Sue (mom of 3 boys!)
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2004
- Messages
- 2,266
Many threads request a comparison of DCL and RCCL, and I made a promise to some DIS friends to report when we returned from our recent RCCL cruise. So here goes!! Heres one familys opinion. (Please keep in mind that it is just our opinion and yours may be different. 
)
Basics: We are a family of 5. DH and I (low 40s), 3 DS (13, 11, 8 on DCL, and 14, 12, and 9 on RCCL). Huge DCL fans, now also fans of RCCL. DCL ship-Wonder. RCCL ship-Jewel of the seas.
EMBARKATION: DCL was smooth, but a bit chaotic in the terminal. We, like many others arrived early to get on the ship as soon as possible. The terminal was beautiful however, and waiting was not an issue. Check in and walking onto the ship was smooth as silk. RCCL-we had a long drive to Fort Lauderdale, so we arrived about 2:00 PM. The Fort Lauderdale terminals are nothing like DCL-kind of grungy. The plus side was that because we arrived at 2:00 there was no waiting. Check in was also smooth.
ROOMS: We always get 2 rooms just because we need the space. In general, we liked the DCL rooms better. They were definitely larger, and the décor was more to our liking. The bathrooms on RCCL were tiny but efficient and nicely laid out, but the split bath on DCL was much nicer-especially when we were all getting showered and ready for dinner or AM excursions. (I also wondered how a person who was very large could shower because the showers were very small and had a glass door.) But, for a much smaller cost than on DCL, we were able to get balconies on RCCL, which made the rooms seem bigger. We definitely enjoyed them (more on the reasons later), but cannot afford to get them on DCL. The one thing we liked better on RCCL was they way the room for our kids was laid out. There were two twin beds, and the bed that comes out of the ceiling was above those, and was folded up each morning. It made it possible for the boys to use the couch in the stateroom, and didnt seem to take up any space.
FOOD: I think the food on RCCL and DCL were comparable. There did seem to be a little more variety on RCCL, but the quality seemed about the same. We enjoyed both equally. We did think that it was much easier to get a variety of food and snacks on DCL during non-meal times. We often had to hunt for snacks, or order room service on RCCL. Also, the deck 9 drink station was so nice on DCL. The boys really missed it on RCCL. Soda was $$$, so they had none because they didnt want to pay for it with their own money. Lemonade and iced tea were included; soda was never included-not even with meals.
SERVICE: I thought the service on DCL could not be matched. It was. All of the service personnel on the Jewel were extremely friendly and the service was superb. Our stateroom host would run down the hall if he saw us walking to the room, and open the door for us. He was like spiderman-hed magically appear. He was great with the kidseven took requests for towel animals. He was so friendly and we learned a lot about his family back home, and he seemed genuinely interested in ours. He did a beautiful job with our staterooms. Our dining room team actually surpassed our DCL team (and we had no complaints at all with DCL). They definitely went above and beyond to make our mealtimes special. Like DCL, they knew our drink and roll preferences after the first night. Our glasses were never less than half full. They were attentive to the kids, and pampering to us adults. But our servers on the Jewell had a special way about them. We actually were sad to leave them. Our assistant waiter cried when we gave him his tips, and said he enjoyed our family so much because he has children the same age as ours. (He was going home for 2 months the day we disembarked, and was hoping to become a waiter upon return.) We took pictures with them, and they seemed honored that we asked them to. Our waiter noticed my DS14 turning green with seasickness one night, and left to return with 3 green apples (which, by the way, worked wonders!). The thing that struck us the most was how personal they were. The biggest surprise for us was the head waiter on the Jewel. Weve cruised many times, and never had a head waiter like this one. Most times we only saw them on the last night. Not this one! Every night, he came to our table, checked in on our impressions of the meal (he arranged for shrimp cocktail the nights it wasnt on the menu for us when we jokingly asked him to do so, as well as 2 lobster tails on lobster night because we mentioned we love lobster). He did magic tricks each night for the kids, drew pictures for the boys, answered a zillion questions, and just chatted. We also saw him help his various team members deliver food, clear tables, etc. When a waiter dropped a basket of bread on a rocky night, he simply went and nicely helped him pick it up. He was like the main event for my DS9, who anxiously looked for him every night. All four of these people made our trip special. We actually tipped them more than recommended, and wrote them notes of thanks. I am also writing to RCCL to express my appreciation of these people because they truly deserve recognition for a job done extremely well. Again, I had no complaints with our DCL servers--they were wonderful as well. I was very pleasantly surprised at the high level of service on the Jewel.
