Kid's Clubs - Disney vs RCCL??

[caribear]

I am looking for some opinions of the kids clubs on Disney and Royal Caribbean. My dd will be 3 in August and we are looking into taking a cruise sometime thereafter. DH and I have sailed on Royal Caribbean a couple of times and really enjoyed our cruises. We are thinking about a Disney Cruise, but the price is $1200 higher than Royal Caribbean. We definitely want a balcony cabin, as dd goes to bed early....and dh and I can then relax with a drink on the balcony. Does anyone have any experience with both cruiseline clubs?

Thanks!!

 

[Masonpips]

I haven't done both but my kids adore the clubs on the Magic and instead of staying in the cabin when it was bedtime, we let them stay in the clubs (they put out mats and play movies, dim the lights) and they fell asleep in there while we did some nightclubbing or dinner at Palo. So you don't have to have a balcony for the sole purpose of putting your DD to bed! Also, the DCL clubs are open from 9 or 10 a.m. until 1 a.m. most days - I believe the RCCL ones are 9-12, 2-5 and 7-10 only? The DCL ones give you a bit more flexibility for doing things (a spa appointment, a dinner at Palo, etc.) because the clubs are always available.

 

[NCRedding]

The clubs on RCCL are not open continuously, as they are on DCL. On our cruise, the hours were somthing like 9-12; 2-5; 7-10. After 10, they charge $5 per child for care. 2 nights on our cruise, they offered an evening meal as a group, but you had to sign up early.

Our DD was 10 when we cruised RCCL to Alaska, so I didn't pay much attention to the younger group. DD enjoyed the RCCL clubs almost as much as DCL--the group on RCCL was much smaller, so she found it easier to find a group to hang out with. I thought the supervison was more lax on RCCL- thye had more free time, and that is where our trouble started--there was a kid who was the son of some performers in her group, who thought free time was an excellent time to hit my DD and the other girls with balls--I reported this to the counselors twice, but nothing changed. On the next to last night, DD and the other girls teamed up to teach him a lesson.

The size of the clubs are smaller on RCCL, but they spend a good bit of time out of the clubs. On day on RCCL, the kid's club --probably your age group, dressed up as pirates and paraded all through the ship--they looked adorable.

 

[caribear]

Thanks masonpips and ncredding for your posts! I'm not too concerned about the limited hours on RCCL....I don't think I would be leaving dd for too long...just a dinner alone with dh....or a little down time during the day. I am concerned about the amount of supervision that will be provided for my 3 year old though. Guess I will have to do a little more research on the clubs before we make our decision. If anyone else has any advice please post

Thanks!!

 

[suz&bmj]

Went on an RCCL 7-day eastern in 3/03, just returned from 4-day DCL 12/9. About a day after we came home, our 5 year old son told us, unprompted, that he liked the kid's club on RCCL much better than on DCL.

We did land/sea, and thought that on the ship he would want to spend a lot of time in the club, giving mom and dad at least a fighting chance to relax, unwind from 4 days at WDW, and truly "vacation". Didn't work out that way, as he simply wasn't excited to be in the club like he was on RCCL. It seemed that he only really enjoyed his time in the club on the last day, when they did Buzz Lightyear's space goo in the Lab.

I think that part of the problem was the sheer # of kid's in the club on DCL. The kids had a "graduation ceremony" the last day of sailing, and there were literally hundreds of kids on-stage. On RCCL it seemed like there were at most 15-20 in his age group.

This translated into caregivers that were more like camp counselors - very energetic and happy, seemingly enjoying their jobs. The CM's on DCL seemed to be frazzled virtually all of the time due to the overwhelming # of kids. It must be incredibly difficult to plan and manage activities for that many day after day. Perhaps it's also a difference between 4 days versus 7 days in that the kids get closer to their counselors, but for what it's worth it honestly seemed like the RCCL kid's club was a more fun experience for him overall.

