Another Royal Caribbean vs Disney Cruise Line thread

[Tunderwood89]

Hey all,

I'm new to the DIS forums and I'm in the process of planning a vacation for my wife and I. I know there have been a ton of discussions about the differences between RCCL and DCL but even after reading through a lot of those threads and articles from around the web I'm still on the edge about it and have some questions. Apologies for the length of this post in advance, I have a ton going through my mind and am not great at being concise.

A little about us and the trip we plan to take:
My wife and I are mid-late 20s and will be traveling without kids (we don't have any) for our 3rd anniversary. This trip is going to serve as the honeymoon we wish we were able to take after our wedding as well as a final getaway before we start thinking about starting a family. I am a huge Disney fanatic and my wife humors me (she is fine with Disney but thinks I go a bit overboard sometimes).

We are going to spend a week in Orlando (Saturday-Saturday) hopefully staying at a WDW resort (My in-laws have a timeshare through Worldmark and are attempting to do an RCI exchange so we can stay at a DVC resort, otherwise we will either be in a value resort or off property). After Orlando we plan to head to Port Canaveral and get on a ship for a week long cruise (leaving on Saturday).

We have never cruised before and really have no idea what to really expect. The entire goal of the cruise is complete and total relaxation, after a week of running around the theme parks trying to see and do as much as possible we want to not worry about doing everything and just get some true R&R before returning to the real world.

It's coming down to 2 sailings, one from DCL and the other from RCCL. The DCL would be a 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise leaving Saturday and returning the following Saturday on the Fantasy (would include a $200 OBC for booking through DU). The RCCL would be a 8-night Western Caribbean cruise on the Oasis of the Seas (would include a $200 OBC as well).

I know Castaway Cay is superior to Labadee so that is a point for DCL. The three main things that are most important to us are:

• Activities, I know RCCL will probably have more "adult" oriented activities, we don't care about the casino (and we don't like the smell of smoke so that is actually a point against RCCL) so the activities we are mostly interested in are things like Dance classes, wine/spirit tastings, shows, relaxing at the bars, etc. RCCL has a few things like the zip line, surf simulator, and rock wall that all sound like fun but I'm not sure its enough to make us think RCCL is the right option for us.
• Food, I'm a foodie and my wife is decently picky (but it's manageable). If we do DCL we will probably do the adult only dining at least one night. I've heard good things about both crusies food but a lot of people think DCL is better. Thoughts?
• Cost of things not included in the cruise, specifically drinks. I don't want to say that this will be a "booze" cruise but I don't want to have to worry about the price if I want a cocktail or a glass of wine. I know DCL does not offer drink packages like RCCL does.

If both cruises were the same price we would probably go Disney but in this case the Royal Caribbean cruise is about 1k less than the Disney cruise. So for the same price as the base disney cruise my wife and I could do the RCCL cruise with a drink package, maybe a shore excursion and some specialty dining.

I want to do disney but I am kind of leaning toward RCCL purely on price.

Does any one have thoughts that could help push me one way or the other?

Thanks!

 

[Bishoparc]

While I haven't been on RCL, for us Disney is all about the experience. We've been on two 3 day sailings on the Dream and both times were incredible. The staff and the ship were just incredible. Seeing the other brands of ships in Nassau, Disney just takes such good care of their ships and it shows. Cruising as a couple, Disney did a fantastic job of seating us with other similar couples that we are now friends with and will likely cruise with again. The character meet and greets are even better than at WDW, even for the adults. Just seems like everyone we've encountered so far have been on their "A" game. The food is great. Just in general the Disney cruises have been great for us.

That being said, I've heard the Oasis class ships from RCL are impressive. We may try them one day. Personally I wouldn't sail on like the Enchantment of the Seas, which is smaller than the one you are looking at, because I've seen it in port and it just doesn't compare to the Dream.

Feel free to read my recent trip report to see how Disney is: http://www.disboards.com/threads/surprise-birthday-cruise-jan-16.3481609/

I'm sorry that I can't give you a good comparison since I haven't cruised with Royal but wanted to give you at least my take on Disney. Hope it helps.

 

[Sytrace]

Your main factors involve entertainment, food and spirits so I am basing my thoughts on that.

