Freedom of the Seas versus Disney Magic

This was our fifth cruise overall and our first on Disney. We paid as much for a seven day Eastern last week as we did for a seven day Western on the six month old FOS in January of this year. We have also sailed on Celebrity's Infinity twice and Rhapsody of the Seas To borrow a format from another poster, here is my take:

 

Cabins: We were upgraded from cabin 7120 to cabin 8596 which was a Category 7 (used to be a Category 6 but was changed because of a partial obstruction with the how the steel comes down across the balcony) to a category 4. We hated our new room and could not get our old one back. First off there was a solid wall on the verandah which made it seem really small as compared to one with plexiglass that allows you to see the water while seated on the verandah. Our room also had a connecting door which we heard everything through that door to the room next door. Finally we were under Topsider Buffet and we constantly heard things moving over head at all hours.

 

That being said, we had the most space ever in this room. We managed to have so many drawers and spaces that were not filled with our belongings. Either we did not bring as much and have learned to back better, nah it was the usuable spaces in the room. There is a nice steamer trunk which is great for storage plus tons of nooks and crannies for various things. My DD loved the bunk bed that the stateroom attendant pulled out of the ceiling each nite. She loved sleeping in the air.

 

At first I was not a big fan of the split bathrooms, but they did come in handy after awhile. I just never learned which switch controlled which light and frequently hit the light for the room instead of the toilet. The bath is nice but only for a four year old. I did like little touches like a piece of tile which kept water inside the tub instead of flowing outside. They also had a double shower curtain and this was the first time we did not flood the bathroom while taking a shower.

 

Speciality Restaurant: We ate in Palo for brunch and for dinner on Magic, but preferred Portofino. However of all the specialty restaurants on board ships, nothing holds a candle to the elegance and fine dining of those found on Celebrity. SS United States is just head and shoulders above them all in our opinion.

 

Lounges/bars/public spaces on the ship: The restaurant locations on DCL force people to go from AFT to FORWARD or reverse on the port side of the ship. Add to this people lining up for a character experience and you can only think one word "Bottleneck". We love the promenade on Freedom. We also missed the casino so much. Freedom's casino did not have a smoke problem as I remember it. You can also easily avoid it by staying on the promenade which is great for people watching. DCL did have several Cabaret and adults only shows, but sadly we were only able to make it to one and it was pretty crowded.

 

Dining rooms: We were not that big a fan of the rotational dining. The restaurants were smaller with low ceilings and the music track was playing at a certain volume. Add to this, the sounds of many children (at second seating) and it made for an experience that was less than friendly. The dining room on Freedom is just elegant. We loved being able to easily find our table after the first night instead of having to search for it in yet a different restaurant.

 

We also had the worst assistant server ever on the Disney Magic. He said on the first day that he was leaving when we were and you could tell his mind was totally in a different place. Saying something to the head server really did not fix the problem. We were however able to try Disney's version of Mohr im Hend which the Austrian Chef de Cuisine made just for us and we also had our serving team try it too. It was yummy. Also, we have had server dote on our daughter on vacation. We think because there are just so many, that children do not get the same kind of attention we have come to expect on a cruise.

 

Food: We found the food better on Freedom than we did on DCL. Also food choices in the evenings are far more plentiful if you wanted a snack other than room service before dinner. Several venues on DCL would close for these odd hours. There was this odd break where you could not get pizza in the early evening. I also had the single worst piece of meat served on a ship while on DCL.

 

Pools: My DD LOVED the H20 zone on Freedom. We found the pools on Disney to be small and overcrowded. The slide on DCL is a nice feature, but my daughter loved swimming in the Goofy pool. However that pool is also fresh water and the water got so nasty by the end of one day, you could not see Goofy painted on the bottom. Freedom wins on this one. The adult only area is better on Freedom as well as it is enclosed. When we were in the Quiet Cove area on Disney, our serenity interrupted by the child of some adult calling down from the deck above the open area. Another complaint is on DCL, they start removing deck chairs as soon as people start leaving for first dinner seating. There are some of us who prefer to be in the pool before we have to get ready for late dining.

