cdoc29
Cruising with the Crazies
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2010
Detailed Review for those that like to read
Cruising with Myself, Wife and two kids ages 4 and 7. Also on the cruise were Grandparents celebrating 50th anniversary and two adult brothers sharing a cabin.
I really wanted to like Royal Caribbean as they are less expensive than DCL and I was hoping to switch, some of my comparisons may include what I have experienced with Disney and where Royal fell short.
Cabin (all three parties had junior suites on opposite sides of the ship, Grandparents and brothers on Starboard side us on port side same floor)
Pros - Large room with walk in closet, bathroom decent size with small tub/shower but larger than standard cabin. Cabin door slid open and could be locked into place to leave open.
Cons - had pull out couch to sleep both kids, as opposed to DCL which has bunk beds. No curtain divider in room, when one group went to bed everyone needed to pretty much go to bed. Missed the split bathroom DCL has, and DCL shower is more spacious in the Deluxe Family Stateroom.
Kids Club
Pros - Organized activities split into various age groups. 3-5, 6-8, 9-11. On our cruise they combined the 6-8 with the 9-11 as there were not a lot of kids onboard. The staff was awesome, and the kids loved going.
Cons - very specific open times, 9a to noon, 2pm to 5pm and 7pm to 10pm on sea days. $7/hr after 10pm till 1am and nowhere for the kids to nap if tired. DCL is open all day and until midnight, plus they have a room where if the kids are tired they can lay down and take a nap. Space very small (only 30 kids max per age group) and required going through the arcade to reach the kids club. This was very annoying as the arcade games run at full volume and trying to get the kids into the club past these distractions was annoying. DCL easily has 4 times the space, better theming and as my son stated while he liked RCCL kids club they only had one activity at a time whereas Disney had several to choose from. My son is low assistance required Autistic and while RCCL does give out pagers for parents of special needs children DCL has two wave phones in every room that can be carried throughout the ship and the DCL app that you can also be reached through if needed. The check-in/out process was cumbersome, in this day in age where you get scanned to get on/off the ship you would think they would have the same system in the kids club.
Service was hit or miss.
Cabin Stewards - We needed to ask our cabin steward to return the pull out sofa-bed back into a couch for day use twice, even though we used the 'please service room magnet’ provided by royal more days than not our steward didn’t make up the room till after lunch even though we went out for breakfast and took the kids to the club afterwards every day at sea and even when in port when we returned to the ship for lunch between excursions the room was not made up. We had the same problem in the evening and had to call several times to have the beds turned down and the sofa-bed made.
On the other side of the ship my parents and brothers had a great experience with their steward and tipped him extra at the end of the cruise. An example is my Brother broke his pinky toe when he stubbed into a chair in the middle of the night. He called his steward to request ice and bags to ice his injury, after that whenever he came to the room he always had fresh ice and bags.
Waiter at Dinner - We arrived promptly when dinner started the first night and the service was very slow. the table next to ours (same waiter) arrived 30 minutes after us. While we would get our appetizers before them we usually had to wait until the same time for the main course. When we asked our waiter about this he said it was Royal policy that he could only pick up food once and we had to wait until the other tables was ready. Seemed like an odd policy. We also requested small glasses for our children (like juice cup) as the adult size water goblets were awkward for little hands, this was a struggle to get the first four nights. Also, we were told there is no children's sized cutlery on Royal Caribbean. Explorer has a midweek survey that we turned in on day three, someone must read those things because we got a lecture from our waiter the next night about bringing problems to him and that he needs us to rate him a 10, he lectured us on this for 15 minutes making us feel very uncomfortable, so much so we stopped going to dinner in the main dining hall.
Assistant Waiter was awesome, after first night had Diet Soda waiting for my wife, Ice-Tea for me and everyone else's preferred drink at the table.
Various Waiters main dining room lunch - We had great service from every waited we had during lunch in the main dining room, small glasses no problem here are two juice cups, oh you have kids let me get the small dessert spoons to help them out. I feel if I had one of these waiters in the evening my dining room experience would have been different.
Other interactions on the ship with crew were very positive, from the lady at the shore excursion desk who helped us change one of the excursions for one of our party who booked the wrong one pre-cruise (and gave them the pre-cruise booking deal) to the bartenders and guest services desk.
