Comparison Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean

[dolphingirl47]

Any specific comments on comparison of the kids clubs between DCL & RCCL? We've only been on 1 cruise, Dream. That's my biggest concern!! We have a 3 year old & 6 yr old currently & looking to plan summer 2017...TIA

Unfortunately I cannot help with this as we do not have kids.

Corinna

 

[short1882]

no worries, I ended up finding a thread about it!!

 

[ukintheus]

As usual I am late to the party but this is great Corinna, thank you for all the info. We have 14 cruises with DCL under our belt and, like you, we don't have children and just feel the need to try something new. I would have loved to book one of the Southern Caribbean itineraries on the Fantasy next year, but just can't justify that pricing. We are booked to sail on the Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston next April. It goes to Rotan and Belize, so places we haven't been to on DCL, and we can see how we like it. I completely agree that there is something to be said for looking into a cruise line that will give more options for itinerary. It's no coincidence that many of us that have sailed DCL many times and love it are looking into other options these days.

 

[dolphingirl47]

but this is great Corinna, thank you for all the info.

I am glad that this has been helpful.

We are booked to sail on the Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston next April. It goes to Rotan and Belize, so places we haven't been to on DCL, and we can see how we like it.

I hope that you enjoy your cruise. We are heading for a cruise on the Ovation of the Seas very soon and I think I may be more excited about this then I ever was for a Disney cruise and that means a lot.

Corinna

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Hi corrina

I thought I saw your name on the other board

We did anthem last year, strangely enough bumped into Mandy mouse and loved it

Loved the choice of food in the buffet, entertainment, ship itself, solarium

We are trying the harmony this year

 

[Riggsy]

I have been on IOS sister ship (same layout). It's a fine ship. Nice facilities. There is no FE, but you can "meet" some of your fellow cruisers on cruisecritic.com "mix and mingle" forum. They do have some limited tasting classes. They do not have the same level of organized daily activities as DCL, IMHO, but they have putt-putt, climbing wall, ice skating, flow rider. There is no movie theater, but they usually show a movie or two in the show theater on sea days. As long as you realize it's not DCL, and go in with an attitude that you probably saved a lot on the IOS cruise, and are going for family time, fun, sun, sand, and some good ports and you'll have a great time. No need to be worried.[/Q

Thanks for the help everyone! I enjoyed IOS, but similar to other posters, I still prefer DCL. However, it seems like I haven't been able to find a good deal on DCL in quite a while, and RC is much less expensive, so I am doing RC again next time; we booked while on board. We felt the Windjammer buffet was not as good as Cabanas. And the shows were not particularly good. The performers were excellent, but the shows were lacking. I also missed the movie theater. The dining room staff was not nearly as attentive as Disney, and I missed rotational dining. Those are the cons. The pros were that we ran into some really great staff on IOS. I would almost have gone back on the same ship just to see them again. The drinks are better on RC (not that that probably matters to most Disney folks), and I tried gambling for the first time, which was a lot of fun. Our room (balcony) was more spacious than the balcony rooms on Disney, or at least the layout made it feel that way. I really liked that the bed was right next to the balcony so you could lie in bed and look outside. The ice rink and show was amazing. We enjoyed doing some 'non-Disney' trivia. The elevators never seemed as congested as the main elevators were on Disney. So, IMHO, RC is well worth it for the price.

 

[dolphingirl47]

We did anthem last year, strangely enough bumped into Mandy mouse and loved it

I am glad you enjoyed it. I am really excited in trying Ovation soon.

Loved the choice of food in the buffet, entertainment, ship itself, solarium

The Solarium is probably what I am looking forward to most.

We are trying the harmony this year

I am already a little scared that Ovation is too big for us as we have only ever cruised on ships that are similar in size to the Magic and the Wonder. The sheer size of Harmony blows my mind.

Corinna

 

[mevelandry]

Love this thread. It convinced me to book with RCCL!

 

[MouseOfCards]

Very helpful, thanks! Our kids are young (under 5). I read that DCL is better for the very young kids like ours, but RCCL is better for the 10 and above set. Is this true? Any thoughts on this?

 

[ldo]

coutner view: we love DCL. But, my kids under 10 loved RCCL's kids clubs and preferred them to DCL. Once they were tweens+, they strongly preferred DCL and now as teens like DCL better for activities, movie theater, etc.
When they were 4-5, they liked the more structured kids club and really liked the kids club on Coco Cay. At 9, DS even stayed in kids club instead of going on an excursion. I felt there was more staff interaction and attention on RCCL. Granted, we usually cruise at peak times and there were probably more kids on DCL than RCCL. Also, for 12+, RCCL clubs are usually only staffed after dinner vs. all day on DCL. RCCL will have activities around the ship, like putt-putt tourny, basketball, scavanger hunt, etc., but it is not secure programming.

 

[MouseOfCards]

coutner view: we love DCL. But, my kids under 10 loved RCCL's kids clubs and preferred them to DCL. Once they were tweens+, they strongly preferred DCL and now as teens like DCL better for activities, movie theater, etc.
When they were 4-5, they liked the more structured kids club and really liked the kids club on Coco Cay. At 9, DS even stayed in kids club instead of going on an excursion. I felt there was more staff interaction and attention on RCCL. Granted, we usually cruise at peak times and there were probably more kids on DCL than RCCL. Also, for 12+, RCCL clubs are usually only staffed after dinner vs. all day on DCL. RCCL will have activities around the ship, like putt-putt tourny, basketball, scavanger hunt, etc., but it is not secure programming.

That's surprising and totally opposite of what I've read on these forums. I did hear of the more staff attention on RCCL. Thanks for the info on the RCCL teen clubs only staffed after dinner. Do you still lean towards DCL even as their prices outpace RCCL?

