Thinking of changing to royal carribean

[Garyjames220]

hey

Me and my partner, late 20s no kids have been cruising Disney the last few years and thinking of changing to RC as we have sadly been priced out by Disney

What should I no, will we enjoy it still is the question lol as the Disney service was really good

I no bookings for 2018/19 are coming out soon

Do you get good deals from opening day or am I better waiting

We both would love the free drinks offer, is that normally available on opening day or again am I better not booking when they come out

Any other information you think would be useful please let me no as I hardly no anything about RC


Thanks

Gary

 

[laurenjdaisy]

I have the same questions as Gary, so I look forward to some thoughts from the group.

Thanks,
Lauren

 

[Garyjames220]

I have the same questions as Gary, so I look forward to some thoughts from the group.

Thanks,
Lauren

Hopefully someone will let us no soon

 

[richmo]

RCL is good; definitely try them. As good as Disney? No, but its still a nice experience.

We've only done one 3 nighter on RCL out of Miami, which went to Nassau and RCL's private island, which is also very nice. Personally, I won't do another 3 nighter...my understanding is the 3 nighters on RCL (and others) tend to be the booze cruises, so I think I'd go for at least a 4 nighter next time.

I'm not sure when the best time to book is. RCL seems to run some good specials; recently they had a 60% off second guest (actually a quick check shows they're running it again today). I've also seen some good last minute specials if you have the flexibility of waiting...

 

[Denise W]

I have cruised Disney 7 times, Carnival once, Celebrity once, NCL twice, and RCCL 3 times. Each one was different and I do not think Disney was the best. The length of your cruise and ship involved will help you set an expectation of what you want out of your cruise. You need to research the different ships and ports of call. There is lots of information on cruise critic which you should check out.
Denise

 

[Happy100]

We are trying Royal for the first time this April. Hoping we like it. In terms of deals on Royal, and I have been looking for them this past year, for me I found the earlier you book the better. Royal does a lot of so-called "sales" and each time I priced our exact cruise and cabin choice out and every time the cost was more then our original price. We booked our April 2017 cruise in January of 2016, but I am not sure how close to the opening day that was. If I recall correctly there was a "sale" at the time of our booking. However, I really believe the timing of a booking outweighs the current "sale" they are running. Of course there are a few exceptions; guarantee and low season cruise dates.

Maybe someone with more experience on Royals "sales" will respond.

 

[KVH]

If you're looking for something different, maybe check out Crystal, Seaborn, or Regent? What about Windstar? Do you really like the outdoors a lot? What about an expedition cruise? Ponant to Antarctica, Celebrity to the Galapagos, or even NatGeo? Since you're young and unfettered, you have a lot more options than a plain vanilla cruise with the same ol' shorex.

 

[KashasMom]

We've cruised a lot - almost always a good experience. We enjoy Disney but not all aspects are good. We've done a few recent cruises on RCI - a Baltic on the Serenade. We liked the Serenade but that cruise was really about the ports for us. We've done the Oasis and just got off the Allure yesterday. We sailed on the Oasis at a good time - just before Labor Day so the ship was not at peak capacity. We LOVED our Allure cruise so much so that we booked the Harmony for same time next year. I really like the Oasis class ships. People get a bit turned off by the size and number of passengers. I can honestly say that we never found the ships as crowded as we have felt on the Disney Magic. There is just so much more space and people are doing different things. The pools on the Allure were great - nice size and several of them. The adults only area is really nice. The shows are very, very good - Cats on the Oasis, Mamma Mia on the Allure - as well as the ice skating shows, aqua shows (excellent), and variety and comedy shows. I think RCI is excellent for kids especially those 7-8 up. There are rock climbing walls, flow rider, and a zip line. Food was very good. We ate at 4 of the specialty restaurants and two of them were excellent. (We booked the 3 restaurant package and got one gifted from our TA.) For anyone without children there is plenty to do as well. Just depends what you like to do.

We like the oceanview balconies - not the balconies overlooking the Boardwalk or Central Park. We usually book as soon as the itineraries come out. It allows us to choose what room we want. We like an aft location - just seems we spend a lot of time there. For our Allure cruise we booked late - about 5-6 months prior to our cruise. We got a good deal but I kept checking prices (something I rarely do) and saw that the price had gone down (before final payment). My TA was able to get us the new price which saved us several hundred dollars. Our Serenade cruise was booked 16 months in advance and we got a fantastic deal on that. We also watched the price climb from the time we booked. I think it depends on when you're cruising and where you're cruising to. If I found a price that I liked I'd book it and watch for price drops (I waited years for the Oasis and Allure pricing to be "reasonable"). RCI also offers discounted pricing on internet and excursions if you book/pay before you cruise. You just need to check the website for the deals.