KIDS CLUBS: My 2 older boys (14&12) said the DCL kids areas and organized activities were better. They felt there was more to do in the kids areas on DCL. DS9 enjoyed the Adventure Ocean programming about the same as DCL. I liked that our muster station was on his wristband, and they checked them at the muster drill. I couldn't remember if that was the same on DCL. Our dislikes: we had to walk through the arcade to get to the kids area for DS9 (all kids 12 and under had to do this), the kids areas had much more limited hours than DCL, and the staff didnt have early childhood backgrounds (their bios were posted). DS14 noticed a lot of under age drinking up on deck-not to the extent portrayed on TV, but enough to make him uncomfortable and return to the room to see if he could go to a movie w/friends instead. DCL kids programming won hands down for all 3 boys. They did enjoy the rock wall (limited hours) and mini golf on RCCL, and wished DCL had them. They agreed the DCL water slide was better/faster, (note: the water slide was open for about 1 hour a day, except for sea days, when it was open for about 4 hours). They also thought DCL pools were better (fresh water wading pool on Jewel for water slide area, other pool was salt, third pool for adults only was salt (in the solarium which was beautiful).
EXCURSIONS:We prebooked and prepaid for our excursions before we left home because we were warned that they fill up fast. We chose carefully, and booked 2 we all agreed sounded great. The first one was cancelled. The issue was that we were notified around 2:00PM the afternoon before and there was no one at the desk to help us find another one to book. By the time the desk opened, and we got to it, there was nothing interesting to us to book. When we inquired about our second choice (which was filled), we were told that there were vans and we could contract someone to bring us. We were not comfortable with that, so we booked sea-kayaking. We felt the man at the excursions desk couldnt be bothered with us. We got off the ship in the AM, and when we got to the meeting point, the excursion was cancelled (choppy seas-not their fault). We inquired if the tour operator ran the tours to our preferred choice. They didnt, but directed us to the RCCL group getting ready to leave. We figured we would be told they were full, but instead were told that they had a whole bus available. Evidently, this is common practice. It was not contracted by RCCL, but because it is popular, they usually fill it up. (This was not a "van" described by RCCL, but the same type of motor coach used for the RCCL excursion, and the same tour operator. They were even able to take our tickets for our cancelled tour, exchange them at RCCL, and charge the difference to our rooms.) We went and had a good time, but felt misled by the RCCL excursions member. Many, many people we talked with expressed concerns about excursions being cancelled because there werent enough people who had booked it. We didnt do excursions on DCL, so I have nothing to compare this experience to
ACTIVITIES: DH and I felt there was more to do on DCL, where we had the feeling of having to pick and choose favorite activities. We kept busy on RCCL, but more of our own planning--walks, exploring, etc. We spent a lot of time on the veranda just watching the oceanon DCL we were only in the room to sleep and shower/change. The pools on the Jewel were all salt (except for the one in the kids area by the water slide, which was fresh, but was a wading pool). The shows at night were OK-some better than others. We skipped a few, went to a fewnothing we felt we HAD to see. The theater was gorgeous--just as nice as DCL. We were back to our room w/DS9 by 10:00 each night, so I cant comment on the discos, or late night activities. There was a casino on RCCL, and I planned to blow $20 in quarters, but when I went in there it was so smoky that I quickly changed my mind. The gym was terrific on the Jewel. Loads of equipment, classes, etc. I cant comment on DCL-never used it, but will next time. Movies on DCL were better- the RCCL ones had been out for over a year, and ran at odd hours. I can't think of anything else right now...oh yea, the Jewel's captain had a talk about how the ship was built and how it worked, and how a cruise ship runs weeks to week--extremely interesting!!