 

Kids clubs: My daughter LOVED her experience in the kid's club on Freedom. No it does not run all day and into the night like on Disney, but the time for us worked out perfectly. You can pay a $5 charge for the late night party zone (10pm-1am). We tend to cruise when less kids are on board and our daughter seemed to be doted on on our past cruises. Not so with Disney. I would describe the kid's clubs as organized chaos. DCL does a great job giving the kids something to do, but our daughter paged us three different times on DCL to come pick her up. That never happened once on Freedom.

 

Sports deck: The Freedom class offers so many more options than Disney. From the rock wall, to the golf area, etc.

 

Entertainment: Disney had great shows without a doubt. We do think "Once Upon a Time" and the Ice Shows on Freedom are fantastic as well. Disney did have fireworks from the ship one night which was pretty cool as well.

 

We did get to watch the Geminid Meteor shower from forward of the Sports Deck. We got a call from the Cruise Director who gave us the suggestion which I did give him high marks for on the comment card. It was not totally dark, but made it enjoyable to lay out on a chaise lounge and watch nature's fireworks.

 

My daughter loved seeing the characters, but when asked her favourite experience told us about a private excursion we did while at St. Thomas.

 

Ports: At St. Maarten, we took a shopping circle tour with Joyce Prince.

 

At St. Thomas, we went with Jolly Mon St. Thomas on her sailboat and went snorkeling. She was birthed at the best spot at the WICO pier and picked us up and it was a three minute ride in her dinghy out to her vessel. When we got back out of the water, DD looked at Ms. Flagger and said "Mommy I wanna do that again".

 

Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. Hands down a wonderful stop. You step off the ship as Disney docks at Castaway Cay. We loved it far more than we did Labadee. The people on island were friendlier and I swear we experienced not a single fly at the buffet or while sitting down to eat. I cannot say that about Labadee. DD was done though with the beach around 12:30 and we went back to the ship and what a pleasure it was being in the pools with little to no others on board.

 

Heavy Seas: We encountered heavy seas both on Freedom in January and on Disney last week (December). Both were due to depressions way off of our course and resulted in us sailing through 20-30 foot seas. We felt Freedom handled the high seas much better than Magic. None of our party got sick on either ship, but you definitely felt the motion more on the Magic.

 

OVERALL: We had very high expectations for our Disney Cruise and sadly we did not feel like they were met. The food was really pretty lousy, the offerings for children were high in fat and starch with no meat to speak of. We didn't go hungry but we felt we ate much better on our other cruises. We still managed to have a great time. The crew members were very friendly on board, but as we were talking with other couples, we came to the realization that we did not feel we were being pampered as we had felt on other cruises. At one point while docked next to Liberty of the Seas in St. Maarten we both said we wished we were getting back on LOS instead of the Magic.

 

For now, we are done with the Caribbean as we have done then now four times since 2005. Our next cruise takes us to Hawaii and we have one planned for the Mediterranean in 2010. We would consider Disney again when the new ships come out, or if there was a great deal to the Caribbean. We did it once, had a really great time, but for us once was enough for now. We did not book another cruise on board and always have when sailing either Celebrity or Royal even if to hold a dummy date until new dates are released.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I just wanted to say GREAT review and I agree with you on both points. We've sailed DCL 3 times prior to trying Liberty. We LOVED Liberty and will be sailing Independence in 2009!

Thank you for the suggestion of the format for putting this review which I liberally borrowed. LOL

 

Since I was going to DCL from RCCL, I had HUGE high expectations being that it was Disney. We did not have a bad cruise, we had fun, we just were disappointed in what was offered for the money we paid. For less, I can have the same if not a better experience on another line.

 

By the time the new ships come out, DD will be 8 and 9 and more than likely past the Disney stage though I know some never grow out of it.

 

We also felt hounded to join DVC at every turn which was a downer. I did like though that they played the announcements on the tv instead of blasting them into the rooms. Celebrity really is top notch when it comes to a (lack of) announcements.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

 

Just out of curiosity,

 

How would your daughter compare the two cruises? It would be interesting seeing it from a childs point of view.

