# RC vs DCL



## michyi

I'm sure this question has been asked a million times, but I'm new to the cruise line boards. 

My DH is not a big fan of WDW and said this is going to be our last trip... we are going to Beach Club in Dec. 2014 and hopping to all 4 parks for 5 days. We think our next family adventure will be a cruise. I think that Royal Caribbean Cruise Line looks amazing and I was thinking we'll cruise using RC, but then everybody says that nobody tops a Disney Cruise. 

We are thinking of going in Feb. 2017. It will be me, DH, DS (will be 12), DS (will be 11), and DD (will be 9). My children are on the smaller side, so I'm worried that they won't make height and weight limits on some of the RC activities. Will they be bored? I've never been on a cruise, so I truly have no idea. 

I need to know if I should cancel my Disney Visa and get the Royal Caribbean Visa or keep my Disney Visa?????

Please give me your opinions. They are appreciated.


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## ldo

fyi-most rccl ships have family ocean view rooms that are a good value. Only a handful of rooms on each ship--and  you must book via travel agent or call rccl--you cannot see prices or availability online. So, book early, as they go fast.  My kids prefer DCL, but RCCL is fine. On DCL there are also oceanview rooms that sleep 5 on Dream and Fantasy--but they also book up. After that, you have to go to a deluxe balcony which are much more $$$. On Magic and Wonder, you have to get a balcony to sleep 5. I find RCCL family ocean view has a a lot of space and is much cheaper than DCL to sleep 5.
RCCL tweens/teens clubs tend to not be staffed during the day and only meet at night--with onboard things during the day--like basketball contest, scavenger hunt, etc.  If you have outgoing/sports oriented older kids, RCCL will be good. For shy older kids, I find DCL better. But, shy kids do well in RCCL 3-12 age group b/c lots of structured activities.  My shy tweens never went to the rccl clubs once they aged out of the kids club--but at 9, they loved RCCL and felt a little lost in DCL Dream kids club. All DCL have movie theaters--not so on RCCL. On a 4 day on the Liberty, RCCL played 1 3D movie and showed 2 movies at night (10pm) by the pool--that was it. So, no kids movies all of the cruise, except on TV--but it was 1/2 the price of DCL.


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## bumbershoot

Twice on the Disney Dream, once on Freedom of the Seas as a family.  So far we like them equally.  Next month we have a 5 night on Vision of the Seas than moving to a 4 night double dip on Disney Dream.    DS liked both clubs, just for different reasons.  Royal is really structured and open.  Disney has activities but you can ignore them and just play on your own the whole time (though that's not DS's style), and there are multiple rooms/areas they can go into.  Disney clubs are gorgeous; the room on Freedom (which was the 6-8 year old room, but 9-11s were grouped with that age group on our late January cruise) wasn't, but the kids still seemed to enjoy it a lot!

I love the aesthetics of Royal's ships, though the soft furnishings maybe don't quite meet up to Disney concierge rooms.  Oh well!  

I could just go back and forth on everything, but we liked many things about both!


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## michyi

Thank you. This is a lot of good information. It gives me a lot to think about. I'm still torn, but at least I feel like either is a wonderful option.


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## michyi

Bumbershoot,
I just read through your cruise trip reports and they were awesome. You posted really great, detailed photos. The pics make me lean toward DCL!


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## bumbershoot

Thanks for the compliment.  Wow you read fast.  

It's nice to find a favorite, because then you're not splitting your loyalty (and the eventual rewards you get for being a frequent cruiser), but to find your fave (or maybe two favorites) you have to try things out!


But do try to find out what's grating on DH's nerves so much that he won't go to Disney anymore.  If a Disney cruise would trigger that, it's worth knowing now.  But as you might notice with my reports, you don't have to be bombarded with Disney Disney Disney on a DCL cruise.  I think the only character we've met on the two Disney cruises is Captain Jack, who is awesome.  Characters aren't necessary to "make" your cruise.  And now we're just planning to avoid all but the Villains show on the upcoming DCL (though if it's a magician on the non song-and-dance show night we might go to that, as that was fun), so you don't even have to go to the Disney style shows.  We're not really cruise show people at all, really.

The ice show on Freedom was pretty cool, though!


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## BamaGuy44

For a family with young kids, DCL would be very hard to beat IMO, but the difference in price for 5 people would be pretty large.

I think you'd have a great time on either line, and I don't think your kids would be bored at all. The kids' clubs on DCL ships are beautiful and elaborately themed, on par with anything you'd see in the parks. As far as the activities, some kids prefer Disney's some RC. Both are well done from what I've seen. With RC the larger the ship, the more activities there will be available. I would look at the Oasis class or the Freedom class ships.

Bottom line you can't go wrong either way, IMO.


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## DnA2010

Agree with the others in that you can't go wrong with either- we have done 2 cruises, both with RC as we just couldn't bring ourselves to pay twice as much for Disney. The kids had a wonderful time on the cruises, there was just sooo much to do


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## mcd2745

bumbershoot said:


> Twice on the Disney Dream, once on Freedom of the Seas as a family.  So far we like them equally.  Next month we have a 5 night on Vision of the Seas than moving to a 4 night double dip on Disney Dream.    DS liked both clubs, just for different reasons.  Royal is really structured and open.  Disney has activities but you can ignore them and just play on your own the whole time (though that's not DS's style), and there are multiple rooms/areas they can go into.  Disney clubs are gorgeous; the room on Freedom (which was the 6-8 year old room, but 9-11s were grouped with that age group on our late January cruise) wasn't, but the kids still seemed to enjoy it a lot!
> 
> I love the aesthetics of Royal's ships, though the soft furnishings maybe don't quite meet up to Disney concierge rooms.  Oh well!
> 
> *I could just go back and forth on everything, but we liked many things about both!*



Same here. In the last 5 years we have been on Freedom of the Seas (which actually was for a "Nickelodeon Family Cruise"), The Disney Dream, Oasis of the Seas (as part of the "DIS Cruise"), and the Disney Fantasy.

We have things we really liked about both also. I think the DCL ships "look" better overall (especially the exterior), but the RCCL ships seem to be designed better from a "crowd-flow" standpoint. We also love the Royal Promendae on RCCL as well as having a casino. As for DCL, nothing beats their entertainment options with their family-friendly theater shows and first-run movies. Plus they get a slight nod when it comes to the staterooms (slightly larger, split baths). Food, I would say quality is basically equal on both - maybe DCL gets the nod for the rotational dining. The kids clubs...our DD never wanted to leave on either one, while our DS really didn't warm up to either. Depends more on the kid than anything the cruise line does, IMO. RCCL does keep the kids clubs open until 2am, although there is a charge per hour from 10pm-2am. To me, the one thing DCL has over all other lines...is Castaway Cay. As always, YMMV.

For the cruise we have booked next year on the Fantasy (see ticker below)...we are seriously considering switching it to a Freedom of the Seas crusie. They leave one day apart, will be almost the same itinerary, and are roughly the same size ship. We have a balcony stateroom on the Fantasy (it was all that was available when we booked it onboard last month). We can get a junior suite on Freedom for about $1500 less than what we booked the Fantasy for. Obviously, even greater savings for a lower category room. So we could probably switch to Freedom, and spend 5-6 days at WDW before the Freedom cruise for what we would be paying for just the Fantasy cruise.


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## Nicoleinwi

DnA2010 said:


> Agree with the others in that you can't go wrong with either- we have done 2 cruises, both with RC as we just couldn't bring ourselves to pay twice as much for Disney. The kids had a wonderful time on the cruises, there was just sooo much to do



I'm with you.  I have only been on Royal and Norwegian.  It's just DH & I and I would love to try a Disney cruise but I can't justify spending more for an interior cabin on Disney vs what I could get on Royal or Norwegian for a balcony room. 

Also I heard Disney doesn't have casinos on their ship.  Anyone know if there's truth to that?  We enjoy going to the casino at night.


