# Comparison Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean



## dolphingirl47

Just in terms of background, we have done 13 cruises on Disney Cruise Line, all on the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder. We have just completed our first Royal Caribbean cruise on the Splendour of the Seas. This happened almost by default. We had hoped to get a nice deal for a Disney cruise in early December, but this did not happen. A colleague then mention the cruise on the Splendour of the Seas. This left from Dubai, which is easy and cheap for us to get to so we decided to give it a go. We were not sure what to expect, but decided to go into this with an open mind. Here are our thoughts on how they compare.
*

Booking excursions before the cruise - Royal Caribbean *


The website is more user friendly and you pay ahead of time by credit card which helps spreading the cost.


*Online check in - draw*


This is comparable for both in terms of user-friendliness and information required.

*
Cruise Documents - Disney*


I have to admit I prefer receiving the documents in the mail rather than having to print them myself. This especially applies to the luggage tags. I was not a fan of the print your own tags at all.


*Check In - Royal Caribbean *


The whole process was really smooth. We cleared security and then were directed to a table to fill out the health questionnaire. From there we were directed to a check in desk. There were separate check in desks for suite guests, various levels of membership of the Crown and Anchor Society and everybody else. This spread out the crowds quite nicely and kept waiting time to a minimum. When it was our turn, the check in process was quick and efficient. Our documents and credit card were checked, the passports kept and our Sea Passes issued. The whole process took less than 5 minutes.

*
Boarding - Royal Caribbean*


As check in started later than we are used to, we were able to board as soon as we were checked in rather than having to wait in the terminal. Graham also particularly liked that we were not announced.

*
Safety Drill - Disney*


This is a bit of a difficult one, but on reflection Disney wins this one. The safety drill on Royal Caribbean seems to be a little bit more organised and the fact that there is more space on deck 4 helps, but this was unnecessarily drawn out by announcements in 7 or 8 different languages that do not have anything to do with the safety drill itself. Only once the last announcement was made were we dismissed.


*Demographic - Royal Caribbean*


We may not be comparing apples with apples here considering the itinerary, however, as major plus point for us was how cosmopolitan this cruise was. Guests came from 162 different countries. This created a completely different atmosphere.


*Cabin Readiness- Royal Caribbean*


Our cabin was ready as soon as we got on the ship so we could drop our hand luggage off as soon as we got on board and did not have to take our carry ons to lunch.


*Cabin - Royal Caribbean*


We had booked an interior guarantee cabin as this was kind of a last minute impulse. The size of the cabin was 142 square foot compared to 184 square foot on the Magic or the Wonder, but it still felt more spacious as the layout was better and there was more storage space.


*Cabin (Bathroom) - Royal Caribbean*


This was a big win for us. I prefer the single bathrooms of the standard insides on Disney over the split bathrooms in most of the cabins. The Splendour has a single bathroom. I also liked that it came with a walk in shower rather than a shower over a bathtub and the water pressure of this shower was amazing.


*Embarkation Lunch - draw*


That was the one thing I was really worried about before the cruise as embarkation lunch on DCL can be a bit of a zoo and on Royal Caribbean only the buffet and one of the venues on the pool deck were open. However, this worked really well. We were split on this. Graham feels that Disney provides more variety, but I was really happy with the selection and variety. 


*Adult area - Royal Caribbean*


This is not even a contest. Royal Caribbean has an amazing adult area called The Solarium. On the Splendour, this area has comfortable loungers, tables with chairs, the Park Cafe with a bar and a drinks station plus a pool and two hot tubs. On the Splendour this is indoors and this is the only drawback as it could be a little chilly.


*Spa - Disney*


Again, this is not contest. In terms of treatments and cost, there is no difference and both spas are operated by Steiner Leisure. However, the spa on the Splendour felt cramped and a little dark and dingy. The absence of the equivalent of the  Rainforest Room was also a big minus point for me. I may well have to reassess this after our next Royal Caribbean cruise as that ship has a bigger spa area and a thermal suite.


*Atrium - draw*


The atrium on the Splendour is stunning and has more of a wow factor, but on the whole, we did not feel there was much in it.


*Public areas - Royal Caribbean*


Overall, I preferred the public areas on the Splendour. The whole feeling was lighter, airier and more spacious although the Splendour is the smallest ship we have sailed on. I loved that pretty much wherever I went, there were comfortable seats scattered around. I also loved the touch screens around the area that provided an electronic copy of the Compass as well as interactive maps that helped you to find any location around the ship.


*Casino - Disney*


We give this to Disney for the absence of one. This is not something we have any interest in. Having said that, the casino on the Splendour was not as intrusive as I had feared and definitely less so than on the Norwegian Jade.


*Theater - Royal Caribbean*


The theater on the Splendour is the most visually stunning theater I have seen on land or on sea with stained glass and a stunning chandelier. The seats are like armchairs and a lot more spacious than on Disney. 


*Shops - Disney*


I suppose this should not have come as a surprise to me, but I was not really tempted by fairly generic branded merchandise and designer goods. We just got a model of the ship and a couple of discounted Royal Caribbean t-shirts.


*Photography - Disney*


In terms of quality both are comparable and the cost was lower on Royal Caribbean. Where Disney wins are that they have more space for photos. On the Splendour the areas were photos were taken were always kind of in the way. They also do not have the photo CD and the photos are still displayed on the walls and you have to find your photos. I like the system with the kiosks and folders better. On a plus point, the photographers were great and there was almost never a wait. Even for the captains photo, there were only a couple of families ahead of us.


*Included drinks - Disney*


This goes hands down to Disney. I like that soft drinks are included. On Royal Caribbean, there are three drinks stations all on deck 9 (buffet, Park Cafe and near the pool bar). Drinks that are on offer are filter coffee, tea, instant hot chocolate, water, lemonade, ice tea. The drink station at the Park Cafe also offered juice. I thought Disney coffee was bad, but the coffee on Royal Caribbean is even worse. What shocked me is that in the dining room in the evening, the only coffee available is speciality coffee at an extra cost.


On a side note, I got the soda package and with hindsight, I would not bother again unless the ship has the Coca Cola Freestyle machines.

*
Bring Your Own Beverage - Royal Caribbean*


In terms of policies, there is now not much in it as both Disney and Royal Caribbean allow you to bring two bottles of wine or champagne on board at the beginning of the cruise. Disney has a slight edge that they also allow beer and that you can bring wine, champagne or beer on board at the other ports. However, where Royal Caribbean scores the winning points is that they do not charge a corkage fee if you bring wine or champagne into the dining room whereas Disney charges $25 per bottle.



*Coffee Bar - Disney*


The coffee bar on the Splendour is in the centrum area on deck 6. This looked cramped and not at all inviting. We never ended up going there for this reason. It definitely does not invite spending time relaxing as the Cove Cafe and Outlook Cafe do. The Park Cafe also offers speciality coffees and we made use of this. The speciality coffees were comparable in terms of choice and quality.


*Deck Space - draw*


This was comparable. Deck four on the Splendour was more spacious, but I was missing my comfortable loungers.  


*Bars - draw*


The Viking Crown Lounge on deck 11 is a bit of a gem with a great view. I also loved  the Schooner Bar, which is comparable to Keys/ Cadillac Lounge. On the whole there is not much in it. 

*
Dining Room Experience - Royal Caribbean*


This goes hands down to Royal Caribbean. Even though the dining room was bigger than the individual dining rooms at Disney, the noise level was a lot more pleasant. This cannot be explained by demography on board either as there were plenty of children and I think in terms of proportion, this was no different from Disney. Service was comparable as was the choice of food, but the quality of food was superior on Royal Caribbean. In terms of service, the head server only turns up when needed, which I think makes a lot more sense. We got to meet our head server the first evening as all of our table mates were muslim and Royal Caribbean seemed to have been caught a little by surprise by the need to provide halal food on a Middle Eastern itinerary. On some nights, our table mates got Indian food served family style. Graham partook of this, too and said it was very nice. We did traditional assigned dining with the second seating. Graham prefers being in the same dining room every day. I prefer rotational dining, but the fact that we were in the same dining room every evening did not distract from the experience for me. On a side note, we had fantastic table mates, which definitely helped as well.

*
Speciality Dining - draw*


Out of the four speciality dining options, we only tried one: Chops Grill. Although the cuisine is different, in terms of service, quality of food and cost, this is comparable to Palo.

*
Buffet - Royal Caribbean*


I much preferred the layout of this and with one exception, this never felt as busy as the buffets on the Disney ships. I also preferred the variety of the food that was available.


*Alternative Dining Options - Royal Caribbean*


I came to this cruise with some pre-conceptions about this and had them completely rearranged. On paper Disney should have won this easily on the variety available alone. The Splendour really only has two alternative dining options: Boardwalk Dog House and Park Cafe. However, we both really enjoyed the Boardwalk Dog House and the Park Cafe turned out to be a real gem. They offered a decent breakfast including fruit, yoghurt, pastries as well as some breakfast sandwiches and burritos. At lunch they served salads, sandwiches, wraps, panini, soups, hot roast pork sandwiches and a good variety of desserts and cakes. They also offered a cream tea in the afternoon and their cookies were to die for.

*
Entertainment - Royal Caribbean*


We were kind of split on this with Graham feeling that this was a draw. However, I am the person who got more involved in this. I felt that Royal Caribbean had a wider choice of entertainment including the usual Bingo, dance classes, music and trivia, but also a wide variety of craft classes including jewellery making classes and sports competitions. I cannot comment on the shows as we did not attend any of them. One thing that surprised me is that there were no tasting classes with exception of a wine tasting on the sea day. It will be interesting what the entertainment will be like on an itinerary with more sea days.


*Sports and Recreation - draw*


I have to go with a draw there. The Splendour has more facilities including a mini golf course and a rock climbing wall and the pools are bigger. However, the Solarium pool is also freezing. Neither of us tried the family pool. Where Disney does score points to even this up is that the gym is bigger and more inviting and the location of the running/ walking track is less disruptive. On the Splendour it is on deck 10, which is the main sundeck. The running track was often partially obstructed by sun loungers. I was never tempted to walk a mile there for this reason.


*Excursions - Royal Caribbean*


There was a good variety of excursions available and at very fair prices. When I looked at outside excursions before the cruise, I could not really find anything significantly cheaper. This may be specific to this cruise, but I am sure we will find out in due course. The meeting process for an excursion was much smoother on Royal Caribbean.


*Excursions Trouble Shooting - Disney*


Disney wins on this one. Our excursion in Muscat was cancelled due to lack of participation. They just refunded us the money and invited us to stop by the Shore Excursion desk to book an alternative excursion. We had two days in Muscat and when we went to the Shore Excursion desk, it transpired that the same excursion was available on the second day and we had nothing booked for that day. When something like this happened on Disney, the just rebooked us and left us a note asking us to contact us if the new arrangements were not suitable.


