but all through history, that's been the case. Back in WWII the German people were not the problem, it was the government, same today with countries like Iran. The majority of the people there are great and love Americans and the freedoms we have, it's the regime that causes the strife. And so it is with Cuba, the majority of the people there are great, the problem is the govt has a heavy hand these days facilitating radical terrorists from the middle east and also providing aid and assistance in the suppression of freedom in Venezuela. Don't mean to detract from the topic of this thread, but it was brought up so just wanted to expound.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

Just to follow on that, I have a good friend from Venezuela who has pretty much lost everything he has because of the situation there and knows firsthand of the involvement of the Cuban govt in the demise of his country. But again, it's not the people, it's the govt.

 

[mevelandry]

Just to follow on that, I have a good friend from Venezuela who has pretty much lost everything he has because of the situation there and knows firsthand of the involvement of the Cuban govt in the demise of his country. But again, it's not the people, it's the govt.

It really sucks. I wish we could all live in peace.

 

[Monykalyn]

We were majorly impacted as we were 48 hours from our port in Cuba. Too upset and angry and disappointed to say much more. I feel like my whole vacation was a huge waste and carnivals pathetic response (compared to other lines) has soured me on the whole experience. I’ll be looking for land based vacations for a while.
The suite was nice though, my (social anxiety) kid LOVED the kids club- couple nights we were in bed before he was. And I think he had a crush on Erin the CD too. My daughter loved being able to try lots of different things in dining room, and the trivia contests.

Happy sailing to those who still love cruising!!

 

[mevelandry]

We were majorly impacted as we were 48 hours from our port in Cuba. Too upset and angry and disappointed to say much more. I feel like my whole vacation was a huge waste and carnivals pathetic response (compared to other lines) has soured me on the whole experience. I’ll be looking for land based vacations for a while.
The suite was nice though, my (social anxiety) kid LOVED the kids club- couple nights we were in bed before he was. And I think he had a crush on Erin the CD too. My daughter loved being able to try lots of different things in dining room, and the trivia contests.

Happy sailing to those who still love cruising!!

So sorry you had to change your plans at the last minute.

Where did you end up going?

 

[smmco]

We were majorly impacted as we were 48 hours from our port in Cuba. Too upset and angry and disappointed to say much more. I feel like my whole vacation was a huge waste and carnivals pathetic response (compared to other lines) has soured me on the whole experience. I’ll be looking for land based vacations for a while.
The suite was nice though, my (social anxiety) kid LOVED the kids club- couple nights we were in bed before he was. And I think he had a crush on Erin the CD too. My daughter loved being able to try lots of different things in dining room, and the trivia contests.

Happy sailing to those who still love cruising!!

If port changes are going to ruin your vacation then cruising is probably not for you. I don’t meant that in a snarky way. It’s just the way it is. If you have your heart set on a certain port you are better off taking a land trip. We cruise because our kids love it so much. I try picking different itinerary’s with interesting ports, but I know in the back of my mind those ports may not pan out. So far we’ve been really lucky and not missed a port.

 

[Monykalyn]

If port changes are going to ruin your vacation then cruising is probably not for you. I don’t meant that in a snarky way. It’s just the way it is. If you have your heart set on a certain port you are better off taking a land trip. We cruise because our kids love it so much. I try picking different itinerary’s with interesting ports, but I know in the back of my mind those ports may not pan out. So far we’ve been really lucky and not missed a port.

This wasn’t a mere PORT change but an entire destination change that we paid a premium to go to. I get that “port” changes happen . But what I if you’d planned hoped dreamed and planned some more to go to Greece and you had a port change to Cozumel(yes I know that can’t actually happen but as an example)? And part of the bitterness is we DID pay more for a small smelly ship for the sole purpose of the destination - not a”port”. Lesson learned. Also Carnival offer $100 pp OBC for those of us already on the dang ship with NO option to cancel like those who hadn’t sailed. NCL offered 50% off that cruise plus 50% off a future cruise. Again lesson learned. Since I already paid for everything, one sea day to spend $400? For what? Slap in face.
I wish people could grasp the fact a Cuba cruise cost a premium, people booked to go to Cuba. It’s like booking to go see the rain forest and ending up in Key West. Not a mere port change but whole vacation destination alteration.

 

[lklgoodman]

This wasn’t a mere PORT change but an entire destination change that we paid a premium to go to. I get that “port” changes happen . But what I if you’d planned hoped dreamed and planned some more to go to Greece and you had a port change to Cozumel(yes I know that can’t actually happen but as an example)? And part of the bitterness is we DID pay more for a small smelly ship for the sole purpose of the destination - not a”port”. Lesson learned. Also Carnival offer $100 pp OBC for those of us already on the dang ship with NO option to cancel like those who hadn’t sailed. NCL offered 50% off that cruise plus 50% off a future cruise. Again lesson learned. Since I already paid for everything, one sea day to spend $400? For what? Slap in face.
I wish people could grasp the fact a Cuba cruise cost a premium, people booked to go to Cuba. It’s like booking to go see the rain forest and ending up in Key West. Not a mere port change but whole vacation destination alteration.