You mentioned having enjoyable dinners - what we did each night on RCCL was bring him with us to dinner, our servers would get his food right out to him so that by the time we finished our appetizers, I would run him up to the club and we could enjoy the rest of dinner and time afterwards. Worked out very, very nicely. On DCL we brought him to dinner with us, as that's what he wanted to do when given the choice between that and the club - to me that says something when a 5 year old boy would rather go to dinner with his parents than play at the club.

 

[caribear]

Thanks suz&bmj for your reply! I can see the Disney clubs being more crowded than Royal Caribbean. I know that RC has a seperate kiddie pool area....does Disney have this also? Sounds like you also had a good plan for dinner! Hope that you and your dh still had time to relax on your vacation!

 

[my3kids]

My friends took their 2 children recently on RCI. They loved the clubs and I was impressed with the quality of the crafts and activities. We are going on RCI next, so I can't report first hand until then. All their counselors have 4 year degrees and loads of experience in group activites and children. I've always read great things about both the activities and counselors.

 

[suz&bmj]

Caribear, the pool situation is a whole different story.

RCCL did have a separate kid's pool area, but there was a fire on our ship the week before our cruise (smoker set the mini golf course on fire), which kept the kid's pool closed the entire 7 days. Needless to say our son was pretty sad.

But he did get to use the family pool a lot. It is definitely bigger than the Goofy Pool, which made it more enjoyable. It was, however, salt water - so bear that in mind if it makes a difference.

RCCL also had a separate adult pool area, much like DCL's quiet cove.

Looking back this is another area that made the RCCL cruise more enjoyable than DCL - the pools. As you can imagine, and may have read on this site, the Mickey Pool and the Goofy Pool are always - always - jammed. There were only 2 instances where they were not so crowded that one of us was not watching my son like a hawk - when we boarded while everyone was eating lunch at Topsider's/PC and Nassau day when people were off the ship. Other than that it was like fighting a holiday mall crowd!

On RCCL the pools were crowded, but not like DCL. Again, likely a function of how many kids on board and the larger size of the pools on RCCL.

I hope I'm not coming across as anti-DCL, because it really was a great trip - especially CC (now there's a place that DCL beats RCCL hands-down)! It just depends on what you want to get out of your cruise vacation.

Hope this helps!

 

[chrisn]

We sailed the 7 Night Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean and the 7 Night RCCL Voyager Western Caribbean. My DS was 4 at the time. There was absolutely no comparison with our kids club experience. RCCL won HANDS DOWN! Less kids, better interaction, more and funner activities. DS paged us several times to pick him up from DCL's. NEVER on RCCL's. We had to drag him kicking and screaming. He practically lived there! I'm not saying that DCL's was bad or anything, but that's just it. It was just ok and I did not expect that from Disney. I really felt that it would have been the other way around. Disney can take some kids club lessons from RCCL. IMHO RCCL's kids clubs were superior.

 

[caribear]

Thanks so much for all of the replies!! Looking at pictures of the pools on Disney really makes it look crowded...but what else would kids want to do...so it makes sense that Disney would have more kids thus the pools would be more crowded. Castaway Cay looks like so much fun...and I know that we would not have anything like this on RCCL. We do live near the beach though...so we do go often...but the idea of Scuttles and all of the activities is enticing.

To make my choice even more difficult, I recieved a great cruise quote for both Disney and RCCL. Disney would be in September or RCCL in November....and the difference in price is only $250.

Seems like RCCL may be the way to go with the kid's club plus there would be more activities for me and dh.....but am I missing out on something "Magical" by not choosing the Disney cruise?

I really appreciate all of your help!!

 

[SandraLee]

I don't remember the age of your kids, but my thoughts are . . .

You can't beat the night family shows on DCL. I keep asking and asking about the live productions on other ships and can't find anything that compares to the DCL productions for kids.

