DCL vs. RCCL decision to be made - Help?

[RichNKatHolly]

Hi All! Just a little history, I have a land/sea package all booked through DCL (paid off as well but I am still within my full refund time period. We will be a party of 5 (DH, me, Dsis, DD2 and DS5). Here is what I found when looking into other lines and still keeping a WDW trip with it.

For LESS than we are paying now with DCL we can do 2 connected superior ocean view staterooms (no balcony, just a large window) for 4 nights (Bahamas and CocoCay) with Royal Caribbean. We can still stay at AKL with the savannah view, and purchase 10 day non-expiring magic your way deluxe passes (we would only use 5 days this time and have another 5 already paid for the next trip). This equals $4,400 plus we have another trip tickets paid for. With DCL I'm paying $5,000. To make the change, my dates still work out but we will split our WDW time both pre and post cruise instead of all pre cruise. Hmmmmm.....

Not sure what to do here. Kids are looking forward to DCL again (well, DS is but I'm not sure he would recognize the difference) and there are plusses to sticking with that. On DCL we would have a larger stateroom with the nice balcony (I'm very excited about this feature). BUT, this is quite a savings. I will post on the budget board as well.

Any opinions?? Thanks in advance.

 

[Honu]

I'd say go for RCCL and save the money. Balconys are fabulous, but 2 bathrooms would be my priority. We would switch, if we could. RCCL smoking policies make it impossible for our group though.

 

[Tammy1]

I'd say go for RCCL and save the money. Balconys are fabulous, but 2 bathrooms would be my priority. We would switch, if we could. RCCL smoking policies make it impossible for our group though.

what are their smoking policies, because we were thinking of that very cruise line coming up in the future??

 

[Honu]

Smoking is allowed in all staterooms. There are no nonsmoking cabins on RCCL, so you are relying on luck to get one that hasn't been smoked in.

 

[my3kids]

I'd say, statistically, someone had previously smoked in my room on my RCI cruise. Probably, someone smoked in my DCL room also, but never fessed up to breaking the rule. Yes, they do not have smoking/nonsmoking rooms, but I had no problems in either of our RCI rooms. They must spray something to remove the smoke. I did see the steward spraying a chair in another cabin while cleaning one day....maybe that room had smokers? Anyway, I do know that the room adjacent to one of ours had smokers and there was no smoke into our rooms. The only reason I knew was I saw them on the balcony, so at least in our case it didn't sift through the walls.

I was very worried about not reserving a N/S room, but it turned out just fine.

 

[RichNKatHolly]

Thanks for the info. I totally forgot about the smoking policy. We did sail both RC and Carnival before we had the kids. I did enjoy DCL, but really couldn't think of anything that was better than RC. Carnival I thought was just OK - lots of partying and that's just not us.

I'll have to really add up the costs to see EXACTLY what the diff is and then decide. DCL just has a great disembark, and I hear embarkation will be great too since we are on the land/sea - that is a huge plus for Disney.

Keep the advice coming, having alot of trouble with this decision!

 

[AspiringCindy]

Having cruised on Carnival(twice), DCL and RCCL(3 times) I can say that I really enjoyed DCL the most, but mostly because I have Disney on the brain! RCCL offers some great cruises too! They have better food(IMO) and their prices are hard to beat! The RCCL cabins are smaller than DCLs though! I don't know about RCCL newest fleet. RCCL has a children's program not as extensive as DCL, but my kids were entertained! It would be tempting! Honestly, I think I would choose RCCL because you will still get your dose of WDW in your land stay! Also, the fact that you will have paid passes for your next trip...very tempting!

 

[RichNKatHolly]

OK - here is the official tally and update.

We would be sailing on an older RCC ship, the Sovereign, but will not spend much time onboard except the last day (so, don't know how the pool is, there is probably no slide, etc.- kids may be bored).

Grand total DCL - $4997
RCCL - $4,384 -this also includes non expiring 10 day premium tickets (will have 4-6 days left for a future trip)

Savings: $613

Still, I am so unsure! I will NOT sleep tonight, I'm sure. Help!!!

 

[AspiringCindy]

Actually, I have been on the Sovereign of the Seas! That ship, we did have the kids with us! I don't remember about the pool! I'll have to pull out the photo albums to see it! I do know...there wasn't a slide! The kids were 4 & 5 at the time and had a good time!

 

[RichNKatHolly]

Actually, I have been on the Sovereign of the Seas! That ship, we did have the kids with us! I don't remember about the pool! I'll have to pull out the photo albums to see it! I do know...there wasn't a slide! The kids were 4 & 5 at the time and had a good time!