Entertainment
There was a group they brought onboard called MO5IAC and they were really good, other than that the evening production shows (we watched two) were not that good. The Ice Show though was the one highlight of the entertainment from the onboard production company. The enrichment lectures were disappointing as I had already Wikipedia before the cruise and didn’t need it read back verbatim with no or poorly designed slide show to go with it. Left after 10 minutes of the first one, when I saw it was the same guy didn’t bother to attend another. Other than that, they had the usual trivia games, bingo and karaoke.
The Up Sell
I felt a lot of the cruise was about trying to sell me more stuff. They constantly had people walking around the ship with signs saying they had opening for the specialty restaurants, they would stop while I was sitting trying to enjoy my poorly made cup of coffee and ask if I was interested, this occurred everyday multiple times a day. Same for the Spa appointments. Many of the activities centered around extra cost things, like shopping, alcohol tasting, bingo, the casino, etc.... I felt hassled by the staff from various venues into spending more money, even my waiter was in on the act. When I ordered a steak the first evening he suggested I get the $18 up charge filet in the main dining room.
Activities
I saw a couple of kids on the Flow Rider. The rock-climbing wall is cool, people used the pools, but I found the weather to be too chilly. Hot tubs were available for those inclined. Mini-gold was nine holes, not very challenging and had not theming.
Food
Some of the food in the main dining room was ok, I don’t recommend selecting from the stuff they have every day as none of that was ever good for anyone in our party, but the nightly main dishes were ok. The buffet was the same food over and over, the same food every day for breakfast, the same food at lunch. If you like High School cafeteria food then you’ll love Windjammers they have burgers, hotdogs, fries, etc. along with some mixed veggies and and some meat carving stations. Pro Tip at breakfast find the omelette made to order station to get your eggs. We ate a Johnny Rockets and I swear it was the same burgers as in the windjammers. I found the food overall to very disappointing on the cruise compared to other lines I have been on. On a side note my child with autism has some eating issue, one of our go to’s is peanut butter on bread. We brought our own peanut butter with us but can you believe that you cannot get a slice of bread (rolls, buns, etc. no problem) at any time other than breakfast? if you have lunch in the windjammers and your kid wants a PB&J you are outta luck cause you can only get those ingredients at breakfast. Also, how hard is it to make some decent chicken tenders?
Alaska
This was by far the best destination we have ever cruised. Every port was awesome, every excursion rocked
Juneau - Whale Watching and Rainforest Hike
Gastineau Guiding Company
We lucked out and this was the company that we got when we booked through the Cruise Ship. Our Guide was David T. for the trip and his knowledge made the trip awesome. First we went out for the whale watching which was neat, saw a couple of humpbacks and the boat captain was able to position us to get the quintessential Tail Fluke shot as the whale dove into the water. The real gem of this tour was guided hike through the rain forest. It was not a strenuous hike and David was very good at stopping, gathering the group and giving the history of the glacier and the rain forest that has grown since the glacier has retreated. We had our 7 and 4 year old on the hike and he was excellent in including them in his talks about the rainforest. Next trip we take to Alaska will book this company for more hiking and if possible request David T. as our guide.
Dinner was the Twisted Fish Company
Great place to stop eat after our hiking excursion at Mendenhall on our way back to the boat. We choose this place for their menu that allowed the seafood eaters of our group to get seafood and the land lubbers to get burgers. The Seafoodies had the Alaskan King Crab Legs that were cooked to perfection and tasted simply awesome. Onion rings on the side were a great add-on, can’t recommend the mac and cheese. Our Burgers eaters had the regular burger and the bison burger both said they really good. Service was good and the next time we are in Juneau I would definitely eat here again.
Skagway
Alaskan Excursions - Musher’s Camp and S’more Roasting
The guide who picked us up was awesome (can’t remember her name but she splits her time between Skagway and Arizona). She pointed out interesting sights along the drive out and back. She also stopped so we could take pics along the way. At the camp we got to meet someone who competed in the Iditarod and was able to give first-hand knowledge of the race and mushing in general. Then we got to meet the puppies (a highlight of our trip for the kids) and finished with s’mores roasting. Overall a great experience and one I would recommend if you’re looking for a relaxing experience that includes puppies and chocolate.
