What makes Disney worth it?

[tinkerone]

Things that I think are probably worse on other cruise lines:

More smoking areas.
Drunk party people on the ship and in cabins.
Less safe for kids own their own.
Having to wait in line for a soda and having to pay and tip each time.

I'd have to disagree with this as well, my experiences with RCL is all I have to go by but I will give my thoughts on that.
Smoking is allowed in the casino but that was the only indoor area where you could smoke as far as I could tell. I can avoid the casino, no problem. Outdoor smoking was the same, I could avoid it if I wanted to. I avoid it on DCL as well if I want to. FYI I do not smoke.

The worst drunk party I have seen was on DCL. People drink on RCL as well and I'm sure they get drunk but as big as the ship is we haven't run into them. On DCL the adult only pool often has people at it that are drunk. As far as drunk in their cabins, how would you know? I have never been able to tell who is and who isn't drunk in their cabin.

Less safe for kids on their own? I don't think any ship is safe for kids on their own. Your on a floating island with 6000 strangers. What could possibly go wrong on either brand. It's up to the parent of course, but I doubt one line is safer than the other. Look at the molestation by the office and a young girl that happened on the elevator on, I believe it was the Dream. It happens, don't think the Disney bubble will protect your child, that is just stupid. It doesn't. We have to protect our children.

Waiting for soda? Tipping? If you purchase a soda package you get a cup in your room on arrival. They have lots of Coke FreeStyle dispensers through out the ship and you just go to one of those and get your drink if you want one. Are you aware of how many options those machines give you? If you have ever used a Free Style machine you will know that there are about a hundred options. If you are at a bar and don't have your cup you can still get a soda, you have already tipped when you purchased your package so no need to tip again unless you want to.

I understand your points and that they are valid for you. They aren't for me as my experience has been different. We don't all like the same things, which is actually good.

 

[Cheburashka]

I respect your opinion (based on your experience) but my experience is so different... I could talk about Club Level from Grand Floridian, Yacht Club and Beach Club for days!

We really enjoyed Beach Club club level, the convenience of it and the dedicated floor. Unfortunately, that's all gone with the wind.

 

[mevelandry]

Things that I think are probably worse on other cruise lines:

More smoking areas.
Drunk party people on the ship and in cabins.
Less safe for kids own their own.
Having to wait in line for a soda and having to pay and tip each time.

-Smoking areas: Depends on the ships/cruise lines. Plus, most are easy to avoid just like DCL, some others are a little bit more complicated to avoid.

-Drunk party people: I have done 7 non-DCL cruises (Carnival and RCCL) and the amount of moments I have witnessed drunk obnoxious people on those is the same as my 3 DCL cruises. It’s not nearly as bad as I heard when I was only cruising with DCL.

-I’ve seen kids on their own on all cruise lines. They seemed perfectly fine.

-RCCL has Coca-Cola Freestyle. Never had more than 2 minutes wait and didn’t have to tip anyone for it. You get a super nice refillable mug with it. Loved that concept.

 

[mevelandry]

Things that I think are probably worse on other cruise lines:

More smoking areas.
Drunk party people on the ship and in cabins.
Less safe for kids own their own.
Having to wait in line for a soda and having to pay and tip each time.

Well let's compare to a 'quality small ship' like VIKING Ocean

More smoking area: NO, less
Drunk Party People: average age is over 50 ... we tend to be over that ....
Less safe for kids: NO, kids not allowed, adult only
Having to wait in line for soda and tip each time: Wine Beer Soda included with all meals, most cabins mini bar hold included ALREADY PAID FOR can soft drinks replenished daily (More $ cabin include booze also refilled daily) distilled still and sparkling water any time any place and in your cabin .... free bottled water when leaving the ship for a tour/excursion ... included shore excursion in every port . . . <upgrade to unlimited drink package $20 per person per day .... aka less than the cost of 2 drinks>

You make me wanna try Viking.