*Crew - Draw*


I had to think long and hard about this, but in the end came to the conclusion that this is a draw. This was the second area where I had my pre-conceived ideas very much rearranged. Again, based on what I had heard from other people, I had expected Disney to walk this. Not so. I was actually wondering if this would swing in favour of Royal Caribbean. The crew members we met where friendly and sociable. We spent time getting to know and talking with people from all kinds of different departments and from all over the world. This played a big part in making the cruise special. They also went out of their way of helping you, which is why  I was temporarily leaning towards giving this to Royal Caribbean. It happened quite frequently  at the buffet that one of the passing servers offered to get our drinks for us and one afternoon when we were on deck 4 and passing crew member realised that I did not have a chair, he made it his business to find one for me. However, we also met some amazing crew members on the Disney ships.


*Service - Royal Caribbean*


This was another revelation for me and came as a complete surprise. Nothing was ever too much trouble and pretty much everything on Royal Caribbean seems to be a team effort. It was pretty normal for officers to help clear tables, etc. Our stateroom host was probably the best one we ever had. Although I most certainly do not wish to take away from the great service we have received on Disney, service on Royal Caribbean seemed to be more natural and also more consistent. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that the contracts for the crew on Royal Caribbean are longer. Their contracts are 9.5 months and I suppose with less turnover, things just settle down easier.


*Disembarkation - Royal Caribbean*


This was the smoothest disembarkation we experienced on any of our cruises. We were given a disembarkation letter and our luggage tags the day before. This showed us our estimated debarkation time. There was no assigned breakfast. We could go to any of the breakfast venues that were open when we wanted. I think this is a major advantage. For Crown and Anchor members, they had departure lounges that served continental breakfast. Even though we will be entitled to this next time as we now have our Gold status, I think we still do general debarkation. There were to separate waiting areas for debarkation and which one you ended up going to depended on your tag number. We were assigned  to the theater. They had set up refreshments there. When our tag number was called, one of the crew members escorted us downstairs. When we got to terminal, the luggage was well organised and we found our luggage very quickly. I think the process from our Sea Pass card being swiped for the last time and us being on the bus back to the airport was about 10 minutes.

*Other comments
*
One thing that was a bit of an irritation was that the Sea Pass cards seem to get demagnetised extremely easily. Both Graham and I had have our Sea Pass cards reprinted at one point as they stopped working and Graham's stopped working again the last evening. This has never happened to us on any of out Disney Cruises.

I much prefer the way they handle the customer satisfaction surveys. They don't give them out on the ship, but send out a link to an online survey to your registered email address after the cruise.

I like the fact that they have done away with tip tickets. Tips get applied to the stateroom account like on Disney, but rather than getting envelopes and tip tickets for everybody, we were just provided with a couple of envelopes in case we wanted to give somebody a little extra.

It is not just Disney that adds little magical touches. On departure from Muscat, the captain took  a detour so that we got some views of the Sultan's palace.

*Conclusion*

This truly has been a revelation for us and we will definitely be back. My goal now is to achieve diamond status. This has opened all kinds of possibilities for us. With Royal Caribbean having such a big and diverse fleet, this has opened up itineraries for us that previously I could only dream about. The next cruise on the to do list is a repositioning cruise from Beijing to Singapore in November. It does not seem fair to include the itineraries in the comparison as this feels a bit like comparing a goldfish with a blue whale, but Disney could do with becoming a bit more imaginative when it comes to itineraries. They could do a lot more with their 4 ships than they are currently doing, especially during the winter months.


----------



## bumbershoot

Nice comparison!  I agreed with just about everything (so it's a REALLY good comparison LOL).




dolphingirl47 said:


> I have to admit I prefer receiving the documents in the mail rather than having to print them myself. This especially applies to the luggage tags. I was not a fan of the print your own tags at all.



Same.

So we either print them then use purchased Royal-sized luggage tags (can buy them from cruisecritic or from amazon, though I'm not sure about shipping for you), OR we just have the porters tag them at the port.



dolphingirl47 said:


> The size of the cabin was 142 square foot compared to 184 square foot on the Magic or the Wonder, but it still felt more spacious as the layout was better and there was more storage space.



Nice!  I do love the storage space in a cruiseship stateroom, and I do think I've noticed the same thing.  There's just a ton of storage on the Royal ships.  Lots of space on Disney, tons on Royal.  At least in our experience.



dolphingirl47 said:


> We got to meet our head server the first evening as all of our table mates were muslim and Royal Caribbean seemed to have been caught a little by surprise by the need to provide halal food on a Middle Eastern itinerary.



That seems a bit odd, that they were not expecting that.



dolphingirl47 said:


> They also offered a cream tea in the afternoon



Ooh.  Nice.  Do you think that's an itinerary-specific thing, or is it something Splendour does?



dolphingirl47 said:


> It is not just Disney that adds little magical touches.



So true.



dolphingirl47 said:


> On departure from Muscat, the captain took a detour so that we got some views of the Sultan's palace.



Ooooooh.  



dolphingirl47 said:


> The next cruise on the to do list is a repositioning cruise from Beijing to Singapore in November. It does not seem fair to include the itineraries in the comparison as this feels a bit like comparing a goldfish with a blue whale



I adore your analogy.  Simile?  Uh oh, it's back to grammar class for me.

What ship will that be?  Sounds amazing.


----------



## mandymouse

What a great comparison Corinna  We did a 3 night mini cruise last year on the Anthem of the Seas and were really surprised at how much we enjoyed it.  We wouldn't hestitate to sail with them again


----------



## Pinkocto

I'm here but must come back and read.  Can't wait to hear about this trip


----------



## Buckeye Gal

Corinna, thank you for taking the time to write this.  It's been about 15 years since I've been on RCCL, and I was pleased with them then.  Great to get a trusted opinion of how they are today!


----------



## dolphingirl47

bumbershoot said:


> Nice comparison! I agreed with just about everything (so it's a REALLY good comparison LOL).



I am glad that you liked it and that we are in agreement



bumbershoot said:


> So we either print them then use purchased Royal-sized luggage tags (can buy them from cruisecritic or from amazon, though I'm not sure about shipping for you)



Oh, I have to check this out. I am not sure about Cruise Critic, but Amazon should be OK.



bumbershoot said:


> There's just a ton of storage on the Royal ships. Lots of space on Disney, tons on Royal. At least in our experience.



This is how we felt as well.



bumbershoot said:


> That seems a bit odd, that they were not expecting that.



Yes, they majorly dropped the ball on this.



bumbershoot said:


> Ooh. Nice. Do you think that's an itinerary-specific thing, or is it something Splendour does?



One of my co-workers has done different itineraries on the Splendour and he experienced this, too.



bumbershoot said:


> What ship will that be? Sounds amazing.



Ovation of the Seas



mandymouse said:


> What a great comparison Corinna



Thanks.



mandymouse said:


> We did a 3 night mini cruise last year on the Anthem of the Seas and were really surprised at how much we enjoyed it.



I may have to pick your brain on this one. Our next cruise(s) will be on the Ovation if all goes according to plan, which will be a sister ship to the Anthem.



Pinkocto said:


> I'm here but must come back and read. Can't wait to hear about this trip



Welcome. The trip report for this is still a way off. I have just started the one for my coast to coast trip and I want to get this done before I get stuck in with the cruise one. 



Buckeye Gal said:


> Corinna, thank you for taking the time to write this.



Thanks.



Buckeye Gal said:


> It's been about 15 years since I've been on RCCL, and I was pleased with them then.



That is good to hear. I kind of got the idea that they did not used to be up to much, but our experience was so positive.



Buckeye Gal said:


> Great to get a trusted opinion of how they are today!



Now I am blushing.

Corinna


----------



## Pinkocto

I loved reading about the comparisons, and I am shocked at the glowing reviews for Royal Caribbean!  I'm so glad you had such a fabulous trip!!!


----------



## DnA2010

Nice comparison! We have similar thoughts, although we have only been on RCL Oasis and Freedom and DCl Fantasy. We did find service overall better on Disney, but Dining room specific service was much better on both of our RCL cruises.


----------



## keaster

We are so excited, we are doing this itinerary January 11th! Thanks for the input and comparison, it is our first non-DCL cruise since 2001 so we are anxious to see how it plays out! We are going without our daughter, so we will not be concerned about children's activities this time


----------



## RebelHawk

We have four Disney cruises under out belt (three concierge) on the Wonder or the Dream. With the sharp increase in pricing and decrease in perks we are going to be saying farewell to DCL for a while. We're planning on giving RCCL and Celebrity a try. With the amazing reviews of RCCL it sounds to be a close competitor to DCL we are looking forward to giving them a try. Thanks for this review and we look forward to following it to hear other thoughts on this comparison.


----------



## dolphingirl47

Pinkocto said:


> I loved reading about the comparisons, and I am shocked at the glowing reviews for Royal Caribbean!



I can assure you nobody could be more surprised than I was. After my only other experience to cruise on another cruise line, I fully expected to hate every minute of it, but fortunately I could not have been more wrong. I am so excited for the next one.



DnA2010 said:


> Nice comparison!



Thanks.



DnA2010 said:


> We have similar thoughts, although we have only been on RCL Oasis and Freedom and DCl Fantasy. We did find service overall better on Disney, but Dining room specific service was much better on both of our RCL cruises.



I think this is were the smaller ship wins. The whole atmosphere is just more intimate than I imagine it would be on the bigger ships. All of our have been on ships of this kind of size. It is good to know that the dining room service was still great on the bigger ships as our next cruise will be on the Ovation.



keaster said:


> We are so excited, we are doing this itinerary January 11th!



You are in for a treat. 



keaster said:


> Thanks for the input and comparison, it is our first non-DCL cruise since 2001 so we are anxious to see how it plays out!



I hope you will love it as much as we did.



RebelHawk said:


> With the amazing reviews of RCCL it sounds to be a close competitor to DCL we are looking forward to giving them a try.



I do have the sneaky feeling that they look very carefully at what Disney is doing and some of their innovations may well have been at least in part inspired by Disney. I nearly killed myself laughing when I overheard the crew member at the Next Cruise Desk explain Dynamic Dining Classic to a couple, which is essentially exactly the same thing as Disney's rotational dining. I wonder where they got this from?

Corinna


----------



## starvenger

dolphingirl47 said:


> I do have the sneaky feeling that they look very carefully at what Disney is doing and some of their innovations may well have been at least in part inspired by Disney. I nearly killed myself laughing when I overheard the crew member at the Next Cruise Desk explain Dynamic Dining Classic to a couple, which is essentially exactly the same thing as Disney's rotational dining. I wonder where they got this from?


