only sailed on Carnival..will i like Disney?

[cruisekimmy]

Hi...ok i have only sailed on Carnival..and that is a wonderful cruiseline!!but when we where on the Carnival Elaiton (july18-25) in Cozumel the Magic docked next to us!!After the horn blew(when you wish apoun a star)And when my daughter(4yrs)said "MOMMY,THERE IS MICKEY!!LETS GO SEE HIM!"I thought to myself that we need to try out a disney cruise..and let my 4yr.old see mickey!But my 14.yr old daughter LOVES carnival and she doesnot want to go on another cruise line!!she is our cruisejunkie!but she just LOVES Carnival..so will we like it??Is it actually worth the Extra $$$..and what can my 14 yr. old do?!?

 

Thanks!

 

 

Photos

http://community.webshots.com/user/wards03

[cruisekimmy]

Anyone there?

[awatt]

Try posting the same question on the Carnival board. There may be people there who have done both and would have some helpful info for you.

[cruisekimmy]

Well its not a carnival question!!

Thanks though!

[cruisekimmy]

Hey cruisekimmy!!! I think I saw your boat leave. Did it go out of galveston? I was down there for a wedding and stayed at a condo 7/18-7/21 and on 7/18 I got out the binocs and watched the Rhapsody and Elation leave town....made me wish I was cruisin!!!

 

As for your original question, I HIGHLY recommend you check out disboards.com. It is a totally disney message board, but also has a disney cruise line forum and most of those people have cruised carnival and various other lines. I, for one, have learned soooo much from disboards.

 

I've been on 1 carnival (eons ago), 1 RC last year, and as you can see below, I've got another RC planned....and YES A DISNEY ONE TOO!!! I think I got a pretty good deal from my TA (which is the sponsor of the DCL message board on disboards) We got a secret porthole cabin (SPR) for $1447.50 total for our family of 4 (4 day disney wonder next 9/05). SPR cabins have obstructed porthole views but you are paying the price of an inside. Check out castawayclub.com and dcltribute.com for other cabin selection tips. Also, a good website to see general prices for all types of cabins during different times of the year is allseastravel.com

 

I haven't taken my kids on a cruise yet (4 and 2), so Disney will be their first, but I think it will be soooo worth it.

 

Good Luck & happy hunting!

Hey vossjemi!YES THAT WAS US!!hehe!!had a BLAST!!I am soooo hooked to cruising!!!!Thanks for the info about that website!I will have to go there!!Also...do u recommend Royal Caribbean??Alot of people like it but you know i dont no about my girls!!I no my big one will not!!she is soooo pickey!!she is a carnival cruise junkie!!Notice Carnival!!hehe!

Thanks again for the info!!

See our pictures!!

http://community.webshots.com/user/wards03

 

:p

[Chloe Girl]

cruisekimmy:

 

Although we have not sailed on Carnival, we have sailed on the Wonder with dear friends who have sailed both Disney and Carnival...according to them, there really is no comparison.

 

They prefer DCL, just for the little Disney touches, but we have to confess we are all disney fans so we may be a little biased!

 

We were even visiting with them today and were talking of another Disney cruise in the future!

 

We loved the Wonder; it is a great ship...the Animator's Palate dining room is amazing!

 

V&M

[vossjemi]

cruisekimmy,

 

I actually liked my RC cruise MUCH MUCH better than the Carnival one I took. But, I was on a very old carnival ship, the Festivale, don't know if they even use it any more. I think it was an old mail ship converted to a cruise ship, so many passageways, it was like a maze and easily got lost. No comparison with the Navigator (the 2nd biggest ship) which was laid out wonderfully and easy to find everything. I don't know, our Carnival cruise was in 95 and RC in 04, so 9 years apart. It seems like the whole industry has had an overhaul since then. The people at disboards certainly seem to think Disney is the BEST regardless of cost. I can't really compare the kids clubs because we didn't take our kids on RC. But, they'll be old enough in the future so we'll always be taking them from now on. I guess we'll see what they like best. But, the kids on our RC trip did seem to like the ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, video arcade, basketball court, miniature golf, pools, and all the programs offered. So, I would think your kids would like it just fine.

[momofmeg]

Tell your 14 year old that my 20 year old is as excited as probally your 4 year old. We will be on the wonder on Sept.19.

 

One thing you can do is Disney will send you a sample dvd which shows things about their cruises. Go to their site and order it. Plus the travel channel runs a show every so often about Disney ships. I do know there is a teen club that goes up to age 18-so my daughter is too old for it but still too young for the under 21 lounge rule after 10p.m. She still feels she will have a great time though and her being the "in between age" really is true no matter what line we go on.

 

This is our first Disney cruise but she always liked the teen club disco things on all the other lines.

[cruisekimmy]

Thanks!!

 

My 14yr.old actually LOVES the Travel Channel!!She watches it Every day!!lol..But not today and not for along time..today was her first day back at school!!She is in HIGH SCHOOL!!!9th grade.

