# Royal compared to Disney?



## firstwdw

How do the cruise lines compare? We found a lot of drinking, smoking etc on NCL and preferred not having a casino, drink package on Disney. Royal has casinos and drink packages so assuming it will feel more like the NCL cruise? Also, seeing Royal has tons of "attractions" for teens and older kids. Are the lines long for those activities such as flo-rider, water slides, laser tag etc? It does appear from the Compass examples online as there is not as much for families to do as there is on Disney such as animation classes, family game shows, magician workshops etc-Is there enough to do on sea-days on Royal? Debating trying Royal (assuming we would be happier on a newer, larger ship) or just saving up and doing Disney again someday. Also, LOVED the open-air ocean views all around promenade decks on Disney and NCL and the ocean views from restaurants and areas of the ship but hearing that the larger Royal ships are more enclosed and not focused as much on the sea-is that true? Thank you!!!


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## Frozen2014

You mention newer ship.  We were recently on Symphony which has waterslides, laser tag, dry slide, zipline, rock wall, etc, etc.  Although it is the largest ship in the world, lines weren't bad at all (and we went over March break!).  I think there is so much to do, that everyone is spread out.  Loved the ship!  It's very family friendly.  Our kids don't go to the clubs and went spent time together doing things.  From the cruise planner, we joined in the scavenger hunt, saw belly flop contest and some other pool game, there are always things going on. 
For laser tag, you can sign up for a session and then also do drop in.  Our kids did the slides on our Nassau day so no line ups.  Never had a line up at The Abyss (dry slide). 

Harmony also has waterslides and Abyss, Oasis is getting refurbished in Dec with waterslides, dry slide, laser tag and other venue changes.  Allure is getting refurbished after that (details to come).   I highly recommend these ships.  (Or Mariner, Independence or Navigator if you want shorter sailing or diff itinerary). 

Yes you can buy drink packages but we saw no issues with drinking.  Probably just avoid a 3 day weekend cruise though to make sure. 

These ships too are amazing for entertainment (broadway show, aqua show, ice skating show, + another production show, comedy show, etc) and tons of great food options...included or extra.  Plus the Oasis class (Symphony, Harmony, Oasis and Allure) have neighborhoods which are unique and fun to walk around in)

The newer ships aren't as open as the older smaller ships but you can still see the water.


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## starvenger

So I like Royal more than Disney, so while I try to be balanced, take everything with a grain of salt here. 

I'm not certain what an NCL cruise "feels" like, but the longer Royal cruises should at its  core remind you of DCL (minus the Disney stuff, but you already know that). And the longer cruises should see less drunk people stumbling around given the prices for a drink package ($18/day mistakes excluded). Casinos can be avoided, the smoke from them at times cannot be. 

For activities I haven't experienced anything on Royal as long as the wait for Aquaduck. The funnel slide can be long though. 

I haven't done enough family activities on board to let you know about them in Royal. That is in part due to the fact that - and I can't stress this enough - the kids can use the pools on board. They like Adventure Ocean, but we will see if that changes as one goes to the teen club and AO shifts to more of an Oceaneers setup (minus the 3-5yos).


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## starvenger

Oasis class ships have a running track similar to DCL, so you can get some relaxing (and shaded) views from there. Bonus - it's close to the promenade so drinks (free and not free) and pizza are close by. There is some inward focus on the larger ships, it's true, but I feel like it's because there is interior space that can be focused on. I'm not sure there is any less outward focus vs DCL - just a larger overall percentage.


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## msjprincess

The outdoor promenade deck on Freedom class ships circles the whole ship and is usually empty.


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## DizneyNutz

firstwdw said:


> How do the cruise lines compare? We found a lot of drinking, smoking etc on NCL and preferred not having a casino, drink package on Disney. Royal has casinos and drink packages so assuming it will feel more like the NCL cruise? Also, seeing Royal has tons of "attractions" for teens and older kids. Are the lines long for those activities such as flo-rider, water slides, laser tag etc? It does appear from the Compass examples online as there is not as much for families to do as there is on Disney such as animation classes, family game shows, magician workshops etc-Is there enough to do on sea-days on Royal? Debating trying Royal (assuming we would be happier on a newer, larger ship) or just saving up and doing Disney again someday. Also, LOVED the open-air ocean views all around promenade decks on Disney and NCL and the ocean views from restaurants and areas of the ship but hearing that the larger Royal ships are more enclosed and not focused as much on the sea-is that true? Thank you!!!



We were Disney DVC Members for a while and had 20+ trips to WDW. We decided to try cruising with a short Carnival cruise and it was exactly like your NCL experience. The wife said she would never cruise again. I convinced her to try a Disney Cruise and she was hooked. We cruised 8 Disney Cruises and they just kept getting more and more expensive for the same ole stuff over and over. We decided to try RCL when they moved the Oasis to Port Canaveral and we have never looked back. We have sailed 41 nights with RCL and have 18 more booked. We love the ships with neighborhoods most because we can get and interior balcony overlooking Central Park. There is so much to do and a lot more free places to grab a bite than on Disney. The Disney ships don't really have a true Promenade IMO. They have a lobby with halls leading to three shops or back to the entertainment section. Google a walkthrough video of a ship like the Harmony and you will see why I feel this way. We just completed an 11 Night Cruise with 2 other couples from Hawaii to British Columbia for the price of a 5 night Disney Cruise around the Bahamas. We are getting ready to sail a 7 night Eastern Caribbean with 2 others and we have 6 different shows booked. Combination of (Aqua, Ice, Broadway Stage, Adult Comedy, Etc.) You should give them a try in our opinion. You may find that you can go more often and even feel like you are getting a lot more for your money. Check out this video of RCL's private island. Castaway Cay doesn't begin to compare. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/category/category/perfect-day-cococay


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## ScooterScott44

Overall, they are very similar.  DCL wins on a few point and really has a more classic feel while RCCL wins on others.  We find that we are probably not going to be doing many more cruises on DCL and likely will transition to Royal, since we finished our second one just over a month ago.  

Royal seems to have more activities, for all ages.  Kids clubs a little more focused but it does have the late night charges.  The food in MDRs are similar, but the bigger ships beat Disney easily with specialty dining.  Shows are similar but Disney gets the edge here, but most of the shows don’t change much.  Casinos are easy enough to avoid and if you really want to look out on the water the upper decks and so many balcony rooms make it pretty easy.  The solarium is also a pretty unique space.


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## nancy drew

It is tough to compare "Royal" to DCL because they have a MUCH bigger fleet, newer ships, and more to offer to a wider variety of people. We have sailed on DCL twice and Royal once. I do not feel DCL is worth the insane upcharge. 

*The shows on Royal are far better than anything Disney has to offer. 
*We had great and not so great service on both. 
*Crowds were way worse on DCL even though we were on a bigger ship on Royal. 
*Food was fairly equal but Royal's specialty dining is much better than DCL's.
*Royal visits SO many more places than DCL, I would be bored visiting the same places over and over. 
*The Solarium is far better than the "adults only" area on DCL that has a constant parade of kids walking through. Plus it has an amazing view of the ocean, unlike the adult area on DCL.
*We can take 2+ Royal cruises for the cost of 1 DCL cruise.

I reviewed our Royal cruise and the link is in my sig, if you want to check it out. Our next cruise is on Royal. The only way I will sail on DCL again is if there is a steeply discounted rate on a sailing that goes somewhere interesting.


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## starvenger

The way I see it DCL puts a premium value on the ships and Castaway Cay so ports (or at least Caribbean ports) are not as important a focus. Nothing wrong with that. 

The Oasis class is deceptive with its size. You'd think that larger ship + more people = more crowds, but it's basically the equivalent of having 1.5 times as many people in a space that's 1.5 times larger, so everything is spread out about the same.


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## Mousefan mom

This is very interesting to read.  We went on our very first cruise--Disney Dream this spring.  While I loved it, I found the family areas so jam packed, it was suffocating for me (i.e. the pools my kids were allowed to swim in, and as much as I wanted to do the Aquaduck with them, I couldn't bear the crowds and lines).  I enjoyed the adult areas, but this meant the kids had to be in the childcare (during times our 10 year old preferred not to be we found ourselves at a bit of a lull).  My teen did enjoy all the funnel vision movies that played on Disney--and the movie theater.  Does Royal have those?


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## starvenger

Some of the ships show movies on the pool deck. 

On Oasis class ships they'll show movies outdoors at the Aqua Theatre.


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## wdwfan

I used to be so loyal to DCL until I got priced out.  So, we decided to try Royal, and I'm very pleased to say that we've never looked back.  After 3 Royal cruises, and a fourth one booked for next summer, we're hooked on the value, the entertainment, essentially everything a Royal Caribbean cruise has to offer.


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## msjprincess

starvenger said:


> Some of the ships show movies on the pool deck.
> 
> On Oasis class ships they'll show movies outdoors at the Aqua Theatre.


On Allure last year they also showed movies in the Amber Theater during the day.


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## firstwdw

Lots of good advice. Thanks everyone! So, in comparing (which I know is hard since they are different experiences) would you say the 4 largest RC ships are most comparable to Disney (oasis, allure, harmony and symphony)? I know Royal has some older ships and I don't want to be disappointed with a ship in need of updating/maintenance or with very little to do. I am hesitant to try something else other than DCL since if it's a flop that is money that could have gone towards DCL but on the other hand.....DCL is so very pricey.


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## Magical2017

firstwdw said:


> Lots of good advice. Thanks everyone! So, in comparing (which I know is hard since they are different experiences) would you say the 4 largest RC ships are most comparable to Disney (oasis, allure, harmony and symphony)? I know Royal has some older ships and I don't want to be disappointed with a ship in need of updating/maintenance or with very little to do. I am hesitant to try something else other than DCL since if it's a flop that is money that could have gone towards DCL but on the other hand.....DCL is so very pricey.



Some older ships are being refurbished, as well as a few of the Oasis class ships (Allure and Oasis)so they may feel "newer." We booked an Oasis class for our upcoming cruise. Depending on when you are cruising, Royal also has some brand new ships scheduled to sail in the next few years. I like to Google walk-through videos. It is how we chose Allure.

As far as booking a different line, I completely get booking what you are comfortable with since it is an investment. I am not loyal to any line right now, and definitely want to book several different lines. I'd say to keep doing your research with a variety of cruise lines.


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## starvenger

msjprincess said:


> On Allure last year they also showed movies in the Amber Theater during the day.


True but they (pp) were asking about Funnel Vision so I presumed that they weren't curious about the indoor movies. 



firstwdw said:


> Lots of good advice. Thanks everyone! So, in comparing (which I know is hard since they are different experiences) would you say the 4 largest RC ships are most comparable to Disney (oasis, allure, harmony and symphony)? I know Royal has some older ships and I don't want to be disappointed with a ship in need of updating/maintenance or with very little to do. I am hesitant to try something else other than DCL since if it's a flop that is money that could have gone towards DCL but on the other hand.....DCL is so very pricey.


I'm going on Independence next Jan. It was recently updated and in terms of size is probably comparable to the larger 2 DCL ships. In terms of on board stuff... tbd. 

With the bigger ships, people love them, and people also do not love them. You won't hate it - it's still a cruise after all - but you'll only know which category you fall into after doing a cruise. And I get it - there's a bit of fear of the unknown - but you can't look at cruises through that kind of lens. You'll enjoy yourself. The question, really, is whether you'll enjoy more or less than your DCL cruise.


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## John VN

wdwfan said:


> I used to be so loyal to DCL until *I got priced out*.  So, we decided to try Royal, and I'm very pleased to say that we've never looked back.  After 3 Royal cruises, and a fourth one booked for next summer, we're hooked on the value, the entertainment, essentially everything a Royal Caribbean cruise has to offer.



Pricing has us switching also.  *"B4B"*   i.e.-- Bang 4 Buck  has become our mantra.  We are even trying other lines.



Mousefan mom said:


> This is very interesting to read.  We went on our very first cruise--Disney Dream this spring.  While I loved it, I found the family areas so jam packed, *it was suffocating for me* (i.e. the pools my kids were allowed to swim in, and as much as I wanted to do the Aquaduck with them, I couldn't bear the crowds and lines).  I enjoyed the adult areas, but this meant the kids had to be in the childcare (during times our 10 year old preferred not to be we found ourselves at a bit of a lull).  My teen did enjoy all the funnel vision movies that played on Disney--and the movie theater.  Does Royal have those?



