Just got back from RCCL cruise, any ???

[Donalds_best_pal]

In your opinion which is better? What are each cruiselines strong points and week points?
Thanks
Matt

 

[gscott8075]

We have done many, many DCL cruises. When I told my wife and kids that I wanted to try something else, they all revolted.

After they settled down and I went over the cost with my wife, she reluctantly agreed. We went on RCCL Enchantment for 5 nights. It was a great trip.

Now that my horizons have expanded beyond DCL, we are going to try Princess this summer.

The timing of the kids clubs is annoying. The cool part was that one of the counselors was our kids counselor on one of the DCL cruises. To make up for it, the clubs played Disney songs to help the girls adjust.

They did a great job. The Disney ship is magnificent - EOS was nice - bt not as nice.

But, it was a lot less expensive and it was almost as much fun.

I would try another. DCL is raising prices to the point of absurdity. Our first 7 day in 2000 was 3600 in a Cat 9 in June. Now, its 6000. We are booked on the brand new Diamond Princess - our Alaska cruise is $3500 for the week. I cannot justify spending that much more money.

 

[webray]

Wow..sounds like you had a great time. We too, are going to depart from DCL and try another cruise line...RCCL...to ALaska...can't wait!

 

[ksmom]

Pamlet, we are thinking about RCCL out of Glaveston also since we live in Kansas and could take a 1 day long drive down there instead of flying to Orlando. We've been on the Wonder so I just don't want to be disappointed on RCCL. Our girls are older, 19 and 20 so we don't need the kids area. Just not sure what to do.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Hey CheapMom! I saw where RCCL is going out of Baltimore and I think we may just try that in another two years. I thought their prices were really high this year but I hope that's just because they're new and "testing the waters" here in Baltimore.

This next DCL will be the last if they keep inflating their prices so much every year. It's just becoming too much. I love DCL but there is a point.

 

[Lynda Silk]

I'm a loyal Disney cruiser but I have to admit that I've booked a cruise on Enchantment of the Seas (4 day, Western Caribbean) with RCI in April. I'm going with my mom and sister, and I didn't book Disney because it was $1,000 more for the 3 of us and because I kind of wanted to keep DCL for my own family vacations.

I've looked at the boards at cruisecritic and many of the comments on the RCI cruises are the same as the ones on this board. Many people said that they and their children wouldn't choose any other cruise line than RCI! Of course, none of them had cruised Disney before but they obviously had had fabulous times on the other lines.

I think that we're lucky to have so much choice between such great cruise lines. We can get the best of all worlds! And by using the boards, you can pick up so much information that you can pick and choose the right cruise that meets the needs of that particular trip. The Disney cruises are fantastic, but I wouldn't rule out other alternatives.

Just wanted to voice some of my thoughts about this!

 

[awatt]

I have cruised RCCL and DCL. Both are great for slightly different reasons. Would not hesitate to cruise RCCL in the future,and in fact we are in November!

 

[kajohn]

Originally posted by Donalds_best_pal
In your opinion which is better? What are each cruiselines strong points and week points?
Thanks
Matt

After sailing both RCCL 3 times twice on Voyager class ships (the biggest ones with the royal promenade inside), and once on Radiance class ships (their newest ships similar in size to the Magic) and on the Magic here are some of my thoughts:

Casual Food: I thought the availability of food was much better on RCCL. Room service had much more to offer, ice cream was avialable until at least midnight as compared to 5 or 6 pm on DCL. Within RCCL, the food choices are better on the Voyager class than the Radiance, but both are better than DCL.

Buffets - Both are about the same food quality wise. DCL did offer more variety at lunch. RCCL seemed to have the same stuff everyday.

Dining room - I liked the food choices on RCCL better, and thought the food was maybe slightly better, but both were pretty good. I greatly prefer the formalness of the dining rooms on RCCL ships. I love the 3 story grand dining rooms with the chandeliers and grand pianos (2 story on RAdiance class ships).

Service - I would rate this as equal. Both lines offered great service! To me the service is the best part of sailing on a cruiseship. I love the way the cabin steward knows your name after the first day, and never fails to smile and say hi Kelli how was your day in St. Thomas or whatever. I even like when you walk down a corridor and a room steward you don't even know says smiles and asks how your day is. There is definetely as much "Pixie Dust" from crew members on RCCL as on Disney.

Entertainment - For families DCL wins this one hands down, with all the Disney production shows. However as an adult, I enjoyed RCCL much better. More variety, although since it changes from week to week, some entertainers are better than others.

