Comparing Disney Cruise Line & Royal Caribbean

fredandkell · Nov 28, 2015

As others have said, hard to compare, but I will say that Disney is WORLDS better than RCL on cleanliness and ship appearance. I mean WORLDS. Also, Disney's private island has an actual dock, not a tender, so you have a much, much higher chance of actually getting to go to a private island with Disney. RCL has better food than Disney and better pools, but Disney has better water slides and WORLDS better kids' clubs. For us, we will probably stick with Disney in the future. (I just got off a RCL cruise yesterday, which was $1,600 cheaper than the same itinerary as Disney, and the husband and I both agreed that we wished we would have spent the extra $$.)

mlayton14 · Nov 28, 2015

If you want actual data relating to people's opinions look no further than than cruise critic . Disney Fantasy received 94% LOVE IT , while both Allure and Oasis received 81% apiece . Forget the newer anthem class on royal, they are in the 50% range which is pretty bad. This is based on hundreds of reviews .

And no I haven't sailed Royal and the cheaper prices are awfully tempting , but I can see from YouTube videos what to expect, videos don't lie do they?

starvenger · Nov 28, 2015

fredandkell said:
As others have said, hard to compare, but I will say that Disney is WORLDS better than RCL on cleanliness and ship appearance. I mean WORLDS. Also, Disney's private island has an actual dock, not a tender, so you have a much, much higher chance of actually getting to go to a private island with Disney. RCL has better food than Disney and better pools, but Disney has better water slides and WORLDS better kids' clubs. For us, we will probably stick with Disney in the future. (I just got off a RCL cruise yesterday, which was $1,600 cheaper than the same itinerary as Disney, and the husband and I both agreed that we wished we would have spent the extra $$.)

In terms of cleanliness, I'd agree that Disney is better. Can't agree that it is worlds better, but it is noticeably better.

My kids actually liked the Royal kids club much better than Disney. And I preferred them as well since they're slotted into more specific age groups rather than the 3-12 that Disney does.

Also, the Labadee private peninsula(?) has a dock, so if you go there it's similar to Castaway Cay.

As for waterslides, i didn't see any on the Allure so I guess Disney is better there, but by that token Royal probably has better rock climbing walls, wave riders and zip lines.

At the end of the day, we determined that Royal (and spiritually the Oasis class) was better for us.

eskimoinparadise · Nov 28, 2015

fredandkell said:
As others have said, hard to compare, but I will say that Disney is WORLDS better than RCL on cleanliness and ship appearance. I mean WORLDS. Also, Disney's private island has an actual dock, not a tender, so you have a much, much higher chance of actually getting to go to a private island with Disney. RCL has better food than Disney and better pools, but Disney has better water slides and WORLDS better kids' clubs. For us, we will probably stick with Disney in the future. (I just got off a RCL cruise yesterday, which was $1,600 cheaper than the same itinerary as Disney, and the husband and I both agreed that we wished we would have spent the extra $$.)

When comparing a five year old ship that holds ~4,000 pax with a 20 year old ship that holds ~2,400 pax, it's easy to get skewed opinions. However, if you were to compare Disney Dream with an RCL ship about the same age and with the same passenger capacity (i.e. Freedom Class) you'd be really hard-pressed to come out with the same assessment. Given the choice between Disney Fantasy and RCL's Freedom, I'd take Freedom every time in a heart beat (and we're Platinum on Disney).

bumbershoot · Nov 28, 2015

cathie said:
(I know no characters & pixie dust)

As others have mentioned, there are super-fun Dreamworks cahracters on several of the ships.

One doesn't need "pixie dust" in order to have a nice time. One can have extra-nice things happen without the specter of Tinkerbell. It's not like DCL does amazing extra things for everyone, and it's just a total bore on every other line.

cathie said:
are there any hidden fees we should know about

I don't feel there are hidden fees on ANY cruiseline. Things are really spelled out, IMO, on EVERY line. I've never had a surprise, personally.

bobbiwoz said:
It was not that easy to use My Time Dining on RCCL.

We didn't book anything until embarkation day on Vision (when we had MTD). That day we booked our first night, then an hour later went back and booked the rest of the nights. First night we ate at 6:30ish and the rest of the nights we were at 7, same seat for those nights (next to the table we had the first night), and with the same serving team. EASY.

mlayton14 said:
it seems as though they are a cross between a las Vegas resort with lots of tacky neon lights, concrete flooring on the top decks to walk on / sit in a lounger, and a shopping mall feel inside.

Hmm. Not sure about neon? Pretty lights, absolutely. Pretty bright colors and nice things to look at. Vs the Disney look of deep tones and darker public spaces. I personally prefer the Royal look over Disney. Disney is just like a shopping mall in their shopping district, too. They all have shopping districts.