Disney has great options for adult entertainment including mixology classes, wine, beer, martini, cognac etc tastings, many clubs for adults only that include live performers, trivia games and fantastic shows. They have an incredible spa (Rainforest) that has 3 saunas, waterfall/rain showers, heated lounges, whirlpool spas with amazing views and serenity. You can get a weeklong pass for a couple for 193.00 plus gratituity the day you board and is unlimited use.
There is an adults only pool and hot tub area on Deck 11 forward as well as Deck 12 and Satellite Falls on Deck 13 that is also adults only.

I know that RCL has some incredible entertainment as well, but having been on 7 DCL cruises and 1 Carnival cruise (and this is a small number compared to so many on this board) I am extremely partial to DCL. I have also reviewed the RCL ships for personal and professional reasons and they are not up to Disney standard in entertainment in my opinion.

Onto food: The dining room food is very good on DCL in all three main restaraunts. I enjoyed Palo for dinner but have not tried Remy. I likely won't as French food is not my thing. The food presentation and taste is very good and the atmosphere and rotational dining is awesome. I cannot speak to RCL food though, but I have heard that it is quite good. And their specialty restaraunts are reasonably priced as well.

Alcohol: You can bring one six pack of beer or 2 bottles of wine per adult upon boarding in your carryon and at each port. The average cost of a beer is about $7.00 for Bud Light and they do have imports as well. I think if you go to Amenities you can purchase packages ahead of time. Definitely, a beer mug that is 22 oz but you can refill at the 16oz price.


Based on all of that, I would go for the DCL experience and that way you can get a feel for it before you bring your kids back when you have them.
Best wishes on your belated honeymoon trip. You can also tell your agent/DCL that this is a special trip and see if you can get some added magic.

 

[ayz75]

I've been on the Oasis (the inaugural year, around 2010) and while I really enjoyed my DCL (Fantasy, Western) cruise last year, I think my experience on Oasis was actually very good. Some of my comments:

- Night time shows were superb on the Oasis. Obviously, DCL was better for my 2 year old, but we didn't have kids when we were on the Oasis and I would say the Oasis shows were definitely more entertaining. They had a cool ice figure skating show, an outdoor water show (like water acrobats and stuff), broadway show (it was Hairspray at the time), etc. DCL's Aladdin was nice, but we saw only partial of the other shows (mostly dancing and singing).. I have to say Oasis had better night shows.

- "Activities" for adults, I would say Oasis was good because there's the zip line, flow rider, etc. But Fantasy has the Aqua Duck. We didn't do any adults-activities otherwise (we don't go to any of those classes on either ship) so can't really compare. DCL has a separate movie theatre so if you guys want to catch a movie from time to time, it is a pretty good bonus.

- Food was excellent on both (but keep in mind Oasis was 5 years ago, so it may have gone downhill or stayed the same, I don't know) when I was on Oasis, my friend had her wedding dinner reception at the steak house (forgot the name) and I thought the food was great. But we did Remy on DCL and were very happy with it (though it's not cheap, it was worth the price!) Overall, I'd say in terms of food quality, my experience with both were very good. (My husband did another RCCL cruise with his parents, on a smaller ship and thought the food was so-so)

- alcohol, can't really comment on that because we only buy wine packages, and everything else (cocktail, spirits) we tend to order separately and never really compared the prices

- Rooms, while DCL fantasy rooms are pretty nice and spacious, I really really liked the "boardwalk facing" balcony rooms on Oasis. I'm not a huge ocean-view balcony kind of person (can be scary at times) but our boardwalk view had partial water view, and it was cool to sit there and read a book and see all the actions going on.

Overall, I personally would try Oasis without kids, and go back to DCL with kids. But then again, I love Disney but I'm not a fanatic, so I think at the end of the day, it's really up to how much disney-theme you want around you. One thing that obviously stands out with DCL is that you constantly see characters on board the ship. Like, every single day!

 

[TrySomethingNew]

Congratulations on 3 years! Congratulations on planning your first big vacation!

Overall, as a couple you need to decide if the extra 1k cost will bug you. You know, if something negative occurs, is not as desired, etc, will that extra cost bug you or spouse? If so, maybe delay DCL for now- no need for friction due to a vacation.
Assuming cost is fine, if you choose DCL you will love the Disney touches everywhere, and your wife will love the fact that it's not in your face if she doesn't want it to be*. The eastern cruise sounds like a great couples cruise to me (it is, in fact, the very cruise I want to take, but have not booked...yet).
Fantasy has two upscale restaurants: fancy and very fancy (aka Palo and Remy), so you can choose one or do both.
*funny story: told someone who has been to WDW numerous times and really likes Disney that we were going on DCL. They wrinkled their nose like they smelled something bad and expressed that it doesn't sound appealing to them. As we talked, it was apparent they literally thought that characters would be all over the place, even in the room hallways ready to accost you at first sight, among other horrible assumptions. Anyway, I did inform her that it not exactly that intense, and is really very nice overall.