SHIP OVERALL: Both of the ships were absolutely beautiful. Its hard to compare them because they are so different. Sort of like comparing apples to orangesI like them both, but they are different. There definitely was more glass on the Jewel. It was beautiful. But for us, it didnt have the jaw-dropping quality of when we first saw the DCL ship. Just different, but I cant put my finger on why.
DEBARKATION: We opted for early walk-off on debarkation day. They reserve a number of spots for passengers to do it, and it was worth it for our family. We signed up at guest services. You have to carry your own luggage, and there is no porter service. Not a problem. This was our debarkation morning: Up at 6:30. Dressed, packed last odds and ends, and left for breakfast at 7:15 (There was no set dining schedule-you could choose the buffet or dining room. We chose the buffet, which was as wonderful as it had been all week) We were back to room a bit before 8:00 (Spiderman let us in one last time.
) We took our bags to deck 5, where we were to debark. It was getting crowded, but not the nightmare I remember from other cruises. At 8:30, the ship was cleared for customs, and early walk off was called. We were off the ship, through customs, and in a cab to the airport within 10 minutes. (One thing to note here: No rental car agencies have shuttles from the pier to the airport rental car areas. There is a free airport shuttle from the airport to the pier from the rental car area. Go figure..) The only thing I liked better than DCL was being able to go eat breakfast when and where we wanted. And it was still a bit of a cattle call for early walk-off on the Jewel. There were no tears--that only happened on DCL 
Overall, we liked DCL better. But that in no way says we wont go on the Jewel of the Seas, or other newer RCCL ship again. We had a great time on both cruises, and have terrific memories from both as well.
If anyone has specific questions, ask away! Ill do my best to answer them.
)Basics: We are a family of 5. DH and I (low 40s), 3 DS (13, 11, 8 on DCL, and 14, 12, and 9 on RCCL). Huge DCL fans, now also fans of RCCL. DCL ship-Wonder. RCCL ship-Jewel of the seas.
EMBARKATION: DCL was smooth, but a bit chaotic in the terminal. We, like many others arrived early to get on the ship as soon as possible. The terminal was beautiful however, and waiting was not an issue. Check in and walking onto the ship was smooth as silk. RCCL-we had a long drive to Fort Lauderdale, so we arrived about 2:00 PM. The Fort Lauderdale terminals are nothing like DCL-kind of grungy. The plus side was that because we arrived at 2:00 there was no waiting. Check in was also smooth.
ROOMS: We always get 2 rooms just because we need the space. In general, we liked the DCL rooms better. They were definitely larger, and the décor was more to our liking. The bathrooms on RCCL were tiny but efficient and nicely laid out, but the split bath on DCL was much nicer-especially when we were all getting showered and ready for dinner or AM excursions. (I also wondered how a person who was very large could shower because the showers were very small and had a glass door.) But, for a much smaller cost than on DCL, we were able to get balconies on RCCL, which made the rooms seem bigger. We definitely enjoyed them (more on the reasons later), but cannot afford to get them on DCL. The one thing we liked better on RCCL was they way the room for our kids was laid out. There were two twin beds, and the bed that comes out of the ceiling was above those, and was folded up each morning. It made it possible for the boys to use the couch in the stateroom, and didnt seem to take up any space.