Recreation - More family type planned activities on DCL, but much more variety on RCCL (at least the Voyager and Radiance class ships). With the rock wall, putt putt, inline skating, ice skating, nicer shuffle board courts (DCL had non slip sections on it, the pucks wouldn't slide) and much larger arcade. So it depends on your family, if you like the interactive activities with the cruise staff for families than DCL is better, but if you like just doing your own thing as a family than RCCL is better.

Cruise directory and staff - I thought the cruise director on the Magic was a bore, very stuffy in his white uniform, and no personality. I found the rest of his staff to be fun. RCCL cruise directors are very outgoing and fun usually, although they vary greatly. I loved the staff on our Radiance cruise to alaska and the cruise director was the best ever, however the staff on the Adventure was about the same as on DCL.

Ships - As far as beauty goes, the Radiance class ships are the most beautiful ships I have ever seen. Glass in the atrium and the eleveators where you can see outside. beautiful artwork on the Radiance. The Voyager had pretty artwork, but not as nice as the Radiance. The Adventure's artwork was a little bizarre, more modern and not my thing.

I like the vast open spaces on the RCCL ships (at least the class of ships I have been on). The promenade down the center is 4 stories tall, with the centrums at each end are 10 stories tall! The elevators open to this. The centrums on the radiance class ship was also 9 or 10 stories tall, but without the promenade.

I did like the classic design of the DCL ships, and liked the wooden chairs on deck 4.

Pools - DCL has fresh water pools, which was nice. However they are very small. The pools on the RCCL ships were much larger, and the salt didn't seem that bad. It was nice to see them drain them and scrub them at night several times during the week. The hot tubs on RCCL were fresh water.

Casino - We like the casino, so that is a big plus for us, but if you don't like them, that would be a big negative, it is just a personal choice.

Smoking - DCL let people smoke up on deck. RCCL only permitted smoking on the starboard side of the decks, so if you wanted to avoid smoking, walk on the port side of deck 4 or the port side or middle when on the pool decks.

Kids clubs - I haven't brought my kids on RCCL yet, so I can't say much. DCL does have a large edge over RCCL on the times they are open.

Enforcing adult only areas - I would say both lines are good at this. I never saw kids where they weren't suposed to be on our RCCL cruises. I also never saw kids roaming around the ship unsupervised.

Formal nights/dress code - RCCL is much more formal on formal nights. about 40% of the men were wearing tuxes on our Adventure cruise and at least 90-95% of the rest were wearing dark suits/sport coats. Also the compass (Navigator on DCL ships) was very specific on dress - for casual night it states "Please note that bare feet, shorts and tank tops are not permitted in the Dining Rooms at dinner" I enjoy dressing up, and having everyone else dressing up too. The dining on DCL was very casual, with many many people on our cruise not following the dress guidelines. While it didn't ruin my cruise, I just prefer to sail on a ship that does offer a more formal environment.


Overall - I prefer RCCL, especially for a cruise without my kids. DCL offers a great product, but I just don't think it is worth the extra money.

We take the kids every other cruise, so next year they are sailing with us on the Explorer of the seas, and then I think my husband and I will try Princess just to see how it is!

 

[BethA]

We are sailing on AOS in June and I enjoyed reading this thread. We have only sailed DCL--4 times now-- and my younger son-8- is not happy about the change. Does anyone know what activities are available for his age and for teens?

Also if the shows are not geared for families what is available for families to do together? We are traveling with my parents and brother and his kids and 3 other families. On DCL we all went to the shows together and some of the trivia contests etc and then everyone split up. As a family we will not be skating or rock climbing, so what else can we do.

So am I correct that at dinner you pay for soda? What about milk? What is available to drink at the buffet? Did you miss the food by the pool at all?

Do they have a pager system at the kids club? On a ship that large I'm not sure I want Brandon running around trying to find us if he doesn't like an activity?
Are there deck parties like on DCL or just thinks in the promanade?

Sounds like the rooms are a lot smaller--is there enough storage space, and are the bathrooms very small?

I know I will miss DCL, but at least I feel better after reading some positives on AOS. On another board I had read a lot of negatives.

What beach did you go to in Aruba? Did it offer jetskis? We usually go to a beach on our own and try not to go to far from the ship.

thanks for the great information.
Beth

 

[TootyJane]

Hi Kelli ~ I know that RCCL is a little less expensive then DCL, but I have heard that RCCL charges you all those little extras, like soda at dinner, ice cream, ect...is this true? Did you feel as though RCCL was "nickel and dimeing" you to death?

Yes our RCCL cruised was substantially less than DCL. When we cruised on the Voyager of the Seas in August 2003 we purchased soda stickers for each of our kids. We were not charged for sodas at dinner the kids just showed them their cards with the stickers. I can't remember if sodas were free or if there was a charge in the dining room. There was never a charge for ice cream. The only extra food charges we incurred was eating at Johnny Rockets -- they have the BEST milk shakes!!! Having said this, RCCL is pretty much the same as any other cruise line and we never felt "nickeled and dimed" to death at all. HTH

 

[Vivig]

This has been a great thread to read! Thank you all for the great posts!

