What makes Disney worth it?

[mevelandry]

(...)

• I love that 90% of everything on the ships lacks an upcharge. People make compelling arguments that you still come out better with the upcharges on other lines, but I don't like it. It takes away from my enjoyment to think about spending money to do stuff on the ship. I would actually rather pay a bit more up front and have most things included. Psychologically, it just feels better to me.

• I like the ease of the rotational dinning. I like having a set time where we all come together. I like having the same serving staff all week. I like having the buffet and sit-down options for breakfast and lunch and find the buffet above average (I am not usually a fan of buffets). I do think the food quality is DCL's weakest link. It is above average for mass-dining, but under seasoned and rarely changes. The deserts often look/sound better than they taste. That said, I know I will always enjoy my meal and have enough options to pick from to keep it interesting enough. The time spend at dinner is still a highlight of each cruise.

-Upcharges: I would argue that with the exception of sodas almost everything that is an upcharge on other cruise lines is an upcharge on DCL as well (special activities, drinks, excursions, spa treatments). The bright side is that you can add them and prepay online before the cruise... So once you are on the ship, just like DCL, you don’t have to think about it anymore.

-Dining: with the exception of the rotational dining, a set time and a set team of servers is something you will get on other cruise lines as well. That being said, I love rotational dining and I wish they had a way to do that on other cruise lines as well. It’s fun to change decor once in a while.

 

[JM_97]

-Upcharges: I would argue that with the exception of sodas almost everything that is an upcharge on other cruise lines is an upcharge on DCL as well (special activities, drinks, excursions, spa treatments). The bright side is that you can add them and prepay online before the cruise... So once you are on the ship, just like DCL, you don’t have to think about it anymore.

-Dining: with the exception of the rotational dining, a set time and a set team of servers is something you will get on other cruise lines as well. That being said, I love rotational dining and I wish they had a way to do that on other cruise lines as well. It’s fun to change decor once in a while.

Yeah. I found a 5 night cruise on the Mariner of the Seas, which looks to be bigger than the Magic/Wonder but smaller than the Dream/Fantasy. It goes to Coco Cay and Labadee. From what I understand, Labadee is owned by Royal but it’s not completely “private” like Coco or Castaway. I think it’s what Disney is trying to do with Lighthouse Point.

I have also heard the same about Carnival in that they are going away from the “Vegas” vibe, but I’ve also heard mixed reviews about their cruises. I still might try it one day.

In terms of food and drink, I’ll probably prepay all of my drinks ahead of time for an all inclusive feel. It’s probably not a huge savings, but I think it’ll enhance the vacation feel. And while I’ll miss rotational dining, it will be kind of fun to have a less relaxed schedule around dinner where we have more options and can kind of go with the flow. I think both ways have their pros and cons.

I think I’ll still try Disney again one day (went on the Wonder in 06), but I’ll still get my fix in beforehand at Disney World for a day or two prior.

 

[mevelandry]

Yeah. I found a 5 night cruise on the Mariner of the Seas, which looks to be bigger than the Magic/Wonder but smaller than the Dream/Fantasy. It goes to Coco Cay and Labadee. From what I understand, Labadee is owned by Royal but it’s not completely “private” like Coco or Castaway. I think it’s what Disney is trying to do with Lighthouse Point.

I have also heard the same about Carnival in that they are going away from the “Vegas” vibe, but I’ve also heard mixed reviews about their cruises. I still might try it one day.

In terms of food and drink, I’ll probably prepay all of my drinks ahead of time for an all inclusive feel. It’s probably not a huge savings, but I think it’ll enhance the vacation feel. And while I’ll miss rotational dining, it will be kind of fun to have a less relaxed schedule around dinner where we have more options and can kind of go with the flow. I think both ways have their pros and cons.

I think I’ll still try Disney again one day (went on the Wonder in 06), but I’ll still get my fix in beforehand at Disney World for a day or two prior.