Don't know what you are talking about with concrete.

mlayton14 said:
Add events like hairy chest contest and belly flop contest in the pool area and that tells you abit more about the variety of clientele they cater to.

Never saw a hairy chest contest.

DH participated in a belly flop contest. He should have won, but flopped in his flop, and everyone was so sad. It was a TON of fun for the people participating and watching. IMO the only reason Disney doesn't have those contests is because of their tiny little pathetic pools.

eskimoinparadise said:
the pool decks are covered in a composite surface preferred by runners

Yes.

starvenger said:
One comparison that appears to be missing is the free coffee - it's terrible on both!

Never even tried the free stuff on Royal, after having such drastically awful coffee on DCL.

starvenger said:
Soda/pop - yes it's included on DCL, but don't forget you're already paying a premium on the cruise line, so consider it a hidden fee.

YES. And worse, we don't drink it, so we're helping to subsidize other peoples' "free" soda!

starvenger said:
I wasn't sure. my dad aka grandpa was really unhappy about it as well.

What was he unhappy about regarding the pools?

fredandkell said:
I will say that Disney is WORLDS better than RCL on cleanliness and ship appearance.

Ooh I have to disagree there.

fredandkell said:
RCL has better food than Disney and better pools

Yes.

fredandkell said:
WORLDS better kids' clubs

Disagreeing again. DS has been 9 and 10 on royal, and LOVED the kid's clubs on Freedom and Vision. He thought he enjoyed the club/lab on Disney, but once he really saw what the Royal clubs are like, he prefers them.

eskimoinparadise said:
Given the choice between Disney Fantasy and RCL's Freedom, I'd take Freedom every time in a heart beat

SAME. (though we've only been on Dream, not Fantasy)

And we are doing so this March!

starvenger · Nov 28, 2015

bumbershoot said:
As others have mentioned, there are super-fun Dreamworks cahracters on several of the ships.
What was he unhappy about regarding the pools?

The main pools were way too small. And way too crowded. And of course he could have gone to the adult pool, but the whole idea was that he could get into the pool and swim with the kids, and that just wasn't gonna happen.

sam_gordon · Nov 29, 2015

fredandkell said:
Also, Disney's private island has an actual dock, not a tender, so you have a much, much higher chance of actually getting to go to a private island with Disney.

RCL has two private islands... Coco Cay, which is used on Eastern Caribbean itineraries, uses tenders. Labadee, on the Western Caribbean itinerary, has a dock. I've never heard of a cruise skipping Labadee.

Frozen2014 · Nov 29, 2015

starvenger said:
My kids actually liked the Royal kids club much better than Disney. And I preferred them as well since they're slotted into more specific age groups rather than the 3-12 that Disney does.

As for waterslides, i didn't see any on the Allure so I guess Disney is better there, but by that token Royal probably has better rock climbing walls, wave riders and zip lines.

At the end of the day, we determined that Royal (and spiritually the Oasis class) was better for us.

We have yet to experience the kids club on Royal, but I've heard many comments that many like it more as its organized activities. I also like how they are age specific (although my DS10 and DD6 will be in different groups).

Waterslides are coming to Oasis and Allure, but no set date. They are first going on the new Harmony (new Oasis class) and Liberty. There is currently H20 zone (but I know this doesn't match up to waterslides)

Us too...we selected Allure as it's a better fit for us and the extra Disney cost wasn't worth it for us. But I don't think you can go wrong with either.

eskimoinparadise · Nov 29, 2015

fredandkell said:
Also, Disney's private island has an actual dock, not a tender, so you have a much, much higher chance of actually getting to go to a private island with Disney.

And yet we've missed Disney's island twice due to high winds and rough seas. We've missed Coco Cay three times.

LemonNeko · Nov 30, 2015

starvenger said:
One comparison that appears to be missing is the free coffee - it's terrible on both!

Yes, I told the guy at Cafe Promenade I think they make the coffee terrible so people will pay extra for Starbucks.

I missed getting to go to Castaway Cay and Coco Cay. I need to book again to see if I get to see one.

starvenger · Dec 1, 2015

LemonNeko said:
Yes, I told the guy at Cafe Promenade I think they make the coffee terrible so people will pay extra for Starbucks.

It's at the point where I buy Starbucks VIA singles to use when I get the urge to have some decent - albeit instant - coffee (as I don't want to bring my French press + ground coffee onboard).

My thing is that it IS only a week so I can deal. I've suffered through worse before (i.e. gas station coffee circa 2000).

plutolovr · Dec 1, 2015

starvenger said:
The main pools were way too small. And way too crowded. And of course he could have gone to the adult pool, but the whole idea was that he could get into the pool and swim with the kids, and that just wasn't gonna happen.

