CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[cruiser21]

No change. But I had originally booked the Paradise for Key West/Cozumel. So my Vista cruise to Jamaica/Grand Cayman/Cozumel is already a "change of plan". And my Could 9 Spa room too. Lol

After this one we'll try to figure out what our next vacation is going to be (in April). We already have the Anthem of the Seas booked for a Bermuda cruise in October 2018.

April? How about the Horizon out of Barcelona?

 

[PrincessTrisha]

No change. But I had originally booked the Paradise for Key West/Cozumel. So my Vista cruise to Jamaica/Grand Cayman/Cozumel is already a "change of plan". And my Could 9 Spa room too. Lol

After this one we'll try to figure out what our next vacation is going to be (in April). We already have the Anthem of the Seas booked for a Bermuda cruise in October 2018.

How about the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore? Freeport, Princess Cays (private island) and Grand Turk is the most common itinerary in April on the Pride - though they also have 1 cruise to Bermuda and 1 to Half Moon Cay instead of Princess Cays.

Baltimore is easy to get to either driving or flying (especially if you cross over to the US - Baltimore is the hub for Southwest).

 

[mevelandry]

April? How about the Horizon out of Barcelona?

Oh dear! I wish I had the money to buy the plane tickets! With the Vista coming in October and the Bermuda cruise for October 2018, I don't think we can squeeze enough money for a Europe cruise.

I'm also dreaming of a Greek Isles cruise.

But who knows... Maybe I'll get lucky until then.

 

[mevelandry]

How about the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore? Freeport, Princess Cays (private island) and Grand Turk is the most common itinerary in April on the Pride - though they also have 1 cruise to Bermuda and 1 to Half Moon Cay instead of Princess Cays.

Baltimore is easy to get to either driving or flying (especially if you cross over to the US - Baltimore is the hub for Southwest).

Never sailed out of Baltimore... I guess it depends of the price of the plane tickets from Montreal to Baltimore... EDIT: It's more expensive than Orlando/Tampa but cheaper than Miami. Good to know!

Princess Cays and Grand Turk sounds pretty nice.

Edit: I just googled the Pride. WOH. That is one pretty ship.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Never sailed out of Baltimore... I guess it depends of the price of the plane tickets from Montreal to Baltimore... EDIT: It's more expensive than Orlando/Tampa but cheaper than Miami. Good to know!

Princess Cays and Grand Turk sounds pretty nice.

Edit: I just googled the Pride. WOH. That is one pretty ship.

If you're really looking to save money - you can drive down. It's 9 hours from Montreal to Baltimore (so a day's drive). Parking at port is $105 for the week or there are hotels that offer the park and cruise.

 

[mevelandry]

If you're really looking to save money - you can drive down. It's 9 hours from Montreal to Baltimore (so a day's drive). Parking at port is $105 for the week or there are hotels that offer the park and cruise.

No driver's license.

In Montreal the public transportation is pretty good. DH never felt the need to learn to drive and I sold my car and let go of my own driver's license 10 years ago.

Now... 10 years ago I was not travelling so, if I had to do it all over again I would have kept the license.

It would cost me a lot of money to be able to get a new license. Bleh.

 

[hdrolfe]

We are going to do the British Colonial Hilton in April when we take the kids over spring break. It was really appealing because it was walkable (my kids still need carseats so I don't want them in taxis in Nassau), and because it includes a food/drink credit. We just booked Breezes, so I'll be sure to report about it when we get back and I'll post about BCH when we do that in April. My husband and I love all-inclusive resorts, we've been to resorts in both Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and the idea of combining crusing with an AI seems like the best of both worlds!

I've done the BCH with my son twice. We like it because we can walk there. It's a quieter beach because it's only for hotel guests. They have snorkeling and kayaks, though we didn't really do either one! The food was fine, we spent the food/drink credits and enjoyed it. It's also cool to see the ships right there, we got to see one back in to the docks.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We are canceling our 2018 Bermuda cruise on Horizon, sadly! We're doing Alaska on the Wonder 10 days before this, then were going to fly straight to NYC, spend 3 days there and then jump on the ship for a 4 night Bermuda cruise. We decided it's just too much packing and unpacking over a 2 week period so are just doing Alaska now. We'll have to wait until 2019 now to experience another Vista class ship, (Vista III).

