Disney vs. RCCL

[tchrmom]

Both are islands. Well...lots of islands in the Bahamas! Both are mentioned in the Beach Boys' Kokomo song:
"To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama..."

GOOD ONE!

Both are tourist magnets, where rum drinks are popular.....(Rum swizzles, in Bermuda and Bahama Mamas, in the Bahamas.........)

 

[tchrmom]

Well...they both begin with "B"!

Ironically.............DH and I went to BERMUDA on our honeymoon. For our 20th anniversary, we took the 4 day Wonder, minus kids, to the Bahamas.......

Good times in both destinations!

 

[CaptainNemo]

I just got off the Liberty of the Seas on Saturday July 12th. I was also on Freedom of the Seas' maiden voyage in 2006, the Disney Magic in 2004 and the Wonder in 2002. So I guess my cruise experience is split 50/50 between Disney and RCCL. I disagree with the original poster, I believe the Disney food was FAR SUPERIOR to the RCCL food. The buffets on RCCL were not themed like the Disney ones (each day disney had a different theme, like italian or asian). The RCCL food was very bland. The desserts lacked sugar and the main dishes lacked seasoning. My sister who likes bland food and does not own a salt shaker was adding salt to her food. Disney offered peel and eat shrimp and crab legs on their buffet which RCCL never did.

RCCL charges a lot for its extras. Free soda on DCL was nice. On Liberty of the Seas they wanted to charge $3.95 for a glass of "fresh sqweezed" orange juice at the breakfast buffet. The floating mats on Labadee were $10 to rent vs. $6 on Castaway Cay. I allways bring my own snorkeling equipment, on Castaway Cay they provided me with complimentary life vests, on Labadee they cost $8 to rent.

The feel of the different cruise lines is also different. I preferred the more elegant feel of the Disney ships vs the RCCL ships. On the Freedom's maiden voyage, I was very dissapointed that they did not make any hooplah about it, the ship just sailed out of Miami and sailed back a week later without much fanfair or celebration or special souveneirs commemorating the occasion. A Disney ship would have had special pins and other souveneirs.

So while DCL is more expensive, I feel that they give you more. I only wish they were not priced out of my range. I have cruised RCCL because of budget and because I live in Miami and it's convenient.

 

[NancyIL]

I just got off the Liberty of the Seas on Saturday July 12th. I was also on Freedom of the Seas' maiden voyage in 2006, the Disney Magic in 2004 and the Wonder in 2002. So I guess my cruise experience is split 50/50 between Disney and RCCL. I disagree with the original poster, I believe the Disney food was FAR SUPERIOR to the RCCL food. The buffets on RCCL were not themed like the Disney ones (each day disney had a different theme, like italian or asian). The RCCL food was very bland. The desserts lacked sugar and the main dishes lacked seasoning. My sister who likes bland food and does not own a salt shaker was adding salt to her food. Disney offered peel and eat shrimp and crab legs on their buffet which RCCL never did.

I was on my first Disney cruise in January on the Wonder, and on RCI Adventure of the Seas in March. Food is a very subjective thing, and it also varies from ship to ship. I had read reports of "horrible" food on the RCI ship I was on. Both ships had great service and very good food, and I couldn't say that one was better than the other. This much I do know: I would've paid at least twice as much to cruise on DCL the week before Easter as what I paid on RCI. Is DCL worth twice as much? Nope!

 

[tchrmom]

I just got off the Liberty of the Seas on Saturday July 12th. I was also on Freedom of the Seas' maiden voyage in 2006, the Disney Magic in 2004 and the Wonder in 2002

Ah Ha! Here might be the discrepancy.......We've done 9 Disney cruises, our last in 2007. While Disney food was VERY good.......I think that RCCL was a little better. Maybe they have made some changes in the food/chefs since 2004?

As I said, both cruise lines are great......but for our family, who has to cruise in the summer now that we have a high schooler and a middle schooler.......RCCL fits our budget better. I was VERY afraid to try another cruise line, thinking NO ONE could touch Disney's reputation and service.....I was wrong.

And...........as Nancy said........Food is a very subjective thing........

 

[Tenears]

Thank you so much. I've been only on disney and I know theyre quite exppensive but i wanted to see if the price was worth it and now u say it is.

thx

 

[CaptainNemo]

So DCL food has declined in quality since I last sailed in 2004? Can anyone more experienced than me confirm this?

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

I was on in 2005 and 2006..while I think the food was good..it wasn't something that I thought was any better than a regular restaurant in the states....

 

[ladyvet]

We have been on four Disney cruises-- the last one was the Med cruise in August '07. I thought on that cruise the quality of the food was not as good as our previous cruises. It wasn't terrible, but it seemed the quality had declined.

In February I took my first Carnival cruise, and I was pleasantly surprised with the food.

We are scheduled for a cruise on RCI Grandeur next summer. We have reserved a very nice suite for the price of a regular room on Disney. With Disney being so much more expensive-- yet traveling to basically the same spots-- we decided to branch out.

We love Disney, but for the big bucks they need to offer us something new.

Beth

 

[lawmom3]

We went on the Disney Wonder in 2006 (w/kids) and RCCL Enchantment of the Seas in 2003 and 2007. As far as the food comparison, we came away with this sentiment:

On DCL, the presentation was very nice but the food was a bit bland.
On RCCL, the food was very very good.

Wait staff was great on both, but the edge went to DCL b/c of the special attention the asst server gave the kids.

General service went to DCL. We were always greeted with a smile and hello every time we passed a CM in hallways, everywhere, it's funny how something so cheap and easy means so much.

