Stuck Between Disney and Royal Caribbean

[sssaige]

Okay everyone, I need some help.

Our family would like to take a cruise, but I am having trouble getting everyone on board with paying a little extra for Disney (the other option is Royal Caribbean.)

So my question is.. Why do you spend a little more for Disney? Is it the service, on board activities, or the Disney touch?

Disney cruise line compared to Royal Caribbean.

 

[llachance]

Make sure you compares Apples to Apples as they have a lot of similarities and differences. Disney soda is free Royal Carib you pay. Child care is open at most hours on Disney, Royal Carib is isn't and on some ships you pay for late night child care. That said I was on a Royal Carib ship recently and the price (once the comparisons were made) were about the same. It depends on the ships and where you want to go. I liked my Navigator trip, recently, but missed a few of the Disney touches. I have future cruises booked on both.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Okay everyone, I need some help.

Our family would like to take a cruise, but I am having trouble getting everyone on board with paying a little extra for Disney (the other option is Royal Caribbean.)

So my question is.. Why do you spend a little more for Disney? Is it the service, on board activities, or the Disney touch?

Disney cruise line compared to Royal Caribbean.

Please give a little more info. By family do you mean; you, spouse and kids, or your family and extended family all paying their own way?

If it's extended family I wouldn't try to "talk them into it," if they end up not thinking it was worth the extra money, it's going to be your fault. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

[littleblackegg]

I have cruised both, and found the food on DCL to be far superior. I don't know if food quality, presentation and variety is a priority in your family, but it is in ours.

 

[tinkerone]

we will be trying our first rccl cruise next year and i'm excited about it. i compared the same dates and we are saving over $2000 (there is only two of us) and getting an extra night to boot. rccl lets us book in Canadian funds, dcl only in u.s. funds. big difference for a Canadian.
I keep hearing about nickel and diming but I can't find out where that is supposed to be. yes, we will pay for a pop package but even for both of us purchasing it we will still save $1900. big difference.
we love Disney and up until now have always sailed Disney. we have wanted to try the oasis but prefer to sail out of port Canaveral so with the arrival of the oasis in 2016 we are giving it a go.
we can afford Disney but want to give rccl a try and see for ourselves what it is all about. after all, no two people ever have the same opinions and what someone hates we may love.
jmo. whatever you decide, enjoy!

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I have cruised both, and found the food on DCL to be far superior. I don't know if food quality, presentation and variety is a priority in your family, but it is in ours.

The bad food on RCCL is why we won't sail them again.

 

[Patsydust]

So I have personally never sailed RCCL, but I've heard things and know people who have cruised other crusies. I have done a few DCL's. So that being said, it depends on a few things. I feel young kids would really benefit from Disney and adults should probably like Disney at least a little. I mean anyone can enjoy any cruise, but for Disney there are a bunch of themed events. Other cruises are general and offer a variety of entertianment. But the service is SUPER amazing on DCL, where as others (including RCCL) are good, they don't have the extra sparkle. My favorite aspect of Disney, which may not be the best feature/aspect to others...but I absolutely love the traveling dining staff! It's like you get to be part of the Disney family with your waiters! They go to every restaurant with you and get to know you! So much fun! Additionally, I love the Pirate night and shows! But you'll have fun whichever you choose!

 

[Sunshine2U]

I think people either "get" Disney, or they don't. If they don't, go with RCCL and they will be happy. Order the DCL video and let them "see" the experience. There are also some good travel videos online. We did not cruise when our children were teens. If we had, and since they grew up with Disney, we probably would have sailed RCCL.

 

[Scoobypop]

I keep hearing about nickel and diming but I can't find out where that is supposed to be. yes, we will pay for a pop package but even for both of us purchasing it we will still save $1900. big difference.

Also, not sure if all the Royal Caribbean ships have them, but the newer ones have the freestyle Coke machines, so the pop choices will be way more than you get on DCL, and the machines are in plenty of locations, not just one location on a top deck.

The bad food on RCCL is why we won't sail them again.

Food quality is also subjective. Many times over the years on these threads, people have bemoaned the food quality of DCL as well, even Palo and Remy. I've never had a "bad" or unpleasant meal on DCL in 14 cruises, but then again, I've liked all the food on Royal and NCL as well.

