DCL vs WDW

How do you generally Disney vacation?

  • Only DCL - once a year

    Votes: 8 10.8%
  • Only DCL - greater than once a year

    Votes: 3 4.1%
  • Only WDW\DL - once a year

    Votes: 4 5.4%
  • Only WDW\DL - greater than once a year

    Votes: 7 9.5%
  • A combo of both - each once a year

    Votes: 12 16.2%
  • A combo of both - greater than once a year

    Votes: 17 23.0%
  • Switch on & off - every other year WDW\DL, DCL

    Votes: 5 6.8%
  • Other - because there always is an other choice

    Votes: 18 24.3%

  • Total voters
    74
We usually do one cruise a year and then go to Disney multiple times a year. We have annual passes and only live a few hours away so its easy to get there. Cruising is more expensive so we can't do it as frequently.
 
Since retirement in 2014, we have added cruising to our vacation plans. DVC membership provides two or three WDW trips per year. We now sometimes combine a DCL cruise (we always pay cash for the cruises) with a post-cruise WDW stay when cruising out of Miami or PC. We use DVC points for the land portion. Next year, we will do a 4-night stay at WDW, the 14-night WBPC cruise PC to San Diego, and a 4-night stay at DL. That will be our longest Disney-themed trip ever.

We have also done one Viking River Cruise and have another one booked for summer 2019.
 
Like most of the DVC members, we cruise every 18-24 months usually, but that doesn't mix with our WDW visits. I.E. I don't give up one for the other. However, I can't say that out WDW visits are regular - it depends on how much time I can squeeze off of work usually. The cruises take up a lot of vacation time, so WDW fits in where I can.
 
I've had a staggered WDW annual pass for about 5 years now (by staggered I mean I don't renew it, but let it lapse then start a new one the next trip, which is usually 6 to 9 months away) and we have been doing an annual cruise for about the last 3 years. However, the last 3 or 4 cruises have all been on Royal Caribbean -- I love DCL, but the cost difference just hasn't been worth it for us.
 


So I was reading the thread on the platinum statuses - wow, a lot of you take a lot of cruises!!!

I am finally taking the plunge on one - the 2019 Mediterrean Civitavecchia round trip in June!

Its the first time I am giving up a WDW trip to do so - I am a DVC owner & have gone every year to WDW since 2004 - so it occurred to me, that I could be considered a platinum WDW traveller!

That got me to thinking - do you give up WDW trips to take the cruise or do you do both?

I would never use my points to take a cruise - but I used all of them this year to get a grand villa - so I am pointless in 2019 - and decided to take the splurge!!!

We take several cruises (average 4) a year and a couple of WDW staycations a year. Please note, we live 30 minutes from WDW and have annual passes and live 45 minutes from Port Canaveral (just finished our 20th Disney cruise a few weeks ago). I am quite sure we would not cruise or stay at WDW so much if we lived anywhere else. In fact my husband wishes we did not live so close. :)
For us, cruises are the BEST vacation for our family of 4. We can disconnect totally and just enjoy the ports and the ships. There is very little planning involved and the cruise itself can either be as action packed with activities like FE, Magnet exchanges, adult beverage seminars, meet and greets etc... or as low key as just showing up and setting sail. And everything in between. :)
 
We much prefer the service on DCL vs WDW (our cruise with a stop at WDW made the differences super clear). That being said, DS has never been to all 4 WDW parks, so we're doing a quick trip down in a few weeks to remedy that. I don't anticipate we'll be back to WDW again in the near future - too crowded, too many unhappy people, too many expensive add-on experiences that once were or should be included. We'll cruise from time to time, but other land-based trips are more interesting to us at this point.
 


We were planning on doing Alaska in 2020 but with rc on ovation of the seas

Anyone ever done that ship or got any advice on it

Think Disney will be to costly for us
 
We've been spoiled by cruising - and not just DCL.

I want to relax, I want good food, I want good coffee, I want movies, trivia, and yes, a casino. A little of everything but no pressure for anything.

Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but PrincessTrisha I’d love to know what your favourite cruise line is. Things like good trivia and good food are also high on our cruising Wishlist so your post grabbed my attention.

Our next cruise is with Celebrity which we know we like, and we have done DCL in the past along with a few lesser known cruise lines, but I’m not loyal to any one cruise company (or any one style of vacation for that matter - my bucket list is huge).
 
Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but PrincessTrisha I’d love to know what your favourite cruise line is. Things like good trivia and good food are also high on our cruising Wishlist so your post grabbed my attention.

Our next cruise is with Celebrity which we know we like, and we have done DCL in the past along with a few lesser known cruise lines, but I’m not loyal to any one cruise company (or any one style of vacation for that matter - my bucket list is huge).

