First, I have to let you know that my family is a very happy-go-lucky, young-at-heart type of family. We appreciate having experiences that bring happy tears to our eyes, for we are a family that focuses more on memory making while we still are living. DH and I will be the old people at Disney in a few years, hobbling around, smiling just because we are there. I realize not everyone is as lighthearted as we are, but we are the family that likes letting go of our "adult-ness" and being kids again at Disney. This does skew our view of some vacations!
My family's first cruise, 19 years ago, was not on DCL, and after that cruise, DH said he would never cruise again. We felt like cattle being led here and there, with constant demands on emptying our pockets from unpleasant crewmembers. Not a good cruise, and a really terrible first cruise experience. Oh, and the ship was very old, with cockroach dust in the drawers and around the perimeter of the room. It was so, so bad.
Years later, DH was finally convinced to try a 4-day
Disney cruise. He was not happy about it, convinced he would hate it, but sucked it up for his little girls.
Before the first day onboard was even over, DH already said he was only cruising Disney from that day forward. Mind you, we were a single income family (my part-time jobs were not big moneymakers!), but we live frugally all year, so when we do vacation, we like to feel that the money we spend is "worth it". DH felt that money spent on DCL was "worth it".
We have cruised other lines since then, including our 8 DCL experiences. I have had DH join me and my girls on a couple of those other cruises, but for him, he doesn't enjoy them so much, and does not always care to join us. No matter how inexpensive, for DH, they just aren't "worth it".
I am of a mind that I like to get away, and if that means a cheap cruise on a different line, I will go. I will board that ship with low expectations of the crew, cleanliness, and even safety, but I will be with people I love so I will enjoy myself. I may feel nickel-and-dimed at every turn, and constantly hear announcements regarding new ways to spend my money on board, but I am going to hang out with my family and explore some different ports, so I will enjoy the itinerary.
And for my family, that is really what other cruise lines are all about - the itinerary, not the ship experience. We cruise DCL for the overall experience of the ship and crew, and though things may have changed from our first DCL experience 11 years ago, we still always disembark sad that the cruise is over. Can't say the same for the other lines we have sailed.
Every cruise line out there offers something the others do not. It may be slides, or pools, ports, or room layout, but you don't know until you try them to see what is most important to you. For my DH, it is the ship and crew, and he hasn't like any as much as DCL. For me and my girls, DCL is what we prefer over all others, but if there is a cruise going someplace we haven't been, and it's cost doesn't dent the savings account, we will give it a go. Until you try, you just don't know!