CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[mevelandry]

I've been watching a cruise on Carnival. Even with all they sales offered over the past months the price never goes down. I've noticed this on other cruiselines too. I especially notice this withRoyal. They always have a sale going on, but if you watch a cruise for months the price is consistent. I'm not sure other cruise lines really have sales. They just make it appear that they do.

The only "real" promotions I'm seeing are freebies once in a while (like On Board Credit)...

The best deals I've seen where the last minutes cruises on NCL. Been watching prices for the a Bermuda cruise this year and I've seen rates go from 1300$ CND per person to 802$ CND per person (before taxes), about two weeks before the cruise.

Other than date, you have to book extra early to get the best price.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

The only "real" promotions I'm seeing are freebies once in a while (like On Board Credit)...

The best deals I've seen where the last minutes cruises on NCL. Been watching prices for the a Bermuda cruise this year and I've seen rates go from 1300$ CND per person to 802$ CND per person (before taxes), about two weeks before the cruise.

Other than date, you have to book extra early to get the best price.

Yes, the last minute deals on other lines are also for the general public not just interline/travel industry. And some of those deals are amazing. Also, on 2 ncl cruises and 1 carnival cruise we have actually had the rate go down and we were able to get it adjusted. Never on Disney. Disney instead offers "hidden" rates to other people so that they keep my rate high. Carnival also occasionally calls people who cruise frequently or people who spend on the casino to offer them a free last minute cruise. Other lines also call people to offer them heavily discounted upgrades. DCL only does this for a few people who get to the port early, but they are non existant nowadays because they pack their ships with interline rates instead of giving upgrades.

 

[cruiser21]

I can't really blame a company for wanting to make money. If they can get enough people to pay the high prices. Why would they change their pricing structure. Airlines don't lower first or business class seat prices They would rather have their seats empty or give them to employees. I see dcl as kind of the same way. If you don't like the way a company runs it's business the best thing you out can an do is not give them your money if enough people do th is prices will come down. The Disney vacationer is not really s last minute budget traveler. At least not on this board. These are people that like to book years in advance and plan and plan and replan. How many people on this board actually take advantage of the restricted rates. I always see people on here say they can't do things last minute due to work, airfare etc. I tend to blame the consumer more. A company's going charge what people are willing to pay. I'm continually shocked at how much people are willing to pay to cruise on Disney.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I can't really blame a company for wanting to make money. If they can get enough people to pay the high prices. Why would they change their pricing structure. Airlines don't lower first or business class seat prices They would rather have their seats empty or give them to employees. I see dcl as kind of the same way. If you don't like the way a company runs it's business the best thing you out can an do is not give them your money if enough people do th is prices will come down. The Disney vacationer is not really s last minute budget traveler. At least not on this board. These are people that like to book years in advance and plan and plan and replan. How many people on this board actually take advantage of the restricted rates. I always see people on here say they can't do things last minute due to work, airfare etc. I tend to blame the consumer more. A company's going charge what people are willing to pay. I'm continually shocked at how much people are willing to pay to cruise on Disney.

Interesting that you bring up making money because I don't know that their strategy is the best for making money. I would not assume they know what they are doing. Look at what they've done to ESPN. If you look at the Southern Caribbean cruise over the summer, they would have just made more profit if they had slashed the price and sold it to the general public. But then they would have had to admit that their prices were grossly inflated. Instead they sold it off at prices below cost so that they could say the ship was "full." I heard about 75%of the ship was filled this way. I am not sure how long they have employed this strategy but it is maybe 5 years? It takes a while for customers to wake up (it did for us!) but I think they are starting to.

And the airline industry is a good example. They operate in direct opposition to the Disney "price fixing" model. Airline rates fluctuate daily with supply and demand. Airlines upgrade the general public all the time to business or first class. I barely fly and don't even do frequent flyer to accumulate points and I was once upgraded for free to business class nyc to paris. I was upgraded once for free boston to atlanta to first class. I am not affiliated with the travel industry in any way and was not flying corporate or for work, just as a general traveler.

