DCL VS OTHER CRUISE LINES

[cadien]

I do think it is disingenuous to imply (or outright say) that other cruise lines are dirty or unsafe for children. Just because something has the Disney name does not make it inherently better. Again, I have only cruised Carnival and I would NEVER put my children's lives at risk in any way. Implying that by not cruising on DCL I am doing so is quite disheartening. The cost for a DCL cruise is prohibitive to many families and we choose other cruises or vacations. Milions of kids sail other cruise lines every week and have fun and are not molested in the clubs or propositioned at the bars. I guess I am glad I can't afford DCL because it seems like the people who sail are snobs and elitist.

We definitely go through a lot of hoops and security with the kids club on NCL. No one was just wandering out of there.

 

[antmaril]

I have cruised on Carnival, NCL, Holland America, Disney (Wonder) and Princess. I really enjoyed my cruise on the Disney Wonder. Beautiful ship, great crew, good food and a wonderful environment for my (then) five year old niece. I was solo in a verandah cabin, which was lovely. I paid 150% to be alone in the cabin, which wasn’t bad. That was five years ago and I think today, it would be 200% to sail solo.

In January, my friend and I took a Caribbean cruise on the Regal Princess. It was fantastic and we have booked the same cruise, in the same cabin for next January.

I would absolutely cruise Disney again, but I am open to other lines as well. Many of them offer a very nice product.

 

[Trera]

Seriously your're really worried about a crew member slipping your daughter a roofy. A bartender or waiter is not going to flirt with someone that doesn't flirt back or show interest. Maybe you need to teach your daughter how to terminate unwanted attention.

Maybe you can parent your children and I will parent mine.

 

[mevelandry]

I do think it is disingenuous to imply (or outright say) that other cruise lines are dirty or unsafe for children. Just because something has the Disney name does not make it inherently better. Again, I have only cruised Carnival and I would NEVER put my children's lives at risk in any way. Implying that by not cruising on DCL I am doing so is quite disheartening. The cost for a DCL cruise is prohibitive to many families and we choose other cruises or vacations. Milions of kids sail other cruise lines every week and have fun and are not molested in the clubs or propositioned at the bars. I guess I am glad I can't afford DCL because it seems like the people who sail are snobs and elitist.

There is nothing wrong with trying to protect your children. And flirting vs drugging are two pretty different things.

Roofies are rarely the risk on a ship though.

Yeah, the roofie thing (on other cruise lines) sounds a little bit far fetched.

I mean, let's be honest with ourselves:

"Zero-risk" doesn't exist as we have seen there was cases of harassment & sexual assaults happening on DCL coming from crew members in the past...

... and what do we really know about the guests?

IMO, thinking a cruise line is "totally safe" is all a false sense of security.

 

[cruiser21]

There is nothing wrong with trying to protect your children. And flirting vs drugging are two pretty different things.

Roofies are rarely the risk on a ship though.

Of all the reasons people on these boards come up with as reasons not to try another cruise line "crew members drugging passengers" has to be a first.

 

[Pens Fan]

When a comparison thread goes so far off the rails to imply that sailing on a cruise line other than Disney leads to a higher risk of your child being molested or someone being drugged, maybe it's time for the mods to just shut it down. I'll also offer this unsolicited public service announcement to those of you who think sailing on Disney assures safety. It doesn't. Do your research (Google is your friend). Bad things can (and do) happen on any cruise line - even Disney.

I will admit I was pretty skeptical of this whole thread from the beginning. A new poster comes on, claims they can't search for similar threads because they are on a phone, and then starts a new thread pretty much identical to numerous other active ones on here that is sure to lead to controversy. Success!!

 

[Trera]

Of all the reasons people on these boards come up with as reasons not to try another cruise line "crew members drugging passengers" has to be a first.

I have cruised other lines and other than a med cruise on Celebrity that was very nice, I have not had the same level of overall satisfaction with other cruise lines that we have in DCL. It’s just my opinion that DCL is the best line for our family and I don’t tell others not to cruise other lines. I don’t want to go into specifics on why we don’t cruise the other lines anymore and nor should I have to.

I choose DCL for everything they are and do. If you don’t like them, they are too high priced or you prefer another line........then I wish you the best of luck on your future cruises elsewhere.

 

[mevelandry]

I have cruised other lines and other than a med cruise on Celebrity that was very nice, I have not had the same level of overall satisfaction with other cruise lines that we have in DCL. It’s just my opinion that DCL is the best line for our family and I don’t tell others not to cruise other lines. I don’t want to go into specifics on why we don’t cruise the other lines anymore and nor should I have to.

