CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[mevelandry]

Yeah but you trade off convenience for quality. DCL uses the same towels as they do at the resort pools - those small, ridged white towels. Other cruise lines have the big, fluffy soft towels.

Both Princess and Celebrity don't track towels (they have a policy like DCL but towels like Carnival/Royal). The best of both worlds but generally at a higher price point than CCL/RCI.

I agree that the Carnival Towels are large and fluffy.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

So I kept noticing that FTTF was still available. It seemed really odd as our cruise is in 27 days. But, I decided to splurge and snag it partly because our check in time is 1 and I prefer to be on the ship and eating lunch by Noon. Also, we are wait listed for YTD and FTTF gets some kind of priority after D/P for their chosen dining time so hopefully it helps.

 

[mevelandry]

So I kept noticing that FTTF was still available. It seemed really odd as our cruise is in 27 days. But, I decided to splurge and snag it partly because our check in time is 1 and I prefer to be on the ship and eating lunch by Noon. Also, we are wait listed for YTD and FTTF gets some kind of priority after D/P for their chosen dining time so hopefully it helps.

While I don't feel like it's 100% necessary (for us), I loved the perks of FTTF. I've very happy for you.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

While I don't feel like it's 100% necessary (for us), I loved the perks of FTTF. I've very happy for you.

Yeah, I hate to spend the money but I can't eat at 8:15 (that's just seating time food probably wouldn't be on the table for another 30 minutes). I also hate sitting with others. I don't want to be your friend! Crossing my fingers it's money well spent otherwise lesson learned.

 

[mevelandry]

Yeah, I hate to spend the money but I can't eat at 8:15 (that's just seating time food probably wouldn't be on the table for another 30 minutes). I also hate sitting with others. I don't want to be your friend! Crossing my fingers it's money well spent otherwise lesson learned.

I find that it's worth it every time I need to go to Guest Services... It must be nice for tendering as well.

 

[GrrArrgh]

The difference in quality of the inside staterooms is a big part of the reason why I won't go on another Carnival cruise. One was way more than enough. Our air conditioning on the carnival ship never got the room down below 76F (and often not even that low), which is not awful at home, but made the tiny room completely stifling. It felt like there was never any air flow coming into the room. At several points, I had to go out into the hallway just to feel like I wasn't suffocating. On DCL, it was a completely comfortable temperature. On Carnival, the lights in the room were super harsh, making it really unpleasant to be in there for any length of time. On DCL, the lampshades at the headboard gave the light a comfortable, yellow glow. It was never unpleasant to be in there. The bed was super comfortable. The rooms on DCL (we were on the Magic) seemed to be much more roomy. I never felt stuck in a tiny box. Having a bathtub on the DCL cruise was a huge convenience with having a young child. The towels -- I felt like they were fine, but not having to carry towels to the pool and back and keep track of where my towel was, was huge. If I wanted to use three towels at the pool because it's chilly when you're going through the North Sea, I could.

Other things I preferred on DCL: no loud and smoky casino, no art auctions, no super loud music in the pool area. If I never hear another steel drum, it will still be too soon. The only thing on Carnival that I liked at all was the kids' clubs, but the DCL Oceaneer's club and lab had so much more to do and I felt like there was a much better ratio of staff to kids.

I felt like the food was fine on both. The DCL food wasn't as amazing as I'd heard, though we were still eating a ton of it. We thought we would try to get a Palo brunch, but the thought of even more food was totally unappealing, so we didn't do it.

If I wasn't physically uncomfortable in the room on the Carnival ship for the entire 7 days, maybe I would do it again for a cheaper option for an Alaska cruise, but we had engineers in the room daily working on the A/C and they could never do anything about it, and I never want to be on another one of their ships.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

The difference in quality of the inside staterooms is a big part of the reason why I won't go on another Carnival cruise. One was way more than enough. Our air conditioning on the carnival ship never got the room down below 76F (and often not even that low), which is not awful at home, but made the tiny room completely stifling. It felt like there was never any air flow coming into the room. At several points, I had to go out into the hallway just to feel like I wasn't suffocating. On DCL, it was a completely comfortable temperature. On Carnival, the lights in the room were super harsh, making it really unpleasant to be in there for any length of time. On DCL, the lampshades at the headboard gave the light a comfortable, yellow glow. It was never unpleasant to be in there. The bed was super comfortable. The rooms on DCL (we were on the Magic) seemed to be much more roomy. I never felt stuck in a tiny box. Having a bathtub on the DCL cruise was a huge convenience with having a young child. The towels -- I felt like they were fine, but not having to carry towels to the pool and back and keep track of where my towel was, was huge. If I wanted to use three towels at the pool because it's chilly when you're going through the North Sea, I could.