I have sailed on Mariner and it’s a great ship with lots to do. A lot of places on the ship have a classic look, which I love. I’ll be visiting Labadee later this year. People are raving about it and I can’t wait.

With Carnival, longer cruise (6 days +) on a newer ship will definitely offer a better experience than shorter cruises and older ships... I think this is part of the reasons why when they restructured during COVID, they got rid of half the ships in the Fantasy Class (they should have sold the Sensation as well IMO... LOL) ... I say this having experienced all types of ships on their cruise line: the newer, the better.

I’m planning on sailing with DCL again someday. I would love to try the new Disney Wish but it will take a lot of convincing (family, friends) as the prices won‘t be low. But I will try.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

First off, I am an adult and my kid up to now has never been able to accompany me, so I am generally travelling with 2 adults, no kids.

Having been on almost every cruise line, but now I only sail DCL, for me, it boils down to 2 things.

First, I like the shows on DCL. I do not enjoy going and watching some guy play on the piano (no matter how good he sounds). I want more. I enjoy Believe! and Aladdin and all the other shows. I also enjoy the MDR's a lot. I love the show in Animator's Palate.

Second and most important is service, service, service. I love the crew in DCL. LOVE THEM. I will illustrate with an example. Last cruise I took was on the Fantasy. We had not gotten a chance to get a Dole Whip at the parks and saw a sign that they were introducing them on the ships. When we boarded we had stopped and talked to a very nice CM in the gift shop up there on Deck 11. Then we went seeking a Dole Whip. The bartender told us his machine was broken and he couldn't make them. Heart Broken, my wife wondered back to the gift shop. The CM there asked her why she was sad and I told her she had her heart set on a Dole Whip, but the bartender said he couldn't make them. She kinda puffed up and said we can't have that. She made a call down to port (we were still in dock) and the port called the bartender. She then sent us back there. The bartender said although the machine is broken, he would attempt to make one with crushed ice as a substitute and blend it into a puree. I gotta say... he came really, really close. That there was some Disney Magic. I mean - you just don't get that anywhere else. ANYWHERE.

I love that our Main Waiter asked about our day every day. And he always said if we need anything (dining related or not) to just let him know and he would take care of it - even if it was help with a shore excursion or our room or whatever. They remembered our drink preferences and had them waiting. He remembered that I liked sourdough, and always had rolls for me instead of whatever they were serving. They just.... can't be beat on any other cruise line.

Finally, I love the upkeep Disney does. I remember on one of my first Disney Cruises, we stopped at port and pulled up next to a NCL ship. I can't remember which ship, but she was clearly in need of some love. She has a few rust stains around the water drains. We pulled up and as soon as the ship docked and before they even let us off, the sides of the Fantasy opened up and crew members started crawling over her like a hoard of ants with hoses washing her down. They just take meticulous care of the ships.

Anyway... That's my 2 cents.

 

[mevelandry]

(...) I mean - you just don't get that anywhere else. ANYWHERE.

(...)

They remembered our drink preferences and had them waiting. He remembered that I liked sourdough, and always had rolls for me instead of whatever they were serving. They just.... can't be beat on any other cruise line.

I’m glad you’ve had a great experience with DCL and that make you really happy and those are, indeed, very nice gestures.

That being said, I beg to differ when you say that one cannot have that kind of service anywhere else, as we have experienced something similar —very nice waiters knowing our preferences, staff going out of their way to make us happy, and gifts appearing in our cabins— on Royal Caribbean and Carnival as well.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I’m glad you’ve had a great experience with DCL and that make you really happy and those are, indeed, very nice gestures.

That being said, I beg to differ when you say that one cannot have that kind of service anywhere else, as we have experienced something similar —very nice waiters knowing our preferences, staff going out of their way to make us happy, and gifts appearing in our cabins— on Royal Caribbean and Carnival as well.

So don't get me wrong... I am a shareholder for both Carnival and RCL (as well as NCL). As I said, I have sailed with pretty much every major cruise line (my father used to work in the industry and I would accompany him since he was handicapped). So I love them all, and it is with great respect for those lines that I say this.