Good points made already in the above replies so far.

 

[tidefan]

One other thing. I think that with RCCL it varies a good bit based upon the ship. We cruised on the Serenade of the Seas (a Radiance class) and were honestly underwhelmed. That said, it didn't have any of the bells and whistles of some of the newer ships.

Quite honestly, our preference outside of DCL is Princess. We are also going to give Carnival a try later this year...

 

[jdb in AZ]

We start with the itinerary and go from there. We don't think the food in the main dining rooms on RCL is much different than DCL. Princess does have superior pastries. (DCL defrosts Krispy Kreme donuts.) As mentioned above, it's all subjective.

 

[bumbershoot]

I have cruised both, and found the food on DCL to be far superior. I don't know if food quality, presentation and variety is a priority in your family, but it is in ours.

And we have the exact opposite view of who has better food. There is exactly one dish on the menu on Dream that I like. The rest has to be special request vegetarian Indian food or I can't eat in the MDR.

Basically equal status on both. No dcl plans. Two future rccl cruises booked.

"Free" soda lol. Soda isn't a reason to book one line over the other, but do be realistic about something being free vs included.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

RCCL does put out a good standard cruise, likely going next year to Bermuda on RCCL, but its not Disney. DCL has great vessels, following the lines of the great liners of the 30, 40 and 50's, with enough Disney touches, to give you the Disney Magic. The food is good to great, but food is subjective. The service great and Shows Broadway quality with the Disney themes/stores. For that matter, all the entertainment is wonderful. There is just something about the DCL, Magic and pixie dust, it cannot be beat. Whether your a kid or adult, you will find your selves looking to come back over and over.

What ever you do....enjoy your cruise!

AKK

 

[zymurgy1999]

Cost has become a very, very big issue with Disney. They have continued to raise their prices to a place that even people who can afford to pay these prices are not seeing the value in the differences between the two lines. I was on the Oasis in December and just got off of the Dream a few weeks ago. We have been on 6 Disney cruises in the last 4 years. I find Disney to be a superior cruise line for my family (11, 9 and 5 year old). We live in Florida and go to Disney a lot so there is brand familiarity for the kids and they really, really enjoy Disney.

With that said, for me, personally, I think that where Disney far exceeds (not even close) is the service and the lengths that I feel as though their staff goes to in order to ensure that their folks have a good time. I did not get that feeling on the Oasis in December. We were on (arguably) their most expensive cruise on their flagship (Holiday/New Years) and I just feel as though the staff was going through the motions wherever I went. Whether it was guest services, servers at fast food restaurants or main dining room servers, no one ever seemed to go beyond what I imagine is their job description. Not one of their staff members ever went above and beyond what one would expect from cruise staff. I find that on Disney nearly every staff member that I have ever interacted with has so far surpassed what I have expected of them. Whether it is someone that I pass in the hallways, the dining servers, the servers in the buffets or even the housekeeping staff. I always feel as though they are trying so hard to make sure that my family has fun. I never, ever got that feeling on the Oasis.

There were other differences, like the make-up of the crowd (Disney is pretty much all families and the Oasis was a mixed bag of families, retirees, young people, etc.), scheduled activities (on Disney you can do something WITH your family almost from morning until night time, while on Oasis it was pretty much free time all day as there really were not scheduled activities) and other small details were different, when it comes down to it, vacations are partially about how you feel and it is a deeply personal experience. I feel like I am staying with the highest end cruise line when I am sailing on Disney. They give me and my family that 5 star hotel-type feeling from the second that I get to the terminal to the second that I walk off of the ship. On the Oasis I got that mid-level hotel feeling/you get what you pay for experience. Not bad, but not 5 stars. Disney Cruise has started charging like a 4 Seasons/Ritz Carlton/Polynesian/Grand Floridian. We are more of a Port Orleans/Animal Kingdom (when good FLR rates are given) family. I started looking at the Oasis again this winter, much to my chagrin. Unless Disney offers some sweet Florida resident deals it is likely that we will not cruise on Disney for a while. Too bad.