TBH if cruise lines are not looking at what their competitors are doing and trying to make adjustments to make the experience better, they're going to lose people and get left behind.  I saw on the RCL fan blog they're also trying things like 1 day unlimited drink packages and a pre-purchased 10-drink card.

I sort of went the other way from the OP, taking 2 trips on the Allure before going on the Fantasy last Oct. (is it 2016 already?  Man, time flies).  In fact, it was one of the reasons I joined this board, and reading posts here got me excited about it.  But the reality is that, while we definitely enjoyed ourselves (it's a cruise, after all), we ended up feeling... underwhelmed, if that's a word.  Just kept comparing things to the Allure, and on most of the points I agree with the OP.  But I'm glad we tried DCL, because you never know until you know, right?


----------



## bumbershoot

dolphingirl47 said:


> One of my co-workers has done different itineraries on the Splendour and he experienced this, too.



Cool.



dolphingirl47 said:


> Ovation of the Seas



Livin' it up!


----------



## eskimoinparadise

dolphingirl47 said:


> I do have the sneaky feeling that they look very carefully at that Disney is doing and some of their innovations may well have been at least in part inspired by Disney. I nearly killed myself laughing when I overheard the crew member at the Next Cruise Desk explain Dynamic Dining Classic to a couple, which is essentially exactly the same thing as Disney's rotational dining. I wonder where they got this from?
> 
> Corinna



Unfortunately, it works the other way as well. IMO a lot of the recent policy changes and cut-backs on DCL can be attributed to a "if no one else is doing this, then why should we" DCL reaction to "looking very carefully" at the competition.


----------



## kathleendsm

What an excellent comparison! Thank you so much! We're going on a Royal Caribbean cruise in March (our first), and I've been really nervous about not having the Disney touch. It's so great to know that on balance, your experience was as good or better!

By the way, I truly enjoy your trip reports.


----------



## eskimoinparadise

kathleendsm said:


> What an excellent comparison! Thank you so much! We're going on a Royal Caribbean cruise in March (our first), and I've been really nervous about not having the Disney touch. It's so great to know that on balance, your experience was as good or better!
> 
> By the way, I truly enjoy your trip reports.


We did eight Disney cruises before we ventured away from the mouse to try RCL. 35 RCL cruises later, we went back and did a few more Disney cruises. Still trying to figure out why we were so loyal to Disney before we tried something else. There really isn't any discernible difference in the cruise quality itself, once you strip out the "magic" (whatever that is), and for us, the "magic" doesn't justify the cost difference. If you're cruising for the magic, nothing else will do. If you're cruising because you like to cruise, trust me, the world won't end when you switch ships.


----------



## dolphingirl47

starvenger said:


> I saw on the RCL fan blog they're also trying things like 1 day unlimited drink packages



They offered those on our last day, but I did not see any details advertised anyway. For us usually one drink is plenty so I did not make any effort to find out more.



eskimoinparadise said:


> Unfortunately, it works the other way as well. IMO a lot of the recent policy changes and cut-backs on DCL can be attributed to a "if no one else is doing this, then why should we" DCL reaction to "looking very carefully" at the competition.



That is a very silly strategy. Fact is that for a family cruise line they are at the more expensive end of the spectrum so they have to stand out from the rest by offering stuff that nobody else does. 



kathleendsm said:


> What an excellent comparison! Thank you so much! We're going on a Royal Caribbean cruise in March (our first), and I've been really nervous about not having the Disney touch.



I am glad that you enjoyed it and that it was useful. I am a diehard Disney fan and I did not miss the Disney touches. The new ports and excellent service more than made up for this.



kathleendsm said:


> By the way, I truly enjoy your trip reports.



Thanks. I got a little bit behind with my trip reports. I just started my trip report for my coast to coast trip in September and October. I had no vacations until the end of September and then I had 3 in the same amount of months.



eskimoinparadise said:


> 35 RCL cruises later, we went back and did a few more Disney cruises.



That is an impressive number.



eskimoinparadise said:


> Still trying to figure out why we were so loyal to Disney before we tried something else.



I wonder of we will end up feeling the same.



eskimoinparadise said:


> If you're cruising for the magic, nothing else will do. If you're cruising because you like to cruise, trust me, the world won't end when you switch ships.



I do agree in general with this statement, but you have to do your research and have to make sure that the cruise line you choose is a good fit for you in principle. This was not our first attempt at trying another cruise line, but the first attempt turned out to be a big mistake as I had not done my research. This discouraged me from trying again for many years. I would not have tried this time either if it had not been a choice between doing this cruise or staying at home. In my book almost anything is better than staying at home.

This first attempt was NCL. For us there were two aspects that were deal-breakers for us. The first one was that we learned very quickly that Freestyle Dining did not suit us at all. We are not the kind of people who enjoy lining up for the whole length of the deck to even get a pager for the dining room. I am not sure if this is still the case, but then only suite guests were able to make reservations for the main dining rooms. I know that we will have dynamic dining on the Ovation, but there not only can we make reservations ahead of time, but it is actively encouraged. I can quite happily live with this set up and it is no different then making ADRs for when we stay at Disney parks. I am definitely a planner so this will actually help with the anticipation for this trip.

The biggest issue however was the demographic of the cruise. The average age was somewhere in the mid sixties and the entertainment was geared towards this. I was in my mid thirties at the time and bridge tournaments and tea dances do not really do it for me. So I was bored out of my skin. This was the first thing I researched when we looked into trying Royal Caribbean and I found that we would fit right in in terms of the demographics. Indeed, we found the same kind of mix of ages that we are used to from DCL.

Corinna


----------



## eskimoinparadise

dolphingirl47 said:


> That is a very silly strategy. Fact is that for a family cruise line they are at the more expensive end of the spectrum so they have to stand out from the rest by offering stuff that nobody else does.
> 
> Corinna



Absolutely silly, and yet they seem to be doing just that. From shortening the hours that the pools are open to eliminating the mickey mail and pillowcase signings, to abruptly changing their alcohol policy and replacing free venues with fee-based ones, DCL appears to be mimicking the competition in all the wrong ways.



dolphingirl47 said:


> I do agree in general with this statement, but you have to do your research and have to make sure that the cruise line you choose is a good fit for you in principle. This was not our first attempt at trying another cruise line, but the first attempt turned out to be a big mistake as I had not done my research.
> 
> This first attempt was NCL. For us there were two aspects that were deal-breakers for us. The first one was that we learned very quickly that Freestyle Dining did not suit us at all. We are not the kind of people who enjoy lining up for the whole length of the deck to even get a pager for the dining room. I am not sure if this is still the case, but then only suite guests were able to make reservations for the main dining rooms. I know that we will have dynamic dining on the Ovation, but there not only can we make reservations ahead of time, but it is actively encouraged. I can quite happily live with this set up and it is no different then making ADRs for when we stay at Disney parks. I am definitely a planner so this will actually help with the anticipation for this trip.
> 
> The biggest issue however was the demographic of the cruise. The average age was somewhere in the mid sixties and the entertainment was geared towards this. I was in my mid thirties at the time and bridge tournaments and tea dances do not really do it for me. So I was bored out of my skin. This was the first thing I researched when we looked into trying Royal Caribbean and I found that we would fit right in in terms of the demographics. Indeed, we found the same kind of mix of ages that we are used to from DCL.
> 
> Corinna



True, and the more research you do the better you choose. To paraphrase Star Trek, it's "to boldly go where no one has gone before" not "to blindly go..."

Over the years, there are a few cruise lines that have made our "one and done" list and NCL is one of them. There are also specific cruise ships that fall into that category - RCL's Majesty of the Seas, and HAL's older ships (like the Ryndam) are also on that list for us.


----------



## dolphingirl47

eskimoinparadise said:


> replacing free venues with fee-based ones



I was aware of the others, but this I had not heard about. Which venues are affected by this. Our last DCL cruise was May 2014.



eskimoinparadise said:


> RCL's Majesty of the Seas



That is good to bear in mind.

Corinna


----------



## AquaDame

I am still reading your report (my first RCCL is in 17 days so I am VERY interested in your thoughts) but it caught my eye that you said they KEEP your passports? I guess having them hold onto my expensive rum from Barbados isn't the only thing for me to (probably needlessly) fret about...


----------



## dolphingirl47

AquaDame said:


> I am still reading your report (my first RCCL is in 17 days so I am VERY interested in your thoughts) but it caught my eye that you said they KEEP your passports? I guess having them hold onto my expensive rum from Barbados isn't the only thing for me to (probably needlessly) fret about...



Yes, they do. This maybe itinerary specific as visas on arrival are required for both Oman and UAE and they arranged them for everybody on the ship. The one for the UAE is free, but we were supposed to be charged for the one for Oman. However, the charge never appeared on our account. We were able to pick up our passports in the evening after our penultimate port and this was a quick and efficient process.

Corinna


----------



## eskimoinparadise

dolphingirl47 said:


> I was aware of the others, but this I had not heard about. Which venues are affected by this. Our last DCL cruise was May 2014.
> 
> 
> 
> That is good to bear in mind.
> 
> Corinna



Eliminating the sundae station on the pool deck and moving the soft serve machines into a new venue that charges for almost everything, and eliminating the free munchies bar in the pub and replacing it with an a la carte bar food menu are the two that come immediately to mind. Eliminating the arcade (I know it wasn't free, but it was a place where kids could go and play) and replacing it with a boutique.

We so dislike the Majesty of the Seas, that when RCL announced they were moving it to PC and replacing the Enchantment, we immediately went out and booked the Disney Dream instead.


----------



## karmacats

dolphingirl47 said:


> Yes, they do. This maybe itinerary specific as visas on arrival are required for both Oman and UAE and they arranged them for everybody on the ship. The one for the UAE is free, but we were supposed to be charged for the one for Oman. However, the charge never appeared on our account. We were able to pick up our passports in the evening after our penultimate port and this was a quick and efficient process.
> 
> Corinna



We've been on 9 royal cruises and never had our passports kept, so i suspect this is itinerary-specific.  we've only cruised royal in the caribbean.  our passports go in the safe in our room and stay there.


----------



## eskimoinparadise

karmacats said:


> We've been on 9 royal cruises and never had our passports kept, so i suspect this is itinerary-specific.  we've only cruised royal in the caribbean.  our passports go in the safe in our room and stay there.


We've only seen this happen on European (both Med and Scandinavian) and Middle Eastern cruises, and even then whether they do this depends on the ports you're visiting, and the port you're departing from.


----------



## dolphingirl47

eskimoinparadise said:


> Eliminating the sundae station on the pool deck and moving the soft serve machines into a new venue that charges for almost everything, and eliminating the free munchies bar in the pub and replacing it with an a la carte bar food menu are the two that come immediately to mind. Eliminating the arcade (I know it wasn't free, but it was a place where kids could go and play) and replacing it with a boutique.