 

[Pens Fan]

We are canceling our 2018 Bermuda cruise on Horizon, sadly! We're doing Alaska on the Wonder 10 days before this, then were going to fly straight to NYC, spend 3 days there and then jump on the ship for a 4 night Bermuda cruise. We decided it's just too much packing and unpacking over a 2 week period so are just doing Alaska now. We'll have to wait until 2019 now to experience another Vista class ship, (Vista III).

Sounds like a good excuse to spend more time in Vancouver!

 

[mevelandry]

We are canceling our 2018 Bermuda cruise on Horizon, sadly! We're doing Alaska on the Wonder 10 days before this, then were going to fly straight to NYC, spend 3 days there and then jump on the ship for a 4 night Bermuda cruise. We decided it's just too much packing and unpacking over a 2 week period so are just doing Alaska now. We'll have to wait until 2019 now to experience another Vista class ship, (Vista III).

Those would have been very different experiences. It wouldn't give you much time to process your experience either. Sounds like a smart decision.

 

[ToyStory3]

We are sailing on the Carnival Magic with my entire family for my parents' 50 year anniversary next summer. We are so excited! I sailed Carnival a few times many years ago...before having a family. Has anyone been on the Magic? Any thoughts on it? We will have 3 generations with us. And, any reviews on Amber Cover? Thanks!

 

[Pens Fan]

We are canceling our 2018 Bermuda cruise on Horizon, sadly! We're doing Alaska on the Wonder 10 days before this, then were going to fly straight to NYC, spend 3 days there and then jump on the ship for a 4 night Bermuda cruise. We decided it's just too much packing and unpacking over a 2 week period so are just doing Alaska now. We'll have to wait until 2019 now to experience another Vista class ship, (Vista III).

A second thought to my post about Vancouver (which I still stand by - great, great city with so much to do!!!)

We have been to Alaska three times. First on a 2 week land only tour, second on the Wonder with only a night in Seattle before hand, and third a week ago on an 18 day land/sea adventure. I don't pretend to be an Alaskan expert, but I can say from our experience that while cruising is amazing (seriously, you'll never look at a Caribbean cruise the same way again), you really don't get the full Alaskan experience if you don't spend some time on land. Just be there. Meet the locals. Go fishing. Go searching for bears (at one time we were surrounded by aprox 20 Alaskan brown bears in Lake Clarke National Park and it was amazing - the coolest thing we've ever done in our life), shop for actual native crafts, not the stuff they peddle at the cruise ports, etc., etc.

If you were willing to fly to NYC, why not fly to Anchorage? It's a short flight, and from there your options are limitless (and your clothing packed will still be appropriate). Go north to Denali (incredible!), go south to the Kenai Peninsula. We spent four nights in Homer on our last trip and didn't want to ever leave. Our son is literally begging to back to Homer.

Just a thought. Forgive my intrusiveness, but we have been missing Alaska terribly for the last week. It's a special place.

Now....... back to our regular scheduled programming - Carnival info!!!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

A second thought to my post about Vancouver (which I still stand by - great, great city with so much to do!!!)

We have been to Alaska three times. First on a 2 week land only tour, second on the Wonder with only a night in Seattle before hand, and third a week ago on an 18 day land/sea adventure. I don't pretend to be an Alaskan expert, but I can say from our experience that while cruising is amazing (seriously, you'll never look at a Caribbean cruise the same way again), you really don't get the full Alaskan experience if you don't spend some time on land. Just be there. Meet the locals. Go fishing. Go searching for bears (at one time we were surrounded by aprox 20 Alaskan brown bears in Lake Clarke National Park and it was amazing - the coolest thing we've ever done in our life), shop for actual native crafts, not the stuff they peddle at the cruise ports, etc., etc.

If you were willing to fly to NYC, why not fly to Anchorage? It's a short flight, and from there your options are limitless (and your clothing packed will still be appropriate). Go north to Denali (incredible!), go south to the Kenai Peninsula. We spent four nights in Homer on our last trip and didn't want to ever leave. Our son is literally begging to back to Homer.

Just a thought. Forgive my intrusiveness, but we have been missing Alaska terribly for the last week. It's a special place.

Now....... back to our regular scheduled programming - Carnival info!!!