 

[mevelandry]

Airlines offer discounted first class seats (a few hours before the flight) sometimes... If the seats aren't all taken. It's at the very last minute though.

 

[cruiser21]

Airlines offer discounted first class seats (a few hours before the flight) sometimes... If the seats aren't all taken. It's at the very last minute though.

Normally people are ugrading with points. There is usually an upgrade waiting list. International it takes a ridiculous amount of points I've never had enough points to even attempt it.

As far as how DCL prices their cruises I'm not going to lose sleep over it. If I find a cruise I want to do at a price I'm comfortable with I'll book it. If not I'll book with someone else. As the consumer I feel I have the control not them.

 

[mevelandry]

Normally people are ugrading with points. There is usually an upgrade waiting list. International it takes a ridiculous amount of points I've never had enough points to even attempt it.

I wouldn't know. I fly economy on Air Canada Rouge most of the time and I've been offered a discounted upgrade while printing my boarding passes at least six times.

 

[cyclenut]

I'm sorry, are you expecting these people to be your personal servants for the week? They have jobs to do while still being friendly. The guy who spends his day sweeping floors yet still smiling, saying hello and giving information when asked is not professional enough for you? How professional do you want him to be? Geez. I don't care what company you work for so long as you are positive and friendly that is professional enough.

That's a pretty aggressive post and a complete misinterpretation of what I wrote. My personal observation is that DCL cruise CM routinely demonstrate better customer service attitudes than other cruise lines where some of the crew have been downright rude. I do not expect to be treated exceptionally well, but it sure feels nice when you are respected and treated like an honored guest rather than an object that's in their way.

I also don't care what company anyone works for. That's not the point either. I sailed Carnival in September and DCL the following January, both from Galveston. The difference was noticeable. It wasn't that Carnival was bad. If you read my previous posts I praised my experience on the Breeze. DCL was just better in the way my wife and I were treated. Pretty simple.

I know, it seems like you are in the majority and that most people agree with you that DCL's customer service is superior. We would agree on WDW or DL, but not the cruise line. My main complaint is that CMs on DCL insist on telling you their backstory unsolicited and seem quite miserable with their jobs. We have only had one dcl waiter who did not do this. He was on the Dream, and he was very good, but then he disappointed us by giving us the excellect speech the last night. It is so remedial. Two DCL cruises ago, a bartender basically cornered dh and I and talked at length about how miserable his life was and how awful an employer DCL was. He communicated that all the other lines had better working conditions (had friends working for other lines). We were really left speechless. Obviously it was very uncomfortable. We did feel like he was trying to solicit money from us to start a business at home in the Philippines. The dcl cruise before that one we had a room steward who also complained about her working conditions and she looked lile she was barely holding it together. We felt lile she stalked us to make us feel uncomfortable as she was always parked in the hallway outside our room. None of the other room stewards on our floor did this. On our last three or so dcl cruises, there has been this weirdness about getting shampoo, even when we ask, very nicely. I could go on with more examples. There seems to be a rising passive aggressive hostility from many dcl employees which we find exhausting.

None of this exists on Carnival. Their employees are more straightforward. Carnival definitely has less employees around doing general cleaning, but all of the Carnival employees we encountered were customer focused, as opposed to focused on communicating their misery to us, and they all did an amazing job. We tipped our room steward extra, more than we have ever done before. He did an amazing job- DCL needs to take some notes.

Completely opposite of my experience. I'm a bit surprised. I also spend time talking to CM on DCL and I've heard them say that they waited years to get on DCL and are really happy they did. The reports I heard were the guests seem happier, they tip better and they enjoy it more. Make no mistake, working on a cruise ship is not easy. The hours are long, the quarters are cramped and the pay is not great (at least at the entry level). You work in customer service so you see the best (and the worst) in people. Many who do not understand this and sign on with a cruise line are often surprised and become quickly unhappy. I remember a barber on the Fantasy once telling me his tips increased by 30%. He was part of the spa services and not employed by DCL so he has been on several different lines. He hoped to stay on the Fantasy. I remember a DCL entertainment host that had come over from Princess and was on month two saying how much more she enjoyed the DCL experience. The wait staff, not so much. Maybe it's just the wait staff?

