DCL or RCCL?

[Disneycrazymom]

Flow Rider AKA Body Eating Machine! (and yes I did stand up) Hours of good fun for my whole family. I think Royal does a better job of family activities. Ice skating, wall climbing, the body eating machine, bingo. There are shows that are not family friendly but they always tell you and they are later at night. We took our kids to the after dinner shows and thought they were great.

DD says it is better cause they have gaga ball! I never have figured out what that is but she loved it!

 

[quentina]

DH and I are in the process of booking our first cruise. A 7 day Eastern Caribbean.

We are torn between DCL and Royal Caribbean.

RCCL would be cheaper and then we could put the money towards excursions. Seems like RCCL has quite a bit of stuff for the kids to do onboard.

If we go RCCL we miss out on "The Disney Experience". The more we look at all the options the more muddled this gets.

Any experience/advice is appreciated

I have done RC and will do it again in the future. We are doing our first DCL next month so, I cannot comment on it. I will say, prior to even going, I am not sure that DCL is worth the $$$$. I am not sure why I feel this way, I guess I can answer it later.

RC had great kid clubs....good food...entertainment etc. What boat are you looking at??

 

[bridget]

I've done both and had a great time on both. I would either again in a heartbeat. I think the disney entertainment is better, but we still had fun on RCCL. I don't think Disney service can be beat, however, RCCL was great also.
My parents have cruised on almost every cruise line except for DCL, and they will in October. I'm anxious to get their reviews

 

[KiKi Mouse]

We decided on RCCL for December 2011.
Reason being that the activities seemed more attractive for a 13 y/o.
We're going to be on Freedom of the Seas.
I will be pulling the trigger on this in the next couple of days once we get a couple of more quotes.
I'm using Cruise Compete and Cruise Now for quotes.

Thanks for your quick feedback everybody!

 

[cathyce2]

Be sure to check out the boards at cruisecritic.com It's a message board similar to DIS but focused on cruising. There is a ton of good information and some very knowledgable people who can advise you with your planning.

Have a great time.

 

[eliza61]

I don't have any DCL experience but I have done 2 RCCL cruises and they are absolutely divine!!! The food is great and the ships gorgeous. Also my kids were preteen boys at the time and stuff was much more geared toward them. We were scared that they would be stuck with 24/hr princesses on the Disney line.

My dh doesn't cruise so I went with a cousin and her family. a group of 7.

 

[mrsltg]

Like many others here, I recommend against DCL. VERY overpriced and they don't come close to delivering on the amount you're paying! I haven't sailed RCCL (I'm a HAL girl) but I would absolutely sail RCCL over DCL.

 

[KiKi Mouse]

DCL is $1000 more

 

[clearyds]

Hi we took a cruise on the Freedom of the Seas last January, and I booked through Costco. I had done all my homework and the pricing was the same all over but they gave us about 100 onboard credit per room and a free specialty dinner per room booked. We even had a small problem and Costco took care of it very quickly!
Our kids were 11 and 9 and had such an amazing time!! I would recommend getting 2 rooms, we had adjoining, oceanview. The rooms are pretty small and having the second bathroom was a great convenience.
The specialty restaurants were a great way to have a "date night" away from the kids, if you can manage it I really recommend that too.
Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[KiKi Mouse]

Costco? I checked their Cdn site...no travel services

 

[jessandtwo]

We just got off Liberty (sister ship to Freedom) about 3 weeks ago with a 10 & 8 year old. I absolutely loved it. In 2011, Freedom will have a nursery for younger kids and they'll have some Dreamworks things. I think you made a great choice.

 

[KiKi Mouse]

Thanks again.
I checked Costco. I can't book with them unless I have a US address.

I am just waiting on a couple of other quotes and then will make our decision.
One quote I got has a shipboard credit for $250
Is that good? What would we spend it on?

 

[Psychodisney]

I was just on Mousesavers and they have a kids sail free offer on DCL for Jan-Mar 5. When are you planning on going?

 

[KiKi Mouse]

Dec 2011

 

[nicki.momof3]

We personally LOVE DCL. We have found there is a ton to do for our family and the kids love the clubs. We also find castaway cay to be the best family beach ever.

Now another thing we like about DCL is that you are allowed to bring your own alcohol on board. I have a small purse size cooler bag I bought at Target and it holds 12 cans of beer. We put some ice in the bag and some drinks from the fridge and off we go.

Now we are not huge drinkers but we enjoy a few beers by the pool and such. It is also nice to have a few drinks at the beach on a nice hot day or watching a movie on the outdoor screen at night.

If you add up all your alcohol you drink over a day at the pool and such many people walk out with HUGE bar tabs. You can not bring anything on RCCL.

Also the free soda machines are nice.

We also book our won excursions and save a ton of $$$.

 

[nicki.momof3]

Thanks again.
I checked Costco. I can't book with them unless I have a US address.

I am just waiting on a couple of other quotes and then will make our decision.
One quote I got has a shipboard credit for $250
Is that good? What would we spend it on?

$250 goes so fast. Shipboard credits can be used for anything you have to pay for. Cash is not accepted on ships. You pay for everything with you room key and it goes on your shipboard account.

Examples:
Any souviners you buy
Drinks
Tips
Salons / spa / masages
Excursions
Photos
Non inculded activities (arcade)

Tips alone are over $250 for a 7 day cruise.

You should check out the Dis boards disney cruise line boards. It may answer more of your questions specifically about DCL from people who go on tons of cruises. DCL vs. RCCL is a common debat on there.