First Carnival cruise after Disney cruises

[slk09]

We have been on 1 Disney cruise (Magic) and 1 Carnival (Dream) and are

in the process of planning another on Carnival (probably the Breeze).

Loved our Disney cruise. They got us hooked. There was nothing to complain about at all and even though my kids are older they loved it.

But then when we started looking into going on a cruise last June the

prices for Disney were just too much. So I started looking around and

it was between Carnival and RC but date wise for our group and the

itinerary we wanted that was how it worked out. We loved the Dream!

We had an awesome time on the cruise. My kids liked this cruise so

much they asked to go back on it (they are 16 and 19). We are not

really picky eaters so they pretty much will eat anything. Thought the

shows were better than Disney as we just weren't much into the

"character" part of Disney. The comedy clubs were great. Do not know much about the ship you are looking at but please don't try

to compare - there will be too many differences. Just go and enjoy.

We had early seating at dinner and will do that again. I enjoy sitting down with our group and chatting over dinner. For the money, I just

feel it a better value. Disney is just getting too far out of the price

range. Just have an open mind and you will have an awesome cruise!

[rbird]

I've been on both DCL and CCL Pride.

 

Big difference.

DCL Magic was clean, friendly, good shows, best cabins, free soda, PALO, kid's clubs, towel service, castaway key, no casino, rotational dining, family oriented shows and beautiful ship. The down side for us was ALOT of kid's, crowded pools and there didn't seem to have alot of nightlife past 10pm.

 

CCL Pride was just okay. Adult shows and nightlife available past 10 p.m. The steakhouse and pool areas were good. Embarkation was easy. The down side was the ship was dirty, hair and dust in cabin, windows not clean, smoky and the staff wasn't particularly friendly. The food was worse than DCL. There was little live music on board, just a DJ or one man band. The Pride is a darker ship with lots of nude artwork. Lido buffet is crowded and poorly laid out. Hairy chest contest. They leave the bed out from the ceiling the entire trip. They make it but don't slide it back in the ceiling (kind of annoying). Wine sommlier was never around. Glasses not refilled during dinner. And lastly the entire ship vibrates. Really vibrates. It was so bad the last day I could not eat in the end of the dining room.

 

When the Pride was docked in port Canaveral for a day, so was one of the DCL ships. I wanted to jump ship and swim on over to my beloved Disney.

My children enjoyed both cruises and could care less which one we take just as long as we are on a cruise!

[staceyeileen]

How about the buffet experience? Is it cafeteria-like or is it a nice dining room?

 

The lido buffet is laid out in stations rather than cafeteria-style like DCL, although the table areas are basically the same from what I remember. The lido buffet was my least favorite part of the DCL cruise we took. I was shocked when I saw a cafeteria-style layout. Really bad idea, led to horrible congestion. I'll never forget one day the cafeteria-style line for the buffet was wrapping out the door so I couldn't even enter the room... and all I wanted to do was get something that wasn't even on the main line (a drink or something, I forget what it was). We enjoy a buffet laid out in stations like we've seen done on not only CCL but all the other lines we've cruised.

 

I expect we'll eat dinner in the main dining room mostly. We have a fixed dining time. Even so, should we expect a considerable wait before being seated?

 

Just know that if your dining time starts at 6pm, that means the doors open at 6pm. If you arrive earlier than 6pm you will wait. There always seem to be groups of people waiting for the doors to open up to the dining room, which I've never quite understood. I aim for 6:05 and I walk directly to my table. Perhaps the biggest DCL difference here is that you don't rotate dining rooms on CCL. Your dining room and table is the same every night, so you don't have to wait for someone to show you to a table. You can just wave at the hostess as you walk on by. :)

 

Is it like a mad house trying to get off the ship? How does the procedure differ from DCL's? Tender days weren't so bad on DCL, but other ports involved a very crowded and tense wait depending on what time you tried to leave the ship.

 

On our recent Freedom cruise it was easy peasy. No lines, no waiting. We just walked off the boat. Even when the ship was tendered in Grand Cayman we had no line getting onto a tender boat. We are out early though, so maybe we missed the peak times. I do remember some lines wrapping up into the stairwells on our DCL cruise.

 

Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike my DCL cruise but for the price I didn't feel it was worth it. Castaway Cay was awesome, free soda was great, pirate night, shows etc wereall great. We will probably do another one when my son is at the right age for it with the knowledge that we will be doing it for him. Then it'd be worth the $$!