Which Ships DO NOT have Dreamworks

[hexonx]

I don't see the issue with characters on cruise ships. Furry and non furry ones. I am personally looking forward to the character breakfast more than my 10 year old is.

If kids were an issue on a cruise or characters at that point, I would sail an adult only cruise which I have zero urge to ever do.

[Janet524]

I have to admit that I was more than annoyed when I learned that Dreamworks characters would be cruising with us on Oasis. I thought that if I wanted to be harrassed by cartoon characters I'd take a Disney cruise. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Dreamworks events were unintrusive. They were scheduled events and could be avoided easily. Also, it was kind of fun seeing them participate in the parade in the Royal Promenade.

[12marshall]

A sailaway is what you make of it. There are soooo many different ways to enjoy it from having champagne in your room or balcony, going to the front of the ship and looking out at the port over the water, dancing at the pool, whatever. We have done something a little different each time but for me it's all about the company whether it's family or friends.

As far as Dreamworks, it was going full-speed on our 8 day Liberty cruise last year and it was completely unobtrusive and could easily be avoided. Even their breakfasts were scheduled super early. All the major cruise lines are doing this and they see it as value-added. In the case of RCI it was a substantial expense and included major upgrades to their main theater including advanced 3-D technology and digital audio. All-in-all it's an upgrade and frankly it's likely to be temporary as they'll find something else that's "hot" and implement that.

[littlesteelo]

To answer OP's question, the ships that have the Dreamworks stuff are:

Oasis, Allure, Freedom and Liberty already have it, and Voyager will be getting it from May 26, 2012.

I kind of hope Independence doesn't get it. I think Disney should be the only line with characters, because face it, who could care less about the characters from Madagascar? It's hardly as iconic as the Disney ones, and seems like RCI really are just jumping on the bandwagon.

[Loose Seal]

Another voice for the "you can avoid it" crowd here. I have a phobia of people with their faces covered, so I was upset to find out that my boyfriend had booked a cruise on a ship with these characters. We were able to avoid them most of the time and when we did have to walk by one, he held my hand, stood between me and the character, and hurried me by before I had a chance to panic. Luckily, the characters were not the type to chase down the people who were avoiding them (I'm looking at you, Richmond Kickers mascot that follows me around all the time!).

It was so easy to control that I agreed to let him book a cruise on Oasis for May. Hopefully the characters will be just as easy to avoid!

[disneyfan68]

Originally Posted by mariapd719

Thanks soooo much. So it WONT be going to Voyager Class then at all, ever??? Thats great.
Lotty, Well you know how usually at sailaway you dance with the crew and they play fun music. They played the likes of the Hokey Pokey and had the hippo up there and the skunk thing. You werent able to dance not that you would want to anyways to the music they were playing. But I love sailaway and dancing on the pool deck. Then they have that sweet kids pool zone on the freedom class which i love cuz it keeps the kids over there. But not on the dreamworks ships. They were playing madagascar and Smurfs at the main pool so all the kids were in the main pool watching the movies. Cant blame them. If i were a kid Id be watching the movies too. But just didnt make sense to me

Wow you must really dislike kids. Just saying. They aren't a disease. Kind of hard to find a cruise without kids, Dreamworks or not.

[Loucat]

[quote=mariapd719;32567877]Just interested in what rccl ships do not have dreamworks on board. We
were recently on Freedom and it was awful. It ruined Sailaway and the deck party. Isnt there enough kids areas. Do these ridiculous animated creatures have to interfere with the wonderful sailaway experience and deck party and also alot of times while the band was playing on sea days. I felt like I was on a Disney Cruise. Worst thing was it was mid Jauary and there were only like maybe 80 kids on board yet the whole cruise catered them. It was so weird and definately not a vacation ID ever pay my hard earned money and waste my long awaited vacation on again. So IM hoping Explorer and atleast a few other ships arent going to jump ship and go dreamworks. It was our friends first cruise and they were like um this isnt how you described sailaway or the sea days or dancing under the stars at all. Very disappointing. Im hoping RCCL figures this out becuase we've been loyal to them for so long. But if all the ships are going to be like this we re going to have to go Norwegian unfortunately.[/quote


