1st time RCL

PrincessMer

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 30, 2010
Hello!

My husband and I are long time disney cruiser lovers, but are thinking of jumping ship and booking with RCL for our next cruise. I sailed one time on RCL but it was about 10 years ago so my memory is a bit fuzzy. For people who have done both DCL and RCL, what are some things that we should know having never sailed RCL? We will have two small children with us as well.
 
You're going to notice differences. They might be better, they might be worse, but you'll notice them.

- For example, if you're lucky enough to be on a ship with expedited arrival procedures, you'll likely be on board the ship before you know it, and that would include whatever enhanced features the cruise lines add for COVID testing.
- You will also notice that you are not "announced" when you board the ship, which I believe is a DCL exclusive thing.
- And you won't be entering into a Centrum. Royal doesn't really have that. If you're on an Oasis class, you'll enter into the Promenade, which is certainly a different experience.

OK, boarding aside:
- you're dining at a single venue, which of course is more traditional than Disney's rotational setup.
- Windjammer does not (as of yet) convert to a la carte dining at night. It will still be whatever passes for a buffet in this day and age. I'm guessing cafeteria-style service, but with better slop.
- Many more premium dining options (and thus, more ways to separate you from your money). And kids can eat there as well, at a discounted rate.
- They use the same photo company as DCL, and often the same excursion companies at ports.
- Cruise Planner prices change often, and have what appears to be a floating retail price point. So don't assume that 15% off a drink package this week is the same price as 15% off next week. Some people might call it "nickel and diming". I call it "dodgy".
- Black Friday is usually your best bet for the digital photo package.

Probably have more comments later.
 
Oh it's a thing. Especially with the drink package. General rule of thumb is that if you like a price, lock it down by paying for it. If you see a better price, cancel your previous purchase and rebuy. There's no penalty for doing that.

Speaking of prices, there's a couple more things with that

- As you have no doubt heard, sodas/pop/coke costs extra on board. There is a soda package available in the cruise planner and is usually one where the retail price doesn't fluctuate based on the promotion. This package won't cost you that much if you pre-purchase, and if you cannot live without the fizzy stuff it's probably best that you go ahead and get it.

- There are also refreshment packages (includes specialty coffees, bottled water and juices)
- And the "Ultimate" drink package (aka "drink package"), which is basically all-you-can drink alcohol (but not the top shelf stuff). There is a requirement that if one adult purchases the drink package, all adults 21 and over in the cabin must also purchase the package, with exceptions.

- Internet is charged by the day. It's quite reliable and you can use one wifi account across multiple devices, but the catch is that you can only use one device at a time. Probably just fine for two adults. There are internet/drink bundles as well.

Other stuff:
- The kids club is well run, but it's not like Oceaneers. Adventure Ocean has daily themes and kids are generally expected to participate. That might be good or bad for your kid. But of course I have no idea what the kids club will look like post-pandemic, and maybe you want to just stay with your kids all day instead.

- Many of the ships now have a splash zone called Splashaway Bay on the pool deck. It's fairly large, and one can usually find seats in this area versus trying to find seats by the adult pools.

- There is a towel check in/out on the pool deck and usually near the gangway when in port. Slightly annoying.

- Royal has an app for several of their ships, which is free to use on board (i.e. you don't need an internet package to use it). It does a decent job of showing you shows, upcoming activities, and dinner menus. But there's no chat feature yet.

- Fish extenders is not a thing on Royal. Slot pulls apparently are.

- There aren't too many people doing door magnets on Royal. If you want to do it, the doors ARE magnetic, but I'd say to limit yourself to maybe 3-4.

- If you have lanyards, bring em. even if they're DCL themed. You might even get some compliments. But mostly no one cares.
 


If coming with kids, research the ships before you book. Some are very kids friendly (Oasis class, Quantum, and the recently amped Voyager class). Or do you have a specific ship in mind? How old are your kids? With DCL, they are all kid friendly. But with Royal, many are very kid friendly...but some are less.

Unfortunately Royal got rid of their Dreamworks characters, but they have done some amazing changes to make their ships kid and family friendly. We love Royal ships.

My kids don't go in the kids club so can't comment personally, but I have heard very good things. They have cruise compassses for them with organized activities.
 
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This is great info everyone! We are thinking of sailing next summer so I will have a 3.5 year old and a 1.5 year old. My older one is super outgoing and will want to do the clubs for sure. It looks like I would need to pay for the nursery just like on DCL.

The bigger ships look fun but I am concerned they might be overwhelming. We LOVE the Disney magic, think that size is great. We have done Disney dream and enjoyed it but even at that size thought it was a little big at time. I’m wondering if I will feel overwhelmed on a big RCL ship.
 
That's actually a rather common concern. The Royal ships that would be considered more "kid friendly" are the bigger ships, and they are bigger than the Dream and Fantasy. But I think that the ship design is such that you don't really feel too overwhelmed by the size, except maybe the first day, when you're trying to figure where everything is. And I feel like that will always happen on the first day, no matter what ship you're on.

But I think that with two little ones, the ship size will "shrink" due to the areas you'll naturally gravitate to. So the actual ships size may not matter as much, if that makes any sense.
 


I think Independence, Mariner and Navigator are also great ships with kids. You have the Sky Pad (Indy and Mariner), smaller waterpark ontop of the regular one (Indy), and then mini golf, rock wall, pools, laser tag. Kids clubs on all ships. Oasis class has zipline and Abyss (minus Allure right now), but depends on the age of OPs kids. Shows are the best though on Oasis class....and I think also on Anthem but I haven't been on that ship yet (booked but was cancelled).
 
Given the ages of your kids, you will want to look for a ship with a baby splash zone (unless they will be out of diapers, doubting that for the 1 1/2 year old?) Kids in diapers are not allowed in most pools, not all ships have the baby splash zone though. I think that limits it to Freedom Class and Oasis Class ships. Which will be bigger than the Disney ships you've been on, but probably not feel crowded at all.
 

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