FOOD: I think the food on RCCL and DCL were comparable. There did seem to be a little more variety on RCCL, but the quality seemed about the same. We enjoyed both equally. We did think that it was much easier to get a variety of food and snacks on DCL during non-meal times. We often had to hunt for snacks, or order room service on RCCL. Also, the deck 9 drink station was so nice on DCL. The boys really missed it on RCCL. Soda was $$$, so they had none because they didnt want to pay for it with their own money. Lemonade and iced tea were included; soda was never included-not even with meals.
SERVICE: I thought the service on DCL could not be matched. It was. All of the service personnel on the Jewel were extremely friendly and the service was superb. Our stateroom host would run down the hall if he saw us walking to the room, and open the door for us. He was like spiderman-hed magically appear. He was great with the kidseven took requests for towel animals. He was so friendly and we learned a lot about his family back home, and he seemed genuinely interested in ours. He did a beautiful job with our staterooms. Our dining room team actually surpassed our DCL team (and we had no complaints at all with DCL). They definitely went above and beyond to make our mealtimes special. Like DCL, they knew our drink and roll preferences after the first night. Our glasses were never less than half full. They were attentive to the kids, and pampering to us adults. But our servers on the Jewell had a special way about them. We actually were sad to leave them. Our assistant waiter cried when we gave him his tips, and said he enjoyed our family so much because he has children the same age as ours. (He was going home for 2 months the day we disembarked, and was hoping to become a waiter upon return.) We took pictures with them, and they seemed honored that we asked them to. Our waiter noticed my DS14 turning green with seasickness one night, and left to return with 3 green apples (which, by the way, worked wonders!). The thing that struck us the most was how personal they were. The biggest surprise for us was the head waiter on the Jewel. Weve cruised many times, and never had a head waiter like this one. Most times we only saw them on the last night. Not this one! Every night, he came to our table, checked in on our impressions of the meal (he arranged for shrimp cocktail the nights it wasnt on the menu for us when we jokingly asked him to do so, as well as 2 lobster tails on lobster night because we mentioned we love lobster). He did magic tricks each night for the kids, drew pictures for the boys, answered a zillion questions, and just chatted. We also saw him help his various team members deliver food, clear tables, etc. When a waiter dropped a basket of bread on a rocky night, he simply went and nicely helped him pick it up. He was like the main event for my DS9, who anxiously looked for him every night. All four of these people made our trip special. We actually tipped them more than recommended, and wrote them notes of thanks. I am also writing to RCCL to express my appreciation of these people because they truly deserve recognition for a job done extremely well. Again, I had no complaints with our DCL servers--they were wonderful as well. I was very pleasantly surprised at the high level of service on the Jewel.
KIDS CLUBS: My 2 older boys (14&12) said the DCL kids areas and organized activities were better. They felt there was more to do in the kids areas on DCL. DS9 enjoyed the Adventure Ocean programming about the same as DCL. I liked that our muster station was on his wristband, and they checked them at the muster drill. I couldn't remember if that was the same on DCL. Our dislikes: we had to walk through the arcade to get to the kids area for DS9 (all kids 12 and under had to do this), the kids areas had much more limited hours than DCL, and the staff didnt have early childhood backgrounds (their bios were posted). DS14 noticed a lot of under age drinking up on deck-not to the extent portrayed on TV, but enough to make him uncomfortable and return to the room to see if he could go to a movie w/friends instead. DCL kids programming won hands down for all 3 boys. They did enjoy the rock wall (limited hours) and mini golf on RCCL, and wished DCL had them. They agreed the DCL water slide was better/faster, (note: the water slide was open for about 1 hour a day, except for sea days, when it was open for about 4 hours). They also thought DCL pools were better (fresh water wading pool on Jewel for water slide area, other pool was salt, third pool for adults only was salt (in the solarium which was beautiful).