BethA may I ask that you post your findings in June once you return. We will be sailing for our third time this March with DCL and would like to change..however your son and my son are very similar in ages and I would love to know how it all works out for you all

Thanking you in advance...
Have a safe sail...

 

[mickeymom923]

I did RCCL VOS 12-18 to 12-24. Without a doubt, I like Disney better. The service on DCL was better; sodas are free 24/7 on DCL; the soft ice cream was free and open 24/7 on DCL and closed at 11 pm on RCCL. On RCCL, they charge for sodas and juice unless you get a card; charge for Ben & Jerry's; service charge of $3.95 per person for Johnny Rockets plus an extra charge for sodas and milkshakes. On DCL you can tell the people like working for Disney and it shows. On RCCL you can tell it's a job. DCL staff is much friendlier. I would go on RCCl but only if it's a great price. The price I got while on board RCCL for August 05 was $2000 higher than I am paying on DCL for August 06. Rooms are bigger on DCL and we had to get 2 rooms for 2 each on RCCL because the rooms are so small. Forget the bathrooms - they are very small.

 

[DisneyDiva4ever]

Kelli -

Not to change the subject, but what did you think of Curacao? I am on the 14 day Eastbound repositioning cruise on the Magic. I am starting to think about the ports & was curious as to what you did when you were there. Was it a fun place to stop?

Thanks for any info!

 

[KimDisFan]

We have sails DCL 3 times, RCI (NOS) once and Carnival (Glory) once. When I ask my DD10 which she prefers, it is the RCI NOS. Based on price, it is difficult to justify DCL anymore. Especially since my DD has outgrown it (too bad I haven't)

 

[kajohn]

Sorry Beth I haven't replied until now after directing you to this thread, I couldn't get onto this board until this morning, must have been down for maintenance when I tried.

I can't answer a lot about what is available for families yet, since I didn't pay much attention to that on our previous cruises, but we are sailing on the Explorer of the seas in 33 days and will have our kids with us this time. In regards to pager, I have heard they are only available for the very small children. Our plan is to bring radios with us, and to have the kids take them to the club with them. If they need to get a hold of us to leave, they can radio us and tell us to come pick them up. I will let you know how this works when I get back.

As for someone asking about Curacao, we loved that port! It is very different that the ports like St. Thomas, or St. Maarten. It is very dutch influenced. Most of the tourist who go there are from Holland and Europe. Other than the few US cruiseships that dock there, they really don't get a lot of Americans. We went on a great excursion that was a combination Snorkeling and Kayaking excursion I booked through the cruiseline. It was very good, and then we shopped some in the main touristy part of town.

I love the southern carribean itinerary, however, it is much more expensive to fly to San Juan than Florida, so unfortunately we don't take that trip near as often!

I will post a trip report here on DCL again, if people are interested when we get back.

 

[MarkLem]

We did our first cruise last january and it was on DCL. It was great, but in just a year prices have gone up considerably. I have heard so many good things about RCCL that we are giving them a long hard look for a future cruise.

 

[DisneyDiva4ever]

Thanks for the tips on Curacao. I am really looking forward to my visit!

 

[dobelover]

Sorry Beth I haven't replied until now after directing you to this thread, I couldn't get onto this board until this morning, must have been down for maintenance when I tried.

I can't answer a lot about what is available for families yet, since I didn't pay much attention to that on our previous cruises, but we are sailing on the Explorer of the seas in 33 days and will have our kids with us this time. In regards to pager, I have heard they are only available for the very small children. Our plan is to bring radios with us, and to have the kids take them to the club with them. If they need to get a hold of us to leave, they can radio us and tell us to come pick them up. I will let you know how this works when I get back.

As for someone asking about Curacao, we loved that port! It is very different that the ports like St. Thomas, or St. Maarten. It is very dutch influenced. Most of the tourist who go there are from Holland and Europe. Other than the few US cruiseships that dock there, they really don't get a lot of Americans. We went on a great excursion that was a combination Snorkeling and Kayaking excursion I booked through the cruiseline. It was very good, and then we shopped some in the main touristy part of town.

I love the southern carribean itinerary, however, it is much more expensive to fly to San Juan than Florida, so unfortunately we don't take that trip near as often!

I will post a trip report here on DCL again, if people are interested when we get back.

I would like to hear about your trip.

 

[26555]

Do they have an easy section of the rock wall for young kids to climb? Or any age limits on the rock climbing?