cde48

Another update from our friends...I asked how they like it, they said...”it’s very different. No cruise director, no announcements...more like a resort, than a cruise ship”. This ship has me super curious, and I’m not sure it would like it. The Galley is essentially a Buffet, for whatever way they want to spin it. But...if the price is right, who knows.

We have friends that just got on the ship today, sailing to NY. From their posts, they said the ship is nice, pools are small, and the decor in Rooms/some common areas is kind of drab. Crew is fantastic. I’ll try to keep updating As they post throughout the week.

We are just under Platinum on DCL, AND just stated going back on Royal as the kids are getting older. While DCL offers a great product, RC was not far behind, if it were at all. We could no longer justify the cost difference for our family, and could sail on just about 3 Royal cruises for the price of 1 DCL sailing, now. We probably wouldn’t do another DCL cruise, unless they have a great Interline (airline employee) rate available.

A little bit about our family. We have three kids (14,12,6), and have exclusively said DCL for 10 years. My DW & I have been on over 40 sailings between DCL, RCCL, Princess, Celebrity, Holland, NCL & Carnival.
 

We’ve had nothing but great sailings on DCL, but their prices have since gotten so out of hand, and can no longer justify the cost of their sailings. Sometimes they are almost as 2-3x as much as other lines, and as our kids are getting older, they’ve become less interested in DCL. 

Up until our trips on DCL, we were pretty much exclusive to RCCL, and We’re both Diamond members, but hadn’t been on Royal in over 10 years. We finally decided to go on Oasis a year ago, and have been hooked back on Royal. Since then we’ve been on Allure, Harmony, and just got off Indy on November 30. The food, service, entertainment, activities, have been very pleasant. I wish I had saved the thousands of dollars spent on DCL, and went on more royal cruises. 
 

We have a 4-nt Navigator set up for June, and have a deposit placed for the Odyssey sailing over thanksgiving. Anyone else going?

No doubt. Royal is definitely easier on the wallet, especially when they have kids sail free. The Anthem isn’t quite as big as the Oasis class ships, and holds about 1,500-2,000 less people. Have heard many great things about it. Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time, but I don’t think RCI can keep making the ships bigger, just because of the sheer volume of passengers on the ship.

We waited for the Flowrider about the same as the Aquaduck on the Dream & Fantasy, the zip line we did once. The biggest issues are when it rains and sea days getting a chair at the pool, and waiting for tables at Windjammers. For us, it was great that we got to try the larger ship, but I think we prefer the Midrange size. Many enjoy the mega ships.

With that being said, we’ve been on all the lines, and DCL, Royal, & NCL are probably the three that we enjoyed the most. I’d love to hear your take on the Anthem when you get back. Heard it’s great!

I don’t frequently post on CC, but lurk on here quite a bit. We just got off the Oasis on Sunday, had a great time with our friends...But, I cannot wait to return to DCL. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed ourselves with 15 of our neighbors and their kids, the ship was in excellent shape, the shows were fantastic (didn’t see Cats)...

We get tremendous Interline deals, on all lines, as I fly for a commercial carrier, so we take full advantage of the steep discounts on cruises. This was our 43rd Cruise overall, the vast majority have been on RCI (Diamond Members), but haven’t sailed on them since we did the Freedom back in 2007. The past 9 cruises have all been on DCL. So this was a good gauge of the differences.

Noticeably different was the service. It wasn’t horrible, but it definelty baffling at times. For instance, we ate at one of the restaurants onboard, and the silverware was nowhere to be found. It was empty. A neighbor of ours had asked if she was not seeing it, or had missed it, and the woman looked at the empty container where it was suppose to be, and said (pretty rudely) I’ll get to it when I can. Meanwhile, by this time, everyone’s food was getting cold, to the point our neighbor was no longer interested in eating it. It literally took the woman 10 minutes to get the silverware. Another night, my DW’s entree never showed up while eating at the MDR, and after asking three times about it. So, she just had her Caeser Salad, and a appetizer that evening. Every time we have sailed on DCL, it’s been top notch. They really go out of their way to make you feel special.

Other things we noticed that we didn’t care for, but we didn’t think would bother us that much, because of reviews we had read. There are way too many passengers onboard. To get in the buffet, you had to wait in line many times, the promenade felt cramped at times, the smoking On port side made it seem like a bingo hall, and honestly, there isn’t many more activities to do onboard than there were on the Freedom.

It seems like they just made the ship massive, and just added a ton more staterooms. If it rains all day, as it did on the last day of our cruise, there is literally not much you can do other than shop in the promenade or go to the casino. The movies in the room are $11.99, whereas on DCL they are free. There isn’t a movie theater, and the only screens were by the aqua theater outside. The kids clubs, you can’t even compare the two. If you want to get in touch with your party or the party you are traveling with, make sure you bring a walkie, Because they don’t have wave phones or the ability to text via the app like DCL. Fake Haiti was nice, but not Castaway nice.

In all, would we cruise RCI again...yeah, if the price is right. Probably not the Oasis class, as it’s just way too big, and bigger isn’t always better. 😂DCL ships are the perfect size with about 2,500-3,000 less passengers. Has anyone that sailed on both felt similarly?

Just coming in from another board, and those that are on the Fantasy now are being told that it won't arrive into PC until later tomorrow morning. The ship is having MX issues with its propulsion system and is sailing at half speed at this time. Just a heads up.

We have sailed on DCL 5 times (Fantasy 2x, Magic 2x, and Dream). We loved the Fantasy, but I think our favorite is the Magic. Like others have said, when you are on the larger ships Castaway can feel crowded, and we love the smaller feel of the Magic class. We are going back on the Magic in a few weeks, doing the 5 Day Caribbean (GC, and CC) sailing. The Dream would be better, if they could somehow move it to a 7 Night Itinerary. 3 & 4 Nt's are too short, imo.

We are heading out on a four day Bahamas cruise next week, and have two connecting Category 4B rooms. I have heard that the Verrandah dividers can be removed if you have connecting rooms. Any truth to this?