That does stink. It seems ages since we last have been on a Disney ship.



eskimoinparadise said:


> We so dislike the Majesty of the Seas, that when RCL announced they were moving it to PC and replacing the Enchantment, we immediately went out and booked the Disney Dream instead.



I read that this ship was originally supposed to leave the fleet last year, but that Royal Caribbean changed their mind at the 11th hour and that she is now set for a major overhaul.



karmacats said:


> We've been on 9 royal cruises and never had our passports kept, so i suspect this is itinerary-specific. we've only cruised royal in the caribbean. our passports go in the safe in our room and stay there.



Thanks for the clarification.



eskimoinparadise said:


> We've only seen this happen on European (both Med and Scandinavian) and Middle Eastern cruises, and even then whether they do this depends on the ports you're visiting, and the port you're departing from.



I suppose we may also experience  this on our next three cruises as well then (back to back Southampton to Barcelona and Barcelona to Dubai) and Tianjen to Singapore. I know on the Far East cruise they will arrange visas for Vietnam so they will need to keep the passports.

Corinna


----------



## tinker&belle

I am very interested in this thread. We just did our first cruise on The Magic and are hooked for cruising. We want to do another DCL but I have priced out RCCL and giving them a try is mighty tempting.

One thing we loved about DCL was how most things were all inclusive onboard. My DH has been talking to a friend at work who does other lines and he said you sometimes have to pay extra on different lines for admission to ice skating, bowling, golf etc. Is that the case on RCCL?


----------



## eskimoinparadise

tinker&belle said:


> I am very interested in this thread. We just did our first cruise on The Magic and are hooked for cruising. We want to do another DCL but I have priced out RCCL and giving them a try is mighty tempting.
> 
> One thing we loved about DCL was how most things were all inclusive onboard. My DH has been talking to a friend at work who does other lines and he said you sometimes have to pay extra on different lines for admission to ice skating, bowling, golf etc. Is that the case on RCCL?


The one NCL cruise we took didn't have bowling alleys, so no experience there, but ice skating on RCL is free, as are mini golf and surfing. The golf simulator is extra. Other than soda, everything that's free on Disney is also free on RCL.


----------



## dolphingirl47

tinker&belle said:


> One thing we loved about DCL was how most things were all inclusive onboard. My DH has been talking to a friend at work who does other lines and he said you sometimes have to pay extra on different lines for admission to ice skating, bowling, golf etc. Is that the case on RCCL?



I was very concerned about this before out cruise as I had read from various sources that Royal Caribbean tends to Nickel and Dime you to death. We had tried NCL in 2009 and there this really was our experience so I was concerned. I did not have to be. Now, as a disclaimer, I have only done one Royal Caribbean cruise and that was on one of their smaller ships (Vision Class) and the experience may be different on the larger ships with more facilities. In my limited experience, the things that require extra payment were pretty similar to DCL. They included the speciality restaurants, alcoholic and speciality drinks like smoothies and mocktails, bingo, speciality coffees, spa treatments, shore excursions and tips. The Splendour has an outlet that serves Ben and Jerry's ice cream and that had an extra charge attached to it, but I gather the same is now true on the Dream as well. However, there was free ice cream in the dining room and free soft serve on the pool deck. The shows were free as was mini golf and the rock climbing wall. 

There are a few areas where there is an charge on Royal Caribbean, but not on Disney. The only one that really had an impact on me was that soda is not included. This did not bother my husband at all and he was quite content with the filter coffee, lemonade, water and ice tea that was included. I got the soda package. Room service charges a service charge between midnight and 5:00 AM, but this does not include breakfast items and for the rest of the day, there is no charge. There is a behind the scenes tour that has a charge, but Disney does not have anything comparable. We did a galley tour that was part of the champagne brunch we had at Chops Grill and the total cost was actually cheaper than Palo and we felt that it was a really good deal. There is also charge for certain exercise classes like spinning and yoga, but others like the daily stretching class and Zumba were free. 

Corinna


----------



## starvenger

To be fair there is some nickel and dimeing that goes on. 

- If you want soda, you have to pay for it. 
- The character breakfast costs money (and imo, wasn't really that great even when it was free). 
- Some of the specialty restaurants do a la carte pricing, which can add up. 
- their navigator does a bit more of a push on "sale" items. 

All of these things are optional, so I don't know that it's a true nickel and dime tactic. 

Now, I have heard that they charge on Quantum class for going on the arm and the indoor skydiving, but this might be restricted to the China trips. And not to disparage my people (sort of. I'm Hong Kong Chinese-Canadian) but it could be RCCL adjusting to the nouveau riche attitude that can be prevalent there.


----------



## DnA2010

starvenger said:


> To be fair there is some nickel and dimeing that goes on.
> 
> - If you want soda, you have to pay for it.
> - The character breakfast costs money (and imo, wasn't really that great even when it was free).
> - Some of the specialty restaurants do a la carte pricing, which can add up.
> - their navigator does a bit more of a push on "sale" items.
> 
> All of these things are optional, so I don't know that it's a true nickel and dime tactic.
> 
> Now, I have heard that they charge on Quantum class for going on the arm and the indoor skydiving, but this might be restricted to the China trips. And not to disparage my people (sort of. I'm Hong Kong Chinese-Canadian) but it could be RCCL adjusting to the nouveau riche attitude that can be prevalent there.



I didn't feel nickelled and dimed more on Royal than on Disney- about the same really- 

The soda thing doesn't bother us as A. We don't drink it unless it has booze in it, and B. We have bought a drink package for DH which included a cup for the machines, so we did have fun with that machine, but I'd take the 1000s of savings over pop any day. 

I guess they've changed it, but our character meal on Oasis was great and there was no charge? 

We did one of the specialty restaurants and there was a la cart, but certainly didn't cost us as much as Palo (both totally worth it!) 

We did notice the sales when we happened to hear them announced but never noticed otherwise.. 

Just like the optional stuff on Disney like drinks, photos, arcade, refreshments at the theatre, stores etc


----------



## starvenger

The lack of soda didn't bother me but I know some folks love to have it. I actually didn't even use it on the Fantasy outside of getting iced tea (which imo was better on the Allure, but neither here nor there).

I'm not a huge chocolate fan, so the breakfast wasn't my cup of tea. I also felt the characters were rushed through very quickly. They started charging some time after my second trip on the Allure (July 2014) so it was free for me. 

I mentioned a la carte because it can add up. Never tried them, but we loved Giovanni's and Chops Grille. 

As for the sales, it didn't really bother me.  I actually felt DCL could've done a better job pushing products, which considering its Disney you'd think would not be a problem.


----------



## dolphingirl47

starvenger said:


> Now, I have heard that they charge on Quantum class for going on the arm and the indoor skydiving, but this might be restricted to the China trips.



Thanks for this. Everything I have read is that those activities are free. I think I better make good use of them in May when we are on the Ovation in Europe and through the Suez canal just in case they are deciding to charge once she reaches Asia.

Corinna


----------



## DnA2010

starvenger said:


> The lack of soda didn't bother me but I know some folks love to have it. I actually didn't even use it on the Fantasy outside of getting iced tea (which imo was better on the Allure, but neither here nor there).
> 
> I'm not a huge chocolate fan, so the breakfast wasn't my cup of tea. I also felt the characters were rushed through very quickly. They started charging some time after my second trip on the Allure (July 2014) so it was free for me.
> 
> I mentioned a la carte because it can add up. Never tried them, but we loved Giovanni's and Chops Grille.
> 
> As for the sales, it didn't really bother me.  I actually felt DCL could've done a better job pushing products, which considering its Disney you'd think would not be a problem.




Yes i think the character breakfast was kinda chocolate based, but we didn't worry much about the food as we were busy with the characters. Our breakfast wasn't that busy (even though there were lots of kids on the ship) so we had almost too much time with the characters - it was my 2 year old nieces first experience with characters, she really really enjoyed the parade and meeting them later on


----------



## Maple Leaf

dolphingirl47 said:


