DCL vs RCI a point by point comparison

[kgoldenh]

thank you for the thoughtful informative comparisons. It is so helpful to read this.

kate

 

[tomspixie]

First...How AWESOME to do the two cruises in a row!!! WOOHOO!!! Secondly...THANK YOU for sharing the well written reviews!

I know you mentioned that you will be reviewing the kids arenas, and want to give just a quick shout out to the Dream. The Edge and The Wave far surpass what either the Magic or Wonder have for the teens! So,if you have teens and are reading these...my children...15, 17, 19, and 20 LOVED the new spaces made for them. Because my older two had sailed as often as they had, when things were light in the clubs crew allowed them to come in and goof off. The older two absolutely bemoaned the fact that they missed out on it, on a regular basis.

Again...thanks!

 

[I Run Long]

Thanks for doing this comparison. Loving it!

 

[NHdisneylover]

I am glad people are finding this useful

And yes, it was AWESOME to be able to do the two back to back like that. It felt sooooo luxurious. We dilly dallyed getting off of the Magic and stayed on until about 9:30 (and no we were not the last off at all!). RCI boarded earlier than I have EVER seen and we were on the Liberty at about 11:15. Going from on board on ship to on board a second in less than 2hours was pretty amazing

 

[NHdisneylover]

In this category, I would include the smaller acts that get added into the welcome aboard shows, "travelling" acts which may take the main stage one night, or that also take the smaller stages as a "cabaret" on one or more nights.

Disney had (and usually does have) a fair amount of this type of thing. Over the course of the week there was a juggler, a magician, and two comedians.

I did not see the magician, but my husband and son said he was really good. They said he had more unique tricks (no bowling ball falling out of a pad of paper or"fold the bandana/banana tricks that everyone has seen a gazillion times) and that he did them well. Otherwise, everything was either "meh" or downright awful. The juggler (and I see this more and more on DCL and it bugs me) was minimally talented and his main show was not in talent (any 15 year old who puts a few hours in can attain that level) but it cracking jokes about how gullible the audience is to cover his lack of talent. I don't much care for that in general, and with an international audience it really falls flat.
The comedians both had 12 year old boy humor--which I quite frankly get enough of (and a bit higher quality of)from my own 12year old and his friends.
DCL has in the past had some pretty talented individuals and comedy duos, but that was severely lacking this time (and last year in the Med as well).

RCI had less to offer in this category. That said, the two things they did offer (a truly talented juggler/balancing person and some tenors who did a musical show one night) was of a much higher quality. Neither was the type of things I tend to really enjoy, but it was well done and there was true talent there which I like.

Overall, I would call this a tie--with Disney having more options but missing the mark on most and RCI having too few options but at least talented ones

 

[Anal Annie]

Something I forgot to mention under dining:

On the 7 night Med cruise DCL had one formal night and no semi formal nights

RCI had 2 formal nights (one designated "formal" black and white) and one semi formal night

Personally, we enjoy dressing up. So, we prefer the higher frequency f those nights on RCI. In both cases, we found the European cruisers, overall, more likely to dress for dinner and really loo nice--which made for an upscale feel in the evenings on those nights that we enjoyed.

Great read so far! We just went to Paris for a few days then did the August 13th-20th DCL Med and I've been working on my own (first ever) trip report / blog. I snagged a pic of the Liberty sailing by us during our Sail-away party! Interesting to read your B2B comparison!! We had a FABULOUS time but really didn't have enough time to enjoy the ship...we did no shows this time. Our days were so full we just really enjoyed being able to grab an hour or so at the pool in the afternoons. Our serving team was great and we had our best Head Server yet (this was our 4th DCL). The ports were fantastic and I can only hope that we can afford the flights to return one day. An Eastern Med next time would be perfect. It will probably take us a few years tho to save up. (The flight cost is the killer.)

I was bummed that DCL cancelled the semi-formal night and only had the 1 formal night. By the time we found this out I was already packed. I thought they should have made an effort to let the guest know about this ahead of time so they could shop and pack accordingly. I bought and brought 2 dresses when I only needed to bring 1 etc.

Question about your packing for the 2 cruises...did you do laundry or re-wear your formal wear or how did you handle that??

 

[wonkadeb]

I loved when you used the term "attack curtain" when explaining the shower conditions. You hit the nail on the head!

