I've returned from a Carnival Cruise and now can compare.

[Wendy Pleakley]

Reading your comments reminds me of the report Theme Park Review did about a Carnival cruise (http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?pageid=570&linkid=11488).

Like you said, if you can laugh at how bad some elements are, you should have fun. If you expect Disney quality, you won't be happy.

 

[StageFrenzy]

Or the girl who thinks it fun to flash people boarding the ship from her stateroom porthole.

When we were in Nassau an Aida ship was docked next to us on the Dream. I walked out onto my verandah I heard some kids yelling EW! over and over, I could figure out why but then I saw it. An older European man was sunbathing nude/adjusting towels on verandah. Luckily when I noticed it was just the backside.

 

[Sans Souci]

When we were in Nassau an Aida ship was docked next to us on the Dream. I walked out onto my verandah I heard some kids yelling EW! over and over, I could figure out why but then I saw it. An older European man was sunbathing nude/adjusting towels on verandah. Luckily when I noticed it was just the backside.

When we were on a Med cruise last month, in small script on the lower right hand side of the front page of the Navigator was a blurb about naked/topless sunbathing not being permitted. I don't know if it's on all Navigators on all of the ships (I don't recall seeing it before), or if it was just because this was a European cruise. LOL

 

[Ralphlaw]

Probably a European thing, but even on some other cruise lines out of America, this is apparently allowed. I saw it on our 1997 Norwegian cruise. For the people I saw so bathing, let's just say it wasn't the high point of my cruise.

 

[Kramerica]

Okay. Just because I can think of nowhere else to put this. I just wanted to mention. One night while drinking at one of the bars, I was talking to a guy who turned out to be one of the higher up execs at Carnival. Gave me his card. But I won't mention his name. He was an interesting guy. Talked about how stressful it was with the Triumph catching on fire a couple years back and other various cruise industry things. But one thing that I found so interesting. This guy didn't know my history of sailing with Disney, but he talked about Disney a lot. intact, besides Carnival, it was the only other line he talked about. Saying how Disney thought they would change the industry and this and that. And I just kept thinking, with so many other cruise lines. So many others that are bigger and have been around longer. Why can all this dude talk about be about Disney? Just found it fascinating. I think there's either a fear or a jealously there.

So to not lose motivation to finish this thing up, I'll just write about the debarkation experience and my final thoughts. It might be helpful to tell you about my most recent debarkation experience with Disney as it's still fresh in my mind and every Disney cruise I've been on has remained consistent this way.

Aboard the Disney Dream we had our last sit down meal at Animator's Palette. This is my favorite restaurant onboard. Our waiters, per usual were offering some of the best service I've ever experienced. We give them their comment cards and the well earned gratuity in their little envelope. It was after this that they adamantly insisted that we join them again for breakfast the next morning before debarking. All of us at our table decided we should. The next morning our waiters were waiting there for us. Our luggage was held onto somewhere else so we wouldn't have to deal with it. We had a wonderful breakfast and enjoyed the last little bit of the ship. You walk with your luggage right through the main atrium with no waiting. Signs hung around saying goodbye to that week's guests. Guests taking their last minute photos and slowly meandering towards the exit, visibly sad to get off the ship. Cast members are there to help you every step of the way, and they make it's easy. This might sound weird, but when I see a cast member, it feels like seeing a good friend in an unfamiliar environment. Sure, customs is an unfriendly, unintuitive environment. But you see a cast member there, and you KNOW you're going to be just fine. It's no secret that debarkation morning is no fun on no matter what cruise line you're on. You're saying goodbye to your vacation. You're waking up early. You might be slightly hungover for celebrating your last night aboard. But Disney makes even this experience one that you look on with good memories.

