Disney Dream or RC Allure/Oasis of the Seas

[mlsully]

I have been only on one short Carnival cruise years ago. Now my family wants to take a cruise next summer - two adults and two children ages 13 and 9. No one else in the family has been on a cruise. We have heard such great things about the Disney cruise that we looked into them first. Most of the less expensive cabins are booked up for the times we can go next summer - plus my husband thought he wanted to start out with a shorter cruise - for instance 4 nights. Disney is quite expensive. So I started looking at the RC new ships - Allure and Oasis of the Seas. These are longer cruises - 7 nights but are about the prices or less than the 4 night Disney cruise. I need some help deciding what to do! It appears the cabins are smaller on the RC ships but I don't think we will be in there very much. Looks like there are some neat activities on the RC ships for my kids. We like the idea of going on a newer ship. Any advice?

[DanJ]

I would always choose a 7 day over a 4 day if time and money permitted. People always say how great Disney is for kids programs, but my kids (9 years old) have not suffered any boredom on their Carnival or RCI cruises. That water park on the new Disney ships looks pretty amazing though.

 

Disney has Castaway Cay, but RCI has Labadee and I would try very hard to pick an itinerary that goes there. My inlaws have been to both, and said that while Castaway Cay was great for their 4 year old, going back to Labadee with her when she's older would probably be more fun for everyone. My kids totally loved the aquapark in the ocean there.

 

For me, I don't ask much out of a cruise ship but I like to have a casino, and Disney doesn't offer it. I don't hang out there all day, I don't go to casinos at home, and this is one little thing I like to do on a cruise, later at night after the kids and wife have gone to bed. Maybe if Disney would get over themselves and realize that it's very possible to offer a family vacation that also has a casino on board, they might be able to lower their fares a bit.

[mlsully]

I was thinking Eastern Caribbean but you mentioned Labadee. What is the ocean/waterpark there? Which is the better area to visit?

[tracyanns]

I think if you have small children, like under 5 then I would choose Disney, just for the magic of Disney and kids...but because your kids are a little older, I think the novelty of Disney won't be as strong and I think they will enjoy all of the activiites and things that RCL offers.

 

The private islands are the best on all of the cruise ships. On Labadee they have an area that has a bunch of inflatables for the kids to climb and jump on, they seem to love it...

 

I would definately take the 7 day over the 4 for the same price...and I agree with the other poster, if you can get an itinerary with Labadee on RCL, take it...