Disney or Royal Carribbean

[hlv71]

I know everyone asks the same questions and I know that a lot of posters here are die hard Disney fans but I'll ask again! :D In October we were on RCI Liberty of the Seas. It was my husband and I and our 5 yr old. We had a great time. Our son loved the kids club and we had a blast. It was their 1st cruise and my 2nd. When we were in St. Martin we pulled up next to a Disney ship and ever since my son has been saying - that's the next cruise I'm going on!

 

With that said - should we try it? my fear is that there will be a million kids and I'll lose my mind! Let me know what you think! Any advice is appreciated - also the combination park/cruise vs just a cruise. Thanks!

[CruizinTigers]

My family and I just returned from a southern Caribbean cruise last month on the Adventure of the Seas. Prior to that, we had cruised on DCL three times, twice with one child, and once with two.

 

We had a very nice time on the the Adventure of the Seas, and I think if we have the chance, we would cruise again on RCCL. But hands down, my preference for our next cruise is with Disney. Two big reasons... first, I think the service and care for each passenger is better on DCL. And second, Disney is far more family friendly. When traveling with you children, this is a must. Our daughter was three on the Disney cruise, four on RCCL. She is not a night owl, and it seemed to me that there were more events on the ship scheduled earlier with Disney than on RCCL. We were on the pool deck of AOS last month for a sail away party at 5:00 one afternoon, and there was nobody there! Sail away parties at that hour are far more festive on Disney. Rotating among the four restaurants on the DCL ships is also a lot more fun than being stuck in the same dining room for seven nights. If your child liked the kids clubs on RCCL, he'll absolutely love them on DCL! They are much better.

 

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, I would highly recommend the DCL cruise. There will definitely be more kids, but not too many that you'll be pulling your hair out!

 

Good luck!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

The only time you will seem like tons of kids is at the Mickey pool.

It is always a busy place, and very noisy. But that is jus tkids being kids having fun.

The kids club areas are away from most of the other activity areas so you wont even know they are there.

 

while you child is in the clubs there are many adult only as well as family events to go to and after 9 p.m. there are 3 clubs that are adult only!

 

Plus the adults have their own pool and 2 hot tubs and a coffee shop to relax away from the kids. The CM's there are great about steering kids away from those areas if they get confused and wonder in.

 

Palos is a nice adult only restaurant you can do as a couples only dinner if you want. food is free but there is a $10 per person charge that goes towards a tip. The kids club will take your child to a buffet style dinner if you want to. Or you can feed them at other place around the ship or use room service for that night.

 

I have been on carnival with the grandkids and DCL many times.

Our grandkids loved DCL, when we asked them to tell us which they wanted to do next time it was disney, not questions about it!!

The range from 5 to 16 years of age, none of them like the clubs activities nearly as much as disneys clubs.

 

please give Disney a try, you wont be disappointed.

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[auntjo]

I totally agree with everything mom, x4grandma, x4 said.

We are 78/85 years old, traveling alone, and while there were many children on board, they didn't drive us crazy at all. We were around children when we wanted to be and either taking a nap in our stateroom or enjoying a mochacinno at the Cove Cafe when we wanted quiet time. It worked very well for us.

[95south]

Disney Magic is the queen of the port where ever she goes! You can be mored next to 3 ships that might be larger but the Magic stands out over the white box cruise ships. I have seen many,many people wanting to get there picture taken with the magic from other cruise lines and kids asking there parents can we go on that ship!?

DCL has one of the best reputations in the cruise industry and booking passage on Magic for a 7 day cruise is highly recommended. Just do it.

[scooter06]

I love DCL with kids and RCCL when its just my husband and I. We went on the Disney Magic on the 7 day cruise and my twins loved Flounder's Reef. At the end of the cruise they surpised us with pictures of the kids with the Disney Princesses it was a great disney moment. My older son loved the pools, riding bikes on castaway cay and getting his own soft serve ice cream. I guess I just feel the kids were "safer" on the disney cruise. RCCL does a great job but its not the same (attention to detail for the kids) and they are too big (for kids).

