rtphokie
Photo board moderator
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2006
... or the frugal dad goes cruising.
Daily Cruise compasses including kids activities for ages 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, and 15-17
For my wife and I, this was our 5th cruise (2 Carnival, 2 Royal Caribbean, 1 Disney) and our 3rd time on this itinerary (4 night including Port Canaveral, private island, and Nassau). For our 7.5 year old, it was his second cruise, his first being on Disney.
This was a last minute decision for us, we booked less than 2 months out when we saw the rates (around $700 for 4 nights for the 3 of us including taxes and gratuities) aboard the Monarch of the Seas sailing from Port Canaveral on a Monday with stops at Coco Cay (RCL's island) and Nassau with a day at sea at the end.
Booking
Couldn't have been easier. We looked around for better deals but couldn't top the rate being offered on Royal Caribbean's website. We were forced to pay the fuel surcharge but it was soon refunded in the form of a on board credit which we used for prepaid gratuities instead. Like Disney, all registration can be done online making embarkation much faster.
We opted to arrive early and do a few things before heading off on the cruise and booked a one-way rental car through Budget. I tried the discount codes on Mouse Savers as well as some through my work and through BJs discount club. The best one ended up being one from a Rand McNaly Atlas (also found at Mouse Savers). The cheapest rate on the way back from from Avis but Budget beat that when I turned the car in at Port Canaveral so I cancelled the Avis reservation. Asking saved me a few bucks and Budget is much easier to deal with in Canaveral in my experience.
Arriving
We flew into MCO 2 days before the cruise and stopped by Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe at Universal City Walk for some lunch and explored City Walk before heading out to Canaveral. I'd forgotten what a pain it is getting into Universal. Park in a massive garage and then walk for miles. No trams there. Yuck.
We then stayed at the Radisson Resort at the Port which is a stones throw from the port. I tried AAA, my corporate discount and whatever online coupons I could find and found the best rate on the Radisson website ($89 a night before taxes). We really enjoyed the Radisson, it's got a great pool and hot tub. The rooms are clean and quiet and look to have been refurbished recently. I'd stay there again.
Kennedy Space Center
We spent Sunday at the Kennedy Space Center. This was a first trip for my wife and son and I'd not been in at least 25 years. At $38 adult/$28 child (ages 3-11) , when you compare it to a day at Disney, Sea World, or Universal, it's a bargain. That price also includes a 2nd day (within 7 days) or you can make it an annual pass for another $12 per person. This worked out very well for us because our flight home didn't leave until mid afternoon and gave us the opportunity to return to KSC and see what we'd missed as well as take another trip out to launch pad 39A to see the shuttle which had been rolled out to the pad while we were on our cruise.
The Shuttle Launch Experience was enjoyed by all. I personally like it better than Mission Space. Astronauts say it's the closest thing they've experienced to what an actual shuttle launch feels like. They employ some clever tricks tilting the ride vehicle and inflating and deflating the seat back to simulate G force and weightlessness.
Food options are pretty poor at KSC. Not much beyond burgers and dogs. The closest fast food or other restaurants are about 20 minutes away so leaving for lunch isn't much of an option.
The gift shop at the KSC is very extensive. It's easy to spend an hour in there just browsing.
Finding discounts for the KSC can be difficult. None of the coupon codes I found online worked. A neighbor did offer us a coupon that they had received in a Chick-fil-a kids meal that gave $5 off each ticket. Every little bit helps.
On to the cruise....
Embarkation
We turned in our rental car and took the Budget shuttle to the port. I never once touched our bags from the time we pulled into the Budget lot until unpacking them in the cabin, the Budget driver handled them and made sure they were well cared for at the dock.
We arrived at the port shortly before noon and had very little wait going through security and only waited a couple of minutes to check in and get our Sea Pass cards. Passengers were let on the ship in groups of about 50 and that process took about 15-20 minutes.
The Ship
The Monarch of the Seas is the oldest and smallest ship in the RCL fleet but you wouldn't know it looking at her. It recently underwent a major renovation where the rock climbing wall, asian themed special dining area (seperate charge, like Disney's Palo) were added along with replacement of all the carpet and furnishings. I think they also replaced the theater (which no one has used on any cruise I've been on) with more inside cabins.
