Disney cruiser "Royally" converted

[Escalade]

We are platinum Disney cruisers who canceled our b2b on the Fantasy this summer and switched to Freedom. It was a hard sell to the family, but we are saving over half off the Disney price. Are there any must see/do's on Freedom?

Is there anything to avoid? Anything that I should prepare the group for to avoid disappointment? Thank you all in advance for any insight.

[FlaGirl13]

We are platinum Disney cruisers who canceled our b2b on the Fantasy this summer and switched to Freedom. It was a hard sell to the family, but we are saving over half off the Disney price. Are there any must see/do's on Freedom?

 

Is there anything to avoid? Anything that I should prepare the group for to avoid disappointment? Thank you all in advance for any insight.

 

 

On FOS you will only have one bathroom, not split. You don't have the dining rotation with waiters following you, however you can still have the same servers with both traditional and MTD. The ice show is very entertaining and the family will love the Flowrider and rock wall. If you can have just as much fun for half the price, what's not to love? Have a great trip.

[meatloafsfan]

We are platinum Disney cruisers who canceled our b2b on the Fantasy this summer and switched to Freedom. It was a hard sell to the family, but we are saving over half off the Disney price. Are there any must see/do's on Freedom?

Is there anything to avoid? Anything that I should prepare the group for to avoid disappointment? Thank you all in advance for any insight.

 

If you're soda drinkers - they have the freestyle coke machines which gives you a ton of flavours of soda and water and sparkling water if you purchase the soda package.

 

Café Promenade is open 24 hours with sandwiches and treats (and some breakfast pastries and fruit in the morning) and then there's Sorrento's pizza. Unlike DCL where you'll find these types of quick service eateries around the pool, they are instead located on the Promenade deck (inside the ship - not exposed to the elements).

 

Kids clubs close during the day for short periods.

 

The adult only area solarium is great and there are steps into the pool instead of just the ladders.

[Escalade]

Thanks for the tips

[Ejak927]

Thanks so much for your review! We are fellow DVC and annual pass holders who love cruising Disney and completely agree. I'm so frustrated with the current rates for their cruises! I will only cruise on Disney now if they offer DVC discount. I have only done 1 Royal on the anthem of the seas (complete bust storm cruise) but we have a trip this summer on the adventure planned in July- we enjoyed both RC and Disney I still think Disneys entertainment is the best- since none of the shows on the anthem were appropriate for a 5 year old but the rooms- food and service was awesome.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Ejak927

[jd99]

So glad to have found this post! We are also DVC members and have only cruised Disney - we are platinum DCL (20 cruises) and have loved the Disney experience - but two of our last three DCL sailings have had more disappointments that seems to be appropriate. Add to that the quickly increasing prices and we decided it was time to try another line, another ship. We have booked the Allure for August. My kids - who have been cruising DCL since they were 3 and 8, are now 12 and 17. We priced this sailing vs. the Disney Fantasy the same week. We booked two cabins (a balcony and an inside across the hall) for $3,000 less than one balcony cabin on DCL. Seems like the right time to change. Been reading so much but finally did a search on "Disney" in the RCI boards and came across this one. Just makes me feel better. :)

[ramanda]

Hi jd99! We are cruising on 8/14. When are you cruising? My kids will be 13 and 15 this summer.

[jd99]

Hi jd99! We are cruising on 8/14. When are you cruising? My kids will be 13 and 15 this summer.

 

Same sailing! :D

[Klstaack]

I enjoy Disney cruise line but I can go on two cruises on Royal for the price of one on Disney. Honestly at fist I want so on board with Royal. However, now I love it. I prefer it over Disney. It is way more adult and I love the varied dining choices. I won't turn away from booking a Disney cruise but I don't feel like I'm settling when I book with Royal.

[Cruisin' Along]

Thanks! Just wanted to let other frustrated, out-priced DCL cruisers know that there is an equally (if not better) cruise alternative.:)

 

Thanks for the encouragement and good report about Royal. We loved our Disney cruises but - we are finally taking the leap and trying Royal because of the price difference and for a different cruise experience. Looking forward to it very much!

[clifforddillon1982]

I enjoy Disney cruise line but I can go on two cruises on Royal for the price of one on Disney. Honestly at fist I want so on board with Royal. However, now I love it. I prefer it over Disney. It is way more adult and I love the varied dining choices. I won't turn away from booking a Disney cruise but I don't feel like I'm settling when I book with Royal.