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## mwins78

DISNEY has no casinos

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


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## Raenstoirm

We are disney people, however, we are "loyal to royal." Our first cruise years ago was booked as a 4 or 5 night on one of the original DCL ships (can't remember exactly now) with mediocre ports. A few months before the cruise a special deal appeared for a 7 night on RCCL with awesome ports for literally half the price, so we dropped our DCL reservation, booked on RCCL and never looked back. Our last RCCL cruise was Freedom this past May. When looking into our Fall WDW trip, we decided to splurge and book a 4 nighter on the dream since we had never tried DCL and we love to cruise. 
We were honestly surprised by Disney and not in a good way (not in a bad way really either). We had expected to be blown away by DCL, but weren't at all. Disney is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but it is no better than Royal just very different. Both have excellent customer service from the people behind the counters to the servers at dinner. I have yet to have a complaint about any of them. The ships are all maintained well and the food was about equal (dh thought the DCL was a smidge better). Both have their strengthens weaknesses.

DCL-
     -Best stage shows on the sea- can't be beat
    - Themeing of restaurants and bars and spaces in general is top notch, however in order to do this, ceilings are lowered and more walls are built making rooms feel smaller (we are used to wide open spaces on royal)
     -kids club and activities can't be beat
     -a big downside we found is the amount of things to do during the day. On Royal we usually have tons of things we wish to try and have to pick and choose things to do. At 2:00 there might be three things going on we want to do, so we have to pick one. On DCL there was very little planned activities that interested us. Outside of 2 adult themed events in the evenings and some characters, we didn't go to any of the offerings.

RCCL-
     -Variety of activities is varied.  However a lot of the offerings are "cheesy" (such as the belly flop contest).
     -Open space. RCCL does not like to close off spaces and one merges into another. they also have much more glass or at least design the ships so you are more aware you are out at sea. DCL has you focus inward on their themeing and not out to sea. This was a big downside to DCL
     -lots of places to "hang out". Since they don't theme their ships you can stumble upon a nice area when just taking a walk. All of DCL spaces are planned in some way.
     -Despite DCL having characters, we find RCCL has a lot more photo ops. Each night there are new backdrops and photo themes and at each port they take your picture. As a scrapbooker, I was very disappointed with DCL that there were no photographers just out and about like on RCCL. I also do not like the way DCL does photos. You may or may not get a photo if the software doesn't recognize your face. Dh and I must have rode aqua duck 25 times and not one photo appeared from it. RCCL just puts out all photos on walls and you have to find yourself. It is kinda a fun game each night and unless you miss a photo, there is no chance they didn't print one.


For your family, I would seriously consider Royal's Freedom or Oasis or Allure (all out of Florida). Dh and I decided that we will be loyal to DCL until our twins are about your kids' ages and then we will go back to RCCL and stay loyal to them. For little kids, Disney is best, for older families and adults, Royal is better for us.


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## PryncessLace

I just wanted to chime in that my husband sounds a lot like yours when it comes to Disney World.  He has had his fill with Disney World, where as my daughter and I (and the rest of my side of the family) are true fanatics.   

That being said, my husband refuses to go on any other cruise line besides Disney.  It was that amazing!  I almost have him convinced to try RCCL, but it'st taking a lot of convincing.  

I would LOVE to go on either the Freedom, Allure, or Oasis!!


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## vacation_junkie

michyi said:


> I'm sure this question has been asked a million times, but I'm new to the cruise line boards.
> 
> My DH is not a big fan of WDW and said this is going to be our last trip... we are going to Beach Club in Dec. 2014 and hopping to all 4 parks for 5 days. We think our next family adventure will be a cruise. I think that Royal Caribbean Cruise Line looks amazing and I was thinking we'll cruise using RC, but then everybody says that nobody tops a Disney Cruise.
> 
> We are thinking of going in Feb. 2017. It will be me, DH, DS (will be 12), DS (will be 11), and DD (will be 9). My children are on the smaller side, so I'm worried that they won't make height and weight limits on some of the RC activities. Will they be bored? I've never been on a cruise, so I truly have no idea.
> 
> I need to know if I should cancel my Disney Visa and get the Royal Caribbean Visa or keep my Disney Visa?????
> 
> Please give me your opinions. They are appreciated.



Our last Disney Cruise was our worst cruise we've had yet. Service was far from Magical.
My very social and active 13 yr old was bored. Mind you he's been on 14 cruises so he has something to compare it too. Now we were on the Magic which is a smaller ship. We are Disney'd out but I wanted to try to slip in on last Magical Adventure. Epic fail on my part.

Check out Carnival Breeze or Oasis / Allure of the Sea's on Royal. 

Royal also has the Dreamwork Experience so some ships have Shrek and some other Characters.


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## vacation_junkie

Nicoleinwi said:


> I'm with you.  I have only been on Royal and Norwegian.  It's just DH & I and I would love to try a Disney cruise but I can't justify spending more for an interior cabin on Disney vs what I could get on Royal or Norwegian for a balcony room.
> 
> Also I heard Disney doesn't have casinos on their ship.  Anyone know if there's truth to that?  We enjoy going to the casino at night.



No Casino's. On our last Disney Cruise come 9pm ish we were bored!


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## bz8bls

PryncessLace

I'm married to your hubby...lol.  We are DVC members and he is tired of WDW...however, he loves the DCL compared to RCCL.  We have been on the Oasis and I loved it.  Trying to convince DH to take the kids on Oasis or Allure when we go in 2017 (DS will be 14 and twin DDs will be 12).  I think after being on DCL three times, this would be a nice change for them (they didn't go on the Oasis with us).


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## bumbershoot

Just did our own version of a back to back.  5 nighter on Vision of the Seas then drove from Fort Lauderdale to Port Canaveral to board the Dream.  DCL has pulled forward for me and DH, but RCCL moved up for DS.  And here's why. 

 First, this isn't totally 100% fair because  Vision is teensy and we were in a panoramic ocean view room (which we quite liked), and Dream is big and we were in a category V which is the family verandah room on concierge level.  I recognize that and still try to be fair. 

 It came down to the small RCCL ship with the centrum (vs big ship with promenade), bad weather, and the casino. Because they still allow smoking in the casino. Our room was 3 floors up right off the centrum, and smoke rises. And most of the smokers were using the casino instead of going outside for about two total days of the five days. This resulted in some problems for the sensitives like me.   

 But for DS, he had a blast at royal's kid club, but was totally bored this time in disney's! This is unprecedented. It's likely because he's getting older, but then he said the counselors on Dream this time weren't as good as before.  He said "eh" about them this time. 

The Royal counselors were incredible for him. They had the 6-8s and 9-11s combined again because of low numbers but still did separate them enough. There were only 7 counselors but also only 100 total minors onboard so it was a really a close knit type of experience.   

We did an onboard booking for radiance in Alaska, but they have the centrum and close casino as well. Not sure we will keep the booking. We might have to go with the ships with the promenade because it doesn't create that same wind funnel. Though I'm not saying Freedom was perfect on our sailing in January. I wasn't able to enjoy the Schooner bar at all on Freedom because it's right next to the casino and I couldn't breathe, and some busy evenings the smoke came up the stairway to the promenade. But that was easier to avoid than on Vision.


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## PryncessLace

bz8bls said:


> PryncessLace
> 
> I'm married to your hubby...lol.



It's nice to know someone out there feels my pain


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## jenf22

We've been back a week from our first RCCL cruise.  We were on Jewel so there was the Centrum like Bumbershoot discussed.  I'm an asthmatic and did not have trouble with smoke at all.  My mom and I went to the casino every evening and as long as I stayed on the non-smoking side, I was fine.  But the casino was pretty empty (at least it seemed empty).  Maybe it was because we had really good weather so people were outside?  Our son also LOVED RCCL, but I think that had more to do with us sharing the 2 bedroom suite with grandma and grandpa (our son is 7).  We never had him in the clubs, so I can't comment on that.  The adults, however, found there was not much to do on sea days.  I think we did prefer Disney in that respect.  There were no interesting movies or activities.  Maybe that's the ship's size?  I imagine there is more to do on Oasis or Allure.  We had a great time and will definitely cruise RCCL again.


