Non Disney Cruises

[Magic Megadegs]

Hi There, I've heard Wayne G and a few others talk about non Disney cruises and we are thinking next year about trying our first cruise, probably Royal Caribbean Cruise line as we have 2 children under 10.

I know this is probably not the right place as it is not Disney planning but I was after some advice if at all possible. The 2014 dates we are interested in are being released in the next couple of weeks. I was just wondering if anyone had been on a RCCL cruise and knew any of the following:
1) is it better value to book early or late
2) are there any companies to book through where they offer better deals than others?
3)is there a massive difference between inside and outside cabins in terms of how often we'll be in there with the little people?
4)where abouts on a ship is it best to be, front, middle, back etc?

We are thinking of a cruise direct from Southampton and would have to go during school holidays as I teach and both children are at school.

Thank you so much for any help anyone can give xxx

 

[luke]

We are going on our first non disney cruise this may, RCCL from Southampton to Norway, during the May half term (last week may first of June).

Really looking forward to it.

Can't help with the rest of the questions, yet

 

[Magic Megadegs]

Have a fabulous time Luke x We'd be looking at HHS Med area I think but only to try and chase the sun!!!

 

[mackay_j]

Just went on our 1st cruise over new year - our family - dh, me, dd 19yrs and dd 15yr. . We sailed carnival tampa-coz-belize-rotan-grand cayman-tampa.

We were not sure what to expect and had booked to see belize, snorkel rotan and no1 to see my new born niece in the cayman islands (we had looked at going to cayman but it was £1500 just to get there!).

Out come -we loved it - girls got to see and do things that were true one offs- youngest loved the teen club (had to insist she dined with us and went to the show with us before the feld to meet up with mates. But the elder one really had nothing to take part in at night with people her own age - she wasn't bothered and stayed with us (a few weeks off her 20th and she could not get into disco etc.)- but that not an issue for you for quite a while

The cruise Ship only part - the jurys out for us- We had a ball and loved some of it - new years eve on the deck - some of the shows and the family comedy club- food was good (mostly)- but we found the sea days - 2 full days a bit dull - the on deck entertainment - not our sort of thing- think butlins/ holiday rep stuff- games etc- (infact we spoke with a few of the staff who were ex butlins reps).


Things we were glad we done
1. any time dining- were glad not to have booked early or late as sometimes after a day out it would have been a push to be ready for the 1st sitting Also with any thime (at least on carnival) you can choose to eat at a table just for your own party. - we liked this as it was a family break (eldest away at uni so wanted as much time together as possible)

2. balcony room- we don't like buffet food (we are just hopeless at it - we see others all sit down together and eat - but we are like mearcats we never get it right 0ne of us is always up to find something that we didn't get . With a balcony we could get room service breakfast and sit out on deck to enjoy it. - But Im not sure how I feel about a balcony with younger children - but Im an over worrier.

3. Make sure and get a room thats big enough- we saw in some of the inside rooms that had 1 double bed and then upper beds folded out above them- not sure how we would have coped in such a small space.

4. Make sure the places you go have age approp stuff to do- we saw a few quite board young kids in belize being dragged round the mayan ruins in the heat - didn't look fun for the kids or their parents.


5. Price didn't change much for us (booking early or late would have made no diff) - all sales added to same overall price- may just have been because it was a new year sailing. Best prices for late bookings are through - vactions to go 90 day ticker- Also sometimes good deals through virgin and opodo (MIL cruises a lot and uses these).

6 middle of ship is best (also lower down ) if you get sea sick. Make sure and choose your cabin if you don't like noise- (not above below threater, resturants, lido, disco- best in deck sandwiched between other cabin desks)

We would definately cruise again but only to get to see places that we really wanted to visit. And we would make sure and have as few sea days as possible

 

[Disneymad]

I've not taken one, but have been doing a lot of research on RCCL myself recently as am contemplating broadening my horizons away from DCL (partly because of costs, partly because different itineraries).

Some things I've learned.

RCCL have different offers (and also T&C so be aware of that) between the UK and the USA. So keep an eye on both - this is easier said than done as if you put in the USA web address it auto-redirects to the UK.

