Which cruise line do you like after DCL?

[MichelleCanada]

We are going on our second DCL cruise and second ever cruise next month. I recognize where I am asking this question - so after DCL what cruise line would you pick second?

 

[cruiser21]

I find Carnival to be the most similar to DCL in terms of room size, kids club, activities, and they have a laundry room. Yes doing laundry is a necessity for me. You do have to pick one of the newer ships to get the family type atmosphere you're looking for.

 

[dcassetta]

Not on your list, but Holland America. Beautiful classic ships and great itineraries.

 

[MichelleCanada]

Not on your list, but Holland America. Beautiful classic ships and great itineraries.

I added it to the list. I only found the other ones by asking for “top family cruise lines” in Google. I have such limited cruising experience.

 

[bobbiwoz]

My second favorite is Princess. We book a cruise mostly based on itinerary, and we’ve done two partial transits of the Panama Canal with them, they stopped in Poland when we did the Baltic, and they have Princess lodges in Alaska, so we picked them for our next cruise to Alaska. We want to go to Denali. We will be doing a 28 cruise on Princess around Australia in 2020.

We have upcoming cruises also on Celebrity, a cruise around South America, and one on Royal Caribbean to Hawaii.

We cruise a lot, we are retired.

Bobbi

PS. We smile more on DCL, we have done major DCL Cruises, PC and Transatlantic with more coming up. But we have also done more shorter, week long cruises on DCL.

 

[southerngirl528]

We have upcoming cruises also on Celebrity,

I'd love to hear what you think of Celebrity. I've done RCCL, and they are plenty nice, though DH and I prefer DCL to them having done both. But we have talked about Celebrity as an option sometime.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'd love to hear what you think of Celebrity. I've done RCCL, and they are plenty nice, though DH and I prefer DCL to them having done both. But we have talked about Celebrity as an option sometime.

That’s in March. Will let you know.

 

[southerngirl528]

That’s in March. Will let you know.

Sounds good, bobbiwoz!! Enjoy retirement and all those glorious cruises!!

 

[Marc D]

If not for our kid, we would sail Celebrity instead of DCL for the food and the service. My parents have done 90+ cruises on multiple lines and will now only sail on them. We are trying NCL (on Bliss, in the Haven) in October. Maybe the free-style dining will win us over ? With kids, I would probably go with the big RCCL ships because of all the activities.

 

[southerngirl528]

Good to read all the opinions.

Just for me, I MUCH prefer the "classic" sized Disney ships. I know mega-ships are all the rage and they just keep getting bigger and bigger, but they are just a tad overwhelming for us. If I still had teens, maybe a monster ship with all the crazy stuff they have would be a great option. I think Celebrity sounds like a good fit for us if we stray from DCL.

 

[cruiser21]

Good to read all the opinions.

Just for me, I MUCH prefer the "classic" sized Disney ships. I know mega-ships are all the rage and they just keep getting bigger and bigger, but they are just a tad overwhelming for us. If I still had teens, maybe a monster ship with all the crazy stuff they have would be a great option. I think Celebrity sounds like a good fit for us if we stray from DCL.

I agree I love the classic ships on DCL. I love O'gill's, and the whole adult area. I'm not a big fan of the Dream class, but my kids love them. You really can't beat the Vibe. I don't think any other ship on any line has a teen lounge as great as the Dream or Fantasy Vibe. I myself am not a huge fan of the Fantasy or Dream. Is it the itinerary, the layout, the demographics{lots of kids and first time cruisers}???? I'm not sure.

I like cruises that have a family atmosphere without the 1200 kids. Don't get me wrong I like kids I have a couple of them, but the more adult atmosphere on the longer cruises or unique cruises with 500 kids is more to my liking.

I loved the big Carnival and NCL ships. I guess the balance of kids and adults was better. I don't think I'd like a cruise with all adults either. I prefer a happy medium.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We’ve only been on the Carnival Vista, but 3 cruises on her, and absolutely loved it. We have so much fun on Carnival, sure it’s not as classy and elegant as DCL but they have way more and better food choices and their desserts art awesome.

We’re also trying Royal next summer, on Anthem of the Seas and really looking forward to that ship. It should be awesome.

 

[belle032]

DH & I really do love Carnival. It gets a bad rap sometimes and I think that's unfortunate. We've never had a bad experience. It's a great line when you're looking for a truly fun time without the gigantic price tag. We love the Dream and Conquest classes. They have lots to offer without the mega-ship feeling.

I would definitely give RCL a try again (I've only sailed once with them), but I'm hesitant to book the mega-ships. Tons to offer, but they look too much like hotels and we wonder if they are just TOO big. Won't know until we try though!

For some reason, I've never had the urge to book NCL and I don't know why. I'd be interested in hearing some reviews on their ships.

And we finally booked our 1st DCL for next year. So excited for it!