 

[MomOTwins]

There are some things DCL just really knocks out of the ballpark.
--For kids, it is not just the kids clubs that are a draw. Everything is designed to make my kids feel joy--from the pirate night show where kids are brought "on stage," the fireworks, the magical paintings on the Dream, the sunken hidden mickeys snorkeling on CC--it all just imbues the trip with a sense of wonder and (cliche I know) magic.
--For a family of 5, it doesn't end up being all that much cheaper than other lines because we usually have to get a suite on other lines.
--The ships are really beautiful; I don't get tired of just wandering around an exploring.
--Castaway Cay is my heaven

As for whether it is worth it, the prices vary so much I do need a caveat. We do think it is worth it for the price we pay in off season for caribbean/bahamas itineraries. Rare itineraries (e.g., panama canal, hawaii), and holiday travel is outrageous--we don't pay those prices.

 

[DisMommyTX]

We love Disney and and cruising, but DCL is not our favorite. The shows, food, and service were not the best of our 25+ cruises on 6 different lines, but they were among the top 20% across the board. They are a safe bet. Now, we prefer a week on RCL, NCL, or Carnival plus at WDW for the same $ as the one week on DCL would have cost.

The one area where DCL far excels is the children's club. If you have multiple kids different ages under 12, they are the only line that will allow them all to hang out together. Some kids clubs on other lines were hit or miss, but DCL's were always good. Once the kids reached teen/tween years, they preferred the live music and family activities on other lines.

So for us, a Disney cruise is worth it if you have kids under 12 and money is not a factor in ensuring a B+ cruise.

 

[cgolf]

We began cruising when we were young, pre-kids (we were still kids ourselves) ... getting BANG FOR THE BUCK was important but cruise ships were pretty simple in the 80's. As time went on we moved to more $$ cruises ...

Kids entered the equation and we still cruised - without the child - knew there was nothing for them and we moved on to Princess and Windstar. We wanted to take the kids but knew they would hate it and they were too young

Then came DCL and a cruise with the kids was ideal. We'd already graduated to cruises that were not bargain priced but even so you could do a DCL cruise for less than the equivalent days in the park in the early days.

cruising with pre-teens DCl was our choice and we did it annually for years.

Teenagers out grew Disney and Royal became a favorite because they had SO MUCH 'stuff' on the new ships. Mom and dad accepted the Royal vibe cuz the kids had so much fun. (Son still loved DCL tho and did a Med' for his honeymoon but spouse was also a Disney FREAK)

Kids are gone and we've moved on .... Viking River and Viking Ocean are current favorites and still love WINDSTAR ... yes they are $$ but so is Disney and frankly the service on these smaller ships puts Disney to shame altho it has bee some time since I sailed Disney but we go to the resorts routinely .. Grand Floridian annually for a conference.

SOOOOOOO

To us Disney was 'worth it' when the kids had the Disney bug ...... once the bug passed, spending the premium bucks <for us> means sailing 'small ship' with NO KIDS Viking is no kids ... period.

My two cents ... no change expected from my nickel

Interestingly when we sailed concierge on the Fantasy our waiter chatted with us about the dream class vs the Magic class. The servers far preferred the Magic because the dining room layout was easier for them to work and they had less guests so they could actually spend more time talking with the guests. We also sailed the Magic post reimagination and the entertainment host and Fitz were awesome and very talkative. They were both on the Fantasy 3 months later and the entertainment host had no time to talk, the instant an event ended she was talking to her assistant about where they needed to be next and off as soon as things were cleaned up. I saw Fitz and he just looked worn out. Was very nice of course when I talked to him, but just didn't have the Fitz energy he had on the Magic. So even on DCL the big ship small ship service difference is evident.

 

[Cheburashka]

Interestingly when we sailed concierge on the Fantasy our waiter chatted with us about the dream class vs the Magic class. The servers far preferred the Magic because the dining room layout was easier for them to work and they had less guests so they could actually spend more time talking with the guests...So even on DCL the big ship small ship service difference is evident.