 

[cyclenut]

Interesting that you bring up making money because I don't know that their strategy is the best for making money. I would not assume they know what they are doing. Look at what they've done to ESPN. If you look at the Southern Caribbean cruise over the summer, they would have just made more profit if they had slashed the price and sold it to the general public. But then they would have had to admit that their prices were grossly inflated. Instead they sold it off at prices below cost so that they could say the ship was "full." I heard about 75%of the ship was filled this way. I am not sure how long they have employed this strategy but it is maybe 5 years? It takes a while for customers to wake up (it did for us!) but I think they are starting to.

And the airline industry is a good example. They operate in direct opposition to the Disney "price fixing" model. Airline rates fluctuate daily with supply and demand. Airlines upgrade the general public all the time to business or first class. I barely fly and don't even do frequent flyer to accumulate points and I was once upgraded for free to business class nyc to paris. I was upgraded once for free boston to atlanta to first class. I am not affiliated with the travel industry in any way and was not flying corporate or for work, just as a general traveler.

Disney price fixing model? Really? Losing money? Seriously? They are not building three new ships because they are having trouble filling the ones they have. The biggest complaint from repeat DCL cruisers is that they want more options. More destinations. More ships. More shows. Most are willing to pay for it. I see no evidence that DCL is struggling to fill ships. I'm sure there are some sailings that don't sell as well as others. That's a given. Others, not a problem. My April 2018 Panama Canal was "full" a year before sailing. Occasional cabins open up as we get closer and people cancel, but those are snapped up quickly, and at twice the price of the originally booking prices.

 

[cruiser21]

That's a pretty aggressive post and a complete misinterpretation of what I wrote. My personal observation is that DCL cruise CM routinely demonstrate better customer service attitudes than other cruise lines where some of the crew have been downright rude. I do not expect to be treated exceptionally well, but it sure feels nice when you are respected and treated like an honored guest rather than an object that's in their way.

I also don't care what company anyone works for. That's not the point either. I sailed Carnival in September and DCL the following January, both from Galveston. The difference was noticeable. It wasn't that Carnival was bad. If you read my previous posts I praised my experience on the Breeze. DCL was just better in the way my wife and I were treated. Pretty simple.




Completely opposite of my experience. I'm a bit surprised. I also spend time talking to CM on DCL and I've heard them say that they waited years to get on DCL and are really happy they did. The reports I heard were the guests seem happier, they tip better and they enjoy it more. Make no mistake, working on a cruise ship is not easy. The hours are long, the quarters are cramped and the pay is not great (at least at the entry level). You work in customer service so you see the best (and the worst) in people. Many who do not understand this and sign on with a cruise line are often surprised and become quickly unhappy. I remember a barber on the Fantasy once telling me his tips increased by 30%. He was part of the spa services and not employed by DCL so he has been on several different lines. He hoped to stay on the Fantasy. I remember a DCL entertainment host that had come over from Princess and was on month two saying how much more she enjoyed the DCL experience. The wait staff, not so much. Maybe it's just the wait staff?

As much as I hate my job I would never say anything negative about the company to a customer. I would be out of a job. I never believe anything a CM says about working for Disney....Honestly what are they going to say? LOL

Disney price fixing model? Really? Losing money? Seriously? They are not building three new ships because they are having trouble filling the ones they have. The biggest complaint from repeat DCL cruisers is that they want more options. More destinations. More ships. More shows. Most are willing to pay for it. I see no evidence that DCL is struggling to fill ships. I'm sure there are some sailings that don't sell as well as others. That's a given. Others, not a problem. My April 2018 Panama Canal was "full" a year before sailing. Occasional cabins open up as we get closer and people cancel, but those are snapped up quickly, and at twice the price of the originally booking prices.

Yeah I don't see DCL filing for bankruptcy anytime soon.