 

[Winston Wolf]

Fantasy is fantastic. Oasis from everything I've seen and read, looks amazing. Either trip will be amazing, but if I'm in your shoes, I'd pick Oasis.

But if you pick Oasis...think hard about the drink package. Especially if you're more of a beer drinker. My wife and I drank plenty on NCL a couple years ago and we didn't come close to spending what we would have for the drinks package.

 

[tinkerone]

I think we are sailing on the oasis cruise you are talking about and for us, we are saving about $2000 plus getting the extra night. we have only sailed dcl so i'm getting excited about trying something new. I can tell you that on dcl the night life is very limited. not a lot of people are at the clubs past 11 so if that is important to you then the oasis is the better choice. the shows on dcl are all disney and the early shows with performers are very family friendly. if your looking for things like the flow rider or rock climbing Disney does not have anything like it. they do have the aquaduck but that is just a water ride/slide. nothing else.
the food on dcl is good but from what I have been reading I don't think its better than oasis. keeping in mind everyone has different tastes i'm not sure I would let that be a deciding factor. I like the drink packages you can get with rcl. that takes the sting out of a final bill for sure.
what ever you decide, have a great trip and happy anniversary.

 

[Sweetsarj]

I would pick the Oasis in your situation.

 

[rosaciri]

Following this thread and would luv to read ppls opnions also. My family travelled all the way from Australia in May 2014 to do Western Carribean on The Fantasy and luved it all. We did Disneyland Anaheim for a week before the cruise, completed a 7 night cruise and then spent a week in LA before coming home. All up it cost us $25K AU and it was money well spent. We luved our time in the USA (our third). We did the Carnival Spirit around Pacific Islands in May 2015 and are now looking at booking either with RCCL on the Ovation of the Seas in 2017 or coming back to do WDW Orlando and then the Eastern Carribean cruise on The Fantasy again. We luved our first cruise and the service you get is second to none by DCL. Prices have gone up with DCL greatly so we are also looking at RCCL and are in 2 minds. We have 2 DDs who will be 10 and 5 when we cruise in 2017. Our 5 year old is Disney mad and the 10 year old likes Disney - just not sure if she will like it as much in 2017.

 

[bumbershoot]

If both cruises were the same price we would probably go Disney

Why?


Food on DCL isn't very good IMO. Food on Royal is much better. We are vegetarian, and Royal has more food that is decent without modifications than Disney. I've never had to resort to kid's menu mac and cheese on Royal, unlike on Disney. (a pox on Disney's vegetarian Pirate Night "food")

I don't go to the shows on either line unless it's a magician or comedian. I find the shows on Disney to be utter dreck. The "story"line for Golden Mickey is "I'm the PA for this show and everything is delayed and this is what we're doing and oh gosh you're giving me the award for best show?" Uh what? There was no show. Horrid. Villains is *OK* but Aladdin at DLR was a million times better. My family won't let me see Believe lest I rush the stage, given my nearly violent reaction to GM. I truly cannot abide Disney's live shows (the new Jedi Academy at Disneyland is just horrible, very very similar to the Golden Mickey's stuff, and doesn't focus on the KIDS at all anymore...don't know who is writing this tripe but they need to stop IMO).

Drinks packages are very nice on Royal if you drink, and you don't have to sit in your room to drink them, unlike if you bring your drinks onboard Disney. I don't drink enough to make an alcohol-package worth it, and DH doesn't drink. Just the two bottles of wine per stateroom you can bring onboard Royal is totally enough for me!


Oasis is likely too big for me; I really like the Freedom class size. But I've heard GREAT things about Oasis class from some friends who like to go to shows, have fun, drink, and EAT (without dietary restrictions).


People love Labadee. Not sure why it would be "less than" Castaway. If you were going to Coco I could speak about it (I like Coco more than Castaway). I'm not interested in the Western itinerary on any line, though.