> Just in terms of background, we have done 13 cruises on Disney Cruise Line, all on the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder. We have just completed our first Royal Caribbean cruise on the Splendour of the Seas. This happened almost by default. We had hoped to get a nice deal for a Disney cruise in early December, but this did not happen. A colleague then mention the cruise on the Splendour of the Seas. This left from Dubai, which is easy and cheap for us to get to so we decided to give it a go. We were not sure what to expect, but decided to go into this with an open mind. Here are our thoughts on how they compare.
> *
> 
> Booking excursions before the cruise - Royal Caribbean *
> 
> 
> The website is more user friendly and you pay ahead of time by credit card which helps spreading the cost.
> 
> 
> *Online check in - draw*
> 
> 
> This is comparable for both in terms of user-friendliness and information required.
> 
> *
> Cruise Documents - Disney*
> 
> 
> I have to admit I prefer receiving the documents in the mail rather than having to print them myself. This especially applies to the luggage tags. I was not a fan of the print your own tags at all.
> 
> 
> *Check In - Royal Caribbean *
> 
> 
> The whole process was really smooth. We cleared security and then were directed to a table to fill out the health questionnaire. From there we were directed to a check in desk. There were separate check in desks for suite guests, various levels of membership of the Crown and Anchor Society and everybody else. This spread out the crowds quite nicely and kept waiting time to a minimum. When it was our turn, the check in process was quick and efficient. Our documents and credit card were checked, the passports kept and our Sea Passes issued. The whole process took less than 5 minutes.
> 
> *
> Boarding - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> As check in started later than we are used to, we were able to board as soon as we were checked in rather than having to wait in the terminal. Graham also particularly liked that we were not announced.
> 
> *
> Safety Drill - Disney*
> 
> 
> This is a bit of a difficult one, but on reflection Disney wins this one. The safety drill on Royal Caribbean seems to be a little bit more organised and the fact that there is more space on deck 4 helps, but this was unnecessarily drawn out by announcements in 7 or 8 different languages that do not have anything to do with the safety drill itself. Only once the last announcement was made were we dismissed.
> 
> 
> *Demographic - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> We may not be comparing apples with apples here considering the itinerary, however, as major plus point for us was how cosmopolitan this cruise was. Guests came from 162 different countries. This created a completely different atmosphere.
> 
> 
> *Cabin Readiness- Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> Our cabin was ready as soon as we got on the ship so we could drop our hand luggage off as soon as we got on board and did not have to take our carry ons to lunch.
> 
> 
> *Cabin - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> We had booked an interior guarantee cabin as this was kind of a last minute impulse. The size of the cabin was 142 square foot compared to 184 square foot on the Magic or the Wonder, but it still felt more spacious as the layout was better and there was more storage space.
> 
> 
> *Cabin (Bathroom) - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> This was a big win for us. I prefer the single bathrooms of the standard insides on Disney over the split bathrooms in most of the cabins. The Splendour has a single bathroom. I also liked that it came with a walk in shower rather than a shower over a bathtub and the water pressure of this shower was amazing.
> 
> 
> *Embarkation Lunch - draw*
> 
> 
> That was the one thing I was really worried about before the cruise as embarkation lunch on DCL can be a bit of a zoo and on Royal Caribbean only the buffet and one of the venues on the pool deck were open. However, this worked really well. We were split on this. Graham feels that Disney provides more variety, but I was really happy with the selection and variety.
> 
> 
> *Adult area - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> This is not even a contest. Royal Caribbean has an amazing adult area called The Solarium. On the Splendour, this area has comfortable loungers, tables with chairs, the Park Cafe with a bar and a drinks station plus a pool and two hot tubs. On the Splendour this is indoors and this is the only drawback as it could be a little chilly.
> 
> 
> *Spa - Disney*
> 
> 
> Again, this is not contest. In terms of treatments and cost, there is no difference and both spas are operated by Steiner Leisure. However, the spa on the Splendour felt cramped and a little dark and dingy. The absence of the equivalent of the  Rainforest Room was also a big minus point for me. I may well have to reassess this after our next Royal Caribbean cruise as that ship has a bigger spa area and a thermal suite.
> 
> 
> *Atrium - draw*
> 
> 
> The atrium on the Splendour is stunning and has more of a wow factor, but on the whole, we did not feel there was much in it.
> 
> 
> *Public areas - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> Overall, I preferred the public areas on the Splendour. The whole feeling was lighter, airier and more spacious although the Splendour is the smallest ship we have sailed on. I loved that pretty much wherever I went, there were comfortable seats scattered around. I also loved the touch screens around the area that provided an electronic copy of the Compass as well as interactive maps that helped you to find any location around the ship.
> 
> 
> *Casino - Disney*
> 
> 
> We give this to Disney for the absence of one. This is not something we have any interest in. Having said that, the casino on the Splendour was not as intrusive as I had feared and definitely less so than on the Norwegian Jade.
> 
> 
> *Theater - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> The theater on the Splendour is the most visually stunning theater I have seen on land or on sea with stained glass and a stunning chandelier. The seats are like armchairs and a lot more spacious than on Disney.
> 
> 
> *Shops - Disney*
> 
> 
> I suppose this should not have come as a surprise to me, but I was not really tempted by fairly generic branded merchandise and designer goods. We just got a model of the ship and a couple of discounted Royal Caribbean t-shirts.
> 
> 
> *Photography - Disney*
> 
> 
> In terms of quality both are comparable and the cost was lower on Royal Caribbean. Where Disney wins are that they have more space for photos. On the Splendour the areas were photos were taken were always kind of in the way. They also do not have the photo CD and the photos are still displayed on the walls and you have to find your photos. I like the system with the kiosks and folders better. On a plus point, the photographers were great and there was almost never a wait. Even for the captains photo, there were only a couple of families ahead of us.
> 
> 
> *Included drinks - Disney*
> 
> 
> This goes hands down to Disney. I like that soft drinks are included. On Royal Caribbean, there are three drinks stations all on deck 9 (buffet, Park Cafe and near the pool bar). Drinks that are on offer are filter coffee, tea, instant hot chocolate, water, lemonade, ice tea. The drink station at the Park Cafe also offered juice. I thought Disney coffee was bad, but the coffee on Royal Caribbean is even worse. What shocked me is that in the dining room in the evening, the only coffee available is speciality coffee at an extra cost.
> 
> 
> On a side note, I got the soda package and with hindsight, I would not bother again unless the ship has the Coca Cola Freestyle machines.
> 
> *
> Bring Your Own Beverage - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> In terms of policies, there is now not much in it as both Disney and Royal Caribbean allow you to bring two bottles of wine or champagne on board at the beginning of the cruise. Disney has a slight edge that they also allow beer and that you can bring wine, champagne or beer on board at the other ports. However, where Royal Caribbean scores the winning points is that they do not charge a corkage fee if you bring wine or champagne into the dining room whereas Disney charges $25 per bottle.
> 
> 
> 
> *Coffee Bar - Disney*
> 
> 
> The coffee bar on the Splendour is in the centrum area on deck 6. This looked cramped and not at all inviting. We never ended up going there for this reason. It definitely does not invite spending time relaxing as the Cove Cafe and Outlook Cafe do. The Park Cafe also offers speciality coffees and we made use of this. The speciality coffees were comparable in terms of choice and quality.
> 
> 
> *Deck Space - draw*
> 
> 
> This was comparable. Deck four on the Splendour was more spacious, but I was missing my comfortable loungers.
> 
> 
> *Bars - draw*
> 
> 
> The Viking Crown Lounge on deck 11 is a bit of a gem with a great view. I also loved  the Schooner Bar, which is comparable to Keys/ Cadillac Lounge. On the whole there is not much in it.
> 
> *
> Dining Room Experience - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> This goes hands down to Royal Caribbean. Even though the dining room was bigger than the individual dining rooms at Disney, the noise level was a lot more pleasant. This cannot be explained by demography on board either as there were plenty of children and I think in terms of proportion, this was no different from Disney. Service was comparable as was the choice of food, but the quality of food was superior on Royal Caribbean. In terms of service, the head server only turns up when needed, which I think makes a lot more sense. We got to meet our head server the first evening as all of our table mates were muslim and Royal Caribbean seemed to have been caught a little by surprise by the need to provide halal food on a Middle Eastern itinerary. On some nights, our table mates got Indian food served family style. Graham partook of this, too and said it was very nice. We did traditional assigned dining with the second seating. Graham prefers being in the same dining room every day. I prefer rotational dining, but the fact that we were in the same dining room every evening did not distract from the experience for me. On a side note, we had fantastic table mates, which definitely helped as well.
> 
> *
> Speciality Dining - draw*
> 
> 
> Out of the four speciality dining options, we only tried one: Chops Grill. Although the cuisine is different, in terms of service, quality of food and cost, this is comparable to Palo.
> 
> *
> Buffet - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> I much preferred the layout of this and with one exception, this never felt as busy as the buffets on the Disney ships. I also preferred the variety of the food that was available.
> 
> 
> *Alternative Dining Options - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> I came to this cruise with some pre-conceptions about this and had them completely rearranged. On paper Disney should have won this easily on the variety available alone. The Splendour really only has two alternative dining options: Boardwalk Dog House and Park Cafe. However, we both really enjoyed the Boardwalk Dog House and the Park Cafe turned out to be a real gem. They offered a decent breakfast including fruit, yoghurt, pastries as well as some breakfast sandwiches and burritos. At lunch they served salads, sandwiches, wraps, panini, soups, hot roast pork sandwiches and a good variety of desserts and cakes. They also offered a cream tea in the afternoon and their cookies were to die for.
> 
> *
> Entertainment - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> We were kind of split on this with Graham feeling that this was a draw. However, I am the person who got more involved in this. I felt that Royal Caribbean had a wider choice of entertainment including the usual Bingo, dance classes, music and trivia, but also a wide variety of craft classes including jewellery making classes and sports competitions. I cannot comment on the shows as we did not attend any of them. One thing that surprised me is that there were no tasting classes with exception of a wine tasting on the sea day. It will be interesting what the entertainment will be like on an itinerary with more sea days.
> 
> 
> *Sports and Recreation - draw*
> 
> 
> I have to go with a draw there. The Splendour has more facilities including a mini golf course and a rock climbing wall and the pools are bigger. However, the Solarium pool is also freezing. Neither of us tried the family pool. Where Disney does score points to even this up is that the gym is bigger and more inviting and the location of the running/ walking track is less disruptive. On the Splendour it is on deck 10, which is the main sundeck. The running track was often partially obstructed by sun loungers. I was never tempted to walk a mile there for this reason.
> 
> 
> *Excursions - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> There was a good variety of excursions available and at very fair prices. When I looked at outside excursions before the cruise, I could not really find anything significantly cheaper. This may be specific to this cruise, but I am sure we will find out in due course. The meeting process for an excursion was much smoother on Royal Caribbean.
> 
> 
> *Excursions Trouble Shooting - Disney*
> 
> 
> Disney wins on this one. Our excursion in Muscat was cancelled due to lack of participation. They just refunded us the money and invited us to stop by the Shore Excursion desk to book an alternative excursion. We had two days in Muscat and when we went to the Shore Excursion desk, it transpired that the same excursion was available on the second day and we had nothing booked for that day. When something like this happened on Disney, the just rebooked us and left us a note asking us to contact us if the new arrangements were not suitable.
> 
> 
> *Crew - Draw*
> 
> 
> I had to think long and hard about this, but in the end came to the conclusion that this is a draw. This was the second area where I had my pre-conceived ideas very much rearranged. Again, based on what I had heard from other people, I had expected Disney to walk this. Not so. I was actually wondering if this would swing in favour of Royal Caribbean. The crew members we met where friendly and sociable. We spent time getting to know and talking with people from all kinds of different departments and from all over the world. This played a big part in making the cruise special. They also went out of their way of helping you, which is why  I was temporarily leaning towards giving this to Royal Caribbean. It happened quite frequently  at the buffet that one of the passing servers offered to get our drinks for us and one afternoon when we were on deck 4 and passing crew member realised that I did not have a chair, he made it his business to find one for me. However, we also met some amazing crew members on the Disney ships.
> 
> 
> *Service - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> This was another revelation for me and came as a complete surprise. Nothing was ever too much trouble and pretty much everything on Royal Caribbean seems to be a team effort. It was pretty normal for officers to help clear tables, etc. Our stateroom host was probably the best one we ever had. Although I most certainly do not wish to take away from the great service we have received on Disney, service on Royal Caribbean seemed to be more natural and also more consistent. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that the contracts for the crew on Royal Caribbean are longer. Their contracts are 9.5 months and I suppose with less turnover, things just settle down easier.
> 
> 
> *Disembarkation - Royal Caribbean*
> 
> 
> This was the smoothest disembarkation we experienced on any of our cruises. We were given a disembarkation letter and our luggage tags the day before. This showed us our estimated debarkation time. There was no assigned breakfast. We could go to any of the breakfast venues that were open when we wanted. I think this is a major advantage. For Crown and Anchor members, they had departure lounges that served continental breakfast. Even though we will be entitled to this next time as we now have our Gold status, I think we still do general debarkation. There were to separate waiting areas for debarkation and which one you ended up going to depended on your tag number. We were assigned  to the theater. They had set up refreshments there. When our tag number was called, one of the crew members escorted us downstairs. When we got to terminal, the luggage was well organised and we found our luggage very quickly. I think the process from our Sea Pass card being swiped for the last time and us being on the bus back to the airport was about 10 minutes.
> 
> *Other comments
> *
> One thing that was a bit of an irritation was that the Sea Pass cards seem to get demagnetised extremely easily. Both Graham and I had have our Sea Pass cards reprinted at one point as they stopped working and Graham's stopped working again the last evening. This has never happened to us on any of out Disney Cruises.
> 
> I much prefer the way they handle the customer satisfaction surveys. They don't give them out on the ship, but send out a link to an online survey to your registered email address after the cruise.
> 
> I like the fact that they have done away with tip tickets. Tips get applied to the stateroom account like on Disney, but rather than getting envelopes and tip tickets for everybody, we were just provided with a couple of envelopes in case we wanted to give somebody a little extra.
> 
> It is not just Disney that adds little magical touches. On departure from Muscat, the captain took  a detour so that we got some views of the Sultan's palace.
> 
> *Conclusion*
> 
> This truly has been a revelation for us and we will definitely be back. My goal now is to achieve diamond status. This has opened all kinds of possibilities for us. With Royal Caribbean having such a big and diverse fleet, this has opened up itineraries for us that previously I could only dream about. The next cruise on the to do list is a repositioning cruise from Beijing to Singapore in November. It does not seem fair to include the itineraries in the comparison as this feels a bit like comparing a goldfish with a blue whale, but Disney could do with becoming a bit more imaginative when it comes to itineraries. They could do a lot more with their 4 ships than they are currently doing, especially during the winter months.