Please do not take my response in the wrong way. We are D+ on RCC. On our last RCC cruise, we had the waterworks and Shriek experience too. That is when I knew we needed a change.
From a buisness perspective, RCC seems to have long term plans to capture the attention of young families; creating a market for the future. Loyalty does not equate to corporate profits. I loved our earler RCC cruises but the line has changed IMHO.
I have been on NCL and suggest trying Princess. We are still exploring, but loved our most recent Princess cruise. Good luck!

[Loucat]

Originally Posted by 12marshall

A sailaway is what you make of it. There are soooo many different ways to enjoy it from having champagne in your room or balcony, going to the front of the ship and looking out at the port over the water, dancing at the pool, whatever. We have done something a little different each time but for me it's all about the company whether it's family or friends.

As far as Dreamworks, it was going full-speed on our 8 day Liberty cruise last year and it was completely unobtrusive and could easily be avoided. Even their breakfasts were scheduled super early. All the major cruise lines are doing this and they see it as value-added. In the case of RCI it was a substantial expense and included major upgrades to their main theater including advanced 3-D technology and digital audio. All-in-all it's an upgrade and frankly it's likely to be temporary as they'll find something else that's "hot" and implement that.

Have to disagree here. Not all of "the major cruise lines" are turning to creatures cruising. We were on HAL in January and Princess this month; not an animal character to be found. They are also lacking on X an Azamara. NO value added for many cruisers.

[Loucat]

Originally Posted by littlesteelo

To answer OP's question, the ships that have the Dreamworks stuff are:

Oasis, Allure, Freedom and Liberty already have it, and Voyager will be getting it from May 26, 2012.

I kind of hope Independence doesn't get it. I think Disney should be the only line with characters, because face it, who could care less about the characters from Madagascar? It's hardly as iconic as the Disney ones, and seems like RCI really are just jumping on the bandwagon.

Independence does have it. It is the cruise where I knew I needed a change.

[BeachChik]

Originally Posted by bplazo

I also will not go on a cruise that have those creatures on it. As some else posted some of the NCL cruises have Dora etc. and I will not sail on them either. They need to keep them confined in the childrens area.

They are. When we were on the freedom we only saw the characters at sailaway which I thought was cute. We never saw them the entire rest of the cruise. You have to know where they are to see them. They aren't just wandering the ship.

And I think what.plays on the big screen varies. One morning we saw cars 2, hardly anyone was watching. And in the evenings they played football and baseball.

[DarthGrady]

I almost never saw the Dreamworks garbage while I was on Allure last year. I hope they don't have it everywhere on FOS. I loathe all the kiddie stuff on board. I agree with OP. There are already kid's areas on board, leave the cartoons there!

So I guess the answer to the OP's question of "which Ships DO NOT have Dreamworks?" is: Not enough.

[mrs. z]

Does anyone know if there is a delay in getting off the ship in St. Thomas due to having to go thru customs? I have heard from someone that they had excursions early off the ship and there was a delay leaving the ship because of customs. We will be stopping in St. Croix before St. Thomas and we don't want to miss our early excursions. Any info. would be greatly appreciated.

[Ocean Boy]

Originally Posted by mrs. z

Does anyone know if there is a delay in getting off the ship in St. Thomas due to having to go thru customs? I have heard from someone that they had excursions early off the ship and there was a delay leaving the ship because of customs. We will be stopping in St. Croix before St. Thomas and we don't want to miss our early excursions. Any info. would be greatly appreciated.

From cartoons to customs. I don't quite get the connection. Anyway, to answer your question, if you are stopping in St. Croix prior to St. Thomas you should not have any issue. St. Croix is a US territory just like St. Thomas. So when you get to St. Thomas it will NOT be your first stop after a foreign port.

