Another Royal Caribbean vs Disney Cruise Line thread

[BelleWannabe4]

I've only ever sailed DCL as an adult without kids since I'm currently child-less. I have to say, I have loved every single cruise and not regretted spending the extra money to go Disney. Like some other posters noted above, if you think you want to cruise Disney, you should do it so that you don't regret it later. I get very limited vacation time and I've decided I would rather pay more money to know that I will enjoy my vacation time rather than take a chance on something I'm not as sure about. That is ultimately up to you though

Also, Disney does sell their drinks of the day for $4 and change, and if you keep the souvenir cup, they will fill that up for you which gets you an additional 2 oz or so for the same price. The "fancy" cocktails are in the $10 range and most glasses of wine were somewhere between $6-10. I don't drink beer so I can't comment on those prices. The tastings classes ($20-30) are by far the most affordable and fun way to get a buzz. I booked a NCL cruise with my family in the Med (Disney's timing was off) and was shocked by how much the alcohol packages were. I did the calculations and decided I was much better off just paying for drinks as I ordered since I'm not really a heavy drinker. I'm not sure about RCCL, but it doesn't hurt to look at the math.

As for the other classes, we intended to go to more of the activities but sitting up on the adults-only deck looking at the ocean really took up all of our time...

 

[Skiton]

We sailed RCCL maybe 10 years ago, before kids, and hated it. We were on an older ship and were really unimpressed with pretty much everything. We swore never again, but then a couple years ago my mom wanted all her kids and their families to take a cruise with her, and she wanted to contribute to the fare. By that point we were sold on DCL, but given the pricing, it was out of the question for this trip. We booked RC Independence and DH and I just figured we'd enjoy it for what it was and be good sports about it. We were really pleasantly surprised. The service was outstanding, and the ship was lovely. Labadee was every bit as nice as CC, we thought, and they have some great shopping there. Was it as good as DCL? No. The food wasn't nearly as good, the shows weren't as good, and there weren't as many fun things to do during the day, but the teens in our group loved it and we all had a very nice time.

Fast forward to last month, my mom and one sister decided to do a DCL cruise with us to see what all the hype was about. Both of them thought there was no contest between RCCL and DCL, with DCL being the clear winner. We all just booked another one for next year.

Long story short, while I haven't been on the Oasis I'll bet you'd have a wonderful time. But I do think Disney is better.

 

[ilovetexas]

I've sailed with and without kids on DCL, either way is great and the Fantasy is a beautiful ship!

That said, I'd go with Oasis. I could give you a million reasons but the only one that's important is that it's your honeymoon, you are a Disney fanatic and your wife humors you but thinks you go overboard at times. A week at Disney then a week on a Disney ship might just be going overboard!! If you go on Oasis you save some money, get an extra day on the ocean (believe me, that's important!), get your week at Disney, and your wife (who is also on her honeymoon) gets a week that isn't at Disney. She'll appreciate that.

Then, when you have little ones, all your trips can be Disney for a long time!!

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I think others have made some good points. I'll say I've never been on oasis/allure because those ships just don't appeal to me, but I have cruised a bit on various lines (Royal, celebrity, Disney, holland America, windstar, and in two weeks princess).

Any line/ship can have an off-week/staff. I've had really disappointing Disney cruises and really great Disney cruises. Same with every other line (except celebrity and windstar have always been great for me).

For any true foodie-pretty much all mass market cruise lines will come up short. Cooking for 3k people just doesn't lend itself to super gourmet food. I joke that cruise food suffers from what I call "the Snapple effect". No matter what flavor you try, you know you're drinking Snapple. No matter what you eat on any ship, it has the under taste of cruise food. I have had some very good specialty restaurant meals but that's also more $$$.

I'd suggest researching the ports as well. Eastern and western itineraries aren't apples to apples as the ports and what they offer are quite different.

I will say that one area I think Disney falls short (and understandably so given their demographic) is there adult only deck area. The pool is tiny and its in a main area walk through. I'm a huge fan of other lines/ships that have adult only solariums.

 

[Danni75]

My opinion is that the two main decision points are the itinerary and the cabin.

I know most people do not even discuss cabins but it does make a difference. A big one , especially if you are on a crowded boat. I personally found that if you want the equivalent of a Disney cabin, you generally need to get the higher category to get the same square footage and facilities and at the end of the day it does cost almost the same.

 

[tinkerone]

I know most people do not even discuss cabins but it does make a difference. A big one , especially if you are on a crowded boat. I personally found that if you want the equivalent of a Disney cabin, you generally need to get the higher category to get the same square footage and facilities and at the end of the day it does cost almost the same.

I have heard this several times so I looked into it. we were picking between the same two cruises as the opp. what I found is both veranda cabins were very close. the oasis cabin we picked is 234 sq ft. they break that down to 182 cabin and 52 veranda. dcl's cabin is 246 sq ft. they do not break down what the size is however it is listed as a deluxe ocean view with balcony. for us, saving almost $2000 for 12 sq ft is a no brainer.
I have also read reviews by people who have sailed both, that storage on rcl is much better than dcl. this I don't know for a fact as i'm only reading others reviews.

 

[ayz75]

I have heard this several times so I looked into it. we were picking between the same two cruises as the opp. what I found is both veranda cabins were very close. the oasis cabin we picked is 234 sq ft. they break that down to 182 cabin and 52 veranda. dcl's cabin is 246 sq ft. they do not break down what the size is however it is listed as a deluxe ocean view with balcony. for us, saving almost $2000 for 12 sq ft is a no brainer.
I have also read reviews by people who have sailed both, that storage on rcl is much better than dcl. this I don't know for a fact as i'm only reading others reviews.

That makes sense now, when I read the s.f., I thought, hmm, I don't remember the Oasis boardwalk balcony being this much smaller than Fantasy's balcony room! but including the balcony makes total sense now. I think that the DCL rooms may be slightly bigger in general, but I was pretty sure my Oasis boardwalk balcony felt equally spacious. I do like the split bath idea on DCL though.. especially when we travel with kid(s) so there's less fighting-for-the-bathroom situation.

OP, one thing I would like to add is if you've never cruised, maybe it's a good idea to consider your budget and whether you want to spend so much money on a first-time cruise (DCL or not). I'm only saying this because DH and I are not cruise people. We in fact prefer land vacation so much more. Even though I enjoyed my last DCL Fantasy cruise very much, if we weren't traveling with kid(s) or large party, I'd probably stick to a land vacation. But I must say that DCL makes it so easy to travel with kids and that's one reason we are going back on a DCL cruise again (and the fact two sets of grandparents are coming, so cruise please. Land vacation with this many people will drive me bunkers).