Royal Caribbean Vs. Disney - a comparison

[oceanmarina]

Hi all. We just sailed the Wonder for a 4th of July cruise, then last week we sailed Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas for their July 18th Western Caribean cruise. I just wanted to make comparisions (what our opinion was of both cruise experiences).

The food - Hands down Disney won! We found the food on Royal Caribbean TERRIBLE! This was the first cruise we took that we ate in the dining room for all meals because the buffet was nasty! Even in the dining room, we got a handful of good meals, not one meal that was great. Here is how we would rate the food on the cruises we sailed (our report card):

Celebrity A
Disney A-
Carnival B+
Royal Caribbean D-

A lot of people we met on the Explorer felt the same way we did about the food, very disapointing. Also, we met several families who expressed dissatisfaction with the Royal Caribbean's kids program. (After 1:00 in the afternoon, you have to pay, etc..) It was just the two of us sailing, so i'm speaking from comments made to me by families we met. When we sailed Carnival, the kids program looked ok, but the kids program on Celebrity & Disney seemed the most organized to me.

We would sail Disney again in a heratbeat! After the excellent food on the Wonder, we felt so let down by Royal Caribbean. I know people say that Disney charges a lot, but at least they feed you food that is consistent with the price you pay. Our Royal Caribbean cruise was by no means cheap & the food was TERIBLE! Carnival was a great value, we got a very cheap cabin for our cruise & the food was very good.

So I just wanted to share what we experienced. For those of you who would like to try a different cruise line, I would recommend Celebrity highly. Our next Disney will be the Magic somday (soon I hope)

Marina

 

[EmmasGrammy]

Thanks for sharing your "mini reviews"!

We have sailed on both of these cruise lines also and I will agree that the food was much, much better on DCL. But I think even more important than the quality of the food, was the quality of the service. Again DCL beats RCCL.... HANDS DOWN!!!

We enjoyed our first cruise on RCCL but once we tried DCL, there is no turning back!! Our next DCL cruise will be DH and I alone! I am sure the experience will be totally different!! (In a good way!!)

We only had the opportunity to use the children's program on the DCL (no kids along on the RCCL cruise, DGD (3) along on the DCL trip). The programs offered by Disney were unbelieveable!! Then again, what would you expect?

Thanks again for taking the time to share your views!!

 

[1stNoel]

Hi Marina -

Sorry to hear about the RCL short comings on your trip. Was the ship nice? It really looks like fun on their ads.

Also, did Disney do anything special on the Wonder for the 4th?

We're on next year and can't wait.

Thanks,
Noel

 

[Bosjoe]

Very Unusual for RCCL,
I have been on 3 of thier Megaship (Voyager, Explorer and Adventure) and thought they were great, only did I get slow service once and that was at the burger place. One thing about food at Buffets it is freshest when it is busy, the later you go the food gets cold or just old.

The shows are great and to be honest to me it beats some of Disney shows. Disney is way over priced for what they give. Though the kids program is the best at sea for kids under 13-14. The ships are excellent.

Joe

 

[oceanmarina]

Noel,

Yes, the ship was wonderful & the service was very good, but part of the fun of a cruise is looking foward to your meal in the dining room at dinner. On this cruise, we were not looking foward to our nightly meal! ) ; My husband called it the "diet cruise" because I lost 2 pounds on the cruise! No kidding!

I thought Disney was going to do fireworks, but they did not. There was a great party and they let down hundreds of red white & blue baloons, very new years eve like. They even gave out free champagne in 4th of July souvenier glasses. Nice touch!

You will love the Wonder, also hubby loved no formal nights, he did not mind not having to pack a suit at all!

~ Marina

PS - In Nassau, take the 1.00 (per person) # 10 bus to the hotel strip & hang out for free at the Wyndham hotel. We did (they welcome cruise ship passangers for the extra revenue it generates for the hotel, lunch, casino, drinks...), we stayed on their beach & did great snorkeling in their little beach cove (to the right of the main beach, go to wyndham.com & look at the property pictures to see what i'm talking about). We spent 4.00 for this day, better than any excursion!

 

[SchultzFamily]

Marina,
Do you know if they offer day rooms at the Wyndham? I just took a look at their website and it looks like a very inviting place to spend the day!
Vickie

 

[1stNoel]

Thanks for the tips on Nassau. We were thinking about Blue Lagoon, but I read here that they sometimes close their snorkle area and that's the only reason we would go. $1 bus fare sounds much better. We'll be in Nassau on the 4th, so hopefully Atlantis will do fireworks.