 

[ldo]

yes, if we can get something not too bad, but it varies. What my young kids did on RCCL: bingo with prizes, decorate a cardboard guitar and then have a fake band, other simple crafts and games. Older ships with lots of low tech stuff. Last one was in 2010 with younger kids, so it might have changed and mega ships might be more like DCL kids clubs.
We just did 8 day RCCL for Easter. No complaints, but my shy teens did not even step foot in the teen club. We took board games, which we used once per sea day--we knew we had to make our our fun on sea days. My teens did not do flow rider or rock climber. But, the cruise for OV for 4 persons was $2500 with 4 port stops. We booked a 2016 DCL that was reasonable priced. But, for 2017, the prices are just too much for peak times. I just won't pay $7K for a 4-5 night cruise, much less $9K for a weeklong cruise--maybe if it's Alaska, but not to the Carib. We would just go to WDW instead.
For those who have sports oriented older kids who would try rock climbing, flow rider, etc., RCCL would be great. There is just no way my teens would do a basketball contest, but they might hang out in the Vibe/Edge.

 

[MouseOfCards]

Wow, that's quite a price difference (RCCL 8-Day OV for 4 persons $2500 versus DCL 4-5 night $7K or 7 night $9K)! What type of rooms were you looking at on the DCL cruises?

 

[ldo]

both for OV, Easter week. I know that $2500 was a great rate (older ship), which is why we went with RCCL. That RCCL rate rose to $5K+ at 6 months out. But, when deciding for Easter 2016, a one week was $7500 for OV on Fantasy 4 persons (opening day), 2017 it is $8500. Christmas 2017 was $7300 for a Verandah for 5 persons for 4 nights, so not exactly apples to apples. But too much for us, who have to travel at school breaks. OTOH, some of the 2016 European cruises were about the same price as other cruiselines.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Love this thread. It convinced me to book with RCCL!

I am glad that I could be of assistance.

Very helpful, thanks! Our kids are young (under 5). I read that DCL is better for the very young kids like ours, but RCCL is better for the 10 and above set. Is this true? Any thoughts on this?

Unfortunately I cannot help with this as we do not have kids. On our recent cruise we only had 74 people under the age of 18.

Corinna

 

[MouseOfCards]

I am glad that I could be of assistance.



Unfortunately I cannot help with this as we do not have kids. On our recent cruise we only had 74 people under the age of 18.

Corinna

Are you saying that there were only 74 people under the age of 18 on the entire ship?!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Are you saying that there were only 74 people under the age of 18 on the entire ship?!

Yes, indeed. We did a repositioning cruise from Barcelona to Dubai on the Ovation of the Seas, which lasted 16 days. May is a difficult time of the year as this is exam time in Europe and coming up to the end of the year in the USA. The age range was a bit older than on our previous Royal Caribbean cruise in general. I think it took a couple of days before of the cruise before I saw the first kid. For the whole of the cruise, I never saw anybody in the teen area.

Corinna

 

[gumbypee]

so I am already booked on Rhapsody out of Tampa in Jan 2017 - my two "fears" (not sure that is the right word- comparing it to my amazing Disney cruise) is that the nighttime shows are not Broadway caliber and are just magician or jugglers or something boring. I know I don't have to go to the shows but I loved them on DCL. Also, are there lots of daily activities - there are only two sea days but on DCL, I liked to do things such as trivia, animation classes, etc , I never even went to the pool

 

[dolphingirl47]

so I am already booked on Rhapsody out of Tampa in Jan 2017 - my two "fears" (not sure that is the right word- comparing it to my amazing Disney cruise) is that the nighttime shows are not Broadway caliber and are just magician or jugglers or something boring. I know I don't have to go to the shows but I loved them on DCL. Also, are there lots of daily activities - there are only two sea days but on DCL, I liked to do things such as trivia, animation classes, etc , I never even went to the pool

Since i did this comparison, I have done a 16 night cruise on the Ovation of the Seas. Now the Ovation and her sister ships Quantum and Anthem is a very different animal from the rest of the fleet and we had an absolute ball. There is some stuff that the Ovation has that the ships that do not belong to that class of ship do not, but I still got a good idea on activities. There was plenty of trivia, lectures, craft classes, dance classes, a choir, sports competitions, Zumba, etc. In terms of entertainment, there were the variety type shows (comedians, magicians, etc.), tribute bands and three production shows. I went to two of them. What they were both missing was a coherent storyline, but the singing, dancing, acrobatics and special effects were top notch and I enjoyed the shows for that reason. The ships that we are going on for the next two cruises have ice shows and I cannot wait for this.

Corinna

 

[gumbypee]

Since i did this comparison, I have done a 16 night cruise on the Ovation of the Seas. Now the Ovation and her sister ships Quantum and Anthem is a very different animal from the rest of the fleet and we had an absolute ball. There is some stuff that the Ovation has that the ships that do not belong to that class of ship do not, but I still got a good idea on activities. There was plenty of trivia, lectures, craft classes, dance classes, a choir, sports competitions, Zumba, etc. In terms of entertainment, there were the variety type shows (comedians, magicians, etc.), tribute bands and three production shows. I went to two of them. What they were both missing was a coherent storyline, but the singing, dancing, acrobatics and special effects were top notch and I enjoyed the shows for that reason. The ships that we are going on for the next two cruises have ice shows and I cannot wait for this.

Corinna

yes, I'm afraid the Rhapsody won't have big production shows that I am aware of, is that correct? Kinda bummed about that but it was a close home port so that was the ship for me this time. I think I will like the feel of it being a small ship, and I don't need bells and whistles, but I do like entertainment