Being satisfied with DCL & wanting to stay with them is one thing (that is not a problem at all!)... but implying that crew members of another cruise line might roofie your daughter is another.

Not saying it never happened... but I don't understand why you would suggest that.

EDIT: Unless it was just hyperbole and you didn't really think that was a serious risk? (And that it happens a lot) ? (I mean: Hyperbole is like sarcasm, sometimes it can be lost in writings...)

 

[cruiser21]

I have cruised other lines and other than a med cruise on Celebrity that was very nice, I have not had the same level of overall satisfaction with other cruise lines that we have in DCL. It’s just my opinion that DCL is the best line for our family and I don’t tell others not to cruise other lines. I don’t want to go into specifics on why we don’t cruise the other lines anymore and nor should I have to.

I choose DCL for everything they are and do. If you don’t like them, they are too high priced or you prefer another line........then I wish you the best of luck on your future cruises elsewhere.

What future cruises elsewhere? LOL

 

[starvenger]

When a comparison thread goes so far off the rails to imply that sailing on a cruise line other than Disney leads to a higher risk of your child being molested or someone being drugged, maybe it's time for the mods to just shut it down. I'll also offer this unsolicited public service announcement to those of you who think sailing on Disney assures safety. It doesn't. Do your research (Google is your friend). Bad things can (and do) happen on any cruise line - even Disney.

I will admit I was pretty skeptical of this whole thread from the beginning. A new poster comes on, claims they can't search for similar threads because they are on a phone, and then starts a new thread pretty much identical to numerous other active ones on here that is sure to lead to controversy. Success!!

If the mods want to excise the more offensive posts I wouldn't be against it.

But there is a lot of useful information that got posted before things went south, so I think the thread at least has some merit.

 

[wallawallakids]

Yeah, the roofie thing (on other cruise lines) sounds a little bit far fetched.

I mean, let's be honest with ourselves:

"Zero-risk" doesn't exist as we have seen there was cases of harassment & sexual assaults happening on DCL coming from crew members in the past...

... and what do we really know about the guests?

IMO, thinking a cruise line is "totally safe" is all a false sense of security.

Exactly! Our very first Disney Cruise ever we had a VERY drunk fellow passenger come up to our then 11 year old daughter during the fireworks and he kept moving closer to her and started touching her hair and trying to get way too close to her. My husband and I were right next to her with our other three kids and immediately got between her and him and told him to back away. The man actually refused. It was a bad situation. He started swearing and yelling. Saying he just wanted to touch her hair. He kept trying to follow my daughter around us. I grabbed her and my other three children and we headed to get a cast member. Thank God we were there because my daughter wouldn’t have been able to handle that on her own. I will say Disney was great about it. They moved us to a private location where my kids could still see the show but away from the main crowd and they did get a hold of him and followed up with us later. But no where is 100% safe. Even on a Disney Cruise.

 

[MelSpees]

I do think it is disingenuous to imply (or outright say) that other cruise lines are dirty or unsafe for children. Just because something has the Disney name does not make it inherently better. Again, I have only cruised Carnival and I would NEVER put my children's lives at risk in any way. Implying that by not cruising on DCL I am doing so is quite disheartening. The cost for a DCL cruise is prohibitive to many families and we choose other cruises or vacations. Milions of kids sail other cruise lines every week and have fun and are not molested in the clubs or propositioned at the bars. I guess I am glad I can't afford DCL because it seems like the people who sail are snobs and elitist.

I'm sorry you're getting a bad opinion of Disney cruisers from this. Please realize this is a small minority speaking in this way. Most of us are not snobs and just enjoy our time on Disney cruise ships. You made some very valid points in your comment.

 

[mevelandry]

Exactly! Our very first Disney Cruise ever we had a VERY drunk fellow passenger come up to our then 11 year old daughter during the fireworks and he kept moving closer to her and started touching her hair and trying to get way too close to her. My husband and I were right next to her with our other three kids and immediately got between her and him and told him to back away. The man actually refused. It was a bad situation. He started swearing and yelling. Saying he just wanted to touch her hair. He kept trying to follow my daughter around us. I grabbed her and my other three children and we headed to get a cast member. Thank God we were there because my daughter wouldn’t have been able to handle that on her own. I will say Disney was great about it. They moved us to a private location where my kids could still see the show but away from the main crowd and they did get a hold of him and followed up with us later. But no where is 100% safe. Even on a Disney Cruise.