Good people CAN be found in any cruise line. Indeed - they MUST since many staff transfer between lines fairly regularly. The difference IN MY EXPERIENCE is that in Disney it's consistent where as in Carnival, RCL and NCL it's random. If I go on RCL, I may have a great waiter. If I am on DCL, I WILL have a great waiter (I have had bad service on DCL, but it's very rare).

This is due in large part to training of the crew and how DCL manages their lines. Carnival encourages their staff to be friendly, caring and attentive to the guests needs. DCL will not tolerate anything less. (Again, this comes from some backhand knowledge of the lines since that was what my father taught).

I won't even talk about MSC.

 

[cgolf]

So don't get me wrong... I am a shareholder for both Carnival and RCL (as well as NCL). As I said, I have sailed with pretty much every major cruise line (my father used to work in the industry and I would accompany him since he was handicapped). So I love them all, and it is with great respect for those lines that I say this.

Good people CAN be found in any cruise line. Indeed - they MUST since many staff transfer between lines fairly regularly. The difference IN MY EXPERIENCE is that in Disney it's consistent where as in Carnival, RCL and NCL it's random. If I go on RCL, I may have a great waiter. If I am on DCL, I WILL have a great waiter (I have had bad service on DCL, but it's very rare).

This is due in large part to training of the crew and how DCL manages their lines. Carnival encourages their staff to be friendly, caring and attentive to the guests needs. DCL will not tolerate anything less. (Again, this comes from some backhand knowledge of the lines since that was what my father taught).

I won't even talk about MSC.

I have sailed multiple lines as well and the worst service I have had by far is on DCL, and it wasn't just once, but 3 or 4 times. We still enjoyed the cruise. As far as upkeep, the Magic is one of my 3 favorite ships, but I will tell you that when we have sailed RCCL ships of the same vintage, they were in better shape. Our 3 RCCL cruises have been consistently good service and our Celebrity was incredible. I am not knocking DCL because they are very good too, but from our experiences they are on the same level as the 2 other lines we have sailed. I know that we will eventually encounter grumpy or wait staff that is not up to par on the other lines too. The difference of course is the other lines don't have activities that center around a mouse I understand for some families that is a priceless add. Take away the mouse and the lines are all pretty similar service and cleanliness.

One thing for people that sail without kids and like the rotational dining. The new E class ships for Celebrity and with my time dining you can book the three different free dining rooms. Only difference is you get different servers. For us this isn't an issue, but for some that may be a deal breaker. When we have done my time on RCCL and we have always had the same table and wait staff and drinks were set out ahead of time on the same percentage as DCL. One thing we noticed on Celebrity was the stage performers mingled with the crowds at other performances and were very friendly and approachable.

 

[tinkerone]

Good people CAN be found in any cruise line. Indeed - they MUST since many staff transfer between lines fairly regularly. The difference IN MY EXPERIENCE is that in Disney it's consistent where as in Carnival, RCL and NCL it's random. If I go on RCL, I may have a great waiter. If I am on DCL, I WILL have a great waiter (I have had bad service on DCL, but it's very rare).

I'm glad you put that in. We have had great service on DCL but there have been several exceptions. We are Platinum, our sailings are normally B2B, 14 days. We have had the worst service of any cruise line on DCL however that can be explained by the fact it was only the third sailing of the Fantasy and the wait staff was obviously new. Both the head server and the assistant server. Neither knew what they were doing but oh well. We were on vacation and I don't care you brought the wrong drink, the wrong meal. It can all be fixed.
We once had a dinning team that were a bit too friendly. They seemed to feel they knew us well enough that they would individually have a seat and tell us what the other was doing wrong, how they don't pull their weight. They were nice enough when they were together but who wants to hear complaints from the staff about each other. This was on the Fantasy as well.
We've had outstanding service in the dinning room and we have had blah service as well. It seems to have been steadily going downhill though IMO.