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## bumbershoot

The first couple days, when the weather was good and people were outdoors, were better. You had to get close to smell it. But once the weather acted like we were on an Alaskan cruise, with grey rainy skies and clouds forever, with the top deck totally closed due to winds and few people on the pool deck, that's when it got bad. Walking near guest services was impossible for me. DH had to take care of something there and even the employees were having a hard time with it. 

Vision is smaller than jewel, and that weather made it really hard for me. Hopefully I included all the aspects of it to be as fair as possible.


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## jenf22

bumbershoot said:


> The first couple days, when the weather was good and people were outdoors, were better. You had to get close to smell it. But once the weather acted like we were on an Alaskan cruise, with grey rainy skies and clouds forever, with the top deck totally closed due to winds and few people on the pool deck, that's when it got bad. Walking near guest services was impossible for me. DH had to take care of something there and even the employees were having a hard time with it.
> 
> Vision is smaller than jewel, and that weather made it really hard for me. Hopefully I included all the aspects of it to be as fair as possible.



I can see how that would have sucked on our cruise too.  The casino was one of very few things to do on sea days.  So if the weather was bad all the smokers would be in there.  Then I would have had to stay in our room with really nothing to do!  You would think they could have better ventilation and air handlers so it didn't get that bad.  Did you put that on your comment card?  I'm generally not big on extra comments, but I took the time to write on ours when we got the email.  I thought it was beyond insane that their kids water slide was open from 3-5:30pm on port days and 11-4pm on sea days.  Really?  5 hours?  But again, I've only been on the one ship so I'm going to keep an open mind for future cruises.  We saved SO MUCH money on this cruise over the DCL one we had originally booked.  I'm sorry your cruise had the smoke issue.  That must have been a real let down


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## angiwright

Wanted to chime in since we just took our first RC cruise after only cruising Disney before.  We had a wonderful time on Freedom of the seas.  I would have to say I have things I like on RC better and things I like on DCL better.  

My kids are 7, 11 & 15.  The 15 yr old preferred RC teen club over disney's.  The younger two had fun at both but I think they even spent more time in the RC clubs than Disney.   RC pool area is way better!

Also you mentioned since your kids are on the smaller side you are concerned about them not meeting height requirements.  I can tell u on freedom they had ice skating,  flow rider and rock wall.  And the only thing my 7 yr old couldnt do was flow rider.  I think it was 52 inches and she was too short.

Disney in my opinion has the heads up on theatre shows and family movies on the pool big screen.  But other things made up for this and we had plenty to do!


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## EmmaMagsMom

angiwright said:


> Wanted to chime in since we just took our first RC cruise after only cruising Disney before.  We had a wonderful time on Freedom of the seas.  I would have to say I have things I like on RC better and things I like on DCL better.  My kids are 7, 11 & 15.  The 15 yr old preferred RC teen club over disney's.  The younger two had fun at both but I think they even spent more time in the RC clubs than Disney.   RC pool area is way better!  Also you mentioned since your kids are on the smaller side you are concerned about them not meeting height requirements.  I can tell u on freedom they had ice skating,  flow rider and rock wall.  And the only thing my 7 yr old couldnt do was flow rider.  I think it was 52 inches and she was too short.  Disney in my opinion has the heads up on theatre shows and family movies on the pool big screen.  But other things made up for this and we had plenty to do!



I'm glad I found this thread.  We are trying to figure out which cruise would be better for our family.  We have two girls, ages 11 and 12.   My DH and I have sailed on RCCL Freedom of the Seas twice and loved it.    Our girls went with us when they were 3 and 4 so they don't remember .  We are Disney lovers, and go to DW with them once a year.  We are looking at either the Fantasy next Nov or Oasis.  Would our girls be in the same age group for kids activities on Disney?  How does the food compare between the two cruise lines? We thought the good on Freedom was pretty good. Any feedback would be great. Thanks


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## angiwright

EmmaMagsMom said:
			
		

> I'm glad I found this thread.  We are trying to figure out which cruise would be better for our family.  We have two girls, ages 11 and 12.   My DH and I have sailed on RCCL Freedom of the Seas twice and loved it.    Our girls went with us when they were 3 and 4 so they don't remember .  We are Disney lovers, and go to DW with them once a year.  We are looking at either the Fantasy next Nov or Oasis.  Would our girls be in the same age group for kids activities on Disney?  How does the food compare between the two cruise lines? We thought the good on Freedom was pretty good. Any feedback would be great. Thanks



On Freedom Adventure Ocean went up to 11 yrs old and the teen club started at 12.  I cant remember on Disney exactly where the age break is from going from the kids club to the teen area.  Hopefully someone else can answer that.  


We were on the Fantasy in 2013 and just on Freedom a few weeks ago.  We thought the food as well as the service in the MDR was better on Freedom than the Fantasy.  

The freedom also had so much for the tweens and teens like rock climbing,  flow rider and ice skating.  Oasis would have even more than that!

We are big WDW lovers too!  This trip on freedom was actually our first non-disney trip since our 15 yr old was born!  I still love a trip to WDW, but I think we will be looking at RC more often for cruises than DCL.   I found them very comparable.   Some things Disney did better and some things Royal did better.


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## tidefan

We leave in a few weeks for our first RCCL cruise on the Serenade after 4 cruises on Princess and 6 on DCL.  Looking forward to it, but there are a few things that bug me in doing research:

- No poolside burger/dog/brat grill on RCCL.  Find that weird.

- No dedicated pizza place (apparently they will have them in the Windjammer at times).  I must say that I LOVED Princess' Pizza

- Small movie theater

- No toiletries, just a dispenser in the shower.

- Paying for Diet Coke (OK, we had to do that on Princess too)

- I will miss being able to bring alcohol on board like you can do on DCL.

- I am looking forward to the casino.

I also am not a big "Pay Extra" person on cruising.  I like to pay once and be done.  We don't do specialty dining, etc., so we like that we don't feel the need to do so on either DCL or Princess.  Hoping RCCL will be the same.  Probably rules out Norwegian in our future...

One thing I've noticed lately is that RCCL really isn't that much cheaper than DCL (especially Oasis and Allure) and it is quite a bit more expensive than Princess.  It will be interesting as we are trying to decide for Spring on an Eastern Itinerary. We had looked at the Independence, but as of now, we are leaning towards the Regal Princess.

Will report back as to how our cruise was...


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## ldo

tidefan, I have a 13-14 yr olds and we are booked for spring break 2016 with a great price. please let me know about that little movie theater and how many movies they play and what types. also, could you please save your daily compasses? I would really like to see them.  We would be on a 10 day cruise to S. Carib, but want to make sure my teens will not be too bored. thanks, Elaine


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## angiwright

tidefan said:


> We leave in a few weeks for our first RCCL cruise on the Serenade after 4 cruises on Princess and 6 on DCL.  Looking forward to it, but there are a few things that bug me in doing research:
> 
> - No poolside burger/dog/brat grill on RCCL.  Find that weird.
> 
> - No dedicated pizza place (apparently they will have them in the Windjammer at times).  I must say that I LOVED Princess' Pizza
> 
> - Small movie theater
> 
> - No toiletries, just a dispenser in the shower.
> 
> - Paying for Diet Coke (OK, we had to do that on Princess too)
> 
> - I will miss being able to bring alcohol on board like you can do on DCL.
> 
> - I am looking forward to the casino.
> 
> I also am not a big "Pay Extra" person on cruising.  I like to pay once and be done.  We don't do specialty dining, etc., so we like that we don't feel the need to do so on either DCL or Princess.  Hoping RCCL will be the same.  Probably rules out Norwegian in our future...
> 
> One thing I've noticed lately is that RCCL really isn't that much cheaper than DCL (especially Oasis and Allure) and it is quite a bit more expensive than Princess.  It will be interesting as we are trying to decide for Spring on an Eastern Itinerary. We had looked at the Independence, but as of now, we are leaning towards the Regal Princess.
> 
> Will report back as to how our cruise was...



