Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away - A Year of Cruising Three Different Lines

arielmomma

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 4, 2009
Welcome fellow cruise lovers! Its been awhile, but I'm finally back. Thank you for joining me as I share my latest at-sea adventures. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Joy - wife of James and mother to Jimmy (15) and Emily (12).

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Anyone who has read my previous trip reports knows that we are HUGE Disney fans. We also enjoy travelling in general. So, from mid-2018 to mid-2019, we decided to broaden our horizons beyond our Mouse-eared comfort zone and not only sail with DCL, but also with two other well-known cruise lines - Carnival and Cunard.

I'll be up front with you from the beginning - THIS WILL NOT BE A TYPICAL TRIP REPORT. Rather than a day-by-day accounting of our vacations, I intend to provide an in-depth comparison of my family's experiences travelling on these three very different cruise lines. Hopefully in doing this, I can help answer many of the questions I see being asked in the forums and that I, myself, asked prior to to taking the plunge and booking a non-Disney cruise.

A REQUEST: I will be writing about MY ACTUAL EXPERIENCES, not about things I read or heard about before or after my cruises. Whether you had a similar or entirely different experience, feel free to contribute your thoughts, but please only comment on things that you actually experienced. The internet is full of information people have "heard" about. Let's try to keep this report as factual and helpful as possible. Thank you.

So, how exactly did Carnival and Cunard stack up against Disney? Have we been swayed by Fun For All or British Tradition? Does Captain Mickey still belong on the pedestal my family placed him upon? Let's begin and find out.
 
Welcome back! Looking forward to hearing about your experiences not just on DCL but on the other 2 cruise lines too! :flower:
 
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Let's face it, regardless of what cruise line you are sailing with, many factors can affect your vacation, including the age and size of the ship you are travelling on, the length of your cruise, and where you are cruising from/to. In order to be fair to each line, let me provide a bit if background information about the cruises we have taken and the ships we were on.

Disney Cruise Line

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DCL is where our love of cruising began. My family has had the privilege of sailing on both one of DCL's newer ships - The Disney Fantasy, as well as one of DCL's older ships - The Disney Wonder. We have completed two 7-day (Eastern and Western) Caribbean cruises on the Fantasy, as well as six cruises on the Wonder, including two 5-day Caribbean cruises and four 14-day trips through the Panama Canal. We have sailed out of Port Canaveral, Miami, Galveston, and San Diego. While we loved both ships and wouldn't hesitate to sail on either of them again or any of the Disney fleet for that matter, we prefer the longer cruises on the mid-sized Wonder. We prefer the programming on the longer cruises. We also like the less-crowded feel of the smaller ship (4000 passengers aboard the Fantasy vs. 2400 aboard the Wonder). Most of the experiences I will share in this report will be based off of our most recent Panama Canal cruise aboard the Wonder.

Carnival Cruise Line

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carnival.com

I took a solo (*gasp* - yes, I left my family home!) 7-day Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Breeze out of Galveston. It is around the size of the Fantasy and holds a similar number of passengers (3690). As I mentioned above, I prefer longer cruises because of the special programming offered. Because this was only a 7-day cruise, it did not have the same offerings that might have been offered on a longer cruise. I will take this into account when I compare it to the other lines.

Cunard

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I have taken two 14-night r/t Transatlantic Cruises from New York to Southampton, England aboard the world's only true ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2. The QM2 is closer in size to the Fantasy and Breeze (though a different shape), but carries around the same number of passengers (2620) as the Wonder. One of the trips I took was solo, the other was with my family. Cunard is a cruise line steeped in British tradition. It has been transporting passengers across the seas for 182 years.

Now that I have familiarized you with the cruises and ships I will be reviewing, let's get down to the nitty gritty...
 


I have been wondering about you and your family, especially as we get closer to our WBPC in March. So excited to read your trip report!
 
I think we saw your family on the Panama Canal Cruise from FL -> CA (2/24/19 - 03/10/19).

In fact, we loved the 14-day we are going again in November 2020 from CA ->TX.
  1. It allowed me to truly forget about work and disconnect from the daily grind.
  2. 14- day itinerary allows one to take in all that's offered without it being jammed into 5-7 days.
  3. If the 14- day fits your budget I highly recommend it. If you do the math it actually "can" the least expensive cruise per day.

We also prefer the Magic & Wonder over the bigger ships.
 
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I've broken down my experiences by category. Sorry in advance about not having any photos to accompany these first few sections. No fear! There are many photos to come!

Let's get started!


Pre-Cruise Communication


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Those who have ever sailed with DCL get a sense of giddiness when they open their mailbox to find these:

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disneycruise.com

I feel a wave of excitement just looking at them! In my opinion, DCL does an excellent job when it comes to pre-cruise communication. As a booked guest, you not only have the options of calling DCL directly or logging into your booking via their website, but DCL also regularly sends out email reminders and updates, as well as the beauties shown in the photo above. They include a detailed booklet containing your personalized cruise information as well as luggage tags to ensure that your belongings make it to your cabin. DCL covers all of their bases to ensure that you will be prepared for your vacation.

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Like DCL, Carnival has an informative website and an eager staff at its disposal to answer all of your pre-cruise questions. They were also great when it came to email reminders and updates. DO NOT, however, expect to find any thrill-inducing mail waiting in your home mailbox in the weeks prior to your vacation. You are responsible for printing all of your pre-cruise documentation and luggage tags yourself. Not a huge deal, but something to make sure you remember to do prior to arriving at the port.

