DCL vs. Carnival

[debdreamsofdis]

We've only sailed on DCL. I booked the Oct 8th 2017 cruise this morning but I have family members who want us to go on a Carnival Baja cruise the same week. Waaahhhh. But looking at the price, it's basically half of what we're paying for DCL. Has anyone been on the Carnival Inspiration or Imagination? How does it compare? How are the kid programs? We love the Disney shows, how is the entertainment on Carnival? We don't drink or gamble so I'm thinking we are going to be really bored and I'm worried about being nickled and dimed. I'm trying to convert them to DCL, but the cost is making that very prohibitive.

 

[ayz75]

I'm not sure about others, but I don't think I'll ever return to Carnival again, and this is way before I even did my first DCL cruise! (I was strictly comparing to my Royal experience!)

I was on the Carnival Dream and overall I found the food below average (I'm truly not a picky eater on vacation), service was ok (not much smile or chit chat), shows were mediocre, and worst of all was the number of guests in line at the main desk to complain about something! I know this because I lined up for something else and all I heard were complaints. There was one lady who said her mom is in a wheel chair but the handicap area in the theatre was always blocked, despite the fact they have spoken to staffs numerous times, etc etc

Even though the deal was so good, my husband and I both agreed we would never sail Carnival again.

p.s. having said that, I don't get the whole nickel and dime comments at all when people compare DCL to other cruise line. The only main difference I see (between Royal/DCL/Carnival) is the free soda. You pay for specialty restaurants in all three ships, you pay for certain activities (i.e. simulators on DCL and some others on other ships) perhaps room services but we never use it.

 

[Ofinn]

I haven't cruised Carnival, but there are some people that post on here that love Carnival, and have cruised both DCL and Carnival many times. Hopefully they will respond.

 

[travelgirl06]

We just sailed Carnival this spring. Our kids (2 and 4) loved the kids club, the 4YO would always ask why she couldn't stay longer (well...they're closing ). We loved that the kids club was included for the 2YO (so nice to just drop off whenever after scheduling and paying for nursery time one our recent DCL and Royal cruises). Food was fine (nothing amazing and menu wasn't as varied as we would have liked, but all palatable) and service was good (again, as on most cruises). We really enjoyed the variety of bars/entertainment - Alchemy (martini bar), red frog (island themed), piano bar, comedy club, etc. The Cat in the Hat stuff was also a hit with the kids!

We were on a 7-night Mexico sailing on Miracle. We found it to be mostly couples/families and did not get a wild/party vibe at any point. I'm not sure if 3/4 night cruises are crazier though?

I would check to see if the ship your considering has the Fun Ship 2.0 upgrades (I think at least one of those two does). Alchemy and Red frog are part of those, and I think most ships also got Guys Burgers and Blue iguana Cantina (ours did not, and I think this would have helped with the lack-of-variety-in-food on our ship).

I looked at DCL pricing for Mexico this morning, I'd love to do it while my girls are little, but for us the premium is too much for cruises (since they all have good service, decent food, etc.) We're really looking forward to when our baby hits 3 and can go to the kids clubs on HAL (our favorite), Princess or Celebrity (haven't tried but have heard good things!)

 

[Goofy Adpi]

I sailed on the Carnival Imagination for a 3 day Baja last January. I cannot say anything bad about the price. Everything else, however, was not to my personal liking after sailing DCL, Holland America, and Royal. The "design" of the boat reminded me of a cross between the Luxor and Caesar's Palace in Vegas with a heavy splash of Miami Vice. The Imagination is an older ship and as of last year I saw no signs of any upgrades, anywhere. The service in the dining room was several steps down from what you would expect on a DCL cruise. The quality of the food wasn't memorable. The activities were alright, but nothing all that entertaining. And if anyone in your party is a soda drinker - beware. Every soda I purchased was pulled directly from a warm 12 pack. That might me a little detail, but since I had to pay extra for the soda it stuck in my memory.