*suffocating* is how we felt at DL compared to WDW and I guess that is one of the reasons we like Oasis.  Size Matters when lots of cruisers on board.


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## Frozen2014

firstwdw said:


> Lots of good advice. Thanks everyone! So, in comparing (which I know is hard since they are different experiences) would you say the 4 largest RC ships are most comparable to Disney (oasis, allure, harmony and symphony)? I know Royal has some older ships and I don't want to be disappointed with a ship in need of updating/maintenance or with very little to do. I am hesitant to try something else other than DCL since if it's a flop that is money that could have gone towards DCL but on the other hand.....DCL is so very pricey.


I would pick based on amenities.  Symphony and Harmony have waterslides, dry slide, which are also being added to Oasis (Dec) and Allure (following year).  These ships are also the best when it comes to shows and food options. All 4 have rock wall, zipline and Boardwalk which is lots of fun.  Symphony also has laser tag (and its being added to Oasis - not sure about Allure).  They also have a parade in the promenade and other fun stuff.  They also have more pools and although more people, everyone is spread out so it doesn't feel as crowded.

Mariner, Independence have been refurbished to also add the perfect storm waterslides and Sky Pad.  Navigator has different waterslides...more like the Disney ones.  They look like tons of fun .  (Going in august so can't comment yet from personal experience).

I would avoid the smaller ships if coming with kids as they won't have the extra amenities.

They all have kids clubs (which I can't comment on as our kids didnt go) and a daily cruise planner with fun activities for all.


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## ScooterScott44

firstwdw said:


> So, in comparing (which I know is hard since they are different experiences) would you say the 4 largest RC ships are most comparable to Disney (oasis, allure, harmony and symphony)?


Not really, the Oasis Class (Oasis, Allure, Symphony, Harmony) and Quantum Class (Anthem, Ovation, Quantum) are really bigger, newer and don’t really match up well to any of the Disney ships.  You have to drop back to a couple other tiers to get a better comparison.  The Radiance Class is probably the best comparison to DCL classics (Magic and Wonder) but it is just a little bigger.  The Voyager Class is just a little bigger than the Dream class and the Freedom Class is even a littler larger but both of those are the closest.  

Many of the ships that are closer to Disney sized are a little older but like Disney they do regular dry docks so are pretty well maintained.  Also some of those have been through major overhauls which Royal calls “Amped”.  We were on Oasis not too long ago and it is in for major dry dock soon.  We did not think it appeared as old or dated as she is.  If you do choose one of the older ships try for one that has already been amped for the latest and greatest.


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## GeneralTso

We are so excited to sail on Harmony of the Seas! We booked an Owners Suite with Concierge service for 1/3 of the price of our DCL verandah (deck 9/midship) room.
I'm open to it being very different. We love Disney but know there's a bigger world out there!


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## Clam Chowder

We cruised the Disney Fantasy in Jan of this year. It was our 2nd Disney cruise. (the other was the Magic in 2017). I can honestly say I was disappointed. The room was great, nice balcony, and the ship was spotless. The food was aweful. There was not 1 item i can say I wanted to try again. For a cruise geared towards kids, they only have 1 water slide the Aqua Duck and the line was crazy. The Magic cruise had a Tangled show and it was great. This cruise had teen type shows and it wasn't fun at all. If we didnt pay what we did for Disney maybe I would have liked it more... But when you do pay that much you have expectations.
We just booked the Oasis for may 2020. I'm bringing my parents for an anniversary gift. 4 adults 2 kids 2 rooms. was a little over 6 thousand dollars. On the Disney Cruise almost the same ports of call was 13 thousand dollars. Disney has out priced themselves. We're back to Royal.


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## starvenger

GeneralTso said:


> We are so excited to sail on Harmony of the Seas! We booked an Owners Suite with Concierge service for 1/3 of the price of our DCL verandah (deck 9/midship) room.
> I'm open to it being very different. We love Disney but know there's a bigger world out there!


I'm not sure if you were booking like for like wrt dates, ports etc but that seems to be a really good deal. I'm jealous.


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## PopMom

We are long time DVC members and were loyal die hard Platinum cruisers on DCL but our last cruise with Disney was about 5 years ago.  It just got too expensive for us.  Our travel agent suggested that we try RC and we've never looked back.  We've now done 5 seven night sailings and can book 2 balcony cabins side by side (one for us and one for DS and DD now 19 and 21) for the same price as one cabin on DCL.  

I do miss the split bathrooms of DCL and in our experience the MDR food was better on DCL but RC specialty restaurants are excellent.  In addition to the more reasonable price, we enjoy the beautiful ships, the common areas, drink packages (we've seen no problems with people being drunk or out of hand), the promenade area is nice and we've had very good service.  We do go to the casino one night for a short amount of time just for fun but we don't like the smoke.  Overall, we are RC fans and have found that the ships are very family friendly.  We probably won't go back on DCL unless the prices come down substantially.  We love DCL but with the high prices and limited itineraries we'll stick with RC.  

Because we are big Disney fans we've tended to like the shows on DCL a little better than RC but the quality of shows on RC is very good.  

I'd recommend looking at ship amenities and videos of walk throughs to choose a ship.  We like the Oasis class ships because of all the activities for the kids and the Central Park and Boardwalk areas.  

Good luck choosing.  You really can't go wrong either way!


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## Doodlebug65

Mousefan mom said:


> This is very interesting to read.  We went on our very first cruise--Disney Dream this spring.  While I loved it, I found the family areas so jam packed, it was suffocating for me (i.e. the pools my kids were allowed to swim in, and as much as I wanted to do the Aquaduck with them, I couldn't bear the crowds and lines).  I enjoyed the adult areas, but this meant the kids had to be in the childcare (during times our 10 year old preferred not to be we found ourselves at a bit of a lull).  My teen did enjoy all the funnel vision movies that played on Disney--and the movie theater.  Does Royal have those?


In my opinion, cruising the 3 or 4-night cruises on the Disney Dream is a far different experience than the 5+ night cruises on the other ships.  The Dream is as Mousefan mom describes - crowded everywhere. It may be a cost factor, but it always seems like there are considerably more people - particularly kids - on those shorter Dream cruises. I think the larger families may opt for those cruises and , of course, school holidays have an impact, too.  Bottom line, if you can swing it financially, you may want to try a 7-night on the Fantasy (or similar). I think you'll find it feels much different than the Dream even though the Fantasy is its sister ship. I've been on each of Disney's four ships multiple times (have cruised DCL almost 20 times) on both shorter and longer cruises.  That said, I'm trying RCI for the first time in a little over month -- keeping an open mind.


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## Kirbo

We took five DCL trips with our kids and loved every one. We did two Mexican Riviera cruises (and they were KSF), one EBTA, one WBPC, and one Med cruise. We adore DCL (and aren't even Disney people, we've never been to WDW or taken the kids to DL).

But we got priced out.

So my husband and I did a super cheap RCI without the kids to try it. It was an eight night Pacific Coast cruise on the Explorer. It was dirt cheap. My husband and I weren't impressed with the service and didn't go to any shows, but we had a complete blast because it was an eight night date for us and we were on a cruise. We made a reservation for taking the kids on the Liberty.

We did the math and one inside room for the four of us on one of the older DCL boats, same week, same departure port (Galveston) would be $9000 on DCL. We got two connecting rooms (interiors with views of the promenade) on the Liberty of the Seas for $3100. Some wonderful friends we met on DCL joined us on that cruise and got a balcony room across from us.

It was a fabulous time.

We felt the shows were better on DCL. The food was a wash. The pool deck was definitely better on RCI. I think the CMs on DCL seem happier, but the crew on the Liberty were fine, just not particularly magical. The boat was in good shape, not as classy as DCL, but still very nice. Our kids never liked the kids' club on DCL and didn't go on RCI, so I can't speak to those. We did the same family cruise this year as our first one with the kids last year and we've also scheduled one for 2021. We love walking the outer deck (it might be deck four, but I can't remember for sure) after dinner each night. I can't do sun and there was always good options for me to sit in the shade on the pool deck. The kids LOVED the slides and skating. Oh, the ice skating show was terrific. The Liberty also has Saturday Night Fever and we thought it was awful and not at all family friendly (um, a rape and a suicide? no thanks). The other shows were fine. We have seen the Disney shows a ton of times and never get bored of them, we loved those best.

If we were made of money and our kids could go any time of year (which they no longer can), we would continue with repositioning cruises on DCL. But money isn't growing on our trees and we can only travel during the kids' vacation times now, so we're sticking with Royal and we're totally happy with it. DCL would be three times as much for a single room as we pay for two connecting rooms on RCI. That's huge for us. Yeah, we do like DCL better, but not three times better. We love cruising and it's such a great way for us to have forced family fun so we are sticking with Royal as we can cruise most years.

We don't drink or gamble, so I can't speak to those things. We've never done a drink package of any kind and getting free drinks on Royal wasn't a problem for us (we're not soda people so we just got lemonade, iced tea, and coffee).


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## FLVacationGirl

I did 2 Disney cruises (Dream and Magic) and then sailed with Royal (Allure) and didn't miss Disney at all! We had an amazing time with both cruise lines but the price was way better with Royal. Use the savings to get an outside balcony room if you are worried about not seeing water from the public areas.


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## YoDisney

this is all very interesting to read as I am looking into trying the oasis class ships on RCI--it is much better value compared to DCL but I am worried about the crowds esp in common dining areas. CruiseCritic member reviews are a mixed bag. Looking at the Allure of the sea reviews, some were happy & others were not happy but it overall got 4/5 member rating. We've generally been very happy w/DCL service & food..entertainment is good too & we do love to catch up on recent movies at the theaters on DCL ships. 

currently priced:
-DCL may 2020 7 night Mediterranean cruise for 3 adults (1 balcony room)= $7.7K
-RCI oct 2020 7 night mediterranean cruise, 3 adults in 2 separate ocean balcony rooms=$5.5K or 2 bedroom grand suite for $7.7k


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## Frozen2014

Cruise critic can be harsh so take it with a grain of salt.  Allure is amazing from shows to food options to service to amenities to unique neighborhoods.  If you want things like slides then go in Harmony or Symphony (or Oasis after Dec or Allure following year) but you can't go wrong with Allure.


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## Frozen2014

P.S. the ships are large but they are also spread out so they are fine with crowds. I've been on Allure and Symphony .


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## Kirbo

YoDisney said:


> this is all very interesting to read as I am looking into trying the oasis class ships on RCI--it is much better value compared to DCL but I am worried about the crowds esp in common dining areas. CruiseCritic member reviews are a mixed bag. Looking at the Allure of the sea reviews, some were happy & others were not happy but it overall got 4/5 member rating. We've generally been very happy w/DCL service & food..entertainment is good too & we do love to catch up on recent movies at the theaters on DCL ships.
> 
> currently priced:
> -DCL may 2020 7 night Mediterranean cruise for 3 adults (1 balcony room)= $7.7K
> -RCI oct 2020 7 night mediterranean cruise, 3 adults in 2 separate ocean balcony rooms=$5.5K or 2 bedroom grand suite for $7.7k


Have you done a Med cruise before? It is so port intensive. When we did the Magic for the Med in 2013 we were barely on the boat and when we were, it felt so over crowded (and we've done two Mexican Riviera cruises with DCL that were KSF, so we know crowds). We were in port so long most days that we didn't make our dinners and we missed all the shows (we'd just done the transatlantic, so missing the shows wasn't a big deal). I felt that the premium we paid for that cruise might not have been worth it. (We had a family tragedy occur while on that cruise and honestly, Disney went above and beyond in a way that I doubt any other cruise line would have done, so it was ultimately worth it to us, but even still, it was a lot of money for what was mostly a place to sleep).

We LOVED our Disney cruises. But they are just so expensive now and we've found that RCI is really lovely. There are definitely a few things missing, my biggest complaint is that dishes get left all over and that would never happen on DCL, I've seen officers picking up random dishes to put them away!, but overall, the food was terrific, the venues lovely, the crew just fine, and the pool deck was the best. Our teens loved the pool deck.

ETA our last two cruises were for our kids' spring break and we never felt overcrowded on the Liberty.


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## starvenger

Yeah I think with Med cruises it might be better to get a smaller ship with less activities. There the appeal is the ports more than the ship itself. To an extent, anyway. If it were just about the ports EasyCruise would've survived.


