Disney vs. Royal Caribbean ~ a comparison

[Ocruise]

Hi all. We just sailed the Wonder for a 4th of July cruise, then last week we sailed Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas for their July 18th Western Caribean cruise. I just wanted to make comparisions (what our opinion was of both cruise experiences).

The food - Hands down Disney won! We found the food on Royal Caribbean TERRIBLE! This was the first cruise we took that we ate in the dining room for all meals because the buffet was nasty! Even in the dining room, we got a handful of good meals, not one meal that was great. Here is how we would rate the food on the cruises we sailed (our report card):

Celebrity A
Disney A-
Carnival B+
Royal Caribbean D-

A lot of people we met on the Explorer felt the same way we did about the food, very disapointing. Also, we met several families who expressed dissatisfaction with the Royal Caribbean's kids program. (After 1:00 in the afternoon, you have to pay, etc..) It was just the two of us sailing, so i'm speaking from comments made to me by families we met. When we sailed Carnival, the kids program looked ok, but the kids program on Celebrity & Disney seemed the most organized to me.

We would sail Disney again in a heratbeat! After the excellent food on the Wonder, we felt so let down by Royal Caribbean. I know people say that Disney charges a lot, but at least they feed you food that is consistent with the price you pay. Our Royal Caribbean cruise was by no means cheap & the food was TERIBLE! Carnival was a great value, we got a very cheap cabin for our cruise & the food was very good.

So I just wanted to share what we experienced. For those of you who would like to try a different cruise line, I would recommend Celebrity highly. Our next Disney will be the Magic somday (soon I hope)

[momofmeg]

Could you tell me if there were paino bars, karoke, discos etc. and how latre they are open? I do like good food but if there is nice entertainment I can be happy.

[rthiebes]

We've been thinking about Disney too (price is an obstacle)...we did just return from Mariner of the Seas (July 4th) and it was fabulous! Food rated about a B+ for us...not gourmet but not as bad as it was on your cruise, and Mariner is RCCL. I wanted to correct you on the kids programs as well. You only have to pay if you put your kids in the program after 10pm at night!!!! Then it was $5 per child til 1am. The times before that are all included!!!!! We typically would pick either the morning or the afternoon session for ours (ages 5 and 7, two different age groups BTW)..once we picked the after dinner til 10pm program cause it was a pirate theme...they dressed up as pirates, did pirate things and had a great time. Every time block (ie three time blocks a day) had a different theme and I had to drag my kids out of there...they absolutely loved it! On shore excursion days, you could also keep them in there all day..they would eat with the counselors. The ONLY downside I thought to Mariner's kids program...absolutely NO kiddie pool..I think some of the other larger Voyager class ships at RCCL do have them....something to think about.

[JerseyMom]

I've heard a lot of people complain about the food on RCCL but didn't they just win some sort of award for their food? Maybe some knows where that thread is.

[jdmcnaul]

i just love it when people do "factual" comparisons which unfortunately are filled with untruths.

First of all, Royal C's kids program, Adventure Ocean, is fantastic. You DO NOT have to pay after 1 PM in the afternoon, it is FREE all day long up until 10 PM AT NIGHT. After that it runs $5 per hour until 1 AM when it closes down. Every counselor has a college degree in Child Psych, Child related topics, etc. They do really fun things with the kids including parades through the ship on different days dressed up and talent shows along with the activities. Every parent i have ever talked to on RCCL has raved about the kids programs. But of course the proof is in the pudding, my 5 year old never wanted to leave and we had to drag him away from the program for shore excursios. Yes, they even watch the kids in port so you can have some adult time in the ports if you want.

As far as the food goes, I am highly suspect anytime someone says that the food is as bad as this person said. Cruise lines couldn't exist if they served food that bad. We we're on the Explorer and the food was excellent to very good all the time, everywhere. Same went for the Radiance this year. It was comparable completely to the food we had on the Wonder as well. Any ship will have its issues when it is serving food for up to 3000 people. Sheesh. But I would not rate it nearly as low as the poster with an obvious axe to grind.

[cei3]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=54561&highlight=culinary

[JerseyMom]

Thanks for the link, cei3. I knew it wasn't a figment of my imagination. I have not sailed on RCCL yet (November 2005) but I have been on DCL and am going again in April. DS thought the kids program on DCL was "o.k." but not great. I read these boards almost every day and I have yet to hear of a negative first hand experience with RCCLs kids club.