OMGosh - more info would be great~ I am so into the "newer" ships that I was afraid to do this one. The savings is significant so we are still considering it, but a first hand account would be GREAT!

Thanks for any more info if you have it!

 

[MBFergie]

I know DCL has fresh water pools..I think RCI is saltwater. That is a big consideration when my kids were smaller.

 

[AspiringCindy]

Unfortunately, when I went into my photo albums, all I found were 8 pictures of our cruise. I did have a snap shot of the pool area though...just as I thought...no slide. It has 2 pools separated by a band stand and a hot tub. I been on quite a few cruises...so I'm getting confused between the layout. I specifically remember having a hard time learning the layout and the decks on the ship. Certain places had 1 way to get to it, but I do remember enjoying the cruise alot. The ship is similar in size to DCL. RCCL newest fleet are much larger! As I said before, the food was fantastic! ... they offer International dinning(or atleast they did at the time). Every night was a different ethnic feast!

 

[RichNKatHolly]

Thanks so much AspiringCindy. Of course, I'm still undecided and will have to sleep on it. I know that the ship is "small" by today's standards, but still not small at all. I do remember the saltwater pools and that we had to go down certain elevators and walk across another deck only to go up another elevator to get to certain places - that was on Enchantment of the Seas. A little confusing, but we won't be on the ship very much this trip.

Thanks again for the info!!!

 

[njDISNEYnut]

Rich & kat:
One item that everyone seems to be overlooking is the fact that you said your kids are looking forward to DCL. $613 aside I would not dissappoint my kids if I already told them they were going on DCL. Also as a previous poster stated, DCL is freashwater & RCCL is saltwater pools. My kids spent little time in the pools on RCCL because of this.

 

[KensJen]

I think I would stay on DCL if I were you, due to your children's ages. If they were older, I would definitely say go on RCCL. Yes, you would save some money, but I think your Disney experience will be worth the extra $600.

Disney doesn't charge for your 2 yo (well just port charges and tax )and RCCL does...and it was still cheaper?? Wow! That is a large factor right now for us...for the cruise we were looking at, they (RCCL) wanted to charge $999 for my 2 year old and the same for an infant (next yr we will have a new baby) which I thought was ridiculous. We will stay on DCL until the kids are older and can be in the RCCL kids programming, since we have to pay so much for them.

But I think for small kiddos, Disney seems to be much more accomodating. I also think that your 5 year old will really have a magical time, that is such a cool age. JMO

 

[my3kids]

Soverign is the ship that was just totally refurbished. TLC had a series about the reconstruction...it is still playing if you can catch it.

 

[RichNKatHolly]

I think I would stay on DCL if I were you, due to your children's ages. If they were older, I would definitely say go on RCCL. Yes, you would save some money, but I think your Disney experience will be worth the extra $600.

Disney doesn't charge for your 2 yo (well just port charges and tax )and RCCL does...and it was still cheaper?? Wow! That is a large factor right now for us...for the cruise we were looking at, they (RCCL) wanted to charge $999 for my 2 year old and the same for an infant (next yr we will have a new baby) which I thought was ridiculous. We will stay on DCL until the kids are older and can be in the RCCL kids programming, since we have to pay so much for them.

But I think for small kiddos, Disney seems to be much more accomodating. I also think that your 5 year old will really have a magical time, that is such a cool age. JMO

RCCL was still cheaper even with charging for my 2yo. SHe is the third in one of the cabins so it was $246 for her with taxes. Your kids will love DCL. We did it in Jan and they really enjoyed it. Disney is expensive though, but they are accomodating to the kids and they like the character experiences. RCCL has way better food, and I hear the private island is a bit better too. Thanks so much for your opinion!

NJ Disney Nut - Yes, they are looking forward to Disney, but I don't think they will notice a different ship. Already spoke with DS about possibly changing and he didn't mind. As long as he still gets to go to WDW. Right now we are leaning towards keeping our reservation as is. $600 is really not that much when you consider what we are spending, and we can always purchase non expiring tickets when we get home.

 

[RichNKatHolly]

Soverign is the ship that was just totally refurbished. TLC had a series about the reconstruction...it is still playing if you can catch it.

I see something listed for the Travel Channel that is called Dry Dock a Ship Reborn. Would that be it? Thanks!

 

[my3kids]

Yes! That is the series.

 

[RichNKatHolly]

Yes! That is the series.

Thanks, it's on tomorrow night. I guess we'll check it out and make our decision. I really appreciate the info!!!