Other things I preferred on DCL: no loud and smoky casino, no art auctions, no super loud music in the pool area. If I never hear another steel drum, it will still be too soon. The only thing on Carnival that I liked at all was the kids' clubs, but the DCL Oceaneer's club and lab had so much more to do and I felt like there was a much better ratio of staff to kids.

I felt like the food was fine on both. The DCL food wasn't as amazing as I'd heard, though we were still eating a ton of it. We thought we would try to get a Palo brunch, but the thought of even more food was totally unappealing, so we didn't do it.

If I wasn't physically uncomfortable in the room on the Carnival ship for the entire 7 days, maybe I would do it again for a cheaper option for an Alaska cruise, but we had engineers in the room daily working on the A/C and they could never do anything about it, and I never want to be on another one of their ships.

That's too bad about the room temperature; I don't think that's typical. We've stayed in every level of cabin on Carnival except suite and haven't had that issue.

I do recommend ocean view cabins and above on Carnival. On most CCL ships, insides are typically 184 sq feet where oceanview are 220 sq feet and feature a couch (not on the smallest ships but from the Spirit class and up). Those few extra feet can make a big difference.

 

[GrrArrgh]

It seemed like they weren't terribly surprised by the problem and also that it wasn't something that was ever realistically going to be fixed. It gave me the sense that the ship wasn't in great shape even though it wasn't that old. There was a lot of visible wear and tear in the public areas which contributed to that feeling.

 

[mevelandry]

The difference in quality of the inside staterooms is a big part of the reason why I won't go on another Carnival cruise. One was way more than enough. Our air conditioning on the carnival ship never got the room down below 76F (and often not even that low), which is not awful at home, but made the tiny room completely stifling. It felt like there was never any air flow coming into the room. At several points, I had to go out into the hallway just to feel like I wasn't suffocating. On DCL, it was a completely comfortable temperature. On Carnival, the lights in the room were super harsh, making it really unpleasant to be in there for any length of time. On DCL, the lampshades at the headboard gave the light a comfortable, yellow glow. It was never unpleasant to be in there. The bed was super comfortable. The rooms on DCL (we were on the Magic) seemed to be much more roomy. I never felt stuck in a tiny box. Having a bathtub on the DCL cruise was a huge convenience with having a young child. The towels -- I felt like they were fine, but not having to carry towels to the pool and back and keep track of where my towel was, was huge. If I wanted to use three towels at the pool because it's chilly when you're going through the North Sea, I could.

Other things I preferred on DCL: no loud and smoky casino, no art auctions, no super loud music in the pool area. If I never hear another steel drum, it will still be too soon. The only thing on Carnival that I liked at all was the kids' clubs, but the DCL Oceaneer's club and lab had so much more to do and I felt like there was a much better ratio of staff to kids.

I felt like the food was fine on both. The DCL food wasn't as amazing as I'd heard, though we were still eating a ton of it. We thought we would try to get a Palo brunch, but the thought of even more food was totally unappealing, so we didn't do it.

If I wasn't physically uncomfortable in the room on the Carnival ship for the entire 7 days, maybe I would do it again for a cheaper option for an Alaska cruise, but we had engineers in the room daily working on the A/C and they could never do anything about it, and I never want to be on another one of their ships.

Thanks for your review. Which Carnival Ship was this? You did not mention.

I have to admit that I have never had problems regarding the A/C nor the lighting in any of our cabins on the Vista or the Victory (and we've had "inside", "oceanview" and "verandah"...

I'm sorry they could not help with your A/C issue.

 

[GrrArrgh]

I think it was the carnival magic.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

The difference in quality of the inside staterooms is a big part of the reason why I won't go on another Carnival cruise. One was way more than enough. Our air conditioning on the carnival ship never got the room down below 76F (and often not even that low), which is not awful at home, but made the tiny room completely stifling. It felt like there was never any air flow coming into the room. At several points, I had to go out into the hallway just to feel like I wasn't suffocating. On DCL, it was a completely comfortable temperature. On Carnival, the lights in the room were super harsh, making it really unpleasant to be in there for any length of time. On DCL, the lampshades at the headboard gave the light a comfortable, yellow glow. It was never unpleasant to be in there. The bed was super comfortable. The rooms on DCL (we were on the Magic) seemed to be much more roomy. I never felt stuck in a tiny box. Having a bathtub on the DCL cruise was a huge convenience with having a young child. The towels -- I felt like they were fine, but not having to carry towels to the pool and back and keep track of where my towel was, was huge. If I wanted to use three towels at the pool because it's chilly when you're going through the North Sea, I could.