 

[KashasMom]

Our favorites are RCI Oasis class. My daughter started to outgrow the princesses around 6 so we decided to give the Oasis of the Seas a try. It was the only cruise she ever asked to go back on.

She went in the kids' club on DCL once, had a bad experience and would never go back so the clubs are not a selling point for us. That isn't a problem because we look at our cruises as all family time. Husband and I don't go to any adult lounges/bars, adult shows, or casinos.

We're not fans of the food on Disney. We don't need to have the same serving team and sometimes really don't like a long drawn out dinner. One thing we really like is having a buffet dinner option. I also loved that I could take my daughter with me to the specialty restaurants when we cruised alone on the Allure (best cruise food ever).

Pools are a big thing for us and Disney's one pool is horrible. Oasis class has 4 that we can use. My daughter also likes the rock climbing wall (and ropes courses on NCL). The only shows we like on DCL are the movie-inspired ones so we stopped going to the rest. On Oasis class daughter loves the musicals, ice skating and aqua/diving shows, which change (not the same for years and years like on DCL). We're not beach people so can take or leave Castaway Cay. We've never had issues with service or room size - we get an oceanview balcony on RCI.

The only Disney cruises we really enjoy are the Very Merrytime cruises. Otherwise when you add everything up it's Oasis class for us.

 

[ludari]

After eight consecutive Disney Cruises my friends where planning a cruise on RCL so I jumped at the chance of joining them. It was my first time on RCL and we sailed on the Anthem out of NY for a 12 days cruise. It was a nice ship with plenty to do (virtual skydiving, wave machine, rock wall, bumper cars, roller skating, etc.) not only for the kids but for the entire family. My inside cabin was a bit small compared to DCL but I did enjoy my virtual balcony stateroom. The only downside of RCL compared to DCL would be the service and entertainment and the MDR food seemed a little bland compared to DCL MDR but the majority of the paid dining option available on the ship where nice.

I've sailed on HAL which was okay but nothing really special IMHO, however RCL did offer a lot of activities which was more in line with DCL.

 

[mevelandry]

We are going on our second DCL cruise and second ever cruise next month. I recognize where I am asking this question - so after DCL what cruise line would you pick second?

Carnival. Except I pick Carnival over DCL.

(As a childfree family, our criterias are different and it's impossible to compare amenities you have never needed to use like kids club, nursery, etc.. That being said, I can tell the new ships are 100% family friendly and have A LOT to offer to kids).

Carnival is the only cruise line outside of DCL that we have tried... but I can't wait to try RCCL and I am open to try all the other cruise lines named in your poll.

 

[mevelandry]

We’ve only been on the Carnival Vista, but 3 cruises on her, and absolutely loved it. We have so much fun on Carnival, sure it’s not as classy and elegant as DCL but they have way more and better food choices and their desserts art awesome.

We’re also trying Royal next summer, on Anthem of the Seas and really looking forward to that ship. It should be awesome.

My neighbor told us last night that he is just coming back from a cruise on the Anthem of the Seas. He loved it. He's actually making me regret changing my original plans (I changed to Carnival, going to HMC and Grand Turk in order to save money but turns out the plane tickets so expensive that we pretty much paid the same amount as the RCCL cruise to Bermuda in the end. Bleh.) ... He said the food was amazing and there was a lot of variety. That his son enjoyed the kids club and that the pools were great. Said they had so much to do that they had to pass on many things. They are hooked!

 

[ScooterScott44]

Aside from DCL we have only tried Oasis of the Seas this past December. It had advantages and disadvantages.

As we departed DS said it was his “new favorite”. That was until we returned to the Fantasy in May and he was singing the tune “Disney Cruise is my favorite”. I guess it had to be decent if it jumped over DCL even for a short time.

 

[VTNuke]

I've had a bad experience on Carnival and to be fair, it was 16 years ago. It literally kept us from cruising for 12 years. Disney was the only line my DW would accept after our experience with the Carnival boat breaking down. It really wasn't the boat breaking down that was the issue as much as they basically gave us $50 and that was it. Not the best customer service in response to over 8 hours with no electricity, including air conditioning, and having to skip the one island I booked the cruise to go to, Aruba. It also taught us we really need a balcony.

We've thought about RCCL, but we haven't pulled the trigger yet.

 

[Pens Fan]

We sailed NCL last summer after 5 Disney cruises and absolutely loved it. Service was terrific, just as good as Disney, and the food was so much better. We've never been a fan of Disney's food - way too bland and mostly overcooked for our tastes. We are also pretty much over the whole set dining time / table concept. It's a vacation - we want to eat when and where we please. Disney definitely wins for family friendly entertainment, though, as a lot of the shows on NCL are more appropriate for older teens and adults. As our son is 20, we appreciate that, so it's a plus for us rather than a minus. We really don't go to many of the Disney shows anymore, as they really aren't are thing. Families with small children might think differently about that, though.

We have two more NCL cruises booked, but are definitely interested in exploring other cruise lines as well.