DCL vs. Everyone Else . . . who would you pick?

[Mickey of the Villages]

I love DCL and have been on a handful of cruises (maybe two handfuls) with them. If I could boil it down I would say its the Disney music playing in the hallways. It makes me feel 10. In port I see other ships with other folks enjoying cruises on other cruise lines. Sometimes the other ships look a bit the worse for wear and sometimes the other ships look lovely.

I know it's likely well discussed here . . . but is DCL the best? If you've cruised other cruise lines out of Port Canaveral I would be interested to know your thoughts?

Maybe the grass is greener . . .

 

[luv2cruisedisney]

After 15 cruises with DCL and talking on and off again about trying a different line we booked an RCCL (Oasis of the Seas ) cruise for New Years a couple years ago. For Us it is not worth the price difference. there was nothing overtly wrong, except for the attitude of a good portion of the staff, but we found several things that added up to us not having a very good time on the ship. I won't rehash in detail our disappointment but we didn't like Labadee, having to check your towels in and out is ridiculous, My time dining is a 2 hour wait unless you reserve a time ( defeating the purpose of my time dining ), venues not being open at what to us were sensible times, the AWFUL smell of stale cigarettes emanating from the casino while you are waiting to get a table at dinner, the Mall of America feel of the atrium lined with tables and racks hawking everything you could imagine. I think you get how our experience was.

We have since done a couple more DCL cruises with more reserved. Are they the best?, to get to your original question. I don't know but for us the feeling we have on any one of the DCL ships is worth Waaayyyyy more than any price difference.

Of course YMMV and these are just our opinions

 

[jdb in AZ]

I love DCL and have been on a handful of cruises (maybe two handfuls) with them. If I could boil it down I would say its the Disney music playing in the hallways. It makes me feel 10. In port I see other ships with other folks enjoying cruises on other cruise lines. Sometimes the other ships look a bit the worse for wear and sometimes the other ships look lovely.

I know it's likely well discussed here . . . but is DCL the best? If you've cruised other cruise lines out of Port Canaveral I would be interested to know your thoughts?

Maybe the grass is greener . . .

Out of Port Canaveral -- DCL works for us, mostly because of its proximity to Orlando, and because of Castaway Cay. But we're tired of Caribbean cruises, so we boldly go where DCL doesn't go. When the grand kids are older we'll take another DCL cruise to the Caribbean, because that's where their parents can take them with the military discount.

 

[miss0033]

If you asked 100 different people, you'll get 100 different answers. Well maybe not, because I don't know if there are 100 cruise lines, but you get the idea. I have a co-worker who will only cruise Celebrity because they feel its the best. Another co-worker only cruises Carnival and feels it is the best. We prefer DCL and feel it is the best, for us. Asking at a Disney slanted website, you'll likely get many, many responses in favor of DCL but there are people on here who frequently cruise other lines as well.

We tried 1 other cruise line and had a miserable, disappointing experience. Many other people on that ship enjoyed their time, it just wasn't for us.

I would recommend trying at least one other cruise line. Maybe, like us, you will appreciate DCL that much more, or maybe you find something you like better? For us it isn't just the dollar cost it is opportunity cost. We can "only" cruise once every few years. Why take a risk on something we would be disappointed in, when we know we love DCL? In our experience we haven't found other cruise lines to be significantly cheaper (during the times and itineraries that we were searching for), others have had different experience. Some people have found they could go on multiple other cruises for the same as 1 similar DCL cruise.

 

[Mickey of the Villages]

After 15 cruises with DCL and talking on and off again about trying a different line we booked an RCCL (Oasis of the Seas ) cruise for New Years a couple years ago. For Us it is not worth the price difference. there was nothing overtly wrong, except for the attitude of a good portion of the staff, but we found several things that added up to us not having a very good time on the ship. I won't rehash in detail our disappointment but we didn't like Labadee, having to check your towels in and out is ridiculous, My time dining is a 2 hour wait unless you reserve a time ( defeating the purpose of my time dining ), venues not being open at what to us were sensible times, the AWFUL smell of stale cigarettes emanating from the casino while you are waiting to get a table at dinner, the Mall of America feel of the atrium lined with tables and racks hawking everything you could imagine. I think you get how our experience was.

We have since done a couple more DCL cruises with more reserved. Are they the best?, to get to your original question. I don't know but for us the feeling we have on any one of the DCL ships is worth Waaayyyyy more than any price difference.

Of course YMMV and these are just our opinions

Without knowing it you hit on many of the concerns I have for going on another cruise line. Thanks for responding.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Other than Disney we have only done adult cruises, crystal or silver sea both of which are all inclusive. Lovely ships, incredible service, excellent food but entirely different experiences. I would never take kids or even young adults.

