We took five DCL trips with our kids and loved every one. We did two Mexican Riviera cruises (and they were KSF), one EBTA, one WBPC, and one Med cruise. We adore DCL (and aren't even Disney people, we've never been to WDW or taken the kids to DL).
But we got priced out.
So my husband and I did a super cheap RCI without the kids to try it. It was an eight night Pacific Coast cruise on the Explorer. It was dirt cheap. My husband and I weren't impressed with the service and didn't go to any shows, but we had a complete blast because it was an eight night date for us and we were on a cruise. We made a reservation for taking the kids on the Liberty.
We did the math and one inside room for the four of us on one of the older DCL boats, same week, same departure port (Galveston) would be $9000 on DCL. We got two connecting rooms (interiors with views of the promenade) on the Liberty of the Seas for $3100. Some wonderful friends we met on DCL joined us on that cruise and got a balcony room across from us.
It was a fabulous time.
We felt the shows were better on DCL. The food was a wash. The pool deck was definitely better on RCI. I think the CMs on DCL seem happier, but the crew on the Liberty were fine, just not particularly magical. The boat was in good shape, not as classy as DCL, but still very nice. Our kids never liked the kids' club on DCL and didn't go on RCI, so I can't speak to those. We did the same family cruise this year as our first one with the kids last year and we've also scheduled one for 2021. We love walking the outer deck (it might be deck four, but I can't remember for sure) after dinner each night. I can't do sun and there was always good options for me to sit in the shade on the pool deck. The kids LOVED the slides and skating. Oh, the ice skating show was terrific. The Liberty also has Saturday Night Fever and we thought it was awful and not at all family friendly (um, a rape and a suicide? no thanks). The other shows were fine. We have seen the Disney shows a ton of times and never get bored of them, we loved those best.
If we were made of money and our kids could go any time of year (which they no longer can), we would continue with repositioning cruises on DCL. But money isn't growing on our trees and we can only travel during the kids' vacation times now, so we're sticking with Royal and we're totally happy with it. DCL would be three times as much for a single room as we pay for two connecting rooms on RCI. That's huge for us. Yeah, we do like DCL better, but not three times better. We love cruising and it's such a great way for us to have forced family fun so we are sticking with Royal as we can cruise most years.
We don't drink or gamble, so I can't speak to those things. We've never done a drink package of any kind and getting free drinks on Royal wasn't a problem for us (we're not soda people so we just got lemonade, iced tea, and coffee).