Thank you for your very informative review. Although we have not yet sailed on Freedom, we have sailed on both Disney Magic and Wonder and most recently RC Mariner. I have to agree with everything you commented on from dining rotation, food offerings, pools, private islands, entertainment and state rooms. We loved Disney cruise line because we love Disney. Since sailing on Mariner, however, we will keep Disney a land destination when planning future vacations. We have great memories from both Magic and Wonder but kids were much smaller (both under 10y). Would also sail again perhaps when the larger ships are finished and the itineraries have more to offer. Would recommend young families to try at least once, even if you only stop at Castaway Cay. Disney cost is outrageous when comparing cruise lines though! We had an awesome vacation on Mariner. Loved the class of ship and what it offers. No fireworks at night or cute horn sound but we managed ;) . Still talking about it and feeling sad and happy on Sundays as we think of the people ending their vacation and the new group waiting to board her. I have to say that when we got to Port Canaveral, Mariner was docked next to Disney Magic and I did feel a bit meloncoly to see her. I think that was just a Disney thing. Not a Disney cruise thing. We are planning our next cruise vacation now and it will be with RCI for sure. Thanks again for your review.

Just out of curiosity,

 

How would your daughter compare the two cruises? It would be interesting seeing it from a childs point of view.

That is an excellent question and one we have asked her. When she saw Liberty she pointed to the Flowrider in the aft. She was not old enough yet to try it and is dying too. There was something similar on So. Padre next to a restaurant where we went this summer and she was again mesmerized.

 

However, she did cry the last night when she realised she was going to have to say goodbye to the characters. She loved all the meetings and hugs and pictures. However, I think she will not miss them when we go to Hawaii next October.

 

There will not be a lot of kids on a 15 day cruise to Hawaii in October and I think RCCL does a great job with its kid's programs. I think they will keep her so busy, she will not know what she is missing because it is not Disney.

 

Another thing is that on most ship excursions, the minimum age is 5 so DD would not have been able to do much of anything off the ship. We boarded a sailing vessel that was five of us plus the captain and mate and went to the same spot as the DCL excursion that held 60+ people. That adventure honestly was DD's favorite thing of the whole trip and it was not related to Disney or even the cruise at all. If we flew to St. Thomas and did that trip, she would again say it was her favorite thing.

Sounds like you may have to do a Freedom class ship when she gets a bit bigger.

Great review! I just did a cruise with the Disney Wonder and having done a RCI (AotS) cruise, I can agree with pretty much everything you said right down to the light-switch issue.

 

I definitely agree about the food not being as good as I expected (people here and at the Dis board raved about how amazing the food is on DCL but with the exception of a handful of things I ate, the food ranged from just-ok to bland)

 

And I also definitely agree about missing the promenade. I think every cruise ship should have some kind of central hub the way the new RCI ones do. The promenade is a great place to meet up with people and then decide what you want to do or where you want to go. And if you have nothing planned, people watch, shop, grab a drink or just hang out. I wonder if the new Disney ships will have something like that.

 

My husband and I decided that most likely, the only way we'd do another Disney cruise is to couple it with a Disney World vacation. Thats what we did this time and we have no regrets but for a regular cruise, I'd probably do another Royal Caribbean one or maybe try celebrity.

We ate at PALO on Wednesday after the spending the morning snorkeling around Buck Island. We had an 8pm seating and enjoyed our meal. However I had to send my steak back as it was a little too moving. The manager brought it out after it was recooked.

 

For dessert we had the pannacotta and my wife had something chocolate though not the souffle. They also brought out the thing with almond mousse inside grilled pineapple for Ms. Flagger. She said it was horrible, even our waiter said not to order it. We should have listened.

 

We were about to head to the adult caberet show for that night when we got paged to come pick up our daughter.

Sounds like you may have to do a Freedom class ship when she gets a bit bigger.

