Disney (Magic/Fantasy) vs. RC Liberty

[oneplustwins]

Looking to cruise Feb 2013, trying to cut costs so an inside cabin will be fine for us. Speaking of cost, the Disney cruise is literally twice the amount of the RC Liberty cruise. Has anyone been on both ships? If so, is Disney really worth the super expensive price tag? Or is the Liberty so great that we'd get more bang for our buck? This would be a vacation for my older son (to get away from his twin sibilings!), so it's a mommy/son trip and he'll be 9 years old in Feb 2013. So it's not that he wouldn't love the Disney cruise, just not sure he'd love it more then the RC Liberty. Or if he'll think he's "too old" for Disney by next year. Keep in mind he's never been on a cruise before, so to him, any cruise would be amazing! Thanks for the help everyone!

[Friend100]

I have responded to your post in the DCL board already but let me add a few more thoughts here ...

 

First of all, try to compare prices as apples-to-apples as possible, and one way to do it is to compare on a per diem basis (per person, per night). You mentioned February 2013 but I didn't know which week so I just randomly pick the first weekend that month.

 

Disney Fantasy has a 7-nights Western Caribbean sailing on Feb 2, 2013, visiting 4 ports including Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. 1 adult and 1 child for the lowset inside cabin is $2,326 ($166 per diem), and the lowest balcony category is $2,634 ($188 per diem). All prices are taxes included and are queried directly from disneycruise.com at this moment and before any possible OBC, discount, incentives, etc.

 

Liberty of the Seas has a 5-nights Western Caribbean sailing also on Feb2, visiting 2 ports, but no stop to their private island. For the same passenger, for price quoted directly from rcl website, inside is $1,016 ($102 per diem), balcony is $1,356 ($136 per diem). These prices are in CAD.

 

Comparing the two at the per diem level, Disney Fantasy's inside is 63% more expensive, and balcony is 39% more expensive.

 

Although you didn't ask, I also checked the price of Freedom of the Seas as she is a better match to Disney Fantasy as both sail out of Port Canaveral and both are doing 7-days. For the Feb 3, 2013 Western Caribbean sailing which Freedom OTS is also visiting 4 ports, inside for 2 people is $1730 ($124 per diem), and balcony is $2410 ($172 per diem). Again, all prices in CAD queried directly from rcl website. In this case, Disney Fantasy is 34% more expensive for inside cabin, and only 9% more expensive for balcony cabin.

 

I didn't check the prices for Independence, Oasis or Allure of the Seas but I won't be surprised if Disney Fantasy's price, on a per diem basis, will be quite close comparing to these ships. And also, Eastern Caribbean cruises are generally a bit more expensive than Western Caribbean cruise, all things equal.

 

Of course, prices can still flutuate a lot between now and later this year, and if you are looking at a different week in February 2013, and/or a different month of the year, the variances can be totally different. But Disney Fantasy is a brand new ship. In my view, she (together with the Disney Dream) is a better ship than the Magic/Wonder in all aspect, such as elegance, food, activity, etc. Disney Magic's itinerary for Feb2013 has not been officially announced yet but it is my guess that she will continue to sail out of Galveston and doing the 7-nights Western Caribbean itinerary.

 

I am not trying to convince you which one you should do. I know my family and I will enjoy all of the ships mentioned above. But when comparing price, try to do at per diem, and than add into it other qualitative factors such as difference in departure port, itinerary, size of ships, age of ships, activities, and whatever else other qualitative factors that you value the most ... spa, gym, kids' program, casino .... oh sorry Disney ships don't have casino ...

 

Have fun!

[TheCalicoCat]

With the caveat that I do not care for licensed products in general... I would only choose Disney over RCL if you want the Disney experience. (Food is subjective, but both will be fine, etc...) Is you son even into Disney? If he feels like that is baby-ish, then maybe he would enjoy RCL more...

[oneplustwins]

vivapataca - thank you so much for that information, it was so helpful! It really gives me a lot to think about and I appreciate all your work in getting together that info. I love Cruise Critic, so many people that are so helpful for cruise novices like myself!!!

