Comparison between DCL, other Cruise lines & Disney.

[Baduist]

So we've been on our first Disney cruise aboard the Fantasy last month.

It's been an amazing vacation.

BUT.

If I'm being 100% honest with myself, I can't shake the feeling of disappointment.

Nothing was wrong, nothing was really "bad", and maybe it's just OUR expectations that we're too high....

But you know what? That's exactly my point - for the first time in my life, I had a Disney experience that did not exceed my expectations, which is what I've come to expect from Disney... you know what I mean right?

The dissonance was even bigger since we were staying almost a week at Disney World, and everything was so much more than perfect.

I was wondering:

1. Does anybody else feel that DCL does not compare well to other Disney... uhm, well, stuff (movies, channels, parks, resorts, hotels, restaurants, etc.) in terms of providing the "perfect 10" Disney experience?

2. Has anybody else tried different cruise lines and got the feeling that DCL is far from being the best one (which is totally what I expected from them)?

Personally I kept feeling like they should send a couple imagineers on a Holland America cruise to learn the ropes... it was the first time I ever found myself thinking stuff like "this could have been done better" instead of having my mind blown on a minute-by-minute basis like anything else Disney does).

Just to be clear -

This is not a complaint, at all.

With any other company I would have just "rated" it "7/10" in my head, and decide whether or not I'd like to do it again, and that would be it.

With Disney, however, I refuse to accept that this would be the last time - and I just care too much not to say anything.

I will definitely try DCL again (at some point) with the hopes that they get it right eventually, and that I'll be able to become a brand ambassador for DCL just like I am for anything else Disney.

Also I really hope this does not reflect the standard of other Disney vacation related experiences we we're counting on for the near future like Adventures by Diseny, DVC, and Aulani which was gonna be our next destination.

Would love your thoughts and perspectives.

- Adam

 

[Dug720]

Granted per one poster on here my experience is "not all that extensive" (never said it was), but...

Interesting you found HAL better... I could not get off the Westerdam fast enough as their service was RIDICULOUSLY lacking. Dining staff that didn't care, cabin staff that in spite of going over the cabin with a supervisor and check list (I didn't complain...I just got back to my cabin - where admittedly I had a LOT of DCL stuff from a hoodie to the toiletries, and a stuffed Goofy and Baby Sven (found him in Seattle and didn't want him to sit in a bag) - when my steward, an assistant, and a supervisor were going over things off a checklist) never got it all right, a general stuffiness among the crew (more than one seemed SHOCKED when I passed and said "Good morning/afternoon/evening!"), etc. Nowhere near anything I want to experience EVER again.

I've cruised on RCCL's Radiance Class (I refuse to sail on the behemoths of the seas...I want my ships to LOOK like ships and not have ridiculous square-shaped open spaces off the back) and found them ok, but other than one cabin steward not the level of Disney service I've received.

I've always had spectacular service on DCL (and no, I have NOT always been on board with my sister) and HAVE found them generally a notch above. Better even (or in some cases especially) than in the parks.

But everyone has their own experiences and expectations.

 

[mmouse37]

I was always a die hard parks person until I started sailing DCL. They blew me away. I much prefer the ships to the parks/resorts now.

Did you read the boards a lot before your trip? Sometimes I think they can hype things too much and if your vacation doesn't turn out completely like somebody elses that they posted about you may feel disappointed. I have cruised several other lines and I prefer DCL. I will still have a good time on others but I feel more connected to DCL

MJ

 

[princess pooh]

My husband an I were pretty let down by the DCL experience, especially for the price. The food and service were just ok, and the kid clubs were the wrong style for my kiddos. Half way through the cruise my husband told me he wished we were at WDW instead. We might do a short DCL cruise while my five year old is still into disney but I'd think we'd be happier on one of the huge ships on another line.

 

[Msidescooter]

As many can attest, experiences vary greatly cruise to cruise. DCL has the edge on family cruising but not on the service they provide on the ship. I haven't sailed on another cruise line yet, but I'm assuming that service expectations is the same on just about every line.