Now let's talk about Carnival's debarkation experience. I was to start off by saying that my impression of this is somewhat fueled by my friends along with me, who hadn't made the best choices the night before. It was their first cruise. I warned them the night before that debarkation morning is not fun. Don't party so hard. Get a decent amount of sleep and you'll thank me for it. They did the opposite of this. One in particular. We lost Nicholas for part of the evening, and when we caught up to him later he had already maxed out his 15 drink limit. As I'm telling him he should go to sleep, he grabs the fifth of vodka off of our counter and disappears into the ship. It's not until probably four in the morning that we see Nick again when he came in the room and collapsed onto his bed. The next day, up bright and early, Nick is the most hungover person I've ever seen in my entire life. We manage to get him packed and ready to debark as we're already running late. thinking we're about to get off the ship, we walk to the nearest elevator bank and it's a complete gridlock. Tired vacationers are everywhere. Sitting on their luggage. Not a Carnival employee to be seen. It was hot. It was smelly. It was slow. It took us probably an hour of slow shuffling to get from our room on deck two, to the atrium on deck three and out the door. It was miserable. At one point my friend Colin turned to me and said "I just want off of this ship" Ontop of this, Nick couldn't go ten minutes without having to rush to the backroom to be sick. This continued out to the gangway. through customs, which had a line that was tremendously long. Once outside, it took about 45 minutes for our bus to arrive. Fortunately, it wasn't a Carnival bus and it had a bathroom on board. Which Nick appreciated. That whole ordeal was one of the most miserable of my life. And while it wouldn't have been nearly as bad without a sick friend in tow, debarking on a Carnival ship just isn't a nice experience.

In conclusion. Neither are a bad experience. Carnival nails the "fun" that it goes for. Disney is an incredible, once in a lifetime experience. Will I do Carnival again? Yes. Actually I just booked another trip. It's an easy way to get friends together. Especially friends who don't know how to save their money. And it is fun, let's not say that it isn't. If you just need a quick getaway, I don't think you should ever hesitate to give it a shot. But as for Disney, several times through writing this thing, I kept thinking "This isn't even fair to compare these two". Disney Cruise is always so incredibly mind-blowing that everything else never comes close to me. The Disney wonder is the second most beautiful place I've ever been, beat only by the Disney Dream. And I hear what you're saying, Carnival is sometimes less than half the price of Disney. I know. And I will catch a lot of flack for saying this. But if we're talking purely on a dollar to experience ratio, Disney is a bargain.

 

[RandomPrincess]

Did you see any kids on your cruise? I'm curious how families like Carnival. It seems like a fun adult party, not for families.

 

[Tom P.]

I gotta admit, if I had called Carnival for information and their salesperson suggested I borrow money from family so that I could book the cruise, I would have hung up the phone and ended all consideration of their cruise line. How low class. And that's not just a Carnival vs. Disney thing. I can't imagine a rep from Royal Caribbean or Celebrity or pretty much any other cruise line acting like that. As someone said upthread, that's the kind of thing you expect a sleazy debt collector to say. And that tells me all I need to now about how Carnival views their customers.

There's no doubt that Disney in any form -- Walt Disney World, Cruise Line, whatever -- is a pricey experience. And they never miss an opportunity to market something to you. But never once in any interaction with Disney have I felt pressure or impatience at taking my time to make a decision. They have always come across as a class act.

 

[ScoutN]

I gotta admit, if I had called Carnival for information and their salesperson suggested I borrow money from family so that I could book the cruise, I would have hung up the phone and ended all consideration of their cruise line. How low class. And that's not just a Carnival vs. Disney thing. I can't imagine a rep from Royal Caribbean or Celebrity or pretty much any other cruise line acting like that. As someone said upthread, that's the kind of thing you expect a sleazy debt collector to say. And that tells me all I need to now about how Carnival views their customers.

I have had someone try listing all kinds of different methods to pay for a trip when I have said "I am not looking to spend money at the moment" when trying to get me to do a deep OTown Discount stay for sitting in a timeshare spiel. She threw out the line from "no credit cards?" to "can anyone else in your household pay for it?" and my favorite "you dont have any money saved in a corner somewhere?" My final line was that I am a DVC member and have hotels taken care. She really got nasty so I do not find this poster's experience that far out.
I am sure the hotel chain sales office that said that is not the one you would expect it from, either.

