IS it worth 3x the money?

[UNDDisney]

We did a western Caribbean 7 day with Royal Caribbean two years ago and did basically the same itinerary on the Fantasy last month. For us, with two kids who weren't completely enamored with the kids club, we decided that we enjoyed the RC cruise just as much as the Disney cruise and the cost was about 1/3 less. Did I love the Disney cruise? Absolutely! Do I still dream about another day at Castaway Cay? Of course! But for the money, we will probably not return to DCL unless I find a deal that I just can't pass up.

@CinderellaDream - May I ask which RCI ship and how old your kids are? I have been looking at Voyager class for our family. DH and I did Allure and thought it was AMAZING, but think a smaller ship with our younger kids would be better (I know Voyager is still not small! We were on Voyager for our honeymoon when it was RCI's biggest ship!)

 

[cruiser21]

On the disney cruise line board it is. On other boards even the community thread on the disboards it's probably not. Pop on over to cruise critic and it certainly is not.
It a tough question to get an objective opinion on when your asking in a place that is so partisan.

 

[All about me]

Personally, I would not consider doing any cruise line but Disney with children. If I were unwilling or unable to pay the premium of a Disney cruise, I would skip that type of vacation until the children were in their teens (and then likely do Norwegian).

My grandson and I did a four-day Disney Bahamas cruise for his fourth birthday in 2005 and he loved it so much (when so much means had to pry his little hands off the luggage room's door frame to get him off the ship), we returned to do a seven-day Disney Eastern Caribbean cruise in for his seventh birthday in 2008. We then planned to do the tentatively scheduled ten-day Disney Mexican Riviera cruise out of California for his tenth birthday in 2011 but the bottom fell out the economy in between and it did not materialize.

So we decided to try something different and went with visiting Universal Studios for two days and then sailing on a seven-day Royal Caribbean Western Caribbean cruise. Royal Caribbean had the exact same itinerary as the Disney Western Caribbean cruise, it would be a whole new experience and it was a thousand dollars less. And it is not like we were/are huge Disney fans. We only sailed with Disney that first time because we were vacationing with huge Disney fans and they planned the trip.

Oh, what a mistake. Disney's child-geared entertainment and kids club were easily worth that extra thousand dollars. Not having the adult vibe, which included gambling, and the constant money-grubbing would have been worth even more.

I am taking my two granddaughters, ages 8 and 9, on a seven-day Disney Western Caribbean cruise in October. It is a little over twice the price of a comparable Royal Caribbean cruise (and a little under twice the price of a comparable Norwegian cruise). I only know that because I just looked it up. Even knowing that I have no regrets. Even if Royal Caribbean was a third of the price, I wouldn't have any regrets.

But if Disney was three times Royal Caribbean's price, we wouldn't be going.

 

[kerry1379]

I agree with the previous posters-there are many specifics to compare-especially the personal needs/likes of you and your family. But you are right-3X the cost is hard to take.
My family has done 2 Disney cruises. Our whole family loves them-they are what got us hooked on cruising. My husband and I tried out Royal Caribbean this past month when it was just the two of us for our anniversary. We went specifically on a different line to see if we could be happy with a switch and save money. For us-looking at it with our kids in mind as well as for us adults-the answer was no. For our kids-we have a special needs child. On Disney, he loves the touch screens in the kids club, the character meet and greets, and the interactive game on the Fantasy/Dream with the pictures throughout the ship (Midship detective agency). We looked around the ship on Royal Caribbean for things he would enjoy and didn't find anything that would suit him. (Granted we were on the Radiance,which is one of their smaller, older ships. But he can't do zip lines, and flow riders, etc, so I am not sure that the bigger ships would suit him either.) From an adult perspective, my husband and I don't drink or gamble. While I don't begrudge those that enjoy those things-I was surprised how much of the activities seemed to revolve around those things-not all, but more than I expected. I never really seemed to run into that on Disney. And, at least for the time being, the casino on Royal allows smoking. The smell of smoke really bothers my husband and I. Because the casino had no doors and was located by the Centrum (Atrium) which is like a hollow tube that runs up the center of the ship-the smell of smoke was noticeable on just about every floor and super strong on the floor/and one above/and one below the casino. Perhaps if the smell didn't bother us, or if we didn't know any better-it would have been fine. But I found it to be in contrast to Disney which doesn't have the casino and therefore no indoor smoking. There were a few other things that bothered us. Disney is King at separating people from their money. But I found the cost to be mostly upfront (excluding shore excursions) with some upselling on their ships. But while on Royal, I felt like they felt I paid the bare minimum and then was bombarded with upselling. (And this was an Alaskan cruise so it wasn't cheap to begin with.) Granted, I have read some posts on the DIS forum where people feel they have been bombarded with upsells from Disney too so it seems experiences vary.

Don't get me wrong-we still had a fantastic time and are glad we went. All this to say, I am not sure if anyone can tell you if you would be happy or not. It will depend on your specific needs and likes/dislikes.

Best of luck and I wish you a fabulous vacation whatever you choose!