 

[mevelandry]

So don't get me wrong... I am a shareholder for both Carnival and RCL (as well as NCL). As I said, I have sailed with pretty much every major cruise line (my father used to work in the industry and I would accompany him since he was handicapped). So I love them all, and it is with great respect for those lines that I say this.

Good people CAN be found in any cruise line. Indeed - they MUST since many staff transfer between lines fairly regularly. The difference IN MY EXPERIENCE is that in Disney it's consistent where as in Carnival, RCL and NCL it's random. If I go on RCL, I may have a great waiter. If I am on DCL, I WILL have a great waiter (I have had bad service on DCL, but it's very rare).

This is due in large part to training of the crew and how DCL manages their lines. Carnival encourages their staff to be friendly, caring and attentive to the guests needs. DCL will not tolerate anything less. (Again, this comes from some backhand knowledge of the lines since that was what my father taught).

I won't even talk about MSC.

I guess it’s harder for me to completely adhere to that belief because on our first cruise, our waiter was not nice at all (Dream), second cruise (Dream) was very good yet nothing out of the ordinary, third cruise (Wonder) was excellent ... one of the best we’ve had. Staff has always been hit or miss.

That being said, servers at Remy were always the best (and they would always speak French with us). Palo on Wonder was also amazing.

I like to make fun of Carnival Sensation a lot as it was least favorite ship, but the staff over there, (from servers to crew members) was probably the best staff we’ve had.

That being said, Royal has been very impressive on that level as well.

 

[mevelandry]

Take away the mouse and the lines are all pretty similar service and cleanliness.

I could not agree more.

 

[cgolf]

I'm glad you put that in. We have had great service on DCL but there have been several exceptions. We are Platinum, our sailings are normally B2B, 14 days. We have had the worst service of any cruise line on DCL however that can be explained by the fact it was only the third sailing of the Fantasy and the wait staff was obviously new. Both the head server and the assistant server. Neither knew what they were doing but oh well. We were on vacation and I don't care you brought the wrong drink, the wrong meal. It can all be fixed.
We once had a dinning team that were a bit too friendly. They seemed to feel they knew us well enough that they would individually have a seat and tell us what the other was doing wrong, how they don't pull their weight. They were nice enough when they were together but who wants to hear complaints from the staff about each other. This was on the Fantasy as well.
We've had outstanding service in the dinning room and we have had blah service as well. It seems to have been steadily going downhill though IMO.

I definitely think DCL had some growing pains going from 2 to 3 and then to 4 ships with service. Our early cruises on the Magic were wonderful, but that was also our first taste in a long time of service like that, so if I looked back on it it may not have been so good. As a kid I did some fine dining like that, but as an adult it is chain restaurants, Culvers, or smaller more casual dining places (with good food though). We live a thrifty lifestyle so fine dining is out for us. A splurge is maybe a 70 bill with tip for 3 of us, some places per person runs way more.

You will all get a laugh though, on our first cruise embarkation lunch, I felt like we needed to leave the server a tip that brought us water and cleared our tables lol. I will say that on cruises we expect the dining team to do their jobs well, be friendly with some chatting, but we aren't looking for life long friends. It is different at our local favorite spot where we knew our waitress well and she always took good care of us and we tipped well because of the service. Since this place is now closed, we hope she stays on at the new place going in the same spot this year.

 

[John VN]

.............................I won't even talk about MSC.

Bad experience????

 

[brentm77]

-Upcharges: I would argue that with the exception of sodas almost everything that is an upcharge on other cruise lines is an upcharge on DCL as well (special activities, drinks, excursions, spa treatments). The bright side is that you can add them and prepay online before the cruise... So once you are on the ship, just like DCL, you don’t have to think about it anymore.