Finally, and maybe because it was a 3 day and not a 7 day, I'd say the vast majority of the people on the boat treated the trip like a booze cruise. I don't have kids to worry about, but it did get to the point where I felt uncomfortable. Please keep in mind that while I am not a heavy drinker, I went to two (2) different large schools the practice the art of the tailgate so I am used to significant alcohol consumption.

In the end, the worst part is that I dragged a friend of mine along who had never been on a cruise and I'm almost certain she will never do it again based upon that experience.

Again - this is my personal opinion about the trip and I know that lots of people truly enjoy their Carnival experience. I just was not one of those people.

 

[tink1970]

What Goofy Adpi said....

I've cruised Carnival twice and it's not for me. The theming is garish (TO ME), there is a casino (which equals more smoke TO ME), and it has always seemed equally or more crowded (TO ME) at the pools, etc. I do not plan to cruise it again... but that's just me. If it came between doing a Carnival cruise and spending time with my family, that would depend on what family members . Seriously, though, my last Carnival cruise was a reunion and while we all were underwhelmed with the ship and Carnival in general, since we were having fun with each other and "catching up" THAT was the wonderful part.

My DD was 4 at the time and she enjoyed herself in the Kid's Club. I think that's notable (now she's spoiled with DCL but anyhoo...).

For me it would seriously boil down to "how much do I like these people?" And "how much time are we going to spend together, honestly?"

I say this because we sailed with DM, DF, DB, DSIL, DN, and DD this year during the holidays. We spent enough time with my parents, too much time with my niece and not enough time with DB, if that makes sense. Since we were on DCL (in my favorite room ever on the 12th floor) I was hunky dory with that, but if I'd have cruised a different line that I don't love as much I might not have been as happy. Other families do everything the minute they board together, but that can be challenging to say the least.

Along the lines of those who say don't expect a room upgrade and book the one you can live with...don't plan a family cruise with a cruise you couldn't enjoy on your own.

Hope this helps!

 

[mevelandry]

I've started a thread called : "We chose the dark side" I'll try to post you the link when I find a computer.

Most reviews in this thread (here) are negative but I have heard a lot of good things that contradicts them so I believe that it is a matter of taste --ex: my cousin HATED WDW and when she explains everything to me, I feel like we are not talking about the same place at all-- so I am taking a chance and I am going to sail with them in October.

I suggest you take a look at videos of the ship on youtube. It will give you a better idea of how it is/how it feels.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I haven't been on Carnival, yet. It looks extremely fun. We considered booking a Baja cruise, but most reviews say it's a booze cruise or a stoner cruise. I'm still interested in checking it out, but for now, we are sticking with Disney and giving Princess a try. My brother has only sailed Carnival and he says it is "alright." He has many years of sobriety.

 

[Love2Cruz]

I've been on 10 Carnival Cruises and have had fun on all of them...however, I normally do their big, newer ships. I am not crazy about their old ships, I'm sure the Imagination has been refurbished, so might be okay. If you're a go with the flow family, you should have fun. If it has the 2.0 upgrades like the waterpark, Guy's burgers, Blue Iguana, even better!

 

[Ofinn]

The Breeze and the Vista look really nice to me. When I see pictures of the other ships..I'm kind of ..meh. I would stick with newer ships. If your trying to sail out the West coast your at a disadvantage. I don't think any cruise line puts their best ships out west they are all in Florida. The Breeze is in Galveston.

 

[Sytrace]

We took a Carnival cruise once about 4 years ago. I went with my Mom, son and daughter and it was their first cruise ever. It was only a year or so after that my husband booked our first Disney cruise and we have never gone back. lol
It was out of Port Canveral (which we sail from all the time) and we were on the Sensation, which is an older ship and did not have the great areas of the newer or renovated ships Carnival has now.
My experiences with them were fine and acceptable for the price we paid.