I'm sorry that happened to you. I admit, when we go on cruises, the destinations aren't that important to us, so for me it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I realize that wasn't the case for you, so I'm sorry it happened, especially for the the way it did. I will say, though that I was surprised that any of the cruise lines gave any sort of compensation, I'm not saying they shouldn't have. I just thought part of the contract we sign before the cruise says that ports can be swapped out or skipped all together and if they are, then oh well, that's just the way it goes. Guess I should do a better job of reading it. In 2018 we were suppose to go to St. Maarten. When we got to the port we were given a letter saying we weren't going there because of a storm, we ended up going to CC instead. We weren't given any discounts or anything else, we weren't charged for any port excursions we had planned there. I didn't expect to get any kind of future discounts or anything else, so I guess that's why I was surprised that the different lines gave compensation for skipping Cuba. I am glad they are offering discounts for those who were affected. I'm sure if St. Maarten was somewhere I had my heart set on going to, I would have felt different about not being able to go there. I was actually happy to skip it for a double dip to CC. Again, I'm sorry this happened to you and ruined your vacation, hopefully in a few years, you will be able to go to Cuba.

 

[smmco]

This wasn’t a mere PORT change but an entire destination change that we paid a premium to go to. I get that “port” changes happen . But what I if you’d planned hoped dreamed and planned some more to go to Greece and you had a port change to Cozumel(yes I know that can’t actually happen but as an example)? And part of the bitterness is we DID pay more for a small smelly ship for the sole purpose of the destination - not a”port”. Lesson learned. Also Carnival offer $100 pp OBC for those of us already on the dang ship with NO option to cancel like those who hadn’t sailed. NCL offered 50% off that cruise plus 50% off a future cruise. Again lesson learned. Since I already paid for everything, one sea day to spend $400? For what? Slap in face.
I wish people could grasp the fact a Cuba cruise cost a premium, people booked to go to Cuba. It’s like booking to go see the rain forest and ending up in Key West. Not a mere port change but whole vacation destination alteration.

I understand. Some people book cruises just to go to castaway and it up disappointed. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be upset. Just pointing out it’s one of the downsides of cruising and there’s not much we can do about it. Cruise lines cover themselves in the cruise contract.

 

[Mika02]

Unfortunately SMMCO is very correct when you cruise things like this Happen and sometimes you have no recourse.

We were on a Carnival cruise 10-11 years ago and there was a Hurricane when we arrived at the port to board we were told that we would not be going to Grand Turk as it was pretty much washed out. We were disappointed as that was the reason for us being on the ship our kids wanted to see Turks and Caicos. We kept it moving though it was now going to be a day at sea, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, and St. Thomas. And we recieved OBC. Of which my ex and I had been to two. In the middle of the trip they announced that a potential storm was coming through and we were not even going to the Bahamas and they added another Day at sea and given us more OBC. That was of course the only port we had not been on. My In laws were livid. We were disappointed but made the best of it. So I definitely understand if you want to not cruise for a while unfortunately it can always happen again on any cruise line.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

This wasn’t a mere PORT change but an entire destination change that we paid a premium to go to. I get that “port” changes happen . But what I if you’d planned hoped dreamed and planned some more to go to Greece and you had a port change to Cozumel(yes I know that can’t actually happen but as an example)? And part of the bitterness is we DID pay more for a small smelly ship for the sole purpose of the destination - not a”port”. Lesson learned. Also Carnival offer $100 pp OBC for those of us already on the dang ship with NO option to cancel like those who hadn’t sailed. NCL offered 50% off that cruise plus 50% off a future cruise. Again lesson learned. Since I already paid for everything, one sea day to spend $400? For what? Slap in face.
I wish people could grasp the fact a Cuba cruise cost a premium, people booked to go to Cuba. It’s like booking to go see the rain forest and ending up in Key West. Not a mere port change but whole vacation destination alteration.

I totally agree with you on this one. Usually I would disagree about a port change, our first Disney Cruise we missed Castaway Cay because of weather, I was bummed for a bit but got over it. If we booked a Cuba cruise and had to miss it, I’d be furious.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

To clarify something on my above post, I do realize it’s not the cruise lines fault, they had zero control over this.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Just got back into Galveston on the Vista, has a great time, will post a review and pics later.
Still on her, they are just starting the debarkation process.

 

[mevelandry]

If port changes are going to ruin your vacation then cruising is probably not for you. I don’t meant that in a snarky way. It’s just the way it is. If you have your heart set on a certain port you are better off taking a land trip. We cruise because our kids love it so much. I try picking different itinerary’s with interesting ports, but I know in the back of my mind those ports may not pan out. So far we’ve been really lucky and not missed a port.

I feel like it's a given for most experienced cruisers that they know ports can change or be cancelled. They are allowed to be disappointed if they were really hoping to visit one of them. Thankfully, a change of ports don't happen that often.

That being said, I've always felt like Cuba for US citizens is in its own "niche". In this case, it's not simply a port change but a complete ban so land trips over there are not even an option + they paid an extra charge specifically to go there. I'd be pissed.