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## YoDisney

Kirbo said:


> Have you done a Med cruise before? It is so port intensive. When we did the Magic for the Med in 2013 we were barely on the boat and when we were, it felt so over crowded (and we've done two Mexican Riviera cruises with DCL that were KSF, so we know crowds). We were in port so long most days that we didn't make our dinners and we missed all the shows (we'd just done the transatlantic, so missing the shows wasn't a big deal). I felt that the premium we paid for that cruise might not have been worth it. (We had a family tragedy occur while on that cruise and honestly, Disney went above and beyond in a way that I doubt any other cruise line would have done, so it was ultimately worth it to us, but even still, it was a lot of money for what was mostly a place to sleep).
> 
> We LOVED our Disney cruises. But they are just so expensive now and we've found that RCI is really lovely. There are definitely a few things missing, my biggest complaint is that dishes get left all over and that would never happen on DCL, I've seen officers picking up random dishes to put them away!, but overall, the food was terrific, the venues lovely, the crew just fine, and the pool deck was the best. Our teens loved the pool deck.
> 
> ETA our last two cruises were for our kids' spring break and we never felt overcrowded on the Liberty.



We’ve never done med cruise before & am concerned about just a 7night cruise on Allure given that the ship itself has so much to see/do already vs smaller disney ship but the price for disney med cruise is $2k more expensive & 3 adults crammed into 1 room. If it were up to me, i’d still pick disney all the way as i truly think it’s a relaxing vacation IMO bc there’s a good medium of activities/shows (although repetitive) & down time (naps/vegging out in the room). But my parents are interested in europe itinerary on a ship that has a lot to do & a good variety of ages all around (their recent cruise on princess to south america was heavy with seniors so they felt bored). Seems like RCI may fill that role. I probably would have to re-do Mediterranean itinerary on DCL another day to compare


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## YoDisney

Sorry Kirbo but what’s KSF?

@starvenger-i agree that med cruise itineraries are prob better on smaller ships such as DCL but hard to convince my dad to join us on DCL (price point). He’s not disney fan unlike the ladies in the house. Sigh...i’d like to do a comparison one day.


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## starvenger

KSF = Kids Sail Free

I'd agree that DCL-size ships are ideal for the Mediterranean. DCL *prices*... not so much, but fortunately you can find other cruise lines to sail, and not just DCL or Royal.


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## Kirbo

Thanks for answering, starvenger. Yes, KSF is kids sail free. It makes for very busy ships. But on the Mexican Riviera cruises we took, they didn't feel too crowded. The Med, however, on DCL felt VERY crowded (and was not KSF). We were shocked by it. We spent so little time on the boat and didn't really get to enjoy any of the Disney things, so for us, the premium we paid to do the Med on DCL was not worth it. We spent a ton for what was mostly a floating place to sleep. If we did the Med again, we would just chose a boat based on price. I think if you're in two rooms on Royal, for a lot less money than on DCL, you'll do great. 

We've done five cruises with DCL and the Med was the one that wasn't worth it for us. It was too crowded and we just didn't have any time to enjoy the boat's amenities. 

A longer cruise with more sea days, DCL is totally worth it (though out of our price range now).


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## nancy drew

YoDisney said:


> this is all very interesting to read as I am looking into trying the oasis class ships on RCI--it is much better value compared to DCL but I am worried about the crowds esp in common dining areas. CruiseCritic member reviews are a mixed bag. Looking at the Allure of the sea reviews, some were happy & others were not happy but it overall got 4/5 member rating. We've generally been very happy w/DCL service & food..entertainment is good too & we do love to catch up on recent movies at the theaters on DCL ships.
> 
> currently priced:
> -DCL may 2020 7 night Mediterranean cruise for 3 adults (1 balcony room)= $7.7K
> -RCI oct 2020 7 night mediterranean cruise, 3 adults in 2 separate ocean balcony rooms=$5.5K or 2 bedroom grand suite for $7.7k



We sailed on Symphony and never felt like it was crowded anywhere. DCL felt MUCH more crowded, especially the pool deck. Sorry but for a "family-friendly" cruise line DCL really missed the mark with pool space. I also found the shows to be far better on RC. For one thing, there are more types of show instead of just stage shows night after night. You have the ice show (x2), the aqua show (x2), the stage show (x2), the comedy show... DCL just has stage show after stage show. I just found that RC had much more to offer, at least on Oasis Class. 

I haven't done a Med (yet!) but we did sail an Alaskan itinerary and I chose a cruise line solely for the itinerary and sort of for the ship. We sailed on HAL and it is still my kids' favorite cruise, ever. There weren't a whole lot of activities but the kids' clubs were amazing, and I found my quiet spot to chill at night, and we were all so happy. On a port-heavy cruise, activities don't really matter. You're out all day, then in bed early because you are exhausted and you have to get up early to do it all again the next day. You are going to be spending $$$$ on excursions, so save the money on the cruise fare and get the best itinerary and space for sleeping because that is the priority on a port-heavy cruise. I would 100% get the 2 separate balcony rooms for $5.5K and spend the extra on awesome excursions. You can probably get a private tour in each port for the savings over DCL!


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## starvenger

As I mentioned before a smaller ship with less amenities is probably ideal for a Med cruise, but you could also consider a bus tour to get a "sample" of various cities in Europe. Yes, you will have to deal with mornings of travel and such but you'll get dropped into the heart of the city and have opportunities to better set your own agenda. I'd probably still choose the cruise but I wouldn't discount that option. 

Still, I think the best option is to get an Airbnb and spend 4-7 days just "living" in a city. There is something about Europe that makes doing this really wonderful. My neighbour actually just spent 3 weeks doing that in London, Nice, Vienna and Amsterdam.


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## pezgirlroy

We just got off of the Freedom of the Seas last week. It was just my husband and I. 7 Nights from San Juan and going to Aruba, bonnaire, Curaco and St. Maarten.  We have been on the Fantasy and the Magic with kids (concierge both times). We will be on the Fantasy again in April.  We had a wonderful time on the Freedom.  I cannot speak to how it would be with kids.  The kids clubs looked a bit small but that was just from the windows.  For adults it was great.  The atmosphere was wonderful.  It is a bit different when you leave from San Juan but we loved it.  The ship needed a bit of an update (going into dry dock in January).  The balcony room was nice (except I didn't like the tube type shower).  The service and staff were great.  We had one bartender that I didn't like much but generally I thought the staff was really good.  We actually liked the food better on Royal than on Disney.  The shows are different. Honestly if you go in with the right attitude they are fun.  The one stage show was the weirdest thing I have ever seen but I enjoyed it because it was so odd. The ice show was great.  I will say we were docked next to the Fantasy in Aruba and stared at her lovingly.   We had a great time on the Freedom and would def. do Royal again.


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## richmo

We started out with two DCL cruises (Bahamas and Alaska) and loved both. Then we did a 3 nighter out of Miami on Royal (Majesty OTS) for a family event and hated it. Crowded room; booze cruise; observed an almost fight getting to the tender for CocoCay.  I'd have loved to go back to DCL, but they really priced us out. So we tried Royal again. A 4 nighter out of Miami (Enchantment OTS - Key West, Nassau, CocoCay), a 7 nighter out of Bayonne, NJ (Adventure OTS - Port Canaveral, Nassau, CocoCay) and a 6 nighter out of Bayonne (Adventure OTS again - Bar Harbor, Saint John, Halifax) and we're doing a 5 nighter shortly on Anthem OTS to Bermuda from Bayonne.  Loved all of those and didn't experience any of the issues we had on that 3 nighter.  I've since heard its just not a good idea to do 3 night cruises, although I imagine Disney would be fine.

Overall, I think I'm enjoying RCCL just about as much as DCL. The shows are not quite as good - although I'm really looking forward to the 'We Will Rock You' Queen themed show coming up on Anthem, the food is decent, a port is a port, the rooms are quite nice, beds comfortable. We switched when we found that a balcony on Royal was just over half of what an interior would be on Disney for a similar cruise.

I hope to get back to DCL for a special treat sometime, but we've been really happy with Royal.  Just no 3 nighters...


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## Denise W

richmo said:


> We started out with two DCL cruises (Bahamas and Alaska) and loved both. Then we did a 3 nighter out of Miami on Royal (Majesty OTS) for a family event and hated it. Crowded room; booze cruise; observed an almost fight getting to the tender for CocoCay.  I'd have loved to go back to DCL, but they really priced us out. So we tried Royal again. A 4 nighter out of Miami (Enchantment OTS - Key West, Nassau, CocoCay), a 7 nighter out of Bayonne, NJ (Adventure OTS - Port Canaveral, Nassau, CocoCay) and a 6 nighter out of Bayonne (Adventure OTS again - Bar Harbor, Saint John, Halifax) and we're doing a 5 nighter shortly on Anthem OTS to Bermuda from Bayonne.  Loved all of those and didn't experience any of the issues we had on that 3 nighter.  I've since heard its just not a good idea to do 3 night cruises, although I imagine Disney would be fine.
> 
> Overall, I think I'm enjoying RCCL just about as much as DCL. The shows are not quite as good - although I'm really looking forward to the 'We Will Rock You' Queen themed show coming up on Anthem, the food is decent, a port is a port, the rooms are quite nice, beds comfortable. We switched when we found that a balcony on Royal was just over half of what an interior would be on Disney for a similar cruise.
> 
> I hope to get back to DCL for a special treat sometime, but we've been really happy with Royal.  Just no 3 nighters...


We got off our third Anthem cruise a few weeks ago, our 4th is next January. We love We Will Rock You. We also like Spectra’s Cabaret. The Gift was ok but I don’t need to see it again. All the musical groups were great.
Denise


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## richmo

Denise W said:


> We got off our third Anthem cruise a few weeks ago, our 4th is next January. We love We Will Rock You. We also like Spectra’s Cabaret. The Gift was ok but I don’t need to see it again. All the musical groups were great.
> Denise



I'm hearing the same thing about The Gift. We've scheduled all three of the shows you mentioned and had to shuffle The Gift to 10 PM on embarkation night since a slot opened up for Ripcord/iFly.  If we're too tired to go, I won't sweat it. Haven't had any luck getting a North Star slot prior to the cruise. Do you know if anyone has had any luck scheduling that onboard?


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## DizneyNutz

richmo said:


> I'm hearing the same thing about The Gift. We've scheduled all three of the shows you mentioned and had to shuffle The Gift to 10 PM on embarkation night since a slot opened up for Ripcord/iFly.  If we're too tired to go, I won't sweat it. Haven't had any luck getting a North Star slot prior to the cruise. Do you know if anyone has had any luck scheduling that onboard?


Not sure about booking once onboard, but we have actually had luck waiting at the bar where they load and getting on as walk ons. (more than once)


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## lynch34

RCL is better and less expensive.  Hard combo to top.


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## 2-pointdoe

We have been on 2 disney cruises - 7 day western caribbean and a 14 day panama canal. We just got done with our first RCL (ovation) to alasaka (8day).

What was loved: the price of course, the food, the pools and the adult area and it did not fill crowded most of the time

What was hated: the kids stuff
the 9-11 club was pretty much and empty room and some kids would act up and everyone would have go just sit. There was really nothing for them to do and there were no decorations or anything basically a big empty room. nothing creative to do. The science events offered sounded promising but were a 10 to 15 minute procedure. It was also open sporadically. The bumper cars, roller skating, climbing wall and stuff were opened very short hours and there would be 100 people lined up 45 minute before it opened. Trapeze school (girls did get in) was open 1 time and accepted 15 people, there were over 1000 kids on the ship. We gave up waiting in line for the activities because it took way to long.
The shows - well I don't really know as there were never any descriptions just something saying a time, persons name and which venue, no description of what the show might be about. We found out one was a juggling magician after the fact, my daughter would have loved that.
The check in - this was a new ship for us and we had a hard time finding out where to get lunch and when to check in to the kids clubs etc.
Excursion staff - both excursions we had scheduled, when we got of the ship and asked where we were supposed to meet, we were told the wrong place and different places depending on who you asked. (all RCL excursion staff)
Library - it had books but was part of the 270 club so usually super noisy especially if they had something going on. My dad wanted a quiet place to read outside of the cabin

I think we are a 1 and done for RCL and will try another cruise line. It just does not seem to be the right fit for us. My daughter does not need to be entertained constantly but does want a place to go, hang out, maybe do a craft or play a game (not video) and be around some other kids for part of the trip. She really wanted to do the bumper cars but after 1 hour in line and another 1 hour to go (which was going to be near the ending time) said forget it. Every time after that when we looked, the line always huge.