 

[NHdisneylover]

I apologize for the long delay in finishing this. I have been sick with a nasty cold , but am beginning to feel reasonable again and hope to have the rest up on Monday.

Question about your packing for the 2 cruises...did you do laundry or re-wear your formal wear or how did you handle that??

A little of both. We wore some things again (we always dress for dinner, so those clothes really do not get that dirty) and I ran two loads of laundry towards the end of the Disney cruise. I had to run them on Disney because RCI does not have self service laundry (so there is an extra little comparison for you).
We had a total of 6 suitcase between the four of us. Two were carry on trollies and one was a duffle that could be carried on as well. BUT, we live in Germany and drove to port, so it was really not an issue One of those trollies was just good German wine for DCL (cannot carry that on to RCI--another little extra comparison) and another was all Fish Extender gifts

 

[NHdisneylover]

I loved when you used the term "attack curtain" when explaining the shower conditions. You hit the nail on the head!

Thanks! I have always hated that curtain

 

[edk35]

I would be interested to know what your thoughts are on older kids and these two ships. We had booked the Magic out of NYC for a 5 night Canada cruise. This would have been our first cruise. However I started thinking that our older kids who will be 21, 18 and 13 when we cruise next June, would not have enough on the Magic to keep them busy. Instead I went with an RCI cruise 9 nights our of NJ on the Explorer because it has the Rock Climbing Wall, Ice Rink, mini golf, basketball, pools, promenade, and such plus the Itinerary is better. Just curious.... Thanks

 

[edk35]

 

[NHdisneylover]

I would be interested to know what your thoughts are on older kids and these two ships. We had booked the Magic out of NYC for a 5 night Canada cruise. This would have been our first cruise. However I started thinking that our older kids who will be 21, 18 and 13 when we cruise next June, would not have enough on the Magic to keep them busy. Instead I went with an RCI cruise 9 nights our of NJ on the Explorer because it has the Rock Climbing Wall, Ice Rink, mini golf, basketball, pools, promenade, and such plus the Itinerary is better. Just curious.... Thanks

I will comment more later on the specific programming for the teen and tween set (and probably ask my DD14 to post as well about HER experiences and perceptions of the teen clubs in both areas).
I will also comment more specifically on the pool deck/flowrider/rock wall/etc later on.

It is harder for me to know what to say about the 21 and 18 year olds. We did travel with a friend and her 21 year old son on the Disney portion only. Overall he did really enjoy the cruise (his first one) but we felt that HE would have had more fun on RCI. He was no interested in the ports at all and only got off at 2 of the stops (I believe, it may have been 3). He wanted to sleep late (like 2:00 pm) and party all night and there is not much of a late night party going on on Disney ever, and even less so in the Med where many people of all ages plan on being up and out in ports early most days. On the other hand, I know a few young adults who would have preferred the Disney activities and not wanted the late night scene (and been interested in the ports).

 

[NHdisneylover]

I wanted to comment on the live music, because it is something which really struck us on this cruise.

In the past, we have noticed if there is a good or not so good house band, but that is about as far as our attention in this area went.

This time around it was really noticable because not only was the house band good on Disney (Three Live V, I think) but there was a duo who played guitar and sang around the ship called Northern Lights who were excellent We really were very impressed. The music was sometimes mellow and sometimes more upbeat dance type music, always well done, and always played at the right volume. We started looking for Northern Lights in the navigator and often skipped out on other activities to enjoy the music in a lounge or by the pool. Alex and Justin (the musician) were also super nice and personable with the guests. It was a new thing to enjoy on the cruise for us, really enjoyable live music like we might seek out at a venue at home and we think it was a great addition.
Disney also had a piano player who could be found in Sessions or the Promenade most evenings. It is not really our thing, but my in laws enjoyed him. They liked the music selection but did comment that they wished he would stick more to playing and less to singing.
Disney does not have live musicians during their main stage shows.

RCI had a few house bands which play at the various venues. All of them were run of the mill good. Meaning they did not stand out in any good or bad way. The one that mostly played in the main club that has live music (the Sphinx) was not great at reading an audience though and their sets tended to play too many slow songs in a row and then too many fast in a row so that the floor would fill as the tempo changed and empty out about half way through. ALL of the live music played in every club was faaaaaar too loud. It was impossible to sit and have a conversation in the back while listening to the music as a backdrop and it hurt to be out on the dance floor (to the point that we bought and used ear plugs after we hit a port). EVERY member of our group (ages 12 to 74) noticed this and complained about it. When live music was played around the pool it was also WAY to loud and we had to leave the pool area.
There was also a piano player. He was VERY much a ham with silly hats, talking and telling jokes over the music, etc. The classic lounge lizard kind of personality. None of us enjoyed that. My in laws stopped by a few times hoping to hit a night when he just played, but it was always the same and not their thing at all.
RCI does have a live orchestra for main stage shows, which we enjoy.