The food and beverage manager mentioned that they would be adding "hot rock cooking" to the asian themed restaurant soon which sounded interesting.
Overall the decor of the ship is classier than Carnival's though not as opulent as Disney's. Carnival's decor (like their overall approach) is much more over the top, lots of neon and garrish themes to public spaces, very Vegasy. RCL is much more understated and more pleasant to be around.
The Crew
RCL has turned their service level up a few notches. It had a bit of a Disney feel to it (but not quite there). Everytime you pass a cabin steward, waiter, or crew member, you got at least a "good afternoon". On several occassions in the Windjammer, a busboy put down what he was carrying and offered to help me carry the drinks or soups or whatever I was trying to balance back to our table. It's little things like that make it for me.
The Food
We found the food quality and selection to be on par with Disney's and better than Carnivals. The buffet at the Windjammer was a notch above what I remember on our Disney cruise (about 2.5 years ago). The choices were great. There was always at least 3 soups to choose from a carving station available (with beef, ham or meatloaf) and several Indian, and other Asian choices. We ate breakfast in the main dining room once and opted for the buffet from then out because the choices were better.
The midnight buffet is at midnight, not the more kid friendly 10pm on the Disney ships.
One food choice we did miss was Pluto's dog house. Having that available on Disney ships gives parents a good option for getting some food for kids at just about any time. Nothing like this on RCL.
Disney is rare in that it doesn't charge for sodas. RCL, Carnival and others do charge. This isn't cost recovery, it's a profit center for them. Not a big deal for my family as we dont drink that much soda but the upselling process isn't pleasant.
The Ben and Jerry's, Seattle Coffee shop, and sushi restaurant (all extra charges) were nice to have and weren't too expensive.
Entertainment
The musicians are great, especially a string combo (violin, electric bass, acoustic guitar) that plays in the atrium and strolls the dining rooms one night. They really got the crowd going with Beatles, AC/DC, and some other rock greats.
The production shows in the evening were cheeeeeesy. Day 1 show was a comedian who was pretty good. Day 2 was a stage show featuring music of Motown. Day 3 was juggler/comedian who was very funny. Day 4 was another production show that was based around 80's music. It was difficult to sit through it was so bad. Definitely theme park caliber talent and production and a couple notches below Disney and even a notch or two below what I remember on Carnival. Shows are family friendly (unlike what our first cruise on Carnival). The Monarch appears to have renovated it's stage as well. It's a bit larger and makes good use of space. A good producer and good performers could do great things with this stage.
The crowd
It's mid January and most schools are back in session. Florida's population of snowbirds is at it's peek so the average age onboard was in the upper 50's or low 60's. My son has red hair and we've taught him to take a compliment, especially from older ladies, and be very pleasant about it. He was tested many many times with this over the 4 days by white hair'd ladies rushing up to him and telling him how beautiful his hair was and how [they|their kids|their grandkids|etc] had hair just like that.
The plus to this demographic is that many things that we were interested in like the pools, kids club, etc. were relatively empty. Even the private Island was not as crowded as I remember it from our last visit sometime in the Spring with many passengers opting to stay on board.
The most popular activity seemed to be laying by the pool or playing cards, uno, dominos or mahjong in the various bars and restaurants on the ship.
Cabin
3 words: small but functional. When we arrived in the room, the beds were together but we requested they be split apart and it did make for a better use of space in the tiny room. My son slept in a bunk which lowered from wall, which he loved. The cabin was tastefully decorated and kept immaculate by our cabin steward.
Kids Programs
There were 20-30 school aged kids onboard so kids program was underpopulated (most kids were either year round students like my son or were homeschooled based on conversations we had with parents). At any given time there was no more than a 6-1 ratio between counselors and kids. Counselors on DCL and RCL seemed comparable. The kids loved them both.
Our 7.5 year old gave great reviews to the program.
I'd still give Disney the edge here if just because of the facilities on their ships. Even on the newer, larger RCL ships, the kids aren't the priority so their facilities aren't as nice.