Entertainment: We actually preferred the Entertainment on out RCCL cruise we did in 2003 more than DCL but then the entertainment on our 2007 RCCL was no so great. The cruise director was a dud.

Magic: Oh my goodness, well, you know who gets that one.

Overall: DCL, give me a break, you KNEW this one!

We're booked on DCL for October, but are considering a RCCL Freedom or LIberty next time for the kids.

Just my take!

 

[Toddymae]

DCL cruises 19 and 20 - doing the Mexican Rivera and then the Panama Transit. I haven't any children and I've only cruised Disney. Love it

 

[ps17]

We are multiple time DCL cruisers (Magic) and are currently booked for an Xmas trip on the Liberty out of Miami. Our first choice was Mariner out of PC but they were sold out of connecting cabins. We have buyers remorse and are considering cancelling for a few reasons including:

- Reports (from cruisecritic) of bland food in the buffets - we do enjoy Magic's theme lunches and we actually think that topsiders is good as far as buffets go.

- Reports (also from cruisecritic) regarding heavily foreign clientele - with all respect to cultures and diversity - resulting in less-than-desirable manners.

- Embarkation and debarkation being a mess..

- Puerto Rico not being a desirable destination: 4:00PM-10:00PM port time not conducive to "family excursions", so for the most part, you are looking at only 2 port days...

Anyone who has been on the Liberty care to comment on these and make us feel good to proceed with our vacation plans?

 

[slk]

Dizzi....

You do not rotate for dining. You have the same table and wait staff all week.
There are 2 formal nights....for us, Sunday and Wednesday.

]

I have a dining question. If you are in the same dining room for the week
does the menu change daily - or is there a "theme" each day? Or is it the
same menu for the week. Just wondering. Thanks!

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

Since the topic has turned to food..I just got off the Wonder after a B2B and I can tell you..the food was nice, but as my DH said (a first time cruiser) the food was very mass produced..everything looked like it had been under a warmer for a few hours

other than Palo (where we had dinner on Tuesday, brunch on Wednesday and our dinner reception on Friday)...every meal at Palo was outstanding!!

 

[Jeanne B]

I have a dining question. If you are in the same dining room for the week
does the menu change daily - or is there a "theme" each day? Or is it the
same menu for the week. Just wondering. Thanks!

We cruised RCCL for the first time this past Dec on the Navigator and I don't recall there being any sort of "theme" to the menus but there was a different menu every night with lobster being one of the choices on formal night.

I missed being able to go to a different themed dining room every night but I thought the food was slightly better on RCCL than DCL.

 

[hoop4321]

ok, y'all are scaring me with the rccl food being better that dcl. We went in march on the navigator and did not like the food much. Found the buffet to be awful. We disliked Chops greatly, but found portofino to be worth every penny. Also, the tween programs are more hang out, not activity based. We went in spring break, ds is 12, and there were a handful of tweens on board. The crew even commented on this. We booked our 1st dcl cruise for sept because of the kids programs (12 is not considered a teen yet). Happy anniversary to us lol, with a 12 yr old in the room. So very romantic!

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

i did think Beach Blanket was great..one day we went and they had stone crab!!! My favorite..it was the dining rooms that were just ok

 

[SandieT]

ok, y'all are scaring me with the rccl food being better that dcl. We went in march on the navigator and did not like the food much. Found the buffet to be awful. We disliked Chops greatly, but found portofino to be worth every penny. Also, the tween programs are more hang out, not activity based. We went in spring break, ds is 12, and there were a handful of tweens on board. The crew even commented on this. We booked our 1st dcl cruise for sept because of the kids programs (12 is not considered a teen yet). Happy anniversary to us lol, with a 12 yr old in the room. So very romantic!

I thought the food on DCL was much better than RCCI. We were on DCL in Jan 06 and Freedom of the seas in March 07. But I think the good food is a downside, I can't seem to turn anything down! Hello 10lbs, nice to see you again! HAHAHA

 

[JSJR514]

We have always taken a RCCL cruise. We will be going on our first Disney cruise June of 09. We have had a great time on all of our cruises with no problems what-so-ever. RCCL does have a new ship coming out, I believe it is out sometime late in 09". Oasis of the Seas. It has two story rooms, it also has a park, yes a park (with trees) on the ship. It's looks fantistic. I agree with the pricing of Disney. A 4 night, for 4 people cost $4800.00, that does include $276.00 for transfers, no fuel charge, deck 6. I think cruising is the way to go for a vaca.

 

[DCLFan712]

This is a great report, but you cannot have a favored cruise line when you write these. You obviously enjoy RCCL better, and you review points this out very clearly.

You note that you children do not enjoy the kids clubs, so you don't go into the fact that Disney puts in more Crew Members and longer operating hours than any other cruise line. If you're saying that you children would get bored of playing ping-pong and shuffleboard, who's to say that they wouldn't get bored with the rock wall and the Florider (way overrated)?

You also don't point out that there is no rotating dining rooms. I know my RCCL cruise was terrible because of me having to go to the same huge dining room with half the cruise ship eating with you.

I am positive the food is better on Disney... There's no comparison. (Except for the Jhonny Rockets, and that Pizza, which beats out Pluto's and Pinocchio's.) But the dining room food is much better, that's my personal opinion, as well as the opinion of many others that have been on both cruise lines.

The one thing that I do like about RCCL though, is the non-stop entertainment. I'm a total night owl, and when the parties, shows, movies and food quit for the night on Disney, I am really upset.

Also, I am very fond of the DCL experience, and I know I hinted at it a bit in this post.