 

[Vicki106]

We've done 3 DCL cruises (1 Bahamas from PC, 1 Western Caribbean from PC and 1 Port Canaveral from NYC), 1 Princess (Alaska), 1 Royal Caribbean (NJ to Bermuda) and 1 Carnival (charter specialty cruise from Miami to Western Caribbean). So we are not experts by any means, but since 2016, when the cruise bug bit us, we've tried a few things. We are a family of mom, dad, 2 teenagers, 1 tween and grandma.

Guest Services: IMHO, Disney has the best guest service. Everyone of the other ones were lacking when compared with Disney. On our most recent RC cruise I had a question and called Guest Services from my stateroom. The phone rang and rang and rang. I counted and it rang 63 times and then I was disconnected. This happened twice. Folks working in Guest Services on Princess were not friendly or particularly helpful.

Entertainment: Disney's Broadway style shows are hard to beat. The shows on Princess were a hot mess, but the comedians and other performers were top notch. On RC one of their shows were terrible, but the other one (We Will Rock You!) was fantastic. Their comedians were funny and they has some great bands/performers in the bars and nightclub.

Food: Disney has the best main dining rooms IMHO. But the food and dining rooms on Princess were also very good. We especially enjoyed our meal in Chops. Well worth the $50 upcharge to us.

Stuff for Kids to do: My teens and tweens still love all things Disney and meet and take photos with the characters. But none of them use the kids/teens club very much. RC had an amazing array of activities for them: rock wall, indoor skydiving, surfing simulator, bumper cars, rollerskating, ping pong, air hockey . . .

If I were ranking them I would say: 1. DCL

2. RC



3. Princess








4. Carnival

When we choose which line to sail we look at itinerary first, cruise line and then price. We also consider how much time we plan to spend on the ship. For DCL is worth it if we like the itinerary and the price isn't totally ridiculous. For Alaska. we couldn't justify the price difference when 2 inside cabins on DCL cost 2 X as much as an inside and a mini-suite with an huge balcony on Princess. We found that on a Alaska cruise we just don't spend enough time on the ship to worry justify the cost.

Last November we sailed from NYC to PC and had a day at WDW and one at Castaway Cay. We can't think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving week. Sadly they are not doing that cruise this year. We are hoping that DCL buts this back on the schedule form Nov 2020.

I guess the answer for us is: for the right itinerary and the right price DCL is totally worth it to us. If money were not a consideration, I'd sail them everywhere that we could. But, sadly money is a consideration. We sailed DCL first and my friend's wife said that we are spoiled. This maybe true, but we really enjoyed the cruise on RC and will also be sailing them again in the future.

I hope this is at least a little bit helpful!

 

[shoes99]

We have done many Disney cruises. Two senior 70+ and we will sail Princess when the itineraries and travel dates are similar. We booked the Northern European Capitals on Disney and then switched to Princess for $3000.00 less. We also did the same with the British Isles Cruise. Both were port intensive and we loved that.

 

[Mickey of the Villages]

We've done 3 DCL cruises (1 Bahamas from PC, 1 Western Caribbean from PC and 1 Port Canaveral from NYC), 1 Princess (Alaska), 1 Royal Caribbean (NJ to Bermuda) and 1 Carnival (charter specialty cruise from Miami to Western Caribbean). So we are not experts by any means, but since 2016, when the cruise bug bit us, we've tried a few things. We are a family of mom, dad, 2 teenagers, 1 tween and grandma.

Guest Services: IMHO, Disney has the best guest service. Everyone of the other ones were lacking when compared with Disney. On our most recent RC cruise I had a question and called Guest Services from my stateroom. The phone rang and rang and rang. I counted and it rang 63 times and then I was disconnected. This happened twice. Folks working in Guest Services on Princess were not friendly or particularly helpful.

Entertainment: Disney's Broadway style shows are hard to beat. The shows on Princess were a hot mess, but the comedians and other performers were top notch. On RC one of their shows were terrible, but the other one (We Will Rock You!) was fantastic. Their comedians were funny and they has some great bands/performers in the bars and nightclub.

Food: Disney has the best main dining rooms IMHO. But the food and dining rooms on Princess were also very good. We especially enjoyed our meal in Chops. Well worth the $50 upcharge to us.

Stuff for Kids to do: My teens and tweens still love all things Disney and meet and take photos with the characters. But none of them use the kids/teens club very much. RC had an amazing array of activities for them: rock wall, indoor skydiving, surfing simulator, bumper cars, rollerskating, ping pong, air hockey . . .