Kids are broken into 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, and 15-18. Since there weren't many kids, 6-8 and 9-11 were collapsed together and the teen programs were also combined (there were only a handful of teens on board). This worked just fine. The kids program is only open at specific times (unlike Disney) and pagers are only provided for parents of children in the 3-5 range. If you kid gets tired of the program, they cant page you so it's wise to check in every few hours. This worked fine for us but could be a pain for some parents.
Anytime the kids spend in the program after 10pm is no longer included in the price of your cruise and is costs $5 per hour per child and is available until 2am. This was a bit frustrating not just because of the additional charge but many of the things my son was interested in were held after 10pm.
RCL does have an toddler program sponsored by Fischer Price but it doesn't compare to Disney's. Parents must stay with their kids at all times. No babysitting service is available.
Like DCL, RCL holds all kids activities were indoors on the ship. Activities on the island were very similar and included water games like water balloon tosses and sand castle building. I was impressed with the way they extended what they'd been doing on the ship by including some science activities (leaf prints using sun-sensitive paper) as well as using some of the games they'd played in onboard but adding a water element to them.
Even on this small RCL ship (smallest in the fleet), it had more video gaming consoles than the DCL ships do. Popular games like Wii sports and Dance Dance Revolution were available, I dont remember seeing anything but PCs on the DCL ships. RCL holds a family Wii sports tournament on the at sea day which looked like a lot of fun.
Unlike Disney ships, young cruisers can only eat dinner at the kids club on select nights and you've got to sign up for it by noon that day.
Overall both programs appear to be well managed and the kids have a lot of fun. Disney does get the edge though because of the facilities and more relaxed policies. Also my son was less eager to spend his whole cruise there. Probably a partly because of his age, partly because the kids program isn't quite as well produced as Disney's.
All that being said, we were happy with the kids program and would do it again.
Other Programs
The trivia games, towel folding demos, cooking demos, etc. are one of our favorite things onboard. Disney's are better produced and more polished but RCL's are just as enjoyable without the high tech stuff in Studio Sea.
My son and I did enjoy the rock climbing wall. He scampered right up there and I found it easier than I'd though it would be and whole lot of fun. The view from up there is incredible. We'll probably try it again locally. The rock climbing wall hours are a bit limited so you've got to plan appropriately.
This is the first ship I've been on where the ship's library wasn't a joke. There were a number of paperbacks by authors I'd actually heard of and a good number of kids books. They had a surprising selection of family board games as well.
Private Island
Overall, Disney's island is superior but RCL's snorkelling area is far better than Disney's. The snorkeling are on Coco Cay is a rocky haven for all sorts of sea life. We saw thousands of yellow tail snapper and french grunt, as well as porgy, blue tang, and various butterfly fish. At one point I was surrounded by hundreds of grunt and had a snapper follow me for 40-50 yards. I saw a fraction of the number of fish in the Castaway Cay snorkelling. The big difference is the rocks and artificial reefs, Coco Cay has lots of them, Castaway Cay has very few.
Other than snorkeling, Castaway Cay beats Coco Cay by a mile. Both have plenty of chairs and the food is basically the same. Disney's family beach and adults only beaches are far more plesant. Coco Cay's main beach has wonderful sand in the chair area but once you get into the water, it's rocky and not pleasant to walk around in. Things are much better on the far side of the island near the water slide and aqua park with soft sand and hardly any rocks.
I was disappointed with RCL's extra charges on the private island. You can bring your own snorkel gear but they require snorkel vests for all regardless of your experience. Disney does the same thing but didn't charge for the vests, RCL charges $6 per person. Disney has a nice playground area a few yards off short of the family beach. There is no extra charge. RCL charges $15 per person per hour for use of the Aqua Parq (below). It's fun and its features are better than the small climbing structure provided by Disney but shelling out more to do something this simple on the island irk'd me a bit. They've also got a huge inflatable water slide on the island but they charge $20 a person. I wasn't willing to pay this much for such a simple activity. I guess RCL counts on parents giving in to their kid's requests, this parent isn't so easily talked into that.
The only other expense we incurred on the island was rental of a beach mat. $10 for the whole day I can stomach and it really made my wife happy.
Coco Cay excursions
Excursions
Other than the above "excursions" on Coco Cay, the only other excursion we did was Blackbeards Cay at Nassau. We really enjoyed it.
