Disney Cruise Lines compared to.....

[DawnCt]

We have cruised on Royal Carribean several times, (a very good cruise line, we loved the voyager of the Seas), Celebrity just recently, (excellent), NCL (just okay). For those of you who have cruised on other lines, how does DCL compare, food, shows, activities, etc?

 

[Tluvs2talk]

I have only cruised on Carnival once. I have cruised on 3 Disney cruises and have to say I love Disney much better. Carnival was ok. The food was good, entertainment good, but other that I was not that impressed. We love the rooms better on Disney. We had the best room on Carnival, the deluxe suite and it was not worth the money. I would rather have a catagory 12 on Disney. I also didn't like the fact that everwhere we went it was very smoky. I snoke ocassionally and could not breathe for all or the smoke. also we never used the pool as it was very small and had too many peolpe in it. I know the pools get crowded on the Disney ship also, but since we have no children it was nice to go to the adult pool. I also think the Disney Ship is much prettier inside and out.

 

[iloverags2]

The only line I've been on that you mentioned is Royal Caribbean. I must say, I enjoy Disney much better. The rooms are larger with larger bathrooms/showers, and they are much nicer in decor. I also enjoyed the rotating dining rooms and having the opportunity to try different menus. As for the shows, it really depends if you like stage theatre (Disney) versus Vegas style shows (RCCL).

One last thing, Castaway Cay, Disney's private island, beats Cococay, RCCL's private island, hands down anyday!

Hope this helps.

 

[wdw1972]

I've cruised NCL, Carnival, & HAL (Holland America Line) twice, and DCL 3 times. From my experience, NCL is the worst, and my Carnival experience was a long time ago - I rate DCL higher than that but to be fair would need to compare DCL to a Carnival ship of the same age today.

For me, HAL is the clear winner - and my teen son agrees. It's hard to explain why - really a culmination of so many little things, and ways that HAL just does is better or nicer. DCL seemed 2nd class in many ways, which does not mean DCL is bad...just not up to the same standards as HAL in terms of dining, atmosphere, service. DCL has nice long hours for the kids' clubs, characters for the kids, and the split bathroom is a great feature - but those are the only things I can think of where DCL has any advantage over HAL.

On my last HAL cruise I was talking to a woman on Royal Caribbean....she said her ship was nice enough, but she missed HAL and wished she was back on HAL this time.

 

[Bev J]

We have sailed the same lines as you plus Princess. This past October we sailed DCL and for the first time took our 2 children.This was our 10 cruise.
We rate the lines as follows

1-Royal Carribbean-beautiful ships, great staff, great food with many choices very good prices.
2-Celebrity very simmilar to RCI but staff was a bit on the stuffy side and the shows were not that great. Loose slots-hubby won 4500 in the slots.
3- DCL -beautiful ship, exec. staff, need more adult activities offered, kids loved it. Food staff were below expectations as was food. Hubby missed casino.
4-Princess-really nice ship, staff was VERY sstuffy and not very friendly. Great food, nice shows.
5- NCL ships very nice, staff indefferent, food just ok. Cabins large.
We would love to try a 7 day with DCL but untill we see a big improvement in the menus we will wait.
Our next cruise will be on Navigator of the seas (RCI) Kids cant wait to try all the activities.

 

[inkkognito]

We have sailed RCCL four times, including Voyager and Radiance, and Disney 19 times (I'm sure you can guess which one we prefer!). Here are some random comments:
-We prefer the adults-only areas on Disney. RCCL supposedly had them on Voyager and Radiance, but there was absolutely no enforcement. Being able to have some "big kids time" is very important to hubby and I, and on Disney we can do that.
-Disney's staterooms are much larger.
-We generally like RCCL's food a lot, although it was not very good on Voyager, probably because the ship is so large. That was just dinner...the lunches were excellent. They have more choices of food than Disney, and we particularly love their soups.
-Disney Dreams is our all-time favorite cruise ship show, but I must admit that I also loved the ice show on Voyager. It was so good that we saw it twice (it was also fun to be able to climb a rock wall and ice skate on a ship).
-Disney's crew seems friendlier overall...much more talkative and outgoing.
-Disney is much more non-smoker friendly than RCCL (I am allergic to smoke and literally got sick on Sovereign of the Seas), but I did like the non-smoking casino on Voyager.
-Disney has the best theming, although RCCL seems to be trying to give them a run for their money on their newer ships. Radiance is very poorly designed tho'--the lifeboats stick out and block your view of the sea if you are in a verandah stateroom above them. On Disney, they are flush so you have a perfect view straight down.
-I dearly love Castaway Cay, although Cocoa Cay was nice in a different sort of way (more rustic rather than themed). The bathrooms on Cocoa Cay were the pits tho'! I wouldn't even bother to disembark on RCCL's "private" island, Labadee, where natives were trying to get money from us just to sit in a beach chair and where a woman was blocking the restroom door to prevent people from leaving until they would give her money to use a paper towel to dry their hands. Ugh! At least both Castaway Cay and Cocoa Cay are both truly private (although I did meet a nice family while wandering on the far side of Cocoa Cay who had stopped by with their sailboat).
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com