We've been on three cruises and each time it's been a different experience. I wouldn't say that I ever had a bad experience on a DCL ship, but some experiences have been 5's and other experiences were 10's.

For example, on our first sailing, we sat at a table with other couples and the server continuously tried to treat us all like one family. It wasn't a bad experience but I would have expected him to remember this detail since he can remember our drink orders night to night (or note it in the system). Our second cruise we did a table for 2 and had the best team in the dinning rotation. They were on top of it every night and took a great deal of time to chat with us between running around to their tables. On our most recent cruise the servers seemed rushed and didn't really pay attention to any of their tables. I figured this was because the Wonder was a month out from going to Dry Dock and they were at the end of their contract.

I'm a firm believer in giving every company at least two tries. If they mess up my first experience I'll give them a second go to make it right. If they screw that one up, then I'll find another company to give my money. But I'm a Disnerd at heart and will overlook the faults in the DCL product as long as I can afford them.

 

[ludari]

As a frequent visitor to the parks (I live about 10-miles from Disneyland) and frequent visitor to the various resorts (I'm a DVC member) I find that the attention I receive on DCL is far more personal then anything I experience in the parks, resorts or restaurants. I also feel totally immersed in Disney when I'm on board the ships and enjoy the fact I get to spend time taking to cast members and characters. I've also made several friends on my Disney cruises which I have never done in the parks or resorts.
I've sailed on Holland America twice before Disney and found that Disney was far superior when it came to service and entertainment. After I have sailed with Disney 8 times I sailed on one of RCL newer ships (Anthem of the Seas). I thought the Anthem ship was beautiful with amazing technology with all sorts of activities for everyone to enjoy (virtual surfing, bumper cars, roller skating, rock climbing, virtual skydiving, etc) it fell short when it came to my important two factors of service and entertainment. I also disliked that RCL seemed to have daily sales from the various stores on the ship which would make walking anywhere near the main lobby a little difficult during those sales.
Is DCL a 10 out of 10? Well I would rate them a 9/10 but that's only because of my limited cruise experience with other cruise lines.

 

[cgolf]

I can't say we have ever had truly horrible customer service on DCL, but we have noticed some things.

I think the dining room servers across the board were better when they had two ships. We have still had good service at times, but it has definately been spottier than before, especially with the assistant servers. I do know that the Dream class ships aren't set up as well for the servers, with their stations not being as optimally placed, and a server we got to talk with a bit said he missed the classics because you have to cover a bigger area and more guests on the dream class limiting your time interacting with the guests.

As I've stated many times we have found the same staff, on the same contract two months apart on the magic and fantasy, be super friendly and personable on the magic and they just seemed to be doing the job on the fantasy and not all that friendly to guests. It seems like the dream class ships work the staff harder limiting their interactions with guests or just wearing them out.

There are still some really awesome CMs we find though on every cruise, but I am sure other lines have people like this too. Next year we will find out what service is like on RCCL, and hopefully Celebrity

I will say though that as a fairly frequent cruiser on DCL I would say I was a bit let down on our last trip, because there is not a lot that changes from year to year, even the music trivia has the same songs I am guessing though that we will eventually run into this issue regardless of the brand we are loyal to in the future, my guess is Celebrity, RCCL, and DCL with us picking the trip that hits us at the time of booking.

I would say overall DCL is great and we have loved it, especially the Magic. After our RCCL trip I will do a comparison, no kids will be with us though, and keep it fair, because regardless of my issues with DCL prices, RCCL has a high bar to reach to get good marks from me

 

[Marc D]

I've been to WDW about 30 times, always staying onsite. I've visited DL/DCA once and DLP twice. I've cruised on RCCL, Celebrity and Azamara before going on DCL. I must say that after my first cruise, I felt I was not getting enough bang for my buck. At the time, my son was barely 4 and we did an Alaska cruise on the Wonder. English not being his first language, he didn't want to stay at the kids club without us, so we always had to find stuff to do for him when we were not on excursions and after a week, he was kind of tired of being on the ship. That probably changed our perception for the worst.