Thanks again,
Noel

 

[Blueeyes101817]

i cant really compare, but ive done RCCL two times (grandeur and majesty)..i never had any disappointments with the food or service...

 

[LisaGoeke]

So you're saying that after 1 p.m., if the kids are in the kids club, you have to pay, is that correct?

Is this a new policy?

That stinks!

 

[tecdavidt]

We have cruised DCL, Carnival, and Celebrity. With the children's programs, after 10:00 pm on Carnival and Celebrity there was a charge--and the program was more of a babysitting service. As far as food, Celebrity wins as far as my husband is concerned and I feel Carnival is the best. Someday we will have to try RCCL since they own Celebrity. I assume RCCL charges for children's programs after 10:00 pm. Kathy

 

[tvguy]

Sorry about the bad experience, I've cruised DCL, RCCL, NCL and Paquet and have never had bad food.
I am surprised to see you liked Carnavel's food better, never experienced it myself, I've heard a lot of "cafeteria" type food comments about Carnavel.

 

[tezb]

We recently cruised RCCL Mariner Ship...last month. We had only cruised DCL (3 times) so we were anxious to try something different. We liked RCCL better and will go back if we get the chance again. The food at DCL was a little better but not much...I wouldn't say the food on the Mariner was terrible..just ok and some things were very good...depends. Each ship has their good and bad points.

 

[momof3luvs2run]

DH and I went on a RC cruise in 1991 for our honeymoon (Song of America). Had a fantastic time and no complaints.

Our hope is that the DC will be as impressive to us. It definately sounds like it will be.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

There has been no change in the children's program hours. This is directly from RCI's wesite....

"...For older children, we offer group sitting in the Late Night Party Zone. The service is offered from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. in our youth facilities. Children must be at least three years of age. The rate is $5 USD an hour per child.

For childern at least one year of age, we also offer individual sitting in your stateroom from 8 a.m. until 2 a.m. Rates are generally between $8 and $10 USD an hour, depending on the number of children in your family. Payments must be made in cash."

Hope this helps eleviate some concern. I'm looking forward to my second RCI cruise. I think it's great not everyone likes the same thing!

 

[oceanmarina]

Vickie,

You will probaby pay a fortune for a day-room. I would just hang out at the beach like we did. There are outside showers if you want to rinse off the salt water. We had a fantastic time there (we stayed from 10 - 3:00), & thern did some nice shopping on Cable street in Nassau. We also went to the Pirates museum which was cute.

 

[webray]

Wow..funny such a difference in your rating between celebrity and RCCL...they are owned by the same company.

We have heard only the opposite about RCCL, in fact we plan on trying them for a family cruise.

 

[jkovick]

Sorry you didn't enjoy RCCL. Its strange, because we thought the food of RCCL was better than on both Disney and Carnival. In fact, we enjoyed RCCL so much we are going on another one next year because we can get a suite with concierge for the same or less than a balcony room on Disney. We really enjoyed our Disney cruise and would not hesitate to go again but we found RCCL to be a different but equally good experience. I don't think we would sail again on Carnival though, unless it was a really great itinerary.

 

[4nana]

I enjoy seeing the difference reviews.

As I believe variety is the spice of life,
I hope to try them all and have yet to have a bad meal...LOL!!

I vote:
Disney: A+
Royal Caribbean: A
Carnival: A

We recently traveled Carnival for our 40th annv. and had a wonderful time! We were pleasently surprised at the overall quality. It did not live up to the bad repuation so many speak of.

So many bad reports, yet Carnival owns half of the cruising industry:
Holland, Seabourn, Windstar, Costa, Cunard and
I believe Royal Caribbean bought out Celebrity in 1997.

Happy sailing
~ Sandie

 

[music777.com]

I have sailed both RCCL and DCL. Disney wins hands down in most areas. The food is better, the sevice is better and the ships them selves are better. That being said RCCL can save you some money or you can upgrade to a better cabin for the same price as DCL. I prefer the allure and the magic of DCL and the quality that still comes with the name. But I would not hesitate to recomend RCCl to the thrifty cruiser.

JJ

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

I've been on 5 RCCL cruises over the years, and have watched their customer service and food quality go down each time. This is how we ended up on a DCL cruise in 2002 -- we were sick of bad RCCL cruises, and their refusal to do anything to improve or make up for our problems.

Our first 2 RCCL cruises were amazing -- the food was the best I've ver had (much betterthan DCL), service was amazing . . . everything was amazing. But the last RCCL cruise, we wanted to fly home and cut our trip short.