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## John VN

On our 2 Oasis cruises it never felt like 5,000+ people with 2,000+ crew were along for the cruise. Our Crown Loft was awesome and cost was 1/2 of a 1BR Concierge on Dream.   Will be trying MSC Yacht Club later this year and next year where RCL can't touch the prices.  Also have an Oceania this year for something entirely different with only 684 passengers and 400 crew.

Sadly we're *DWD* on water but not *WDW* on land.  

*D*one *W*ith *D*isney ....  but not  *W*alt *D*isney *W*orld ....


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## suedon70

Just wanted to add my two cents - I have sailed on two Royal cruises in the past but both were 14+ years ago on the now retired Sovereign of the Seas.  Since 2014 we have sailed almost exclusively on Disney (7 cruises with 3 additional booked, including a 7-night leaving in 3 weeks). We love Disney but I'm getting a little burned-out on the menus, activities, etc., so I decided to book a quick 3-night cruise on the Mariner for this December for my daughter and I. 

These RCCL forums here on Disboards have been very helpful! I honestly can't wait to try it out and see if Royal is a good fit for us.  I'm just excited about the slides, rock wall, variety of specialty restaurants plus Coco Cay.


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## starvenger

Bear in mind that 3 day trips on non-DCL ships can be more (possibly much more) of a "party" atmosphere than what you're used to.


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## suedon70

starvenger said:


> Bear in mind that 3 day trips on non-DCL ships can be more (possibly much more) of a "party" atmosphere than what you're used to.



That's understandable plus no big deal - No little kids - my daughter will be 17 at the time of the cruise and we will avoid those situations the best we can - we really aren't lay out by the pool types anyway (my fair skin prevents me from doing too much of that!).  Question: does RCCL do anything special (decorations, daily events, etc.) around the holidays? We are embarking on December 20.


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## starvenger

My understanding is that they do but I've not been on a Royal cruise close to a holiday/event period so can't give a report on it.


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## traveled

I have sailed on Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess and our last cruise we decided to try Disney because people rave about DCL.  I will never go on another DCL cruise, it was the worst cruise I have been on.  There were lines everywhere. Adult areas were full of kids.  It felt like it was way over crowded and the food was mediocre.  The entertainment and the room were the only thing we enjoyed.


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## pezgirlroy

traveled said:


> I have sailed on Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess and our last cruise we decided to try Disney because people rave about DCL.  I will never go on another DCL cruise, it was the worst cruise I have been on.  There were lines everywhere. Adult areas were full of kids.  It felt like it was way over crowded and the food was mediocre.  The entertainment and the room were the only thing we enjoyed.


I am very curious. What ship were you on and time of year?


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## traveled

pezgirlroy said:


> I am very curious. What ship were you on and time of year?


Disney Wonder October 2018


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## pezgirlroy

traveled said:


> Disney Wonder October 2018


I think the size of the ship makes a bit of a difference. We were on the Fantasy two years ago and the Magic last year. We experience way more lines on the Magic than on the Fantasy.


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## suedon70

pezgirlroy said:


> I think the size of the ship makes a bit of a difference. We were on the Fantasy two years ago and the Magic last year. We experience way more lines on the Magic than on the Fantasy.



I concur with this.  I have not sailed the Wonder or Magic yet but have sailed 7 times on Dream and Magic over the years and aside from the general pool area and Cabanas on embarkation day have never encountered unbearably huge crowds on either ship.  Plus have spent much time in adult areas and kids were never an issue.


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## mevelandry

traveled said:


> Disney Wonder October 2018



Ahhh. Yeah. I've been on the Wonder (after sailing twice on the Dream). It did feel cramped and overcrowded pretty much everywhere except at the adult pool. And on Frozen night, people were running and almost pushing to get seats in the front. Not pleasant.


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## braycon

Our cruises have pretty much been a 50/50 split between RC and Disney (about 7 on each line). When our boys were teenagers, they greatly preferred RC - we were on the larger ships and the activities and additional teenagers (girls) were a big plus to them. We really enjoy RC - will make another voyage on Freedom to the Southern Caribbean beginning Sunday - but if the price were the same, my wife and I would choose Disney Cruise Line.  Our experience has not been that the DCL ships are more crowded than the RC ships.  We enjoy the rotational dining, and have generally preferred Disney’s dining (including the food, not just the experience), characters, ship aesthetics, spa, service level (although both are generally very good) and, despite some other enthusiastic perspectives in this thread, we enjoy the Disney shows more. We also find Castaway Cay superior to RC’s Labadee or Coco Cay (perhaps this changes with the new version of Coco). So, although everyone is entitled to their opinion, I adamantly disagree that RC is flat-out better and certainly not - IMHO - significantly so. 

Having said all that, they definitely are not priced the same, as has been pointed out repeatedly. It’s not even close, and this really can make Disney a tough choice. Disney is welcome to charge whatever they want - and God knows they do - but the expense means we look at other options. The value equation, therefore, is more complex. RC is much more accessible: more ships, more itineraries, and also offers a great vacation. Our 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise was about the same price as a 4-nighter on the Dream. We’ve done Nassau, but never the ABC islands and never San Juan. So, three more nights, balcony stateroom, on a totally new itinerary and a very good ship? Well, we’re excited to be back on RC for this. Now, we also have a reservation for Disney’s Fantasy in 2020, but it’s a 5-night cruise that’s a bit more affordable than that ship’s typical 7-night EC or WC. We are looking forward to that, too, but boy it would be nice to be on a 7-nights. We keep hoping the new ships will drive Disney’s prices down a bit, but nothing really seems to do that. 

We are also planning to do Alaska in the future but, because we are not independently wealthy and unlikely to be future lottery winners, we will probably be sailing Princess or RC. I look at Disney’s Alaska prices, and I just laugh. I love the Wonder, but I’m pretty sure I don’t love it that much.

In short, you can’t go wrong with either cruise line in our opinion. Really great, albeit quite different, experiences. It’s what works for you and your family. I don’t begrudge anyone their opinion on either cruise line, but the short for us is, although we prefer Disney, the Disney ticket price means we’re going to continue to cruise on RC, Princess, and other cruise lines, as well.


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## richmo

braycon said:


> ...
> In short, you can’t go wrong with either cruise line in our opinion. Really great, albeit quite different, experiences. It’s what works for you and your family. I don’t begrudge anyone their opinion on either cruise line, but the short for us is, although we prefer Disney, the Disney ticket price means we’re going to continue to cruise on RC, Princess, and other cruise lines, as well.



I have to agree just about completely with your post. I've been very happy with Disney and with Royal Caribbean. The ships are great, the staff on both are really good, etc. I also agree that if the costs were the same, or even close, I'd go with Disney.  But they're not.  My experience has been that we can go on two Royal cruises on a balcony for about the price of one Disney cruise, interior.  I will give the edge to Disney, but not for double the $, or close to it.


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## Fuzzywuzzy

We loved DCL but decided to try Royal, just to see how it was. It was far better than expected and exceeded DCL in many areas. I doubt we will sail on Disney again unless it's a planned extended family thing. We love cruising and with Royal we can cruise every year instead of every 3 or 4. Or 5. We now have 2 Royal cruises behind us and next year's is already booked. At great vacation dollar value. Bottom line: If you are going to charge over twice as much for something you should at least be twice as good. That they are not.


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## msjprincess

Fuzzywuzzy said:


> If you are going to charge over twice as much for something you should at least be twice as good. That they are not.




My thoughts exactly.


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## John VN

lynch34 said:


> RCL is better and less expensive.  Hard combo to top.



We don't need *better and less expensive*, a simple *good experience AND  less expensive* is fine for our needs.



Fuzzywuzzy said:


> ............. Bottom line: If you are going to charge over twice as much for something you should at least be twice as good. That they are not.





msjprincess said:


> My thoughts exactly.


 
I concur.


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## mevelandry

suedon70 said:


> Just wanted to add my two cents - I have sailed on two Royal cruises in the past but both were 14+ years ago on the now retired Sovereign of the Seas.  Since 2014 we have sailed almost exclusively on Disney (7 cruises with 3 additional booked, including a 7-night leaving in 3 weeks). We love Disney but I'm getting a little burned-out on the menus, activities, etc., so I decided to book a quick 3-night cruise on the Mariner for this December for my daughter and I.
> 
> These RCCL forums here on Disboards have been very helpful! I honestly can't wait to try it out and see if Royal is a good fit for us.  I'm just excited about the slides, rock wall, variety of specialty restaurants plus Coco Cay.





starvenger said:


> Bear in mind that 3 day trips on non-DCL ships can be more (possibly much more) of a "party" atmosphere than what you're used to.



I'm going on three nights on the Mariner (early fall) I can't wait to see how they compare with DCL.


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## Suger Mag

Just finished a 8 day Baltic cruise with RCL. on the Serenade of the Seas.. had only been on DCL (Wonder and Fantasy). I was not disappointed, in fact will def. cruise RCL again. Had a fabulous time, great ship, wonderful crew, and food was way better than on DCL... more international and spicy options in addition to the usual safe options. My children are adult now, and I see very few reasons to head back to DCL in the super near future, maybe if I have grandchildren someday.


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## Doodlebug65

John VN said:


> Pricing has us switching also.  *"B4B"*   i.e.-- Bang 4 Buck  has become our mantra.  We are even trying other lines.
> 
> 
> 
> *suffocating* is how we felt at DL compared to WDW and I guess that is one of the reasons we like Oasis.  Size Matters when lots of cruisers on board.


The pricing discussion aside, if anyone's only DCL experience has been the dream, I encourage them to try a longer cruise on a different ship. The Dream's 4-nite/3-nite rotation seems to attract a lot of families and can seem suffocating.  The other ships with longer itineraries feel much, much different - have all the positives, but are not suffocating.


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## Suger Mag

lynch34 said:


> RCL is better and less expensive.  Hard combo to top.


 OMG I cannot believe the price difference.. the same Baltic cruise on DCL (almost.. one night less on DCL) had the cost for one person in an inside cabin as more than what my husband and I paid for both our fares for a huge aft veranda cabin on Royal C.. For a cruise like the Baltics where the point is the ports, all I need is a sweet ship, good food, and a nice crew.... esp. since the kids are all adults and we have the luxury of being able to get a Disney fix through my DVC membership.


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## starvenger

Doodlebug65 said:


> The pricing discussion aside, if anyone's only DCL experience has been the dream, I encourage them to try a longer cruise on a different ship. The Dream's 4-nite/3-nite rotation seems to attract a lot of families and can seem suffocating.  The other ships with longer itineraries feel much, much different - have all the positives, but are not suffocating.


Have to disagree. Did a 7 night on Fantasy during one of the Hallowe'en cruises and it was jammed. Did not help that it rained a couple of days and everyone was doing the detective agency for lack of anything else to do.


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## nkereina

I'm a novice cruiser and can't compare to DCL, but we loved our cruise on Oasis with RCCL. What we loved most was the dining flexibility - My Time Dining and being able to make reservations for the specialty restaurants at whatever time we wanted was great. I was able to make an itinerary similar to what I do for a WDW trip, which is my preferred method of planning. By having the flexibility to book early/late dinners, I was able to make sure took advantage of our port of call times as well as the evening shows and entertainment we wanted to catch. We did everything we wanted to do because of it, and didn't feel like we missed anything because we had to rush to dinner.

We also loved having our own table in the dining room and specialty restaurants. We don't mind conversing with strangers, but we traveled with extended family that we don't get to see often and wanted to spend our time conversing with just each other. So that was a benefit.

And lastly, it was important to us to stay casual and not have to bring "dressy" clothes. We felt very comfortable in dark jeans/polos (men) and maxi dresses/capris (women) in the dining room. I know that dress code is a hot topic, but from everything I have seen and read, RCCL is generally less formal than DCL. Royal does have two formal nights that we opted to not go to the dining room for, but they are available for anyone who does want that aspect. 

So overall, these flexibilities we enjoyed with Royal have held me back from booking a DCL cruise. DCL doesn't really fit our preferred vacation style, and the price is a lot more. So its been hard for us to justify.


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## tidefan

We'll be able to comment as we've just booked Harmony for late summer next year.  Quite honestly, for the 3 of us, over $4,500 for an Interior Stateroom is still quite a bit.  I think that the value is much better on Princess, but we will see.