We actually have two cruises booked, one on rc and one on Disney. It will be interesting to see if your review compares to ours. Thanks


----------



## cmash95

just to clarify, i thought the soft serve machines were still on the dream and it was free as well as the sundae bar. I hadn't heard they took those away. even though they do have the new shop, and they still do free snacks late night in the adult areas of the ships.


----------



## quagmire0

The Disney Cruise vs. other Cruise lines mode of thinking reminds me of the Onsite vs. Offsite discussion at Disney World.  In either scenario, staying with Disney is much more expensive for comparable accommodations and most people consider the 'Disney Magic' to be the reason they go with them vs. the alternative.  I've never gone on DCL (full disclosure), but I've been on RCCL and CCL and have done price comparisons between that and DCL. I just don't see where the extra cost is justified - especially when you're talking about a larger family.  Your review supports that viewpoint.


----------



## starvenger

I feel like onsite/offsite has many more variables going on though - are you going to the parks only, did you want to cook your own food etc. 

The cruise lines are much closer to an "apples to apples" comparison, I think. 

That said, I do get what you're driving at with your analogy


----------



## jenf22

dolphingirl47 said:


> This truly has been a revelation for us and we will definitely be back. My goal now is to achieve diamond status. This has opened all kinds of possibilities for us. With Royal Caribbean having such a big and diverse fleet, this has opened up itineraries for us that previously I could only dream about.



I was just telling someone at work this very thing... Once we discovered we didn't HAVE to cruise DCL, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities.  There are so many amazing itineraries out there!  Thanks for your review.


----------



## dolphingirl47

jenf22 said:


> I was just telling someone at work this very thing... Once we discovered we didn't HAVE to cruise DCL, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities. There are so many amazing itineraries out there! Thanks for your review.



We are doing a Barcelona to Dubai cruise in May and if we like the ship (Ovation of the Seas), we will book a Hong Kong to Singapore cruise for November while we are on board. Those are itineraries that previously we would not even have dreamed of.

Corinna


----------



## ldo

we don't necessarily do different ports than DCL, but RCCL can give a much more affordable to do it at all. We did a family cabin for 6 for the Baltics on RCCL for $3500 in 2010! I just priced family cabins for 6 for Explorer July 2017 Alaska--$5700. We just aren't going to spend $10K+ for a cruise.


----------



## starvenger

dolphingirl47 said:


> We are doing a Barcelona to Dubai cruise in May and if we like the ship (Ovation of the Seas), we will book a Hong Kong to Singapore cruise for November while we are on board. Those are itineraries that previously we would not even have dreamed of.


You should be aware that the HK-Singapore cruises are designed to cater more to Asians, so you'll see more mainland Chinese on board and they can be... interesting.


----------



## melmar136

Thanks so much for your comparison. I booked Harmony of the Seas for this Nov. because DCL is just pricing us out. $4200 on the Fantasy in an inside stateroom, or $3100 in a gty inside standard on the Magic, so we went with the Harmony for $2500 for an ocean view, same timeframe. I was Kinda of bummed at first that we weren't doing DCL, but the more I read about RCI, the more excited I'm getting!


----------



## Frozen2014

Great comparison.  Interesting to hear too that even though the stateroom is smaller on Splendor of the Seas, that it felt more spacious.
I've been on both Disney Magic and Royal's Grandeur (many years ago) and Voyager (15 years ago) ,  All are great ships but very different.


----------



## dolphingirl47

starvenger said:


> You should be aware that the HK-Singapore cruises are designed to cater more to Asians, so you'll see more mainland Chinese on board and they can be... interesting.



Yes, I am aware of this. However, one of my co-workers did a similar cruise last year and he was OK so I assume we will be as well.



melmar136 said:


> so we went with the Harmony for $2500 for an ocean view, same timeframe. I was Kinda of bummed at first that we weren't doing DCL, but the more I read about RCI, the more excited I'm getting!



That is a fantastic price and the Harmony looks like a really great ship.



Frozen2014 said:


> Interesting to hear too that even though the stateroom is smaller on Splendor of the Seas, that it felt more spacious.



The cabin was just really well designed.



Frozen2014 said:


> All are great ships but very different.



I could not agree more. I have a special place in my heart for the Disney Wonder, but I have enjoyed every ship I have been on.

Corinna


----------



## Brancaneve

The Dreams Unlimited Podcast recently had a show all about the DCL/RCCL comparison that was very interesting.  Check it out if you are looking for more information.


----------



## bumbershoot

AquaDame said:


> I am still reading your report (my first RCCL is in 17 days so I am VERY interested in your thoughts) but it caught my eye that you said they KEEP your passports? I guess having them hold onto my expensive rum from Barbados isn't the only thing for me to (probably needlessly) fret about...




My mobile device wasn't showing all posts until after this reply. Needed to go back and see that it had been responded to already. 

What I said was...

I didn't see that in dolphingirl's report but is that where you saw it? If so it's likely a combo of her nationality and where they were. 

For our three cruises (not in the Middle East) they haven't held on to our passports. 


Which is about what others said. 

But I was late in the reply bc I didn't see the date of the question. Silly mobile.


----------



## bumbershoot

DnA2010 said:


> Yes i think the character breakfast was kinda chocolate based, but we didn't worry much about the food as we were busy with the characters. Our breakfast wasn't that busy (even though there were lots of kids on the ship) so we had almost too much time with the characters - it was my 2 year old nieces first experience with characters, she really really enjoyed the parade and meeting them later on



They started charging shortly after our January 2014 cruise for those who didn't already have reservations.

It is the chocolate breakfast so yes it was chocolate based. . And it was lousy, and we went straight up to windjammer for actual food, even when it was free. Ds feels too grown for the breakfast now (and he was the oldest kid there when we went, which was odd), but I wouldn't pay for that food.


----------



## Riggsy

Does anyone know if RC does something similar to FEs? Have looked for sign-ups but haven't seen any.
I'm very nervous, I'm going on Independence of the Seas, and I've only been on Disney ships previously (Wonder, Fantasy, and Dream). Anyone been on IOS? 
Great forum, I'm going to try to find the podcast mentioned above.


----------



## msjprincess

Riggsy said:


> *Does anyone know if RC does something similar to FEs?* Have looked for sign-ups but haven't seen any.
> I'm very nervous, I'm going on Independence of the Seas, and I've only been on Disney ships previously (Wonder, Fantasy, and Dream). Anyone been on IOS?
> Great forum, I'm going to try to find the podcast mentioned above.


I've never seen anything like that. But I'm not positive.

I sailed on Independence this past summer and I'm booked for next year. I'll try to answer, if you have any specific questions.


----------



## eskimoinparadise

Riggsy said:


> Does anyone know if RC does something similar to FEs? Have looked for sign-ups but haven't seen any.
> I'm very nervous, I'm going on Independence of the Seas, and I've only been on Disney ships previously (Wonder, Fantasy, and Dream). Anyone been on IOS?
> Great forum, I'm going to try to find the podcast mentioned above.


Not exactly. RCL does what they call "meet & mingle's" that you sign up for (I believe the link is on Cruise Critic on the Roll Call boards). They hold a party on the ship and people bring FE-like gifts to exchange. RCL also hands out a bunch of logo stuff to everyone who attends.


----------



## Riggsy

Thanks! I don't see anything mentioned in terms of mixology, wine-tasting,  etc. Does RC offer classes like those?


----------



## dolphingirl47

Riggsy said:


> Thanks! I don't see anything mentioned in terms of mixology, wine-tasting,  etc. Does RC offer classes like those?



On the Splendour they only had a wine tasting on the sea day.

Corinna


----------



## msjprincess

Riggsy said:


> Thanks! I don't see anything mentioned in terms of mixology, wine-tasting,  etc. Does RC offer classes like those?


I took  a quick look at my the daily Compasses from Independence. They list wine tasting, beer tasting, a martini class, bartending class.


----------



## ldo

I have been on IOS sister ship (same layout). It's a fine ship. Nice facilities. There is no FE, but you can "meet" some of your fellow cruisers on cruisecritic.com "mix and mingle" forum. They do have some limited tasting classes. They do not have the same level of organized daily activities as DCL, IMHO, but they have putt-putt, climbing wall, ice skating, flow rider. There is no movie theater, but they usually show a movie or two in the show theater on sea days.  As long as you realize it's not DCL, and go in with an attitude that you probably saved a lot on the IOS cruise, and are going for family time, fun, sun, sand, and some good ports and you'll have a great time. No need to be worried.


----------



## ludari

I just returned yesterday from a 12-day cruise on my first Royal Caribbean Cruise (Anthem of the Seas). This was the first Anthem cruise that was sailed successfully after the ship had a string of bad luck with three previous sailings.  Although I had a great time and enjoy the time I spent sailing with my friends (I typically cruise solo) I will definitely stick with DCL.  Don't get me wrong I agree with a lot the review comments made by the original poster but they are things that DCL does that are more important to me that make my vacation/cruise more enjoyable.


----------



## dolphingirl47

ludari said:


> I just returned yesterday from a 12-day cruise on my first Royal Caribbean Cruise (Anthem of the Seas). This was the first Anthem cruise that was sailed successfully after the ship had a string of bad luck with three previous sailings.  Although I had a great time and enjoy the time I spent sailing with my friends (I typically cruise solo) I will definitely stick with DCL.  Don't get me wrong I agree with a lot the review comments made by the original poster but they are things that DCL does that are more important to me that make my vacation/cruise more enjoyable.



