DCL fan cruises RCCL on Allure and just back - any questions?

[Prose]

We have done the Alaska, Bahamas, Western and Eastern with DCL and loved it. We wanted to do another Disney cruise, but the pricing this time around turned our sights to Royal Caribbean, and we ended up booking a cruise out of Ft Lauderdale on the Allure - St. Maarten, San Juan and Labadee. We just got off the ship yesterday. I know there have been a few general comparison threads, but thought I'd offer up to see if anyone had any specific questions. We'd still love to come back to DCL, although I think my teen daughter is now Loyal to Royal!

 

[tnshsms]

I feel like your DCL experience is mine...and we are booked for an Anthem cruise next year. What was the biggest difference in the stateroom that you saw...besides the two bathrooms on DCL?

 

[MSPeeler]

What kind of activities do they have for kids 12 and under?

Thanks!

 

[Jennifer777]

Thank you! My 12 yo recently informed me he wants to try Oasis, which completely shocked me, he doesn't like change. I have so many questions. After a terrible cruise experience many years ago on a different cruise line I swore off cruising altogether but after urging from our friends, we gave DCL a try and now we love it. My previous experience makes me so nervous to try another cruise line though so I appreciate your insight!

1. Did you find that there was plenty to do, eat and drink without opting to pay for things or did it feel like a lot of their offered activities and dining options came at an additional cost?
2. How did the food in the complimentary quick service, buffet and MDR compare to DCL?
3. Did the ship feel really crowded?
4. Was the environment and the activities offered in the main areas family friendly? What about the shows?
5. What did you think of Labadee?

Many thanks for taking the time to answer questions and share your experience!

 

[Prose]

As to the staterooms, the overall layout was very similar. Our bed was by the closet - the layouts actually alternate between that and bed by the window or balcony. The main difference is the size - we usually go with a basic verandah room on DCL, and had a D4 oceanview balcony on Allure, so pretty much comparable categories. There is room for exactly one person to pass between the end of the bed and the wall, so the room is narrower than on DCL. Door to window, there will be a small side table, the bed, another small table, the couch, and the window. That's it, other than the bathroom. The closet opens toward the room, not across from the bathroom. When the couch is opened into a bed, there is about a foot of space between it and the desk - just enough to pass through. The couch opens into a full-size bed, rather than a twin. We had a pull down bunk, but didn't use it. Frankly, I could not imagine having more than three people in this room, unless one was really small. Balcony size for us was comparable.

As to the bathroom, we didn't really miss the split bathroom as much as we thought, and were fine with our little shower 'pod'. We were glad to bring a shoe holder for extra storage. The only outlets were on the desk - I think there were three outlets total. No outlets near the beds, so we were happy to have brought a USB charging hub. There is a clock with an iphone dock, but the connector is one of the old, large ones - if you have a newer phone and need a lightning connector, you'll need to bring a converter.

The lights do not require a card. The AC is the basic colder/warmer dial. Our room seemed warm, so our room steward had maintenance change something in the ceiling to allow colder air to come through. The bathroom had tons of hooks - at least 6. The shower has good pressure and lots of hot water. When you turn out the bathroom light, a very faint light stays on so you can see without turning on the main light.

The most annoying thing to us was the fridge - is it a mini bar, so is stocked with water, soda and snacks that incur a cost if you use them. The fridge itself is about the depth of two cans of soda, so leftovers definitely don't fit.

 

[Alexle2007]

Tell me about Labadee. Debating between the Eastern Caribbean and the Western. We done the Eastern Caribbean twice on DCL and have been to Nassau so we're familiar with those islands. And plan to do the Western on DCL in Oct.

 

[Prose]

We have a teenager, so I am not as well-versed on what is there for younger kids. Some things I saw were: mini golf, ping pong, movies at the Aquatheatre, a splash zone, the carousel, games on the boardwalk (I saw jump rope, beanbag toss, some kind of jumbo blocks), of course the pools - Sports, Beach, Main, free frozen yogurt, and Dreamworks movies on tv.

 

[Prose]

We had mixed feelings about Labadee. On the one hand, Columbus Cove is a really nice beach area, with soft sand, no waves and warm water. I have never been able to go into the water at Castaway Cay - it is always too cold for me. The food was comparable to Castaway, although of course no free soda or ice cream. The zip line looked really cool, and I hear the coaster is, too.

On the other hand, it is MUCH more commercial than Castaway. There are locals to set up chairs for you, and a tip is expected. There are crafts vendors, some of whom are really pushy. There's a craft market building where it is much more laid back, and there's where we shopped. I didn't see any umbrellas - we just snagged a shady spot under a tree. If shade is important to you, I highly recommend going ashore early. By noontime, all of the chairs on Columbus Cove were pretty much gone, along with the shady spots. We were packed in pretty tightly. People were smoking here and there - isn't that prohibited on Castaway?