Tidefan,  Hope you have a great cruise!  We just did our first RC cruise after only doing DCL before.  I had some of the same concerns so thought I'd give you my experience on a few

-  I agree its weird that there is not food place on the pool deck.  We were on Freedom so don't know if Serenade is the same.  But we had the buffet, windjammer on the same deck.  We would just run into windjammer and get food to bring out if we wanted something.  You do have to cover up if you have a swimsuit on, I saw people turned away for trying to wear swimsuits in.  So poolside would be more convenient but it wasn't as bad as I thought.

-  No toiletries was something I really thought I'd miss, but didn't.  

- Kind of a bummer to pay for coke packages but even buying them we came out cheaper than having it included on DCL.

- also we are not big pay extra people either.  No specialty restaurants, spa or anything like that.  But we didn't find any reason to pay extra for things.  I believe other than $14 for the kids club one night for my son, our only costs on the ship were souveniers.  Hope it is the same on Serenade for you!  

Let us know what you think!


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## tidefan

ldo said:


> tidefan, I have a 13-14 yr olds and we are booked for spring break 2016 with a great price. please let me know about that little movie theater and how many movies they play and what types. also, could you please save your daily compasses? I would really like to see them.  We would be on a 10 day cruise to S. Carib, but want to make sure my teens will not be too bored. thanks, Elaine



Will do!


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## hoffman1

I will start by saying I am not a cruise expert.  I have only been on the Dream, Fantasy, and most recently Liberty of the Seas (just got off 11/13).   I had high hopes for Liberty because of the price difference-- I thought it would allow us to cruise more often.  BUT I TOTALLY MISSED THE DISNEY EXPERIENCE!  And we don't even have kids!  The level of service we receive on the Disney ships was far superior.  The staff is just friendlier, more accommodating.  And the level of cleanliness was better on Disney ships too--on the Liberty there were some dusty areas, the public restrooms were not spotless, there were some rusty spots, etc.  
I did like that Liberty had a casino but it was so smoky that I could not breathe in there.  The promenade was a nice place to hang out.  I thought the food in the main dining room was better than on the Disney ships but I preferred Cabanas over the Windjammer.
I didn't like that I bought the Royal Replenish package (the package with soda, bottled water, fresh squeezed juice, and non-alcoholic beverages) and it was difficult to get anything to drink--bartenders gave me attitude when I asked for bottled water and most of the time in the dining room I never got my soda.  I ordered the fresh squeezed juice a couple of mornings for breakfast and it was always hot  so I gave up on that.
It was nice that there were not long lines for characters.  We never really looked for them on the schedule but ran into them for photo ops several times with no wait times.  
The DreamWorks parade was kind of crazy though.  It was in the Promenade and was a frantic back and forth kind of thing.  
I am not sure I would choose Royal Caribbean again even at the cheaper price.


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## ldo

we were on Liberty after Christmas last year. Here were the pros:
Johnny Rockets
mini golf
rock climbing
ice skating
ice skating show
flow rider
promenade--loved the Café area with free reg coffee/tea, and good snacks, great place to people watch
cupcake cupboard decorating classes
pizza place with good antipasto in promenade--set up like an old fashioned pizzeria with seating--my 12-13 yr olds had dinner together there one night and felt very grown up--they frequently popped down to grab pizza, fun atmosphere--not just grab and go pizza
3D Movie
Saturday Night Fever
the price and cabin--we took 6 persons in a huge family ocean view on a 4 day cruise to Cozumel over Christmas break for under $3K! 

cons:
no movie theater--only 1 3D movie and 2 moves on deck, at 8 and 10 pm
sea days were very boring for kids 12-13--who were too young/shy for flow rider, rock climbing, kids club b/c the age group is 12-14 and the teens do a lot of sports--and no cool place just to go and hang out
dining in MDR was OK, but subpar--DCL MDR dining much better

bottom line: our next cruise will likely be on RCCL, with adjusted expectations--the spring break cruise is less than 1/2 price.  We will do upgraded dining for at least 1-2 meals.


----------



## tidefan

tidefan said:


> We leave in a few weeks for our first RCCL cruise on the Serenade after 4 cruises on Princess and 6 on DCL.  Looking forward to it, but there are a few things that bug me in doing research:
> 
> - No poolside burger/dog/brat grill on RCCL.  Find that weird.
> 
> - No dedicated pizza place (apparently they will have them in the Windjammer at times).  I must say that I LOVED Princess' Pizza
> 
> - Small movie theater
> 
> - No toiletries, just a dispenser in the shower.
> 
> - Paying for Diet Coke (OK, we had to do that on Princess too)
> 
> - I will miss being able to bring alcohol on board like you can do on DCL.
> 
> - I am looking forward to the casino.
> 
> I also am not a big "Pay Extra" person on cruising.  I like to pay once and be done.  We don't do specialty dining, etc., so we like that we don't feel the need to do so on either DCL or Princess.  Hoping RCCL will be the same.  Probably rules out Norwegian in our future...
> 
> One thing I've noticed lately is that RCCL really isn't that much cheaper than DCL (especially Oasis and Allure) and it is quite a bit more expensive than Princess.  It will be interesting as we are trying to decide for Spring on an Eastern Itinerary. We had looked at the Independence, but as of now, we are leaning towards the Regal Princess.
> 
> Will report back as to how our cruise was...



Well, we are back and I can report how our cruise on the Serenade of the Seas went.  In a nutshell, I came away surprisingly unimpressed with RCCL, mainly in the areas of customer service, food availability/quality, and logistical issues.  

First off, let me preface by saying that my comparison for this cruise was 4 Princess cruises and 6 on DCL, so it may not be apples to apples, but having been on a number of cruises, there were just a number of little (and some big) things that added up to at this point to put RCCL a good bit behind both DCL and Princess.  I should also add that we had a group sailing, so I got to hear a number of other people's issues as well, so that may have skewed things a bit as well.  All that being said, we really did have a good time on the cruise (is there a bad one?), but there were a number of things that we noticed.

Embarkation in New Orleans

So, we had a notice that the ship "may be backed up" because it was the first sailing of the Serenade after her transatlantic voyage.  We were encouraged to board by deck in times from noon to 3:30 and the ship was scheduled to depart at 4pm.  We had spent the night prior in a hotel within walking distance of the port, so we walked over and got in line about 12:30.  Here is where I started noticing differences.  It took us about an hour and a half to embark.  First, we waited in a security line, this wasn't bad, took about 20 minutes and went through wine check.  Then we waited in a line to get into the main waiting room.  This took about another 20 minutes.  So, after about 40 minutes, we get into the main room with all of the agents checking people into the ship.  LONG lines.  There were probably about 20 stations checking in passengers.  We waited in this line about 40 minutes before we got to the agent to check us in. After that, we were on the ship in about 10 minutes.  Good news was since it was about 2pm, our stateroom was ready.  Bad news was the lady at check-in never gave me my credit card back, so after I noticed it was gone, I had to go back to check in and get it (which, fortunately, was still there).

While back in the room, I noticed that it was even more jammed than before.  I came to find out that we had people in our group that got in line about the same time as us, but did not board the ship until 4pm.  It was a huge mess.  Not real sure what the issue was and if it was RCCL or the Port of New Orleans (as this was the first sailing of the Serenade of the season), but it took just about everyone at least an hour and a half to 2 hours to board.  My parents, who are Diamond with RCCL said this was by far the worst embarkation they had ever had, so I'll write this off as a one-time incident, but it was a harbinger of things to come.

First impressions of the ship

As soon as I boarded (for real after I had relocated my CC), I immediately noticed some differences.  First, you scan your "Sea Pass" (like a KTTW card) out on the Promenade deck once off of the boarding ramp.  Then you walk around a narrow part of that deck to doors by the back of the ship at the entrance to the restaurant.  First, we encountered a station that issued the kids wristbands with their muster stations.  OK, not a problem.  As soon as we leave that, we are "accosted" by a number of dining room people asking us about our dining.  