As an FYI, we've done a ton of DCL cruises, 6 Princess cruises (which have all been amazing), 1 Carnival cruise (which, we really enjoyed!), and 1 RCCL on the Serenade of the Seas back in 2014 out of New Orleans that was pretty much a disaster...  Everyone tells me to try the bigger ships, so we are going to give one a try.  I am surprised at how much more expensive it is than Princess, HAL, and especially Carnival.  I also look forward to cruising on Mardi Gras later to compare to the Oasis Class...


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## mevelandry

I'm bumping this because my cruise is happening soon and I'm very curious!


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## TJA

We are HUGE Disney fans (see my sig!).  Last summer we cruised on the Wonder to Alaska.  We paid a premium price for a verandah room and also for excursions.  We loved the cruise!  So much so that I booked a cruise for this summer to Northern Europe but admittedly was disappointed at the price tag (again, just like the Alaska one).  So...I ended up cancelling it (for a variety of reasons).  Long story short, I have a friend who swears by Royal so I decided it can't hurt to check out the website.  Well I couldn't believe my eyes when I priced out Europe and it was one quarter of the cost of the Disney one (like $8,000 less!)!  It made me nervous wondering how it could be so cheap.  Essentially the same exact verandah room, same food, and Royal even had more things for my kids to do (rock climbing wall, mini golf, and most importantly same outstanding fitness room but Royal allowed my kids to do their workouts without hassle that Disney gave us (said kids had to be 17 or 18, even with parents along).  Fast-forward to today - we just returned home from this Royal cruise in Europe and we had THE time of our lives!!  We were on Jewel of the Seas and it was comparable to the Disney Wonder.  The service was impeccable, just like Disney.  The food was very good - my family all agreed it was better than Disney.  The ship itself was gorgeous, just like the Wonder.  Only real difference is it was missing the Disney characters and Disney feel, which was actually ok with us because we were there to experience Europe.  Other difference was our Disney room had the split bathroom versus the Royal room just had one bathroom with everything in it.  Otherwise, we saved a BULK of money and enjoyed the Royal experience just as much as the Disney one -- very surprised to say!  We are looking to book another Royal, and at this point are even considering trying other cruise lines now that we've dared to venture outside of Disney cruise.  Don't get me wrong, I would book a Disney cruise again in a heartbeat, but the price has to be right and I'm not sure if that'll ever happen with Disney, but I'll always keep my eyes and ears open!


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## jenf22

tidefan said:


> We'll be able to comment as we've just booked Harmony for late summer next year.  Quite honestly, for the 3 of us, over $4,500 for an Interior Stateroom is still quite a bit.  I think that the value is much better on Princess, but we will see.


Keep checking prices.  We're on Harmony in October and it was $2950 for the 3 of us in a large balcony room.  Did you book with Kids Sail Free?  That helps quite a bit.  From what I can tell, it's really 3rd and 4th person free, doesn't have to be a kid.



TJA said:


> We are looking to book another Royal, and at this point are even considering trying other cruise lines now that we've dared to venture outside of Disney cruise.  Don't get me wrong, I would book a Disney cruise again in a heartbeat, but the price has to be right and I'm not sure if that'll ever happen with Disney, but I'll always keep my eyes and ears open!


You guys sound like us!  We booked our first non-DCL cruise on Jewel as well.  I also check prices on every line all the time.  We tend to gravitate towards NCL because we like their prices and we like getting some "perks" with the fare.  We love going to the specialty restaurants.  We've got Princess booked for the British Isles next summer because they were the best rate.  They've got Three For Free right now and tomorrow have another sale starting for Europe 2020.  I'll be eagerly checking first thing tomorrow to see if I can lower my fare more.  In a month we're on Harmony and we can't wait!


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## tidefan

jenf22 said:


> Keep checking prices.  We're on Harmony in October and it was $2950 for the 3 of us in a large balcony room.  Did you book with Kids Sail Free?  That helps quite a bit.  From what I can tell, it's really 3rd and 4th person free, doesn't have to be a kid.



Yeah, we tried KSF, but Royal defines a "kid" as 12 and under.  Our daughter is 16, so it didn't apply.  Right now, there are no interior staterooms for 3 available (though that comes and goes as people cancel, book, etc.), however, last I checked when one was available it was $200 more than what we booked.  Contrast that to our Thanksgiving sailing this year on Regal Princess.  We got 3 in an inside, plus $300 OBC for around $2,000 including port fees and taxes.  That will pay our gratuities!



> You guys sound like us!  We booked our first non-DCL cruise on Jewel as well.  I also check prices on every line all the time.  We tend to gravitate towards NCL because we like their prices and we like getting some "perks" with the fare.  We love going to the specialty restaurants.  We've got Princess booked for the British Isles next summer because they were the best rate.  They've got Three For Free right now and tomorrow have another sale starting for Europe 2020.  I'll be eagerly checking first thing tomorrow to see if I can lower my fare more.  In a month we're on Harmony and we can't wait!



Which Princess ship are you on?  We love the new Royal class (especially the Buffet and Alfredo's)...  No waterslides or rock walls, but they do a really good job on the base product.  No charge for room service either!


----------



## mevelandry

TJA said:


> (...)The ship itself was gorgeous, just like the Wonder. Only real difference is it was missing the Disney characters and Disney feel, which was actually ok with us because we were there to experience Europe. Other difference was our Disney room had the split bathroom versus the Royal room just had one bathroom with everything in it. Otherwise, we saved a BULK of money and enjoyed the Royal experience just as much as the Disney one -- very surprised to say! We are looking to book another Royal, and at this point are even considering trying other cruise lines now that we've dared to venture outside of Disney cruise. Don't get me wrong, I would book a Disney cruise again in a heartbeat, but the price has to be right and I'm not sure if that'll ever happen with Disney, but I'll always keep my eyes and ears open!



I've sailed on the Wonder and I liked it. Since I've never really been into characters and never cared for the split bathroom, I'm pretty confident that I can enjoy Royal based on what you have described. I can't wait to try RCCL in a few days!

I have to say that this sounds pretty similar to our fears and conclusions when we have tried Carnival. I remember being so terrified of hating it that I had brought board games and booked a balcony in case we needed to be secluded from the horrible guests and terrible ambiance. In conclusion: we loved it and sailed with them many times after that. It definitely gave us the confidence to try other cruise lines.


----------



## jenf22

tidefan said:


> Which Princess ship are you on?  We love the new Royal class (especially the Buffet and Alfredo's)...  No waterslides or rock walls, but they do a really good job on the base product.  No charge for room service either!


We're on Regal.  We sailed her to Canada out of New York a couple of years ago.  I couldn't get over The Love Boat horn!  I like the Disney songs, but I just loved that!  I'm super excited right now because I just rebooked that cruise.  We're saving about $200 over the last promo and they added on a $200pp airfare credit (it's a 72 hour sale).  I've never used EZAir before, but I just reserved our flights at $485pp roundtrip from Denver to Heathrow!  I'm still in shock.  And you don't pay anything now... totally changeable and refundable until April of next year.  Crazy.

I thought the last time I checked, for our cruise anyway, our son (who is 12) was the same price as a 3rd adult in the room with the KSF.  But that might have been cruise specific.  We're also sailing in fall.  I've heard Royal is super high in summer.  Have you looked at NCL?  Their prices are generally pretty good.


----------



## tidefan

jenf22 said:


> We're on Regal.  We sailed her to Canada out of New York a couple of years ago.  I couldn't get over The Love Boat horn!  I like the Disney songs, but I just loved that!  I'm super excited right now because I just rebooked that cruise.  We're saving about $200 over the last promo and they added on a $200pp airfare credit (it's a 72 hour sale).  I've never used EZAir before, but I just reserved our flights at $485pp roundtrip from Denver to Heathrow!  I'm still in shock.  And you don't pay anything now... totally changeable and refundable until April of next year.  Crazy.
> 
> I thought the last time I checked, for our cruise anyway, our son (who is 12) was the same price as a 3rd adult in the room with the KSF.  But that might have been cruise specific.  We're also sailing in fall.  I've heard Royal is super high in summer.  Have you looked at NCL?  Their prices are generally pretty good.


Well, I'd like to consider other things, but we have a conference that ends in Orlando on a Sunday at Noon and therefore were more limited in what we could get to...


----------



## Magical2017

mevelandry said:


> I've sailed on the Wonder and I liked it. Since I've never really been into characters and never cared for the split bathroom, I'm pretty confident that I can enjoy Royal based on what you have described. I can't wait to try RCCL in a few days!
> 
> I have to say that this sounds pretty similar to our fears and conclusions when we have tried Carnival. I remember being so terrified of hating it that I had brought board games and booked a balcony in case we needed to be secluded from the horrible guests and terrible ambiance. In conclusion: we loved it and sailed with them many times after that. It definitely gave us the confidence to try other cruise lines.


That is good to hear. DH and I sailed Carnival many years ago. It was fine, but I would like to try them in the future because they sail right out of Baltimore to Bermuda in the summer. Royal has summer sailings out of NJ but they are on Empress. It does not have all the bells and whistles that we want when we travel with the kids, and I don't want to have to drive to NJ when there is a port near my home. We are sailing on Royal in January.


----------



## tinkerone

mevelandry said:


> I've sailed on the Wonder and I liked it. Since I've never really been into characters and never cared for the split bathroom, I'm pretty confident that I can enjoy Royal based on what you have described.* I can't wait to try RCCL in a few days!*
> 
> I have to say that this sounds pretty similar to our fears and conclusions when we have tried Carnival. I remember being so terrified of hating it that I had brought board games and booked a balcony in case we needed to be secluded from the horrible guests and terrible ambiance. In conclusion: we loved it and sailed with them many times after that. It definitely gave us the confidence to try other cruise lines.


Please report back when you return and let us know how you made out.  I'd be very interested to know what you think.
We switched to RCCL a few years ago, the Oasis class, and have loved it.  We're doing a Fantasy DCL sailing next month but that is because DH wanted to see what it was we loved about DCL before going to RCCL.  
We are booked on Symphony of the Seas for a B2B next year, we did that last year as well.  We have also sailed the Oasis, B2B, several times and enjoyed them as well.  I have yet to find a reason to pay DCL prices when we can pay half the cost on RCCL.  It took a lot to get us to try another cruise line but we are sooooo glad we did.


----------



## Denise W

tinkerone said:


> Please report back when you return and let us know how you made out.  I'd be very interested to know what you think.
> We switched to RCCL a few years ago, the Oasis class, and have loved it.  We're doing a Fantasy DCL sailing next month but that is because DH wanted to see what it was we loved about DCL before going to RCCL.
> We are booked on Symphony of the Seas for a B2B next year, we did that last year as well.  We have also sailed the Oasis, B2B, several times and enjoyed them as well.  I have yet to find a reason to pay DCL prices when we can pay half the cost on RCCL.  It took a lot to get us to try another cruise line but we are sooooo glad we did.


We did a back to back on Symphony in January (eastern/western) and it was great!
Denise


----------



## K8T

We got off Anthem of the Seas two weeks ago and immediately booked our 10th Disney cruise.

The whole experience wasn’t great to be honest, it was 9 nights New England.  We only do longer cruises on DCL,  two of our nine previous cruises were three days, the rest 8 or more.

The ship was big from the outside, but from the inside it didn't appear to be so much bigger than DCL.   It had climbing and surfing at certain times and dodgems for which you booked or queued, but these weren't on all the time.  The X box area was very small and my daughter who is 14, was disappointed at the kids clubs, saying they were very bland, compared to DCL.

Of course, any cruise is good and we did like our stops, but the two things that stood out for us as being a let down was the entertainment and the dining.  There was a fantastic We Will Rock You show, but the other two shows were just strange (Spectra and The Gift).  The gift had great staging and costumes, but the story was difficult to follow, Spectra was just odd!   There was a lot of karaoke and a lounge with a formal dance band, which if you didn't do ballroom, you avoided.  The Music Hall was empty most of the cruise, with very mediocre bands.  There was a pub that was supposed to be British themed, but it was basic and boring.  When you look at the Pub either on the Dream or the Magic/Wonder, they are cosy, comfortable and enticing.   There was a lack of places to sit in the evenings, we ended up in the Schooner bar, with the pianist playing, but often interrupted by quizzes.  The big lounge at the back was nice, but too large and didn't seem to know what it was for, with a tiny bar in the corner, windows that converted to screens and a sort of take way sandwich shop at the back.