It's a little more than 4 statute miles and about a 25 minute water taxi ride from the port to small island thats about 3/4 of a mile off the main island of New Providence. The escursion is scheduled to last 3 hours but with transit time and time collecting the stragglers both at the port and on the island its more like 2 hours of beach time. Its a very nice beach though. Sugary soft sand, waist deep water for 10-20 yards from shore. Lots of lounge chairs. They have a bar and a grill but we had just eaten breakfast and opted to return to the ship for lunch. There are also jetskis and kayaks to rent but time is too limited in my opinion for this.
My son really liked the beach and despite the overcast weather and chilly water still had a blast.
click here for an aerial view of the cay.
Frequent Guest benefits
Disney calls theirs the Castaway Club, Royal Caribbean calls theirs the Crown and Anchor Program. This was only our 2nd RCL cruise but we were treated like royalty (no pun intended). We were invited to a reception where the captain, hotel manager, and food and beverage manager spoke. Free drinks (what ever you liked and they just kept bringing them) and very good hors d'oeuvres including caviar.
Our cabin steward left 2 good quality Royal Caribbean hats and 2 coupon booklets that included a couple of free drinks each, half price ice cream at Ben and Jerrys, half price lattes at the coffee shop, money off at the spa, gift shops, casino on board, etc. We made good use of these.
With all those snowbirds on board, there were a lot of past guests.
Carnival has a similar program but I have no idea what it's like since they had no record of our first cruise when I booked the second and I had misplaced the membership card they sent out so we missed out on those benefits on our second (and likely last for a number of reasons) Carnival cruise.
Debarkation
Disney has RCL and Carnival beat here, hands down. Disney's "have breakfast, leave when you want" policy is great. RCL and Carnival still segregate people into a dozen or so categories, color coded by luggage tags provided in your cabin the last night of the cruise. We were supposed to wait in the large showroom for our luggage tag color to be called but experience has told us to just go for breakfast in the WindJammer (RCL's version of Topsider/Beach Blanket Buffet) and wait for the annoucement there. Far more pleasant than sitting in a windowless theater.
Random thoughts
If I were staying in Orlando for more than a couple days and would be passing through the tolls, I'd consider getting one of the Sun Pass mini stickers. They are available at checkouts at Publix for $5, can be activtated over the phone or internet. It's pretty easy to hit $5 in tolls and would save you the hassle of At the end of my time in FL, remove the sticker and toss it away.
We returned to our favorite seafood restaurant in the area Dixie Crossroads in Titusville and it didn't disappoint. It's a few miles off the beaten path for most Orlando-Cape Canaveral visotrs but worth the side trip.
Conclusion
Would I pick Disney over RCL or Carnival? Absolutely! But at 3 times the cost, Disney Cruise Lines isn't something we can afford very often. Looking back over what we spent overall, we paid 1/3 the price of a DCL cruise and I'd say we got about 3/4 of the value, that's not bad, especially for a last minute trip.
I'd definately cruise with either RCL or DCL again with or without kids.
Daily Cruise compasses including kids activities for ages 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, and 15-17
For my wife and I, this was our 5th cruise (2 Carnival, 2 Royal Caribbean, 1 Disney) and our 3rd time on this itinerary (4 night including Port Canaveral, private island, and Nassau). For our 7.5 year old, it was his second cruise, his first being on Disney.
This was a last minute decision for us, we booked less than 2 months out when we saw the rates (around $700 for 4 nights for the 3 of us including taxes and gratuities) aboard the Monarch of the Seas sailing from Port Canaveral on a Monday with stops at Coco Cay (RCL's island) and Nassau with a day at sea at the end.
Booking
Couldn't have been easier. We looked around for better deals but couldn't top the rate being offered on Royal Caribbean's website. We were forced to pay the fuel surcharge but it was soon refunded in the form of a on board credit which we used for prepaid gratuities instead. Like Disney, all registration can be done online making embarkation much faster.