We like the new NCL ships but with our 7 year old daughter, the RCI ships have more to offer (especially in terms of shows, which she loves). I would not hesitate to book with RCI but do your research as to which ship suits you best.

 

[gumbypee]

if you go into it knowing it will just be different then it is perfectly enjoyable. I found the service great on the Rhapsody (smaller ship though). Try RCCL, you might like it!

 

[gumbypee]

oh also, I haven't seen a free drinks offer - that might be a sporadic thing

 

[disneyholic family]

we love DCL, but also love Royal!!
we did the eastern caribbean on the Allure of the Seas and LOVED LOVED LOVED that cruise!!! totallly

we did an alaska cruise, one way southbound from seward alaska to vancouver on royal's Radiance of the Seas and LOVED LOVED LOVED that cruise!! totally!!
and DD did that one twice and also LOVED LOVED LOVED it!!!

as i said, we also love disney....but you should definitely give royal a try....very good value for money!!

we found the service, food, and crew to be excellent...
i'd say disney has better theater productions, but other than that, royal has an excellent product!

 

[Vijoge]

Have never done a Disney Cruise as they cost way more than I intend to spend on a cruise, even when on sale. We enjoy our Royal Caribbean, Princess, MSC, and Norwegian cruises very much. Not terribly fond of Carnival. When people ask about the service, though, I'm never sure just what that means. All of our cruises have provided exemplary service and I can't possibly see what Disney could provide in the way of service that I'm bot getting on lines that charge 50-75% less than Disney does.

 

[msjprincess]

oh also, I haven't seen a free drinks offer - that might be a sporadic thing

I've never seen for US customers, but they do have it often for UK customers. T

 

[SpaceSquirrel]

following

 

[John VN]

Our first RCL cruise was last November on Oasis and it was excellent after many DCL cruises. While on board we heard people complain about the size BUT we had no issues at all. We are active 66yo geezers who have no problems using the stairs, as to the complainers.......oxygen please! Free drinks???? They run specials and recently offered one but go STAR CLASS and drink-up. We re-booked while on board and received a good price plus extra OBC. I continually follow their web site and have already updated our reservations twice with lower cabin rates, an Insurance Special discount and additional OBC.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

We love DCL and will continue to use them but we decided this summer to try Royal. We live in the UK and this one sails in and out of the UK so no flying. We got free drinks package. It's 6 nights. However even though the cruise is not until August already we have had a massive dissapointment with them. We booked it as it said this deal only until end of October. Two days later the same cruise was $1500 cheaper , same deal plus free wifi! I phoned shocked and the very rude person said cancel it loose your $500 deposit and rebook. You still save money. That's the luck of the drawer..

I guess that is true but DCL would not have been so rude or laughing. I nearly bailed at that point.

 

[msjprincess]

We love DCL and will continue to use them but we decided this summer to try Royal. We live in the UK and this one sails in and out of the UK so no flying. We got free drinks package. It's 6 nights. However even though the cruise is not until August already we have had a massive dissapointment with them. We booked it as it said this deal only until end of October. Two days later the same cruise was $1500 cheaper , same deal plus free wifi! I phoned shocked and the very rude person said cancel it loose your $500 deposit and rebook. You still save money. That's the luck of the drawer..

I guess that is true but DCL would not have been so rude or laughing. I nearly bailed at that point.

Yes unfortunately RCI UK has different rules than US bookings.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Yes unfortunately RCI UK has different rules than US bookings.

Sadly I found out the hard way! If we like the cruise least we will know for next time. It was just niave of me I think. But I was shocked at how rude the staff were. No need.

 

[BamaGuy44]

If you're looking for something different, maybe check out Crystal, Seaborn, or Regent? What about Windstar? Do you really like the outdoors a lot? What about an expedition cruise? Ponant to Antarctica, Celebrity to the Galapagos, or even NatGeo? Since you're young and unfettered, you have a lot more options than a plain vanilla cruise with the same ol' shorex.

Um, they're priced out of Disney, so I doubt they're looking at Crystal or expeditions to Antarctica.

OP, we've done both and if you enjoy cruising you can absolutely have a great time with RC. Their larger ships are gorgeous and have a lot of cool tech onboard, and a huge variety of activities. The service isn't quite as good as Disney, but still very good. If Disney is an A, RC is a B+ IMO.

Their pricing can be confusing, there's no rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes the best price is opening day, sometimes not. They are constantly running "sales" that are sometimes good deals and sometimes not. But go ahead and book early if you want. If the price drops you just call them and they will adjust it down, up until Final Payment Date.

 

[KVH]

True. But I do think there are deals to be had everywhere. It just takes a lot of savvy shopping. If price is the consideration, I'd put in a plug for HAL (DW used to be a pier agent for them). Slightly less than RC in general but decent quality nonetheless. Detractor there is the older age groups they tend to attract. The issue may be finding an available cabin.