Other things I preferred on DCL: no loud and smoky casino, no art auctions, no super loud music in the pool area. If I never hear another steel drum, it will still be too soon. The only thing on Carnival that I liked at all was the kids' clubs, but the DCL Oceaneer's club and lab had so much more to do and I felt like there was a much better ratio of staff to kids.

I felt like the food was fine on both. The DCL food wasn't as amazing as I'd heard, though we were still eating a ton of it. We thought we would try to get a Palo brunch, but the thought of even more food was totally unappealing, so we didn't do it.

If I wasn't physically uncomfortable in the room on the Carnival ship for the entire 7 days, maybe I would do it again for a cheaper option for an Alaska cruise, but we had engineers in the room daily working on the A/C and they could never do anything about it, and I never want to be on another one of their ships.

It’s really a shame that companies can have such an inconsistent product. I loved my 3 Carnival cruises and found some things to be far superior than my 6 Disney cruises. But, if my first Carnival cruise had been like your experience, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been back for 2 and 3.

The level of service in my DCL cruises certainly wasn’t the same same every time, in fact had my 4th cruise been my 1st time on DCL, I guarantee I would not have been back on a Disney ship. The other 5 were pretty consistent with a few ups and down but none were like the first time we were on the Wonder. It was pretty bad.

 

[KashasMom]

The difference in quality of the inside staterooms is a big part of the reason why I won't go on another Carnival cruise. One was way more than enough. Our air conditioning on the carnival ship never got the room down below 76F (and often not even that low), which is not awful at home, but made the tiny room completely stifling. It felt like there was never any air flow coming into the room. At several points, I had to go out into the hallway just to feel like I wasn't suffocating. On DCL, it was a completely comfortable temperature. On Carnival, the lights in the room were super harsh, making it really unpleasant to be in there for any length of time. On DCL, the lampshades at the headboard gave the light a comfortable, yellow glow. It was never unpleasant to be in there. The bed was super comfortable. The rooms on DCL (we were on the Magic) seemed to be much more roomy. I never felt stuck in a tiny box. Having a bathtub on the DCL cruise was a huge convenience with having a young child. The towels -- I felt like they were fine, but not having to carry towels to the pool and back and keep track of where my towel was, was huge. If I wanted to use three towels at the pool because it's chilly when you're going through the North Sea, I could.

Other things I preferred on DCL: no loud and smoky casino, no art auctions, no super loud music in the pool area. If I never hear another steel drum, it will still be too soon. The only thing on Carnival that I liked at all was the kids' clubs, but the DCL Oceaneer's club and lab had so much more to do and I felt like there was a much better ratio of staff to kids.

I felt like the food was fine on both. The DCL food wasn't as amazing as I'd heard, though we were still eating a ton of it. We thought we would try to get a Palo brunch, but the thought of even more food was totally unappealing, so we didn't do it.

If I wasn't physically uncomfortable in the room on the Carnival ship for the entire 7 days, maybe I would do it again for a cheaper option for an Alaska cruise, but we had engineers in the room daily working on the A/C and they could never do anything about it, and I never want to be on another one of their ships.

I'm sorry you had that issue with the AC. I know I have to have AC to be comfortable. We had the same issue on DCL Fantasy. They were able to fix it but not other issues with the room (bathroom sewer smell and vibration/noise). Totally agree with you about the food on DCL - no wow for me...well except for Mickey bars.

One thing I don't understand is when I read comments about a casino/auctions/shopping. Those things are easy enough to avoid. Most cruises I don't even go near a casino - even in passing. And I LOVE live music on the pool deck - it's just that Disney's decks are too small for bands.

 

[mevelandry]

I agree. I heard about auctions and shopping on some cruises but that was it. They are not my cup of tea so I avoid them. The impact of those things on my cruise is close to zero.

 

[mevelandry]

(...)
Other things I preferred on DCL: no loud and smoky casino, no art auctions, no super loud music in the pool area. If I never hear another steel drum, it will still be too soon. (...)

One thing I forgot to reply to: the steel drums.

A few weeks ago, on this thread, I professed my love of steel drums and how I tear up whenever I hear the instrument now because it reminds me of my Carnival cruises. It literally has the exact same effect on me than when I am hearing the DCL horn ... Happy memories.

 

[oumagic]

We just got back from our 3 day Carnival cruise on an old ship (Inspiration/inside room) and we had a blast! Mostly just sitting on the deck with a cold beverage during the day and some piano bar at night. Food was good and dining service was great!

We are looking forward to our Disney new year’s cruise coming up, but you can like both. We booked DCL when our cruise went on sell and 9 people are going. The Carnival cruise was decided in August for just me and wife and in-laws to go on a quick anniversary trip.