Them:  "Do you have MyTime Dining"  
Me:  "Yes, we have a large group and all want to split up who we eat with every night".
Them:  "You need to go ahead and put in reservations".
Me:  "Do you have to have reservations?  I was told I could just show up when I was ready to eat".
Them:  "Yes, you can show up, but you need a reservation"
Me:  "What happens if I show up without a reservation?"
Them:  "We will make you a reservation for the next seating time, or make you a reservation for an open table and seat you there"

I just left it at that

So, once in, we are in the "Centrum" area on Deck 5 midship and need to go to Deck 8 to get to our stateroom.  There are 6 elevators off of the Centrum (More on this later), so I think to myself, great, we will be up shortly.  So about 5 minutes go by with no elevator stopping.  At this point, there are a number of passengers congregating in the elevator lobby with the same idea.  After about another 3-4 minutes, we finally get an elevator.  Weird, I thought.  Well, we found out why once we got up to Deck 8.  As we get off of the elevator on the Deck 8 lobby, we are greeted by most of Deck 8's luggage.  Just sitting right out there.  The ship's staff had commandeered 4 of the 6 elevators to transport all of the luggage up to the staterooms.  This explained why the logjam at the elevators.  This was new to me.  In all of my cruises, I had never seen luggage just piled up in public areas like this.  Really strange.  On a good note, I found all of our luggage and moved it to our room.

Next up  The Stateroom...


----------



## tidefan

The Stateroom

We had an E1 Balcony Stateroom that ended up having a large oversized balcony.  The balcony was great, the Stateroom, however, was noticeably smaller than what we have come accustomed to on DCL.  I also think that it was a bit smaller than what we had on Princess.  As my Daughter had a Medical condition that requires specialized medication that needs to be refrigerated, I had filled out a special needs form for a fridge to be put in the room and had received a nice e-mail confirmation that this would be ready for me when I got on the ship.  So… no fridge.  I go to guest services to ask about the fridge.  There is already a very long line, so I get in and wait.  After a few minutes I notice that there is only 1 person working the guest services desk (but 3 at the adjacent Shore Excursions desk (??) ).  I eventually get up to the woman at the GS desk and explain my situation and show her my e-mail.

Her:  "I am sorry, but we only have refrigerators for guest that fill out special needs forms"
Me:  "That is what I am showing you in this e-mail.  It is my confirmation from the special needs department letting me know that it will be in the room"
Her:  "I am sorry, but all of the fridges have been given out to those who filled out the form that had a need for it, not just to keep food cold"  (exact quote)
Me:  "Um, you mean like the form I filled out and got this confirmation on?"
Her:  "We are not showing this in our system, Did you request the correct sailing?"
Me:  "You mean the one listed here with today's date and this ship on it?"
Her:  "I am sorry, but we do not have a record of that and we do not have any more refrigerators.  You can give your medicine to the medical staff and they will keep it for you"

At that point, I just left and went back upstairs, explained the situation to my better half, who promptly sent me back down.  When I got back down, there was another staff member "screening" people in the line.  I explained that I was coming back to check on the fridge.  She looked at my e-mail, went over to the GS desk, made a call, and 2 minutes later came over and told me I'd have a fridge by 4pm.  Go figure…

So, get back to the stateroom and start to put stuff away.  Open the cabinets over the TV.  There are half empty water bottles in there.  Great…  Head to muster drill and come back to hopefully find the fridge.  Not there.  I call, and the person tells me it is on the way.  OK, not a problem.  This is when I looked out and notice, hey, they are still boarding people on the ship (I don't know how they did muster…).  I walked the ship a bit and then we got ready to go to dinner around 7-ish.  We had 10 of us and walked up to the Matre'd.  

Them:  "Do you have a reservation?"
Me:  "No"
Them:  "Here is a buzzer.  Should be about 15 minutes"

We ended up in the Card Room (which is adjacent to the dining room on deck 4) with our eventual servers Claudiu and Francisco, who proved to be one of the highlights of the ship.  I'll discuss food later…

Anyway, we get back to our room around 9pm.  No fridge.  Our room steward comes up and introduces herself.  I asked about the fridge.  She said she had not heard, but would check.  About 20 minutes later, she says it should be coming shortly, it "had to wait until the watertight doors were shut"  (??).  OK…   So, about 9:30, here comes the fridge!..  First, they want to put it on the small little table in the room, but I point out that is not really stable.  Then (and this was more funny than bad…), the maintenance guy suggests we put it on the loveseat!  Um, no.  At any rate, we took the chair out from the desk and put it on our balcony and put the fridge under there.

This was sort of the story of the cruise.  We all started calling it the Excuses of the Seas because it seemed like whenever we would ask about something, it wasn't "Yes, I'll see what we can do to fix that", it was "Well, that is because…"  The worst was the next night at dinner, but I'll get to that in a bit.  We only held on to the fridge for a few days because I had heard from a cabin in our group that had an infant and had also pre-registered for a fridge and had not gotten one.  In addition, the crib/pack-n-play that they had confirmed had not been put in the room.  They requested it around 4.  They finally got one into their stateroom at 9pm.  It was one of the big square ones and since the loveseat was too big to move out of the stateroom, they had about a foot to get by between the pack-n-play and the desk.  They ended up finding them a rectangular pack-n-play the next day.

I then heard from another in our party that RCCL had no record of their pre-paid shore excursions (which had been charged on their card).  Once again, the ship had no record of items that had been confirmed on the RCCL website.  I don't know if the issue was at RCCL IT or at the ship, but they need to get that fixed.  They went ahead and got them tickets.  I haven't heard if they got charged multiple times.

Other Service issues

On Day 1, I went to the main pool bar to purchase the Diet Coke drink package for myself and the "Royal Refreshment" package for my daughter.  There was only 1 person working the bar (this was the same for the first 2 sea days).  When he finally got to me I asked about the package.  He told me "we are out of the package here".  I think that he meant that he didn't have the plastic coke cups.  I said I didn't really need them, and could get them later.  He told me to check the bar up a deck and then went to another customer.  I walked up to the other bar (who also only had 1 person working a full bar) and those folks did finally get me the drink packages.

On night 2, we only had 4 of us and sat in a different part of the dining room.  We sat and waited, and waited, and waited.  After 20 minutes, someone finally came up and poured us waters.  After another few minutes, a head waiter came over to take our order.  A different person brought us our food, and yet a different person came over to take our dessert order.  After a few minutes, the other 3 at our table had their desserts brought out.  I had ordered the Banana Baileys Creme Brûlée, and it was not out.  After a few minutes, I asked what I think was the assistant waiter about it.  He said that he was going to check.  Another 10 minutes pass.  No dessert.  Everyone else done.  Ask the first head waiter about the dessert.  He goes to check.  Comes back a few minutes later with dessert.  

Well, what really took the cake was that I mentioned this to the maitre'd as we are leaving to let them know the issues in that section.  His exact quote to me was "Well, that waiter in that section had waited on 52 people that night".  What I really wanted to say was "well,  he didn't wait on numbers 53-56"…  He then told me that I needed to understand that he was busy with a number of tables and was doing me a favor by waiting on us in this section.  Now, I am pretty accommodating of things, but I have to say, I was speechless as I was listening to this.  Isn't it RCCL's job to make sure they have enough waiters to cover their Dining Room?

Later that night, we got a call from one of the GS folks to ask about the fridge.  My wife detailed our discussions with the maitre'd and the GS person said "He said WHAT?" and told us to hold on.  We were then connected to the head of Food and Beverage.  We explained our conversation and he wanted to look into it.  We got a call back profusely apologizing.  We had a nice conversation and mentioned how much we enjoyed our first nights wait staff.  He set up for us to have them every night for up to 16 people and to just show up.  I have to say, this gentleman was extremely nice and accommodating.  He went on to tell us that the ship would be picking up a number of staff when we made our first stop in Jamaica.

I came to find out a few days later that the rumor was that RCCL had changed pay scales between contracts and that a number of staff had walked off of the boat as this was in between the Europe and Caribbean contracts.  I also heard a rumor that RCCL couldn't bring on the new staff in the US and had to wait until the first international port.  Whatever the reason, we sure enough picked up a bunch of staff in Falmouth, Jamaica.