I think i almost have her talked out about the disney cruise!!But she said that if she see's another carnival ship she will cry!!I said.."Ohh come on your grown up!!"Teen girls!

[TheWog]

Both your daughters will love DCL. there is so much to do and the little touches are very nice. Your older daughter needs to just give it a chance. There is a special teens only hangout and activities on Castaway Cay for them. She will make friends and have a great time. I say try it and see what happens. At least then she will have an argument to take Carnival again, but she may love it as well and want to go back.

[momofmeg]

Thanks!!

 

My 14yr.old actually LOVES the Travel Channel!!She watches it Every day!!lol..But not today and not for along time..today was her first day back at school!!She is in HIGH SCHOOL!!!9th grade.

I think i almost have her talked out about the disney cruise!!But she said that if she see's another carnival ship she will cry!!I said.."Ohh come on your grown up!!"Teen girls!

My daughter always loved the teen disco things. The dvd showed they have that. Tell your daughter I am ALWAYS that way- feeling the grass is always greener opn the other side. We were on Sovereign back in 99 and was docked next to Disney Wonder-I watched the wonder from the lido that night before we left. I could see many people running here and there-many on their balconies and I could also hear some great music and people on the lido dancing to the music plus another group on the lido playing basketball-everyone seemed so happy I wanted to be with them-even though everyone was happy on our ship too.

 

Last year in Costa Maya I was on Carnival Inspiration-docked next to us was Voyager of the Seas and Voyager really drawfed our ship. From our window in our cabin I watched others on their balconies and I wanted a balcony. Up on the Lido I could see people sitting in a dinningroom eating-probally their windjammer as it was one of the higher decks-they seemed to be having such a good time I wished I was with them and hey I was having a great time right where I was.

 

Hey tell your daughter if she does not love Disney next time you will go Carnival again. I personally myself love trying new things and don't always want the sameo- sameo. I like going on different lines. We have cruised twice on Carnival this pass year so I was READY to do another line.

 

Anyway next month -5 years later we are going on the Wonder. Next fall in 2005 we are doing Mariner a voyager class ship so in time I get to do the things I want. Bye the way I got my balcony as we have a veranda on Wonder.

[deborahjo]

We just returned from the Disney Wonder on sunday the 15th. I was shocked at the size of the bathrooms on Disney. I sailed on the Carnival Paradise in November and loved it.

The bathrooms on the Paradise was hugh. On the Wonder you could barely turn around without hitting yourself with the door. The same for the shower room.

The one thing I loved on the Wonder was changing dining rooms everynight and your waitstaff going with you. Daniel and Fortune (our wait staff) were awesome. we wanted for nothing. We ask and it was there everynight. Ali was our head waiter he was also awesome. Here is where Disney shined.

Also the entertainment was better in some areas. I loved the shows on both ships but loved the Dueling Pianos on the Wonder.

I will not consider the Wonder again because it is meant for children and I want a little more quiet time on my cruise to Alaska and for this reason will be sailing with Carnival then.

Disney is great for families just not for adults. I also do not believe it is worth the additional cost for sailing Disney. Most ships cannot do certain songs and shows due to royalities. Disney takes full advantage of this. They use their music and shows to the hilt.

Please go and enjoy Disney alot of people do enjoy it. It is just not for me.

Hello Carnival.

[momofmeg]

The Disney DVD shows the cabins and gives you a good idea of their size. We actually have a bath tub. The only other line that I had a bathtub was HAL.

 

We were on Carnival Miracle back in April-we had an extended balcony on empress deck-the room was great and bigger then the cabins on Inspiration and Fascianation-we had inside on Fascniation upper deck and outside on Inspiration empres deck-except for the layout and ofcourse the window the rooms were the same size with nice sized bathrooms on these fanasty class ships. Whereas on Miracle we had a dinky bathroom-about the size of the bathroom we had on Sovereign-inside cabin. My point not all Carnival ships have nice bathrooms.

 

Anyway order that DVD-it took about 2 weeks for us to receive it.

[cruisekimmy]

Yes momofmeg..We ordered that DVD and it came in yesterday..we also have had the VHS for a year..Well we are still trying to plain!