Cabins:
We had to get two side by side, and I put my daughter in with my mother and kept my son with me. Both were Oceanview and contained two cots, a vanity and a toilet/shower/sink combo. It was a tight fit to get around in, but then again, that is what we paid for.
On Disney the cabins are bigger and we all manage perfectly in a Verandah stateroom. Not even the family size, just regular Verandah cabin. I love the separate bathroom plan.

Food:
The food on Carnival was good. Not knock your socks off good, but good. No specialty restaraunts on the Sensation at the time. The MDR, was fine if chaotic and crazy. The service a bit slow and confused. Most times, they forgot to bring something that one of us ordered, and 3 nights out of 4, my Mom's food did not come out with ours. They forgot to put her order in, so I would wait and eat when hers arrived. The last night they managed to get all our meals out at the same time, which was a nice ending note.
The food on Disney is good and I like the variety of choice. We ate at Palo one night and though it was nice, it was not something I would do again and have not since that second cruise. The service is VERY good on Disney and we have never had things forgotten or even late in arriving compared to the rest of our dining party.

Entertainment:
The shows on Carnival are really not kid/family friendly. The one show we saw was more of a burlesque type of show with a lot of adult humor but it was tagged as a family friendly show. The positive is that it opened up some discussions with my kids and I about appropriate entertainment for their age group.
I did wander into the casino to try my hand at a few things, but didn't care for the smoke and décor.

Disney shows are family friendly. Even the shows they tag as adult only, are not as risqué as the one I saw on Carnival that was NOT adults only. lol

I did not see much in the way of too much drinking going on. It never seemed out of control and it was a 4 night cruise with stops in Nassau and Freeport.
I actually saw more drunk people on our January cruise on the Fantasy than on the 4 night Carnival cruise.

All in all, Carnival is not a horrible cruise line, but your expectations would need to be adjusted a bit. At the end of the day it is about spending family time and relaxation.

 

[Donathius]

We did a family reunion cruise on the Imagination Christmas 2014. My impression basically was that it was...fine. My perspective is a little skewed however since we had a 4 year old and 2 year old at the time. My 4 year old had a fun time in Camp Carnival, but there was NOTHING for my 2 year old to do. We really struggled to keep her entertained on a 3 day cruise.

The food was fine, although I found one night that I actually preferred the dinner in the buffet over the MDR. Even though it was the same food it seemed fresher or something. Hard to put my finger on it.

The ship is definitely old and showing its age. The decor seems very 90s Las Vegas - it's like being in an old Las Vegas hotel if that makes sense. Like the Rio or Harrah's.

I can't comment on the entertainment as I was desperately trying to keep my daughter from flipping out over every little thing.

Another thing I found really annoying after Disney was the ship layout. It felt very maze-like to me. Like the only way to get to our assigned MDR was by going one deck above it and then finding the stairs that came down by the main entrance. The was really odd to me. There were several other instances like that where you had to go up or down a deck to get to another part of the deck you're already on.

One thing that really spoke volumes to me about the experience, though, was how they did the towels on the pool deck. It's a little thing, but it's one of those little things that I think says a lot about how they run the ship. Our cruise on the Carnival Imagination was only the second cruise I've ever been on - the first being on the Wonder. I was accustomed to going up to those big cabinets on the Wonder and grabbing a towel so I was a little confused about how to get a pool towel on the Imagination. I finally figured out that there was a kiosk I had to walk up to and ask the attendant. He took my room key, noted my room number, my last name, and how many towels I "checked out." I was then informed if I didn't check them back in I would be charged $15 per towel. This was such a stark contrast to the other cruise experience I'd had and I was just floored. Looking back on it, though, the whole ship seems setup this way. I put it as on Disney you're treated as an honored guest, on Carnival you're treated as an expense.

Like I've said a few times already - it was fine (especially for the price - we may even go again for an inexpensive weekend getaway sans kids), but my wife and I both joked afterwards that our Carnival cruise really made us want to go on another Disney cruise!

 

[Nike4000]

My DW went on a Sister's Trip earlier this year on the Carnival Freedom and had a great time. Her opinion was that usually a bad day cruising beats a good day working!