 

TheCalicoCat - the point you make is the one point that I think is really causes me to debate which ship. I just can't determine if my son would enjoy the Disney cruise, or if he would feel like he's too old for it. He loves WDW, just not sure if he'd be as in to it without the rides, know what I mean?

[TheCalicoCat]

I know exactly what you mean. Especially without any younger siblings... Either would be a nice vacation.

 

At 9, I'd err on the RCI cruise - just in case he does feel too big for Disney.

[mymollysue]

Hmmmm that is a tough one. I have cruised on the Disney Wonder and Disney Dream as well as LOS. To choose btw the 2 is tough. Shows on Disney are great for kids. Pirate night with fireworks is fantastic. The kids clubs are incredible. The Fantasy should also have the water coaster (we did that on the Dream and it was so much fun). On the LOS, the pool complex was great, he will like the H20 Zone. I don't know about the kids club on LOS....but I have heard good things. LOS has the Dreamworks characters on board which is fun. I don't think you can go wrong with either. Can you ask your son which one he would prefer? Show him info on each and see what he has to say. Good luck!

[boulders]

I would put RCCL's kids clubs at a higher level than DCL. I just wasn't impressed by the level of supervision in the DCL clubs. The shows on DCL are much more kid-friendly though.

[ksc37]

We've done the Dream, the Wonder, the Liberty of the Seas and the Freedom of the Seas with our sons. The most recent cruise was on the Dream in August when my boys were 10 and 8.

 

Bottom line, my kids MUCH prefer the LOS and FOS. They really liked the AquaDuck on the Dream (and it is a great feature), but there weren't enough other activities for them. The pools were way too crowded on the Dream and I didn't think the ship handled the large numbers of people very well.

 

On the LOS and FOS, the kids have the rock wall, the Flow Rider, the ice rink, and a really nice pool area. My kids aren't fans of going to kids clubs, so they don't spend a lot of time there.

 

We like the LOS so much we're going to be cruising her again this summer in the Mediterranean. :D

[Gatrcruzer]

I have been on Liberty twice, most recently this past December, and would HIGHLY recommend if you don't need to have a Disney experience. There are enough kids on board, plenty for them to do, but the whole cruise isn't about kids. We weren't sure my daughter, who was 3, would like the Dreamworks stuff, but she really did. There are so many things for the kids to do, and the club was great. They have this service, which you have to sign up for each day, where you go to the dining room to eat as a family, the kids get served quickly, and after about 40 minutes the counselors show up to take the kids to the kids club (assuming they will go) so you can finish your meal in peace. Brilliant!! As far as shows, we took my daughter to the ice show and she really liked it. Service is really good on this ship, and staff are almost universally friendly and accommodating.

 

Only issue we had was disembarkation (painful), and embarkation was a little slow. If at all possible I suggest doing the take your own luggage off option.

 

Keep in mind that Liberty does 4 or 5 night cruises (to kind of meh ports, IMO), so agree with another poster who noted that you need to watch your comparisons. There are also differences between departing from FLL, where the airport is right by the port, vs. Port Canaveral which is a good hour or more from Orlando airport, so you'd need to factor in the extra trek if you are flying. If you are driving you might want to check out costs for parking to compare. Finally, a family of 4 in an inside sounds a little painful to me, so you may want to compare stateroom sizes. Sometimes they try to fit 4 people into a shoebox, which could make for a less than pleasant trip. I will say that the cost for a nicer cabin on LOS is often fairly minimal - when we traveled on our recent 5 night cruise, the difference between inside and balcony wound up being less than $100 per person (for 1st 2 people), and we actually wound up springing for a junior suite for just a bit more :)

 

Good luck with your planning, and happy cruising!

[Marie51]

In my opinion Royal Caribbean would be a much better choice. At age 9 he might be too old for the Disney thing, RC is less money, and there will be plenty for him to do on a RC ship. I have been on Disney with my grandchildren and they prefer Royal Caribbean and Carnival both over Disney.