Overall, Disney really wins here. Both for having the fabulous Northern Lights duo, and for playing music at a volume which is pleasant

 

[NHdisneylover]

Here is possibly the single biggest difference between the lines.

We are activities people. We LOVE to participate in all the shows, trivia games, crafts, etc. For us that is often half the fun of cruising.

The Disney Navigator is jam packed full of things to do. Often you have to make a hard choice between two (or more) appealing activities. The kids have even harder choices sine their schedules also generally have lots going on. On Disney, the cruise staff is super energetic and engaging. They really WORK at each activity. They are out on the dance floor (in costumes) dancing with the guests, they are talking to you in the hallways, they are WORKING the crowd to get more participation at whatever, etc., etc. Really, more than anyhting else, the cruise staff is what makes a Disney cruise so much fun. This cruise was no exception to that rule. We had a great staff (and a shout out here to James who was extra fantastic).
For those who have not cruised Disney, the games, etc are often also rally set up well. There are game shows like Mickey Mania, Who Wants to be a Mousketeer, etc which all have sets with props and cruise staff in costumes to match, etc. It really makes it feel special. There are also more basic things like trivia, but other than the "family crafts" (which are pretty much Oriental Trading Company foam things) we always find everything to be very well done. Our one complaint in the past was that questions tended to repeat (in games, trivia, etc) from cruise to cruise. Disney FINALLY seems to have fixed that problem and we did not see a single repeat from last year at all

Royal Carribean has more of a general set of activities. At any given time less than half as much structured stuff is going on as on a Disney ship. To give you an example, only ONE cruise staff team member works during the day on any given port day. There will be 2-3 activities total on a port day from morning until dinner time. Usually 2 trivia games and possibly a scavenger hunt or pool game.
Some of the staff is more engaging than others. Most were friendly and willing to chat, but not anywhere near as enthusiastic as on DCL. Accents were often pretty difficult to understand too, which made trivia frustrating for everyone a few times. One (JP) made it clear he wanted to be in and out of games as soon as possible (refusing to wait for a second group who asked to have a moment to go to the restroom before starting trivia--we were the only other people there and WE said to please wait, not giving long enough to write out answers, much less discuss them before moving on, cancelling activities when the pool deck was full when no one came up to him to ask what it was--no announcement was made, etc).
NO games or shows had any sort of elaborate set up like on Disney. The Love and Marriage show involved just normal chairs set on a blank stage (whereas on Disney the same thing has special "love seat" designed just for it).
One thing we did appreciate was that there were a variety of different little prizes you could win at various times instead of just "winner" medallions (key chains, pens, highlighters, t-shirts, hats, passport holders, etc).
Another problem was inconsistent labeling of and enforcement of adults only activities. Some things (like the love and Marriage game show) were labeled ADULTS ONLY but then large numbers of children were allowed in anyway. Other things (like the Battle of the Sexes) were not labeled adults only and yet all the kids/teens in the room were told to leave (and then they could not get enough people and cancelled it). RCI really needs to get the labeling right and then stick with what they say.

Overall, Disney is the clear winner in this category

 

[NHdisneylover]

The Disney Magic has three pools up on Deck 9. These are the Mickey Pool which is essentially a splash pool for very young children (it includes a slide and a small toddler spray scape area to one side), the Goofy pool which is a family pool that is a rectangle shape and about shoulder deep on most smaller adults and has two hot tubs near it and the Quiet Cove Pool which is adults only, about shoulder deep but also with an area to sit that is only an inch or so deep and two hot tubs.

