TA? Little kid stuff? Random RC questions!

[hanna-nana]

1)Since many Disney TAs give onboard credit for DCL cruises, are there ones that do for RC? I've never worked with a TA, but want to as soon as DCL releases new dates! But I'm also looking at RC. Would love to take advantage of OBC if we can. Looking at 7 nights, two veranda rooms, 7ppl, so don't want to miss an OBC!

2)We were on a short DCL cruise with my oldest when she was 3. Before the big ships, and I don't remember if it was Magic or Wonder. Loved it though, and have been waiting to take the complete family now that we are at perfect ages. But....ages 4-13 when we travel. Would DCL still be best? Started looking at RC because of cost and am worried there won't be enough little kid stuff.

3)DH and I just did a 3 night on the Enchantment in September. Loved our time away, but hated the ship. No good shows for us (I remember the ones from our DCL were great!), we aren't drinkers, casino go-ers, horrible customer service. It just wasn't us. Are the longer cruises, bigger ships, going to be better? Decent wi-fi, too? I'm not sure I can convince DH to try RC again. But that cost....

 

[DnA2010]

1)Since many Disney TAs give onboard credit for DCL cruises, are there ones that do for RC? I've never worked with a TA, but want to as soon as DCL releases new dates! But I'm also looking at RC. Would love to take advantage of OBC if we can. Looking at 7 nights, two veranda rooms, 7ppl, so don't want to miss an OBC!

2)We were on a short DCL cruise with my oldest when she was 3. Before the big ships, and I don't remember if it was Magic or Wonder. Loved it though, and have been waiting to take the complete family now that we are at perfect ages. But....ages 4-13 when we travel. Would DCL still be best? Started looking at RC because of cost and am worried there won't be enough little kid stuff.

3)DH and I just did a 3 night on the Enchantment in September. Loved our time away, but hated the ship. No good shows for us (I remember the ones from our DCL were great!), we aren't drinkers, casino go-ers, horrible customer service. It just wasn't us. Are the longer cruises, bigger ships, going to be better? Decent wi-fi, too? I'm not sure I can convince DH to try RC again. But that cost....

My Answers- I've only done one Disney and 2 Royal (Freedom, Oasis) cruises:

1. Dreams Unlimited (disboard sponsor) is the only company I have worked with- they offer an onboard credit for RCL, but not as much as Disney

2. My opinion- for younger kids, if price doesn't matter than yes, I'd go with Disney..however- on our cruise on Oasis were were a big group- kids (3 different families) were 2,9,9,12- they all had an AMAZING time- my DD who was one of the 9 year olds puts her cruise on Oasis and on Fantasy as equal but for different reasons. She loved the shows on both, loved the clubs on both, loved the Aquaduct but missed all the pools that Royal had. She must have rode the carousel 20 times on Oasis, loved the climbing walls, zipline and other novelty activities. She also liked that the Royal kids clubs tended to have more structured activities, especially in the evening.
DH and I preferred the food on RCL (other than Palo brunch0- yum!)
For us, no matter what way I swing it, DCL is looking like at least twice the cost of Royal (we are from Canada so the exchange is factored into this) so chances are it will be Royal for us for a while now, over Disney.

3. I haven't been on an older/smaller ship, but DH and I did the Freedom by ourselves and had a blast- we enjoyed the shows we went to, social events, ports, adults area, pools. Can't comment on the wifi as we didn't turn our phones on.

Our first cruise for all of us (3 families, 1 single uncle) and none of us were that excited for cruising as we thought it was for old people- inlaws took us all on Oasis and we all had a BLAST. We do enjoy a few bevies although didn't go in the casino.

 

[LemonNeko]

I've been on DCL once in 1998. I really wanted to take my son (who is 4) but I can't justify the cost. A 3 day on the Fantasy was about the same cost I paid for 7 day Freedom of the Seas. The kids club didn't look fancy on RCL but my son loved it and always asked to go. The pool area they have for kids/ splash pad was really nice. This is the only RC we have done but I've read that there is a big difference between the newer bigger ships and the older ones. Look at either Freedom or Oasis class.

 

[hanna-nana]

Thank you both! I will keep looking at RC as an option.

 

[bumbershoot]

We book with costcotravel.com for both Disney (they send a Costco cashcard in the amount of about 8% of the cruise fare after you return) and Royal (OBC!).

I saw ZERO sad toddlers onboard Freedom the other week. I mena, apart from the normal drama queen toddler stuff. All children seemed to be having a very good time. Little kids are aquanauts, and they have their own programming. 6-8 has their own then 9-11. 12 and up have their own place, but not a lot of structure. (that's where my son will be on our next cruise, on Adventure of the Seas, waaaah!)

Wifi was decent but spendy. They don't have an app like Navigator to message through. On Quantum class they have the Royal IQ app but I just learned that texting is done with your own phone's text app, and you have to pay something like $8 per person (after they have Royal IQ) to get that permission. We ONLY got wifi because we put down an offer on a house and it was accepted, and we felt that being gone for a week while they were doing inspections and such wasn't OK.

I despise the shows on Disney (Golden Mickeys nearly caused me to storm the stage to grab the mic and ask what EXACTLY was the show about) and hubby and son won't let me see the one I haven't seen on Dream, which is Believe. They fear what will happen LOL. So we don't give a rat's patootie about those sorts of shows on Royal, there is always something else to do. DH ran off to the kid's club BEFORE DESSERT by night 3 of our recent cruise, and then we were on our own. I did think about the comedian, but we sleep so well on cruises and I was tired anyway, so we would skip those lest I fall asleep. Our evenings ended with picking up DS (we gave him checkout privileges but we met him in the hallway outside the club), getting him Ben & Jerry's ice cream, then passing out entirely.

DS prefers the kid's club on Royal (19 total nights for him on Royal ships) to the freefloating, no structure (except for occasional activities that you have to go seek out) club/lab on Dream (15 total nights on Dream and that's the only DCL ship we've been on).