I just wish they'd have told us that up front…

Next:  General Observations between the lines


----------



## tidefan

General Observations

The Ship

The Serenade of the Seas is a "Radiance Class" vessel.  Out of the 7 ships I had sailed prior, the Serenade was probably my least favorite.  What really bugged me was the flow of the ship.  There is a big 11 story high "Centrum" in the midship that serves as the focal point of the ship.  It is an OK space, but somewhat nondescript.  There are 6 elevators off to one side of the Centrum that look out over the ocean or the Centrum itself.  There are also 3 elevators in the forward part of the ship.  However, that was it.  There were no aft elevators (nor aft stairs).  I would not recommend being in the back of this class of ship.

The pool areas are smaller than what I am used to on either Princess or Disney.  It consisted of one main pool, an adult pool area (Solarium), then a small kids pool with a waterside in the back.  One thing to note.  While it was nice to have a waterside, it is only open from 11am-3pm on sea days and 3:30-5:30pm on port days.  In the back of the pool deck is the "Windjammer Cafe", which is the buffet for the ship.  We were very disappointed in the buffet.  The food was so-so at best (compared to the MDR food, which was pretty good - about the same as Disney, not quite as good as Princess).  Also, this was where you had to get Pizza/Hot Dogs/Burgers as there is not a poolside grill.  There is a small "Park Cafe" in the Solarium area, but it has a limited selection.  The buffet is also much more limited in hours than on other lines as it closes by 8:30.  

Another weird thing is that they would shut off the Windjammer between 4:30 and 6:00pm.  There is a for charge Tex-Mex place in the back of the Windjammer called "Rita's Cantina".  It was open from 1pm to 9pm, but the weird thing was, you couldn't get to it from 4:30 to 6:00 because to get to it, you had to go through the Windjammer, but they locked that off between 4:30 to 6:00.

General Observations

- There is a charge for the kids club after 10pm.  I don't remember being charged at any time for the kids club on DCL (don't remember on Princess).  Of course, with Murphy being in charge, my DD only wanted to go after 10…

-  Go to the casino to fill up your diet coke habit.  They use either 2 liter or canned DC instead of the soft drink "gun"

-  Our stateroom attendant would not put more than 3 towels in our stateroom.  We asked her everyday for a 4th towel, however, she never would put a 4th in the room.

-  We did the "Bobsled Jamaica and Dunn's River Falls" excursion in Falmouth.  I have to say that this was by far the best cruise excursion that I have ever done.  If you go to Jamaica, it is definitely worth doing.

-  One thing I did not like.  If you are on Deck 6 and want to go forward from the Centrum, you have to walk through the Casino.  This went for the kids too…

-  There is a fun 70's night party on the cruise.

-  There is a small cinema on the ship, but it does not play first-run movies.

-  RCCL is big on the specialty dining venues, however, we rarely saw many people in them.  In fact, the Japanese place was pretty much deserted most of the cruise.

SUMMARY

So, would I sail RCCL again?  Yes, probably so.  Even with all of the aforementioned issues, things did smooth out towards the end of the cruise.  I probably would not choose this class of ship again as it was not my favorite layout.  The cruise was fun and we did have a good time.  I would say to try not to have the same expectations as say DCL, and you will be fine.  Now, all of that being said, I still think that all other things being equal, we would pick DCL first, then Princess, then RCCL.


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## holula

I haven't done Royal yet so will leave most of your review. BUT we have done one DCL and one Princess after a repositioning cruise (one TA, one from Canada) and had the same issues with embarkation. Long, long lines and not enough staff clearing people. So I think that was more to do with the customs issues than anything else.


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## ldo

thanks for posting your review. I have been on 4 RCCL, which were "good" cruises and 1 great cruise, but would agree about RCCL's customer service.  DCL is much more "can do/fix it" than RCCL, IMHO.  We have a 10 day S. Carib. with 5 port stops (but 4 sea days) on Serenade booked for Spring 2016--the prices was the same as a 5 day on the Wonder going to CC and Cozumel---still debating. Do you recall what movies played in the cinema and if they played movies at night by the pool? thanks, Elaine


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## tidefan

ldo said:


> thanks for posting your review. I have been on 4 RCCL, which were "good" cruises and 1 great cruise, but would agree about RCCL's customer service.  DCL is much more "can do/fix it" than RCCL, IMHO.  We have a 10 day S. Carib. with 5 port stops (but 4 sea days) on Serenade booked for Spring 2016--the prices was the same as a 5 day on the Wonder going to CC and Cozumel---still debating. Do you recall what movies played in the cinema and if they played movies at night by the pool? thanks, Elaine



Cinema: Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Heaven is for Real.

Poolside: only one I remember was Guardians of the Galaxy...


----------



## papertraveller

Thank you for taking the time to write about your trip. It's really helpful for those of us who have sailed on DCL, and are contemplating RCCL.

Could you please explain about the 'wine inspection' when you were boarding? I assume this is to check that you have only one bottle in your bag?

How did the pool towel sign-out situation work?

Are there any other notable differences between the two cruise lines? (I mean other than the subjective, food, service, etc.) I'm looking for "On Disney it's done this way, and on RCCL it's this way". For example, your Windjammer hours point is very useful. 

We will be with a large family group on a port-centric cruise. It seemed to me that some of the ship's amenities and attractions might not be that important to us since we'd be off touring almost every day. Still, when everyone comes back onboard ravenous, I wonder where the teenagers will find something to eat?


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## tidefan

papertraveller said:


> Thank you for taking the time to write about your trip. It's really helpful for those of us who have sailed on DCL, and are contemplating RCCL.  Could you please explain about the 'wine inspection' when you were boarding? I assume this is to check that you have only one bottle in your bag?  How did the pool towel sign-out situation work?  Are there any other notable differences between the two cruise lines? (I mean other than the subjective, food, service, etc.) I'm looking for "On Disney it's done this way, and on RCCL it's this way". For example, your Windjammer hours point is very useful.  We will be with a large family group on a port-centric cruise. It seemed to me that some of the ship's amenities and attractions might not be that important to us since we'd be off touring almost every day. Still, when everyone comes back onboard ravenous, I wonder where the teenagers will find something to eat?



Wine inspection was they checked your 2 bottles of wine at Security.

For pool towels, you only had to scan them out on port days. They'd scan your card for the number of towels you took and scan them back in when you returned. Conversely, you could just go get them at the pool the night prior to a port day and just not have to worry about it.

One thing to mention. Remember, this was just one experience on one particular ship. I don't really have a good sample size to judge the rest of the ships in the fleet. Embarkation may just have been an off day, as the customer service. Things smoothed out by the end of our cruise.


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## ldo

I have been on 4 RCCL cruises, all different ships--last one was 1 year ago.  Customer service is OK, and sometimes (rarely, in my experience) poor--for example, a few years ago, a RCCL shore excursion's time was changed (kayak tour or something), but some passengers were unaware of the change. When they arrived @ 10am, they were told the RCCL tour had departed at 9:30 and that there had been a time change---RCCL did not seem to be too concerned about it on the dock. We were leaving on our tour, so don't know what happened--but I recall thinking that was not a "can do" attitude-like hustle them to meet the tour, call the tour operator and make arrangements, etc. When our DCL tour was changed--we got a letter and also a voicemail. Don't know what RCCL did. 
Then, last year, we took the Liberty, which highly advertised DreamWorks #D Movies.  On 4 nights, they had 1 3D Movie and 2 late night movies by the pool. When I inquired at customer service about any other movies, they were somewhat clueless and then just said there will be a movie later in the week. Towel return--told to go to one end of the pool--walked there and found a closed sign--stuff like that, but really nothing that is a big deal in 4 cruises. 
I just have somewhat lower expectations than DCL, and the cruises are fine. But, my kids always ask "What cruise is it--and if I say RCCL, they say, "oh," vs. if I say DCL, they say, "YES!"


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## mwins78

Just did my first rccl after 3 Dcl!!!! Group of forty All I can say is that I gave it a chance back to dcl I go!  The two things I enjoyed that Disney lacks for me is the adult entertainment at night I was up to the wee hours in the morning having fun while on dcl nights pretty much over at 11. Second thing is my 9 yr old son enjoyed the kids club on rccl hates Disney to many kids just running around rccl is more structured.  Thats it!!! Food was terrible lost a couple of pounds while cruising usually I gain about five.  Stateroom was like staying in a two star hotel,  omg the showers where tiny I could barely move without banging my elbows on shower doors.  But  I made the best of it had fun with friends in family Just won't be back any time soon!!!!