All of these spaces are fine, but they are really to small to accommodate a full ship (and this sailing was full). The pool decks and the pools themselves were always PACKED. I don't mean empty chairs being held either, I mean people.
The Goofy Pool is a disaster most trips and was REALLY bad this one. It is always very, very full with kids jumping in from the HIGH sides (set up to allow a deck to go over it for parties). I think it is by far the most dangerous situation on the ship and it never once seemed relaxing at all on this crowded cruise. On other cruises we have had a nice time there on port days, etc. This cruise was full of people who wanted to seethe ship with an average (so we were told by two cast members) of 1200 people staying on board on port days (even on the Rome day the pools were packed!).
The adult pool was also crowded most of the time. It had its moments though and we did sneak in a quiet bit in the pool and hot tub. Even then, essentially every place one could sit in the hot tub was full, but we were able to get one of those spaces

Coming off the chaos that was the pool deck on Disney, the deck on RCI was REALLY a nice change. I know it is a bigger ship, but it truly seems to have more space per passenger in the pools as well.
Here there are also 3 main pool areas. The H20 Zone is a large spray scape which also has a small pool for jumping into and a different smallish pool that is a lazy river set up and two hot tubs (one warm and one HOT). I really loved this area. It was bright and clean and it was really nice to walk through a fountain to cool down even if I didn't want to get all the way down into a pool. This area was used, but never too crowded to be enjoyable.

The central pool area had two pools with a stage set up in the middle for shows and activities as well as two large hot tubs. I really liked this ability to keep the pool open while still having things going on (and then people could watch form IN the pool too if they wanted). Only on the sea day did this area feel really crowded, and still not as bad as on Disney. There was a lot of jumping in from the sides in both of these pools as well (and the subsequent splashing everyone else, shouting, etc). The staff was not any more interested in enforcing the no jumping rules on RCI as they had been on DCL

The adult pool area had two large hot tubs and the pool itself (and a pool bar). It also had a retractable roof so it could be used in bad weather as well (which we did not encounter). While I never saw kids in teh pool itself, there were very young kids napping on teh chairs all around the pool pretty much dialy. I did think the adult area needed to be better enforced as such. I never actaully used this pool becuase I liked the spray scape (and there were no kids napping aroudn it ), but it was nice and on another trip I can see using it.

We also really liked that on RCI at least one pool and at least one hot tub was open 24 hours. We enjoyed being able to go for a quick dip or soak in the hot tub before bed even if it was at midnight or 1:00 a.m. We think Disney really misses the mark in closing down even the adult pool at night.

Overall, RCI wins by a landslide in this category

 

[NHdisneylover]

On DCL if you are not swimming or participating in a structured activity (or eating) you can run/walk around deck 4 (and it does go all the way around with no steps), play shuffle board, play ping pong, play foosball or go up to the sports deck which is basically a smallish basketball area.
All of these are fine and there is nothing wrong with them at all. It can be hard to find an open ping pong table though.

On RCI there are a myriad of activities. This is mostly a function of being a bigger ship. TONS of ping pong tables (always some open), running/walking tracks on both decks 4 and 10, a sports court which is set up for baskteball soccer or volleyball depending on the time, a 9 hole mini golf course (which you cnanot play a really serious game on, but it is fun for tooling around) and AMAZING front of the ship views from the helicopter pad way out on the bow (and that gorgeous area is heavily under utilized--we were usually the only people there--it is an incredible place to see the stars from).

Additionally, there are the staffed activities which are open only certain hours. My two complaints with those are:
1.that they are not open as often as we'd like and when they are open it seems the are all running at the same time (and often during dinner/show). I would like to see ONE session of ONE of each open in the day time every day. They could easily rotate which one.
2. Even when we were the ONLY people there, we were limited to only one climb up the wall per session. I think that is totally fair if there is a line, but if there is literally no one else climbing I think they should allow for multiple climbs.

That said, we were really impressed with most of the staff for the rock wall and flow rider. They were so ncie and so supportive (especially Lisa) My DS12 and I loved climbing at every session (1-2 per day) that we could fit into the schedule.
My DS12 also really loved the flow rider (I was brave and triwed it once) and we were happily surprised that the lines were not too bad for it.

Ice skating was fun once, but the rink is tiny so it was not really worthwhile to do over and over again. The kids did go a second time with the teen club when there were only about 10-15 people on the ice and they said that made it much better. Skating is also only open on occasion. I think there were 3 days when it was open for some chunk of the day.

The flow rider and rock wall went a long way towards making up for not as many cruise staff led activities--especially with a 12 year old boy (and DD14 would have done a lot of that had she not had some medical issues preventing it this trip as well).

RCI wins this one for sure

 

[NHdisneylover]

I am asking my DD14 to post her reviews of each teen club before I say anything about them. That should be up in a day or so

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Great reviews!