Gonna Take a Cruise

KyleAfterAWhile

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 12, 2017
I am in the process of planning a cruise to surprise my wife for a future anniversary.

I am looking at Disney (Fantasy), Carnival, Royal (Oasis or one of the other newer ships) and Princess. Other than the name, what does Disney have to offer that makes them so much higher priced than other cruise lines? And is the difference (not characters) worth the significant difference? For example, is the food that much better? Do they have more on-board activities than other cruises?
 
The only clear answer that nobody could argue is the Mouse and a classic look in certain areas.

Other than that, services, staff and food experience is so personal and will vary from one person to another. (However, I can't say I've ever had a "bad" experience on any cruise line. IMO, you'll get a good product if you pick DCL.)

Ex: I find the food and food choices much better/more interesting on Carnival than Disney Cruise Lines. I find the decor better on DCL. I've had excellent service on both cruise lines. We prefer the activities on Carnival possibly because my DH and I are childfree so we do not have kids to evaluate the kids clubs. But for some people it will be the opposite...

So is the premium worth it... Only you can really answer that question.

If you are both fans of Disney, you have more chances to find it worth the investment + the first time on DCL is pretty much always "magical" anyway. It's even more true when you have never cruised before.
 
If you are a big Disney fan, go Disney. If you aren't, you'll get more activity and food options (in my opinion) going on one of RCCL's newer ships at a lower cost. If you are looking strictly from a budget perspective, Carnival's newer ships get good reviews and the longer itineraries don't seem to suffer from the perceived Boozefest atmosphere of the shorter ones.

We did RCCL's Harmony Of The Seas and found the food comparable or better in most instances. There were a lot more options as well.

You are paying more almost completely for the Disney name. Yes, their service can be excellent and they'll remind you but we found the service on RCCL pretty much the same.
 
You are paying more because of supply/demand. DCL only has four ships that are in very high demand, because they cater to families with young children who like characters, kid-friendly Broadway-quality shows, kid-friendly dining rooms (with shows during dinner) and nursery/kid/teen/young adult clubs with supervision. The rooms are also designed with families in mind. They can ask for crazy prices because they have plenty of clients ready to pay them. I am one of them ! o_O

As PP said, you will get pretty much the same service quality, excursions and food quality on other cruise lines. If you or someone in your party likes physical activities, the larger ships on other lines will offer better activities onboard, like ziplining, go-karts (on NCL), surf pools, laser tag, etc. You'll also get nickle-and-dimed for many things that are included on DCL. The food options on the larger ships will be more varied, with dinner buffets, specialty restaurants and bars.
 


Does your wife like Disney a lot? I love the Disney cruises, but they are definitely going to be the most expensive option. The one thing I really like about them though is how well they handle adult only areas. I did a Christmas cruise and hardly saw any children and there were over 5,000 on board. They were really good about keeping kids out of the adult only pool and the bar areas are really nice. The specialty dining restaurants are adult only and have fantastic food.
 
I feel like the Disney food was better than Carnival, but about the same as Princess. Haven't tried Royal. To me, Disney ships are the prettiest and the cabin was extremely comfortable and spacious, way nicer than Carnival. But, you might be able to get a really nice room on a new Carnival ship for less. Just stay away from the cheapest rooms, they are not great. I feel like on DCL you're paying mainly for the Disney "stuff": the theming, characters, movies, and kids' amenities. The activities for adults were mainly cocktail tastings (an upcharge), bingo (you pay to play), trivia (free), "anyone can cook" cooking demo (free), making towel animals (free) and the movies (free, they have both kids' movies and more action movies like Black Panther that aren't really for young kids). But this was on the Magic. There may be a lot more going on on a large ship like the Fantasy. I don't really like doing activities, so catching a couple of new release movies was enough for me. If the two of you are particularly into Disney, then sure, do it. But if you're not, you might end up being annoyed by it, like my mom was. Almost all the evening entertainment is Disney themed, so you have to like that to enjoy it.
 