The restaurant we were in was dark and gloomy, the tables packed together, so we could hear every word and the waiters rushed us.  We had to ask for water to be refilled and one time my other half gave up waiting for the wine waiter and went to the bar!  Part of our holiday is enjoying an evening meal together in nice surroundings, then going to a show, we actually only ate three nights out of nine in the MDR and went to the buffet the other nights, something unheard of for us.  The buffet however, was much better laid out and I felt generally the food was better on RCL, not so salty as DCL.  

Overall, it was basic, the service, the decor and the entertainment.  There is also a lot of up selling stuff.  The excursions were cheaper I think, but the drinks more expensive.  I didn't get the drinks package on line when we first booked, and it went up by $40 within a few weeks.  When we got on board, it had gone up by another $12 a day, which we thought was a bit off!   

We ate at the specialty restaurants, Chops, which was terrible and Wonderland, which was fun, but again the service was shocking.  When you pay so much, you expect quality and service, we don't always go to Palo, but Palo is years ahead of either of RCL's offerings.

If you want a cheap and cheerful, pleasant cruise, do RCL.  If you want exceptional service, quality surroundings and entertainment, stick with DCL.


----------



## starvenger

Interesting. Thanks for your report!

FWIW I think the excursion prices are about the same. It basically comes down to how much each cruise line thinks they should charge as a middleman fee. You're likely to find some excursions cheaper on DCL and some cheaper on Royal. And chances are you'll find them cheaper (or more personalized) if you book with a third party.

Kind of surprised about Chops, but it seems as if the quality of the specialty restaurants, while still good, has been on a downward trend. 

The size thing is interesting to me as I've not been on a Quantum class. I know the Oasis class is quite spacious but it now makes me wonder how the Independence will feel compared to Royal's largest ships. I haven't been on a "regular" ship since DCL Fantasy a few years back so this will be interesting.

Was The Gift a Cirque-style show? I always find those (including the RCL aqua shows) a bit hard to follow from a story perspective. It's more that there's an overarching theme and it plays off of that. All these years later and I couldn't really tell you what "O" in Vegas was about, apart from having a water theme.

And speaking of water, any thoughts on the pools?


----------



## K8T

starvenger said:


> Interesting. Thanks for your report!
> 
> FWIW I think the excursion prices are about the same. It basically comes down to how much each cruise line thinks they should charge as a middleman fee. You're likely to find some excursions cheaper on DCL and some cheaper on Royal. And chances are you'll find them cheaper (or more personalized) if you book with a third party.
> 
> Kind of surprised about Chops, but it seems as if the quality of the specialty restaurants, while still good, has been on a downward trend.
> 
> The size thing is interesting to me as I've not been on a Quantum class. I know the Oasis class is quite spacious but it now makes me wonder how the Independence will feel compared to Royal's largest ships. I haven't been on a "regular" ship since DCL Fantasy a few years back so this will be interesting.
> 
> Was The Gift a Cirque-style show? I always find those (including the RCL aqua shows) a bit hard to follow from a story perspective. It's more that there's an overarching theme and it plays off of that. All these years later and I couldn't really tell you what "O" in Vegas was about, apart from having a water theme.
> 
> And speaking of water, any thoughts on the pools?



Sorry for the delay in replying, still catching up since we got back!

We never do the ship excursions, although this time, we did one, which was a bit of a rip off as was a coach trip to a place called Peggy's Cove (fabulous) apart from the herding around, which you get on any excursion and then the HOHO bus.  However, by the time we got back, there was no time to do the HOHO bus properly and we ended up just sitting on it for part of the circuit, just to hear a bit of information.  In hindsight we should have just got a cab, that will teach us to go 'off piste' !

As for Chops, it wasn't good, I would go as far to say is was shocking.  My sea bass was dried up and overcooked, I sent it back.  If you are paying extra you should have quality it wasn't.

The Gift was a stage performance in the theatre, it was visually very good, not a cirque type show, but a musical.  The costumes were incredible, the singing okay (I am involved in the theatre, so it was okay, but nothing wow!).  The concept was good along with the staging.  However, it was all a bit 'random' and not easy to follow the story and work out what was happening, which was a shame, because it had the potential to be good.  People actually walked out.  Spectra is on the large screens that replace the ceiling to floor windows at the back.  Again, it was just strange.  There is so much potential on these screens, as they are like a surround cinema, we could have been taken under the sea on an adventure, or on a roller coaster ride, or something like Soarin' instead it was just flashed up images on the screens with music.  We went after 10 minutes, luckily we were sat at the back.

The pools were good.  there were three pool areas.  The outside one under the screen, which is bigger than the pool on the Magic and on the Dream.  There was a small children's splash area too, shallow in one part and a small pool that moved in a circle.  Not as good as the Dream, as good as the Magic and Wonder, but no slides at all.   However,  what was great is there is a second pool inside under cover, again pretty big compared to DCL, so it doesn't matter what the weather is like.  Plenty of hot tubs.  Finally, at the front of the ship is the Solarium, a large inside/greenhouse type area with plunge pools on different levels and hot tubs, which is purely for adults.  This doesn't include the wave rider at the back.

I just had a look at photos of the Independent, which has been in the Med. for the last few years, Anthem is a very poor cousin!


----------



## bbel

K8T said:


> I just had a look at photos of the Independent, which has been in the Med. for the last few years, Anthem is a very poor cousin!



Independence was pretty poor before it had its massive dry dock last year. It was the first Royal ship to be Amp'd. Personally I prefer quantum class to freedom class. 

Did you do Ifly at all? Probably my favourite thing on the ships!


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## starvenger

If it wasn't for the Amped refurb (plus cruise credit my wife got from our Allure cruise in 2018) I don't think I would've booked Indy.

9 days until pif. I'm getting kinda giddy. Or maybe that's the triple IPA I just had.


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## msjprincess

starvenger said:


> If it wasn't for the Amped refurb (plus cruise credit my wife got from our Allure cruise in 2018) I don't think I would've booked Indy.
> 
> 9 days until pif. I'm getting kinda giddy. Or maybe that's the triple IPA I just had.




I've sailed Independence twice (pre refurb) and Freedom once. I had a great time one both. I don't like it as much as Oasis class ships but it's a close 2nd.


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## tinkerone

We have two cruises booked with Royal for next October, B2B's.  I watch prices several times a week and from my date of booking to yesterday I have managed to bring the cost of the two cruises down by $954.  It's usually $25 here, $25 there but as I told my husband each $25 counts.  In that time period we have also managed to get $150 US OBC (that's seven million Canadian  ) for each sailing, we started with none.  
I was happy with the prices I booked at, now I'm really happy and I will probably get a few more decreases before sailing as well. This is what I really love about Royal.  While DCL only seems to go up, RCCL sometimes comes down.


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## starvenger

msjprincess said:


> I've sailed Independence twice (pre refurb) and Freedom once. I had a great time one both. I don't like it as much as Oasis cl*** ships but it's a close 2nd.


Is it me or has a bad word filter gone haywire?


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## msjprincess

starvenger said:


> Is it me or has a bad word filter gone haywire?


That's weird. I can still see the word in my post


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## starvenger

Hmm, maybe it's my safari browser. Chrome seems to be fine.

ETA: yeah doesn’t seem to be happening on my phone anymore. Weird.


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## rramsr

Hi, I just booked Mariner of the Seas for April 2021. We have been on two Disney Cruises and my daughter has been saying the last couple days she can't wait for 2021 to go on another cruise. I priced out Disney Dream for the week I think will be school vacation and for four people for 4 nights $3975.44 for an oceanview room. Royal Caribbean for the same exact dates for a junior suite is $2685.68, no brainer here


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## paule350

rramsr said:


> Hi, I just booked Mariner of the Seas for April 2021. We have been on two Disney Cruises and my daughter has been saying the last couple days she can't wait for 2021 to go on another cruise. I priced out Disney Dream for the week I think will be school vacation and for four people for 4 nights $3975.44 for an oceanview room. Royal Caribbean for the same exact dates for a junior suite is $2685.68, no brainer here




I am also pricing a 4 night cruise and disney is 4000$ and royal is 2300$ for Jr suite   same dates and locations haha....  I am just worried the 4 night cruise will attract the younger party crowd..  thoughts?


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## Denise W

Most of the “spring break” party cruises you hear about take place during college spring breaks in March. If you are cruising in April you should not have a lot of college kids on board.
Denise


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## tinkerone

Two days ago I was able to reduce one of my upcoming Royal cruises, on Symphony of the Seas, by $189.  Yesterday I was able to reduce it by $88 more.  This brings my one week cruise, veranda cabin, to $2688 Canadian.  That is less than $2000 US.  Take that DCL, lol.  
Seriously though, DCL is so out of whack.


----------



## Denise W

tinkerone said:


> Two days ago I was able to reduce one of my upcoming Royal cruises, on Symphony of the Seas, by $189.  Yesterday I was able to reduce it by $88 more.  This brings my one week cruise, veranda cabin, to $2688 Canadian.  That is less than $2000 US.  Take that DCL, lol.
> Seriously though, DCL is so out of whack.


You will love the Symphony! We were on it in January.
Denise


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## aoconnor

Having been on both (DCL twice, RCL 5 times) I would say DCL is slightly better in most ways. The issue is the price difference is not slight at all- it's literally double or more. Outside of a special one-time trip I can't rationalize DCL. RCL is a great product.


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## tidefan

aoconnor said:


> Having been on both (DCL twice, RCL 5 times) I would say DCL is slightly better in most ways. The issue is the price difference is not slight at all- it's literally double or more. Outside of a special one-time trip I can't rationalize DCL. RCL is a great product.


But, RCL can be double that of other great options!  I never understand why people apply the cost logic to DCL, but then don't bother to look at how much more RCL is than, say Princess.  We priced out a Thanksgiving 7-night on RCL Harmony.  It was close to $4,000 for the 3 of us in an interior.  Regal Princess was $2,000 (plus $300 OBC).  We thought Regal Princess was a much better value (though we don't need a rock wall or waterslide).


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## starvenger

We've been wanting to do Princess for a few years for our 3-gen family cruise. The value is definitely there.

But my youngest brother has an infant and a toddler, and didn't like what he read about the facilities and babysitting for the little ones. Might be real, might be imagined, but we gotta wait until 2021 at the earliest before he'll be comfortable going on board.


----------



## Starport Seven-Five

tidefan said:


> But, RCL can be double that of other great options!  I never understand why people apply the cost logic to DCL, but then don't bother to look at how much more RCL is than, say Princess.  We priced out a Thanksgiving 7-night on RCL Harmony.  It was close to $4,000 for the 3 of us in an interior.  Regal Princess was $2,000 (plus $300 OBC).  We thought Regal Princess was a much better value (though we don't need a rock wall or waterslide).


The two ships your comparing are not in the same class.  Regal Princess is the size of RCL's freedom class ships.

Not sure the full details of your cruise but the Oasis class ships are quite desireable.  We are sailing on one in March and it's close to double the cost of some other options from RCL.


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## starvenger

It's a bit of a problem to compare since Princess doesn't have anything as large as Oasis class. But Regal is part of their newest and largest class (ironically called Royal) so its not a like for like comparison, but I would say it's at least on opposite ends of the ballpark.


----------



## tidefan

Starport Seven-Five said:


> The two ships your comparing are not in the same class.  Regal Princess is the size of RCL's freedom class ships.
> 
> Not sure the full details of your cruise but the Oasis class ships are quite desireable.  We are sailing on one in March and it's close to double the cost of some other options from RCL.


That's my point.  It is worth twice the money?  People seem to go haywire when DCL is more, but not when RCL is more.  I don't get that.  

Regal Princess is a larger ship (around 4,000 pax), yes, not an Oasis class, but still a large ship...  I'd still rather pay half to go on it than what we would have paid to go on RCL.  That being said, we are going to give RCL another try next summer on the Harmony.  We've only sailed RCL once (Serenade, it was our worst cruise - I've recapped it on these boards before so I won't go back through it here) and people we've talked to have said to try the Oasis class that it would be a very different experience than what we had on Serenade, so we really do hope that we'll have a much better opinion come next summer...

Thinking about this...  Does Carnival's Mardi Gras change the dynamic for any of you folks that love the Mega-ships?


----------



## tidefan

starvenger said:


> It's a bit of a problem to compare since Princess doesn't have anything as large as Oasis class. But Regal is part of their newest and largest class (ironically called Royal) so its not a like for like comparison, but I would say it's at least on opposite ends of the ballpark.


Yes, I would agree that it is a different experience than you would get on say RCL or Carnival.  However, the food is much better (IMHO), room service is still no extra charge, and there are a lot of things going on.  It's a bit more elegant and is probably more like Celebrity, so yes, not an apples to oranges comparison, but still an excellent cruise.