I am sure we will continue to do the odd Disney cruise. We have many happy memories from our Disney cruises. However, for the time being, it is nice to be able to spread our wings a little and go to places were Disney either does not go or where Disney charges too much of a premium.

I would be interested in reading about your take of the Anthem. We are going on one of the sister ships (Ovation of the Seas) in 50 days and the whole concept is a brave new world to me. So the experience of the Anthem from somebody who normally cruises Disney is of great interest to me.

Corinna


----------



## ludari

dolphingirl47 said:


> I am sure we will continue to do the odd Disney cruise. We have many happy memories from our Disney cruises. However, for the time being, it is nice to be able to spread our wings a little and go to places were Disney either does not go or where Disney charges too much of a premium.
> 
> I would be interested in reading about your take of the Anthem. We are going on one of the sister ships (Ovation of the Seas) in 50 days and the whole concept is a brave new world to me. So the experience of the Anthem from somebody who normally cruises Disney is of great interest to me.
> 
> Corinna


Corinna,

I have completed eight Disney Cruises in the past five years so I'm not sure if my expectations where influenced by my dedication to DCL but I did go on my Anthem cruise with an open mind and a desire to have fun.  That being said the price for my Anthem cruise was far less than a Disney 7 day cruise so that was great.  Also the Anthem is a beautiful ship and they are plenty of activities on the ship for everyone that DCL doesn't do/have such as bumper cars, rock climbing, virtual skydiving, roller skating, wave machine, casino, trapeze fun and north star viewing, etc.  I also like the technology around the ship such as the virtual/interactive hallway maps, robot bar but my favorite was the Two70 room with virtual wall (in the evening) and robotic HD screens. RCCL does a great job in managing the thousands of people around the ship with all these activities that it never felt too crowded.

I also took advantage of some of the paid specialty restaurants by dinning at Wonderland, Chef's Table @ Prime, Jamie's Italian, Michael's Pub and even Johnny Rockets. The food at the specialty restaurants where good and my favorites where the Chef's table and Jamie's Italian.  Wonderland is a unique experience and the food was good but I was probably never visit that restaurant again.  RCCL has copied DCL and does the rotational dining which I enjoy but the food was nothing special and IMHO below DCL as far as taste. I also thought that the Windjammer had the same menu/spread everyday during lunch which was discouraging. I'm not a soda drinker but if you are or have children that do like soda it's going to cost you. The tea and lemonade dispenser is syrup mixed with water and I either got too much syrup or too much water.

The shows on the Anthem where horrible and after one of the shows (The Gift) which by the way had wonderful props I asked my friend sitting next to me what did he think? His response was "What the hell did I just watch" which was my feeling as well.  The same was true of the Rock of Ages which was discouraging because I am a Queen fan, nevertheless the cast are very talented for both shows but it's the stories for these shows that is lacking.

The service was far below my experiences with Disney and it also seemed like the crew was not happy or didn't get along with each other and it was clear something was wrong but I couldn't put my finger on it.  I also had one issue in the dining room, spa and shore excursion desk that Disney would probably wouldn't let happen or would have resolved immediately and not try to send me off to someone else. I also didn't like the constant sales push and big sales in the Royal Esplanade area, the numerous jewelry shopping presentations on the stateroom television. Speaking of the stateroom television the channel selection is bad and they charge for movies so DCL is clearly better.

I'm going to end here and just say that my reasons for sticking with Disney are simply the service, crew and the shows. If you have any specific questions I didn't answer please PM me I will be more than happy to do my best to answer them.


----------



## bumbershoot

Currently on Freedom (hubby and son are watching How to Train Your Dragon) and am not missing DCL at all. 


(Got the internet package because our offer on a house was accepted a few days before sailing. Call it a mortgage expense.)


----------



## dolphingirl47

ludari said:


> Corinna,
> 
> I have completed eight Disney Cruises in the past five years so I'm not sure if my expectations where influenced by my dedication to DCL but I did go my Anthem cruise with an open mind and a desire to have fun.  That being said the price for my Anthem cruise was far less than a Disney 7 day cruise so that was great.  Also the Anthem is a beautiful ship and they are plenty of activities on the ship for everyone that DCL doesn't do/have such as bumper cars, rock climbing, virtual skydiving, roller skating, wave machine, casino, trapeze fun and north star viewing, etc.  I also like the technology around the ship such as the virtual/interactive hallway maps, robot bar but my favorite was the Two70 room with virtual wall (in the evening) and robotic HD screens. RCCL does a great job in managing the thousands of people around the ship with all these activities that it never felt too crowded.
> 
> I also took advantage of some of the paid specialty restaurants by dinning at Wonderland, Chef's Table @ Prime, Jamie's Italian, Michael's Pub and even Johnny Rockets. The food at the specialty restaurants where good and my favorites where the Chef's table and Jamie's Italian.  Wonderland is a unique experience and the food was good but I was probably never visit that restaurant again.  RCCL has copied DCL and does the rotational dining which I enjoy but the food was nothing special and IMHO below DCL as far as taste. I also thought that the Windjammer had the same menu/spread everyday during lunch which was discouraging. I'm not a soda drinker but if you are or have children that do like soda it's going to cost you. The tea and lemonade dispenser is syrup mixed with water and I either got too much syrup or too much water.
> 
> The shows on the Anthem where horrible and after one of the shows (The Gift) which by the way had wonderful props I asked my friend sitting next to me what did he think? His response was "What the hell did I just watch" which was my feelings as well.  The same was true of the Rock of Ages which was discouraging because I am a Queen fan. The cast where great and are talented but it's the stories for these shows that is lacking.
> 
> The service was far below my experiences with Disney and it also seemed like the crew was not happy or didn't get along with each other and it was clear something was wrong but I couldn't put my finger on it.  I also had one issue in the dining room, spa and shore excursion desk that Disney would probably wouldn't let happen or would have resolved immediately and not try to send me off to someone else. I also didn't like the constant sales push and big sales in the Royal Esplanade area, the numerous jewelry shopping presentations on the stateroom television. Speaking of the stateroom television the channel selection is bad and they charge for movies so DCL is clearly better.
> 
> I'm going to end here and just say that my reasons for sticking with Disney are simply the service, crew and the shows. If you have any specific questions I didn't answer please PM me I will be more than happy to do my best to answer them.



Thanks, I really appreciate this. We have done 13 cruises on DCL between 2008 and 2014 and we enjoyed all of them. However, we got to the point that we had done most itinerary multiple times and were looking for something new. 

Our first Royal Caribbean cruise was an Arabian Gulf Cruise. The upcoming one is a Suez Canal cruise and then we are hoping for Asia in November. Unlike you, I did not go with an open mind. We got a deal on the December cruise where it would actually have cost us more to stay at home so we decided to go for it as I was interested in the ports. I fully expected to hate the cruise. We swayed from DCL once previously in 2009 and tried NCL and that was not for us at all. I expected a repeat of this. What we did find was food and service that was nothing short of wonderful. The crew was amazing. 

I don't do the shows on Disney either. I have never done any of the variety shows and after out Westbound Transatlantic in 2010, I was done with the production shows, too. We did not do any of the shows on the Splendour and I rather suspect that the same will be true on the Ovation.

I am aware of soda costing extra, but it looks like we are going to have the Coca Cola Freestyle machines on the Ovation and I am happy to pay for this as this is a special treat for me. My husband does not drink soda. He mainly drinks water with the odd ice tea and he much preferred the ice tea on the Splendour to the Nestea that comes out of the machines on the Magic and the Wonder. 

I have a couple of questions and will send you a PM when I get back from work this evening.

Corinna


----------



## short1882

Any specific comments on comparison of the kids clubs between DCL & RCCL? We've only been on 1 cruise, Dream. That's my biggest concern!! We have a 3 year old & 6 yr old currently & looking to plan summer 2017...TIA


----------



## dolphingirl47

short1882 said:


> Any specific comments on comparison of the kids clubs between DCL & RCCL? We've only been on 1 cruise, Dream. That's my biggest concern!! We have a 3 year old & 6 yr old currently & looking to plan summer 2017...TIA



Unfortunately I cannot help with this as we do not have kids.

Corinna


----------



## short1882

no worries, I ended up finding a thread about it!!


----------



## ukintheus

As usual I am late to the party  but this is great Corinna, thank you for all the info.  We have 14 cruises with DCL under our belt and, like you, we don't have children and just feel the need to try something new.  I would have loved to book one of the Southern Caribbean itineraries on the Fantasy next year, but just can't justify that pricing.  We are booked to sail on the Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston next April.  It goes to Rotan and Belize, so places we haven't been to on DCL, and we can see how we like it.  I completely agree that there is something to be said for looking into a cruise line that will give more options for itinerary.    It's no coincidence that many of us that have sailed DCL many times and love it are looking into other options these days.


----------



## dolphingirl47

ukintheus said:


> but this is great Corinna, thank you for all the info.



I am glad that this has been helpful.



ukintheus said:


> We are booked to sail on the Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston next April. It goes to Rotan and Belize, so places we haven't been to on DCL, and we can see how we like it.



I hope that you enjoy your cruise. We are heading for a cruise on the Ovation of the Seas very soon and I think I may be more excited about this then I ever was for a Disney cruise and that means a lot.

Corinna


----------



## eeyorefanuk

Hi corrina

I thought I saw your name on the other board

We did anthem last year, strangely enough bumped into Mandy mouse and loved it

Loved the choice of food in the buffet, entertainment, ship itself, solarium

We are trying the harmony this year


----------



## Riggsy

ldo said:


> I have been on IOS sister ship (same layout). It's a fine ship. Nice facilities. There is no FE, but you can "meet" some of your fellow cruisers on cruisecritic.com "mix and mingle" forum. They do have some limited tasting classes. They do not have the same level of organized daily activities as DCL, IMHO, but they have putt-putt, climbing wall, ice skating, flow rider. There is no movie theater, but they usually show a movie or two in the show theater on sea days.  As long as you realize it's not DCL, and go in with an attitude that you probably saved a lot on the IOS cruise, and are going for family time, fun, sun, sand, and some good ports and you'll have a great time. No need to be worried.[/Q
> 
> Thanks for the help everyone! I enjoyed IOS, but similar to other posters, I still prefer DCL. However, it seems like I haven't been able to find a good deal on DCL in quite a while, and RC is much less expensive, so I am doing RC again next time; we booked while on board. We felt the Windjammer buffet was not as good as Cabanas. And the shows were not particularly good. The performers were excellent, but the shows were lacking. I also missed the movie theater. The dining room staff was not nearly as attentive as Disney, and I missed rotational dining. Those are the cons. The pros were that we ran into some really great staff on IOS. I would almost have gone back on the same ship just to see them again. The drinks are better on RC (not that that probably matters to most Disney folks), and I tried gambling for the first time, which was a lot of fun. Our room (balcony) was more spacious than the balcony rooms on Disney, or at least the layout made it feel that way. I really liked that the bed was right next to the balcony so you could lie in bed and look outside. The ice rink and show was amazing. We enjoyed doing some 'non-Disney' trivia. The elevators never seemed as congested as the main elevators were on Disney. So, IMHO, RC is well worth it for the price.


