not DCL and so confused!

[sambycat]

now I am that person who has no idea what the heck is going on!!! i put a deposit down on the podcast cruise 6.0 under duress after seeing the price and itinerary and now i am looking at all things quantum of the seas and realizing I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON HERE.

the food, the everything, the drink package!! i suspect, given the fact it doesn't leave for more than a year, i guess i have time..... but i don't understand how to navigate cruise critic, and i have yet to plumb the disboards, other than just getting random RCL citations. aaaahhhhhhhh, first world problems!
i could have sworn i've read before that there has been another discruise NOT on DCL? we are hoping that the discard bubble will make up for the lack of mickey.......

side note, listened matt and len's podcast comparing DCL/RCCL and i felt way less sure we would like RCCL after..... and then adding up everything you pay for, i think the RCCL will be about what we pay for $$$ disney....


i guess i will be spending lots of time on the RCL/disboards boards... sigh

 

[OKW Lover]

A couple of things:
PCC 6.0 is on the Oasis of the Seas, not Quantum.
You'll get some good answers on the official thread for PCC 6.0 here. http://www.disboards.com/threads/podcast-cruise-6-0-official-info.3399156/

If you're confused about dining and drink stuff, you aren't alone. Fortunately there are quiet a few on that thread who do understand and can explain things.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Cruise critic is actually very similar to the old version of disboards. I use it on my iPhone all the time and it's pretty easy to navigate. We are jumping ship for a Mediterranean cruise next June and I've been able to learn quite a bit by getting on the cruise meet forum for our sailing. The people have been super nice and I just explained I'm used to the way DCL does things and have a lot of questions on the way the new ship works. I think you'll be well educated on things by the tone you go.

I'm sailing on a ship that hasn't been in the water yet so am reading lots of other trip reports on the line but with their other ships. That has helped to put my mind at ease.

I also have to keep telling myself it's not going to be Disney. It's just going to be a different mindset.

 

[hart6066]

We have done both Dream and Oasis with kids of prime age for Disney (7/10, 9/11) and we go to Disney every year, and I honestly think you will LOVE the Oasis. Feel free to contact me--I use both cc and Dis all the time. I would not want to be on a Disney boat for more than 4/5 nights bc I just don't think there's enough to do--I could do a month on the Oasis and not have done it all! I think you'll like both for different reasons and it's really nice to switch it around. And I would be shocked if your 7 night Oasis trip, even including the extra soda charge (which I believe is the ONLY extra charge that isn't covered by RCCL vs Disney) doesn't cost quite a bit less.

Again, I love DCL and the Dream but as far as things to do for both kids and adults, the Oasis has so much more that I think the week long is nicer on there. But again feel free to ask any questions.

 

[ayz75]

Not really sure what "added" cost you're referring to except for soda package?? I was on Oasis a few years ago and I thought the wine package works pretty similar. (based on my current research anyway as I am going on my first DCL in 2 weeks) you pay for the pretty much the same thing as on RCCL..Specialty restaurants, wine/alcohol/drinks. We never bought the soda package on RCCL cuz I'm fine without them. Honestly, I really don't get the added $$ talk :S (I'm not even some kind of loyal RCCL fan, I've only been on it once.. not defending it or anything!)

 

[tinkerone]

I wish we were going on the pod cast cruise and hope the next one will sail the oasis as well. we have booked the first oasis sailing out of pc and i'm excited about it, so sailing about 4 weeks before the pod cast cruise. even adding in the need for us to purchase a drink package we are way ahead in the cost department. WAY ahead. you may want to look at apple to apples. figure the cost of the cruise and add the basic pop package (I think its 6.50 a day p.p.). that is pretty much what you get on the Disney cruise. they both have specialty restaurants that you need to pay for if you use them so don't take those into account. i'll bet once you actually figure it out your also way ahead.
be excited, it may be a year away but that's not so long. it will be here before you know it.

 

[bumbershoot]

There's a RCCL section on the boards here, even....

Not really sure what "added" cost you're referring to except for soda package??

Agreed. And surely even if you want the Ultimate package it's not going to add up to the cost of a similar cruise on DCL...

Drinks packages: http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf

The prices aren't exact; take those per-day rates and add an 18% gratuity to them...


What are your questions? Hopefully your post will be moved to the Royal forum.