White Pass and Yukon Route Railway
We lucked out and had the best possible weather the day we were in Skagway. Clear skies, 68 degrees. We took the afternoon train ride up, Pro tip sit in the very front car, you have to walk a little for it, but it wasn't crowded, and you are the last car on the ride back down. Views were awesome, the narration was good if you have never been before and as I said if you ride the first car near the engine on the way up you are the last car on the way down. As they let you step out onto the platform you get great views coming back down the mountain. We wanted to do the Steam Engine ride, but it’s laid up for repairs this year, maybe we’ll get to do that next time.
Alaskan Excursions - Grizzly Falls
Two of our party did this excursion instead of the train trip. They both said it was great and would definitely recommend it. about 10 zip lines, said the staff was very safe but still had a lot of fun too.
Victoria
We rented two cars and headed up to Butchart Gardens. It was cheaper to rent a car than do the trip off the cruise ship and we thought it would give us more time. Beware the Taxi ride was $8 dollars and the cabbie tried to tell us it was $8 American dollars, the way to get around this is tell him you do not have cash and pay with your credit card, sure enough I was charged in CAD.
The gardens are amazing, and the internet pictures and postcards live up to images you see. The crowds are intense making it very hard to navigate around the gardens. Two things would make this a better visit, go in the spring when more flowers are in bloom and don’t go when a cruise ship is in port something we couldn’t avoid this trip.
We stopped to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Victoria before walking around the town. The food was good and as it’s a chain if you have eaten at one......
Conclusion
While I plan to visit Alaska again, possibly by cruise ship this will be last my cruise with Royal Caribbean. I know experiences vary and that if I cruised again I could very well have an amazing time but to me this just means RCCL has a consistency problem and I don't want to risk my hard-earned dollars on the chance my next experience will be better. I have never had an issue in the service area with the cruises I have taken with DCL, that along with the fact they have kids in mind when planning not just with the clubs but also the little things like cutlery, food choice, and non-kids club activities. I also really missed the movie theatre’s DCL has on all their ships showing first run movies, my kids missed the character meet and greet and unlike Royal activities are not centered around being in a bar. I have heard people say the Cruise line are comparable but in my experience that is just not the case. Good Luck and thanks for reading
Cruising with Myself, Wife and two kids ages 4 and 7. Also on the cruise were Grandparents celebrating 50th anniversary and two adult brothers sharing a cabin.
I really wanted to like Royal Caribbean as they are less expensive than DCL and I was hoping to switch, some of my comparisons may include what I have experienced with Disney and where Royal fell short.
Cabin (all three parties had junior suites on opposite sides of the ship, Grandparents and brothers on Starboard side us on port side same floor)
Pros - Large room with walk in closet, bathroom decent size with small tub/shower but larger than standard cabin. Cabin door slid open and could be locked into place to leave open.
Cons - had pull out couch to sleep both kids, as opposed to DCL which has bunk beds. No curtain divider in room, when one group went to bed everyone needed to pretty much go to bed. Missed the split bathroom DCL has, and DCL shower is more spacious in the Deluxe Family Stateroom.
Kids Club
Pros - Organized activities split into various age groups. 3-5, 6-8, 9-11. On our cruise they combined the 6-8 with the 9-11 as there were not a lot of kids onboard. The staff was awesome, and the kids loved going.
Cons - very specific open times, 9a to noon, 2pm to 5pm and 7pm to 10pm on sea days. $7/hr after 10pm till 1am and nowhere for the kids to nap if tired. DCL is open all day and until midnight, plus they have a room where if the kids are tired they can lay down and take a nap. Space very small (only 30 kids max per age group) and required going through the arcade to reach the kids club. This was very annoying as the arcade games run at full volume and trying to get the kids into the club past these distractions was annoying. DCL easily has 4 times the space, better theming and as my son stated while he liked RCCL kids club they only had one activity at a time whereas Disney had several to choose from. My son is low assistance required Autistic and while RCCL does give out pagers for parents of special needs children DCL has two wave phones in every room that can be carried throughout the ship and the DCL app that you can also be reached through if needed. The check-in/out process was cumbersome, in this day in age where you get scanned to get on/off the ship you would think they would have the same system in the kids club.
Service was hit or miss.