I keep hearing that, and you speak from experience, while I simply don't. But watching the various cruise videos on YouTube sure doesn't make it seem that way for some lines. The vloggers do the ship tours and the private island tours and all I hear is there is an upcharge to do this activity, and upcharge to do that activity, these ten restaurants charge a fee, etc. You could argue that some of those activities aren't even offered on Disney lines (water park on the private islands, go-carts, etc.), so you aren't losing anything if you don't do them. But, I still don't love it. I don't want me or my kids to be surrounded by upgrade options. On DCL, it is mostly things we don't care to do on the ship - spa, Remy/Palo, special coffee and ice-cream, and excursions on Castaway. I wouldn't count excursions as upgrades, since I do mostly private and expect to pay for everything once I leave the ship. It is different psychologically. There is never a feeling of missing out on something without pulling out my wallet or watching my bill to make sure I am in budget.

I have also read countless reviews of lines that provide poor main dining to push you to the upgrade restaurants. I would rather have a line that is encouraged to keep main dinning to a certain standard since they can't fall back on numerous upgrade options. Nearly every time I watch cruise videos on YouTube, I get the impression that the industry is moving more an more away from all-inclusive and I really don't care to support it.

All that said, I was listing the reasons we find DCL gives us sufficient value for our money. That doesn't mean we wouldn't get more value on other lines. That doesn't mean what I listed can't be found elsewhere. The day will come where we try other lines, but we will keep going back to DCL for now, since it is nearly a perfect fit for us.

If money wasn't a huge factor for you - what other lines feel the most like DCL when it comes to nearly all inclusive, great service, and immaculate ships?

 

[bunnm09]

Labadee is a nice beach but honestly we won’t go back. In no way is it really a “private island” feel. You’ve still got straw markets and people begging for you to buy things from them.
Our “tram” back to the dock, a truck pulling a trailer, got stuck in the mud and they asked us all to get out and help push the thing up the hill. That is certainly not something that would ever happen on Castaway haha

the best part of labadee was the drink the Labadoozee that is only sold there hahaha

One other point about DCL. If you’re a Disney fan like we are there is just a certain feeling walking on that ship and having your name announced by the crew welcoming you. It’s stuff like that that is what makes it worth it for us. Add in the subtle Disney music playing in all the hallways. It’s just perfect. But yes, it costs a premium

 

[tinkerone]

I keep hearing that, and you speak from experience, while I simply don't. But watching the various cruise videos on YouTube sure doesn't make it seem that way for some lines. The vloggers do the ship tours and the private island tours and all I hear is there is an upcharge to do this activity, and upcharge to do that activity, these ten restaurants charge a fee, etc. You could argue that some of those activities aren't even offered on Disney lines (water park on the private islands, go-carts, etc.), so you aren't losing anything if you don't do them. But, I still don't love it. I don't want me or my kids to be surrounded by upgrade options. On DCL, it is mostly things we don't care to do on the ship - spa, Remy/Palo, special coffee and ice-cream, and excursions on Castaway. I wouldn't count excursions as upgrades, since I do mostly private and expect to pay for everything once I leave the ship. It is different psychologically. There is never a feeling of missing out on something without pulling out my wallet or watching my bill to make sure I am in budget.

I have also read countless reviews of lines that provide poor main dining to push you to the upgrade restaurants. I would rather have a line that is encouraged to keep main dinning to a certain standard since they can't fall back on numerous upgrade options. Nearly every time I watch cruise videos on YouTube, I get the impression that the industry is moving more an more away from all-inclusive and I really don't care to support it.

All that said, I was listing the reasons we find DCL gives us sufficient value for our money. That doesn't mean we wouldn't get more value on other lines. That doesn't mean what I listed can't be found elsewhere. The day will come where we try other lines, but we will keep going back to DCL for now, since it is nearly a perfect fit for us.

If money wasn't a huge factor for you - what other lines feel the most like DCL when it comes to nearly all inclusive, great service, and immaculate ships?

Let me answer this a bit. As for the private island upcharges, you have that on DCL as well. Want to use the water skies? Upcharge. Want to feed the stingrays? Upcharge. Want to do a simple bike ride? Upcharge. Want to parasail? Upcharge. They are just different items. Is that nickel and diming?