Gives me food for thought. We've talked about spending some time in Seattle before and/or Vancouver after. Luckily, we have time to figure it out.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We are sailing on the Carnival Magic with my entire family for my parents' 50 year anniversary next summer. We are so excited! I sailed Carnival a few times many years ago...before having a family. Has anyone been on the Magic? Any thoughts on it? We will have 3 generations with us. And, any reviews on Amber Cover? Thanks!

Haven't been on the Magic but have heard great things about her. The Magic class is very popular.

 

[mevelandry]

65 days to go. Time goes by so slowly! I can't wait to see if my crush on Carnival will be confirmed! Meanwhile, I'm starting to look at other serious contenders like NCL, RCCL (booked for 2018), Princess and Celebrity. Interesting itineraries and promotions over there.

 

[mevelandry]

51 days to go... I wish I had booked earlier.

Anyone sailing on Carnival soon?

 

[trvlgirlmq]

51 days to go... I wish I had booked earlier.

Anyone sailing on Carnival soon?

Not for another 281 days! We did just upgrade to a balcony even though the price is astronomical to me. My mom is going to need a lot of rest and relaxation and will spend much of her time on the balcony. In fact, this is mostly a ship-based vacation. We only plan to get off in 3 of the 4 ports.

 

[mevelandry]

Three ports is already a lot of ports to get off to.

After discussions with my husband, we decided to do with Ocho Rios what we have done for Nassau... We are going to get off the ship and if we are not comfortable with the alleged "pushy vendors", we are just going to go back to the ship (originally, we went off the ship in Nassau to buy a rum cake at Tortuga and basically ran back to the ship LOL).

We had no interest in the excursions offered... So the plan is to walk to the Island Village up to Margaritaville and come back.

In Grand Cayman, we are going spend at least half a day at Royal Palms resort.

In Cozumel we still plan to participate to the "Save a sea turtle" excursion. We had a very hard time picking up an excursion in Cozumel because there was so many options. And since the excursion is not gonna take too much of our time, we plan to spend some time o the Puerta Maya pier, trying Pancho's Backyard and/or Three Amigos.

That will be three port days in a row... I think we'll be exhausted. LOL

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Three ports is already a lot of ports to get off to.

After discussions with my husband, we decided to do with Ocho Rios what we have done for Nassau... We are going to get off the ship and if we are not comfortable with the alleged "pushy vendors", we are just going to go back to the ship (originally, we went off the ship in Nassau to buy a rum cake at Tortuga and basically ran back to the ship LOL).

We had no interest in the excursions offered... So the plan is to walk to the Island Village up to Margaritaville and come back.

In Grand Cayman, we are going spend at least half a day at Royal Palms resort.

In Cozumel we still plan to participate to the "Save a sea turtle" excursion. We had a very hard time picking up an excursion in Cozumel because there was so many options. And since the excursion is not gonna take too much of our time, we plan to spend some time o the Puerta Maya pier, trying Pancho's Backyard and/or Three Amigos.

That will be three port days in a row... I think we'll be exhausted. LOL

For what it's worth, I thought the vendors in Ocho Rios were incredibly pushy. My son collects key chains at every port for every cruise we've been on. In Ocho Rios, I was trying to buy a $6 keychain from one of the port vendors and only had a $10, he wouldn't give my the $4 change back, just kept insisting I take another cheap souvenir at a discount. Against my better judgement I let Jim get away with it and took a bracelet for my daughter and just got back on the ship. I seriously doubt I'll ever get off the ship in Ocho Rios again.

 

[mevelandry]

For what it's worth, I thought the vendors in Ocho Rios were incredibly pushy. My son collects key chains at every port for every cruise we've been on. In Ocho Rios, I was trying to buy a $6 keychain from one of the port vendors and only had a $10, he wouldn't give my the $4 change back, just kept insisting I take another cheap souvenir at a discount. Against my better judgement I let Jim get away with it and took a bracelet for my daughter and just got back on the ship. I seriously doubt I'll ever get off the ship in Ocho Rios again.

I'm expecting that. I'm not sure I wanna buy anything to be honest but we'll see. I just don't wanna be in Jamaica and not get off the ship. I wanna tell myself I have tried it.

After doing the Bahamas four times (two of them not being my choice) in the future I want to avoid going to the same twice... The only place I might want go back to is Cozumel because there was 4 or 5 excursions I was interested into. Also because I'm dying to visit Key West at some point and they pair it with either Cozumel or Cuba.