The older ships all have smaller pools. The large Royal ships have larger and more pools per ship. The biggest complaint on the Disney ships, especially the Fantasy and Dream are that the pools are way too small and these are newer ships.

starvenger · Dec 1, 2015

Especially considering the number of kids on the ship, you'd think that the kids pool would be bigger.

tidefan · Dec 3, 2015

eskimoinparadise said:
If I had the choice between a Magic class ship and a Radiance class ship from RCL, the RCL ship would win on overall quality of the cruise experience every time.

Oh, I have to really disagree with this. We took Serenade of the Seas last year on Thanksgiving out of New Orleans and we all consider that to be the worst ship we've ever been on out of our 14 cruises. The Windjammer wasn't very good, and because they closed it everyday at 2:30, there wasn't a place to get food between 2:30 and 6:00. It was also the only ship I've ever been on without a poolside grill or pizza place (you had to go to the Windjammer for those).

The Magic is right behind the Fantasy as our favorite ship and I would put Princess right there with them. In fact, this year our group went on the Carnival Sunshine (our first time on CCL), and as much as CCL is lambasted, we felt that CCL was great and all thought the Sunshine was a much better cruise than the Serenade, though still below DCL and Princess. I will say though, that the "comfort food" (Guy's burgers, Blue Iguana, Mongolian Wok, etc.) on CCL is amazing AND it's not extra charge...

IamTinkerbell · Dec 4, 2015

First it depends which DCL ship you have sailed on and which RCCL ship you plan on sailing on. First the crew international same on both, friendly same on both, more time to chat DCL, pushy with drinks RCCL. Food about the same quality. Easier choices for me (picky eater) on RCCL. More show types and some ships have shows in the main atrium RCCL. The pools on Oasis of the Seas wow pools, Rhapsody and Vision of the Seas bigger. I have cruised DCL Fantasy and Wonder. Royal Rhapsody, Vision, Oasis scheduled on Enchantment. No kids however we did see a movie in the kids club on the Oasis. We also had a 2 am trip to the hot tub. On the giant Oasis of the seas I did not leave any extra tips absolutely no special or personalized service assigned showtimes preplanned and very expensive cocktails $14 each. The drink cup package worked ok.. I did Alaska on Rhapsody and Wonder 1 year apart. Rccl much longer shore times. Spa is same company. I choose to have fun and make do. DCL water to room 16 oz about $2 per bottle (4 at the bar). Rccl liter bottles. I bring Mio and the like and flavor away. Coffee is my vice best coffee extra cost on either and worth it.

starvenger · Dec 4, 2015

I remembered another difference on the ships - DCL adheres to time zone changes while RCCL uses "ships time". Which to be honest is a bit strange in the Caribbean, because we ended up gaining an hour of sleep only to lose it three nights later. Minor thing though.

sam_gordon · Dec 4, 2015

starvenger said:
I remembered another difference on the ships - DCL adheres to time zone changes while RCCL uses "ships time". Which to be honest is a bit strange in the Caribbean, because we ended up gaining an hour of sleep only to lose it three nights later. Minor thing though.

DCL would also be using "ship's time", it's just they change the time of the ship to match local. I know there's no guarantee that Royal will stay on the embarkation port's time. Some ships do, some change.

starvenger · Dec 4, 2015

Yes, that's what I meant. Thanks!

eskimoinparadise · Dec 5, 2015

starvenger said:
I remembered another difference on the ships - DCL adheres to time zone changes while RCCL uses "ships time". Which to be honest is a bit strange in the Caribbean, because we ended up gaining an hour of sleep only to lose it three nights later. Minor thing though.

Depends on the ship and the captain. Sometimes they stay on ships time, and sometimes they don't. It's the same for both cruise lines.

eskimoinparadise · Dec 5, 2015

tidefan said:
Oh, I have to really disagree with this. We took Serenade of the Seas last year on Thanksgiving out of New Orleans and we all consider that to be the worst ship we've ever been on out of our 14 cruises. The Windjammer wasn't very good, and because they closed it everyday at 2:30, there wasn't a place to get food between 2:30 and 6:00. It was also the only ship I've ever been on without a poolside grill or pizza place (you had to go to the Windjammer for those).

The Magic is right behind the Fantasy as our favorite ship and I would put Princess right there with them. In fact, this year our group went on the Carnival Sunshine (our first time on CCL), and as much as CCL is lambasted, we felt that CCL was great and all thought the Sunshine was a much better cruise than the Serenade, though still below DCL and Princess. I will say though, that the "comfort food" (Guy's burgers, Blue Iguana, Mongolian Wok, etc.) on CCL is amazing AND it's not extra charge...

I guess you never found the Park Café, which is open whenever the WJ is closed.

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