 

[Tigerladyd]

As a fellow foodie, I cant express strongly enough my absolute dissappointment in the food on my recent RCCL (Allure). It was my first time sailing with RCCL and I thought all the complaints I read from people on different forums were likely blown out of proportion. I now wish I had taken them seriously. The buffet and main dining room offering on our sailing were disgusting. Often inedible. We finally succumbed to eating in the specialty restaurants for the remainder of our cruise. We planned to do that on a few nights as a treat, but ended up making it a nightly occurence by the 4th night.

However, I believe RCCL gets higher marks on the nightly entertainment offerings - especially as you are traveling as an adult party only. The DCL entertainment is certainly good and as an adult fan of (All Things Disney), I personally enjoy it. However, my husband and I felt like our nightly theater dates on the Allure were more enjoyable for us while sailing without our kids.

Nightclubs/Bars - A little bit of a toss-up on this one for me. Both RCCL and DCL have some fun and innovative nightclubs and bar options. For me, I tend to favor DCL slightly more than RCCL becausethey keep the options together in a seperate "adult"section of the ship. I liked having all my options together in one section and knowing I wasn't going to be surrounded by kids while trying to have fun in an adult only environment. For my husband, he really didn' mind that the nightclubs and bars on the Allure were integrated in several public / family areas of the ship.

Either option you choose will be great because you will be sailing with your favorite person. Good luck and have fun. Happy honeymoon too!!

 

[ayz75]

Here's another thought- I would personally use that $1000 difference and try and upgrade my resort at Disney! It's your honeymoon as you said, and while I've stayed at the values and generally have no problem with them, I would definitely want something nicer if I'm staying a week there (and if it's a honeymoon).

 

[Tunderwood89]

Thanks everyone! I think we are leaning toward RCCL since if we like cruising we will for sure take a Disney cruise with kids.

Also I've found much better promotions through TAs for RCCL than for DCL. On that note what are the pros/cons of using a TA over booking directly? I know there are promos and such but are there any reasons not to use a TA?

Also because we are still talking about maybe doing DCL, what is the difference between Animator's Palate on the different ships? Did they get rid of the black and white to color effect on the Fantasy? Does the experience change from night to night? if you do a 7 night cruise you will hit each MDR at least 2 times so does that mean you see the same show twice?

Thanks!

 

[storknurse13]

TA's can offer OBC (On board credit) and make and modify your reservations for you so you don't have to worry about doing it yourself. Booking directly gives you the freedom to make and modify your own reservation. As a first time cruiser, I would recommend a TA. Although you will dine in each of the 3 dining areas for the rotational dining, each nights experience is different. Shows are not repeated.

 

[ayz75]

Only Animator's Palate has "shows" per se. (I think Enchanted Garden has some special effects on the lighting but it's not like it changes depending on which night you're there. The other dining room (the royal table? can't remember the name) doesn't have shows, but is a nice grand dining room.

I used to book cruises myself until a couple of years ago when I had to book multiple rooms and got lazy, so I went to a local TA, and since then I've been with my TA. Essentially, I don't save any money when I book the cruises myself, except like the PP said I can make modifications directly. My TA doesn't offer onboard credits but gives us spa passes and last time surprised us with a bottle of wine delivery in the room. So there are little perks here and there. My TA is also very good at making any changes/requests that I make (I booked 4 rooms on DCL for Oct 2016.. over a year ago, and I've changed sailing dates/room categories at least twice now, for all 4 rooms. He did them all for me within days)

 

[AquaDame]

Hey all,

I'm new to the DIS forums and I'm in the process of planning a vacation for my wife and I. I know there have been a ton of discussions about the differences between RCCL and DCL but even after reading through a lot of those threads and articles from around the web I'm still on the edge about it and have some questions. Apologies for the length of this post in advance, I have a ton going through my mind and am not great at being concise.

A little about us and the trip we plan to take:
My wife and I are mid-late 20s and will be traveling without kids (we don't have any) for our 3rd anniversary. This trip is going to serve as the honeymoon we wish we were able to take after our wedding as well as a final getaway before we start thinking about starting a family. I am a huge Disney fanatic and my wife humors me (she is fine with Disney but thinks I go a bit overboard sometimes).

Congratulations~! My husband and I are the same way though there are some things he truly enjoys about Disney, namely how happy it makes me, Food and Wine at Epcot and DCL.