Now, a couple of years later, I can't wait to go back to DCL. The food is way better than anything in the parks or on RCCL, on par or better with what you get on Celebrity and Azamara. The service is better, in all sectors, than all the other cruise lines I've tried or any resort I've stayed at. Our son can't wait to go to the kid's club in the morning, agreeing to come out for a meet&greet or a trip to Cabanas for smoked salmon.

Like most things Disney, it takes a couple of vacations to notice the little differences. For example, they group your luggage at the terminal. On other cruise lines, you can hunt for them individually for a long time. The port arrival times reduce the feeling of a crowd in the embarkation terminal. On other cruise lines, the line is excruciating at times because everybody shows up at the same time. The entertainment is better by miles and enjoyed by everybody. The waiters are trained to serve kids. On other cruise lines, they are often treated as a nuisance. For this winter, having done two cruises on DCL in a row, we looked at other cruise lines and other vacation options. We came to the conclusion that DCL was the most relaxing and enjoyable possibility for all of us.

Sure, it's expensive, but you need to pay the same money elsewhere to get the same level of service.

 

[bumbershoot]

We've gotten the same or better service on Royal than we've gotten on Disney. AND it has been cheaper per night (we've on been on Dream so we haven't done a long DCL cruise). Win win.

I leaned the moment I went to universal that Disney isn't the top of service. After quite a few trips we rank it UO, USH, Disneyland, WDW for service in the parks. Cruises are hard to compare to parks for me. So there's no disappointment in DCL, and I'm not easier on Royal because they cost less, but I just don't have the expectations that others have for Disney.

 

[cyclenut]

Our very first DCL experience was much like yours. We are huge Disney fans and put a lot of trust in the brand. I also made the mistake of reading these boards too much and some of the folks here hype the experience so much it is very hard for DCL to match. I'll also add that our first DCL experience was the first season DCL was in Alaska, so DCL was learning too. They did some very nice things, but some of the things they did were just a bit off too. I found it very odd that they would do a Pirates in the Caribbean pirate night ... In Alaska of all places. Surely they could have thought of something else.

We were just all around disappointed, including the teen experience that missed the mark, dining that took far too long and since it was Alaska, it was a bit chilly on the deck at times so the evening outdoor things were not as attractive. The other problem, Alaska is a premium price and we paid for 7 people across three cabins. Uber expensive.

We got off the ship happy but a little empty. Is this everything Disney has to offer? We talked to the staff on board about our gripes along the way but there wasn't much they could do it seems. We ended up getting an onboard credit for a future cruise for our trouble but it also forever changed our opinion of DCL. We will no longer set such high expectations going in and we'll no longer pay such a premium price for DCL. If the cost are not closer to what we can get elsewhere, we'll go elsewhere. We're willing to pay more for DCL, but not a LOT more.

Until we recently moved, we lived just 15 minutes from Disneyland and our kids grew up there, performed there and we know many CMs that still work there. Everything from the parades to ride operators, etc. We even know some DCL CMs that we knew before they were CMs. We are huge Disney fans! Two of our kids are former CMs as a matter of fact.

Disney has to really miss for us to turn away completely, but they didn't hit squarely with our first DCL experience.

Our most recent parks experience was a full Christmas vacation in WDW. Same sort of arrangement with three rooms at a Moderate resort for several days over Christmas. We were not disappointed in any way. Turns out, the resort manager was the same guy that was the Hotels manager on DCL. Lon. Great guy. Talked to him both trips. Parks experience was awesome.

 

[cruisingtwins]

I had the same experience as you. But maybe DCL wasn't a good fit or our family. I Love all the stuff there is to do at the royal ships and we were quite bored in the fantasy.