EXCURSIONS:We prebooked and prepaid for our excursions before we left home because we were warned that they fill up fast. We chose carefully, and booked 2 we all agreed sounded great. The first one was cancelled. The issue was that we were notified around 2:00PM the afternoon before and there was no one at the desk to help us find another one to book. By the time the desk opened, and we got to it, there was nothing interesting to us to book. When we inquired about our second choice (which was filled), we were told that there were vans and we could contract someone to bring us. We were not comfortable with that, so we booked sea-kayaking. We felt the man at the excursions desk couldnt be bothered with us. We got off the ship in the AM, and when we got to the meeting point, the excursion was cancelled (choppy seas-not their fault). We inquired if the tour operator ran the tours to our preferred choice. They didnt, but directed us to the RCCL group getting ready to leave. We figured we would be told they were full, but instead were told that they had a whole bus available. Evidently, this is common practice. It was not contracted by RCCL, but because it is popular, they usually fill it up. (This was not a "van" described by RCCL, but the same type of motor coach used for the RCCL excursion, and the same tour operator. They were even able to take our tickets for our cancelled tour, exchange them at RCCL, and charge the difference to our rooms.) We went and had a good time, but felt misled by the RCCL excursions member. Many, many people we talked with expressed concerns about excursions being cancelled because there werent enough people who had booked it. We didnt do excursions on DCL, so I have nothing to compare this experience to
ACTIVITIES: DH and I felt there was more to do on DCL, where we had the feeling of having to pick and choose favorite activities. We kept busy on RCCL, but more of our own planning--walks, exploring, etc. We spent a lot of time on the veranda just watching the oceanon DCL we were only in the room to sleep and shower/change. The pools on the Jewel were all salt (except for the one in the kids area by the water slide, which was fresh, but was a wading pool). The shows at night were OK-some better than others. We skipped a few, went to a fewnothing we felt we HAD to see. The theater was gorgeous--just as nice as DCL. We were back to our room w/DS9 by 10:00 each night, so I cant comment on the discos, or late night activities. There was a casino on RCCL, and I planned to blow $20 in quarters, but when I went in there it was so smoky that I quickly changed my mind. The gym was terrific on the Jewel. Loads of equipment, classes, etc. I cant comment on DCL-never used it, but will next time. Movies on DCL were better- the RCCL ones had been out for over a year, and ran at odd hours. I can't think of anything else right now...oh yea, the Jewel's captain had a talk about how the ship was built and how it worked, and how a cruise ship runs weeks to week--extremely interesting!!
SHIP OVERALL: Both of the ships were absolutely beautiful. Its hard to compare them because they are so different. Sort of like comparing apples to orangesI like them both, but they are different. There definitely was more glass on the Jewel. It was beautiful. But for us, it didnt have the jaw-dropping quality of when we first saw the DCL ship. Just different, but I cant put my finger on why.
DEBARKATION: We opted for early walk-off on debarkation day. They reserve a number of spots for passengers to do it, and it was worth it for our family. We signed up at guest services. You have to carry your own luggage, and there is no porter service. Not a problem. This was our debarkation morning: Up at 6:30. Dressed, packed last odds and ends, and left for breakfast at 7:15 (There was no set dining schedule-you could choose the buffet or dining room. We chose the buffet, which was as wonderful as it had been all week) We were back to room a bit before 8:00 (Spiderman let us in one last time.
) We took our bags to deck 5, where we were to debark. It was getting crowded, but not the nightmare I remember from other cruises. At 8:30, the ship was cleared for customs, and early walk off was called. We were off the ship, through customs, and in a cab to the airport within 10 minutes. (One thing to note here: No rental car agencies have shuttles from the pier to the airport rental car areas. There is a free airport shuttle from the airport to the pier from the rental car area. Go figure..) The only thing I liked better than DCL was being able to go eat breakfast when and where we wanted. And it was still a bit of a cattle call for early walk-off on the Jewel. There were no tears--that only happened on DCL Overall, we liked DCL better. But that in no way says we wont go on the Jewel of the Seas, or other newer RCCL ship again. We had a great time on both cruises, and have terrific memories from both as well.
If anyone has specific questions, ask away! Ill do my best to answer them.