 

[mevelandry]

We just got back from our 3 day Carnival cruise on an old ship (Inspiration/inside room) and we had a blast! Mostly just sitting on the deck with a cold beverage during the day and some piano bar at night. Food was good and dining service was great!

We are looking forward to our Disney new year’s cruise coming up, but you can like both. We booked DCL when our cruise went on sell and 9 people are going. The Carnival cruise was decided in August for just me and wife and in-laws to go on a quick anniversary trip.

Hi! Welcome to the thread!

Which ship was it and where did you go?

 

[GrrArrgh]

I can put up with a lot of things, but making it impossible for me to sleep or be at all comfortable in the room is the end of the line for me. I forgot about one more thing on that cursed Carnival ship: the loud, intermittent clanging that went on all night long. They claimed it was the waves, but it sounded like someone was banging on pipes on the deck below me. Between that, the lack of air flow and the heat, I could never encourage anyone to go on Carnival. Ship of misery.

 

[GrrArrgh]

Oh, and for those who don't understand how the presence of a casino on a ship can impact your enjoyment: it is mostly how the smoke from the casino seeps everywhere on the ship, especially the adjoining areas. It is an awful, stale, disgusting smell. The casino is right in the middle of everything and if I'm walking my daughter somewhere, I have to explain to her every time that no, those aren't video games she can play. It's exhausting. I also just think they're ugly and loud. The presence of art auctions is annoying because they take up a ton of space. The carnival ships are packed and they have those ridiculous art auctions making one of the lounges unavailable for anything else. When they're moving their "art" from place to place, they block the hallways. If people want to buy mass-produced art, that's their business, but I think the companies who run those auctions are scammy and horrible.

 

[Dug720]

Oh, and for those who don't understand how the presence of a casino on a ship can impact your enjoyment: it is mostly how the smoke from the casino seeps everywhere on the ship, especially the adjoining areas. It is an awful, stale, disgusting smell. The casino is right in the middle of everything and if I'm walking my daughter somewhere, I have to explain to her every time that no, those aren't video games she can play. It's exhausting. I also just think they're ugly and loud. The presence of art auctions is annoying because they take up a ton of space. The carnival ships are packed and they have those ridiculous art auctions making one of the lounges unavailable for anything else. When they're moving their "art" from place to place, they block the hallways. If people want to buy mass-produced art, that's their business, but I think the companies who run those auctions are scammy and horrible.

I 100% agree about the smoke from the casinos. (On RCCL and HAL anyway.) Yes, they might have an allegedly non-smoking section, but there is no physical divider. If they want to allow smoking in them, the smoking section should be in an airtight room with a decontamination barrier roomlet between the non-smoking side and the nasty smelling area.

 

[mevelandry]

I can put up with a lot of things, but making it impossible for me to sleep or be at all comfortable in the room is the end of the line for me. I forgot about one more thing on that cursed Carnival ship: the loud, intermittent clanging that went on all night long. They claimed it was the waves, but it sounded like someone was banging on pipes on the deck below me. Between that, the lack of air flow and the heat, I could never encourage anyone to go on Carnival. Ship of misery.

Regarding the noise... Since we never know what we are going to get (soundproofing, neighbours, etc.), no matter where we go, I always bring earplugs. I wouldn't travel without it.

Oh, and for those who don't understand how the presence of a casino on a ship can impact your enjoyment: it is mostly how the smoke from the casino seeps everywhere on the ship, especially the adjoining areas. It is an awful, stale, disgusting smell. The casino is right in the middle of everything and if I'm walking my daughter somewhere, I have to explain to her every time that no, those aren't video games she can play. It's exhausting. I also just think they're ugly and loud. The presence of art auctions is annoying because they take up a ton of space. The carnival ships are packed and they have those ridiculous art auctions making one of the lounges unavailable for anything else. When they're moving their "art" from place to place, they block the hallways. If people want to buy mass-produced art, that's their business, but I think the companies who run those auctions are scammy and horrible.

Yeah. Not a fan of the smoke either. Not all Carnival ships are the same, though. On the Vista, they had a different system which made a huge difference with the smell.

I kinda like casinos but after 1 hour, I'm bored... But my DH loves them. I could do with or without.


I noticed DCL has auctions too... I don't know how different they are as I never attended on any cruise line. The only time they bothered me is when they used the Library on the Vista because we wanted to play board games that day.

In conclusion: As @Club Disney Chandler said, I understand that when the first impression you have from a cruise line is bad, it is not very tempting to go back again.

Sorry you had a bad experience.