 

[aggiedog]

First, if money is a large object in the discussion, you may not be able to convince others unless it really is just a "little" more expensive than RCCL. If the cost difference is significant, you may be out of luck. We've been on exactly two cruises. One with DCL with the grandparents and 4 kids, and one on Oceania, just dh and me. We loved Oceania, great service, great food, and I really enjoyed the people. No way, no how would I have brought my kids or my parents on that trip though. Not enough for either set to do. Our DCL cruise this summer was a complete success with the family, though. Everyone had a great time.

Consider how you, or the rest of your family, like to travel in hotels and resorts. If you consistently spend a bit more to get a superior experience (quality customer service, well maintained accommodations, clean restrooms, etc) then you may consider DCL "worth it." If some in the group (those that control the purse strings especially), prefer to feel that they've found a good bargain, are ok with adequate customer service, adequately maintained accommodations, then they may prefer another line.

We don't love Mickey Mouse, per se. My kids are 9-15, and are not into princesses and the like. We do appreciate good service though, and DCL consistently ranks high in that. We loved our DCL cruise and the kids are begging to do another one. That said, with most of the prices out there these days, we will not be doing much/any more cruising with them. Even we have a tipping point for cost vs "worth it."

 

[quickcat]

I like the poster who said you either get Disney or you don't. We sailed on Princess in June to Alaska. It was quite a bit cheaper than Disney. After we got off, both my dh and myself said we wish we would have paid the difference and went with Disney. We missed the service and all the small touches that Disney does.
With Royal, I have not found them to be considerably cheaper than Disney at all. Keeping room sizes the same, we need to have a junior suite with Royal and the prices are always very comparable so we never went with Royal. If you have never sailed Disney, I would say definitely try Royal first, not the other way around

 

[sarbah77]

Our two cruiselines are RCI or DCL. We have the ability to travel in non-peak times, making DCL more affordable for us. A couple of years ago, we booked an aft balcony guarantee on Disney Fantacy for the same price as a regular balcony on Oasis and, at the time, Fantasy had a more interesting itinerary for us. No brainer! The following year, we did sail on Oasis of the Seas and we loved it just as much.

I, personally, think Disney has better food. I've joked around that Disney has better food but it's harder to get, compared to RCI.

Sometimes, RCI has better itineraries or more interesting ships. I loved Oasis of the Seas. We're going on Freedom of the Seas next summer and I'm looking forward to the floating resort feel.

I appreciate that Disney does a better job of keeping the adult only areas adult only. Of course, I'm in public, I expect kids to be everywhere and be, you know, kids, so it's nice that if I want to retreat somewhere peaceful, they do it.

I've NEVER had better service on Disney than RCI. NEVER. Our first room steward on the Dream was SO bad I never learned his name because he barely managed to do his job. It was a short cruise so it wasn't too bad. I've also had some really standout servers on RCI that I think of fondly.

In a lot of ways, to me, it's a toss-up. We actually cancelled our planned RCI cruise for next January because of Star Wars Day at Sea but we've rebooked for January 2017 on RCI because it's going to some southern Caribbean ports and we only have to fly to FLL to make it happen.

Price. Itinerary. I'll take either line, depending on which has one of those two items that appeals to me more!

 

[OhThePain]

For the most part, all the main stream cruise lines are more alike than they are different (I am diamond on RCCL, and have cruised with DCL, NCL, Celeb, PCL, AFC and BRB). I most recently cruised on the Liberty of the Seas earlier this month. The reality is that cruising, in general, has lost what made it so special 20+ years ago (I'm sure other long time cruisers will agree with that). Again, in general, food has become generic and uncreative across all the lines (unless you want to pay extra for it), service and hospitality have declined greatly, onboard activities are minimal, everywhere you look you are expected to hand over more money, ships are getting tackier (it's not just Carnival anymore) and the more they try to appeal and cater to the masses, the worse things get. At least the Fantasy (the only DCL ship I have been on) is much nicer than the ships the other lines are spitting out (there is still a sense of class on the ship that you rarely see anymore) and much of the crew is pleasant, but it still has many of the pitfalls that the other lines face.

If I had to choose between RCCL and DCL, I would personally pay the few extra $ for DCL just based on the ships, crew and little Disney touches. However, I would not push first time cruisers who are not sold on DCL to pay the extra money for it. First time cruisers don't know how much cruising has changed and will enjoy the mass marketing cruising that is known today and won't appreciate the little things DCL does to space themselves from the pack.