 

[cyclenut]

I understand your point about making disparaging remarks, which is part of why I found the post I quoted to be very strange. That poster claimed they heard all sorts of disparaging remarks. I'm not sure why those would be more credible than the remarks I heard. There is no way to know for sure if I was getting an honest answer, but the context of my questions when I asked was to find out what living on the ship and working for DCL was like since my daughter was interested in DCL. She was in the Disney College Program at WDW at the time and knew a few DCL CMs as a result. She had personal conversations with them about what life was like on board the ship. We were talking with other DCL CMs in that context. I feel like they would have told me the truth if it was really that bad, especially since I was asking as a concerned father.

 

[mevelandry]

Completely opposite of my experience. I'm a bit surprised. I also spend time talking to CM on DCL and I've heard them say that they waited years to get on DCL and are really happy they did. The reports I heard were the guests seem happier, they tip better and they enjoy it more. Make no mistake, working on a cruise ship is not easy. The hours are long, the quarters are cramped and the pay is not great (at least at the entry level). You work in customer service so you see the best (and the worst) in people. Many who do not understand this and sign on with a cruise line are often surprised and become quickly unhappy. I remember a barber on the Fantasy once telling me his tips increased by 30%. He was part of the spa services and not employed by DCL so he has been on several different lines. He hoped to stay on the Fantasy. I remember a DCL entertainment host that had come over from Princess and was on month two saying how much more she enjoyed the DCL experience. The wait staff, not so much. Maybe it's just the wait staff?

Maybe it is different with the wait staff. I'm on many forums and FB pages regarding DCL and Carnival and honestly, most conversations about stiffing gratuity happen on the DCL forums (that doesn't mean it's not happening on Carnival ships but maybe Carnival guests are less vocal about it?)

It's also on DCL ship that I heard the most complaints starting with "I paid a lot of money/spent thousands of dollars to be here and (... Insert complaint here...) ... The expectations are high... (sometimes too high?)

 

[mevelandry]

Disney price fixing model? Really? Losing money? Seriously? They are not building three new ships because they are having trouble filling the ones they have. The biggest complaint from repeat DCL cruisers is that they want more options. More destinations. More ships. More shows. Most are willing to pay for it. I see no evidence that DCL is struggling to fill ships. I'm sure there are some sailings that don't sell as well as others. That's a given. Others, not a problem. My April 2018 Panama Canal was "full" a year before sailing. Occasional cabins open up as we get closer and people cancel, but those are snapped up quickly, and at twice the price of the originally booking prices.

They say they want more options but the cruises from New York (and Galveston?) don't sell very well ... They are struggling to fill ships.

My friend who's a T.A. paid way less than I did for a verandah cabin for 7 nights on the Magic than I paid for a 3 nights cruise in an inside cabin on the Wonder.

 

[cruiser21]

They say they want more options but the cruises from New York (and Galveston?) don't sell ... They are struggling to fill ships from there.

This is probably true. It's the handful of frequent or platinum cruisers that want new destinations. The occasional cruisers want the Caribbean. The Caribbean seems to be the money maker for all cruiselines. I'm probably the only one on this board that's even interested in the Quebec cruises.

 

[mevelandry]

This is probably true. It's the handful of frequent or platinum cruisers that want new destinations. The occasional cruisers want the Caribbean. The Caribbean seems to be the money maker for all cruiselines. I'm probably the only one on this board that's even interested in the Quebec cruises.

There's two or three...

I have a feeling my friend will get an offer for that one too.

 

[cmph]

I'm probably the only one on this board that's even interested in the Quebec cruises.

Not just you! We're doing Alaska next summer b/c no one in the family wanted to go to the Caribbean. And with extended family with a little one, Europe was not ideal. My issue with the New England/Canada cruises is that the dates aren't good for us. We'll have to go on another cruiseline and research the (rather few) ships to make sure the kids (wide age span) aren't going to be bored some future year, b/c they're all about the ship and not the destination. In any case, my parents really wanted to do DCL all together while the kids are young, without doing the Caribbean, and it had to be in the summer - so Alaska it is. Otherwise my immediate family might have done a land-based Quebec trip, actually.