We opted to arrive early and do a few things before heading off on the cruise and booked a one-way rental car through Budget. I tried the discount codes on Mouse Savers as well as some through my work and through BJs discount club. The best one ended up being one from a Rand McNaly Atlas (also found at Mouse Savers). The cheapest rate on the way back from from Avis but Budget beat that when I turned the car in at Port Canaveral so I cancelled the Avis reservation. Asking saved me a few bucks and Budget is much easier to deal with in Canaveral in my experience.
Arriving
We flew into MCO 2 days before the cruise and stopped by Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe at Universal City Walk for some lunch and explored City Walk before heading out to Canaveral. I'd forgotten what a pain it is getting into Universal. Park in a massive garage and then walk for miles. No trams there. Yuck.
We then stayed at the Radisson Resort at the Port which is a stones throw from the port. I tried AAA, my corporate discount and whatever online coupons I could find and found the best rate on the Radisson website ($89 a night before taxes). We really enjoyed the Radisson, it's got a great pool and hot tub. The rooms are clean and quiet and look to have been refurbished recently. I'd stay there again.
Kennedy Space Center
The Shuttle Launch Experience was enjoyed by all. I personally like it better than Mission Space. Astronauts say it's the closest thing they've experienced to what an actual shuttle launch feels like. They employ some clever tricks tilting the ride vehicle and inflating and deflating the seat back to simulate G force and weightlessness.
Food options are pretty poor at KSC. Not much beyond burgers and dogs. The closest fast food or other restaurants are about 20 minutes away so leaving for lunch isn't much of an option.
The gift shop at the KSC is very extensive. It's easy to spend an hour in there just browsing.
Finding discounts for the KSC can be difficult. None of the coupon codes I found online worked. A neighbor did offer us a coupon that they had received in a Chick-fil-a kids meal that gave $5 off each ticket. Every little bit helps.
On to the cruise....
Embarkation
We turned in our rental car and took the Budget shuttle to the port. I never once touched our bags from the time we pulled into the Budget lot until unpacking them in the cabin, the Budget driver handled them and made sure they were well cared for at the dock.
We arrived at the port shortly before noon and had very little wait going through security and only waited a couple of minutes to check in and get our Sea Pass cards. Passengers were let on the ship in groups of about 50 and that process took about 15-20 minutes.
The Ship
The Monarch of the Seas is the oldest and smallest ship in the RCL fleet but you wouldn't know it looking at her. It recently underwent a major renovation where the rock climbing wall, asian themed special dining area (seperate charge, like Disney's Palo) were added along with replacement of all the carpet and furnishings. I think they also replaced the theater (which no one has used on any cruise I've been on) with more inside cabins.
The food and beverage manager mentioned that they would be adding "hot rock cooking" to the asian themed restaurant soon which sounded interesting.
Overall the decor of the ship is classier than Carnival's though not as opulent as Disney's. Carnival's decor (like their overall approach) is much more over the top, lots of neon and garrish themes to public spaces, very Vegasy. RCL is much more understated and more pleasant to be around.
The Crew
RCL has turned their service level up a few notches. It had a bit of a Disney feel to it (but not quite there). Everytime you pass a cabin steward, waiter, or crew member, you got at least a "good afternoon". On several occassions in the Windjammer, a busboy put down what he was carrying and offered to help me carry the drinks or soups or whatever I was trying to balance back to our table. It's little things like that make it for me.
The Food
We found the food quality and selection to be on par with Disney's and better than Carnivals. The buffet at the Windjammer was a notch above what I remember on our Disney cruise (about 2.5 years ago). The choices were great. There was always at least 3 soups to choose from a carving station available (with beef, ham or meatloaf) and several Indian, and other Asian choices. We ate breakfast in the main dining room once and opted for the buffet from then out because the choices were better.
The midnight buffet is at midnight, not the more kid friendly 10pm on the Disney ships.
One food choice we did miss was Pluto's dog house. Having that available on Disney ships gives parents a good option for getting some food for kids at just about any time. Nothing like this on RCL.
Disney is rare in that it doesn't charge for sodas. RCL, Carnival and others do charge. This isn't cost recovery, it's a profit center for them. Not a big deal for my family as we dont drink that much soda but the upselling process isn't pleasant.
The Ben and Jerry's, Seattle Coffee shop, and sushi restaurant (all extra charges) were nice to have and weren't too expensive.