 

[cruisingtwins]

Like most things Disney, it takes a couple of vacations to notice the little differences. For example, they group your luggage at the terminal. On other cruise lines, you can hunt for them individually for a long time. The port arrival times reduce the feeling of a crowd in the embarkation terminal. On other cruise lines, the line is excruciating at times because everybody shows up at the same time. The entertainment is better by miles and enjoyed by everybody. The waiters are trained to serve kids. On other cruise lines, they are often treated as a nuisance.

The only thing that is true in this statement is the PAT.

 

[Dug720]

The only thing that is true in this statement is the PAT.

I would agree with luggage being harder to find on other lines. It definitely was on HAL. And both RCCL cruises the debarkation group, which was not supposed to be called until the luggage was out, was called well before the luggage was out leading to overcrowding and difficulty finding bags. So I would say that is accurate in my experience also.

 

[cruisingtwins]

Our most recent cruise was NCL and luggage was labeled by color and easy to find. Can't remeber royal's system but we have never had any difficulties finding our luggage.

 

[Cruiser20]

My family just likes to cruise. We'll take a cruise on any cruise line over a theme park any day. We have been to WDW, Universal, Disneyland, Sea World and Knotts. We like them all. We've cruised DCl and several other cruise lines. We like them all. Each one has their good and bad points. I can't say I prefer one over the other. I look at price and itinerary. We have a cruise next month on the Wonder, the Getaway in the Baltics next Summer, and then Carnival next Fall. We are a family of four we have been on more then 20 cruises and it definitely our vacation of choice.
It's been several years since we've been to wdw so it's hard for me to compare it to DCL. My kids prefer Universal over WDW, but it's been a couple of years since we've been there also. We've been to busy cruising and I don't see us visiting any theme parks in the near future.
Never had a problem finding luggage but dcl seems to the slowest getting it to the room.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

Just a comment , we took our three girls on three cruises BEFORE ever taking them to the parks (two Magic and one Fantasy, all 7 or 8 nts). The last two years , we took them to WDW twice . They were aged 9, 6, and 6 for our first cruise and now 13, 10, 10 for our most recent park visit. They love the parks of course , but VASTLY prefer DCL. So do we. My husband and I have only cruised on one other cruise line (Oceania, <800 passengers), but after our first Magical DCL cruise, we felt like Disney did everything better. However, after our 3rd DCL.cruise (our first cruise on the Fantasy), we got the distinct impression bigger is not better. Our takeaway was our two experiences on the Magic were far superior than our one on the Fantasy (same WC itinerary ). Long story short , we think Disney does the small ships much better.

 

[tee11]

Hmmm. I would really like to know more about your perfect 10, mind blown on a minute by minute basis, experience at the Parks!!!

Where did you stay, what did you do, what made it the perfect 10 for you???

This is an honest question!

Thank you!

 

[wide awake]

The DCL ships are beautiful. Every piece of furniture, tablecloth, lamp, etc...is right. I love that. I am also one to analyze every experience...w/in the first hour, our first DCL cruise, I realized that someone had done an extraordinary job. I didn't have to critique or ponder exactly how I'd do it better. That doesn't happen anywhere else, and certainly not on the HA cruise we took to save money one year. We all have different tastes and priorities.
We like the parks too, and even at the deluxe resorts I don't see the same level of service as on the ships.

 

[seacruise]

1) No, I think DCL is as good or better than any Disney experience out there - certainly much more relaxing . Love the parks as well (more so DLR than WDW), but they can all be a bit of a grind.
2) Been on 6 different lines and DCL is our favorite, but we obviously sail on others as well. The mass market lines are all more similar than different I find.

 

[starvenger]

1) Its kind of an apples to oranges comparison, isn't it? I probably expect more on a cruise, and I got the level of service I wanted, so I guess it was better than other Disney experiences?

2) Yes. I do prefer Royal better, but it would be a grand stretch to say I disliked the Fantasy. I enjoyed the cruise, but at the end of the day it wasn't my cup of tea relative to Royal.