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## tidefan

mwins78 said:


> Just did my first rccl after 3 Dcl!!!! Group of forty All I can say is that I gave it a chance back to dcl I go!  The two things I enjoyed that Disney lacks for me is the adult entertainment at night I was up to the wee hours in the morning having fun while on dcl nights pretty much over at 11. Second thing is my 9 yr old son enjoyed the kids club on rccl hates Disney to many kids just running around rccl is more structured.  Thats it!!! Food was terrible lost a couple of pounds while cruising usually I gain about five.  Stateroom was like staying in a two star hotel,  omg the showers where tiny I could barely move without banging my elbows on shower doors.  But  I made the best of it had fun with friends in family Just won't be back any time soon!!!!



I agree about the staterooms. Our balcony stateroom on RCCL was 169 sq. ft.  Our inside stateroom on the Magic was 184 sq. ft.

It makes a difference.


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## bobbiwoz

i am on the Explorer of the Seas....I wish I could be on my balcony, but the Wifi does not extend to one's stateroom.  For me, this is a big disappointment.  I am in the library ( at least RCCL has a library!) using the Internet, waiting for my next activity coming up at 2! On DCL, the Wifi has worked in my stateroom.

Brought on just a 4 pack of wine in my carry on, no problem.  My DCuz had packed hers with her cosmetics.  All the wine came to our stateroom, so no problem there!

Bobbi


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## bobbiwoz

A little difference...on RCCL, Purell is used...it leaks on the floor..I know of 2 people who have fell, hurt bad enough....DCL uses wipes...I like DCL's sanitary measures.


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## twopeasonepod

Hi Bobbi!  Hope you are having fun!!!

I posted this on the CC message board yesterday in the RCI v. DCL thread:

This is my (very personal) opinion....

I have only been on RCI once. Mexican Riviera right after the swine flu shut down in 2009. GS with my two BFFs. We had the best time. But I literally had no idea what I was doing. No seasoned cruiser tactics. We just did what we wanted and had fun. Having no kids or husbands helped haha. Nothing wowed me except the Ice Show and the CC, which I definitely used every night for cocktails. And we loved Allan and the Dragon's Lair. Partied like it was 1999. I remember nothing about our dining team. The stateroom host was nice.

In July 2012 we started our DCL experience. Alaska (for a CME psychiatry cruise -- awesome, right???), the Pixar California Coast cruise Oct 2012, EBTA May 2013, WBPC May 2014, and WBTA Sept 2014. We have only done 7-, 14-, or 15-day sailings. We have never been on the Dream or Fantasy. Three reasons: 1) Seems snobby, but I'm from Hawaii -- why would I want to go to the Caribbean or Bahamas? Ewww.; 2) Sailings are too short; and 3) The ships hold twice as many people and the pools are the same size as the classic ships. It's just one big giant clump of people.

DCL provides a level of service that cannot be matched by RCI, IMO. That intangible thing someone mentioned earlier. They really take care of you, especially kids or people with special needs. The interactions with crew just have a different vibe. We have always requested the same servers. The head servers remember us. Bingo is my kids' favorite (I have 8-year-old twin boys). The Bingo Master calls them up to do the B11 dance and they set up a DVC tent won during a Bingo raffle and play Bingo in it -- on the stage in the Walt Disney Theater for the Final Must Go Jackpot. Our stateroom host on the Alaska cruise literally FOLDED OUR DIRTY CLOTHES (that were originally in a neat pile on the floor) and wrapped the cord of my flat iron around it every single day. Bar server got us extra goodies as the Family of the Day. Movies are incredible and constant day and night. Million Dollar Arm opened on one of our sailings. The movies by the pool are all day and totally awesome! The entertainment (Improv Shmimprov, Villans, Dreams, trivia, etc.) are fantastic. My kids don't go to the club -- literally ZERO times on our 14-night WBTA, so not much to comment on there. When we went to Palo, the servers allowed the boys to dine alone in the MDR for both dinner and brunch. They took care of them splendidly and were tipped well for it. We play catch on Deck 10 in the morning before anyone else is there.

But....DCL goes to the same ole' places over and over. As stated previously, I'm not going to the Caribbean or Bahamas. And we can't take the boys out of school for 2-4 weeks anymore (they missed a whole month in Sept!)

We had done OBB for their birthday in March (B2B 5-days on the Wonder -- in the Caribbean, actually). As it was getting close to PIF, I asked DH if I should commit. He basically put his foot down and said he absolutely doesn't want to go there. So since I LOVE CRUISING, I looked on RCI and found a sailing on MOS to Japan with actually better dates to accommodate the boys' Spring Break. It was $1500 cheaper to go from a 4A on DCL (biggest non-suite, midship verandah) to the RS on RCI!!! OMG. Who wouldn't do that??? AND we get $895 OBC! So we are super stoked and looking forward to new adventures. And going to Japan!

We will still do two European sailings and the Hawaii cruise (haha) next year with DCL. It also sucks that we joined DVC on the Alaska cruise and now have absolutely zero desire to go to WDW or DLR. The boys have even outgrown Universal. They like Cedar Point the best. King's Island second. No time share there haha.

I think bottom line is they are very different and you can absolutely love both. I'm just happy to make memories with my kids and DH, and to be able to take these amazing vacations!


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## bobbiwoz

twopeasonepod said:


> Hi Bobbi!  Hope you are having fun!!!
> 
> ...
> 
> DCL provides a level of service that cannot be matched by RCI, IMO. ....
> 
> We will still do two European sailings and the Hawaii cruise (haha) next year with DCL. It also sucks that we joined DVC on the Alaska cruise and now have absolutely zero desire to go to WDW or DLR. The boys have even outgrown Universal. They like Cedar Point the best. King's Island second. No time share there haha.
> 
> I think bottom line is they are very different and you can absolutely love both. I'm just happy to make memories with my kids and DH, and to be able to take these amazing vacations!



hi!  Yes, having fun!  DCL's service is superior, but there are some RCCL staff who match it!  My Starbucks server knew my name after buying once, and says hi every time I pass in the Promonnade!  He always makes me smile!

We are on DCL's EBTA in 2015 and Royal's Vancouver to Hawaii as well in 2015... I like DCL MUCH more, but RCCL is fine for the money.

Bobbi

PS.  Explorer of the Seas will be going into dry dock soon.  It has FAR LESS rust on our balcony than the Wonder has shown on our last 2 cruises.  I understand about the width of the Panama Canal, but the Wonder looks sad compared to this ship in that respect.


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## bobbiwoz

twopeasonepod said:


> Hi Bobbi!  Hope you are having fun!!!
> 
> ...
> 
> DCL provides a level of service that cannot be matched by RCI, IMO. ....
> 
> We will still do two European sailings and the Hawaii cruise (haha) next year with DCL. It also sucks that we joined DVC on the Alaska cruise and now have absolutely zero desire to go to WDW or DLR. The boys have even outgrown Universal. They like Cedar Point the best. King's Island second. No time share there haha.
> 
> I think bottom line is they are very different and you can absolutely love both. I'm just happy to make memories with my kids and DH, and to be able to take these amazing vacations!



hi!  Yes, having fun!  DCL's service is superior, but there are some RCCL staff who match it!  My Starbucks server knew my name after buying once, and says hi every time I pass in the Promonnade!  He always makes me smile!

We are on DCL's EBTA in 2015 and Royal's Vancouver to Hawaii as well in 2015... I like DCL MUCH more, but RCCL is fine for the money.

Bobbi

PS.  Explorer of the Seas will be going into dry dock soon.  It has FAR LESS rust on our balcony than the Wonder has shown on our last 2 cruises.  I understand about the width of the Panama Canal, but the Wonder looks sad compared to this ship in that respect.

PPS.  We live 15 minutes from Kings Island...if you're heading there this year, how about meeting for dinner?