Entertainment
The musicians are great, especially a string combo (violin, electric bass, acoustic guitar) that plays in the atrium and strolls the dining rooms one night. They really got the crowd going with Beatles, AC/DC, and some other rock greats.
The crowd
It's mid January and most schools are back in session. Florida's population of snowbirds is at it's peek so the average age onboard was in the upper 50's or low 60's. My son has red hair and we've taught him to take a compliment, especially from older ladies, and be very pleasant about it. He was tested many many times with this over the 4 days by white hair'd ladies rushing up to him and telling him how beautiful his hair was and how [they|their kids|their grandkids|etc] had hair just like that.
The plus to this demographic is that many things that we were interested in like the pools, kids club, etc. were relatively empty. Even the private Island was not as crowded as I remember it from our last visit sometime in the Spring with many passengers opting to stay on board.
The most popular activity seemed to be laying by the pool or playing cards, uno, dominos or mahjong in the various bars and restaurants on the ship.
Cabin
3 words: small but functional. When we arrived in the room, the beds were together but we requested they be split apart and it did make for a better use of space in the tiny room. My son slept in a bunk which lowered from wall, which he loved. The cabin was tastefully decorated and kept immaculate by our cabin steward.
Kids Programs
There were 20-30 school aged kids onboard so kids program was underpopulated (most kids were either year round students like my son or were homeschooled based on conversations we had with parents). At any given time there was no more than a 6-1 ratio between counselors and kids. Counselors on DCL and RCL seemed comparable. The kids loved them both.
Our 7.5 year old gave great reviews to the program.
I'd still give Disney the edge here if just because of the facilities on their ships. Even on the newer, larger RCL ships, the kids aren't the priority so their facilities aren't as nice.
Kids are broken into 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, and 15-18. Since there weren't many kids, 6-8 and 9-11 were collapsed together and the teen programs were also combined (there were only a handful of teens on board). This worked just fine. The kids program is only open at specific times (unlike Disney) and pagers are only provided for parents of children in the 3-5 range. If you kid gets tired of the program, they cant page you so it's wise to check in every few hours. This worked fine for us but could be a pain for some parents.
Anytime the kids spend in the program after 10pm is no longer included in the price of your cruise and is costs $5 per hour per child and is available until 2am. This was a bit frustrating not just because of the additional charge but many of the things my son was interested in were held after 10pm.
RCL does have an toddler program sponsored by Fischer Price but it doesn't compare to Disney's. Parents must stay with their kids at all times. No babysitting service is available.
Like DCL, RCL holds all kids activities were indoors on the ship. Activities on the island were very similar and included water games like water balloon tosses and sand castle building. I was impressed with the way they extended what they'd been doing on the ship by including some science activities (leaf prints using sun-sensitive paper) as well as using some of the games they'd played in onboard but adding a water element to them.
Even on this small RCL ship (smallest in the fleet), it had more video gaming consoles than the DCL ships do. Popular games like Wii sports and Dance Dance Revolution were available, I dont remember seeing anything but PCs on the DCL ships. RCL holds a family Wii sports tournament on the at sea day which looked like a lot of fun.
Unlike Disney ships, young cruisers can only eat dinner at the kids club on select nights and you've got to sign up for it by noon that day.
Overall both programs appear to be well managed and the kids have a lot of fun. Disney does get the edge though because of the facilities and more relaxed policies. Also my son was less eager to spend his whole cruise there. Probably a partly because of his age, partly because the kids program isn't quite as well produced as Disney's.
All that being said, we were happy with the kids program and would do it again.
Other Programs
The trivia games, towel folding demos, cooking demos, etc. are one of our favorite things onboard. Disney's are better produced and more polished but RCL's are just as enjoyable without the high tech stuff in Studio Sea.
This is the first ship I've been on where the ship's library wasn't a joke. There were a number of paperbacks by authors I'd actually heard of and a good number of kids books. They had a surprising selection of family board games as well.