We are going to spend a week in Orlando (Saturday-Saturday) hopefully staying at a WDW resort (My in-laws have a timeshare through Worldmark and are attempting to do an RCI exchange so we can stay at a DVC resort, otherwise we will either be in a value resort or off property). After Orlando we plan to head to Port Canaveral and get on a ship for a week long cruise (leaving on Saturday).

We have never cruised before and really have no idea what to really expect. The entire goal of the cruise is complete and total relaxation, after a week of running around the theme parks trying to see and do as much as possible we want to not worry about doing everything and just get some true R&R before returning to the real world.

PSA: While there IS a good amount of down time on a Disney ship compared to the parks they still have a LOT of things going on. If you are a big Disney fan you may very well still find yourself rushing around the ship doing all the things. If you are thinking more sleep in, hit a buffet, snag a chair to snooze in the sun and otherwise mostly entertain yourself I'd probably go with RCCL.

It's coming down to 2 sailings, one from DCL and the other from RCCL. The DCL would be a 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise leaving Saturday and returning the following Saturday on the Fantasy (would include a $200 OBC for booking through DU). The RCCL would be a 8-night Western Caribbean cruise on the Oasis of the Seas (would include a $200 OBC as well).

I know Castaway Cay is superior to Labadee so that is a point for DCL. The three main things that are most important to us are:

• Activities, I know RCCL will probably have more "adult" oriented activities, we don't care about the casino (and we don't like the smell of smoke so that is actually a point against RCCL) so the activities we are mostly interested in are things like Dance classes, wine/spirit tastings, shows, relaxing at the bars, etc. RCCL has a few things like the zip line, surf simulator, and rock wall that all sound like fun but I'm not sure its enough to make us think RCCL is the right option for us.
• Food, I'm a foodie and my wife is decently picky (but it's manageable). If we do DCL we will probably do the adult only dining at least one night. I've heard good things about both crusies food but a lot of people think DCL is better. Thoughts?
• Cost of things not included in the cruise, specifically drinks. I don't want to say that this will be a "booze" cruise but I don't want to have to worry about the price if I want a cocktail or a glass of wine. I know DCL does not offer drink packages like RCCL does.

Food is subjective, so I don't think its fair to comment aside from opinions, and everyone has one of those. If you really want mine though, I found the food on Disney to be better in their main dining rooms and in the adult restaurants, but the buffet was much better on RCCL. More options, more spice, better layout. I also liked that they had a dinner buffet every night which Disney does not. The buffet is open but it is still table service. Both of their breakfast buffets are almost inedible, and the room service menus for it are almost the same (RCCL has "hot" food but it came to us cold off the buffet line).

I found the price of alcohol on DCL to be very reasonable and they were way more tasty than on RCCL. Aside from the souvenir cups (watch out, they push them at deck parties and they are expensive) its actually cheaper to have cocktails on the ships than it is in my city (Portland, OR) but the amount of booze in each one way have something to do with that, lol! I thought the beer selection was terrible, but I didn't find RCCLs to be much better (see above that I am from Portland, OR so it takes a LOT to keep me happy when it comes to beer selection). RCCL made more nightclub type drinks with tons of grenadine and blue curaçao which I detest so ymmv. If they had just made a normal freaking maitai or old fashioned I wouldn't have said a thing, but the first does NOT have grenadine and I have no clue who taught the bartender to use that many bitters in an old fashioned... yuck. As someone else said you need to drink a LOT of drinks each day to meet up with the cost of those drink packages, but hay, people also get and love the dining plan at the parks and its not a good deal for us there either. Just depends on what you want to drink and how much of it you can stomach. I feel like cocktails and beer were $6-8 on DCL and $7-8 for beer or $10-12ish for cocktails on RCCL, so not a huge difference. If you go DCL and like beer do get the mug on the longer sailings. You get a larger pour for a flat up front fee and they don't take the token away at the end of your cruise or say it is only for that sailing when you buy it (its a card that fits in your wallet), so bring it back next time.

If both cruises were the same price we would probably go Disney but in this case the Royal Caribbean cruise is about 1k less than the Disney cruise. So for the same price as the base disney cruise my wife and I could do the RCCL cruise with a drink package, maybe a shore excursion and some specialty dining.

I want to do disney but I am kind of leaning toward RCCL purely on price.

Does any one have thoughts that could help push me one way or the other?

Thanks!