For me, I like both Carnival and Princess. Carnival is fun and relaxing and they have trivia the most frequent; I also like their food choices throughout the day, and their MDR menus have some very good "alternative choices" (other than the traditional steak, chicken fish) with their Port of Call options. They also have some great casino perks and their price generally can't be beat. I find the crew to be the most interactive (everyone from the CD, to the fun squad, to the servers, to even the cleaners who are walking around cleaning the ship). Those cruises tend to have lots of energy.

I like Princess because it's more subdued; I had the best dining on any ship last November on the Caribbean Princess. They also do trivia well, large comfortable space and they post the questions up on a screen. Their ships tend to be a little more subdued (as do their guests). A bit on the tame side, but the beds are insanely comfortable, the food is good, they have a great coffee place - International café where you can buy a coffee package for unlimited fresh brewed and 15 specialties.

After that its Celebrity - they don't have as much trivia or activities but they do have a ton of live music around the ship and the most wonderful coffee shop with Café Bacio.

Royal is last on my list because I'm not a fan of their food and I find their beds and bedding to be uncomfortable and no where near as plush as any other cruise line. If you want to rock climb, zip line, or do bumper cars at sea though...well, you can probably overlook the other stuff.
 
For me, I like both Carnival and Princess. Carnival is fun and relaxing and they have trivia the most frequent; I also like their food choices throughout the day, and their MDR menus have some very good "alternative choices" (other than the traditional steak, chicken fish) with their Port of Call options. They also have some great casino perks and their price generally can't be beat. I find the crew to be the most interactive (everyone from the CD, to the fun squad, to the servers, to even the cleaners who are walking around cleaning the ship). Those cruises tend to have lots of energy.

I like Princess because it's more subdued; I had the best dining on any ship last November on the Caribbean Princess. They also do trivia well, large comfortable space and they post the questions up on a screen. Their ships tend to be a little more subdued (as do their guests). A bit on the tame side, but the beds are insanely comfortable, the food is good, they have a great coffee place - International café where you can buy a coffee package for unlimited fresh brewed and 15 specialties.

After that its Celebrity - they don't have as much trivia or activities but they do have a ton of live music around the ship and the most wonderful coffee shop with Café Bacio.

Royal is last on my list because I'm not a fan of their food and I find their beds and bedding to be uncomfortable and no where near as plush as any other cruise line. If you want to rock climb, zip line, or do bumper cars at sea though...well, you can probably overlook the other stuff.


Thank you for sharing. I've been looking at Celebrity and Princess (and Viking) because they have such interesting itineraries in other parts of the world, and it's great to hear about them from people who might understand why we like DCL so much.
 
We are also DVC and cruise DCL once a year. If the cruise is going out of PC, we spend one or two - just in case - days ahead of the cruise at WDW at SSR. Not big WDW devotees but enjoy walking around and exploring Epcot then Magic Kingdom and maybe a few rides. Its the cruise we enjoy the most. When I finish my PhD, hope to take more cruises during the year.
 
For me, I like both Carnival and Princess. Carnival is fun and relaxing and they have trivia the most frequent; I also like their food choices throughout the day, and their MDR menus have some very good "alternative choices" (other than the traditional steak, chicken fish) with their Port of Call options. They also have some great casino perks and their price generally can't be beat. I find the crew to be the most interactive (everyone from the CD, to the fun squad, to the servers, to even the cleaners who are walking around cleaning the ship). Those cruises tend to have lots of energy.

I like Princess because it's more subdued; I had the best dining on any ship last November on the Caribbean Princess. They also do trivia well, large comfortable space and they post the questions up on a screen. Their ships tend to be a little more subdued (as do their guests). A bit on the tame side, but the beds are insanely comfortable, the food is good, they have a great coffee place - International café where you can buy a coffee package for unlimited fresh brewed and 15 specialties.

After that its Celebrity - they don't have as much trivia or activities but they do have a ton of live music around the ship and the most wonderful coffee shop with Café Bacio.

Royal is last on my list because I'm not a fan of their food and I find their beds and bedding to be uncomfortable and no where near as plush as any other cruise line. If you want to rock climb, zip line, or do bumper cars at sea though...well, you can probably overlook the other stuff.

Thanks PrincessTrisha :thumbsup2
I’ve looked at Princess so many times and I would really like to try them one day. They look like they offer better daily activities than Celebrity, while at the same time offering the same fairly subdued atmosphere that we like.

Celebrity’s so called adult ‘enrichment’ activities are largely paid ones (spa and gym talks, art auctions, wine tasting etc), while I found DCL’s to be largely non-existent (although the adult only areas were lovely). Meanwhile, at least on paper, what Princess offers looks great.

The only reason we haven’t booked them yet is because I haven’t found their cabin layouts to be very family friendly (bunks over beds instead of pull out sofas) and because at the times we’ve cruised, Celebrity always seem to have promotions (drinks and wifi included) going on which have made them noticeably cheaper. Plus I like the modern look of Celebrity ships.

I think I’ll look even more seriously at Princess next cruise. :goodvibes
 

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