CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[mevelandry]

On another note it looks like they are gearing up to cancel August & September sailings. No longer available to book and JH cryptically said they are looking at their operations now.

They say they will announce their plans on monday but it sounds like all the cruise lines are cancelling until Sept. 15?

 

[mevelandry]

(...) But then again, we enjoy the Conquest class and they seem so much smaller and older than other ships now!

Farcus...

 

[auntlynne]

Hi auntlynne!

...

I love the afternoon tea. I wish more cruise lines would offer it.

...

What did you think of the music? I believe you did not go to see the musical shows?

I got used to afternoon tea on a cruise when sailing Princess in Alaska. Now I miss it when I have a day at sea and nobody is offering me sandwiches and scones.

Side note: no other cruise line has fan info like DCL. Trying to find the scoop on rooms, entertainment, dining, is so hard for other cruises. Since Carnival owns Princess, I had a heads up to look for tea.

I didn’t even bother with the shows. I didn’t enjoy them on Princess, and skip some on DCL (Villians, Twice Charmed, Hercules), so made a calculated decision and used my time relaxing. Probably relaxed more than on most cruises.

 

[auntlynne]

...
Activities are definitely a matter of taste. I honestly felt the same on the Disney Magic with the lack of activities. It felt like bingo & trivia were your options during the day. Maybe it's a smaller ship thing? It was lacking and we did experience a little boredom some days. ...

We sailed the first EBTA on DCL; boy, what a snoozer for activities. The Navigator looked like a blank sheet of paper. Four years later, I did a PC, and they had learned some tricks, like Hide and Seek with the officers.

I find most cruises to be light on the activity side, no matter the carrier. I mostly like cruising as a floating hotel & transport to see new places; on a port heavy cruise, I barely have the need for shipboard activities. Maybe as I get older, I will look for relaxing chill-out itineraries. I always love trivia and Disney’s production shows plus current run movies. And as long as dinner continues to take two hours... that takes up a good chunk of time. Now, maybe one day I will get to the gym.?

 

[mevelandry]

I got used to afternoon tea on a cruise when sailing Princess in Alaska. Now I miss it when I have a day at sea and nobody is offering me sandwiches and scones.

Side note: no other cruise line has fan info like DCL. Trying to find the scoop on rooms, entertainment, dining, is so hard for other cruises. Since Carnival owns Princess, I had a heads up to look for tea.

I didn’t even bother with the shows. I didn’t enjoy them on Princess, and skip some on DCL (Villians, Twice Charmed, Hercules), so made a calculated decision and used my time relaxing. Probably relaxed more than on most cruises.

I find that Facebook groups are pretty much essentials if you want to get as many info as you want on cruise lines. I come here for DCL and Carnival but on Facebook for Royal Caribbean (plus Royal Caribbean Blog and podcast) and Norwegian.

 

[hdrolfe]

Given the extension for cruises to start to mid-September, it looks like I will be cancelling my December cruises. My PIF is in September and if they haven't started going then I don't think I will be comfortable paying them off, not having any examples of how it's going. I will lose my deposits, but it's not a huge amount of money, and the only problem is I don't know when I will be able to book anything else. I get it's a first world problem, but it just makes me sad. We weren't able to get away for March break which is when this whole isolation thing started, I wish we could get away this coming winter. I may look into an all inclusive instead, but I just don't know how it could be as fun as a cruise or Disney!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Given the extension for cruises to start to mid-September, it looks like I will be cancelling my December cruises. My PIF is in September and if they haven't started going then I don't think I will be comfortable paying them off, not having any examples of how it's going. I will lose my deposits, but it's not a huge amount of money, and the only problem is I don't know when I will be able to book anything else. I get it's a first world problem, but it just makes me sad. We weren't able to get away for March break which is when this whole isolation thing started, I wish we could get away this coming winter. I may look into an all inclusive instead, but I just don't know how it could be as fun as a cruise or Disney!

We just found out our August cruise is being cancelled. We have a December as a back up but who knows what will become of that. We want to do something in the next couple weeks before my wife has to go back to work, but there is just nothing to do, everything is closed. It’s really depressing. We can’t go out of the country even if we were able to find a place because the state department has our kids passports. We sent them in for renewal on 3/16, then everything shut down, it’s very frustrating.

 

[wombat_5606]

We just found out our August cruise is being cancelled. We have a December as a back up but who knows what will become of that. We want to do something in the next couple weeks before my wife has to go back to work, but there is just nothing to do, everything is closed. It’s really depressing. We can’t go out of the country even if we were able to find a place because the state department has our kids passports. We sent them in for renewal on 3/16, then everything shut down, it’s very frustrating.

It's not even easy to travel from state to state.

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/im...-still-have-covid-19-travel-restrictions.html

 

[hdrolfe]

Oh, my kid's passport! It expired in December and I'd planned to go in on March break to get it renewed but it was closed. Shoot.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

It's not even easy to travel from state to state.

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/im...-still-have-covid-19-travel-restrictions.html

Thanks for the info, luckily at this point we can still go to California.

 

[belle032]

It's so quiet! Ughhh I miss cruising! Does anyone have any 2020 cruise plans left or are y'all choosing to wait until 2021?

 

[trvlgirlmq]

It's so quiet! Ughhh I miss cruising! Does anyone have any 2020 cruise plans left or are y'all choosing to wait until 2021?

