Thinking About Taking the Plunge from DCL to RC - HELP!

mjaclyn

Currently in Wonderland
Joined
Dec 2, 2003
Hi all!
My family and I (myself, DH, DD 11 & DS 9) have sailed DCL 6 times and we LOVE IT. We wanted to do a Canadian cruise out of NY this fall but its over $6000 for the 4 of us for a 5 day cruise.

RC has a Kids Sail Free promotion going on so we could do a 7 night out of NJ on the Anthem in a Balcony for less than half of what we’d pay on the Magic.

I’m VERY nervous about switching. I hated cruising before I found Disney (had sailed Princess before) and I love the kids activities and the service level. I know if you pay less, you’ll get less... but could someone give me a general comparison?

For instance - would it be like going from Grand Floridian to a Moderate like Port Orleans - or more like a value resort?

Or is it like doing Disney vs going to Hershey Park, or more like a Six Flags?

I noticed that the Anthem has a lot more people and a lot less crew than Disney so that also makes me nervous.

If we decide to try it, how much should I expect to spend on extras? We would do a soda package and probably a dining package, but what else besides that?

Thanks in advance!
 
I don’t know enough about the Quantum class to make an apples to apples comparison. So I’ll stick to generalities.

DCL to Royal would be more of a WDW to Universal Parks transition. Activities and shows skew older, although the kids program is still very good. Obviously that will vary based on the staff.

Crew to guest ratio is less, and it can sometimes show wrt the cabin stewards (they sometimes seem stressed, as do the guest services staff), but I’ve been on Harmony and Allure and haven’t seen a marked drop in service compared to DCL.

I don’t know that the soda package is necessary. When I first did Royal I thought I would miss drinking pop but the truth is that I didn’t.

For specialty dining consider a BOGO promotion if it pops up. Kids are either $10 or half price - I’m not sure anymore - but this is a chance for them to see what they missed in Remy and Palo. There’s no real gimmick to the MDR but the food quality is as good as DCL. YMMV on taste and presentation based on the chefs, of course.
 
Each cruise line and ship has its highlights. There are things we love (and miss) about each one. The big RCL ships have more to do than DCL. Try to make this cruise different than what you usually do on DCL. We were often bored on Disney Magic, whereas the RCL ships had more different activities to choose from. The pools are SO much less crowded on non-Disney lines. With the difference in cost, we can get two connecting cabins or even a suite for thousands less than sharing one cabin on DCL. Our waitstaff on DCL was among the worst we have had on any cruise, so it's not hard to beat, but we like trying specialty restaurants and find the freedom of Anytime dining refreshing as well. The only thing I always miss on any otherline is Fish Extenders! If you are constantly looking for ways that RCL falls short of DCL, you'll find them. If you are looking for highlights on RCL that you wouldn't have experienced on DCL, you'll find many of those as well!

We love Disney and wouldn't hesitate to take another Disney cruise, but the next one we have scheduled is RCCL because they offer better itineraries coupled with an amazing onboard experience!

Ps- Be sure to sign up for Chef's Table one night. Hands down the best experience available on every cruise line except DCL!
 
I've cruised on the Fantasy and on the Oasis- honestly we loved both cruises equal...and we cruised on the Fantasy on a VGT and it was still double the cost of Oasis...our DD was I think 9 when we did the Oasis and 10 when we did the Fantasy- she loved them both equal- but different ways- she loved all the pools on Oasis, but preferred the clubs on Disney (she was just old enough to start going into Edge so thought that was awesome) loved the shows on both, food she was impartially, we preferred Oasis...we also thought that the Fantasy actually felt more crowded than Oasis. While we may cruise DCL again if we can get a good deal, we will def cruise Royal again, especially as I believe there are some of the bigger ships going to make it over to the west coast where we are. We have a DD1.5 now so I think our next cruise will take into consideration nursery/splash pad sort of thing availability for her. Service wise, of the 4 cruises I have done (Fasntasy, Oasis, Freedom (RCL) and HAL for Alaska service on disney we didn't find any better than the others, in fact our dining room staff on DCL was prob the worst of the 4..I think if you go in with an open mind and accept and embrace the things that are different, you will have an awesome time
 




This thread is great. I've been thinking about posting something similar, but was feeling a little shy. ;) I hope it's okay if I jump in with some other questions from a newbie.

We've sailed four times with DCL with two more booked on the horizon (Mediterranean on the Magic this summer and Southern Caribbean on the Wonder in January), but we decided to take short cruse on Royal Caribbean to try something different. DD has always begged for a cruise for her birthday, the cost is just prohibitive. Her birthday is July 4 and the cruises are always so much more expensive over that date! That, coupled with all the announcements about Coco Cay caused us to look more seriously and we booked a cruise on Mariner of the Seas for July 2019. I'm equal parts nervous and excited! It's only 4 nights so if it just isn't for us, it's not that long. I'm hoping we can combine it with a few days at WDW so we can get a little Disney fix just after that.

One thing that has me pretty confused is the dining and shows. We picked a dining time (late) because that's what we like. So are we beholden to that or can we also take advantage of anytime? Like if we get hungry early? And the shows, I read something about tickets for the ice skating shows? Do we need tickets or does everyone go opposite their dining time?

It looks like the Mariner is going to have a dry dock soon so we're excited to sail on a relatively updated ship. We've booked a standard verandah room. Is it going to feel much smaller? How much are we going to miss the split bath?
 
This thread is great. I've been thinking about posting something similar, but was feeling a little shy. ;) I hope it's okay if I jump in with some other questions from a newbie.