Meh. This definitely varies. We've sailed 6 times on DCL, twice on the Magic and Fantasy and one time each on the Dream and Wonder. Here is how I would order our dining room service experiences, from best to not-best:

1. 1st Fantasy cruise
2. Dream cruise
3. Wonder cruise
4. 2nd Fantasy cruise
5. 2nd Magic cruise
6. 1st Magic cruise

In other words, service was all over the place regardless of which ship we were on, and we never happened to have great service on the Magic, even though those cruises were years apart. We've never sailed concierge, so that might have something to do with our inconsistent service experience. But most DCL cruisers are non-concierge, so that's probably the norm. It wasn't related to our exact cabin category, as we were in an inside cabin during the Fantasy cruise that we received the very best service, and we've more often sailed in a verandah.

 

[jane01jp]

Meh. This definitely varies. We've sailed 6 times on DCL, twice on the Magic and Fantasy and one time each on the Dream and Wonder. Here is how I would order our dining room service experiences, from best to not-best:

1. 1st Fantasy cruise
2. Dream cruise
3. Wonder cruise
4. 2nd Fantasy cruise
5. 2nd Magic cruise
6. 1st Magic cruise

In other words, service was all over the place regardless of which ship we were on, and we never happened to have great service on the Magic, even though those cruises were years apart. We've never sailed concierge, so that might have something to do with our inconsistent service experience. But most DCL cruisers are non-concierge, so that's probably the norm. It wasn't related to our exact cabin category, as we were in an inside cabin during the Fantasy cruise that we received the very best service, and we've more often sailed in a verandah.

We have been on the Magic twice (2004 Eastern Caribbean and 2016 Norwegian Fjords) and the food and service were the worst of our 21 DCL cruises.

 

[npatellye]

We love Disney and and cruising, but DCL is not our favorite. The shows, food, and service were not the best of our 25+ cruises on 6 different lines, but they were among the top 20% across the board. They are a safe bet. Now, we prefer a week on RCL, NCL, or Carnival plus at WDW for the same $ as the one week on DCL would have cost.

The one area where DCL far excels is the children's club. If you have multiple kids different ages under 12, they are the only line that will allow them all to hang out together. Some kids clubs on other lines were hit or miss, but DCL's were always good. Once the kids reached teen/tween years, they preferred the live music and family activities on other lines.

So for us, a Disney cruise is worth it if you have kids under 12 and money is not a factor in ensuring a B+ cruise.

Agree with this completely. DCL for us is worth it because our kids are young and they love the characters, paid for extras, and kids clubs. With that being said, my kids also really enjoy RCL and we have done more RCL cruises with them than DCL (we can easily drive to Bayonne and Boston versus mostly needing to fly for DCL).

 

[bunnm09]

-Smoking areas: Depends on the ships/cruise lines. Plus, most are easy to avoid just like DCL, some others are a little bit more complicated to avoid.

-Drunk party people: I have done 7 non-DCL cruises (Carnival and RCCL) and the amount of moments I have witnessed drunk obnoxious people on those is the same as my 3 DCL cruises. It’s not nearly as bad as I heard when I was only cruising with DCL.

-I’ve seen kids on their own on all cruise lines. They seemed perfectly fine.

-RCCL has Coca-Cola Freestyle. Never had more than 2 minutes wait and didn’t have to tip anyone for it. You get a super nice refillable mug with it. Loved that concept.

Now this is probably rare and clearly not a reason to avoid Royal lol, but on our cruise on the allure we had an awful experience with the freestyle machines. Half the machines in the buffet area were broken the entire week creating long lines at the ones that were working.Your choice was that line or going down to the atrium level for the machine at Sorrentos. The ship is just so big that we thought they didn’t have nearly enough machines. Felt it was a hassle honestly and preferred the soda machines on the fantasy/dream even though they’ve got less options.