 

I guess that you missed this in Flagger's original post:

 

This was our fifth cruise overall and our first on Disney. We paid as much for a seven day Eastern last week as we did for a seven day Western on the six month old FOS in January of this year. We have also sailed on Celebrity's Infinity twice and Rhapsody of the Seas To borrow a format from another poster, here is my take:

Oh I took it that we would have to go BACK on a Freedom class ship so she will be old enough to do the FlowRider. We are moving more from beaches to historical ports to the ship itself as our destination.

 

All in good time.

Oh I took it that we would have to go BACK on a Freedom class ship so she will be old enough to do the FlowRider. We are moving more from beaches to historical ports to the ship itself as our destination.

 

All in good time.

 

So, with three cruise lines sampled, do you plan to fan out into OTHER cruise lines, too? Get the whole smorgasbord? :)

Reading along John Heald's blog has us interested in Carnival honestly. It will depend on where the ships are around Thanksgiving of 2010 and the itinerary, etc. We might take a couple of short trips on Royal just to push us over Diamond before then, but who knows. I just know our big travel plans are set through 2010.

 

Vegas just us in March, Mt. Rushmore in May for us all, then 15 days to Hawaii next October.

 

2009 is our non cruise year as we are doing three weeks to NZ and OZ in the northern hemisphere summer.

 

And then the Med for 2010.

Glad to see I am not the only one. ;) Your review is basically what I have been saying all along. Disney Magic was "cute". It was nice to do ONCE. But there is no comparison between DCL and RCCL.

 

My kids prefer the Freedom ships over Disney Magic. And I think you explained every point in perfect detail.

 

Welcome back! :D

Thank you! My son is 6 and we were on Liberty in October. We had a blast and are planning our next cruise now. I was thinking about Disney because he asked about it. I think we will stick with RCCL for now! He also was dying to go on the Flowrider! My husband and I went but had to sneak so he wouldn't be upset! Thanks for the info!

My kids prefer the Freedom ships over Disney Magic. And I think you explained every point in perfect detail.

Thanks for the welcome back. We are going to try a Radiance class next but we know sort of what we are getting into having cruised on the M-Class on Celebrity. I have heard the use of glass on Radiance is just wonderful. I am sure there will be things we miss on Freedom, but I know we will have a great time.

 

I just now have that been there, tried it once feeling with Disney.

 

I have seen many people use the included soda as a selling point. Honestly I didn't drink that much soda and not once was the soda fountains mixed correctly. It was either all soda or all syrup.

Curious as to how the tipping works on DCL. Is it pre-paid or do you choose how much to tip at the end of the cruise?

Curious as to how the tipping works on DCL. Is it pre-paid or do you choose how much to tip at the end of the cruise?

 

You choose your amount. They have suggestions, but it at your discretion.

I have seen many people use the included soda as a selling point. Honestly I didn't drink that much soda and not once was the soda fountains mixed correctly. It was either all soda or all syrup.

 

Yeah I have always thought it was odd to use that as a selling point for Disney. We had a Cat 6 on Disney Magic and paid the exact same amount for the GS on FOS. So we had access to the Concierge lounge cocktails/food on FOS. Not to mention everything else that came with the GS. And since neither my kids nor I drink soda, the free soda did nothing for us.

 

So we paid as much for Disney and I could never figure out why. ;)

I guess that you missed this in Flagger's original post:

 

I guess that you missed this in flagger's reply:

 

When she saw Liberty she pointed to the Flowrider in the aft. She was not old enough yet to try it and is dying too.

 

Howard

We have been on both and actually cancelled a DCL cruise due to the kids seeing a commerical for the FOS. This was before the FOS was cruising. We prefer FOS hands down. DCL was nice but my children are older and FOS was more up to speed for them.

we did 4 day disney & 9 day explorer (12/14) this year. we prefer rcl due to cost. the main reason we do disney is because we are disney vacation club members ( we love disney) & instead of using our points for orlando we pay $75 for a 4 day cruise. each line has its pros & cons. We also live in the northeast & it is easier to sail from ny then having to get to florida & then come home.