CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[mevelandry]

We’ve recently watched a Carnival Magic video (from Cruise Radio). We fell in love. It reminds me of the Vista. I hope our September 2021 will happen. I’d love to experience that ship.

 

[hdrolfe]

We’ve recently watched a Carnival Magic video (from Cruise Radio). We fell in love. It reminds me of the Vista. I hope our September 2021 will happen. I’d love to experience that ship.

We really liked the Magic. We have one booked on Horizon for 2023 (well 2 really, back to back). Booked as far out as possible so hopefully things will be ok by then. I am sure Sept 2021 will happen, though who knows what restrictions might be in place then. Hopefully ones that still allow for a fun trip and a vacation.

 

[belle032]

We’ve recently watched a Carnival Magic video (from Cruise Radio). We fell in love. It reminds me of the Vista. I hope our September 2021 will happen. I’d love to experience that ship.

We got married on the Magic in 2017, so I'm a little partial But I really do think she's one of the most subdued and prettiest ships in terms of the atrium and public rooms. Hope to sail on her again in the future!

 

[mevelandry]

Bad news: Carnival has just announced that PC And Miami cruises were cancelled until the end of November.

 

[mevelandry]

We really liked the Magic. We have one booked on Horizon for 2023 (well 2 really, back to back). Booked as far out as possible so hopefully things will be ok by then. I am sure Sept 2021 will happen, though who knows what restrictions might be in place then. Hopefully ones that still allow for a fun trip and a vacation.

I can’t wait to experience the Magic. I’m so used to wear masks and respect all the other measures that I don’t mind having to do them (even if we get the vaccine in between). I wouldn’t be surprised to see some long term changes happening in the cruise world, which will make cruising safer than it ever was.

We have also booked the Horizon for 2022. 8 nights which would be our longest cruise ever. I always thought 6 days were the perfect amount but we‘ll see if we get hooked.

 

[mevelandry]

We got married on the Magic in 2017, so I'm a little partial But I really do think she's one of the most subdued and prettiest ships in terms of the atrium and public rooms. Hope to sail on her again in the future!

It really looks special and has a layout that I loved on Vista (with all the exterior areas on Deck 5)

 

[lklgoodman]

Not completely cruise related, but just got an email from Southwest and they are starting service to Miami on 11/15. Good news for people sailing out of Miami if they fly Southwest. You now have another option besides just FLL and transporting.

Thanks for posting this. Our next cruise is out of Miami. We always fly on SW, so if we can go on our cruise flying on SW to Miami will be great. I get emails from SW, but have been deleting them without looking at them, guess I should start looking at them.

 

[mevelandry]

Good morning group!

Side note: While I haven't cruised with MSC yet, I have to admit... Their customer service (by phone) is extremely efficient. Probably the best I have received so far.

Their current Happy Thanks Thanksgiving Canada promo lowered the price of our April 2021 cruise big time:

-484$ for 2 in an inside cabin!

By comparison:

-Carnival is 755$ for 2 in an inside cabin.

-There are no 3 nights departing from Miami for that week-end on DCL so I priced the one departing from PC and DCL is... Wait for it... 2664$!!!

(As my husband said, we could do 3 to 5 cruises for that amount).

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Woo Hoo! I might try to go early December
https://www.travelmarketreport.com/...xGt4ZMbt4OsYaKrK7QNzph4#.X5xn0GNZKNq.facebook

 

[hdrolfe]

Carnival cancelled the few remaining cruises for the year I believe they are hoping to get their plans in place for January. I think RCL is the same... fingers crossed there will be cruises next year!!

 

[belle032]

Carnival cancelled the few remaining cruises for the year I believe they are hoping to get their plans in place for January. I think RCL is the same... fingers crossed there will be cruises next year!!

I think every major cruise line has done this too. I first saw NCL, then CCL followed. I had my fingers crossed they were going to keep those few December sailings, but nope. I'm hoping the new year will bring some "test" sailings so we can get a better idea of how cruising will look for the near future.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Just checking in with my Carnival peeps! I was playing around on port calendars and found Pride scheduled at a couple more European ports for 2022. We talked it over with DS and all decided to push his graduation trip back a year to 2022. None of us is comfortable getting on a plane or ship even next summer (assuming UK/Europe lets us in without quarantine). I don't know what Carnival will do about the Europe cruises for 2021 but we plan to book for 2022 and if they haven't cancelled prior to the final payment then we'll take the hit with the ES fee and move the funds.