We’ll sail Royal again because of the price difference but just not one of the mega sized ships again. Just wasn’t for us

 

[mevelandry]

Now this is probably rare and clearly not a reason to avoid Royal lol, but on our cruise on the allure we had an awful experience with the freestyle machines. Half the machines in the buffet area were broken the entire week creating long lines at the ones that were working.Your choice was that line or going down to the atrium level for the machine at Sorrentos. The ship is just so big that we thought they didn’t have nearly enough machines. Felt it was a hassle honestly and preferred the soda machines on the fantasy/dream even though they’ve got less options.

We’ll sail Royal again because of the price difference but just not one of the mega sized ships again. Just wasn’t for us

That’s unfortunate. I have had and used CC Freestyle on my RCCL cruises and I am hooked.

(I am trying Oasis OTS later this year. Curious about the size... )

 

[bunnm09]

That’s unfortunate. I have had and used CC Freestyle on my RCCL cruises and I am hooked.

(I am trying Oasis OTS later this year. Curious about the size... )

yeah I love freestyle machines too if they are working haha. I will say the worst is when you get behind someone that has never seen one lol

Oasis is a huge ship. I know some people like it but I think Independence class is more our style. Although I will say, we had a boardwalk balcony room and loved that

 

[mevelandry]

yeah I love freestyle machines too if they are working haha. I will say the worst is when you get behind someone that has never seen one lol
(...)

Oh my! I think my first time lasted at least 10 minutes checking all the options and learning how they worked. Thankfully, there was nobody in line behind me. LOL

 

[tinkerone]

Oasis is a huge ship. I know some people like it but I think Independence class is more our style. Although I will say, we had a boardwalk balcony room and loved that

We have had a boardwalk balcony before and really liked it. Our favorite, by far, is Central Park balcony. We sit out in the morning and listen to the birds chirp (piped in of course) and watch the people come and go. In the evening we sit out and I enjoy a glass of wine and watch the twinkling lights, the people dressed in their best and listen to a string quartet. When the soft music stops we can hear the crickets of the night, again, piped in. It's all so lovely.
Some people prefer the ocean view cabins. For us, we are seldom in the cabin during the day and you can't see the ocean at night anyways. We watch the ocean from the top decks during the day so get our fill there. Having a view is important to us and Central Park was an interesting choice. Can't wait to get back on. B2B in October, fingers crossed.
Anyways, that was our choice and our reason why.

 

[JM_97]

Thank you, everyone. After thinking it over and looking at everything, I think we’re gonna try Royal. Just seems like a better option given it’s two adults and it’s financially smarter. It sounds like Disney and Royal have a lot of things in common.

The compromise though is that we’ll probably stay at Disney Springs for 1-2 nights beforehand!

 

[bunnm09]

Thank you, everyone. After thinking it over and looking at everything, I think we’re gonna try Royal. Just seems like a better option given it’s two adults and it’s financially smarter. It sounds like Disney and Royal have a lot of things in common.

The compromise though is that we’ll probably stay at Disney Springs for 1-2 nights beforehand!

You can’t go wrong either way! You’ll love Royal I’m sure and you can always try Disney out later if you decide you like cruising

 

[cgolf]

Meh. This definitely varies. We've sailed 6 times on DCL, twice on the Magic and Fantasy and one time each on the Dream and Wonder. Here is how I would order our dining room service experiences, from best to not-best:

1. 1st Fantasy cruise
2. Dream cruise
3. Wonder cruise
4. 2nd Fantasy cruise
5. 2nd Magic cruise
6. 1st Magic cruise

In other words, service was all over the place regardless of which ship we were on, and we never happened to have great service on the Magic, even though those cruises were years apart. We've never sailed concierge, so that might have something to do with our inconsistent service experience. But most DCL cruisers are non-concierge, so that's probably the norm. It wasn't related to our exact cabin category, as we were in an inside cabin during the Fantasy cruise that we received the very best service, and we've more often sailed in a verandah.

This was a quote directly from our server and things I witnessed with the same staff between the two ships. Staff can make up for the difference between the different ships.