If I were ranking them I would say: 1. DCL

2. RC



3. Princess








4. Carnival

When we choose which line to sail we look at itinerary first, cruise line and then price. We also consider how much time we plan to spend on the ship. For DCL is worth it if we like the itinerary and the price isn't totally ridiculous. For Alaska. we couldn't justify the price difference when 2 inside cabins on DCL cost 2 X as much as an inside and a mini-suite with an huge balcony on Princess. We found that on a Alaska cruise we just don't spend enough time on the ship to worry justify the cost.

Last November we sailed from NYC to PC and had a day at WDW and one at Castaway Cay. We can't think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving week. Sadly they are not doing that cruise this year. We are hoping that DCL buts this back on the schedule form Nov 2020.

I guess the answer for us is: for the right itinerary and the right price DCL is totally worth it to us. If money were not a consideration, I'd sail them everywhere that we could. But, sadly money is a consideration. We sailed DCL first and my friend's wife said that we are spoiled. This maybe true, but we really enjoyed the cruise on RC and will also be sailing them again in the future.

I hope this is at least a little bit helpful!

Thank you for such a complete answer.

 

[Mickey of the Villages]

Other than Disney we have only done adult cruises, crystal or silver sea both of which are all inclusive. Lovely ships, incredible service, excellent food but entirely different experiences. I would never take kids or even young adults.

I am sort of aware of Crystal and Silver Sea. If you don't mind sharing your thoughts on those (either compared to DCL or not) I'd love to hear what you thought.

 

[MonaMN]

We've done 3 DCL cruises (1 Bahamas from PC, 1 Western Caribbean from PC and 1 Port Canaveral from NYC), 1 Princess (Alaska), 1 Royal Caribbean (NJ to Bermuda) and 1 Carnival (charter specialty cruise from Miami to Western Caribbean). So we are not experts by any means, but since 2016, when the cruise bug bit us, we've tried a few things. We are a family of mom, dad, 2 teenagers, 1 tween and grandma.

Guest Services: IMHO, Disney has the best guest service. Everyone of the other ones were lacking when compared with Disney. On our most recent RC cruise I had a question and called Guest Services from my stateroom. The phone rang and rang and rang. I counted and it rang 63 times and then I was disconnected. This happened twice. Folks working in Guest Services on Princess were not friendly or particularly helpful.

Entertainment: Disney's Broadway style shows are hard to beat. The shows on Princess were a hot mess, but the comedians and other performers were top notch. On RC one of their shows were terrible, but the other one (We Will Rock You!) was fantastic. Their comedians were funny and they has some great bands/performers in the bars and nightclub.

Food: Disney has the best main dining rooms IMHO. But the food and dining rooms on Princess were also very good. We especially enjoyed our meal in Chops. Well worth the $50 upcharge to us.

Stuff for Kids to do: My teens and tweens still love all things Disney and meet and take photos with the characters. But none of them use the kids/teens club very much. RC had an amazing array of activities for them: rock wall, indoor skydiving, surfing simulator, bumper cars, rollerskating, ping pong, air hockey . . .

If I were ranking them I would say: 1. DCL

2. RC



3. Princess








4. Carnival

When we choose which line to sail we look at itinerary first, cruise line and then price. We also consider how much time we plan to spend on the ship. For DCL is worth it if we like the itinerary and the price isn't totally ridiculous. For Alaska. we couldn't justify the price difference when 2 inside cabins on DCL cost 2 X as much as an inside and a mini-suite with an huge balcony on Princess. We found that on a Alaska cruise we just don't spend enough time on the ship to worry justify the cost.

Last November we sailed from NYC to PC and had a day at WDW and one at Castaway Cay. We can't think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving week. Sadly they are not doing that cruise this year. We are hoping that DCL buts this back on the schedule form Nov 2020.

I guess the answer for us is: for the right itinerary and the right price DCL is totally worth it to us. If money were not a consideration, I'd sail them everywhere that we could. But, sadly money is a consideration. We sailed DCL first and my friend's wife said that we are spoiled. This maybe true, but we really enjoyed the cruise on RC and will also be sailing them again in the future.

I hope this is at least a little bit helpful!

This makes a lot of sense to me. We have only done one cruise with another booked for next year - both DCL. But we are thinking about both Alaska and Europe, which I think would be far more port intensive.

