Our mouse free cruise..

[ollychelle]

Disney is the only cruise line my family had ever experienced prior to our March CCL sailing. Yes we love the mouse :). Since we decided to leave our three kiddos at home and go on an anniversary trip at the last minute with just my DH and myself, we decided to give Carnival a try. Plus with the price of airfare, Carnival has ports closer to our home so we could drive (11 hours, but still cheaper than flying). With Carnival’s prices we didn’t feel as guilty about leaving the kids behind, because we could still afford to do a summer vacation with them too. The main difference besides the cheaper price we noticed up front when booking with Carnival, was that we now had to pay for soda and alcohol. (With Disney, soda is included in their cost and you are allowed to carry on alcohol).

With me being a teacher, we are very limited as to when we can travel. Spring Break for us usually lands towards the end of March, weather during this time is usually perfect for cruising. Since we were driving, we had to figure in two extra days for travel (one day there and one day back). So we decided a 5 day cruise was good , plus our options were limited because we had to choose ports in driving distance. Our choices were narrowed down to either the Triumph out of New Orleans or the Elation out of Mobile. Since one was cheaper and had a port new to us, we decided to choose…………………………………….

[Froufie]

ELATION!!! (so do I get a prize or something for being the 1st with the right answer?? :D:D)

[DEBnGAB]

ELATION!!! (so do I get a prize or something for being the 1st with the right answer?? :D:D)

 

A free cruise..tomorrow. ;)

[Froufie]

A free cruise..tomorrow. ;)

 

Ha ha ha - aren't you funny! :D ...and don't think I can't be ready in time! Just grab the suitcase, throw in the 'caribbean wardrobe', get the 'cruise gear' box down from the cupboard, find the passport and my stash of US funny money and voila! (okay so no manicure or pedicure, but I can take care of that onboard!). So where do I show up?;):D

[ollychelle]

Funny!!

[ollychelle]

The ELATION is right. (No prize-sorry!)

 

Day one- We stayed at the Saraland Microtel and the shuttle ride there was quick. Embarkation was fairly smooth, but a lot of waiting because of the long lines. When we made it to ship, we noticed that my name was put on both my husband’s and I’s cards. So we had to wait at GS a little a while to get that fixed too. We ate at the buffet. It was fairly good. The pizza line was long, and we didn’t think the pizza was very good. Overall though, the food was pretty good.

After eating we decided to gets drinks. I of course had to try the DOD.

My DH was disappointed that Coors Light was not available but he survived. (We did find it later at certain bars, but it was not available everywhere on the ship??). We stayed on deck a little while until we were able to get into our staterooms. We were in R7. I was surprised how dusty, smelly (smoke), and dated everything in the rooms were, but I was on a cruise ship on vacation so decided things could be worse. We stayed in the room for a little while, and got everything organized. We then went back on deck and were very disappointed by the sail away? Not a big deal was made about it.

We went to adult only area then and relaxed in the sun. A little surprised by the up-keep of this area too (dirty chair covers everywhere, grime all around the aft), but it still wasn't enough to let it bother us too bad as you can tell by the picture below. Plus no children were yelling "mom" "mom" "mom" repeatedly. At least not at me : )

We also decided to explore the ship a little. The Elation is a very beatiful ship. Deck 8 was a little odd because of the layout, but otherwise it was fine! Later we went to our room, got ready for dinner, and then watched the sunset.

Since we had late dining, we went to have a few drinks before dinner. We thought dinner was fairly good. Loved the WCMC!!! We were surprised that being a couple cruising with no kids (for this trip at least) that we were placed to eat with a family with kids. They were a very nice family, but we would have enjoyed meeting other couples traveling with no kids for this trip too? After dinner we went to see a pretty funny comedian and karaoke.

 

Overall it was a pretty good day.

[H82seaUgo]

curious what you thought of carnival's service after doing the mouse first......

[chasinraynbowz]

I agree with you. The ship is beautiful. But the cabins need UPDATING!!!

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review............. :D

[KruznKel]

Ha ha ha - aren't you funny! :D ...and don't think I can't be ready in time! Just grab the suitcase, throw in the 'caribbean wardrobe', get the 'cruise gear' box down from the cupboard, find the passport and my stash of US funny money and voila! (okay so no manicure or pedicure, but I can take care of that onboard!). So where do I show up?;):D

 

I want your job where you can get time off that fast:p

[jenwales]

curious what you thought of carnival's service after doing the mouse first......

