Rccl Vs Dcl

[Donalds_best_pal]

Hey,
I posted before when my family was deciding if we were going to do the 10 Day DCL Cruise or the special 9 Day Navigator RCCL Mega Ship. The cool thing about the Navigator is its over new years and christmas. We ended up chossing DCL. We got the new RCCL brochure and the Navigator looks so cool. Anyone want to share there expearience with RCCL. Also post which you would pick on the pole. Thanks for the comments and info in advance
Matt

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Bump! FYI: this would be our 3rd DCL cruise but our 1st RCCL cruise.
Matt

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Has anyone here sailed on both cruise lines and has comments about the RCCL ships?
Matt

 

[carallard]

We've sailed on both and there are things about both lines that we like and dislike. My personal take is that my kid has a ball on both so try each if you get a chance. With the right attitude, no cruise is a bad cruise (Titantic passengers may tend to disagree).

 

[kajohn]

I believe Mac_TLC (not sure of his exact user name) has a website with a comparison of the lines. If you do a search for his name and look at his posts, he answers a lot of posts about RCCL, one of them should have the link to his website.

I have sailed RCCL a couple of times and it is actually my favorite cruiseline, however we have not taken our children on it yet, so I cannot compare the children's programs. When we sailed DCL or DS's were 5, 7 and 9.

From an adult perspective I can compare the cruise lines for you. Remember though, this is my personal opinions, and everyone's opinion are different:

Ships
RCCL - Voyager class, 4 story promenade, very open and spacious, you would never know you were on a ship, as well as the centrums at both ends are at least 8 or 9 stories tall. Dining room is three stories and open in the middle, very opulent, with chandeliers etc.

Radiance class ship - Most beautiful ship I have every been on, glass everywhere where you can see the outside, even from the elevators, 9 or 10 story atrium in center of ship. Two story very grande dining room, large beautiful theatre with balcony etc. Very beautiful indoor pool area (great for Alaska).

Artwork on both types of ships is amazing, sculputes in the stairwells, paintings in public spaces, etc. Very beautiful, and all different styles, something for everyone.

After sailing both RCCL ships, I felt claustrophobic on DCL, with low ceilings in the dining rooms and smaller more closed in theatre, and I missed the variety of artwork (only Disney artwork)

Pools RCCL - salt water, however bigger pools than DCL and more room to swim

Food - I thought the variety and taste was better on rCCL, but that is very subjective, my husband thought DCL was better.

Variety of snacks - DCL has food up on deck, however they shut down scoops in the evening so you couldn't get an ice cream after dinner, and the only other food that was available was the pizza in the evenings. (we had early seating and sometimes around 10 or so we would want a snack, and you couldn't get a hamburger or anything, just pizza unless you ordered from room service)

RCCL - Voyager class ships have food available 24 hours on the promenade, sandwiches, pizza and ice cream and cookies (as far as I can remember, they may have other stuff. Also have Johnny Rockets (nothing can beat that! although not sure of their hours)

Show - Can't beat Disney for their production quality here.

RCCL - nice variety of singers and comedians, jugglers etc. It really depends on the week who you get, they change it up a lot, but maybe not so kid friendly (although I wasn't thinking about that since my kids weren't with us). The ice show is amazing and a must not miss!

RCCL - Cabins are well laid out, but most are geared toward 2 people. I've never seen a cabin made up for 4 so I can't tell you how it is. Plenty of storage space, and the size is comperable in living space to DCL since the extra sq. ft. in the DCL cabins is taken up by the 2nd bathroom. TV is bigger than DCL and I enjoyed the RCCL TV which lets you check your shipboard account, order room service, book excursions etc all from your room TV.

Service - I would rank them equal on service, both were EXCELLENT!! ( My favorite part of cruising is the service, I loved being catered too!!)

Kids clubs - This is very subjective, and since I didn't take my kids on RCCL yet, I can't give my opinion, but I can give you some facts that I have read about.

RCCL - no pagers (I have heard they have a few for the very little ones). Have sessions , open for a few hours in the morning, then they close for lunch and the kids must be picked up. Same thing in the afternoon then they close for dinner, then open again in the evening. After 10pm there is an hourly charge for the clubs. Offer dinner only a few nights during a cruise where your kids can eat with the club, but must be signed up for in advance, only so many openings.

I have heard people report that their kids liked RCCL better than DCL and vice versa. A lot of it depends on the child, and there is not really a way to predict it.

