DCL or RCCL for the Mediterranean?

[Minniemouse37]

I’ve always wanted to cruise with Disney in Europe but Disney’s high prices along with expensive airfare and hotel stay before the cruise etc. is holding me back from booking with DCL...we’re considering booking Royal Caribbean for the Med in 2021 when the prices are released. Has anyone cruised with Royal in Europe? Would you save thousands of dollars and cruise with them over Disney?

I love DCL so much...taking our third Disney Cruise in August. Hesitant to go with another line but just can’t justify the cost...any insight is appreciated!

 

[Quellman]

You;ve already expressed cost as a concern. The Mediterranean is considered a port centric trip, meaning you'll spend as much time in the ports as you can. With that in mind, many people feel the ship matters less. I am one of those people. I'd rather save the money on the voyage fare and use it for excursions, etc.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Totally agree with Quellman. There are other cruise lines out there. OP, have you considered Celebrity and Princess as well as RCCL? Celebrity is RCCL's upscale big sister. I wanted to do the Baltic with DCL, but it was so expensive DH insisted on Celebrity, and we saved enough for some great excursions. And the food was much better. We've enjoyed our six cruises with the Mouse, but they're not the only way to go.

We recently tried a Viking river cruise because they're the only cruise line that does the particular itinerary we wanted. The cruise was o.k. but we've been on river cruises with much better food and larger staterooms. It was interesting to hear the blind loyalty-to-Viking from other passengers. Good for them, but they don't know what they're missing.

It's o.k. to try other cruise lines.

 

[anjuan]

I would say check prices when they come out and compare to other lines for the same week, etc. The difference in prices can sometimes depend on the week you want to go. For our med cruise last year I priced out DCL vs RC. RC's ship that had a similar itinerary for the week we wanted to go was the Symphony of the Seas, which was new at the time, so the price really was pretty close to DCL. Since my daughter loves DCL so much we ended up choosing them. I also think it helped that we went the last week in May before the big summer push (plus the weather was gorgeous at the time).

With that being said, if you price out other lines and there is a big difference then I would say consider branching out to other lines. It is really a port intensive cruise so the ship doesn't matter as much as other cruises.

 

[Mango7100]

We have done RC, Princess, and DCL. I would not do DCL for Mediterranean—it’s so port intensive so I would not be on the boat enough to justify the cost difference

 

[fredandkell]

For our med cruise last year I priced out DCL vs RC. RC's ship that had a similar itinerary for the week we wanted to go was the Symphony of the Seas, which was new at the time, so the price really was pretty close to DCL.
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This! We were looking at NCL and RCL for summer 2020 and they were all basically the same price as Disney for the itineraries we wanted. The NCL Greek Isles Cruise is cheaper, but it’s on a old ship. DCL is the ONLY line I will sail on when the ship is more than 10 years old.

 

[KashasMom]

We did the Baltic with RCI and it was the best cruise EVER! We had an amazing itinerary 13 nights (3 full days in St. Petersburg and only 1 sea day)! It was an amazing and exhausting cruise. We were gone from morning to night. We were so tired at night that we never saw a show or even ate in the MDR. A similar Disney cruise at the time (not as good an itinerary though) was almost 3 times the cost of ours! I've always said we could have been on a tug boat and I wouldn't have noticed. No way would I go on a Disney cruise in Europe.

 

[KashasMom]

This! We were looking at NCL and RCL for summer 2020 and they were all basically the same price as Disney for the itineraries we wanted. The NCL Greek Isles Cruise is cheaper, but it’s on a old ship. DCL is the ONLY line I will sail on when the ship is more than 10 years old.

IMO there is no way to compare the brand new Symphony with the Magic!

 

[NancyIL]

We did the Baltic with RCI and it was the best cruise EVER! We had an amazing itinerary 13 nights (3 full days in St. Petersburg and only 1 sea day)! It was an amazing and exhausting cruise. We were gone from morning to night. We were so tired at night that we never saw a show or even ate in the MDR. A similar Disney cruise at the time (not as good an itinerary though) was almost 3 times the cost of ours! I've always said we could have been on a tug boat and I wouldn't have noticed. No way would I go on a Disney cruise in Europe.

I was on an 11-night Baltic cruise on RCI in 2014 that also spent 3 days in St. Petersburg, and I agree that it was a great cruise.