Cabin Stewards - We needed to ask our cabin steward to return the pull out sofa-bed back into a couch for day use twice, even though we used the 'please service room magnet’ provided by royal more days than not our steward didn’t make up the room till after lunch even though we went out for breakfast and took the kids to the club afterwards every day at sea and even when in port when we returned to the ship for lunch between excursions the room was not made up. We had the same problem in the evening and had to call several times to have the beds turned down and the sofa-bed made.
On the other side of the ship my parents and brothers had a great experience with their steward and tipped him extra at the end of the cruise. An example is my Brother broke his pinky toe when he stubbed into a chair in the middle of the night. He called his steward to request ice and bags to ice his injury, after that whenever he came to the room he always had fresh ice and bags.
Waiter at Dinner - We arrived promptly when dinner started the first night and the service was very slow. the table next to ours (same waiter) arrived 30 minutes after us. While we would get our appetizers before them we usually had to wait until the same time for the main course. When we asked our waiter about this he said it was Royal policy that he could only pick up food once and we had to wait until the other tables was ready. Seemed like an odd policy. We also requested small glasses for our children (like juice cup) as the adult size water goblets were awkward for little hands, this was a struggle to get the first four nights. Also, we were told there is no children's sized cutlery on Royal Caribbean. Explorer has a midweek survey that we turned in on day three, someone must read those things because we got a lecture from our waiter the next night about bringing problems to him and that he needs us to rate him a 10, he lectured us on this for 15 minutes making us feel very uncomfortable, so much so we stopped going to dinner in the main dining hall.
Assistant Waiter was awesome, after first night had Diet Soda waiting for my wife, Ice-Tea for me and everyone else's preferred drink at the table.
Various Waiters main dining room lunch - We had great service from every waited we had during lunch in the main dining room, small glasses no problem here are two juice cups, oh you have kids let me get the small dessert spoons to help them out. I feel if I had one of these waiters in the evening my dining room experience would have been different.
Other interactions on the ship with crew were very positive, from the lady at the shore excursion desk who helped us change one of the excursions for one of our party who booked the wrong one pre-cruise (and gave them the pre-cruise booking deal) to the bartenders and guest services desk.
Entertainment
There was a group they brought onboard called MO5IAC and they were really good, other than that the evening production shows (we watched two) were not that good. The Ice Show though was the one highlight of the entertainment from the onboard production company. The enrichment lectures were disappointing as I had already Wikipedia before the cruise and didn’t need it read back verbatim with no or poorly designed slide show to go with it. Left after 10 minutes of the first one, when I saw it was the same guy didn’t bother to attend another. Other than that, they had the usual trivia games, bingo and karaoke.
The Up Sell
I felt a lot of the cruise was about trying to sell me more stuff. They constantly had people walking around the ship with signs saying they had opening for the specialty restaurants, they would stop while I was sitting trying to enjoy my poorly made cup of coffee and ask if I was interested, this occurred everyday multiple times a day. Same for the Spa appointments. Many of the activities centered around extra cost things, like shopping, alcohol tasting, bingo, the casino, etc.... I felt hassled by the staff from various venues into spending more money, even my waiter was in on the act. When I ordered a steak the first evening he suggested I get the $18 up charge filet in the main dining room.
Activities
I saw a couple of kids on the Flow Rider. The rock-climbing wall is cool, people used the pools, but I found the weather to be too chilly. Hot tubs were available for those inclined. Mini-gold was nine holes, not very challenging and had not theming.
Food
Some of the food in the main dining room was ok, I don’t recommend selecting from the stuff they have every day as none of that was ever good for anyone in our party, but the nightly main dishes were ok. The buffet was the same food over and over, the same food every day for breakfast, the same food at lunch. If you like High School cafeteria food then you’ll love Windjammers they have burgers, hotdogs, fries, etc. along with some mixed veggies and and some meat carving stations. Pro Tip at breakfast find the omelette made to order station to get your eggs. We ate a Johnny Rockets and I swear it was the same burgers as in the windjammers. I found the food overall to very disappointing on the cruise compared to other lines I have been on. On a side note my child with autism has some eating issue, one of our go to’s is peanut butter on bread. We brought our own peanut butter with us but can you believe that you cannot get a slice of bread (rolls, buns, etc. no problem) at any time other than breakfast? if you have lunch in the windjammers and your kid wants a PB&J you are outta luck cause you can only get those ingredients at breakfast. Also, how hard is it to make some decent chicken tenders?