Just waiting for my October cruise to be cancelled so I can request my refund! Looks like I won't be traveling or having a vacation until at least summer 2021. I am going crazy but I refuse to go to the beach in Florida and come home with the virus.

 

[hdrolfe]

I haven't officially cancelled my December cruises but unless things shift as suddenly back as they did getting to this state, I don't see them happening.

 

[tinkerone]

It's so quiet! Ughhh I miss cruising! Does anyone have any 2020 cruise plans left or are y'all choosing to wait until 2021?

We moved our October B2B on Symphony of the Seas to 2021. I figured it will not be sailing anyways and with their 'lift and shift' it was soooo easy. Not one dollar more either. We even managed to get the same cabin which was a bonus.

 

[auntlynne]

It's so quiet! Ughhh I miss cruising! Does anyone have any 2020 cruise plans left or are y'all choosing to wait until 2021?

Last week, we PIF a Nov 7 Magic cruise, 5 nights, San Juan - Antigua - St Thomas - CC - Miami. We are going or getting the FCC to apply to Sep 2021 Magic to Norway.

DCL pricing now makes cruise planning a search for the best price. I am stuck in 2011, when 11 nights in the Med was $2K (2 pax) for an inside; I’m still not used to current pricing

 

[hdrolfe]

From John Heald:
Over the next few weeks you will see us start to post cruises for 2022.
Later today you will see:
 Carnival Dream
6 & 8 day Galveston
Carnival Glory
7 & 14 day New Orleans
Carnival Horizon
6 & 8 day Miami
Carnival Paradise
4 & 5 day Tampa
Carnival Vista
7 day Galveston
There will also be 14 day Journey Cruises from New Orleans and Galveston
They will show on Carnival.com later tonight so please speak with your Travel Advisor and take a look at some of the great itineraries. And there is much more to come

 

[auntlynne]

I was all excited - cruises for DCL in 2022. Kept reading and saw it was Carnival. Bummed.

I’m not sure why I care - I keep saying this year’s cruise might be my last. Then I booked next September because it was good pricing for DCL to Norway. And I am sitting on a Celebrity reservation for May 2021 to Alaska, That was for a first attempt on Celebrity. I have friends who were DCL fans who jumped lines and had good things to say about Celebrity.

If COVID hangs around like the 1918 flu did, I may end up living out my threat of never cruising again. I have been so fortunate to see as much of the world as I have, it won’t be as sad as it would be for those who put it off for real retirement.

 

[AquaDame]

I was all excited - cruises for DCL in 2022. Kept reading and saw it was Carnival. Bummed.

I’m not sure why I care - I keep saying this year’s cruise might be my last. Then I booked next September because it was good pricing for DCL to Norway. And I am sitting on a Celebrity reservation for May 2021 to Alaska, That was for a first attempt on Celebrity. I have friends who were DCL fans who jumped lines and had good things to say about Celebrity.

If COVID hangs around like the 1918 flu did, I may end up living out my threat of never cruising again. I have been so fortunate to see as much of the world as I have, it won’t be as sad as it would be for those who put it off for real retirement.

1918 was a couple of years... right? When I go looking it says it was worldwide from 1918-1919. I'm hopeful things can resume as normal by 2022 at least.

We're very grateful that we happened to spend the last few years going on some major trips and were always going to be more chill for 2020. The only real loss was a trip to WDW/New Orleans in October and a trip we have planned for May of next year is now on steps but can be moved if needed (also non-refundable though.. ugh). I had been feeling uneasy about our whole 'travel while you're young!' motto but now I can't regret a thing. Knocking out China in 2018 and East Africa/South Africa last summer may have been one of the best decisions we've made to date, even though we went BIG for our last trip. We are still paying off some credit for the safari... made much easier now by sitting at home. I can't imagine when we'd be able to get back now that tensions are high(er).

 

[auntlynne]

1918 was a couple of years... right? When I go looking it says it was worldwide from 1918-1919. I'm hopeful things can resume as normal by 2022 at least.

We're very grateful that we happened to spend the last few years going on some major trips and were always going to be more chill for 2020. The only real loss was a trip to WDW/New Orleans in October and a trip we have planned for May of next year is now on steps but can be moved if needed (also non-refundable though.. ugh). I had been feeling uneasy about our whole 'travel while you're young!' motto but now I can't regret a thing. Knocking out China in 2018 and East Africa/South Africa last summer may have been one of the best decisions we've made to date, even though we went BIG for our last trip. We are still paying off some credit for the safari... made much easier now by sitting at home. I can't imagine when we'd be able to get back now that tensions are high(er).

I have been so fortunate to have traveled before age 55 (and then was sick for several years). Now much better - and still have a functioning mind to remember (and relive) all the fun of seeing the world. There’s still much of the world I could see (or see again), but I have done so much more than the majority of people, living or dead. Just one cruise throws most of us in that category

Yes, the 1918 flu dragged on for over two years (Feb 1918 - April 2020, per Wikipedia). One hundred years later, we basically picked up where That one ended. Time will tell if / how this generation handles such a life changer.

 

[mevelandry]

It's so quiet! Ughhh I miss cruising! Does anyone have any 2020 cruise plans left or are y'all choosing to wait until 2021?

I still have our reservation for December 2020 but seeing all the spikes in COVID cases everywhere in the USA, I am 100% expecting them to cancel our flights/sailings before Sept 15. My friends want to wait to see what happens but on my side, my hopes are at 0%.