Ten restaurants that upcharge? DCL only has two but they are there. If I am going to pay an upcharge for a restaurant I like that I can choose from ten options and not just two. Never been to Remy's, no interest, but I don't like Palo. It would be nice if there was other options. As for food not being as good so you will pay for these options, that is all personal. I don't think the food is any worse on the RCL ships we have sailed than the food in the dinning rooms on DCL. That's my opinion. They have lobster night on other lines as well.

You can purchase any and all of these items before you cruise. You can also purchase the drink package which allows you to drink on their own personal islands with no other charge. Can't do that on DCL, seems like that is a nickel and dime thing.

I would say don't believe everything you see or hear until you personally try something. It's what kept us away from other lines but now I know better.


ETA-for the money you could save on another line you might easily be able to pay for any of the offerings you and your family choose to do and still save money. It would be worth checking out.

 

[cgolf]

I keep hearing that, and you speak from experience, while I simply don't. But watching the various cruise videos on YouTube sure doesn't make it seem that way for some lines. The vloggers do the ship tours and the private island tours and all I hear is there is an upcharge to do this activity, and upcharge to do that activity, these ten restaurants charge a fee, etc. You could argue that some of those activities aren't even offered on Disney lines (water park on the private islands, go-carts, etc.), so you aren't losing anything if you don't do them. But, I still don't love it. I don't want me or my kids to be surrounded by upgrade options. On DCL, it is mostly things we don't care to do on the ship - spa, Remy/Palo, special coffee and ice-cream, and excursions on Castaway. I wouldn't count excursions as upgrades, since I do mostly private and expect to pay for everything once I leave the ship. It is different psychologically. There is never a feeling of missing out on something without pulling out my wallet or watching my bill to make sure I am in budget.

I have also read countless reviews of lines that provide poor main dining to push you to the upgrade restaurants. I would rather have a line that is encouraged to keep main dinning to a certain standard since they can't fall back on numerous upgrade options. Nearly every time I watch cruise videos on YouTube, I get the impression that the industry is moving more an more away from all-inclusive and I really don't care to support it.

All that said, I was listing the reasons we find DCL gives us sufficient value for our money. That doesn't mean we wouldn't get more value on other lines. That doesn't mean what I listed can't be found elsewhere. The day will come where we try other lines, but we will keep going back to DCL for now, since it is nearly a perfect fit for us.

If money wasn't a huge factor for you - what other lines feel the most like DCL when it comes to nearly all inclusive, great service, and immaculate ships?

If you read my RCCL and Celebrity reviews on the other cruise board on Dis, you can see that we ate every supper in the main dining rooms, and didn't spend extra on food. We passed by the upcharge offerings they had just like we did on DCL. We aren't foodies by any means, but have found all main dining fare to be good, maybe not great, but good enough for us. Others experiences may vary. I stated above where we dine out locally so our standards may not be as high as others for food. On all lines except DCL in the early years when we hit the gift shops hard, our OBC is spent on shore excursions instead of drinks and upcharge food. The latter titles on my reviews are the thrifty cruiser lol. The exceptions on the drinks is RCCL does a drink card, 10 drinks for 80 or 90 bucks on some cruises and we got that on 2 of our 3 cruises and split the drinks between the 2 of us. We only buy the soda package, not the alcohol package.

Some people don't like walking down a hall and seeing something being offered for sale or having someone approach them with a sales pitch. I will just politely say not interested if approached and move on, but honestly don't get approached often because I don't make eye contact and must be scary looking Lets face it cruise lines want to get as much money as possible out of us. On DCL guest services was always busy the last day and we overheard many asking how their onboard bill could be so much

Want to add I was freaked out about our first RCCL cruise to the point we almost canceled it and went in with the opinion it was going to suck big time. It took half a day and my mind was changed. Embarkation taking a fraction of the time of DCL was a nice start. Now I am a cruising free agent knowing I probably can't go wrong with any line except Carnival which we may never try. Too many friends have had bad cruises for us to try them out.

 

[brentm77]

I would say don't believe everything you see or hear until you personally try something. It's what kept us away from other lines but now I know better.