 

[Ralphlaw]

I saw people having "intimacies" on the Dream in Evolution last year and so did a few other people here.

It happens on DCL, too.

Yeah, but not in open daylight.

The debarkation is the kicker. We had a fine time on our Norwegian cruise back in the 90s, but that miserable debarkation experience convinced us to NEVER book Norwegian again. That was 17 years ago, and we've booked 6 Disney cruises since then--no Norwegian. One each on the Wonder, Fantasy and Dream--3 on the Magic. I must admit that we were actually least impressed on the Dream compared to the other Disney ships. People seemed a bit more rowdy, a bit more excited about unlimited free food, a bit less likely to deal appropriately when their kids were throwing tantrums. And a bit more likely to have heavy drinking as an integral part of the trip. I drink, but I don't go on vacation with the goal of getting wasted. On the Dream, I saw that, but I never saw it on any of the other three ships. I'm sure there are always a few big partiers on every cruise, but they aren't as visible on the Wonder, Fantasy or Magic.

Amazing that the Carnival exec is so talkative about Disney Cruise line. There's Disney with its tiny fleet of 4 ships, and then there's everyone else. From what I understand, Disney hands down has the highest cabin occupancy rate (and the fewest empty cabins), the highest satisfaction ratings, the highest rated shows, and the highest number of repeat guests. They also charge the most. No smart Carnival exec would fail to be wrapt up in how Disney does it. At one level, they simply chalk it up to Mickey, but a smart Carnival exec knows there's more to it. For us, again, the one thing every other cruise line does amazingly poorly is the debarkation, that last memory, that final kiss goodbye. How stupid can they all be to not get that one last detail right? I've seen Judges sentence criminals to jail with more courtesy than that.

 

[Kramerica]

Did you see any kids on your cruise? I'm curious how families like Carnival. It seems like a fun adult party, not for families.

There are kids aboard. Not but nearly to the same extent as Disney. To me it feels like they're almost localized to the kid friendly spots, with a few stragglers aboard other parts of the ship

 

[Bolna]

In my experience the debarkation experience really depends on a lot of factors, many of them outside of a cruise lines control. I had an extremely miserable experience getting off the Disney Wonder in San Diego. Luckily nobody in my party was hung over, but otherwise it was not much better than yours on Carnival. On top of that we then had to wait 40 minutes for a cab as it seemed that San Diego only had 6 cabs working (we saw the same ones appear over and over again whil we waited in line).

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

I'm in. I'll have to read your thread at lunchtime. I've sailed on the Carnival Magic out of Galveston and will be sailing on the Disney Wonder out of Galveston in 70 days!!! I can't wait to hear about your experience and everybody's comments!!!

But as for Disney, several times through writing this thing, I kept thinking "This isn't even fair to compare these two". Disney Cruise is always so incredibly mind-blowing that everything else never comes close to me. The Disney wonder is the second most beautiful place I've ever been, beat only by the Disney Dream. And I hear what you're saying, Carnival is sometimes less than half the price of Disney. I know. And I will catch a lot of flack for saying this. But if we're talking purely on a dollar to experience ratio, Disney is a bargain.

OK, screw work. I've gotta comment. That sums up why we decided to try DCL.

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Thank you for your post -- this is very reassuring, as we're taking the kids on a Carnival cruise in February and the posts above were beginning to scare me!

Sorry if I missed it, which ship out of which port?

 

[Ralphlaw]

In my experience the debarkation experience really depends on a lot of factors, many of them outside of a cruise lines control. I had an extremely miserable experience getting off the Disney Wonder in San Diego. Luckily nobody in my party was hung over, but otherwise it was not much better than yours on Carnival. On top of that we then had to wait 40 minutes for a cab as it seemed that San Diego only had 6 cabs working (we saw the same ones appear over and over again whil we waited in line).