 

[cruiser21]

We are considering our first Disney Cruise and when doing the math I’m finding for the same ports and days, it will cost over three times as much to do a Disney Cruise than another cruise line! Is there that much of a difference to justify the cost?

This is the second thread you've started about a possible Disney cruise. You really need to give more details if you want help. It's hard to give you an opinion without knowing which cruises and which ships.

 

[KashasMom]

Personally, I would not consider doing any cruise line but Disney with children. If I were unwilling or unable to pay the premium of a Disney cruise, I would skip that type of vacation until the children were in their teens (and then likely do Norwegian).

My grandson and I did a four-day Disney Bahamas cruise for his fourth birthday in 2005 and he loved it so much (when so much means had to pry his little hands off the luggage room's door frame to get him off the ship), we returned to do a seven-day Disney Eastern Caribbean cruise in for his seventh birthday in 2008. We then planned to do the tentatively scheduled ten-day Disney Mexican Riviera cruise out of California for his tenth birthday in 2011 but the bottom fell out the economy in between and it did not materialize.

So we decided to try something different and went with visiting Universal Studios for two days and then sailing on a seven-day Royal Caribbean Western Caribbean cruise. Royal Caribbean had the exact same itinerary as the Disney Western Caribbean cruise, it would be a whole new experience and it was a thousand dollars less. And it is not like we were/are huge Disney fans. We only sailed with Disney that first time because we were vacationing with huge Disney fans and they planned the trip.

Oh, what a mistake. Disney's child-geared entertainment and kids club were easily worth that extra thousand dollars. Not having the adult vibe, which included gambling, and the constant money-grubbing would have been worth even more.

I am taking my two granddaughters, ages 8 and 9, on a seven-day Disney Western Caribbean cruise in October. It is a little over twice the price of a comparable Royal Caribbean cruise (and a little under twice the price of a comparable Norwegian cruise). I only know that because I just looked it up. Even knowing that I have no regrets. Even if Royal Caribbean was a third of the price, I wouldn't have any regrets.

But if Disney was three times Royal Caribbean's price, we wouldn't be going.

We've had the opposite experience. We LOVE RCI's Oasis class ships. My daughter doesn't go in the kids' clubs and was pretty much over the princesses by the time she was 6-7 (although she still loves most of the characters). She likes more active things - rock climbing, ropes courses, flow rider, etc. She loves musicals (such as CATS) and loves the ice skating and aqua diving shows on RCI. Mostly she loves swimming and those ships offer at least 4 pools. Disney's one measly people-soup pool is horrible. We also like to have a dinner buffet sometimes instead of a long, drawn out dinner. It's not even the price anymore - it's just that for the most part Disney doesn't fit our needs. Everyone has different priorities when cruising and I think we're lucky to have so many options to keep us all happy! (I'm always amused by the money grubbing complaint because I believe most of the other cruise lines charge for the same things Disney does and it's easy to avoid if it bothers anyone.)

P.S. We've done several Norwegian cruises (another coming up) and to me they rank third behind RCI and Disney as far as being family friendly.

 

[Sunshine2U]

This is the second thread you've started about a possible Disney cruise. You really need to give more details if you want help. It's hard to give you an opinion without knowing which cruises and which ships.

OP does seem to have disappeared.

 

[Frozen2014]

Personally, I would not consider doing any cruise line but Disney with children. If I were unwilling or unable to pay the premium of a Disney cruise, I would skip that type of vacation until the children were in their teens (and then likely do Norwegian).

My grandson and I did a four-day Disney Bahamas cruise for his fourth birthday in 2005 and he loved it so much (when so much means had to pry his little hands off the luggage room's door frame to get him off the ship), we returned to do a seven-day Disney Eastern Caribbean cruise in for his seventh birthday in 2008. We then planned to do the tentatively scheduled ten-day Disney Mexican Riviera cruise out of California for his tenth birthday in 2011 but the bottom fell out the economy in between and it did not materialize.

So we decided to try something different and went with visiting Universal Studios for two days and then sailing on a seven-day Royal Caribbean Western Caribbean cruise. Royal Caribbean had the exact same itinerary as the Disney Western Caribbean cruise, it would be a whole new experience and it was a thousand dollars less. And it is not like we were/are huge Disney fans. We only sailed with Disney that first time because we were vacationing with huge Disney fans and they planned the trip.

Oh, what a mistake. Disney's child-geared entertainment and kids club were easily worth that extra thousand dollars. Not having the adult vibe, which included gambling, and the constant money-grubbing would have been worth even more.

I am taking my two granddaughters, ages 8 and 9, on a seven-day Disney Western Caribbean cruise in October. It is a little over twice the price of a comparable Royal Caribbean cruise (and a little under twice the price of a comparable Norwegian cruise). I only know that because I just looked it up. Even knowing that I have no regrets. Even if Royal Caribbean was a third of the price, I wouldn't have any regrets.

But if Disney was three times Royal Caribbean's price, we wouldn't be going.