 

I'm not the OP but I'll chime in because we did DCL before Carnival. Honestly, I didn't expect it, but Carnival's service was every bit as good as Disney's; maybe not quite as chipper, but everyone was friendly and helpful.

[ollychelle]

curious what you thought of carnival's service after doing the mouse first......

 

Carnival's service was pretty good. No complaints. I will say a lot of the workers never looked very happy. They did their job well, but hardly ever with a smile, for some - not all. (though I might not be smiling too much either if everyone else was enjoying their cruise and I was stuck working).

 

The mouse's service though is unbeatable. Drinks waiting for you at the table after night 2, tricks/stories at dinner every night by the wait staff, reminder calls by the wait staff to your stateroom, and it just seems much more personal?? I also like the way Disney has you change dining rooms with your wait staff so you are not stuck at the same table, same restaurant every night. Just my opinion.

[Froufie]

I want your job where you can get time off that fast:p

 

I have a nice boss! (and have been a public servant for over 20 year so lots of vacation time! YAAY)

[maenzoe]

Just wanted to chime in and say that out last cruise was also with the mouse. I was not sure what to expect after reading about how nothing compares with Disney's service. Let me say that we were very pleasantly surprised. My husband and I cruised over spring break:eek: with our three kids. We found the service, food, and kids clubs to all be on par with disney. We thought the service and food were actually superior to what we experienced on the Wonder last year. We did enjoy the family suites that Disney offered. I had to book two rooms for the five of us on the Conquest. We have already booked our next cruise with carnival and can't wait.

[Disneycruisers]

The pizza line was long, and we didn’t think the pizza was very good.

 

Really?:confused:

 

I think Carnival's pizza is SO MUCH BETTER than Disney's. It's one thing I always look forward to when I get back on Carnival. I won't even touch Disney's pizza anymore after Carnival's.

 

To each his own.:)

[hlb76]

Can't wait to read more...

 

Also to all the DCL to CCL comparisons thanks. I don't think we will ever cruise DCL but fun to hear that CCL is not that off base. We have a friend who refuses to try CCL but likes DCL. Guess since I don't pay for there vacations I wont let it get to me!!

[denas]

Glad to stumble across this thread and looking forward to the rest of your review. We just did our 2d Disney Cruise on the Magic in January and service was not good at all - in fact our waitstaff was about the worst we ever experienced on any cruise line. Drinks waiting at your table?? Hardly. We often went over an hour before we even got drinks and never received a refill!!

 

We haven't cruised Carnival since the mid-90s when we were first married but are planning on cancelling our scheduled Disney cruise for August 2012 and giving the Carnival Magic a try for the same time period. We paid waaaaaaay to much for the mouse and don't feel like enduring the kind of service we had recently again!!

[collectormm]

Glad to see other posts on here about being mouse cruisers. We have sailed 8 times with the mouse, the last on the maiden voyage of the Dream. Boy, were we disappointed. Their prices are so much more than with Carnival. We are planning our first Carnival cruise and looking forward to it. Either the Legend out of Tampa or one out of Miami. We live in Indiana, so we have to fly to Florida. Tampa is easier to get to and a lot cheaper than flying to Miami. Any thoughts or suggestions for our first Carnival cruise? Thanks to all.:)

[kelzbelz77]

Glad to see other posts on here about being mouse cruisers. We have sailed 8 times with the mouse, the last on the maiden voyage of the Dream. Boy, were we disappointed. Their prices are so much more than with Carnival. We are planning our first Carnival cruise and looking forward to it. Either the Legend out of Tampa or one out of Miami. We live in Indiana, so we have to fly to Florida. Tampa is easier to get to and a lot cheaper than flying to Miami. Any thoughts or suggestions for our first Carnival cruise? Thanks to all.:)

 

I always fly into Ft. Lauderdale regardless if I am going out of Miami as it is way cheaper and just jump into a shuttle! Happy Cruising!

[ollychelle]

Really?:confused:

 

I think Carnival's pizza is SO MUCH BETTER than Disney's. It's one thing I always look forward to when I get back on Carnival. I won't even touch Disney's pizza anymore after Carnival's.

 

To each his own.:)

 

Didn't say Disney's pizza was good either :confused: I just said Carnival's pizza wasn't very good. The line was always long and the only toppings that were usually plentiful were pepperoni or cheese.