True. Our debarkation in Dover last summer was slow, and we ended up waiting in line for a while. Mostly it had to do with an exit ramp problem at the port. Embarkation had also been slow 12 days earlier. Yes, it was beyond Disney's control, yet Disney was somehow able to be sympathetic yet smiley. All hiccups soon forgotten.

For example, some of the CMs had shore leave, and were in plain clothes getting off before us to see the sights of Dover. This included our waiter and the lounge pianist/singer. They passed me on deck 4 (they do not leave through the atrium, but instead on more of an open air ramp). Saying "Hi", they both assured us that everything would get moving soon. They were right, and they also put up with my pointers about Dover castle and my compliments on an excellent cruise experience.

I will probably never see this waiter or lounge pianist again, but they were professional and courteous to the end even though any chances for additional tips were long gone. Get that from any other cruise line.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Sorry if I missed it, which ship out of which port?

We'll be sailing on the Pride out of Baltimore on 2/14/15. We picked this particular cruise because it was half the price of DCL, the cruise is during the kids' school break, and the port is within driving distance of our home in upstate NY, so we're saving several hundred additional dollars by not having to fly. We knew there would be a trade-off going with a cheaper cruise line that is not as well-known for family-friendliness as DCL (and on a pretty unexciting itinerary), but budget-wise it was either that Carnival cruise or none at all. We are not big drinkers and we won't be spending any time in the casino, but we still hope there will be enough to do onboard as a family that the two of us and the kids (son 9 and daughter 7) can have some fun together.

Someday we'd love to do a Disney cruise, but since this will be the kids' first one (and DH's and my second -- the first being nearly a decade ago, also on Carnival), I think we'll all benefit from "not knowing what we're missing."

 

[Phonedave]

I've done Disney and Celebrity cruises in the last few years, and there really is a Disney difference. Looking forward to hearing more of your comparisons.

The Disney cruise experience really is top notch. The big question is, is it superior enough to justify the huge price difference compared to other cruise lines?

Sadly, I have to say no, it is not worth it. I have done three Disney cruises on two different ships, all of various lengths, all out of Port Canaveral. The Disney Cruises are wonderful - but they are $$$$$.

We just did a 7 night Bermuda out of Bayonne NJ on the Celebrity Summit. Some quick comparisons.

1) The Celebrity ship was not as immaculate as Disney's - but it was by no means lacking. A spot of rust here, a bit of peeling varnish there, some brightwork that could use a shine. Nothing like part missing, or garbage. Just not quite the level of maintenance Disney does.

2) Food - the same on both ships. 90% of the dishes were great, 10% disappointed. Wait staff was wonderful on both, While you do not change dining rooms on Celebrity, the dining room itself is very nice.

3) Activities - both lines have many activities that are great. Celebrities stage musical shows are a notch below Disney's, but they also had some excellent comics, a very interesting "high tech" magician, and did a liars club show with members of the crew that was very funny.

4) Staff - The staff on both ships are great, Disney has that Disney level of service, but I cant complain about Celebrity;. from the bartender in the lounge before dinner every night who had a running joke with me about stealing snacks from behind the bar, to the pool attendants who would assist you in finding chairs, to the food service people who at lunch apologized for a made to order dish taking so long, asked where we were sitting by the pool, and then said "go sit down, I'll find you when it is ready" and brought me my food. The Thalassotherapary Pool on the Summit also a great area to relax. We did have one issue with the photography people on the Summit, but they did rectify it in the end.

5) Price - Disney is way more expensive. In addition, Celebrity was running a "pick two perks" promo. We got all gratuities included, and all beverages (alcohol as well) included) and the fare was still less that Disney's. Sailing out of Bayonne saves me a bundle on airfare, but I cant really fault Disney for that - they cant schedule their cruises for my convenience, now can they.

So, to summarize, I think Disney is a "better' cruise line on a few points, but by no means is Celebrity lacking, and in some points is better than Disney. I will most likely go on an other Disney cruise, just because I enjoy them. But for value, I really feel Celebrity is a much better value.

-dave

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Neon jungle is right. I think Carnival owns a neon shop.