----------



## Frozen2014

tidefan said:


> That's my point.  It is worth twice the money?  People seem to go haywire when DCL is more, but not when RCL is more.  I don't get that.
> 
> Regal Princess is a larger ship (around 4,000 pax), yes, not an Oasis class, but still a large ship...  I'd still rather pay half to go on it than what we would have paid to go on RCL.  That being said, we are going to give RCL another try next summer on the Harmony.  We've only sailed RCL once (Serenade, it was our worst cruise - I've recapped it on these boards before so I won't go back through it here) and people we've talked to have said to try the Oasis class that it would be a very different experience than what we had on Serenade, so we really do hope that we'll have a much better opinion come next summer...
> 
> Thinking about this...  Does Carnival's Mardi Gras change the dynamic for any of you folks that love the Mega-ships?



Is Regal Princess good for kids?  Both Disney and Royal (depending on the ship) are very family friendly ships with lots to do for both adults, kids and activities for the whole family.  Princess looks like a great cruise ship, but I took a quick look a Regal Princess and it doesn't seem like a ton of activities for kids outside of the clubs and general swimming.

But I would include Carnival and NCL in the loop of comparison.


----------



## tidefan

Frozen2014 said:


> Is Regal Princess good for kids?  Both Disney and Royal (depending on the ship) are very family friendly ships with lots to do for both adults, kids and activities for the whole family.  Princess looks like a great cruise ship, but I took a quick look a Regal Princess and it doesn't seem like a ton of activities for kids outside of the clubs and general swimming.
> 
> But I would include Carnival and NCL in the loop of comparison.


It depends.  Our DD says that Princess is her favorite line (even over DCL).  On our Spring Break cruise, we hardly saw her most of the week.  Now she is a teen, so take that for what it's worth.  They do have really nice Kids Clubs (with Skee Ball, X-box, foosball, and all that) and the teen club had it's own private deck and hot tub.  They do some kind of partnership with Discovery channel, so if you kids are into things like Shark Week and Mythbusters, then they will really enjoy it.  There is also a sports court like most ships have (with Basketball, etc.)

Our DD says that a couple of her favorite things were 1) they had some kind of thing where one of the chefs took the kids down to the kitchens to cook a meal,  She really enjoyed that, and 2) one day on an Alaskan Cruise, one of the Iditarod sledders brought some of the dogs on board...  

She and her friend that went with her last time also loved eating at Alfredo's by themselves every night...

However, there won't be waterslides, rock walls, ice rinks, go karts, ropes courses, etc.  If you want that, then you are probably better off sticking to Carnival, RCL, or NCL...

One other thing I'll add is that with the Medallion on the newer Princess ships, you can see where your kids are at all times (the RFID in the Medallion tracks them), so it was super easy to track her down if we needed to find her.  I really liked that feature...


----------



## Frozen2014

tidefan said:


> One other thing I'll add is that with the Medallion on the newer Princess ships, you can see where your kids are at all times (the RFID in the Medallion tracks them), so it was super easy to track her down if we needed to find her.  I really liked that feature...


Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like there are some fun organized activities.

Wow...that's really cool with the RFID technology!  Certainly puts a parent at ease letting their kids off on their own. (Or if you just want to meet up and so easy to find them).


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## tidefan

Frozen2014 said:


> Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like there are some fun organized activities.
> 
> Wow...that's really cool with the RFID technology!  Certainly puts a parent at ease letting their kids off on their own. (Or if you just want to meet up and so easy to find them).


Do note that the Medallion is not on all Princess ships yet. Here is a pic of one of the boards where you can track them (you can do it on the app, too...)  (FYI, not sure why this went sideways...)


----------



## msjprincess

I've looked at Princess. I think it would be fine for just me and DH. However I think my kids would be bored out of their mind.

My RCCL cruises have never been double the cost of a Princess cruise. Pricing cruises for next summer, an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Symphony is only $300 more for 2 people in an OV cabin, compared to an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Caribbean Princess. Which is 14 years older.

In the last year I went on 2 cruises. One on Allure and one on Carnival Magic. They both cost $4700-$4800 for 5 people in 2 cabins. On Allure we had 2 Boardwalk view balconies. On Magic we had 2 oceanview balconies. Allure was a much better value.


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## Magical2017

tidefan said:


> Yes, I would agree that it is a different experience than you would get on say RCL or Carnival.  However, the food is much better (IMHO), room service is still no extra charge, and there are a lot of things going on.  It's a bit more elegant and is probably more like Celebrity, so yes, not an apples to oranges comparison, but still an excellent cruise.


I  would do Princess for Alaska, as I keep hearing it is a great line for that region. We got an excellent deal on an ocean view room on Royal's Allure for 2 adults, a teen (counts as an adult) and a tween, but we are going in January to the Eastern Caribbean. We looked at Princess, Disney, and a few others for those same dates before we booked Royal, and the cost for Princess was very similar (and nowhere near that $4,000 price range at the  time we booked). We do want the rock climbing wall, ice skating rink, and Flow Rider, plus we wanted to go to Coco Cay, so we decided to go with Royal. We'll see how it goes--we are open to trying other cruise lines.


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## tidefan

msjprincess said:


> I've looked at Princess. I think it would be fine for just me and DH. However I think my kids would be bored out of their mind.
> 
> My RCCL cruises have never been double the cost of a Princess cruise. Pricing cruises for next summer, an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Symphony is only $300 more for 2 people in an OV cabin, compared to an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Caribbean Princess. Which is 14 years older.
> 
> In the last year I went on 2 cruises. One on Allure and one on Carnival Magic. They both cost $4700-$4800 for 5 people in 2 cabins. On Allure we had 2 Boardwalk view balconies. On Magic we had 2 oceanview balconies. Allure was a much better value.


So, our cruise next summer for 3 people in an interior cabin on HOTS is over $4,500.  It is much more expensive than other options (even RCL ones).  

One thing I notice more, though with RCL is that because it is more "family" dependent, is that like DCL, cruises during school breaks are at a Premium compared to other times of the year, whereas on lines like Princess (or HAL) they don't seem to fluctuate quite as much.

Still, looking forward to the HOTS cruise next summer, though we are only doing it because we have to leave from Port Canaveral on a Sunday (due to a conference ending Sunday at noon), so that limits our choice.  If we could have left on Saturday, we'd have probably chosen the Carnival Breeze, which you can get a Balcony for 3 people for right around $3,000...


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## tidefan

Magical2017 said:


> I  would do Princess for Alaska, as I keep hearing it is a great line for that region. We got an excellent deal on an ocean view room on Royal's Allure for 2 adults, a teen (counts as an adult) and a tween, but we are going in January. We looked at Princess, Disney, and a few others for those same dates before we booked Royal, and the cost for Princess was very similar (and nowhere near that $4,000 price range at the  time we booked). We do want the rock climbing wall, ice skating rink, and Flow Rider, plus we wanted to go to Coco Cay, so we decided to go with Royal. We'll see how it goes--we are open to trying other cruise lines.


For Alaska, my key thing wouldn't necessarily be the line, it would be to try to go out RoundTrip out of Vancouver (assuming you wanted a R/T) because the ship would go up the inside passage on the eastern side of Vancouver Island...


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## juju12345

Does anybody know if any of Royal’s ships combine age groups in the kids clubs? We like how Disney does that so all 3 of our kids can be together.


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## starvenger

The ships that are getting "Amped" are creating a common area for the 6-11 year olds. 3-5 is still being kept separate. So not exactly the same as Oceaneers, but I think it might work out better like this - no fear of a 3yo getting trucked by a 11yo.


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## Magical2017

I like the separate age groups. Allure is getting amped after our cruise, so I do hope it is separate. However, we are going in January. Someone in  a FB group said if there are not a lot of kids on the cruise they may not separate groups by age. Has anyone sailed recently on Royal where they did not separate the kids by age?


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## starvenger

On my Aug 2018 Allure trip they put 6-11 together during the evening session. And I think during one of the port days. But since this was at the end of summer break there were still a lot of kid cruisers.


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## bbel

Magical2017 said:


> I like the separate age groups. Allure is getting amped after our cruise, so I do hope it is separate. However, we are going in January. Someone in  a FB group said if there are not a lot of kids on the cruise they may not separate groups by age. Has anyone sailed recently on Royal where they did not separate the kids by age?



3-5's are nearly always separate. If they combine its usually 6-11's. 

However, I did work one cruise where there was one 4 year old and two 6 year olds on the whole ship, so we combined them. 
Occasionally for port zones (port time) they may be combined if it's quiet/and or they're related/travelling together. And depending on the ship, after 10pm, again if numbers are super low and it's late and they're doing something quiet. But all this depends on the numbers of kids/manager/ship...

They'll also be combined for the 2 hours between sessions if they stay for dinner, but any time of that that's not in the windjammer is movie time.


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## mevelandry

Still at the airport coming back from our first RCCL cruise (on the Mariner of the Seas, went to CocoCay) and RCCL just took the #1 spot when it comes to cruise lines and CocoCay took the #1 spot for best private island for my husband and I. 

We don't care for characters and got bored with the DCL shows very fast... For everything else, we found that RCCL beat DCL and CocoCay litterally puts Castaway Cay to shame IMO...

...all that for half the price tag that DCL charges.


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## Garyjames220

mevelandry said:


> Still at the airport coming back from our first RCCL cruise (on the Mariner of the Seas, went to CocoCay) and RCCL just took the #1 spot when it comes to cruise lines and CocoCay took the #1 spot for best private island for my husband and I.
> 
> We don't care for characters and got bored with the DCL shows very fast... For everything else, we found that RCCL beat DCL and CocoCay litterally puts Castaway Cay to shame IMO...
> 
> ...all that for half the price tag that DCL charges.



I was thinking of doing a royal cruise instead of disney

mainly due to money but I love the disney magic and just can’t decide


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## mevelandry

Garyjames220 said:


> I was thinking of doing a royal cruise instead of disney
> 
> mainly due to money but I love the disney magic and just can’t decide



I have nothing but good things to say about Royal. They wowed us big time.


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## tidefan

mevelandry said:


> I have nothing but good things to say about Royal. They wowed us big time.


So glad you had a great cruise!  We are looking forward to giving RCL another chance.  (But first, we have our Thanksgiving cruise on Regal Princess!  Can't wait!)


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## anitag888

So my take is a bit different, mainly because my circumstances are a bit different. We were on the Symphony in May, and we have decided that the Oasis class ships are too large for us. My daughter uses a wheelchair, and what we found was that everyone MUST use the elevators on a ship that large, which makes it very difficult for those of us who have no other choice. On the more mid-sized ships, people are more inclined to take the stairs when they are within a couple of floors of their destination, and we were often stuck waiting for an elevator for 20 minutes or more with several passing us because they were too full to accommodate a wheelchair passenger. As far as the shows and their quality, we ran the gamut from cruise-ship corny (ice show) to truly spectacular (Hiro). We loved the Mexican restaurant, and overall found the food good, but we did miss the connection with our servers that you get on DCL.

We will probably cruise RCL again on one of their smaller or mid-sized ships, but as of right now, we are planning to save up for the release of the summer 2021 DCL Europe itineraries.


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## starvenger

anitag888 said:


> So my take is a bit different, mainly because my circumstances are a bit different. We were on the Symphony in May, and we have decided that the Oasis class ships are too large for us.


This isn't an uncommon opinion. The ships ARE quite large, and some don't like that. 



anitag888 said:


> My daughter uses a wheelchair, and what we found was that everyone MUST use the elevators on a ship that large, which makes it very difficult for those of us who have no other choice.


You are right - there are a lot of people that take the elevators when they really don't need to. It's highly unlikely they can prevent people from using the lifts or to even consider giving folks that must use the lifts priority, so maybe there's a way they can increase efficiency, because sometimes just trying to walk around the elevator banks is an exercise in frustration.


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## jenf22

mevelandry said:


> Still at the airport coming back from our first RCCL cruise (on the Mariner of the Seas, went to CocoCay) and RCCL just took the #1 spot when it comes to cruise lines and CocoCay took the #1 spot for best private island for my husband and I.
> 
> We don't care for characters and got bored with the DCL shows very fast... For everything else, we found that RCCL beat DCL and CocoCay litterally puts Castaway Cay to shame IMO...
> 
> ...all that for half the price tag that DCL charges.