Our best were on the Magic, but the service on the Fantasy was excellent, but we were in concierge so that was going to be a given.

Worst was the dream by a mile. Servers weren't friendly and my food wasn't hot half the time. It was edible so I didn't send it back. Not far behind was our serving team on the Hawaii Wonder cruise. They were super nice, but just not good. The head server made up for it on some levels by doing different parts of the serving teams jobs.

For what its worth, I never said the service was bad, I went back and reread my post. The activities host, Kemisha??, spent 10 minutes talking with us and others on the magic once an activity was done, and wouldn't engage anyone after an activity on the Fantasy. If people like to have more conversational time with their servers and other staff it appears that the small ships are the way to go. Service of course will vary.

 

[brentm77]

I have limited experience with other lines, so everything I list may be readily available/better on other lines at less cost. But, we like DCL so much, we keep going back for more and find we get the value we expect for the cost. We tend to stick with what we like, which we are doing with DCL for now.

About ourselves: We are particular when it comes to vacations, valuing comfort, ease, cleanliness, safety, good food, and relaxation. I know other people who would be miserable in such circumstances and prefer and excitement and adventure above all else. The latter group would not find significant value on DCL, in my opinion. We have two children, one 16 and 18. We have also traveled with a couple who is child free and immediately wanted to book another - so it isn't just for young children.

So what makes it worth it to us?

• The ships are classy, not flashy. I love their low-key classical look, feel, and layout. It feels like you are stepping back in time. They work for us and are a warm and inviting place to let our worries go for a week.
• Nearly everything is taken care of when we walk on the ship. I don't stress about where/when we are going to eat, traffic, cooking, dishes, packing and unpacking to switch hotel rooms to see new destinations (a benefit of all cruises). No matter where we go, we find ourselves in the comfort of our room each night.
• We both sleep like a baby on the ship, which isn't normal for us on vacation.
• 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.
• The ships are immaculately clean and well cared for.
• The service is exceptional. You may find a rare exception, but it won't be the norm on DCL.
• 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.
• The entertainment is good. I prefer Broadway style versus Vegas style. The talent is usually better than you would expect. Some of the stuff I have watched on YouTube for other lines would have zero appeal to me. Disney could mix up some of the non-main shows more often to keep it interesting, but I am also ok skipping some of them on future cruises and having more free time.
• Castaway Cay is the perfect day for us. We love lounging at the beach, eating the BQ, enjoying the soft serve ice-cream. It just works for us and adds to the entire experience.
• My 16 year old loves the teen clubs. She is in pure heaven going to them and meeting friends her age. It will be a sad day when she out-ages them.
• There is something really special that I can't put into words. Maybe it is the Disney magic - but it is completely different than the park experience. We just love the whole experience and have made some of the happiest memories of our lives on DCL.

All that said, value is subjective. We didn't take our first cruise until we were in a pretty secure financial position. I would opt for a less expensive line if it was something I had to save multiple years for. But, if it is in your budget, we have always felt the value exceeded the cost for us.

 

[mevelandry]

Thank you, everyone. After thinking it over and looking at everything, I think we’re gonna try Royal. Just seems like a better option given it’s two adults and it’s financially smarter. It sounds like Disney and Royal have a lot of things in common.

The compromise though is that we’ll probably stay at Disney Springs for 1-2 nights beforehand!

"Financially smarter": Royal is definitely an excellent value. I love the variety and quality of shows. I would recommend a cruise with a stop at CocoCay... (CocoCay gives other private islands a run for their money.) ... RCCL and Disney ships can be pretty similar when it comes to the classic look.

Carnival's most recent ships are also an excellent value... While I would avoid the Fantasy Class, with the Dream/Sunshine/Vista/Excel class, Carnival is definitely leaving the old vegas look behind and going more modern. With great entertainment options.

My family and I just booked Mardi Gras (upcoming brand new ship) for 2022. We compared our itinerary with Disney --Same lenght, departing from same port, stopping at San Juan-- and Disney was 2000$ more for a week!