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## BethC1952

bobbiwoz said:


> A little difference...on RCCL, Purell is used...it leaks on the floor..I know of 2 people who have fell, hurt bad enough....DCL uses wipes...I like DCL's sanitary measures.


It also occasionally gets squirted on your feet.  I had the healthiest toes on the ship last month !

We just finished our fourth RCI cruise on 11/15 after 17 cruises on Disney.  We absolutely loved every cruise we've taken.  I didn't find that the service differed much.  We had excellent service on both lines.  The rooms are a bit smaller on RCI, but they're also less expensive most of the time.  We're an older couple, and have had no problems in any room we've had because of the size.  We usually cruise in a Cat 11 on Disney.  For the same price, we are able to get a larger room on Royal.  We've also done some nice itineraries on both lines--EBPC,  two NYC to Canada, along with the usual EC and WC and 4-nights with Disney; two TA's (one EBTA from San Juan to Southampton UK in 2013 and one WBTA from Southampton UK to Ft. Lauderdale (both were 14 nights), one NYC to Bahamas and back, and one Southampton UK to France and Belgium (4 nights).

We will probably cruise on DCL again sometime--when they get some new itineraries and have reasonable prices.

Beth


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## twopeasonepod

bobbiwoz said:


> hi!  Yes, having fun!  DCL's service is superior, but there are some RCCL staff who match it!  My Starbucks server knew my name after buying once, and says hi every time I pass in the Promonnade!  He always makes me smile!
> 
> We are on DCL's EBTA in 2015 and Royal's Vancouver to Hawaii as well in 2015... I like DCL MUCH more, but RCCL is fine for the money.
> 
> PPS.  We live 15 minutes from Kings Island...if you're heading there this year, how about meeting for dinner?



No way!!!  So awesome!  I love Diamondback and Firehawk!  We are excited to try the new ride, too.  Not sure if we will make it this summer.  But if we do, I'd love to meet up!  DH grew up in KY/WV, so Kings Island is the one he went to more often.  The boys absolutely love Cedar Point, though.  Bigger rides.  And we stay at Great Wolf Lodge haha.  We also went to a Reds game when we were at KI and sat in the front row and were on ESPN haha.

I'm excited to hear that your RCCL/RCI/what am I supposed to call it nowadays? experience had some really awesome CMs.  We loved the Concierge Lounge crew.  They were so so so nice.  And the DJ and bar staff in the club.  

I SOOOOO wish we could do EBTA.  It has Iceland, right?  Love new itineraries.  But alas, can't take the boys out again this school year.  We also will have to compare our Hawaii sailings (although we are going in the opposite direction).  I am super excited for that one.  I love sea days!


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## RVD90277

I have been on 1 Carnival Cruise, 1 RCCL, 1 Princess, and 3 DCL.  My 7th cruise is on DCL.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread (although I may have just missed it when skimming) is that DCL is by far the best if you have kids not only because the ship and activities are catered towards kids but also because the passengers are all expecting kids.

When I was on RCCL with my brother and parents, at about the 3rd day we had a conversation with our dining companions about kids.  I didn't have kids at the time but my brother did and one of the 2 other couples did so they were showing each other pictures of their kids.  The 2nd couple said "oh I'm so glad you didn't bring your kids here.  I told my husband that if there are kids at our table, we need to ask to be re-assigned."  This is the general attitude of many of the passengers...they see kids and immediately make a face and start walking the other way.

On Princess, it was the first cruise that I took with my family and young 2 year old son.  After our early dinner we went to the the big auditorium for the initial welcome from the cruise director.  We were early and got good seats in the front but towards the aisle in case my son gets restless so that I can take him out to the hall easily.  Well, just as the light turns down, a group comes over and sits right in front of us.  During the cruise director's welcome, my son giggled a few times (not during the jokes though) and this older woman in front turns back and says "you should not have kids in here!"

Of course she was wrong as it was a family event but it was also rude for her to come in right before the start of the event and then start complaining that she sat in front of us.

This is typical of cruises that are not on DCL.  After going on DCL I have never taken a non DCL cruise with kids and don't plan to.

My only gripe about DCL is that the ship is dead after about 11pm.  I like to party a bit (at least I used to back in the day) and all of the adult bars and stuff are completely empty and dead.  At 1pm, it's a ghost town on the ship.

I don't care about the lack of a casino since I don't really gamble.


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## michyi

I am so thankful for all of the comments, opinions, and ideas. I am really leaning toward DCL. I figure that if I save my rewards from my Visa for the next 2 years I should be able to take a small chunk out of the payment. Also, my kiddos are only going to be young once. My DH and I work and don't live a "fancy" life, so I don't mind paying extra to make our family vacation magical. I have no doubt that RCL, Carnival, and NCL are awesome... Disney just has a magical element for the kids that the others don't. I'm sure that if we enjoy this cruise, we will use the other lines (as I won't be able to afford DCL time after time) and the kids will want to do more "grown up" activities. I really like RCCL Freedom, NCL Escape, and Carnival Breeze. All beautiful ships. 

I'm thinking the Magic... I like a big water slide, animation classes, cooking classes, etc. 

*****Also, love King's Island. Every couple of years we make the 5 hour journey from Michigan and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge and go to King's Island for a few days. We are way closer to Cedar Point, but really love KI.


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## goofyintoronto

RVD90277 said:


> I don't care about the lack of a casino since I don't really gamble.



Same here. I dont understand the appeal of a casino...for a lot of people, thats a deal breaker. I personally dont care.


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## twopeasonepod

michyi said:


> I am so thankful for all of the comments, opinions, and ideas. I am really leaning toward DCL. I figure that if I save my rewards from my Visa for the next 2 years I should be able to take a small chunk out of the payment. Also, my kiddos are only going to be young once. My DH and I work and don't live a "fancy" life, so I don't mind paying extra to make our family vacation magical. I have no doubt that RCL, Carnival, and NCL are awesome... Disney just has a magical element for the kids that the others don't. I'm sure that if we enjoy this cruise, we will use the other lines (as I won't be able to afford DCL time after time) and the kids will want to do more "grown up" activities. I really like RCCL Freedom, NCL Escape, and Carnival Breeze. All beautiful ships.
> 
> I'm thinking the Magic... I like a big water slide, animation classes, cooking classes, etc.
> 
> *****Also, love King's Island. Every couple of years we make the 5 hour journey from Michigan and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge and go to King's Island for a few days. We are way closer to Cedar Point, but really love KI.



ITA that your kids will only be young once.  You have many years of RCCL ahead of you when they are older, but only a few more DCL preferred years.  My kids aren't into the characters too much (one will stand in line for Pluto, but like once in 14 days haha).  Whatever you choose, it will be better than going to work!

We love the classic ships.  You will love the Aqua Dunk.  And others have told me that the pools are the same size on the big ships with a gazillion more people.  My friend told me she could basically put one leg in the pool during a Dream sailing in Oct.

And you should give CP a try!  The rides are bigger and better than KI, and your kids will love it!  Cincinnati is definitely nicer than Sandusky, though.  But maybe GWL is cheaper because of that?


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## IamTinkerbell

As a newly retired family. Royal has better prices for the cruise. It is their (all cruiselines)  business to get you to spend more. Lots of shopping advertised. Lots of ads on room tv for shore excursions. Nevermind Bingo and other games. Royal lots more to do late at night. Yes! Service on board sometimes pushy to get you to buy drinks etc. VS Disney well first of all the activities run out at midnight. No casino, the service is really a step up on Disney and I have no complaints about Royal Carribean. Just something about the Disney touch to treat you better. I love the rotational dining on Disney but was not bored on Royal in the same dining room. Disney did a better match at finding table mates for us. The entertainment quality is equal. Superior! Disney includes soft drinks in price of cruise. Royal you buy drink package or card. The touch of Disney Characters on board is fun and usually you find adults in line for photos too. I am currently booked on a Disney Cruise in May (fewer children 2 weeks on board school still in session). Shopping today for a Royal Carribean. Keep your Disney and get Royal too. Cruising is what you make it. ENJOY YOURSELF!

The only real plus I have found is Disney has self service laundryrooms and Royal doesn't. So any necessary laundry you pay to have cleaned.


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