I'm not sure if any of the above helps, but let me be a bit frank as a closing. You are a Disney lover and you say if price wasn't an issue you'd sail Disney which means to me that you are going to come out of this wishing you'd just sailed DCL if anything goes wrong. Its your belated honeymoon and you've been waiting for this for three years already.. personally I'd bite the bullet and sail what I WANT to sail, unless it was a financial burden. Or if you think your wife will be pulling her hair out after two weeks of Disney music and hearing 'have a magical day!'

 

[Frozen2014]

Do nice you'll be doing a special cruise. You'll get many responses but personally if you are traveling without kids, I'd pick Oasis over DCL. Royal and especially Oasis class ships have so many adult activities....things that changes daily in the cruise compass and activities such as zipline, flowrider, etc. When our kids were occupied on our Magic cruise years ago, there was only one or two adult things going on, and they didn't interest us so we were bored. Also the show on Oasis are not just for kids so great entertainment.

We selected Allure (sister ship of Oasis) as it was a $2000 difference and that was with kids.

 

[MPS516]

ok everyone has personal preferences and experiences, so don't rely on our experience, i am just sharing for thought.

first if the timeshare transfer does not come through i would rent points through Davids and stay at a nice DVC resort for about what i would pay at a budget. i would also try to line up the trip with a 5 night Bahama's cruise on the Wonder or Magic,, much cheaper and still a great experience.

we have done 2 RCCL cruises, the last was New Years on the high seas. we have two 25 yo DD who stayed in a cabin overlooking the atrium which turned out to be a bit too noisy for their liking, we were across the hall with a veranda. there were various activity options like surfer and rock wall but crowded. we were seated in the main dining room by ourselves as were about every group we saw, same table same location every night. we were very disappointed by the food, it was ok but not a lot of options. the ice show was good but we have so many ice shows around us every winter not a big thing for us. shows did not impress us at all, walked out of a couple.

our oldest (haha, minutes) loves Disney, out youngest tolerates it, both prefer DCL. they usually returned to the room between 12:15 and 12:30 every night often times because we had excursions the next day. the shows on DCL are far superior to the other lines we have cruised. the girls were busy all day doing different things, wine pairings, cooking demos, drawing classes, mixology, gym, spa, friends they met, and who knows what else they were doing. i am not a big drinker but DW and DDs usually had drink of the day and the girls more at the clubs, pricing was good compared to other lines. dining room servers knew our names and the nightly rotation is kind of fun. we are almost always seated with others and have always enjoyed our table mates, great pairings.

again travel is a personal thing and different for everyone. we enjoy DCL far better than any of the other 4 cruise lines we have sailed.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

We have never cruised before and really have no idea what to really expect. The entire goal of the cruise is complete and total relaxation, after a week of running around the theme parks trying to see and do as much as possible we want to not worry about doing everything and just get some true R&R before returning to the real world.

If you haven't cruised before I would preplan for all the "extra" expenses. Some are avoidable and some are not. A couple we knew went an a Honeymoon cruise and were surprised how many extras cost extra and it put a lot of stress into the vacation because they weren't aware ahead of time.

So cruise parking $120 at Port Canaveral or somewhere offsite for less, porter tip unless carrying luggage onship yourself and also getting off ship, gratuities onship $168 for two and you may want to tip more, ship photos can cost you, excursions and maybe lunch or drinks on excursion days,lattes(they are in my budget) spa passes for the rainforest room, a souvenir here or there or buying things you forgot to pack, a mixology course on Disney or ice cream on RCCL it can add up to an ugly bill at the end of the cruise even without a lot of drinks. I just put purchased $1500 in Onboard credit for a Disney cruise costing $4200 for 3 people.

To choose between the cruises I would decide based on whether you like to stay up late or not. If not-then do Disney and whatever necessary to make it affordable such as taking your own photos etc

Hubby and I had a drinks package on our anniversary cruise and were hard pressed to break even and that was with bottled water and specialty coffees included-it was a celebrity cruise. So I would budget so many drinks with tips a day rather than buying a package.



I would go as affordable as possible for the land vacation lodging since most of the time will be in the park and spend more on the cruise part.

Whichever cruise you choose- I hope you have a great trip with sunny skies and smooth water.

 

[Ofinn]

I've never cruised on RCI, but in your situation I would choose Oasis. As two adults without kids I think the Oasis would be more fun. I would save DCL and your money for if and when you have kids. I know a lot of people cruise DCL without kids I just don't think I could justify the money when other cruise lines have more to offer adults.