Offers - depends on ships, dates and itineraries, however my gut feeling when sniffing around is that they tend to frequently have special offers pop up throughout the year, so think of them like an airline. Sometimes it pays off to grab a booking as soon as they open up for 'hot dates' but a lot of the time you can just hold on to your cash and book a bit closer to the time without losing out and even potentially get a better deal.

Travel agents both here and in the USA sometimes offer additional incentives like OBC (on board credit). I noticed Dreams (the disboards travel agency) now takes RCCL bookings and offer scalable OBC based on the cost of the cruise the same way they do for DCL.

Inside or Outside cabins is a toughie as it's so subjective. Given the choice, I'd plump for an Outside (especially a balcony) because it really *is* very cool waking up with a view - BUT, I've done Inside too and honestly I don't feel it detracted from the experience significantly. It's the icing on the cake but the cake is delicious regardless

As mentioned, if worried about sea sickness, lower down and mid ship has less motion. Aside from that, end of corridors, away from elevators mean a little more walking for you, but less 'through traffic' past your door at night.

I'm the opposite of Mackay-J though - I love sea days!

I heartily recommend checking out the RCCL forum on Cruise Critic - I got oodles of information from there about the cruiseline. They also have a big Ports of Call section on the site which can be really helpful when looking at itineraries.

They are also pretty friendly forums and are in a similar atmosphere to the DIS. With all the cruise lines represented over there it would be very easy for the place to be a big btchfest between each cruiseline's group of 'fans', but in reality it rarely happens as a lot of them cruise on multiple lines/ships so they're more helpful than competitive.

Hope that helps

 

[allison0523]

We have been on Carnival and RCCL with our young son. He was 2 when we went on the Freedom of the Seas on a W. Carribean cruise and 4 when we went on 2 Carnival cruises. We are going on our first Disney cruise next month and can't wait! I know everyone is different but we liked Carnival a lot more than RCCL. We felt the food was the same on both, the entertainment was slightly better on RCCL but the kids club was a lot better on Carnival. Plus, when we went on RCCL, it was an older crowd , whereas Carnival was a more mixed crowd that included an infant up to a group of singing seniors. We had a balcony on all 3 ships and the rooms were all comparable. RCCL cost us almost twice as much as the Carnival cruise and we didn't feel that it was worth that. But, any cruise is a good cruise!

 

[Clare D]

We did the Disney WOnder in 2006 and loved it, however we now find that DCL is very expensive. Unfortunately we travel in school holidays now which isn't ideal but last year we did 7 days on the RCCL Allure of the Seas.
There was myself and DH and our boys who were 9 and 4 and we all loved it. We did the Eastern Carribean which is the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Martin but due to he tropical storm we visited Jamacia and MExico instead.

I booked this in May 2010 so over 2 years before we travelled and through the Cruise Specialists who gave us a discount on top of the discount quoted online by RCCL. We had the stateroom with the window seat overlooking Central Park and it cost us £2400 approx inc tips.

On the Wonder we had a balcony but we hardly used it but we loved sitting in the window seat on the Allure people watching.

The food on the Allure was fantastic, the staff and shows were excellent and I would definitely travel with them again. I think we will wait a couple of years any maybe try the new ships.

I prefer mid ship.

My dad has done the independent around the med and loved it and again got a cracking a deal through the TA was used. The TA is part of the co op group so that gave us added peace of mind.

Any questions please ask.

 

[tennisfan]

My parents have sailed P&O and they didn't enjoy it, the staff looked down on the passengers and didn't mingle on the drinks evening.

My parents have since been with RCCL and loved it from the food, entertainment to the staff who were very social and friendly. The maid to there room stayed and showed my mum how to do towel animals one day. They booked fairly early and got upgraded from a balcony to a junior suite for £300 extra nearer the cruise.

They are looking at doing the Norwegian fjords next year with RCCL.

Try Iglu or Liverpool cruise club for prices. I have researched and RCCL seems to be priced almost identical with all the companies, just waiting to see if they do on board credit for the cruise my parents want next year.

 

[luke]

We are going on our first non disney cruise this may, RCCL from Southampton to Norway, during the May half term (last week may first of June).

Really looking forward to it.

Can't help with the rest of the questions, yet

Hmmmmmm....

Had a great time but found Royal Caribbean a world apart from DCL...