 

 

This is very reassuring. My family has done two Disney Cruises, one on the Fantasy and one on the Magic. We also have decided to dive into something different and booked the Allure of a March 2017 cruise. We are super excited for it.

[ramanda]

Same sailing! :D

 

Awesome!

[wdwluvin]

Thanks for the encouragement and good report about Royal. We loved our Disney cruises but - we are finally taking the leap and trying Royal because of the price difference and for a different cruise experience. Looking forward to it very much!

 

Awesome! I'm glad to have helped with your decision.

I'm sure you will have a terrific time and will be too busy having fun to miss the Mouse.:)

[bmc alabama]

Another DVC member here who is also Platinum on DCL. We have branched out as well the past couple of years, but we had a really poor experience on Serenade of the Seas out of New Orleans in 2014. I had heard how great RCCL was, but there were a number of things we just did not like:

 

- Embarkation was a nightmare (though this may have been more due to NOLA). As soon as we boarded we were accosted by dining staff wanting us to make MyTime dining reservations. I asked "can't we just show up"?

- Again with Embarkation. RCCL shuts down half of the midship elevators to take the luggage up, then they pile it out in the foyer on each level to hand it out. I had never seen that before

- Apparently, a number of staff walked off before our cruise (we were the first after the Europe season). For the first 3 days, there was only 1 bartender in each bar until we picked up some staff off of the Oasis in Falmouth. They were short in the MDR as well and the rock wall was only open 1 day of our cruise

- We didn't like that there were no aft elevators, only midship and front. Led to a lot of traffic jams

- Our biggest complaint, however, was that the Windjammer was average at best, and it was closed from 2pm to 6pm. So, no ice cream or pizza between 2 and 6. Also, since there is no poolside grill, there was very limited food options during that time. There was a Park Cafe that was in the adult area, but it had a very limited selection.

 

I have heard that things are better on other RCCL ships, so maybe we just hit the outlier.

 

Conversely, last year, we took the Carnival Sunshine, only because it went to St Maarten, which is our favorite island and it went out of Port Canaveral. Also it was much cheaper than the Allure, so we decided to take it even though we had read mixed reviews. Call it blasphemous, but we actually LOVED Carnival. The comfort food options were SO much better than The Serenade it's laughable. We loved not only the Guy's Burgers, but our favorite was Blue Iguana tacos. Yum! Also, all of those places on Carnival are included! Also, my daughter much preferred the Carnival Waterworks area and the ropes course to the rock wall on the Serenade.

 

We still prefer DCL if we can do it, but our second choice will probably be any Carnival ship with the FunShip 2.0 upgrades to Princess (which we really like as well). We probably need to try a bigger RCCL ship at some point, but I kind of look at that the same way people are looking at RCCL to Disney about price. Carnival tends to be much less than a similar RCCL sailing, which would tip the balance for us. Maybe someday we'll find a deal...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited April 29, 2016 by bmc alabama

[bmc alabama]

Here is the deal with the luggage. Weird...

[CJHAN]

Hi everyone,

 

We just disembarked on Sunday for our absolutely AWESOME Freedom of the Seas cruise. We absolutely loved it.:)

As you can see from my signature and username we are usually loyal to the Disney brand name. We are Disney Vacation Club members and have sailed on all of DCL's ships. Disney, however, is getting stupidly expensive so it was with some trepidation that we booked our spring break cruise on FOS.

We need not have worried as we decided (myself, DH and DS16), about halfway through our cruise last week, that we would be hard-pressed to book another DCL cruise.

Our experience on FOS met and, in many cases, surpassed DCL.

We loved our interactions with the friendly crew, the terrific food (MDR, Chops, Giovannis, Sabor, Windjammer), entertainment (fabulous shows and so many choices), beautiful ship...I could go on and on....:)

 

We booked for next spring break on the Allure. Can't wait!

 

If any DCL cruisers have any questions about the differences/similarities; feel free to fire away!

 

We Cruise Carnival almost exclusively but decided to book a RCCL for fall break this year. We looked at Disney Cruise as we love Disneyland and Disney World but found it hard to justify the CRAZY PRICE!! of a Disney cruise. After all its a cruise how different could it be then the other lines. Im not sure why anyone is willing to pay that price.