Her observations and comparison to Disney were:

• The crew seemed to be non-existent on the Carnival ship. She had an issue one afternoon and had a difficult time finding any crew members at all. However, they were very friendly and helpful once she found them.
• The Carnival ship layout was challenging. On some decks you couldn't go fore to aft or even port to starboard. She said she had to go between floors quite a bit to get anywhere. Not a big deal, but different.
• The decor on the Carnival ship was very outdated. She said it reminded her of a cheesy Vegas hotel from the early 90's. Lots of garish colors and trim.
• The smoke from the casino seeped into everything. Their room was far from the casino, but I could smell it on her clothes when she was unpacking. Neither of us smoke.
• The Carnival shows were good, but not as good as Disney.
• One very weird thing she noted was that many of the activities, such as dancing lessons, trivia games, etc., were held in the main atrium, right in the middle of everything. If you were trying to get around the ship, it would be very challenging if a game was going on.
• She said the food was as good as any food she's had on a Disney ship. In fact, she liked dessert on the Carnival Freedom better than any dessert she's had on Disney so far.
• Buffet options were extremely limited. The food was good, there just weren't many choices. She said that our DS would have a hard time finding anything to eat at breakfast. He usually gorges on the Krispy Kreme donuts on the cruise
• Boarding and debarking were super easy on Carnival. She said that Disney could learn some lessons from Carnival on how to load the ship
• She commented that her fellow passengers on the Carnival ship were extremely rude and generally unpleasant. She said that during the line dancing lesson (which cost extra), people walking by would push the people in the class out of their way instead of walk around or wait for an opening. She ended up getting pushed over and hurting her ankle.
• She saw numerous instances of people throwing trash on the ground on the Carnival ship which led her to consider the Carnival ship as being less clean as any of the Disney ships.
• She really didn't like how Carnival charged for things like line dancing lessons or yoga. It made her less willing to participate, especially when they were held in the middle of the atrium
• They ate in the main dining room every night, so she didn't try the specialty restaurants.
• The cabin was very nice and comfortable for their group of 3 adult women
• The three of them (her and her sisters) were assigned a table of 8 in the main dining room, with two groups of 4 other women. Yes, 11 adults were crowded into a table for 8. It was awkward at best. Fortunately it was only a problem on 2 of the nights as various ladies opted for alternate dining arrangements. She said the first night it was very entertaining watching their servers scramble to find 3 extra seats for their table.
• One of her concerns heading onto the Carnival ship was the stories of rowdy drunks on the ship. She said she never saw anyone drinking to excess. The caveat is that she didn't stay up late partying in the clubs either.
• She much prefers the way Disney handles the ships photography versus Carnival. Having to search walls and walls of photos for pictures of you was a bit tedious. Disney definitely does that right!

Overall she said the Carnival experience was "okay." She's in no rush to sign up for another Carnival cruise. However, as DCL keeps raising prices, it gets harder to justify paying 3 to 4 times as much for a few marginally better attributes. Is it quality over quantity? Like I said, a bad day cruising beats a good day of work, so for my family Quantity definitely outweighs Quality.

 

[Nike4000]

I forgot to mention that she thought the Carnival docking location in Cozumel was much better than the DCL location.

 

[Donathius]

One thing I just realized I forgot to mention - we had an ocean view room on the Imagination. It was a decent stateroom considering how old the ship is but it was a VERY basic room. Here's a video I found on YouTube that just happens to be the stateroom we had:

It felt really cheap after being on a Disney cruise. It was definitely a bit tight especially since we had a crib in the room as well. As rooms go it was fine, but there definitely was NO effort put in to making it more than just a basic place to sleep and shower. Incidentally I would hate to be in the position of actually needed that fold down bed that's above the "main" bed. With the one fold down it was definitely a challenge to move around the room. Definitely smaller than the cheapest inside stateroom on a Disney ship.

