Royal Caribbean v. Disney - Newbie
- Thread starter hayesdvc
- Start date
Denise W
Disney Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 19, 1999
RCL is much cheaper then Disney, has many more ships and destinations than Disney offers, and has less kids. Our first 9 cruises were on Disney and we liked it fine, but like RCL (and other cruise lines) much better.
Royal is way cheaper (you could almost do 2 cruises on royal for the same price as 1 Disney cruise). And royal is amazing for kids while being great for adults as well.
Royal is especially good for older kids. Look at the newer, bigger ships. They have things like water slides, surf simulators, laser tag etc. Some even have ice skating and zip lining.
Royal is especially good for older kids. Look at the newer, bigger ships. They have things like water slides, surf simulators, laser tag etc. Some even have ice skating and zip lining.
Honestly, we found the cost for the same length cruise and same itinerary with similar cabins are about the same, at least for a week long cruise. Of course, Royal Caribbean didn't have the cruise we ready wanted for Thanksgiving week and Disney did, so Disney won for that one.
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2004
With the exception of the characters, you can get basically the same cruise (ports) on RCL for significantly less.
starvenger
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2015
Love your phrasing there. For me, these are the reasons why RCG is a better fit for us:
- More ships and more variety of ships. If you find you don't like the megaships, Royal does have a lot of smaller vessels that lean a bit more towards the traditional. This is not a slight on DCL, as they've found a size range that works very well for them.
- I find there's less kids on Royal, or at least less kids in proportion to ship capacity. On DCL, you can sort of see this when the pools are packed with kids.
- I like the Promenades on Royal. Just kind of a fun concept to have a "street" in the middle of the ship that you can stroll around in. Plus it's a much more inviting avenue to the theatre.
- Music variety. Royal has solo singers, bands, and even has parts of their orchestra perform during the day. DCL also has solo singers, but in lieu of bands they appear to favour having 2 performers and an iPad.
- Waterslides. That tube thingie on DCL didn't cut it for me.
- More specialty restaurants, if that's your thing. And kids can eat there as well.
- Casino. Again, if that's your thing. I would honestly recommend avoiding the casino if you're a very casual player - real easy way to lose a lot of money.
- It is much easier to find bars on Royal.
oakleycat
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2017
Better price, more activities, less little kids. We sailed on Disney for years and would absolutely recommend it for those with young children. The kids clubs can't be beat. But now that ours are teenagers we have moved to RCL and don't plan to go back due to pricing.
Marypoppins14
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2014
I loved the amount and variety of active/sports activities on RCCL, eg., roller blading, ice skating, rock climbing, zip lining, surfing, etc.
sam_gordon
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2010
Note: Not every ship has zip lines. I think they all have ice skating and most have rock climbing and flow riders (surf simulators).
Denise W
Disney Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 19, 1999
Nope, they all don’t have ice skating and flow riders. It depends on the class of ship.
While this may not be a popular choice, I will say that Royal Caribbean does a better job with the kids clubs. Sure Disney's club look nice and some of the activities are good, but my kids tend to get bored with the kids clubs pretty quickly on Disney boats. On RC (and even more so on NCL), the kids really get engaged with the activities and tend to spend much more time in the clubs. Those clubs tend to just be a big open space, but the counselors really engage with the kids well.
bbel
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2014
As someone who was youth staff on Disney and then royal - I totally agree. Much more enjoyed the job on royal (Disney we just stood guard in specific places). Royal let me get to know the kids and their families, and run the sessions and not get mad when we adapted it more to their needs/wants/likes of the kids there at the time. I applied for the job because I wanted to do activities with the kids and interact with them
Might not look as fancy, but in my experience it doesn’t need all the tech and pretty decor. (Royal is also cleaned a lot more thoroughly and regularly than Disney
)peacefrogdog
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2000
For what it's worth, my kids (who were ages 9-11 at the time) much preferred the Disney kids club vs Royal. It sounds like Royal may has made some changes since based on earlier posts.
What we appreciate with Royal ships is that there were more areas for us as adults to sit and relax, without having to be on the pool or sun deck. On the Disney Dream, which is a beautiful ship, I found it hard to do that other than some isolated seating around the big, main atrium. Whereas on the Royal ships we have been on, places like the Royal Promenade, Central park were great, cool (temperature wise) places to relax.
What we appreciate with Royal ships is that there were more areas for us as adults to sit and relax, without having to be on the pool or sun deck. On the Disney Dream, which is a beautiful ship, I found it hard to do that other than some isolated seating around the big, main atrium. Whereas on the Royal ships we have been on, places like the Royal Promenade, Central park were great, cool (temperature wise) places to relax.
Frozen2014
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2014
I've been on one Disney cruise and the rest Royal. I think Disney is better if you have smaller kids, but once they are older, and for adults, I recommend Royal.
Better price, beautiful ships, amazing food, more of an all ages ship (vs for kids) and more variety of shows, CoCo Cay (if your ship stops there), fun activities (family, and adults), better pools, and different things (depending on the ships) such as zipline, rock wall, dry slide, sky pad, laser tag, escape rooms, mini golf, etc
Better price, beautiful ships, amazing food, more of an all ages ship (vs for kids) and more variety of shows, CoCo Cay (if your ship stops there), fun activities (family, and adults), better pools, and different things (depending on the ships) such as zipline, rock wall, dry slide, sky pad, laser tag, escape rooms, mini golf, etc
RAD
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 15, 1999
We did the WBPC cruise in 2019 on the Wonder. The family next to our cabin had two teenagers with the parents. One afternoon I was sitting on the veranda listening to both of them complaining about how bored they were and wish they could go home. Just mention that as a data point.
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