That's a pretry closed minded train of thought...which is fine for you but hope OP takes it with a grain of salt. Sure Disney is kid-centered but it's not the only cruise line that is excellent for kids. We took our kids on Allure (Royal Caribbean) when they were 6 and 10 and they absolutely loved it. So many activities, shows, DreamWorks characters. Our kids don't like kids club but it looks quite organized with great activities. We live Royal and gave Mariner , Symphony and Anthem booked too

 

[cruiser21]

OP does seem to have disappeared.

Yes that seems to happen a lot on these boards. People ask questions and they never come back.

 

[lilsonicfan]

@All about me: I think your perspective of being a grandparent is super valuable. You clearly love vacationing with your grands, and that is so lovely that you’re able to spend the Disney premium on them AND that they love it!

For us, I love cruising and I won’t be skipping it on the basis that Disney is the best and I should accept nothing less for my kids. It’s simply not worth it. For the Mediterranean cruise we are doing, Disney in normal ocean view or inside rooms was twice the price of a different line in concierge. It’s hard to justify. My kids loved the DCL cruising but they have enjoyed themselves just as much on other lines. I think this is in part due to the fact that they too love cruising. Maybe when I’m in grandparent stage I’ll feel differently. For now I want my dollar to go as far as possible.

 

[cadien]

My son’s grandparents took him on a NCL cruise because that’s their favorite line. (It wasn’t the money. It was in the Haven.) And he had just as good a time there as on Disney. I could see princess-obsessed little girls being the exception, but our kid is not a factor at all in us sailing DCL.

 

[Dakota731]

Yes that seems to happen a lot on these boards. People ask questions and they never come back.d

Gee it’s been two days and I’ve been dealing with some issues with my elderly mother! We have a four year old to bring and are looking at a seven day cruise probably to the Caribbean. We wouldn’t use the kids club if that helps.

 

[cruiser21]

Gee it’s been two days and I’ve been dealing with some issues with my elderly mother! We have a four year old to bring and are looking at a seven day cruise probably to the Caribbean. We wouldn’t use the kids club if that helps.

Which ship? Cruiseline? Room type? It's hard to give an opinion on worth without specifics.

 

[aggiedog]

3x the cost? No. Not if you don’t have money to burn. Disney has a great product, but I know I could do a LOT with that extra money.

There are ways mentioned already to decrease your cost, mainly sailing when school is in.

I’m not sure what one poster was alluding to about safety. That sounds like fear mongering.

I’d pick an itinerary you like and enjoy your cruise. We sailed MSC last summer in the Med, in concierge which was heavenly, for less than half of what a regular verandah on DCL would have been. Or less than 1/4 of DCL concierge! I’m sorry, but I don’t have $40k to spend on a weeks vacation. Not with two kids in college and a third in her way.

 

[CinderellaDream]

@CinderellaDream - May I ask which RCI ship and how old your kids are? I have been looking at Voyager class for our family. DH and I did Allure and thought it was AMAZING, but think a smaller ship with our younger kids would be better (I know Voyager is still not small! We were on Voyager for our honeymoon when it was RCI's biggest ship!)

We did Freedom of the Seas and my kids were 7 and 4 at the time. For our next RC cruise I'm thinking of Symphony or Harmony of the Seas because they have a water slide and the AquaDuck was one of my oldest's favorite things about the Fantasy. Our service was great on Freedom (in fact we liked our stateroom attendant on Freedom better than on Fantasy) and we enjoyed the food on both ships.

 

[Frozen2014]

We did Freedom of the Seas and my kids were 7 and 4 at the time. For our next RC cruise I'm thinking of Symphony or Harmony of the Seas because they have a water slide and the AquaDuck was one of my oldest's favorite things about the Fantasy. Our service was great on Freedom (in fact we liked our stateroom attendant on Freedom better than on Fantasy) and we enjoyed the food on both ships.

They have a dry slide too that looks really cool!

 

[mevelandry]

Gee it’s been two days and I’ve been dealing with some issues with my elderly mother! We have a four year old to bring and are looking at a seven day cruise probably to the Caribbean. We wouldn’t use the kids club if that helps.

Take a look at Carnival's brand new ships. I liked the Carnival Vista a little bit more than the Disney Dream and the new Carnival Horizon seems to be even better. There are a lot of activities for kids (that I noticed even though I do not have kids...)!

I liked that we didn't have to go through the Casino to go from one part of the ship to the other and found that the ventilation system does a much better job with the smell of smoke than older ships.

 

[All about me]

That's a pretty closed minded train of thought...

Definitely. It is six years later and I still wince at the mention of Royal Caribbean. Such a waste of a vacation break, money and possibilities. If I could go back in time...

For the Mediterranean cruise we are doing, Disney in normal ocean view or inside rooms was twice the price of a different line in concierge. It’s hard to justify.

I couldn't justify it so we never did it.

 

[KashasMom]

Definitely. It is six years later and I still wince at the mention of Royal Caribbean. Such a waste of a vacation break, money and possibilities. If I could go back in time...


I couldn't justify it so we never did it.

What ship were you on?

 

[Frozen2014]

Definitely. It is six years later and I still wince at the mention of Royal Caribbean. Such a waste of a vacation break, money and possibilities. If I could go back in time...


I couldn't justify it so we never did it.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. We love Royal (their bigger ships) but it's not for everyone.