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Much like its fellow cruise lines, Cunard is diligent about reaching out to its booked passengers. They, too, have an informative website for booked guests, as well as staff members eager to take your call if you need an immediate answer to a question. You'll also receive email reminders and updates. Like DCL, they will mail you a detailed cruise booklet and luggage tags to your home to ensure that you have everything you need. However, if you wish to save a tree by cutting down on the amount of printing, Cunard will allow you to opt out of having your documents mailed to you so that you can personally print only the items you require. In this case, you have options as to how you would like to receive your documents. I, personally, love receiving giddiness-inducing mail. Sorry trees. :guilty:


In Summary:

While printing my own documentation wasn't a big deal, I confess, I like having my cruise documents delivered to me in a nice booklet a few weeks prior to my trip. For me, its part of the cruise-countdown tradition. Sorry, Carnival, but DCL and Cunard tie for the win in this category.
 
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Cruise Line-Provided Transportation

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This is one category where I will combine my reviews. All three cruise-lines provide comfortable, air conditioned buses and/or shuttles (for a fee, of course) from local airports to the cruise terminals. In the case of DCL, they will also pick you up from a WDW Resort. Since I have not recently traveled from WDW, I will not take this into consideration in my review.

In Summary

I have used these services for all three lines. Overall, the services were virtually the same. I was picked up at the airport. The drivers were fun and sociable. The ride was comfortable. My luggage was handled with care. Though pricier than alternative transportation options, they provided me with a sense of security that I would make it to the ships on time and without worry. I would recommend this form of transportation from all three lines. Three-way tie.
 
Embarkation

In my experience, embarkation can be one of the most stressful and frustrating aspects of a cruise vacation. So far, the experience has been similar regardless of what line I have sailed with: arrive at your assigned time, drop off your luggage with the porters, enter potentially LONG lines, experience potentially LONG waits, and join hundreds to thousands of potentially stressed out, exhausted, yet excited fellow future passengers not-so-patiently waiting to board. There were only a few things that set the cruise lines apart.

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One thing that sets DCL apart from the others is the opportunity to meet characters in the cruise terminal regardless of where you are sailing from. Meeting Captain Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and/or Goofy can not only help pass the time while you are waiting to board, but can also provide an outlet for some of that excitement I mentioned above (whether you are travelling with children or not :flower1:).



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The thing that set Carnival's embarkation process apart was the inability to bring an open water bottle through security. It was like being in an airport.

Like the other two lines, Carnival passengers are allowed to bring a limited amount of wine/soda/water/etc on board in their carry on bags. Apparently, they've had trouble with passengers not being content with these limitations, particularly when it comes to alcohol. They are DILIGENT about ensuring that no one sneaks extra booze on board.

I can respect that. However, there was a downfall. Had I known in advance that I'd have to empty my refillable water bottle, I would have brought a sealed bottle of water in my carry on. Since I didn't know this, I had a VERY long wait in a hot Texas terminal with 4000 other thirsty people who apparently did not have water bottles, no drinking fountain or vending machines that I could find, and one measly container of ice water provided by Carnival that was constantly empty because it was nowhere near large enough keep up with demand.

LESSON LEARNED: When sailing with Carnival, purchase bottled water in advance and put it in my carry on bag!

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In general, Cunard's embarkation process is similar to the others. The only thing that was a bit different was the way in which you waited to board. Since Cunard starts its port arrival times later than the other lines, there is less time sitting in chairs waiting for your boarding group to get called. Instead, you enter the terminal and join in a line that rivals the length of a cue at WDW. Sounds miserable, right? Well, it wasn't, really. Unless you are one of the first few groups to make it through the line, there is no waiting once you are checked in. You make it through the line and you board the ship. Yahoo!

I realize it it also this way if you have a late port arrival time on the other lines as well, but rather than about half, most of the passengers get to board this way. It drastically cut down on crowding in the terminal, which was a nice touch.

In Summary

It was pretty much a tie. I've had good and bad experiences with DCL. I had two very different experiences with Cunard (early boarding and middle). I also won't fault Carnival for my ignorance. I'll just say that embarkation is not my favorite part of cruising, but it is a necessary evil, the gateway to the fun. Regardless of which line you sail with, the experience will be similar.


Fellow Passengers

Since this section will be brief, I decided to include with with embarkation.

DCL

While folks travel from all over the world to travel with DCL, the vast majority of passengers are American. As I'm sure you also guessed, many are families with young children.

Carnival

Once again, the vast majority of passengers are American. I would say the the majority of passengers ranged from young to middle-aged adult, though there were plenty of families on board.

Cunard

Cunard, on the other hand, caters primarily to European travelers. Only about 1/3 of QM2 passengers tend to be American. They also tend to attract and older crowd. While there were some young families on board, the majority of passengers ranged from middle to older adults.

In Summary

While each of these lines aims to attract people from different walks of life, I can assure you that the VAST majority of people that I met on each of them were simply lovely. We cruisers seem to be a fascinating, social breed regardless of which line we choose to sail with. I'm grateful to have met many wonderful people on all of my sailings. Tie.
 
The thing that set Carnival's embarkation process apart was the inability to bring an open water bottle through security. It was like being in an airport.

Fun report!

We were required to dump out our open refillable water bottles going through security for The Fantasy spring 2019 out of Port Canaveral.
 
I am new to the cruising world although I have done a lot of research on many different cruise lines! My first cruise will be with DCL this September. Being the Disney fanatics that my family are, it just makes sense to cruise with DCL. I have enjoyed reading your thread thus far as it is helping me plan future vacations!
 

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