[ollychelle]

Day Two- Sea Day

 

Today we relaxed! We made mimosas with our champagne that we carried on with the guava juice- YUMMY!! We laid around the lido deck and the adult only area. We ate when we felt like it. The grill was good. Cheeseburger and chicken strips were tasty. My husband liked the chips used for the nachos especially. It was nice to just do nothing for a while. There didn't seem to be a lot of day time activities unless you like to gamble or play bingo. Did watch the Hairy chest competition. That was funny! Brave men! We eventually went back to the room and were surprised to see a gift from family from the BV department. We didn't have a cork screw to open it while on board without paying a fee, but still nice.

 

We decided to take a nap. We slept too long (no clock in the stateroom at all:confused:) and missed the show for the night (only an early showing, no late showing available) which was a little disappointing for me (my husband could have cared less). Since it was formal night we spent a little more time than normal getting ready, but not much. We went to get a few pictures taken! I couldn't believe how many photographers there were, and found it annoying by the end of the night to have to keep saying no. I wished they had packages available like "Buy 5 different poses for $---" I think we would have purchased more photos that way.

 

We then went to dinner. The turkey pasta entree was delicious. Also, I tried the Bitter and Blanc. I thought it was good but still loved the WCMC better. Watched the comedy act which was funny (I mess up because we didn't watch the comedian on day 1- maybe I had too many DODs! That must have been why I was signing karaoke) Overall, it was a fairly nice relaxing day!

[Froufie]

I think if you asked your room steward he could have rustled up a corkscrew for you! (I always carry one :D).....and you can use the telephone to set up an automated wake up call - very easy to do - instructions on phone I believe and in the 'green binder' on the desk!

[ollychelle]

I think if you asked your room steward he could have rustled up a corkscrew for you! (I always carry one :D).....and you can use the telephone to set up an automated wake up call - very easy to do - instructions on phone I believe and in the 'green binder' on the desk!

 

We did ask the steward and were told that. We are not big wine drinkers so didn't think to pack them. We carried on champagne so no corkscrew required. We were aware of the wake up call, but it is nice to have a clock to look at too. We don't use our cell phones on board so we relied on the tv for time. Every cruise I say I am going to buy a watch and never do:confused:

[ollychelle]

Day Three- Calica

 

This is the port I was excited about because of Playa del Carmen

 

After getting up and eating breakfast. We packed up and left for the day. We took a taxi to the beach/shopping strip. We were very early for island time so the stores were mostly closed. We headed for the beach which was pretty empty. Beautiful beach! Loved it!

 

 

We saw this huge star fish washed up on the beach, which was still alive. Some one put it back in the water. The picture doesn't show the size well but it was probably 10-12 inches big.

 

 

After relaxing at the beach we shopped a little and found a little place to eat close to the beach but not right on the sand (because the prices were so much cheaper and two for one drinks!!) Good food and great drinks. We spent quite a while just watching the ocean from the balcony!

 

Bring me two pina coladas. I've got to have one for each hand....

 

 

We took a taxi back to the ship finally :(

 

We then took a nap (we were taking advantage of this no kid thing). We got up, got ready for dinner, and went to Guess that Song in the Piano Bar! We were joined by one of my fellow co-workers and her husband. We won barely!! Received a medal! Dinner was good! After dinner we went to watch Kyle's Marriage show. While waiting for the show to start, everyone was playing bingo. We decided to purchase a card for the heck of it, and donated our money. First time and last time for everything! The show was pretty good! Did feel a little sorry for the older lady on the stage because she was embarrassed by some of the questions because her children were in the audience. Great day overall!!

[williamson_ja]

Good to see this review here. It will be our first mouse free cruise later this year. I absolutely loved our Disney cruises... but boy are they expensive. We got a deal for the kids to sail free on our last cruise and the Carnival cruise we have booked for later this year is still almost 1/2 the price of that one ($2000 for our cabin vs $1150- similar category of cabins!!) Without the kids sail free, you're looking at paying 3-4 X as much for sailing to the same ports. I can't justify that. Hopefully Carnival will be great and I won't have to fork out so much money for my cruise addiction any more. lol.

[biggdawg67]

I'm not the OP but I'll chime in because we did DCL before Carnival. Honestly, I didn't expect it, but Carnival's service was every bit as good as Disney's; maybe not quite as chipper, but everyone was friendly and helpful.

 

 

i like hearing that ... my wife and i are disney cruisers and have booked the carnival dream for our anniversary cruise in december...and this of course will be our first non disney cruise...:)