Hi,
@quickcat! I'm here!
Yes, I've sailed 15 cruises across all 4 Disney ships in the past 6 years as well as 3 NCL cruises (Getaway & Escape) in 2015/16. I've also sailed on
Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas. Will sail Harmony of the Seas in October.
100% and then some I can tell you we've sailed a disproportionate amount with Disney because first and foremost we are a Disney-loving family. I do NOT subscribe to the idea that Disney is better because it's Disney. I have sailed other lines. I choose their newest/latest/greatest ships because from research I know these are the vessels where I'll enjoy myself most. Disney is great at Disney things. If you get a greater enjoyment when the little Mickey signatures are all around you, the characters enhance your endorphins levels, etc. then look no further than Disney. I have found service, entertainment, facilities, decor, activities, & food to all kind of average themselves out across the lines. Some ships are a little better in one area where they are a little lesser in another. Pros & cons on EVERY ship, not just by cruiseline.
Wanna know the absolute WORST cruise I ever had? Dining service was virtually non-existent, I'd never know I had a room host if my bed hadn't magically been made, my dry-cleaning turned into them writing on my clothes in permanent ink, snafu snafu snafu at every turn.... .....hope you're sitting down for this..... ....was on the Disney Wonder. Yep. A Disney ship. (Let's watch all the diehard fans fall over & roll in the floor gasping. LOL!). We booked back to back Wonder double dip sailings in the fall of 2014. The first leg of the back to back was sooooo terrible overall that at then end of it when we were preparing for our turnaround day hubby & I both expressed a desire to just haul our luggage off the ship, get in the car, and go home rather than reboard for the next 5 days. We had a lengthy conversation about it. We'd be literally walking away from the couple thousand dollars we spent on that 2nd cruise because there's no way any of it would be refunded. If we hadn't been booked on the Wonder for the westbound Panama Canal the following May I think we would've walked away that day. If I was going to spend 2 weeks on that ship the following year I just desperately didn't want to leave on a sour note. I wanted to try. So we gave the Wonder that 2nd shot and all was redeemed. (Moved staterooms. Different dining service team. Disney did reimburse me for damaging my clothes & has changed their process. Just overall the vibe was vastly different.)
Our very first cruise was on the Dream. At that time my sons were 13 & 15 years old. The Aqua Duck was a feature we were psyched for. Hubby & I thought it was neat. My boys' words were, "It's okay. Kinda slow & boring." It's nothing all crazy exciting. Is it fun? Sure! Is it something my teens wanted to do over & over because it was so awesome? Nope.
My sons did not sail on Getaway. Hubby & I did. We did do the water slides. Well, hubby did the drop slide while I did not. The only reason was because they require you to remove every piece of jewelry you have on. I was not unscrewing my diamond studs, taking off rings, etc. for a short water slide. I held hubby's watch, gold chain, and wedding band while he went. He said it was awesome. Loved it. He actually went like 4 times in a row because we timed it on a port day and it was barely drizzling so there was 3 other people total doing warerslides. LOL! We both did the twisty slides a whole bunch of times in a row which was soooooo much fun!
We did the rock wall together. Always entertaining. The ropes course is a BLAST! The zip line part is such fun! Walking the plank is an absolute must. Such a rush! When we had our sons on Escape the following year the ropes course was something we all had fun doing together multiple, multiple times. (We sailed Escape back to back so we had lots of time to repeat stuff we liked.) We are big American Ninja Warrior fans so we came up with the idea to run the ropes course ANJ-style: run through the elements as fast & nimble as we can. I literally did a run-n-jump off the platform for one of the zip lines! Walk the plank? Go out to the end & hold both arms straight out, no hands! It's crazy awesome fun!
I can't speak a whole lot to the pools. Pools aren't a huge priority for us & we rarely get in them. The times we have are typically during dinner times or on port days when they're empty. I saw the pics someone posted above of the pools. Here's a couple
Disney cruise pool pics:
Looks like fun, huh??? LOL! Look, cruise ships are limited to how big the pools can be. On embarkation day & sunny at-sea days this is what cruise ship pools will be. I've seen adult pools pretty crowded, too, but maybe not quite as much. If the pools are a must-do you can either join the people-soup, plan for off-times, or be flexible so if you walk by & the pool is empty you run back to your room, & suit-up. This is simply cruise ship life. If a resort pool is a huge vacation draw for you, a land-based resort vacation is a better fit for you.