I hope this helps, I tried to hit the highlights. I love cruising, and I don't think you can go wrong with either trip, both would be wonderful! And, since you are going at christmas I would think DCL would do christmas up just a bit more than RCCL, which would probably sway me toward DCL for christmas!

We have decided that hte next time we sail with the kids we will sail RCCL, Even on DCL they didn't spend more than 2 or 3 hours a day in the clubs, which left a lot of time with us. Therefore I think they will enjoy the ice skating, rock climbing, miniature golf inline skating etc. Also, for a family of 5 the cost is cheaper on RCCL by 1-2 thousand dollars on a holiday week, that's a lot of money!

If you have any other questions feel free to PM me.

 

[NCRedding]

We've sailed on Disney 3 X (with our 4th coming up), and on RCCL Radiance of the Seas to Alaska. I prefer Disney. I posted about this earlier (DISers perspective), so I'll just hit the high spots.
PEOPLE/CREW: Disney wins hands down--there is a "Disney" Difference. I had what I would consider 5 negative interactions with the staff on RRCL on our one week trip; the worst being with a guest services person who yelled at me, wouldn't listen to my questions, etc. On my 3 prior Disney trips, I have had 0 negative interactions.

CABIN: As someone stated above, the RCCL cabins are great for 2. There is a ton of storage space for "stuff" but only 6 drawers in the whole room for clothes (and they are desk-sized drawers). I found the beds more comfortable on Disney. On Radiance, the bed for our daughter was a pull down, so after the beds were turned down, we could still use the couch (just watch the head when you get up.)

KIDS Programs: My DD prefers Disney only slightly over RCCL. She loved the credits given towards prizes on RCCL. There were more structured activities during the day on RCCL, with less free time. There was also less "stuff" to do during free time (ie one game, no music area, etc.). They do charge after 10 ($5 per child per hour). I didn't mind the hours, because I gave my DD check out privileges, but I can see where having to go pick them up each time the club shut down might be a pain.

ACTIVITIES: I felt that Disney offers more for adults than RCCL (unless you are into bingo and gambling). I was actually bored a little on this cruise, something that has never happened on Disney--This could be because it was Alaska, and they felt we would be busy looking at the scenery. I found that most days, there were only 3 to 4 items/classes that I marked. On Disney, I often had to pick between classes at the same time. I also felt that there were too few family activities on RCCL.

DINING: I can't say that one wins over the other. I didn't have a bad meal on our trip. I do prefer the rotation dining rooms--the same restaurant became a little boring for 7 nights. I didn't try the alternative restaurants (there are 2); they cost $20 per person.

POOLS: There are 2 pools and a water play area with slide on the Radiance. The Solarium pool was adult only, except for a few hours a day. It is stunning. The adult only rule wasn't enforced though. It was too cold during our trip to use the water area.

EMBARKATION: Absolute nightmare. Took us 2 1/2 hours from when we arrived at port until we were on the ship, and we were among the first to board. Our tablemates had a 3 hour embarkation process. Again, part of this might be attributed to customs, but a large part of it was the fact that they only had 3 windows open for us to check in.

We sailed RCCL because of business reasons (group continuing education on board). I would consider sailing them again, for business reasons, but for our personal cruising, I plan to stick with Disney.

 

[mac_tlc]

Thanks kajohn , I do tend to chime in occasionally when the DCL vs. RCCL qustion arises.

I do have a detailed comparison of the DCL and RCCL Voyager-class ships on my web site. Drop me an e-mail and I can provide the address. Also have the Compass activity sheets from our two Voyager-class cruises .. Explorer Western 8/02 and Navigator Eastern 2/03.

Info on this post is good too, I would add that I believe Johnny Rockets hours are about 11:30AM to midnight. Food availability is much, much better on RCCL.

mac_tlc

 

[kajohn]

I was on the cruise critic RCCL board and found this post regarding RCCL and DCL

http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=408097554&m=2403078637

If you read this thread too you should get a pretty even perspective, since people on the DCL board will most likely favor DCL and people on the RCCL board will most often favor RCCL.

Also, as for the post about bad Debarkation and embarkation on the Radiance, please note that is in Alaska where the cruise lines don't own the terminals and you have to deal with customs. When I sailed the Radiance we had to sit and wait for over an hour becuase the customs agents hadn't arrived at the port yet to clear us to board. That was a pain. My RCCL experience in Miami was no where like that at all. Embarkation is faster than DCL since you can complete all your paperwork online before you get to the terminal. Debarkation is slower than DCL since you have to wait for your color to be called, but still not bad.