The other wild card for us is that with a food allergy kid, we have some loyalty to Disney because they do allergies well (particularly at WDW)... but I have heard decent things about a couple other cruise lines as well... so we shall see!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

In terms of family cruise lines, yes, I think DCL is the best. Or, I should say, it's the best for us as the large RCCL ships and Carnival, in general, just doesn't appeal to us at all. We've sailed NCL a few times and, honestly, it's fine. If you are looking for a "family" cruise at, typically, a better price point, it's fine. We've tried other cruise lines for a few reasons - changing up itineraries is one of them because we just have zero interest of going to the Bahamas and, particularly, the western Caribbean ever again. We sailed on Paul Gauguin through French Polynesia a few years ago and that was incredible but a completely different experience. There were not a lot of kids on the boat, but the ones that were were absolutely treated to the best kids program I've ever encountered. They basically had their own cruise counselors - one of whom was a Professor of Biology, the other was a Navy marine mammal trainer - and their own excursions. It was a marine biology field trip on steroids and it was incredible. We sailed Celebrity last year to try out a southern Caribbean itinerary and it was very nice. Incredibly low-key compared to DCL which my son was fine with as there were still kids on the ship his age and they had a nice, small kids club. However, if you want a cruise with an impeccably kept ship with stellar guest service, DCL really is top-of-the line in its cruising class, IMHO.

 

[tinkerone]

After a dozen DCL cruises we decided to spread our wings, take a chance and try something else. Went to RCCL and sailed the Oasis on her first cruise out of PC. Walked on and the first thing I thought was 'we have made a huge mistake'. Two hours later we thought 'why didn't we do this years ago'. It was amazing. My time dining was a good option for us and we never had the two hour wait another opp spoke of. The aqua show was equivalent to a cirque du soleil performance. Their ice skating show was every bit as good as anything offered on land. Having the buffet (which had a hundred options) available for dinner was great, we were late discovering that. Their adult only section beats DCL's into the ground. Always so much going on, you could never get bored.

Now, on the other hand they had things like belly flop contests, these we never ran across because they are of no interest, but my point is they do have things I would consider tasteless but very easy to avoid. Their dinning options you pay for were plenty and good. Being able to purchase a drink package was a nice benefit. Having a glass of wine in the evening while strolling through their Central Park, listening to the crickets that they pipe in was magical. I could go on and on but you get the picture. We did not, after all, make a mistake with spreading our wings.

We did a B2B the following year on the Oasis. Last year we did a B2B on their newest ship the Symphony of the Seas. We are doing DCL this year, hubby wants to see if he really isn't missing anything, fine by me. We have now booked a B2B on the Symphony of the Seas for next year as well.
We like DCL but are ever so glad we tried RCCL. Now that I'm past being afraid of the unknown I just need to get myself hyped for some other line such as Norwegian maybe. Do I love DCL, yes. Do I love that I expanded, yes. Do I regret doing so, no. YMMV but keep an open mind. JMO.

 

[LittleMissMagic]

Here are a few ships that I love that aren't Disney...

Royal Princess - Lovely, elegant ship. Just check out these photos - http://www.victoriaonvacation.com/2014/02/2013-royal-princess-christmas-cruise_20.html

Norwegian Getaway - I don't have any photos handy, but what I love about this ship is the "Waterfront" - like Deck 4 on the Disney ships, but full of bars and restaurants. The Promenade level is very much outside.

I've enjoyed several Royal Caribbean ships. I have yet to sail on the new Oasis-class ships, but have been on all of the older, smaller ships, Freedom-class and below. They're nice ships with good layouts.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

11 cruises on DCL; 3 on Carnival; 2 on Celebrity; 1 on RCCL (without kids, years ago); 1 on HAL; 1 on NCL. We did Alaska on Celebrity and loved it- my kid did too mainly because of Alaska and there were less than 20 kids on the ship, it was practically like having a nanny the kids club was so small. I did the Med on NCL and that was great but mainly because we did the Haven and because it was the Med- very port intensive. I don't think I would have liked NCL otherwise although my sister likes them. It has been a long time since we were on Carnival, but felt that the value, esp the food, was good for the money - I've heard complaints they have gone downhill over the years. I would like to try RCCL with my kids, and I've even booked a couple of their behemoth cruise ships a couple times, but always backed out. I just don't think I would like a big ship -- but I think my kids would so I would like to give it a try sometime..

 

[starvenger]

It pretty much is a subjective thing. I'm quite partial to Royal's Oasis class. Itching to try Princess again, wouldn't mind going on DCL again. Basically I'm unlikely to say "no" to a cruise. Haven't found anyone willing to subsidize me for DCL though... strange that.

At the end of the day I'm someone who likes to travel (except to mainland China). I'm as likely to go somewhere and rent an apartment for a week as I am to go on a cruise.