Alaska
This was by far the best destination we have ever cruised. Every port was awesome, every excursion rocked
Juneau - Whale Watching and Rainforest Hike
Gastineau Guiding Company
We lucked out and this was the company that we got when we booked through the Cruise Ship. Our Guide was David T. for the trip and his knowledge made the trip awesome. First we went out for the whale watching which was neat, saw a couple of humpbacks and the boat captain was able to position us to get the quintessential Tail Fluke shot as the whale dove into the water. The real gem of this tour was guided hike through the rain forest. It was not a strenuous hike and David was very good at stopping, gathering the group and giving the history of the glacier and the rain forest that has grown since the glacier has retreated. We had our 7 and 4 year old on the hike and he was excellent in including them in his talks about the rainforest. Next trip we take to Alaska will book this company for more hiking and if possible request David T. as our guide.
Dinner was the Twisted Fish Company
Great place to stop eat after our hiking excursion at Mendenhall on our way back to the boat. We choose this place for their menu that allowed the seafood eaters of our group to get seafood and the land lubbers to get burgers. The Seafoodies had the Alaskan King Crab Legs that were cooked to perfection and tasted simply awesome. Onion rings on the side were a great add-on, can’t recommend the mac and cheese. Our Burgers eaters had the regular burger and the bison burger both said they really good. Service was good and the next time we are in Juneau I would definitely eat here again.
Skagway
Alaskan Excursions - Musher’s Camp and S’more Roasting
The guide who picked us up was awesome (can’t remember her name but she splits her time between Skagway and Arizona). She pointed out interesting sights along the drive out and back. She also stopped so we could take pics along the way. At the camp we got to meet someone who competed in the Iditarod and was able to give first-hand knowledge of the race and mushing in general. Then we got to meet the puppies (a highlight of our trip for the kids) and finished with s’mores roasting. Overall a great experience and one I would recommend if you’re looking for a relaxing experience that includes puppies and chocolate.
White Pass and Yukon Route Railway
We lucked out and had the best possible weather the day we were in Skagway. Clear skies, 68 degrees. We took the afternoon train ride up, Pro tip sit in the very front car, you have to walk a little for it, but it wasn't crowded, and you are the last car on the ride back down. Views were awesome, the narration was good if you have never been before and as I said if you ride the first car near the engine on the way up you are the last car on the way down. As they let you step out onto the platform you get great views coming back down the mountain. We wanted to do the Steam Engine ride, but it’s laid up for repairs this year, maybe we’ll get to do that next time.
Alaskan Excursions - Grizzly Falls
Two of our party did this excursion instead of the train trip. They both said it was great and would definitely recommend it. about 10 zip lines, said the staff was very safe but still had a lot of fun too.
Victoria
We rented two cars and headed up to Butchart Gardens. It was cheaper to rent a car than do the trip off the cruise ship and we thought it would give us more time. Beware the Taxi ride was $8 dollars and the cabbie tried to tell us it was $8 American dollars, the way to get around this is tell him you do not have cash and pay with your credit card, sure enough I was charged in CAD.
The gardens are amazing, and the internet pictures and postcards live up to images you see. The crowds are intense making it very hard to navigate around the gardens. Two things would make this a better visit, go in the spring when more flowers are in bloom and don’t go when a cruise ship is in port something we couldn’t avoid this trip.
We stopped to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Victoria before walking around the town. The food was good and as it’s a chain if you have eaten at one......
Conclusion
While I plan to visit Alaska again, possibly by cruise ship this will be last my cruise with Royal Caribbean. I know experiences vary and that if I cruised again I could very well have an amazing time but to me this just means RCCL has a consistency problem and I don't want to risk my hard-earned dollars on the chance my next experience will be better. I have never had an issue in the service area with the cruises I have taken with DCL, that along with the fact they have kids in mind when planning not just with the clubs but also the little things like cutlery, food choice, and non-kids club activities. I also really missed the movie theatre’s DCL has on all their ships showing first run movies, my kids missed the character meet and greet and unlike Royal activities are not centered around being in a bar. I have heard people say the Cruise line are comparable but in my experience that is just not the case. Good Luck and thanks for reading