[Jsme]

We prefer RCI over DCL but DCL holds special memories for us.

[rsinj]

We prefer RCI over DCL but DCL holds special memories for us.

 

Agreed. DCL is definitely something to do once. I prefer RCI over DCL as well.

 

Howard

[moviegirl11]

I cruised RCL once (Adventure of the seas for a 7 night cruise) and DCL once very recently (Wonder, 3 night cruise). We had a great time on both but I think in the future, we'd only cruise DCL again to add it on to a Disney vacation. We have no kids yet but we just dont think that we'd enjoy the disney theming as much on the cruise if we werent doing a trip to the parks along with it.

 

The only thing we'll miss on RCL is castaway cay but thats about it for us.

[NCmom]

I haven't sailed the larger RCCL ships yet, but sailed the Radiance to Alaska several years ago. I don't know if we just had an off cruise, or if our expections were too high, but we really didn't care for our RCCL cruise. The staff interaction for the most part was OK, but I had 5 really negative interactions with some of the staff, in particular Guest Services, on RCCL. In addition, I thought the food lacked taste and presentation on RCCL.

 

DD enjoyed the kids clubs (she felt like she got to know more people than when on DCL with all the kids), but also had some difficulty with the son of one of the performers--along with every other girl in the club--the kid would throw things at the girls, hit them, etc. I felt the counselors just ignored the situation. On the next to the last night, the girls in the club all ganged up on the boy--after that, he left them alone.

 

I know lots of people talk about DCL cruises being "overrun" with children, but I've never had that experience on DCl. On RCCL, the last nights, the centrum area was overrun with teens, using horrible language.

 

I also found the adult programming on DCL to be more to my liking. I am not a gambler.

[reigle4]

I have cruised on Carnival, Raddison (which is now Regent Seven Seas) and now Disney and I wil have to pick Disney. The shows were much better on Disney. The food was about the same on all three cruise lines. The kids and noise was about the same on Carnival and Disney. Not many kids on Regent, but it was a lot stuffier. Disney is in a class all its own and My husband and myself have decided to take our whole family (19 in all) on a Disney cruise in Dec. 2008. It will be their Christmas present. Great way to get out of shopping. Disney just seems to have a classier atmosphere but still alot of fun. It costs a bit more than Carnival but a lot less than Regent. SO in my book the winner hands down is "Disney".:D

[rsinj]

I have cruised on Carnival, Raddison (which is now Regent Seven Seas) and now Disney and I wil have to pick Disney. .

 

Great - but it appears the topic is Disney or Royal Caribbean - no?

 

Howard

[reigle4]

Great - but it appears the topic is Disney or Royal Caribbean - no?

 

Howard

 

 

Oh well. I guess I got carried away:rolleyes:

[sdmike]

You do not get overwhelmed by kids on the Disney cruise. In fact, they are often tucked out of the way in one of the many kid-specific events or at the family pool (if the weather is nice). I have taken two RCI cruises (albeit, both on older ships) and we LOVED the Disney cruise. Give it a try. The attention to detail is amazing. It is a very classy ship, with a very family atmosphere. You need to try it at least once.

 

My only issue is the price. The prices are out of control, in my opinion.

[MrPete]

It all depends if you wish to sail on something that is ALL THINGS DISNEY, and wish to pay for it. I suggest everyone try at least one, as it's just different, all while cruising.

 

And Castaway Cay is a treasure.

[GrannyJ]

Having just come back from a 3-night Disney Wonder cruise, I would say that the Disney cruise is great if you have kids, but give me RCCL or Carnival for adults. My least favorite thing was the incredible noise in the dining rooms (and we had late seating -- I can't imagine what the earlier seating was like). We were only able to get into Palo one night. The other two nights we ate as quickly as possible and got out of the dining rooms. There's just no way around the noise with that many children dining -- tantrums being thrown (as well as food on occasion). Waiters were great though! Food was good but not inspired (Palo was fantastic!!!) I checked out a couple of the "night club" areas and there wasn't much going on.