[peteukmcr]

Originally Posted by Loucat

Independence does have it. It is the cruise where I knew I needed a change.

According to RCI, Independence does not have the Dreamworks experience as yet.

http://bookings.royalcaribbean.co.uk...snav=4&wuc=GBR

[Ocean Boy]

Originally Posted by peteukmcr

According to RCI, Independence does not have the Dreamworks experience as yet.

http://bookings.royalcaribbean.co.uk...snav=4&wuc=GBR

I was not aware that Independence had it yet but I would, at times, tend to take the word of someone who has been on the ship over RCI's website. The info on the website is not always up to date and at times, is just plain wrong. Of course, sometimes I read what passengers write who were on the same sailing as me and I just have to wonder if we were REALLY on the same ship!

[Aquahound]

I guess I don't understand the beef with Dreamworks. Did you experience it and actually had a problem with it? If so, did you have a problem with the parades before Dreamworks? There's really no difference other than different characters in the parades. All the other appearances are on the Cruise Compass and if the site of a character upsets you, it can be easily avoided. Sorry, but like the large pool screens, this is another thing people complained about and after seeing them, I found it to be no big deal.

Seriously, before Dreamworks, I never saw people complaining about these hideous characters:



Personally, I think this is a huge improvement:

[DarthGrady]

Originally Posted by Aquahound

[left]I guess I don't understand the beef with Dreamworks. Did you experience it and actually had a problem with it? If so, did you have a problem with the parades before Dreamworks? There's really no difference other than different characters in the parades. All the other appearances are on the Cruise Compass and if the site of a character upsets you, it can be easily avoided. Sorry, but like the large pool screens, this is another thing people complained about and after seeing them, I found it to be no big deal.

Seriously, before Dreamworks, I never saw people complaining about these hideous characters:


Personally, I think this is a huge improvement:

My beef is not with Dreamworks per se, I just don't like anything that entices people to bring yet more kids on board. One of the reasons I cruise with RCI more than CCL now is the lower numbers of kids. My wife and I are childfree by choice, so tolerating other people's kids is not my cup of tea. Unfortunately it seems that RCI is starting down the same road as CCL in trying to attract more families with kids. If it gets too bad, we can simply switch to Princess or Celebrity I suppose. It would be a shame though, since we really like RCI.

[smoosh21]

Originally Posted by bplazo

I also will not go on a cruise that have those creatures on it. As some else posted some of the NCL cruises have Dora etc. and I will not sail on them either. They need to keep them confined in the childrens area.

I was very skeptical of this, but it really wasn't that intrusive on the Oasis. yes, there was a special sailaway party in the Aqua theater, but the rest of the ship was normal. They also made limited appearances in small areas for 20 minute stretches.
There was also a Dreamworks parade on the Promenade one day, but you could avoid that easily.

The characters didn't come into the restaurants, they didn't come up to you. You really did have to seek them out, or happen to catch them as you were walking somewhere.

[roe2ship]

Originally Posted by DarthGrady

My beef is not with Dreamworks per se, I just don't like anything that entices people to bring yet more kids on board. One of the reasons I cruise with RCI more than CCL now is the lower numbers of kids. My wife and I are childfree by choice, so tolerating other people's kids is not my cup of tea. Unfortunately it seems that RCI is starting down the same road as CCL in trying to attract more families with kids. If it gets too bad, we can simply switch to Princess or Celebrity I suppose. It would be a shame though, since we really like RCI.

With or without Dreamworks, Royal entices families with kids...it is a family cruiseline. So you may soon come to the conclusion that Royal is not your cup of tea.

[Bakincakes]

RCI is attracting families for one reason $$$$. They figure they can get families to part with more of their money. In doing so they may be alienating people who don't care to sail with a slew of kids or cartoon characters.

If the economy doesn't improve it will come down to who has the disposable cash to cruise. A family of four may have to cut back sooner than people who either don't have kids or whose kids have left the nest. It will be interesting to see who continues to cruise and who doesn't.