When we took our sons on NCL Escape they were already 18 & 20 yrs old so I can't comment on what the teen clubs are like with NCL. I know from past experiences with Disney's teen clubs that it's all about the kids. Teenagers like cool spaces but what's a cool space if you didn't connect with any new friends? It's hit or miss. A couple of the Disney cruises my boys made great friends, 1 or 2 they still talk to. On a couple Disney cruises my boys didn't like any of the other kids so they hung out with each other or us. A couple times they'd make friends but their little group preferred hanging out outside the club so they organized themselves that way. The key is to get the kids to go to the first night ice breaker thing. They all do a first night get-to-know-everyone thing. That's the key! Go to that and check it out. The rest of the cruise moves forward with the kids from there.
Disney's staterooms are a little bigger than Getaway. The split bathroom configurations are nice when rooming with teens but not a necessity. We function just fine in the single baths, too. In fact, I almost prefer the single baths over the split. The single is bigger than the 2 smaller splits. I don't feel like I'm getting dressed in a phone booth. Also, I hate when I'm in 1 side of the split bath but what I need is in the other. Both ships pack tons of storage in their respective small spaces. Both have comfortable beds. Both provide fantastic hosts, nice decor, etc. When we sailed Allure of the Seas we put our sons in an inside room directly across from our balcony room & had extra keys cut to each room. I put a binder clip on the extra keys, used a magnetic hook stuck to the backside of the stateroom doors, and a key to the other room was hung in each room. We could both always access the other as needed. My boys loved having their own room with their own single beds. Disney's ship beds do not split into singles anymore. With that extra $3k on Getaway you could maybe get a bigger room or a second room altogether!
Dining. Disney does the 2 assigned dinner seatings in the 3 rotations restaurants. It's nice to have your servers get to know you. Well, sorta. At first we thought that was so lovely. But, ya know, sometimes you just want to sit together in peace and not be chatty. And if I do something different for dinner, not go to the dining room, I hate that I have to explain why when my dining team are all fawning over why we didn't come. I don't like being assigned a time I have to eat. Doesn't always fit when I happen to be ready for dinner. If I opt NOT to go to the main dining room I want options. Disney offers very limited options. Very limited. At least on NCL you have the option of a casual buffet with loads of choices besides a pizza, burger, hotdog, or chicken tenders.
NCL offers maaaaany more diverse upcharge venues. More options. Thankfully, upcharge dining is an option with the free promo choices. We loved the diverse options! We've enjoyed them all!
Overall food quality? They're all about the same to me. None of them really blow my mind. Well, Remy brunch with champagne pairings on Disney's new ships is my ultimate jam but that's big $$$$$ and teens can't do it anyway.
I'm not an easy person to please with food. I'm not so picky. I'm a pretty good cook. 99% of the time I leave restaurants knowing I like the food I cook considerably more. Restaurant food is just food I didn't have to make and it fills the void in my belly. If I want to have crazy excellent yummy enjoyable food I'll cook it. Or get my husbabd or son to cook it. Such is life when traveling.
On Disney there is less things you'd need to pay extra for. BUT, there's less options. On NCL you have all the same included dining options (except room service) as Disney but you also have a larger selection of more diversified options to choose from. Room service is the sticking point. On NCL all room service orders have a service fee. Like $4.95. On Disney it's "free" (you should always tip the person who brought it a couple dollars at least) unless you order something that has a cost. I have no issue with either one of them.
Disney includes soda. NCL doesn't. Not a big thing to me. I don't drink soda. Could care less. The diehards tout this as such a ripoff by cruise lines who charge for soda. It's in the perspective. It's no secret that on-average Disney cruises are more expensive. I look at it like this: on Disney the price is what it is and you pay for all the things. On other lines the price is lower and I pay for the things I want. Personally, I'd much rather pay for what I want vs. having what I'd don't want lumped-in. Ya know?
Bottom line, we've really enjoyed all our cruises but the one. They're all a ton of fun. We find things to love about them all. There's always things we don't like so much about each. Doesn't really matter which cruise line. The best part is always the time spent together making memories.
If you have specific questions feel free to ask.