 

[Prose]

As far as food and drink, we started out without a drink package. We figured we would do fine without soda. The problem was that most places other than bars shut down by 11pm, with several quick service places closing before dinnertime. So the only free drinks not in a bar late at night was ice water in Cafe Promenade. We finally bought the basic soda package on day 2, and were happy to have the option of the Coke Freestyle machine outside Sorrentos 24 hours.

We thought the buffet was just average. Fewer choices than DCL's buffet, for sure. But we liked the free pizza and hot dog locations. Our daughter liked the free burgers at Wipeout Cafe, and Royal's fries are pretty delicious. Park Cafe was really good - salad bar, sandwiches, yogurt parfaits.

The MDR was good some nights, not so much on others. We liked that there was always the option of shrimp cocktail, caesar salad, steak, sliders, etc. each night if nothing on the menu appealed. We are pretty adventurous, though. We found the quality of the specialty dining places to be far above the free items. but there were always free items and snack available somewhere.

 

[Prose]

The ship didn't feel crowded, for the most part. It is so spread out that the crowds pretty much disperse. The one time you could really tell, though, was on the promenade during dance parties or on the last sea day during the 'Two Tshirts for $20' sale. DH compared it to Black Friday at Walmart. The only time we waited on a long line was to get back on the ship in San Juan.

 

[Prose]

We did not go to see Mama Mia, so I can speak to whether it was family friendly. The Aqua show was great and totally appropriate for kids. There were two comedians onboard who did late-night shows that were DEFINITELY for adults only. They also did a family show one night, but we didn't go to that. We did a lot of trivia and saw plenty of kids there - no risque questions at all. There were several opportunities to meet the Dreamworks characters, including a breakfast that I think cost $10. But they did meet for photos all over, for free. Ice skating was free, as was the flow rider and zip line. They also did some line dancing classes that anyone could come to, and I think there were some crafting sessions.

 

[Jennifer777]

This is so helpful! Thank you so much! Was the aqua show something that happened nightly or was that only once during the cruise?

 

[Prose]

The aqua show was a couple times a night for the first half of the cruise. It will be cancelled if there is lightning in the area or high winds, for obvious reasons, but they will try to reschedule. You can reserve your spot online ahead of the cruise. It is a really good idea to reserve as much as you can online for the Oasis and Allure. The show is amazing - really Olympic-caliber divers.

 

[tnshsms]

With the coke freestyle machines....can you get water from those too with your drink package? I know with one in at home you can, but wasn't sure if on the ship was the same.

Thanks!

 

[Prose]

You can! They have plain Dasani, flavored Dasani, and sparkling versions of both.

Other drinks were Coke, Diet, Mello Yello, Barqs, HiC, Ginger Ale, Lemonade, light Lemonade, and maybe a flavor of Powerade ?

 

[ldo]

Castaway Cay definitely has many more chairs and shade than Labadee. We love CC, but L was pretty good. We went to L in March. We got off by 9am and walked to Adrenaline beach and paid $10 tip to have 2 shade clamshells set up with 4 chairs right at the water by a tree, so no one was next to us. I like the arts/crafts/liquor stalls in the inside bazaar (not pushy). You can just skip the other stalls, if you are uncomfortable. DH and DS did the all day pass for the coaster and rode it 4 times and liked it. AM was much less crowded than after lunch. Lunch was better at CC, IMHO, but L was fine. I would give CC a 9 and L an 8. If you like the zipline or coaster then L would win out. Columbus beach area looked very crowded compared to Adrenaline. We took 2 cheap blow up rings for our teens to use in the water.

 

[tnshsms]

You can! They have plain Dasani, flavored Dasani, and sparkling versions of both.

Other drinks were Coke, Diet, Mello Yello, Barqs, HiC, Ginger Ale, Lemonade, light Lemonade, and maybe a flavor of Powerade ?

Excellent!! Thanks!

 

[Wailea]

We have done the Alaska, Bahamas, Western and Eastern with DCL and loved it. We wanted to do another Disney cruise, but the pricing this time around turned our sights to Royal Caribbean, and we ended up booking a cruise out of Ft Lauderdale on the Allure - St. Maarten, San Juan and Labadee. We just got off the ship yesterday. I know there have been a few general comparison threads, but thought I'd offer up to see if anyone had any specific questions. We'd still love to come back to DCL, although I think my teen daughter is now Loyal to Royal!

We just came back from the same exact cruise after sailing DCL excusively, and we had a fabulous time. The ship was simply amazing. We are now Royal converts!

 

[nkereina]

What did you do in St. Maarten? We're stopping there on the Oasis in a few months and starting to plan our excursions.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

The only thing I would add is we like Nellie's beach more than Columbus cove. It's more shaded, you can rent kayak's there ($15/pp); it's the only beach where there is decent snorkeling, and it stays shallow for about 3x the distance from shore than Columbus cove. It's also on the ship's side of the straw market, so you can completely avoid it - unlike Columbus Cove which is on the island side, and there's a tram stop there that takes you directly back to the pier.