We just got back from our Harmony cruise.  We LOVED CocoCay as well.  The kid had an absolute blast on the water slides and in the wave pool.  Best $55 (per person) we've spent!  Oh, and the food was awesome!  Mozzarella sticks and funnel cakes!


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## smmco

jenf22 said:


> We just got back from our Harmony cruise.  We LOVED CocoCay as well.  The kid had an absolute blast on the water slides and in the wave pool.  Best $55 we've spent!  Oh, and the food was awesome!  Mozzarella sticks and funnel cakes!


Is it 55pp?


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## jenf22

smmco said:


> Is it 55pp?


Yes, ours was.  I watched the prices for months and that was the best I saw.  It was $94.99 in the planner before we sailed but then listed as $84.99 onboard.  I've seen people say they got it for $47.  Royal's pricing for excursions and beverage packages is really annoying.  It seems to change every day.


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## starvenger

jenf22 said:


> We just got back from our Harmony cruise.  We LOVED CocoCay as well.  The kid had an absolute blast on the water slides and in the wave pool.  Best $55 (per person) we've spent!  Oh, and the food was awesome!  Mozzarella sticks and funnel cakes!


Important question - was there a soft serve machine and some sort of fruit topping close to the funnel cakes?


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## jenf22

starvenger said:


> Important question - was there a soft serve machine and some sort of fruit topping close to the funnel cakes?


  I don't know.  We saw people with soft serve ice cream cones, but I think they were near the main food places.  The funnel cakes were in the "snack shack".  We took the advice of some on Cruise Critic and got the chicken sandwich and mozzarella sticks to make a chicken parm sandwich.  It was really good!  We were kind bummed we didn't have time to find the soft serve machine because we saw people with chocolate/vanilla swirl.  On the ship all we could find was chocolate/strawberry or vanilla/strawberry.  We didn't understand why strawberry was in every machine.

We had a great cruise and loved CocoCay.


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## mevelandry

jenf22 said:


> We just got back from our Harmony cruise.  We LOVED CocoCay as well.  The kid had an absolute blast on the water slides and in the wave pool.  Best $55 (per person) we've spent!  Oh, and the food was awesome!  Mozzarella sticks and funnel cakes!



I've not had the funnel cakes but those Mozzarella sticks were very good!


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## mevelandry

smmco said:


> Is it 55pp?



I think it varies per sailing. I have a cruise booked with friends in December 2020. I don't know if it's because there was two ships in port but it comes to over a hundred canadian dollars (so my guess is around 70$ USD pp) ...


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## mevelandry

starvenger said:


> Important question - was there a soft serve machine and some sort of fruit topping close to the funnel cakes?



There is self-serve ice cream at the drinks station at Skipper's Grill and Snack Shack!


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## mevelandry

jenf22 said:


> I don't know.  We saw people with soft serve ice cream cones, but I think they were near the main food places.  The funnel cakes were in the "snack shack".  We took the advice of some on Cruise Critic and got the chicken sandwich and mozzarella sticks to make a chicken parm sandwich.  It was really good!  *We were kind bummed we didn't have time to find the soft serve machine because we saw people with chocolate/vanilla swirl. * On the ship all we could find was chocolate/strawberry or vanilla/strawberry.  We didn't understand why strawberry was in every machine.
> 
> We had a great cruise and loved CocoCay.



It was right at the drinks station (where you could get the fruity waters), close to Snack Shack.

And now I'm happy to know that they also have strawberry ice cream on some ships because they only had Vanilla and Chocolate on my sailing!


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## starvenger

jenf22 said:


> I don't know.  We saw people with soft serve ice cream cones, but I think they were near the main food places.  The funnel cakes were in the "snack shack".  We took the advice of some on Cruise Critic and got the chicken sandwich and mozzarella sticks to make a chicken parm sandwich.  It was really good!  We were kind bummed we didn't have time to find the soft serve machine because we saw people with chocolate/vanilla swirl.  On the ship all we could find was chocolate/strawberry or vanilla/strawberry.  We didn't understand why strawberry was in every machine.
> 
> We had a great cruise and loved CocoCay.


Chicken sandwich - bun + mozzarella sticks + funnel cake = Carnival-style chicken parm sandwich.

Shame the soft serve is not right by the snack shack. I mean, funnel cake + soft serve + strawberry topping is a classic, right?


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## mevelandry

starvenger said:


> Chicken sandwich - bun + mozzarella sticks + funnel cake = Carnival-style chicken parm sandwich.
> 
> Shame the soft serve is not right by the snack shack. I mean, funnel cake + soft serve + strawberry topping is a classic, right?



The soft serve IS right by the Snack Shack.


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## jenf22

mevelandry said:


> The soft serve IS right by the Snack Shack.


We didn't look very hard.    We did the water slides in the morning and then swam with the pigs at 1pm so we were a little rushed around lunch.  I would love to go back and see what else we missed


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## suedon70

jenf22 said:


> Yes, ours was.  I watched the prices for months and that was the best I saw.  It was $94.99 in the planner before we sailed but then listed as $84.99 onboard.  I've seen people say they got it for $47.  Royal's pricing for excursions and beverage packages is really annoying.  It seems to change every day.



I bought it a couple of months ago for $50.99 PP for my daughter and I for our Dec cruise on the Mariner - can't wait!


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## starvenger

mevelandry said:


> The soft serve IS right by the Snack Shack.


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## Magical2017

suedon70 said:


> I bought it a couple of months ago for $50.99 PP for my daughter and I for our Dec cruise on the Mariner - can't wait!


We were thinking about buying it a few months ago when it was that price. Now it shows up at $94 for our cruise in January. I am wondering how good the Black Friday sale will be. When we first booked back in April they were selling half-day passes for $35, but they quickly realized what a cash machine they have so that went away.


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## starvenger

Magical2017 said:


> When we first booked back in April they were selling half-day passes for $35, but they quickly realized what a cash machine they have so that went away.


Adam Smith wins again, I guess. Not that I blame Royal for making a correction if they were underpricing the park, but for us consumers, it kind of sucks.


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## jenf22

starvenger said:


> Adam Smith wins again, I guess. Not that I blame Royal for making a correction if they were underpricing the park, but for us consumers, it kind of sucks.


My guess is they quickly realized the logistics of a half day pass were a nightmare.  They have an entrance to the water park where you scan your sea pass to get in.  They have no means of checking people throughout the day to kick you out if you only have a half day pass.  They don't check you on the slides or in the wave pool.  We didn't have wrist bands or anything.  They have a Snack Shack, bathrooms, lockers, and a towel exchange in the water park so there's really no reason to leave once you're in.


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## msjprincess

jenf22 said:


> My guess is they quickly realized the logistics of a half day pass were a nightmare.  They have an entrance to the water park where you scan your sea pass to get in.  *They have no means of checking people throughout the day to kick you out if you only have a half day pass.  *They don't check you on the slides or in the wave pool.  We didn't have wrist bands or anything.  They have a Snack Shack, bathrooms, lockers, and a towel exchange in the water park so there's really no reason to leave once you're in.



I thought half day passes were only available the second half of the day. Once you were admitted you were able to stay the rest of the day.


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## jenf22

msjprincess said:


> I thought half day passes were only available the second half of the day. Once you were admitted you were able to stay the rest of the day.


Oh, that makes more sense.  They weren't offered on our sailing so we got the full day.


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## mevelandry

jenf22 said:


> My guess is they quickly realized the logistics of a half day pass were a nightmare.  *They have an entrance to the water park where you scan your sea pass to get in. * They have no means of checking people throughout the day to kick you out if you only have a half day pass.  They don't check you on the slides or in the wave pool.  We didn't have wrist bands or anything.  They have a Snack Shack, bathrooms, lockers, and a towel exchange in the water park so there's really no reason to leave once you're in.



Oh by the way, this is a complete nightmare because the info on the SeaPass erases quickly when it's in contact with sunscreen or water. And once it's affected, the machines do not scan them properly. I ended up with a bracelet before noon and they didn't have enough bracelets at some point so they had to take cabin numbers instead! 

If Snack Shack is only for Waterpark people, is there another place where we can get the mozzarella sticks?


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## jenf22

mevelandry said:


> Oh by the way, this is a complete nightmare because the info on the SeaPass erases quickly when it's in contact with sunscreen or water. And once it's affected, the machines do not scan them properly. I ended up with a bracelet before noon and they didn't have enough bracelets at some point so they had to take cabin numbers instead!
> 
> If Snack Shack is only for Waterpark people, is there another place where we can get the mozzarella sticks?


Oh bummer!  I think we had our cards in the bag in the locker so we didn't run into any problems.  We also only used the park in the morning since we had an afternoon excursion booked.

There are actually 2 Snack Shacks on the island.  Caused us a lot of confusion since we told my parents to meet us there for lunch and didn't realize they couldn't get into the water park one because they didn't get the passes.  We wandered around the island looking for them for a while before we noticed the second one on the map - they're both labeled "12".


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## Frozen2014

jenf22 said:


> My guess is they quickly realized the logistics of a half day pass were a nightmare.  They have an entrance to the water park where you scan your sea pass to get in.  They have no means of checking people throughout the day to kick you out if you only have a half day pass.  They don't check you on the slides or in the wave pool.  We didn't have wrist bands or anything.  They have a Snack Shack, bathrooms, lockers, and a towel exchange in the water park so there's really no reason to leave once you're in.





msjprincess said:


> I thought half day passes were only available the second half of the day. Once you were admitted you were able to stay the rest of the day.



We purchased half day passes a long time ago for our Anthem cruise coming up in March.  At the time of sale, the hours listed are something like 7:30am-1130am (I'm not on cruise planner at the moment but from memory).  

Now that they are no longer selling half day passes, I've been wondering how they handle them.  They are converted to full day?  Are we allowed to leave and then re-enter?  Or is that when the 'half day' would kick in?


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## msjprincess

Frozen2014 said:


> We purchased half day passes a long time ago for our Anthem cruise coming up in March.  At the time of sale, the hours listed are something like 7:30am-1130am (I'm not on cruise planner at the moment but from memory).
> 
> Now that they are no longer selling half day passes, I've been wondering how they handle them.  They are converted to full day?  Are we allowed to leave and then re-enter?  Or is that when the 'half day' would kick in?


Oh I guess it changed it some point.

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Perfect_Day/18062757_Trade_Perfect_Day_FAQs.pdf


> How does admission to Thrill Waterpark work on Perfect Day at CocoCay? How will half-day and full-day passes be enforced?
> 
> Can my clients exit and enter the park as they please? Wristbands will be used to ensure your client's entry into Thrill Waterpark. Once they have a wristband, they may enter and exit the park as often as they like. *Half day admission will be available in the afternoon only*.


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## Frozen2014

msjprincess said:


> Oh I guess it changed it some point.
> 
> http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Perfect_Day/18062757_Trade_Perfect_Day_FAQs.pdf


Interesting....wonder how old that is.
I just checked cruise planner and it's stated as from 7:30am-10:45am.  Not sure how that is half day anyways when it says we arrive at 9:30am and depart at 5pm.  I thought I read that they weren't enforcing them anymore but not sure it's true as haven't heard from anyone who actually purchased a half day.


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## msjprincess

Frozen2014 said:


> Interesting....wonder how old that is.
> I just checked cruise planner and it's stated as from 7:30am-10:45am.  Not sure how that is half day anyways when it says we arrive at 9:30am and depart at 5pm.  I thought I read that they weren't enforcing them anymore but not sure it's true as haven't heard from anyone who actually purchased a half day.


It's dated November 2018

That time is weird. You'd be lucky to make it there by 10:00


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## Frozen2014

msjprincess said:


> Oh I guess it changed it some point.
> 
> http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Perfect_Day/18062757_Trade_Perfect_Day_FAQs.pdf





msjprincess said:


> It's dated November 2018


Thanks.  We purchased half day on Aug 2018...so guess they changed it a bit after, and now doesn't exist .


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## mevelandry

jenf22 said:


> Oh bummer!  I think we had our cards in the bag in the locker so we didn't run into any problems.  We also only used the park in the morning since we had an afternoon excursion booked.
> 
> There are actually 2 Snack Shacks on the island.  Caused us a lot of confusion since we told my parents to meet us there for lunch and didn't realize they couldn't get into the water park one because they didn't get the passes.  We wandered around the island looking for them for a while before we noticed the second one on the map - they're both labeled "12".



Oh ok. Good to know! I wasn't sure. The island may seem small from the ship but once you are there, it feels bigger.


----------