My kids are DD6 and DS9. I'm in for another DCL cruise (either the May repo or Thanksgiving 2005). After that, I'm going to try the Radiance-class ships on RCCL. My kids are happy in and out of the clubs -- either way they are fine. But, my DD LOVES to see the princesses on board. My DS could care less about the characters. I am not interested in a ship that has ice skating or rock climbing -- doesnt' interest me. But, I do love the family enviroment of the Magic.

I like my kids with me during dinner and durning the shows and family entertainment. Outside of that, we figure out other family things to do.

Edited to add . . . RCL does not use a pager system. You have to work it out with your kids when you get them. Others I know just had to go by the clubs to see if they wanted out. Or, if the kids are old enough the family has walkie-talkie things and communicate themselves. But, no pagers on RCL. I LOVE that feature on DCL for kids my age. I am ok with the kids with me hanging out, but I'm fine with them in the club, too. But, if they want out, I want them to be able to find me. For older kids, its not so important, but for this age .... The best.

 

[my3kids]

RCI has 2 of their own islands like Disney has Castaway Cay. Check around to several sources for your RCI price. Travel agents are no longer allowed to cut the price on Royal Caribbean, but what the travel agent gives in exchange for not giving the discount really varies. www.cruisequick.com is giving MasterCard cash cards....ours is around $900 to use like cash.

 

[SandraLee]

The one RCL island I went to was THE PITS. There was nearly zero beach and the snorkeling area was too rocky for my DS to walk out .... We tendered to the ship on the island. Not a big deal, but that island was nothing to write home about.

It was actually better on the ship than on their private island.

 

[cindalu]

I also vote for DCL. I also like the pager system. My 3 girls had a great time in the club. They are 7,6 and 3. We went in May and they didn't want to leave the club. I also like the fact that there isn't a casino on board. That doesn't interest me.

Another vote for DCL.

 

[budwmn]

I keep wanting to try other cruise lines as a family, but haven't yet (We did go on Royal Caribbean before children). It has nothing to do with the kids' clubs -- I'm sure they're all pretty good. It's because there's more to a cruise than putting your kids in a club the whole time. My DS 8 enjoys the family movies and cartoons, stage shows, deck parties, and character breakfasts, etc. Yes, he spends some time in the clubs (mainly at night when we want to go dancing or to Palo), but for us it's a family cruise and we spend it as a family. No other cruise line has the same amount of family entertainment as DCL. We'll wait to take him on another line when he's a teenager, for now, it's DCL all the way!

 

[cindalu]

I totally agree. What is the point of going on a vacation with kids if all they are going to do is be in the club. There is more on the ship than that. There is the family nightclub. The shows.

It is the whole atmosphere of Disney. You can't get that anywhere else.

 

[prymsu]

My 12 year old son has been to kids programs on Carnival, DCL and RCCL. He by far loves the RCCL program over the other two.

 

[caribear]

I agree that there is definitely more to a cruise than the kid's clubs, but you are placing a lot of trust in the counselors when they watch your children. It is always nice to hear other people's experiences. I only forsee my 3 year old spending 2 or 3 evenings there so DH and I can enjoy a nice dinner...and maybe a chance to play with children her age. I think we might wait a couple of years to go on a Disney cruise, so my dd can enjoy all it has to offer. At 3 years old I think she will get lost in the crowd of children at the pool and I know that will be the main draw on sea days. I think she will appreciate it more in a couple of years. I think we are going to try RCCL and with any luck we will be able to convince some family members to come along! Of course I do have until 12/24 to put a deposit on the Disney cruise......DH says whatever I want to do....so to me it is a tough choice.

 

[cindalu]

caribear,
I have a daughter who just turned 4. We went on the DCL in May when she was 3. She had a blast. She was with her sisters in the club and did not want to leave. Waiting is your decision but I don't think she would get lost. I say take her.

 

[caribear]

Thanks for the reply, cindalu

Does anyone happen to have some pictures of the ship on the sea days? I am really interested to see how crowded it might be. Most reviews say the pool deck was packed, but I know that depends on the sail date. We will be going on Sept 17 or Nov 26.

Thanks!