Cruise Fever Article-Average Cost of Stateroom per night Across Cruise Lines

[Lorana]

I was loyal to DCL, but I ran out of itineraries. Cost also became a factor when cruising in Europe.

Yeah, I love Disney and we prefer it, but we also did NCL in the Mediterranean last year for that reason. But boy did we miss the Disney service. Though my kids wish that Disney had a hibachi restaurant.

We’re sailing Disney to Norway but ouch that sticker shock there.

However one challenge we’re finding these days is a lot of mainstream cruise lines seem to be moving to two beds in their larger balcony rooms: a king/queen and a sofa queen/double. We need three sleeping surfaces. So we would’ve ended up with two staterooms on NCL, which made the cost slightly more (but the NCL cruise was 3 days longer and included Iceland, so still arguably a better value). Yes, we would’ve had more room space, but we don’t expect to be in the rooms much and we enjoy the Disney experience, so it worked out better to do Norway on Disney for us this time.

 

[Lorana]

That is incorrect. Speciality restaurants are not included in DCL. Speciality restaurants on DCL are Palo, Remy, and Enchante. You pay extra for those. You are eating in the main dining room for free on DCL just like you would eat in the main dining room for free on other cruise lines. DCL does do shows in some main dining rooms, and other cruise lines do not. That may or may not be a positive depending on your opinion.

Also other cruise lines offer free ice cream in buffets as well.

Okay, yes, those three cost extra, good point. I generally don’t include them when I factor in Disney vs mainstream because they’re adult only. I see Palo, Remy and Enchanted are elevated dining experiences that are adults only. I could not take my children to them. I can take my children to the specialty restaurants on other cruise lines.

I also don’t consider the Disney dining rooms the same as the main dining halls at the other cruise lines at all. They are far more compatible to the specialty restaurants on other ships. Main dining halls have less ambiance and my experience on NCL and RCCL is that the food quality is not nearly the same. There’s a reason people want the specialty restaurants, lol. But to each his own!

Ice cream included in the buffets is not the same in my mind as having free ice cream machines on the main deck, because I’d expect food in the buffets to be included free. The ice cream in the Disney buffet is also free.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I also don’t consider the Disney dining rooms the same as the main dining halls at the other cruise lines at all. They are far more compatible to the specialty restaurants on other ships. Main dining halls have less ambiance and my experience on NCL and RCCL is that the food quality is not nearly the same. There’s a reason people want the specialty restaurants, lol. But to each his own!

Ice cream included in the buffets is not the same in my mind as having free ice cream machines on the main deck, because I’d expect food in the buffets to be included free. The ice cream in the Disney buffet is also free.

DCL's MDRs do look nice but they are in no way comparable to specialty dining on other ships. The food is still mass produced food akin to a hotel conference banquet food. Personally I think all MDR food on all cruise lines is susceptible to being average at best.

Also we have sailed on HAL and RCCL and both lines had free ice cream, both in buffets and in machines on the main deck. In fact we sailed in Yacht club (concierge) level on MSC and got free gelato!

For us as a family of 5 for carribean cruises it’s often cheaper to sail DCL vs the other lines because we could all fit in one room and only pay the higher fares for the first two guests and the 3 kids were cheap to add on. With other lines we would be paying full fare for 4 of the 5 of us and it was typically more money. Now for the European or Alaskan sailings on DCL its was still cheaper to get two rooms for the 5 of us and we brought my in laws along too since we needed the two rooms anyway.

I have NEVER found it cheaper for my family of 5 to sail DCL vs any other line, whether we are in one room or two. It is true that you pay the adult fare for the first two guests, but it almost doesn't matter because on some of the DCL ships you couldn't get an inside room that slept 5 so you're paying a higher base adult fare for an OV or verandah room than you would with a family of 4 in an inside room.

I priced out a 7 night caribbean cruise with Royal (Sun to Sun) and one for the same week with DCL (Sat to Sat). DCL in two rooms is coming out at double the price. DCL in one room is 2.5x the price of RCL in two rooms. That's my typical experience with DCL pricing, it's always way, way more to sail on DCL.

 

[DCLMP]

Yeah, I love Disney and we prefer it, but we also did NCL in the Mediterranean last year for that reason. But boy did we miss the Disney service. Though my kids wish that Disney had a hibachi restaurant.

We’re sailing Disney to Norway but ouch that sticker shock there.

However one challenge we’re finding these days is a lot of mainstream cruise lines seem to be moving to two beds in their larger balcony rooms: a king/queen and a sofa queen/double. We need three sleeping surfaces. So we would’ve ended up with two staterooms on NCL, which made the cost slightly more (but the NCL cruise was 3 days longer and included Iceland, so still arguably a better value). Yes, we would’ve had more room space, but we don’t expect to be in the rooms much and we enjoy the Disney experience, so it worked out better to do Norway on Disney for us this time.

What ship did you sail on in the Med? NCL has a new ship in the med next year that looks pretty interesting...pricey, but still not DCL pricey.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Specialty restaurants. DCL’s dining rotation means you get to visit all the specialty restaurants, but you have to pay for them on other cruise lines we’ve sailed like NCL and RCCL.

Also free ice cream whenever my kids want it.

Anybody who thinks rotational dining is speciality dining, has never experienced specialty dining. The steakhouse, etc. on other cruise lines are premium. The steak served in rotational dining is average for a cruise - on its best day, it may be as good as Texas Roadhouse.

Every cruise line has free ice cream on the main deck as well as buffet. Many Carnival ships have free Gelato as well.

 

[LAS2AMS]

boy did we miss the Disney service. Though

WDW and DLR have exceptional service. DCL’s service is very average for its industry, and for good reason. Cruise jobs are highly competitive and if employees don’t excel, their contracts aren’t renewed. Sorry you missed the Disney vibe!

 

[Kwami]

DCL's MDRs do look nice but they are in no way comparable to specialty dining on other ships. The food is still mass produced food akin to a hotel conference banquet food. Personally I think all MDR food on all cruise lines is susceptible to being average at best.

Also we have sailed on HAL and RCCL and both lines had free ice cream, both in buffets and in machines on the main deck. In fact we sailed in Yacht club (concierge) level on MSC and got free gelato!

The food that I've had on Disney cruises has always been better than any of the food that I had at NCL specialty restaurants. It wasn't really close. NCL also locked their soft serve machine inside the buffet restaurant when they closed it.

 

[lilsonicfan]

The food that I've had on Disney cruises has always been better than any of the food that I had at NCL specialty restaurants. It wasn't really close. NCL also locked their soft serve machine inside the buffet restaurant when they closed it.

Food is subjective. I haven't been on NCL since 2011 so I can't comment about their food. I can tell you that I thought the MDR food on Royal and HAL was just as satisfactory as DCL. As for the soft serve machine, well, that does suck about NCL. But given the point of the OP was to talk about an article comparing the per night price, and the per night price is at least double on DCL vs many other lines, I'm not sure the ice cream is a terribly big deal.