 

[cruiser21]

Not just you! We're doing Alaska next summer b/c no one in the family wanted to go to the Caribbean. And with extended family with a little one, Europe was not ideal. My issue with the New England/Canada cruises is that the dates aren't good for us. We'll have to go on another cruiseline and research the (rather few) ships to make sure the kids (wide age span) aren't going to be bored some future year, b/c they're all about the ship and not the destination. In any case, my parents really wanted to do DCL all together while the kids are young, without doing the Caribbean, and it had to be in the summer - so Alaska it is. Otherwise my immediate family might have done a land-based Quebec trip, actually.

You will love Alaska. People were complaining the New England cruises didn't go to Quebec. They added Quebec, but it doesn't seem to be selling that well. it's still early. Im sure it's a time of year issue. New England cruises tend attract an older crowd.I would only do it with Disney. There probably won't be many kids on board, but hopefully there's a few.

There's two or three...

I have a feeling my friend will get an offer for that one too.

She probably will. I have feeling getting to Quebec is another factor. Flights from the East coast cities were pretty expensive last time I liooked, but pretty reasonable from Arizona. Weird how that works.

 

[cyclenut]

They say they want more options but the cruises from New York (and Galveston?) don't sell very well ... They are struggling to fill ships.

My friend who's a T.A. paid way less than I did for a verandah cabin for 7 nights on the Magic than I paid for a 3 nights cruise in an inside cabin on the Wonder.

No cruise line fills all their ships all the time. I'm quite certain there are some routes and ports that sell better than others. We loved our cruise on the Wonder out of Galveston. We paid more than our Carnival Breeze cruise but we felt we still got equal value out of both based on the overall vacation experience. I'm sure not everyone would come away with the same conclusion.

This is probably true. It's the handful of frequent or platinum cruisers that want new destinations. The occasional cruisers want the Caribbean. The Caribbean seems to be the money maker for all cruiselines. I'm probably the only one on this board that's even interested in the Quebec cruises.

Maybe not the only one. We have a Sept 2018 cruise out of NYC to Canada that we're very much looking forward to.

 

[cmph]

You will love Alaska. People were complaining the New England cruises didn't go to Quebec. They added Quebec, but it doesn't seem to be selling that well. it's still early. Im sure it's a time of year issue. New England cruises tend attract an older crowd.I would only do it with Disney. There probably won't be many kids on board, but hopefully there's a few.

Yes, some of us in the group have been, on Princess. Which is partly why my parents really wanted to do DCL with all the kids while they're still into characters, etc., and they don't care about the whole one-way aspect of Alaskan cruising since we did that before. No one in the group was very interested in the Caribbean b/c as a whole group - we've done every itinerary possible on other lines, pretty much. And a good chunk of the group are not beach people, so I guess we defy the norm, LOL! But this is partly why I'm (selfishly) a bit sad that we're not going somewhere new to me. I doubt DCL ever puts a ship on a Canadian itinerary in the summer!! I wonder if the kid population will be similar to transatlantics and Panama canal cruises in the fall. But I guess you never know, b/c all of the hurricane issues are going to have to prompt some changes. Every ship on every line can't go do Westerns constantly, or those are going to be some overloaded ports.

 

[cruiser21]

Yes, some of us in the group have been, on Princess. Which is partly why my parents really wanted to do DCL with all the kids while they're still into characters, etc., and they don't care about the whole one-way aspect of Alaskan cruising since we did that before. No one in the group was very interested in the Caribbean b/c as a whole group - we've done every itinerary possible on other lines, pretty much. And a good chunk of the group are not beach people, so I guess we defy the norm, LOL! But this is partly why I'm (selfishly) a bit sad that we're not going somewhere new to me. I doubt DCL ever puts a ship on a Canadian itinerary in the summer!! I wonder if the kid population will be similar to transatlantics and Panama canal cruises in the fall. But I guess you never know, b/c all of the hurricane issues are going to have to prompt some changes. Every ship on every line can't go do Westerns constantly, or those are going to be some overloaded ports.

My friends are headed to their time share in Grand Cayman next month. I told them to expect lots of company theres nowhere else for the ships to go. Of course we still have another month of peak hurricane season so theres a potential for more islands to get hit. Crazy year for the cruise industry to say the least.