 

[mevelandry]

Hi guys, also wanted to check how you were doing. I’m also following the elections saga (from Canada) and I’m thinking of you all. I hope you are doing great despite all the stress.

What a time to be alive!

 

[mevelandry]

Just checking in with my Carnival peeps! I was playing around on port calendars and found Pride scheduled at a couple more European ports for 2022. We talked it over with DS and all decided to push his graduation trip back a year to 2022. None of us is comfortable getting on a plane or ship even next summer (assuming UK/Europe lets us in without quarantine). I don't know what Carnival will do about the Europe cruises for 2021 but we plan to book for 2022 and if they haven't cancelled prior to the final payment then we'll take the hit with the ES fee and move the funds.

We are starting to talk about Europe in 2022 or 2023 (if everything goes well). What is your itinerary?

 

[trvlgirlmq]

We are starting to talk about Europe in 2022 or 2023 (if everything goes well). What is your itinerary?

DS is set on British Isles with time in London. He has even said he doesn’t care what cruise line we go on that the destination is more important! I tried for years to get everyone to try another line but they were all stuck on Carnival. Now it’s meh

 

[belle032]

DS is set on British Isles with time in London. He has even said he doesn’t care what cruise line we go on that the destination is more important! I tried for years to get everyone to try another line but they were all stuck on Carnival. Now it’s meh

We loved our British Isles cruise on DCL last year BUT I will say I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed it just as much on another cruise line. So I see where your son is coming from! It's such a jam-packed port-intensive itinerary that the ship seems like more of a mode of transportation. In the Caribbean it seems like a much more important part of the vacation.

However, I will also say we did experience some little bouts of boredom during our sea days on DCL. It's too cold to sit by the pool and the small hot tubs were always packed to capacity, there's no casino (which I don't care about, but DH missed), no beverage package so sitting in a lounge with a coffee or drink seemed a little harder on the wallet (again, I know not for everyone), and it seemed like the daily activities were overwhelmingly trivia and bingo. And bingo is expensive! The ship seemed to be geared towards an older crowd as well, but that's to be expected a bit I think.

Once we build up our vacation time a bit, we are defintely looking at one of those longer CCL Journey sailings to Iceland and other parts of the British Isles/Northern Europe. NCL also has some intriguing European/Med itineraries, but I haven't really looked into RCL. Might be worth checking all options for this sailing! You'll have a wonderful time regardless!

 

[mevelandry]

Good morning guys!

I don't know about you but all these news about vaccines make me fairly confident that our short Easter week-end cruise is going to happen.

To celebrate, we have decided to take advantage of the low price offered by MSC to upgrade to a balcony cabin (with conversion, a total of 670$ USD for 2 adults) which I believe is --by far-- the lowest price we've ever had for a balcony cabin.

Now... *Fingers crossed*

 

[bcwife76]

Good morning guys!

I don't know about you but all these news about vaccines make me fairly confident that our short Easter week-end cruise is going to happen.

To celebrate, we have decided to take advantage of the low price offered by MSC to upgrade to a balcony cabin (with conversion, a total of 670$ USD for 2 adults) which I believe is --by far-- the lowest price we've ever had for a balcony cabin.

Now... *Fingers crossed*

I'd really like to rebook the Mardi Gras for April but I doubt the CDN govt is removing the quarantine act until much further into 2021 and alas, we cannot do the quarantine (I can, my husband can't)....

 

[mevelandry]

I'd really like to rebook the Mardi Gras for April but I doubt the CDN govt is removing the quarantine act until much further into 2021 and alas, we cannot do the quarantine (I can, my husband can't)....

The Alberta Program that they are currently trying makes me hopeful that the quarantine time will be much shorter soon. Especially with all the rapid tests that they have ordered and that we will receive in the next few weeks.

 

[bcwife76]

The Alberta Program that they are currently trying makes me hopeful that the quarantine time will be much shorter soon. Especially with all the rapid tests that they have ordered and that we will receive in the next few weeks.

Yes it's good news for Alberta and I see Rob Ford is pushing for it for Ontario as well. However, I'm in BC and they are very against international travel starting up anytime soon so I don't see our premier pushing for this at all I think we are going to be stuck in BC for spring break and easter break and unless you ski (we don't) we don't have many options for travel in BC or Canada during winter.