Galveston's shared cruise terminals leave quite a bit to be desired. I wish they'd invest in sprucing them up.

The Carnival Magic's dining room waiters and meals were good. The Magic is new, large and nice. We always found something to do, usually with our kids since their kids' clubs wouldn't make exceptions to the divisions in their age groups. We liked the sports deck and the sky course (or whatever they call it). I wish the Wonder had the aqua duck and mini golf. The kids activities look really entertaining on the Wonder.

Our debarkation was smooth. We kept our luggage instead of putting it out the night before. Getting through customs was less than fun, though. I thought that would be the same on any ship line.

They told you to borrow money? You had to wait for the bus to be restarted? Their executive blabbed what? What the heck?!?!

 

[Ralphlaw]

Disney is worth the money for people who's vacation time is worth more to them. Not, again, to be snobby, but our two European cruises were filled with fairly well off people: Doctors, lawyers, bankers, company presidents, self-employed business people. People like that don't want annoyances or hassles and are willing to pay a few thousand bucks more for top notch everything.

One fellow I met owned his own business in LA. While onboard, two of his key employees resigned. "Oh well," he said, "back to ground zero on Monday." A man like that does not pinch vacation pennies. He also brought along his wife, best friend, and a few of the grandkids, and I never heard a foul word out of him. He Liked a few beers in the evening (who doesn't?), but getting drunk and stupid was not his vacation operandi.

Bottom line, for strong 6 figure income families, Disney is well worth it. A magical memory filling vacation, not a get me outta here break from the daily grind on the cheap. Time was far more valuable than the savings of a 2nd rate vacation.

 

[Sans Souci]

Disney is worth the money for people who's vacation time is worth more to them. Not, again, to be snobby, but our two European cruises were filled with fairly well off people: Doctors, lawyers, bankers, company presidents, self-employed business people. People like that don't want annoyances or hassles and are willing to pay a few thousand bucks more for top notch everything.

One fellow I met owned his own business in LA. While onboard, two of his key employees resigned. "Oh well," he said, "back to ground zero on Monday." A man like that does not pinch vacation pennies. He also brought along his wife, best friend, and a few of the grandkids, and I never heard a foul word out of him. He Liked a few beers in the evening (who doesn't?), but getting drunk and stupid was not his vacation operandi.

Bottom line, for strong 6 figure income families, Disney is well worth it. A magical memory filling vacation, not a get me outta here break from the daily grind on the cheap. Time was far more valuable than the savings of a 2nd rate vacation.

 

[Kramerica]

Disney is worth the money for people who's vacation time is worth more to them. Not, again, to be snobby, but our two European cruises were filled with fairly well off people: Doctors, lawyers, bankers, company presidents, self-employed business people. People like that don't want annoyances or hassles and are willing to pay a few thousand bucks more for top notch everything.

One fellow I met owned his own business in LA. While onboard, two of his key employees resigned. "Oh well," he said, "back to ground zero on Monday." A man like that does not pinch vacation pennies. He also brought along his wife, best friend, and a few of the grandkids, and I never heard a foul word out of him. He Liked a few beers in the evening (who doesn't?), but getting drunk and stupid was not his vacation operandi.

Bottom line, for strong 6 figure income families, Disney is well worth it. A magical memory filling vacation, not a get me outta here break from the daily grind on the cheap. Time was far more valuable than the savings of a 2nd rate vacation.

I'm not sure I entirely agree with this. I'm a 25 year old dude who's a supervisor at a warehouse here in Washington. I'm certainly not a millionaire, but I think that as far as value goes, Disney was far superior.

But I don't have a wife or any kids, or have never done any other cruise lines but Disney and Carnival, So I realize I am massively naive. So take what I say with a grain of salt. But in the end, it all comes down to opinion. But the best way I can describe it is that the dollar to experience ratio is something like this.

Carnival: 1 to 2
Disney: 2 to 5

Yes, Disney is twice the cost, but more than twice the experience. Sort of like a Magic Kingdom to Six Flags scenario.