If you read my RCCL and Celebrity reviews on the other cruise board on Dis, you can see that we ate every supper in the main dining rooms, and didn't spend extra on food. We passed by the upcharge offerings they had just like we did on DCL.

Great feedback. Thank you to both of you for taking the time to respond. I really didn't want to get up on comparing other lines, because my main point is that we feel we get the value we expect from Disney, even if we might find better value on other lines. And, I don't have real world experience to make a fair comparison. For me, it comes down to whether I want to risk one of my two big vacations every year to try other lines for the benefit of saving some money. We aren't there yet. But, we certainly will get to that point when we don't want to sail to the same ports or get bored with the same menus and entertainment.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I have sailed multiple lines as well and the worst service I have had by far is on DCL, and it wasn't just once, but 3 or 4 times.

I'm glad you put that in. We have had great service on DCL but there have been several exceptions.

I guess it’s harder for me to completely adhere to that belief because on our first cruise, our waiter was not nice at all (Dream), second cruise (Dream) was very good yet nothing out of the ordinary, third cruise (Wonder) was excellent ... one of the best we’ve had. Staff has always been hit or miss.

So I will answer all of these at the same time with the same answer. The OP was asking what makes DCL worth the extra money. As I have been careful to note, IN MY EXPERIENCE I have had consistently better service on DCL than the other lines (and this is backed up a little by some inside knowledge of how the lines work).

EVERY PERSON HAS UNIQUE EXPERIENCES. First off, every cruise is different, each people have different staff. The ships behave differently. Add on to that, if you take 2 random people and give them the same experience they will have completely different memories and viewpoints about it. I have seen two people in identical situations where one had a wonderful time and another had a terrible time.

Saying that I have personally had consistently better service on DCL does not mean that the random times you have been on it were perfect or that the random times I have taken RCL or Carnival are proof positive that they have lower standards.

I will tell you that I will always put my personal experience above random people's experiences on a board.

So to answer the OP AGAIN and more clearly, IN MY EXPERIENCE, I have found DCL to have consistently better service than I have had on other lines. For that reason, I am more inclined to spend extra on DCL knowing that I am more likely to have great service and my confidence in the brand that if things are not right, they will bend over backwards to fix it while I do not have confidence that my experience will be as good on other lines or that they will take reasonable corrective action if there is a problem.

To that end, I really only sail other lines now if I am interested in a destination that DCL doesn't have.

 

[YoDisney]

reading your take on how DCL excels in customer svc & the 'magic' makes me really miss DCL. I've only been on 3 DCLs in the last 6yrs & have been on other cruise lines prior to DCL (princess & rccl) but it's the little things on DCL that I feel is worth my hard earned vacation dollars. Yes, there are upcharges on certain things but I feel entertained enough & relaxed on my DCL cruises (i don't do spa, i just catch up on naps). we don't have kids so only adult cruisers (disney fans). I would like to try the bigger RCCL ships w/my parents one day (they're tired of princess cruises esp the fact that they only been on older ships).
I absolutely don't mind paying the premium for DCL because I really appreciate the cleanliness & constant upkeep throughout the ship..kinda interesting I have noticed on DCL that when they dock at major ports, they're constantly changing/throwing out(?) mattresses...i know where my money is going to lol

 

[cgolf]

Great feedback. Thank you to both of you for taking the time to respond. I really didn't want to get up on comparing other lines, because my main point is that we feel we get the value we expect from Disney, even if we might find better value on other lines. And, I don't have real world experience to make a fair comparison. For me, it comes down to whether I want to risk one of my two big vacations every year to try other lines for the benefit of saving some money. We aren't there yet. But, we certainly will get to that point when we don't want to sail to the same ports or get bored with the same menus and entertainment.

It is a big leap to get there and for us it has worked out really well. For others not as much. Like the post 2 above said my observations are mine alone, but we were die hard DCL defenders for a long time.

Whatever line you sail on in the future enjoy and and smooth sailing