 

[GatorWayne]

now I am that person who has no idea what the heck is going on!!! i put a deposit down on the podcast cruise 6.0 under duress after seeing the price and itinerary and now i am looking at all things quantum of the seas and realizing I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON HERE.

the food, the everything, the drink package!! i suspect, given the fact it doesn't leave for more than a year, i guess i have time..... but i don't understand how to navigate cruise critic, and i have yet to plumb the disboards, other than just getting random RCL citations. aaaahhhhhhhh, first world problems!
i could have sworn i've read before that there has been another discruise NOT on DCL? we are hoping that the discard bubble will make up for the lack of mickey.......

side note, listened matt and len's podcast comparing DCL/RCCL and i felt way less sure we would like RCCL after..... and then adding up everything you pay for, i think the RCCL will be about what we pay for $$$ disney....


i guess i will be spending lots of time on the RCL/disboards boards... sigh

Cruise Critic is simple enough to learn. I have cruised with RCCl nearly twenty times and the experience is just about the same as my two DCL Fantasy cruises. My last cruise was on Oasis and my wide and I had a fabulous time. I think the food and shows are a bit better on DCL and the service is better on DCL. RCCL has gone ridiculous on drink prices with nearly all drinks starting around $10. Being a diamond member I just enjoyed free drinks in the evening at the diamond lounge. RCCl is trying to bring dynamic dining to their fleet. My understanding of it is you can go anytime and have a choice of 3 free (maybe 5) venues. One is formal night in one of the venues. Other are pay restaurants but lots of variety. The drink package includes much more than drinks and someone posted a link to information on it.

Oasis is huge! But rarely are venues crowded. Planning in advance is a requirement of you want to go to the shows. Somewhere around 120 days out reservations open and you should take the time to see what shows you want and get them booked. Getting the feel for the ship takes us much longer than normal because there is so much to see and do.

 

[sambycat]

thanks all! i have seen that some of the onboard activities(general sessions for the flowrider or climbing wall) are included so that is nice. i am just a person who will drink juice, specialty coffee, sparkling water, wine and cocktails all the livelong day, but it seems like although the fanciest drink package covers those items, i don't pay $55/day for that?? we have time i know! i'm reading up on the RCL board, that is super helpful. its great to know y'all feel like there is more to do because i found some compasses (like the navigator) and couldn't really see activities like i do on the navigator. my husband does want a picture with kung fu panda though!

 

[tinkerone]

personally i have checked out the rccl section on these boards and its not very active. its just not the flurry of activity you get here on the dcl threads. i get a lot more information over at cruise critic. i'm hoping this will change with the dis cruise pod cast sailing on the oasis but i want to know answers too my questions now. i will say though, someone on here once said that if you think the people on here are mean you should try cruise critic and boy, were they right. i get shocked at some of the down right nasty responses to simple questions. just be prepared for that.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

To be honest bar the shop being bigger there is not a lot of differences and the staterooms are similar, there are inside sideways staterooms on the Dream.

Cruise Critic is simple enough to learn. I have cruised with RCCl nearly twenty times and the experience is just about the same as my two DCL Fantasy cruises. My last cruise was on Oasis and my wide and I

Dude, you may want to edit your post, you just called your wife "wide." Good luck explaining that one man. JK, thanks for the great info.

 

[hart6066]

I think one thing to think of when going from DCL to Oasis (might well be different on other RCCL ships) is that while there definitely are lots of "activities" listed in the Cruise Compass, the "activities" are more centered around the actual things to do on the boat. So think flow rider, rock wall, ice rink, etc. Again, there are LOTS of things listed in the compass, but many of the activities you will be doing on the boat are centered around the boat amenities and not just a cruise staff generated activity like a trivia game or napkin folding seminar or something like that.

That was something I noticed particularly on my last Dream cruise when DS was 12. It was the Bahamas day, we stayed on the boat, and he went to go check out the kids club. There was really nothing going on bc most kids were off boat and I actually started to panic a bit bc I realized that on the Dream, if the kids club wasn't really active, there wasn't much for a kid his age to do. A few months later we were on the Oasis, and on those days that the kids club wasn't that active, he could spend time going to one of 4 pools (ALL of which were at least double the size of the DCL pools), the flowrider, rock wall, or just go get a snack in one of about 4 distinctly different parts of the ship. On the one hand, the DCL kids clubs were much better and had more fun things than the RCCL ones (according to my kids), but on Oasis you weren't depending on that to BE your fun--there was a ton to do that had nothing to do with an activity running as planned.

 

[bumbershoot]

i am just a person who will drink juice, specialty coffee, sparkling water, wine and cocktails all the livelong day, but it seems like although the fanciest drink package covers those items, i don't pay $55/day for that??

I don't understand your question.

If you want those things, and if you'll drink them in an unlimited fashion (though fresh squeezed OJ is ONLY available in the mornings), then you want the Ultimate package. And that's $55 (ish...some people on some cruises see different pricing) plus 18% gratuity per day for you. Also bottled "still" (non sparkling) water.

personally i have checked out the rccl section on these boards and its not very active. its just not the flurry of activity you get here on the dcl threads. i get a lot more information over at cruise critic.

? The board is only as active as it can be. If people aren't asking questions, or if we can't answer specifics, we can't answer. I'd love to see samby's questions on the Royal board so we can help her there. Sometimes we do refer to CC because there are many more Royal cruisers there and not all questions can be answered by those of us here.