[hydster]

We've done them both and our kids were bored on Disney surprisingly! On our May 1 sailing on the Disney Magic there were 977 kids on board (almost 1/2 the ship) and you KNEW IT! The clubs were full, the pools were standing room only and if your kids don't like the clubs (ours hated them) there wasn't much else to do! Also the nightlife on DCL is lacking! They have great shows for kids but after that YAWN! We also hated the food on DCL in the buffet restaurant and in the main dining rooms! They supposedly show first run movies in their theatre but they were showing movies already owned by us that had been out forever such as Pirates of the Caribbean (I could watch Johnny Depp forever but my kids got a little tired of it) or Finding Nemo! They have the 2 pools for the kids but the Mickey pool with the slide was complete chaos and standing room only! When they had to close the goofy pool all of the families in there went to the Mickey pool and they could not move! I didn't think the rooms were THAT much bigger but then we had 2 connecting rooms so maybe that helped. The split bath was nice and the bathtub came in handy when one day all we had was blistering hot water coming out of the taps. We filled the bathtub up with the hot water and then added buckets of ice to cool it down. The characters were really fun for my kids (ages 10, 9 and 5) but some of the wait times to see them was ridiculous! The Princess autograph session people stood in line for 2 hours just to get their autographs. Who wants to spend 2 hours in line on a cruise? Not us! The one thing that was awesome about DCL is their private island! It truly is paradise but for the cost we payed to go it should have been! For our family of 5 we spent almost $6000.00 for 2 connecting rooms and that didn't include anything else. We could have gone on 2 Carnival cruises for that cost! It was ok but we will be sticking to Carnival or RCCL from now on!

[vossjemi]

The travel channel will have a special on the disney cruise experience tomorrow morning at 10:00 am EST, so check your local tv guide to be sure & set your vcrs.

[laxfrog13]

I say try Disney! Your 4 yr old is perfect. and when we went last yr on the 4 day wonder we noticed alot of pre teen and teen kids having a lot of fun. I have sailed 5 carnival cruises (with my son-ages 2,31/2) and decided to try Disney. While we had a great time always on carnival, we are going back on Disney this Nov. My son loved the kids club and I felt very safe leaving him there. It was nice that he could come to the shows and dinner and then we were able to enjoy some time during the day and evening to ourselves at during the day and at night. The look on his face whenever he saw the characters walking around or on the beach was well worth the extra money we spent. Don't get me wrong, Carnival was great and we will probably do another one soon(without my son) but for families Disney is the way to go!

[cruisekimmy]

well we are still trying to see when we can go!!

[momofmeg]

My daughter taped the travel channel show and I watched it again. I saw it about a year or so ago. It really did not give alot more information then the DVD did so if you missed it it won't matter much. The teen club and the beach thing did look nice so I bet your 14 year old will love it.

 

We will be on the Wonder Sept. 19-so we have less then a month now-and I am ready to go.

 

One thing I would like to ask you others who have cruised Disney. I plan on taking a really formal dress for Triton and Palo's. Will I be over dressed?

[Host Mick]

You won't be over-dressed. There will be a lot of other guests dressed well. I love formal nights so as far as I'm conderned, the rest are under-dressed.

[vossjemi]

Hmmm. I don't know. I've been lazy and haven't developed the film yet. I'll probably take it in tomorrow. I'll let you know if I did.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

We have been on both Disney and Carnival and are leaving on the Magic this coming Saturday but also have a Carnival booked for spring break next year with friends and Disney was too expensive for them so we settled on Carnival Glory. My kids love both, Disneys camp is way superior but you are paying extra for it, the camp does not close at mealtimes like carnival so we find we get to relax as we are not clock watching, the Disney pools are fresh water not sea water and are open more than the carnival pools, Disney has a whole deck for Adult entertainment and stick to there policy and do NOT let kids in to the adult pool or entertainment, they have a lot of teen entertainment as well, soda is free at certain locations, The shows were great, there are 3 restaurants each with a different Disney theme and you rotate to each, there is also Palo's an adult only restaurant which is fantastic, Everyone goes to a character breakfast. There is no casino on disney for us that saves us money.

The highlight for my kids was tea with Wendy from Peter Pan.

We enjoy both cruises, we also go on Princess yearly without the kids so have not had first hand experience with the kids and teen program.

Enjoy whichever you choose....

Julia

[momofmeg]

cruisekimmy I don't know if you saw my post on the RCCL board where several jerks blasted you for making the "unforgiven" mistake that you said you liked Carnival but if you didn't just let me repeat myself. These Disney folks are much nicer aren't they?

[momofmeg]

cruisekimmy I don't know if you saw my post on the RCCL board where several jerks blasted you for making the "unforgiven" mistake that you said you liked Carnival but if you didn't just let me repeat myself. These Disney folks are much nicer aren't they?

 

 

Kimmy I am still following the tread on "Carnival never again "on RCCL-it seems someone has figured out it is your daughter posting as she gave a link to pictures-go over and read that tread-she really made a few folks mad.

 

You know me, my hubby and my daughter,(she is the one who found this messageboard) all post here. You should let your daughter get her own ID so people won't be blasting you for things she says.

[momofmeg]

Kimmy that whole RCCL tread has been removed. I guess it got too offensive. I will say this your daughter's post wasn't nearly as terrible as some of the others-all she said was that she had had some bad experiences with RCCL and Carnival was better. Compared to the others hers was tame and I ASSUME these others were adults. Ofcourse if they let a 14 year old kid make them that mad they must not be too adult huh?