----------



## dolphingirl47

eeyorefanuk said:


> We did anthem last year, strangely enough bumped into Mandy mouse and loved it



I am glad you enjoyed it. I am really excited in trying Ovation soon.



eeyorefanuk said:


> Loved the choice of food in the buffet, entertainment, ship itself, solarium



The Solarium is probably what I am looking forward to most.



eeyorefanuk said:


> We are trying the harmony this year



I am already a little scared that Ovation is too big for us as we have only ever cruised on ships that are similar in size to the Magic and the Wonder. The sheer size of Harmony blows my mind.

Corinna


----------



## mevelandry

Love this thread. It convinced me to book with RCCL!


----------



## MouseOfCards

Very helpful, thanks! Our kids are young (under 5). I read that DCL is better for the very young kids like ours, but RCCL is better for the 10 and above set. Is this true? Any thoughts on this?


----------



## ldo

coutner view: we love DCL. But, my kids under 10 loved RCCL's kids clubs and preferred them to DCL. Once they were tweens+, they strongly preferred DCL and now as teens like DCL better for activities, movie theater, etc.
When they were 4-5, they liked the more structured kids club and really liked the kids club on Coco Cay. At 9, DS even stayed in kids club instead of going on an excursion. I felt there was more staff interaction and attention on RCCL. Granted, we usually cruise at peak times and there were probably more kids on DCL than RCCL. Also, for 12+, RCCL clubs are usually only staffed after dinner vs. all day on DCL. RCCL will have activities around the ship, like putt-putt tourny, basketball, scavanger hunt, etc., but it is not secure programming.


----------



## MouseOfCards

ldo said:


> coutner view: we love DCL. But, my kids under 10 loved RCCL's kids clubs and preferred them to DCL. Once they were tweens+, they strongly preferred DCL and now as teens like DCL better for activities, movie theater, etc.
> When they were 4-5, they liked the more structured kids club and really liked the kids club on Coco Cay. At 9, DS even stayed in kids club instead of going on an excursion. I felt there was more staff interaction and attention on RCCL. Granted, we usually cruise at peak times and there were probably more kids on DCL than RCCL. Also, for 12+, RCCL clubs are usually only staffed after dinner vs. all day on DCL. RCCL will have activities around the ship, like putt-putt tourny, basketball, scavanger hunt, etc., but it is not secure programming.


That's surprising and totally opposite of what I've read on these forums. I did hear of the more staff attention on RCCL. Thanks for the info on the RCCL teen clubs only staffed after dinner. Do you still lean towards DCL even as their prices outpace RCCL?


----------



## ldo

yes, if we can get something not too bad, but it varies. What my young kids did on RCCL: bingo with prizes, decorate a cardboard guitar and then have a fake band, other simple crafts and games. Older ships with lots of low tech stuff. Last one was in 2010 with younger kids, so it might have changed and mega ships might be more like DCL kids clubs.
We just did 8 day RCCL for Easter. No complaints, but my shy teens did not even step foot in the teen club. We took board games, which we used once per sea day--we knew we had to make our our fun on sea days. My teens did not do flow rider or rock climber. But, the cruise for OV for 4 persons was $2500 with 4 port stops. We booked a 2016 DCL that was reasonable priced. But, for 2017, the prices are just too much for peak times. I just won't pay $7K for a 4-5 night cruise, much less $9K for a weeklong cruise--maybe if it's Alaska, but not to the Carib. We would just go to WDW instead.
For those who have sports oriented older kids who would try rock climbing, flow rider, etc., RCCL would be great. There is just no way my teens would do a basketball contest, but they might hang out in the Vibe/Edge.


----------



## MouseOfCards

Wow, that's quite a price difference (RCCL 8-Day OV for 4 persons $2500 versus DCL 4-5 night $7K or 7 night $9K)! What type of rooms were you looking at on the DCL cruises?


----------



## ldo

both for OV, Easter week. I know that $2500 was a great rate (older ship), which is why we went with RCCL. That RCCL rate rose to $5K+ at 6 months out. But, when deciding for Easter 2016, a one week was $7500 for OV on Fantasy 4 persons (opening day), 2017 it is $8500. Christmas 2017 was $7300 for a Verandah for 5 persons for 4 nights, so not exactly apples to apples. But too much for us, who have to  travel at school breaks.  OTOH, some of the 2016 European cruises were about the same price as other cruiselines.


----------



## dolphingirl47

mevelandry said:


> Love this thread. It convinced me to book with RCCL!



I am glad that I could be of assistance.



MouseOfCards said:


> Very helpful, thanks! Our kids are young (under 5). I read that DCL is better for the very young kids like ours, but RCCL is better for the 10 and above set. Is this true? Any thoughts on this?



Unfortunately I cannot help with this as we do not have kids. On our recent cruise we only had 74 people under the age of 18.

Corinna


----------



## MouseOfCards

dolphingirl47 said:


> I am glad that I could be of assistance.
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately I cannot help with this as we do not have kids. On our recent cruise we only had 74 people under the age of 18.
> 
> Corinna


Are you saying that there were only 74 people under the age of 18 on the entire ship?!


----------



## dolphingirl47

MouseOfCards said:


> Are you saying that there were only 74 people under the age of 18 on the entire ship?!



Yes, indeed. We did a repositioning cruise from Barcelona to Dubai on the Ovation of the Seas, which lasted 16 days. May is a difficult time of the year as this is exam time in Europe and coming up to the end of the year in the USA. The age range was a bit older than on our previous Royal Caribbean cruise in general. I think it took a couple of days before of the cruise before I saw the first kid. For the whole of the cruise, I never saw anybody in the teen area.

Corinna


----------



## gumbypee

so I am already booked on Rhapsody out of Tampa in Jan 2017 - my two "fears" (not sure that is the right word- comparing it to my amazing Disney cruise) is that the nighttime shows are not Broadway caliber and are just magician or jugglers or something boring.  I know I don't have to go to the shows but I loved them on DCL.  Also, are there lots of daily activities - there are only two sea days but on DCL, I liked to do things such as trivia, animation classes, etc , I never even went to the pool


----------



## dolphingirl47

gumbypee said:


> so I am already booked on Rhapsody out of Tampa in Jan 2017 - my two "fears" (not sure that is the right word- comparing it to my amazing Disney cruise) is that the nighttime shows are not Broadway caliber and are just magician or jugglers or something boring.  I know I don't have to go to the shows but I loved them on DCL.  Also, are there lots of daily activities - there are only two sea days but on DCL, I liked to do things such as trivia, animation classes, etc , I never even went to the pool



Since i did this comparison, I have done a 16 night cruise on the Ovation of the Seas. Now the Ovation and her sister ships Quantum and Anthem is a very different animal from the rest of the fleet and we had an absolute ball. There is some stuff that the Ovation has that the ships that do not belong to that class of ship do not, but I still got a good idea on activities. There was plenty of trivia, lectures, craft classes, dance classes, a choir, sports competitions, Zumba, etc. In terms of entertainment, there were the variety type shows (comedians, magicians, etc.), tribute bands and three production shows. I went to two of them. What they were both missing was a coherent storyline, but the singing, dancing, acrobatics and special effects were top notch and I enjoyed the shows for that reason. The ships that we are going on for the next two cruises have ice shows and I cannot wait for this.

Corinna


----------



## gumbypee

dolphingirl47 said:


> Since i did this comparison, I have done a 16 night cruise on the Ovation of the Seas. Now the Ovation and her sister ships Quantum and Anthem is a very different animal from the rest of the fleet and we had an absolute ball. There is some stuff that the Ovation has that the ships that do not belong to that class of ship do not, but I still got a good idea on activities. There was plenty of trivia, lectures, craft classes, dance classes, a choir, sports competitions, Zumba, etc. In terms of entertainment, there were the variety type shows (comedians, magicians, etc.), tribute bands and three production shows. I went to two of them. What they were both missing was a coherent storyline, but the singing, dancing, acrobatics and special effects were top notch and I enjoyed the shows for that reason. The ships that we are going on for the next two cruises have ice shows and I cannot wait for this.
> 
> Corinna



yes, I'm afraid the Rhapsody won't have big production shows that I am aware of, is that correct?  Kinda bummed about that but it was a close home port so that was the ship for me this time.  I think I will like the feel of it being a small ship, and I don't need bells and whistles, but I do like entertainment


----------



## dolphingirl47

gumbypee said:


> yes, I'm afraid the Rhapsody won't have big production shows that I am aware of, is that correct?  Kinda bummed about that but it was a close home port so that was the ship for me this time.  I think I will like the feel of it being a small ship, and I don't need bells and whistles, but I do like entertainment



The Rhapsody does not have a ice rink and does not have any of the headliner shows like Cats, Mamma Mia, etc. However, it will have a production show of some description. The Rhapsody is part of the same class that I sailed on when I did this comparison and one thing they have that is unique to this class of ships is the aerial shows in the Centrum. We got three on the Splendour and they were extremely popular. We absolutely loved the Splendour and did not really feel we were missing anything. I am still upset that we will never get to sail on her again as she left the fleet in spring.

Corinna


----------



## msjprincess

gumbypee said:


> so I am already booked on Rhapsody out of Tampa in Jan 2017 - my two "fears" (not sure that is the right word- comparing it to my amazing Disney cruise) is that the nighttime shows are not Broadway caliber and are just magician or jugglers or something boring.  I know I don't have to go to the shows but I loved them on DCL.  Also, are there lots of daily activities - there are only two sea days but on DCL, I liked to do things such as trivia, animation classes, etc , I never even went to the pool




You can check this site for recent Compasses http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass


----------



## gumbypee

dolphingirl47 said:


> The Rhapsody does not have a ice rink and does not have any of the headliner shows like Cats, Mamma Mia, etc. However, it will have a production show of some description. The Rhapsody is part of the same class that I sailed on when I did this comparison and one thing they have that is unique to this class of ships is the aerial shows in the Centrum. We got three on the Splendour and they were extremely popular. We absolutely loved the Splendour and did not really feel we were missing anything. I am still upset that we will never get to sail on her again as she left the fleet in spring.
> 
> Corinna



Ah ok, good to know you were on the same class as rhapsody. Thank you for your review.  I am looking forward to aerial shows!!


----------



## gumbypee

msjprincess said:


> You can check this site for recent Compasses http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass



Wow! Thank you!!!!!!


----------