Private Island
Other than snorkeling, Castaway Cay beats Coco Cay by a mile. Both have plenty of chairs and the food is basically the same. Disney's family beach and adults only beaches are far more plesant. Coco Cay's main beach has wonderful sand in the chair area but once you get into the water, it's rocky and not pleasant to walk around in. Things are much better on the far side of the island near the water slide and aqua park with soft sand and hardly any rocks.
I was disappointed with RCL's extra charges on the private island. You can bring your own snorkel gear but they require snorkel vests for all regardless of your experience. Disney does the same thing but didn't charge for the vests, RCL charges $6 per person. Disney has a nice playground area a few yards off short of the family beach. There is no extra charge. RCL charges $15 per person per hour for use of the Aqua Parq (below). It's fun and its features are better than the small climbing structure provided by Disney but shelling out more to do something this simple on the island irk'd me a bit. They've also got a huge inflatable water slide on the island but they charge $20 a person. I wasn't willing to pay this much for such a simple activity. I guess RCL counts on parents giving in to their kid's requests, this parent isn't so easily talked into that.
The only other expense we incurred on the island was rental of a beach mat. $10 for the whole day I can stomach and it really made my wife happy.
Coco Cay excursions
Excursions
Other than the above "excursions" on Coco Cay, the only other excursion we did was Blackbeards Cay at Nassau. We really enjoyed it.
It's a little more than 4 statute miles and about a 25 minute water taxi ride from the port to small island thats about 3/4 of a mile off the main island of New Providence. The escursion is scheduled to last 3 hours but with transit time and time collecting the stragglers both at the port and on the island its more like 2 hours of beach time. Its a very nice beach though. Sugary soft sand, waist deep water for 10-20 yards from shore. Lots of lounge chairs. They have a bar and a grill but we had just eaten breakfast and opted to return to the ship for lunch. There are also jetskis and kayaks to rent but time is too limited in my opinion for this.
My son really liked the beach and despite the overcast weather and chilly water still had a blast.
click here for an aerial view of the cay.
Frequent Guest benefits
Disney calls theirs the Castaway Club, Royal Caribbean calls theirs the Crown and Anchor Program. This was only our 2nd RCL cruise but we were treated like royalty (no pun intended). We were invited to a reception where the captain, hotel manager, and food and beverage manager spoke. Free drinks (what ever you liked and they just kept bringing them) and very good hors d'oeuvres including caviar.
Our cabin steward left 2 good quality Royal Caribbean hats and 2 coupon booklets that included a couple of free drinks each, half price ice cream at Ben and Jerrys, half price lattes at the coffee shop, money off at the spa, gift shops, casino on board, etc. We made good use of these.
With all those snowbirds on board, there were a lot of past guests.
Carnival has a similar program but I have no idea what it's like since they had no record of our first cruise when I booked the second and I had misplaced the membership card they sent out so we missed out on those benefits on our second (and likely last for a number of reasons) Carnival cruise.
Debarkation
Disney has RCL and Carnival beat here, hands down. Disney's "have breakfast, leave when you want" policy is great. RCL and Carnival still segregate people into a dozen or so categories, color coded by luggage tags provided in your cabin the last night of the cruise. We were supposed to wait in the large showroom for our luggage tag color to be called but experience has told us to just go for breakfast in the WindJammer (RCL's version of Topsider/Beach Blanket Buffet) and wait for the annoucement there. Far more pleasant than sitting in a windowless theater.
Random thoughts
If I were staying in Orlando for more than a couple days and would be passing through the tolls, I'd consider getting one of the Sun Pass mini stickers. They are available at checkouts at Publix for $5, can be activtated over the phone or internet. It's pretty easy to hit $5 in tolls and would save you the hassle of At the end of my time in FL, remove the sticker and toss it away.
We returned to our favorite seafood restaurant in the area Dixie Crossroads in Titusville and it didn't disappoint. It's a few miles off the beaten path for most Orlando-Cape Canaveral visotrs but worth the side trip.
Conclusion
Would I pick Disney over RCL or Carnival? Absolutely! But at 3 times the cost, Disney Cruise Lines isn't something we can afford very often. Looking back over what we spent overall, we paid 1/3 the price of a DCL cruise and I'd say we got about 3/4 of the value, that's not bad, especially for a last minute trip.
I'd definately cruise with either RCL or DCL again with or without kids.