Wow. That is scary.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Hey Everyone,
I'm sure this question gets asked a lot and I tried to skim through for answers but it's impossible on a cell lol.

Anyway, my family are HUGE Disney people, I also used to work at WDW, to say we are huge Disney people is an understatement but I am just looking for some general inquiries.

My parents are platinum members & I am a gold cast away member but we all know Disney is expensive. The latest debate in my household is why Disney over other cruise lines? We are we paying so much more vs another line?

It never seems to say in any advertising but I know the fares may seem cheap but what about when you are on board? Do you pay extra for entertainment? Soft beverages? Snacks? Etc

ANY information / which cruise line you are talking about will be super helpful. People always say once they do Disney, they won't go back. but my parents want to know WHY?

I know, super wordy. Sorry but thanks guys!

For us, it wasn't true that once you do Disney Cruises, you don't go back to other cruise lines. We were the opposite. We cruised for the first time in 2010 - it was on Disney. We had been going to the parks 2-3 times a year for week long vacations and really loved the whole Disney bubble. Then my mother had a stroke - we went back once to the world but really found that vacation kind of tiring - pushing the wheelchair around, back and forth from the hotel to various parks and restaurants, looking for accessible washrooms that met our needs (BTW, the ones that were in America in the World Showcase were the worst!). It was too tiring for her and for my dad and I.

Anyways, someone suggested cruising so we thought we'd give it a try - everything in one location, steps from the cabin to the restaurants, to the activities - a great one stop vacation.

We loved it.

But then I decided to take my god daughter on a cruise for her birthday. Disney was a consideration - but she wasn't super keen on it. She was 16 turning 17 and Disney just wasn't super cool but it was what I knew so I priced that as my benchmark. I also looked at the other cruise lines. I ended up looking at cruises on Carnival on their new ship (at the time) the Carnival Dream. A 7 night in a Cove Balcony cost a few hundred dollars less than a 4 night in an inside cabin on the Disney Dream. And then the big kicker - 2 back to back cruises on the Carnival Dream in a porthole cabin (220 sq feet, with 2 portholes) was only a about $200 more than a 4 night on the Disney Dream. I gave her the choices of all of the cruises that I had priced out (including a few others than those listed above) and she chose the 2 weeks on the Carnival Dream in the porthole cabin.

I was prepared to sacrifice Disney Quality for extra time at sea (and more and better ports) and a better looking teen club (especially at that time - the Carnival Dream was state of the art).

Anyways, I ended up loving it. The room was great, the beds were fantastic, the food was good, the variety in the lido deck was awesome (tandoori, burrito bar, deli, pizza, grill, plus the buffet). And I like the casino.

I took my parents on B2B Dream cruises after that where our experience was, let's say - less than the Disney magic that's expected. So I asked if they would consider trying Carnival and they said yes.

For less than half of what our Disney cruises were costing (no word of a lie - our Disney cruises were around $3500 for the 3 of us and we paid $1600 for the Carnival cruise) we had an awesome time. Great cabin, great food - including the sea day brunch, afternoon tea, plus having amazing tablemates and great servers in the MDR, daytime activities that we enjoyed, plus the casino and other ship amenities.

That Carnival cruise is what gave us the freedom to branch out. We still cruise on DCL, just not very often compared to other lines. But now we've tried Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Princess (in addition to Carnival). Basically it comes down to when do we want to cruise, where do we want to cruise from/to and what's the goal (is it to try something new, utter relaxation, cheap getaway, or longest cruise for the money). I look at all of the cruise lines and we go with the expectations for that cruise - not the expectations that it will be like any other one.

For us we've found better food on some cruise lines, better coffee shop on others, better service on some, better activities on others. The Carnival Pride is our home away from home ship (it's like going to the cottage - we know it, we love it, it's not exciting and new but it's "home"), but we also love some of the interior accessible cabins on Royal ships (big, square cabins with lots of space and very near the elevator - these provide a nice, cheap getaway for us), and then there's a couple of Princess ships where we get a Window Suite which is another great cabin - that comes with just the best service in the industry (living the suite life is sweet!).

Anyways, all this to say that yes, there is life after - and in between - Disney cruises.

 

[AquaDame]

Fear mongering isn't going to get anyone very far and until there is definitive proof that you are safer on DCL than another line (and not just perceived safety) it's just opinion versus opinion. I'm going to close the thread (and rather wish we'd noticed this one go off the rails a bit earlier...!)