I've sailed all four lines, three of them as an adult couple. Some observations:

- For port-intensive itineraries, we usually go with Princess, although we didn't find much onboard activities interested us.
- For pure relaxation on a Caribbean cruise, we sail both Disney and RCCL's Oasis-class. We are a house-divided on which we prefer, so we cruise both. :rotfl:
- The Oasis class has the largest variety of activities and the best buffet options, but Disney has the better main dining room menus and there is enough for us to do onboard, especially if you want to experience some Disney park activities without the crowds (cartoon-drawing, character meets, etc.)
- We've eaten in the upcharge Italian restaurants on DCL, RCCL, and Princess. DCL's Palo is our unanimous favorite.
- On Bahamian/Caribbean cruises, the ships will dock at Disney's Castaway Cay and RCCL's Lambadee, but tender at RCCL's Coco Cay and Princess' Princess Cay.

I'm sure there are a lot of other reasons for higher costs for a Disney cruise. A few of these could be:
- Ships show free premieres and first-run Disney movies in their movie theater
- Soda fountain beverages are free at the drink station(s), the buffet, and the dining rooms (costs on Princess/RCCL)
- Rotational dining on Disney - they offer shows (and character meets) in some of the dinner restaurants
- Free character experiences/breakfasts (DreamWorks breakfasts costs on RCCL)
- Most of room service is free [except tip] (RCCL charges for room service)
- Despite it being a big company, Disney has a much smaller fleet that the other cruise lines. As I have said to friends, RCCL is a cruising company with a couple movie screens onboard, Disney is a movie production company with a couple ships.

Have a fantastic anniversary cruise!
 
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I am in the process of planning a cruise to surprise my wife for a future anniversary.

I am looking at Disney (Fantasy), Carnival, Royal (Oasis or one of the other newer ships) and Princess. Other than the name, what does Disney have to offer that makes them so much higher priced than other cruise lines? And is the difference (not characters) worth the significant difference? For example, is the food that much better? Do they have more on-board activities than other cruises?

Lots of comments about DCL being "kid-friendly" this and kid-friendly that, and those comments are true, but IMO DCL does a fabulous job providing grown-ups with a stellar cruise experience. Out of my 11 DCL cruises, only 2 have been with children under 14 y.o. IOW, it has predominantly been just adults when we sail DCL. The only other cruise company DH and I have sailed was RCCL. Nice ships, nice company. Nice food. Fine service. I have no interest in sailing 1 or 2 of the mentioned cruise lines for various reasons. I would sail RCCL again if I couldn't get the cruise I wanted on DCL. And I'm open to trying Crystal Cruises sometime.

In both DH and my opinion as well as that of our 5 young adult children, DCL outshines them in relation to the beauty of the ships inside and out, the staterooms (DCL was the first to do the split bathrooms), the outstanding service (not once have we had bad service in 11 cruises, some of them 10-14 days long), the Broadway type shows, lovely adults only areas including the adults only beach on their private island, and fabulous adults only restaurants. Palo is in our top 5 restaurants anywhere and we dine and travel a lot. We love that we don't get that "nickel and dining" thing that most other cruise lines have on items like soft drinks and room service too. JMHO's. :goodvibes

If DCL is not in your budget or if you are not fans of Disney's service and entertainment, then perhaps another cruise line would be a better choice for you. Whatever you decide, what a lovely anniversary surprise for your wife! ::yes:: Happy anniversary!! :banana:
 
As a big Disney fan with small children, I say cruise with another line. I have done 2 Disney cruises myself and had brainwashed myself into feeling they were worth the extra money, until I was given a free cruise on another line. The other line was just as good as, if not better than, Disney in most areas, including what my kids wanted. All of this for half the price, which meant we could have tacked on 6 days at Disney World with that saved money.
It is a supply and demand issue, and I think a lot of the demand is due to people being in love with the name more than the actual product. Of course, there are those who are free to feel it is worth it to them.
 
I tend to agree here. The name on the marquee and supply/demand limitations lead to the higher price.

The matter of “is it worth it” comes down to individual opinion, which realistically can only be formed through exhaustive empirical study (ie taking lots of cruises). I hope you have the opportunity to do so. :)
 
If it's a couples-only trip and you aren't huge Disney fans, I see no reason to pay the up charge for DCL. You will get a bigger bang for your buck on other lines. I would suggest looking at Celebrity as well.
 
ive only sailed rcl so far. so i am partial to them. i get the sense through the boards that there's not much night life on dcl. the pools aren't open very late on dcl. rcl also shows first run dreamworks movies, and has dreamworks parades and characters. i think whatever you choose, you cant go wrong! have a great time! what a lucky girl!
 

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