 

[bumbershoot]

The other wild card for us is that with a food allergy kid, we have some loyalty to Disney because they do allergies well (particularly at WDW)... but I have heard decent things about a couple other cruise lines as well... so we shall see!

We sat next to an allergy family on Freedom, and every night the servers gave the parents next night’s menu and order forms so they found pre-order exactly what they needed. I wouldn’t worry at all about Royal.


I’m of basically equal status on Disney and Royal. But since their systems are different, that means I’ve spent more days on Royal.

All Disney cruises were in Dream.

On Royal I’ve been on Radiance, Freedom twice, Vision, and adventure.

My heart is with Royal.

Service is equal on both, but on Disney it skews towards cloying, which I canNOT stand. One time it hit that level on Royal and it made us very uncomfortable. It was during dining, and I’m sure they thought they were providing excellent service, but it was just too much for us.

Food is about equal. We’re vegetarian with ingredient issues, and the care for us is equal. I’ve had to resort to Mac and cheese on Disney and spaghetti with marinara on Royal more than once, because that night’s vegetarian meals were just too gross to deal with again.

Shopping on both is like a mall. Once is fancy Bellevue square (up east of Seattle) and one is meh Tacoma mall (in Tacoma), but they are still just malls.

On radiance I didn’t know better AND was brand newly pregnant and could smell the casino smoke everywhere. On Vision we hit awful weather and the smokers couldn’t go outside so they went to the casino, and by the end of the second day of not being able to go outside it was starting to get desperate.

BUT on Dream a smoking section is right along the jogging track, so...


Belly flop contest, eh. I’ve literally come across it once time. And it’s because my husband at the time took part in it. He had a terrific time. And he lost even though he should have won (not a small fellow) and everyone was sad for him.

I’m NOT a Disney show person. Again, cloying. My family refuses to let me see golden Mickey a second time because of my near violent reaction to it. Seriously the show makes nooooo sense. It’s ridiculous. Ugh. So I do not miss the shows when on Royal.

I do like a comedian or a magician and will see them. They’ve been equal on both.


I’ve gotten interesting rooms on Royal, and I’ve done two category Vs, one inside, and one big porthole room (#6666, which was awesome) on Dream. I don’t generally go for plain rooms lol.


I’ll try celebrity next, because it seems interesting.

Those are my disjointed thoughts.

 

[Lisa F]

to me it boils down to whether you love cruising in general or whether you are more of a Disney person.

If you just want to cruise and are not too fussy, you can definitely cruise for less money than Disney. If you are about the ports and not as much the ship, I would look into other options.

But personally I am not interested in cruising for the sake of cruising. For me it is all about the total Disney experience. I am a designer so my environment is very important to me and the decor of most other ships that I've seen don't "do it" for me - there may be others that are more classically designed than casino designed but most of the ones that are a bargain compared to Disney are not my style.

I love the Disney touches, the Disney service, the whole Disney immersion experience.

I am taking my son on the SWDAS cruise, can't get that anywhere but Disney

I am not a frequent cruiser though. We go to the parks a lot and this cruise was on my bucket list for my son. Cruising does not appeal all that much to me without the Disney component for a vacation with the kiddo, though I have been tempted to try an adult only cruise with a girlfriend or with my boyfriend to see how it is just to get away somewhere warm and relax etc. A friend cruises NCL all the time and it has some appeal. But it's not something I'd do with the kiddo. He is a Disney kid through and through.

The one exception is I might like to do a european cruise with him and I think in that case it's basically a floating hotel as we'd spend most of the time OFF the ship but I'm still on the fence about that!

 

[Karin1984]

I think this is more about an emotion than the real value of a $ and what you can do on a cruise. You have a special feeling on DCL, the music in the hallways that make you go 10. That is something that cannot be beat by any other ship. And I think you should not underestimate that emotion. I can have a good time in most theme parks, especially with friends, I can have a good time. But going to a Disney park does something to my heart. It's something that makes me relaxed and utterly happy. Other parks can have better rides, better food, friendlier staff, but there is something about Disney that cannot be measured in cold, hard facts.

You can only know if a different cruise line will work for you, when you go on one of their cruises. And when you decide to go with a different cruise line, you will have to adjust your expectations to make sure you don't come off the ship disappointed, because that one special feeling wasn't there. If you get on the ship you should be open to new and different experiences, to make sure the one missing aspect doesn't overshadow the cruise.

 

[starvenger]

to me it boils down to whether you love cruising in general or whether you are more of a Disney person.

If you just want to cruise and are not too fussy, you can definitely cruise for less money than Disney. If you are about the ports and not as much the ship, I would look into other options.

A good point. Of course it's not a hard and fast rule, but it's a good rule of thumb to keep in mind.