I have cruised to Europe on DCL, as their Transatlantic cruises are one of their best values. However, all of my cruises within Europe have been on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, or Princess - due to much better pricing.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The pricing in Europe is insane, and you spend so much time off-ship I think the items traditionally cited as 'Disney values' are much less important.

 

[KashasMom]

I was on an 11-night Baltic cruise on RCI in 2014 that also spent 3 days in St. Petersburg, and I agree that it was a great cruise.

I have cruised to Europe on DCL, as their Transatlantic cruises are one of their best values. However, all of my cruises within Europe have been on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, or Princess - due to much better pricing.

Yes, that's why I specifically said in. I would love to do a TA because of the great prices (and it would force me to relax!) but we can't work around my daughter's school schedule for that long. :-(

 

[daisydog2]

We booked a med cruise on DCL for early June 2020 on opening day and the prices were the same. We did book an interior room ( we've always have been in a verandah room) . We probably could have gotten a room with a view on another line for the same price, but since we already knew this was Port intensive, we choose to go with the line we knew best regardless of the room. Check out opening prices and make your decision from there...

 

[braysmommy]

Also when comparing look at time in port. Seems like other cruise lines have longer days port Compared to DCL.

 

[fredandkell]

IMO there is no way to compare the brand new Symphony with the Magic!

Wasn’t trying to. I was just saying the cruises were a similar price, so when that’s the case, I’m going Disney. I actually have no desire to cruise the mega ships. My main reason for leaving Disney would be price, not ship. So if a new RCL ship was way cheaper than the Magic, I’d consider it.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have done crystal cruises in Europe to Several places including the med, Norway, France, Spain and Bali to Singapore and a silver sea along the coast of Africa with just me and my husband and then Disney for Norway, the med a couple of times, Greece, the Baltic, the transatlantic with my adult disabled daughter and her best friend. We are doing Iceland and Norway this summer on Disney and looking at another Greek cruise on Disney in 2020. We are lucky that we have been to Europe several times so the ports aren’t as interesting to us on Disney. We just enjoy the ambiance, the service, watching my daughter who still loves the characters, etc. I’m not sure when Disney will price us out. We will have to see.

 

[tlprice]

We did the Med on DCL last summer. We did an inside stateroom and there are only 2 of us, so the price difference on other lines really isn't there for us. My DD was also 11 so we mostly only did half day excursions. I knew if I tried to drag her on full day excursions every day, she would hate Europe. We still saw a ton and spent time in Barcelona before the cruise and in Rome after the cruise (we did the one way cruise so we could do this). We actually spent quite a bit of time on the ship and after seeing a bunch of cool old stuff, my DD really enjoyed being able to also have some great kid time on the ship. I think it really depends on your goals for the trip. For us, DCL was definitely the best way to go, but it might not be for others.

Oh, I forgot to add that the familiarity with DCL was very comforting to my DD when everything in Europe (language, food, etc.) was so unfamiliar.

 

[aggiedog]

If the DCL vibe and Golden Mickeys show is not a requirement, I'd definitely look at other lines. I badly wanted to do the DCL Med cruise and just couldn't stomach the cost for my family of 6. We were able to sail concierge on MSC for less than half of non-concierge on DCL. We saved enough to do a week in France prior to the cruise. I didn't love the ship, but I really enjoyed the concierge section, and has been mentioned, it is so port intensive that we weren't on the ship that much anyways. We had a great trip and I honestly don't think being on DCL would have made it better.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Oh, I forgot to add that the familiarity with DCL was very comforting to my DD when everything in Europe (language, food, etc.) was so unfamiliar.

The price definitely depends on number of cruisers; for us with 5, the Magic in Europe is always sky high pricing because we either need two rooms or need to book a verandah. But this is a good point, the familiarity of DCL. We just finished the EBTA on the Magic followed by Mediterranean on another line. I could totally understand how families gravitate toward the “safe” choice of DCL, there’s a comfort to it for sure. Just as an example, on DCL our waiter, the head waiter both came to our table every night and would tell us info about the port and the all aboard times, and the cruise director would remind everyone at the show of all aboard. On MSC, you would hear a general announcement and of course it was listed in the app and their daily programs, but no one would remind us.

For us as a big family the familiarity will still never be a factor because I’m not able to justify paying 2-3x more for DCL which is how it goes in Europe, sigh.