Oh, and I don't know if it was just me or the ship or what - but on this cruise we did one day in Ensenada and one day at sea. The sea day the ship just went around in a big circle and I was sooooooooo seasick. I never upchucked anything, but I was green as could be. My kids were fine, but my wife and I were dying. I ended up popping 2 Dramamine and sleeping half the day. I think a lot of people complained, though, as they changed direction later in the day and were just going in a straight line heading north. I definitely wasn't the only person feeling sick that day. I never felt that on the Wonder - I don't know if it's just a matter of better ship technology, larger ship, piloting in a giant circle or just the whims of the ocean.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I am a Carnival fan. Cruise with them often and think they offer an awesome product. I don't think you'd be bored or feel nickeled and dimed unless you went in looking for that.

That being said, the Inspiration and Imagination are two of the oldest ships in their fleet.

The Wonder will be reimagined by October 2017 so will probably feature several awesome bells and whistles. For a family with kids, I'd stick with the Wonder.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

My DW went on a Sister's Trip earlier this year on the Carnival Freedom and had a great time. Her opinion was that usually a bad day cruising beats a good day working!

Her observations and comparison to Disney were:

• She commented that her fellow passengers on the Carnival ship were extremely rude and generally unpleasant. She said that during the line dancing lesson (which cost extra), people walking by would push the people in the class out of their way instead of walk around or wait for an opening. She ended up getting pushed over and hurting her ankle.
• She really didn't like how Carnival charged for things like line dancing lessons or yoga. It made her less willing to participate, especially when they were held in the middle of the atrium

Carnival does not charge for line dancing in the Atrium. What your wife probably saw was the "Groove for St Jude" which is a charity event run every cruise where you donate $10 for St Jude's Children's Hospital and you get a tshirt and stretchy wristband. Once the event is underway, they have a big line dance event (i.e. the Groove part of the event). It's held in the Atrium during iffy weather and on deck if they know the weather's going to be excellent.

 

[tee11]

We cruised Carnival many times, but never with kids (so our experiences are at least 5+ years back), and not the ships you asked about.
To answer in short:
I did not feel nickel and dimed - as everything we needed was included (we are not soda drinkers).
The food in the main dining room was very (!) good, including comparison to Disney and Holland America, snack foods were not so good.
Crew very nice and polite, as on all cruise lines we've ever been on.
Better dock in Cozumel.
Entertainment not kid friendly in my opinion.
Lots of smokers on board. Lots of heavy drinking on board. Lots of drinking smokers on board.
Casino on board. Casino needed to be crossed to get to places on the ship. Did I mention smoke?
The casino was worse than London on its foggiest day - visibility 3 feet. You get the picture.

 

[karl_nj]

My 2 favorite cruise lines are Disney and Cunard. Unfortunately, they are both pretty pricey, and neither have that many ships. So I often sail on other cruise lines, due to price and itinerary.

Carnival is a very good value for what you get, and the price you pay. I haven't sailed on their newer ships, but they appear to be much less "Vegas" looking then the older ships. I do plan to try sailing on one of them in the next few years.

That being said, I have a Disney Cruise booked for 2016, and a Cunard and a Disney cruise booked for 2017.

 

[Love2Cruz]

The Breeze and the Vista look really nice to me. When I see pictures of the other ships..I'm kind of ..meh. I would stick with newer ships. If your trying to sail out the West coast your at a disadvantage. I don't think any cruise line puts their best ships out west they are all in Florida. The Breeze is in Galveston.

The Breeze was very nice. Also the Magic and Dream, which are in the "Dream" class are sister ships to the Breeze. I've been on Dream and have Vista (2 sailings) and Magic booked within the next 18 months.
I do like their Conquest class boats, as they are the first cruises that started sailing on..and most have the upgrades...but it's Farcus designed...so once you sail on the Breeze, you realize Farcus designed boats are substandard from a purely cosmetic point of view. But the Carnival experience itself has always been wonderful for me and my family.