We've sailed four times with DCL with two more booked on the horizon (Mediterranean on the Magic this summer and Southern Caribbean on the Wonder in January), but we decided to take short cruse on Royal Caribbean to try something different. DD has always begged for a cruise for her birthday, the cost is just prohibitive. Her birthday is July 4 and the cruises are always so much more expensive over that date! That, coupled with all the announcements about Coco Cay caused us to look more seriously and we booked a cruise on Mariner of the Seas for July 2019. I'm equal parts nervous and excited! It's only 4 nights so if it just isn't for us, it's not that long. I'm hoping we can combine it with a few days at WDW so we can get a little Disney fix just after that.

One thing that has me pretty confused is the dining and shows. We picked a dining time (late) because that's what we like. So are we beholden to that or can we also take advantage of anytime? Like if we get hungry early? And the shows, I read something about tickets for the ice skating shows? Do we need tickets or does everyone go opposite their dining time?

It looks like the Mariner is going to have a dry dock soon so we're excited to sail on a relatively updated ship. We've booked a standard verandah room. Is it going to feel much smaller? How much are we going to miss the split bath?


With dining you have to choose between traditional or My Time Dining. You can't do both. If you like to eat late you could pick MTD and make a reservation for a set time each night but you would still have the flexibility to change it.

For the ice show they usually distribute tickets on the first sea day. But you can show up and try to get standby seats.
 
Great thred! We sailed on the Dream in 2016 and will be sailing on the Fantasy this August. I love DCL because I know what to expect. However, I am open to sailing on other lines. We have a cruise on the Anthem booked June 2019 to Bermuda from NJ. The port is closer to home and I could not beat the price. I am trying to go into with an open mind.
 
We are taking our first non DCL cruise in 3 weeks. We are going on the Oasis. As a family, we have done 6 DCL cruises and I have done 2 more DCL cruises with friends. I just had to try another cruise line. I am sure we are going to have a blast, but i will always like DCL. I can't wait to report back my thoughts!
 
We sailed on Wonder 2 years ago (kids were 3 & 6) and just got off the Liberty of the Seas (kids now 5 & 8). In my opinion the shows and kids club were better on Disney. However, the pool on the Wonder was TINY! My kids could never swim it was so packed. We lived at the pool are on the Liberty of the Seas. There was a huge splash pad area with 2 slides where my kids spent hours each day. Plus they loved the large sports court, putt putt and ice skating. There was also a rock climbing wall, flow rider and two more much larger water slides. For us the significant price difference (we stayed in a jr suite for 7 nights on RCL for the same price as an interior on Wonder for 5 nights) coupled with the amazing pool area outweighs what we gave up on Disney. Of course what is offered on each varies by ship.
 
This thread is great. I've been thinking about posting something similar, but was feeling a little shy. ;) I hope it's okay if I jump in with some other questions from a newbie.

We've sailed four times with DCL with two more booked on the horizon (Mediterranean on the Magic this summer and Southern Caribbean on the Wonder in January), but we decided to take short cruse on Royal Caribbean to try something different. DD has always begged for a cruise for her birthday, the cost is just prohibitive. Her birthday is July 4 and the cruises are always so much more expensive over that date! That, coupled with all the announcements about Coco Cay caused us to look more seriously and we booked a cruise on Mariner of the Seas for July 2019. I'm equal parts nervous and excited! It's only 4 nights so if it just isn't for us, it's not that long. I'm hoping we can combine it with a few days at WDW so we can get a little Disney fix just after that.

One thing that has me pretty confused is the dining and shows. We picked a dining time (late) because that's what we like. So are we beholden to that or can we also take advantage of anytime? Like if we get hungry early? And the shows, I read something about tickets for the ice skating shows? Do we need tickets or does everyone go opposite their dining time?

It looks like the Mariner is going to have a dry dock soon so we're excited to sail on a relatively updated ship. We've booked a standard verandah room. Is it going to feel much smaller? How much are we going to miss the split bath?

We're booked on 4 day on Mariner too for end of the summer. The dry dock changes look amazing...adding slides, some trampoline thing, flowrider, laser tag...and that's ontop of the rock wall and ice skating. CoCo Cay looks really neat too (but we'll be there before it's completed).

OP - Haven't been on Anthem but it does look like a great ship too.
 
we sailed on the Wonder in 2/16 and the Oasis this last December and disembarked on Christmas Eve. My son loved the kids clubs on Disney but daughter hated them. On the Oasis they would have been split up by age (DS 8 and DD 10) so neither wanted to go. I will echo what everyone says above the pools on Oasis were MUCH bigger and more fun so we were there most of the day when at sea. The price of RC was literally 1/2 the amount of Disney and the kids said they liked it more because we were on the "biggest cruise ship in the world" and soooo much to do. There was a carousel and trivia for the kids. They loved the Dreamworks characters and to meet them and have your picture made with them super easy and fast. Downside of RC for adults I think the food is not as good. Although we liked it and explored many options like Central Park Cafe with you pick your salad toppings but the buffet just not as good. More mass produced as there are so many people on board. In summary when you ask my kids they would choose RC again and we probably would too to save the $$$..
 
I love RCL. Yes you will lose the "Disney Magic" but the newer ships are gorgeous and the kids clubs are really great. I sailed the Anthem last spring and would sail on it again in a heart beat if the right deal came along.
 
We're booked on 4 day on Mariner too for end of the summer. The dry dock changes look amazing...adding slides, some trampoline thing, flowrider, laser tag...and that's ontop of the rock wall and ice skating. CoCo Cay looks really neat too (but we'll be there before it's completed).

OP - Haven't been on Anthem but it does look like a great ship too.

I look forward to hearing what you think! :)
 
We are WDW nuts and went on the Dream about 18 months ago and have been on two RCL cruises since (Oasis and Independence). My kids and wife both preferred RCL and I must say so did I.
 

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