[cruzsearcher]

After 2 sailings on the Wonder, I can definately say I feel at home on DCL. I like it because of the Disney Experience without all the disney craziness of the parks. Service is great for the most part, its clean, kids programming is great, and the food is decent. We've found out of the way spots both times to get away from the crowd...which is limited to ships capacity, unlike the parks which seem to be crawling with too many people all the time. I won't go to another disney park until my kid is old enough to go off on her own with a friend or cousin for a specified time frame (with a phone!) It's just too stressful and too crowded to keep everyone in the group happy all the time. I haven't been on RCCL yet, but I've heard the larger ships are coming up to DCL's ideas of activity. With research the right fit should be able to be attained for kids to enjoy it thoroughly on RCCL. With Dis, its a no brainer. Just find the right time, right price, and its a good fit. I HOPE that with the two larger, newer ships in 2011 and 12 that supply and demand will bring the price down a bit. Incidentally, we paid about 1200.00 for our family of three to go on DCL 4 day wonder the week before xmas. By the time our travel by car was added, our onboard expenses, we got out for less than 2k. It can be done on DCL without spending one's life savings..

[Mac777daddy]

I know everyone asks the same questions and I know that a lot of posters here are die hard Disney fans but I'll ask again! :D In October we were on RCI Liberty of the Seas. It was my husband and I and our 5 yr old. We had a great time. Our son loved the kids club and we had a blast. It was their 1st cruise and my 2nd. When we were in St. Martin we pulled up next to a Disney ship and ever since my son has been saying - that's the next cruise I'm going on!

 

With that said - should we try it? my fear is that there will be a million kids and I'll lose my mind! Let me know what you think! Any advice is appreciated - also the combination park/cruise vs just a cruise. Thanks!

 

Our first cruise was on Disney Magic 7 night eastern caribbean. We had a blast on the cruise with my two year old daughter. Disney was all first class in my opinion. Food was great, room was great, everything was great. Magic is a great ship.

[nodumblond]

my hubby has asked me to start researching cruise options for his two brothers and their families (current kids ages: 5, 7, 13, 15) for an 'introductory' cruise in December 2009. We don't have kids (well, we do, but they're very hairy and four-legged :p ).

 

We love to cruise, but you know the pressure I've now been put under. ;) While we're waiting for RC to put up their Dec 09 itineraries, I'm wondering: should we go with the (somewhat pricey) Disney? Or would that be too 'kiddie' for the older two boys? Or tough it out until RC gets their selections out?

 

We personally don't care as long as there's an enforced adult only area (which is why Carnival's not on the list -- snark!), but don't want the older kids to think it's too, er, kiddie. And if it were left to me, we'd be doing HAL, which would not do AT ALL. :D Thoughts? Sorry if I've missed this somewhere else.

[The LK 4]

nodumblond - we sailed on the Magic this past Thanksgiving. In our extended group, we had 4 boys 18, 16, 16, and 14. They had a blast at the Teen Club and can't wait to sail again. They made lots of great friends during the week.

[SYLYB]

:)

I know everyone asks the same questions and I know that a lot of posters here are die hard Disney fans but I'll ask again! :D In October we were on RCI Liberty of the Seas. It was my husband and I and our 5 yr old. We had a great time. Our son loved the kids club and we had a blast. It was their 1st cruise and my 2nd. When we were in St. Martin we pulled up next to a Disney ship and ever since my son has been saying - that's the next cruise I'm going on!

 

With that said - should we try it? my fear is that there will be a million kids and I'll lose my mind! Let me know what you think! Any advice is appreciated - also the combination park/cruise vs just a cruise. Thanks!

For a 7 day cruise I prefer the RCI's Larger ships, soooo much to do. We have been on the Mariner and the Freedom and they were great but for a 4 or 3 day cruise there is no comparison, Disney is the best in the business. With the addition of two 122,000 GRT in 2012 the smaller ships will be dedicated to the shorter cruises and there won't be anyone who can compete.