[IrishLassie]

Just a note to anyone considering the Disney ships. No one mentioned that they DO NOT have casino's on their ships. It's hard to try to compare them with any of the other cruise lines. Disney always does things in a superior way, just ask Mickey!!

[BabySam99]

and absolutley loved it! Disneys kids club does not charge after a certain time it is free for the entire lenght of your trip. The food was great and the service was excellent! I am trying RCCL this time because of the price and only the price. I will be planning another Disney cruise in 2005 and can't wait!

There is so much to do on the ship that I didn't even miss the casino. I am a casino type of girl. The ship and the trip was so magical that I really didn't need a casino. Palos the adult only restaraunt was fabulous! The adult only pool and spa were great. The kids pool was wonderful. My five year old had a blast! :D

[momofmeg]

We are wanting to do an RCCL voyager class ship. Right now Mariner of the Seas is sky high for even an inside cabin so we are booking her next year. We were able to get Disney Wonder, with a veranda for almost a third of the price cheaper then Mariner, inside cabin. (September prices) Yes it is only 4 days but we are getting a much nicer stateroom. I would rather cruise 4 days with a veranda then 7 days in an inside cabin even if the price was the same.

I have been on RCCL Sovereign twice and thought the line was decent not great but I realize that Sovereign is not even in the league of voyager class ships. I am sure we will love Mariner-we just felt she is too popular right now and we did not want to pay the prices she cost. Navigator and Adventure were more reasonable but they would mean airfare too.

[robc]

I sailed the Wonder 6/27 - 7/1, just before momofmeg and my experience was the opposite. I have sailed RCCL three times and always have rated the food a solid B (except for their specialty restaurants, Chops, Portofino, etc. which are A). I would have rated the food on Disney a C (again, except for Palo, which was A Excellent). As a general rule I would have said RCCL's food is a notch above Disney.

Other posters have corrected the misinformation on RCCL's kids program so I won't do it again.

The Wonder is a beautiful ship and ideal for families. I would do Disney again if we went with another family but I still prefer RCCL. I have also cruised Carnival and Celebrity and liked them too, Carnival a little more.

Still have to try Princess!

[momofmeg]

robc I have not sailed on Wonder yet. Sorry if I gave that impression. We are sailing Sept. 19. I have always wanted to do a Disney cruise every since we were docked next to Wonder back in 99 when we were on Sovereign. I have never had a problem with RCCL's food, but the lines with the best food to me was HAL and Princess but if you have read some of my other posts you would see HAL was my least favorite line because of entertainment. To me it is not all about my stomach. Ofcourse as I have diabetes and have to be careful about what I eat-maybe that is why I feel that way-entertainment is much more important to me.

I do like the fact that it costs only $10 extra, besides tip, to do the Disney speciality restuarant. We plan to do the speciality restuarant the night we reapeat restuarants so we will actually do a diff. restuarant every night.

[later]

Mariner September prices would be high at this time. The ship is probably almost full and you are into the penalty period for cancellations. If you want to book a Mariner Balcony and get a good price you most likely will have to book very early or wait for specials to show up, but being so new it sells out fairly quickly. I still think you if you compare disney prices to the Mariner prices for similar rooms, especially during Hurricane season, the Mariner should always be cheaper. I usually pay around $100/day or less for 1st/2nd passengers for a balcony during Hurricane season. 3rd/4th passengers are well discounted under that. Obviously I am talking about the cruise/port charges and not including air fare.

I live near Disney and my daughters worked at the park in entertainment. (characters/singers). Even living here, I still like Disney, but until I see the price of cruises drop in line with the other mass market cruise lines I will stick to the others and just go to the park and/or hotels to see the characters.

[TBRay]

LATER beat me to it but I echo their comments. I booked back in January for the Mariner cruise this September (19th) and will probably never get a cheaper rate in my entire life. The two of us are booked in a Deck 9 cabin for what each person costs right now. The 9/19 cruise has been sold out since Feb. (except for some top-end suites) and is only now releasing a few guaranteed cabins after final payment date.

The moral to the story: You have to look ahead toward the future dates and jump on those bargains. Sept. 2005 is now looking incredible for cruise ships in general, but you have to move while they are available.

And no casino's? :confused: Don't bother looking for me aboard... ;)