Leaving Carnival...just once?

[mtchg]

.....It's something to do ONCE, The ship is beautiful, the shows Disney "magical" and it's definately a pre teen's heaven.

 

However, be prepared for the fact this is mostly "for the children". Yes, Disney has adult only areas, but the fact is, the ship..relative to other cruise lines, is DEAD after 10. My friend said the bartenders looked "pretty lonely" most of the cruise (again, especially after kids bed time)..and all entertainment is over by 11pm. Understandably, no casino; but even if you don't gamble or drink; sometimes that late-nite "vibe" is fun to experience on other cruise ships. Non-existent on Disney.

 

Castaway Cay is phenomenal, and the rotating restaurants, unique. It will be a wonderful memory, but after once.........save the money and do any of the others. Disney pricing is very high because of the Disney name and the limited number of ships.

 

Mitch

[taffykids]

HI there,

I do not usually reply to the boards when I read them but this one really caught my eye! My husband and I have two boys ages 9 and 6 1/2 and we do a lot of cruising with them. We normally sail on Princess but decided to book the Magic for a week in November 2004. In fact, their Christmas present last year was a Princess cruise (don't they all have enough "stuff"). We were actually afraid that our boys would be disappointed sailing Princess again after having been on the Disney Magic.

 

For us, since we live in California, Disney is very expensive since you have to figure in another $1200 for air fare(even if you don't live in CA it's very expensive). BUT Disney finds a way to do everything better from embarkation to debarkation. Someone once said on the Disney boards that if your child's shoe was untied, the staff would be there to tie it before you even noticed. I thought that it was probably an exaggeration, until we boarded. I was getting up from my lounge chair (the kids spent most of the days on the Mickey slide) with my lunch trash and before I could even stand up the staff was there to take it to the trash for me.

 

There is no way to cover all of the pluses (tell your husband to make at least ten more tally marks for me:).) They do it all right. If my boys had a choice they would choose Disney every time, my husband didn't mind seeing Pocahontas either ;). We wish Disney would let us live on Castaway Cay, the stop at the island is the only thing keeping us from booking the Mexican cruise with them, we would miss the island too much.

 

If you go, have a great time, enjoy the chicken strips and fries by the pool and the endless supply of Mickey bars at dinner for the kids.

Cristine

[viciouslysh]

Thank you for the great info and opinions. I booked the Wonder for January 17th. But I'll return to the Carnival Splendor soon after.

(unless Disney is THAT good):)

[dclark]

Back in '6/04, we flew to Orlando, did Magic Kingdom and Epcot, then went to Universal and spent four days at the Royal Pacific. Since this is an on property hotel, we got to go on every ride as if we had a fast pass. The hotel package included four movie tickets (saw the current Harry Potter movie) and dinner for four at the Hard Rock. We then went to sail on the Glory, had a balcony cabin, had a blast. This was one action packed two week vacation that we will never forget.

I priced the Disney cruise and the price for one week on Disney would be the same as it cost us to do two Disney parks, four day Universal hotel package and one week on the Glory. I gotta say, I think I chose right.

This summer, with the help of some $50 flight vouchers, we will drive 5 hours to catch a cheap flight from Oakland to Chicago, drive to Cedar point, then Kings island to experience some cool amusement park thrills, then fly to Orlando for a four day cruise on the Soveriegn, then catch a 7 day cruise on

on the Legend out of Tampa. I have feeling that all of that will still cost less than one week on the mouse boat! i don't just plan vacations, I plan memories.

[cruz462]

I cruised with Disney 4 yrs ago - kids were 9 & 6. Youngest was bored with kids program - lots of watching Disney movies and not much play time :(

Entertainment was excellent family oriented - food choices rather minimal and not much variety from night to night. The nice thing was going to the different restaurants - but they really needed help with their menu.

 

Lots of charactes on board for signing autographs - be prepared for long, long lines.

 

It is a good vacation memory - but would I do it again - No - I've done it once and it is overpriced because of the Disney name.

[Drew B]

I'd love to do a Disney Cruise, and I don't even have kids. I'd miss the casino, though.

[ManyMore]

As a die hard Carnival fan I say... do the Disney! I still LOVE Carnival... I don't have kids but did do the Disney Magic for a week 2 years ago for a freinds wedding. I admit it.. I loved it!!! The service along is amazing... sort of what like cruising USED TO BE on all cruise lines.

[7SEASSISTER]

Carnival's Camp Carnival program for kids is rated higher than Disney's program and has been for 5 years now....The ratings are done by kids....So more kids seem to like the activities on Carnival than Disney....But I am sure that Disney is good too...Just a lot more expensive.....

 

the line to see the mouse and any other character is just as long as going to the disney land ...i say stick with Carnival.

[poodlemom396]

When you have kids its like a dream come true for them. My husband even still talks about it. Its amazing. Do it you won't be sorry.

[Jetfuelrm]

Some people have said it's totally worth it to take a Disney cruise and some say they still prefer Carnival. I am having such a hard time deciding on whether or not to book the Wonder over Carnival in January. My DD (9yrs old)spends so much time looking into the Wonder AND all of the Carnival ships. She is trying to talk me into booking Disney for her birthday but I think Carnival would be just as much fun. Any thoughts? Thanks!!!

 

Take the Disney Cruise. Your DD and yourself will enjoy it :)

[viciouslysh]

IT'S BOOKED!!! Thanks so much for the advise:D

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I'd love to do a Disney Cruise, and I don't even have kids. I'd miss the casino, though.

 

We went with my teen son August 06 and my wife and I went by ourselves last month. Lots of nice places for adults only too. Watching movies in the theater or up on deck on the big screen was cool too. Pirate night is the best with the fireworks.

 

OP, you picked a great week as far as pricing. Disney is affordable if you go at the right times which is what we did both times. Booked the cheapest cabins.

 

The bus is expensive but even my cheap butt booked it. I usually drive. While on the bus you watch a dvd all about the ship and before you know it you are coming over the hill and there is the ship. You just get off the bus and DCL takes care of your bags.

 

On the way back we put our bags out the last night and never saw them again until we got back to Philly.

 

Also getting on the bus the Disney people refused a tip for the bags and no need for a porter after the cruise.

 

I told DW that I had enough until the new ships are built. Booked on Princess and RCI for our next 2.

 

For all the info you could ever imagine go to http://www.disboards.com

 

Bill

[perthgirl]

We just got back from 12 day Carnival cruise of the Med on the Freedom (DH, DD10 and myself), our only other experience being a 4 day Disney cruise.

 

While I was totally over Mickey Mouse by the end of my Disney Vacation (we did a week in the park as well) I found the service and quality much better on Disney than Carnival and the shows were more family oriented on Disney (as opposed to the PG13+ rating I would have given at least one show on Carnival)

 

Not sure if it is different on a more family oriented cruise than the Med but I wouldn't do Carnival again - and with kids I would do Disney

[jabber]

We sailed on the Wonder in 2005. Our daughters were 8 & 10 at the time. The girls thought the kid's program was more fun than the RCCL ship (Mariner of the Seas) that we were on Mar. 07. We attended all of the shows on the Wonder and it was great to watch the fairly new Disney movies in their theater. Disney's private island was the highlight of the trip. We aren't planning another Disney cruise but loved it given the ages of our children at the time.