Kids Club - FOS vs DCL Dream/Fantasy

[rktilleryj]

Hello! So after several years of cruising primarily with Disney, we are looking to give RCCL a shot - specifically the FOS next spring break 2015. I have read plenty of comparisons between the lines and feel pretty certain that we will enjoy the FOS. The only concern I still have though is regarding the kids clubs. Our 7yo LOVES the clubs on DCL to the point where it is sometimes hard to get him to leave. This is a good thing though because it gives him some independence and us some adult time. He enjoys the structured activities but also likes the fact that if there is an activity happening that he is not interested in, there are many different areas with a variety of things to do on his own (or with other kids). What we have heard about the FOS clubs for his age is that they are fully structured and the kids have to participate. This probably won't even be a problem but I have read trip reports from parents who's kids did not like this and in turn did not want to spend any time in the clubs. I would love to hear any insight from anyone who has traveled on both lines with kids and how they compared the kids clubs. Thanks!

[Onessa]

My DD did not care for Disney's kid's program, but did like RCCI. Whether everyone in an age group has to participate in a particular activity on RCCI depends upon 1) what the activity is -- for example if everyone is going out to the sports court, kids cannot "stay behind" and 2) how many kids are on board -- if there are 40-50 kids in an age group, they will have multiple activities going on. If there are only 8-10 in a group, they will likely have only one.

 

Big difference is with the age groupings - on Disney most of their activities are open to everyone. On RCCI the activies are limited to a fairly structured age group. That has advantages (no "babies" slowing down an activity, no "big kids" dominating an activity) and disads (if the next age group up is doing something "cool", you won't be able to join in).

 

There really are a lot of cool things to do on the Freedom though

 

You may also want to post this on the family board -- less traffic on that board, but more folks with more recent experience.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Onessa

[rktilleryj]

My DD did not care for Disney's kid's program, but did like RCCI. Whether everyone in an age group has to participate in a particular activity on RCCI depends upon 1) what the activity is -- for example if everyone is going out to the sports court, kids cannot "stay behind" and 2) how many kids are on board -- if there are 40-50 kids in an age group, they will have multiple activities going on. If there are only 8-10 in a group, they will likely have only one.

 

Big difference is with the age groupings - on Disney most of their activities are open to everyone. On RCCI the activies are limited to a fairly structured age group. That has advantages (no "babies" slowing down an activity, no "big kids" dominating an activity) and disads (if the next age group up is doing something "cool", you won't be able to join in).

 

There really are a lot of cool things to do on the Freedom though

 

You may also want to post this on the family board -- less traffic on that board, but more folks with more recent experience.

 

Great - thanks!!

[Jon in the ATL]

Obviously, Disney caters to kids so their kids club takes up almost a whole deck of space. On RCCL, the kids clubs are not as big, but they have great activities that kids love. The staff on both lines are great too. My boys are 6 and 8 and enjoy both clubs. I bet yours will too!

[ekatiel]

Hello! So after several years of cruising primarily with Disney, we are looking to give RCCL a shot - specifically the FOS next spring break 2015. I have read plenty of comparisons between the lines and feel pretty certain that we will enjoy the FOS. The only concern I still have though is regarding the kids clubs. Our 7yo LOVES the clubs on DCL to the point where it is sometimes hard to get him to leave. This is a good thing though because it gives him some independence and us some adult time. He enjoys the structured activities but also likes the fact that if there is an activity happening that he is not interested in, there are many different areas with a variety of things to do on his own (or with other kids). What we have heard about the FOS clubs for his age is that they are fully structured and the kids have to participate. This probably won't even be a problem but I have read trip reports from parents who's kids did not like this and in turn did not want to spend any time in the clubs. I would love to hear any insight from anyone who has traveled on both lines with kids and how they compared the kids clubs. Thanks!

 

We just got off the Carnival Magic (the kids' previous cruise was on Disney Magic, but they've sailed on RCCL's Mariner, too). Your post was pretty much exactly why they said they like the Disney Club better. They still go (and have fun) to the other clubs (Carnival and RCCL), but we had to DRAG them out of the Disney club. When we asked what made the Disney club so much better, they said that on Disney, they don't *have* to do the activity that's going on at the time-- they can just free play if they want. They also liked being in club together as opposed to separate groups. We will likely never sail Disney again, though, because the cost is so high. They have thoroughly enjoyed all of our cruises, so I'm not willing to pay twice as much for an awesome kids' club experience. I'll settle for a "good" kids' club experience and pay less ;).

[rktilleryj]

We just got off the Carnival Magic (the kids' previous cruise was on Disney Magic, but they've sailed on RCCL's Mariner, too). Your post was pretty much exactly why they said they like the Disney Club better. They still go (and have fun) to the other clubs (Carnival and RCCL), but we had to DRAG them out of the Disney club. When we asked what made the Disney club so much better, they said that on Disney, they don't *have* to do the activity that's going on at the time-- they can just free play if they want. They also liked being in club together as opposed to separate groups. We will likely never sail Disney again, though, because the cost is so high. They have thoroughly enjoyed all of our cruises, so I'm not willing to pay twice as much for an awesome kids' club experience. I'll settle for a "good" kids' club experience and pay less ;).

 

Thanks! You pretty much hit the nail on the head regarding cost. DCL is slowly pricing us out with the 7nt cruises. The cost for the FOS next March is almost half the cost of the same itinerary on the Fantasy - a difference of over $3K.

[Plantcitycruise]

We did FOS in October 2013 and Disney Magic in January 2014. The kids area was far superior on Disney...honestly I think I could have played there a few hours. That being said, our opinion (9 year old girl inlcuded) was that FOS was a more fun ship. My daughter actually asked to sail RC again when offered the options. She obviously has no idea of cost difference so her opinion was strictly based on her experience.

 

Comparisons per my 9 year old

Food - better options on FOS - ordered off adult menu on FOS, on Disney ordered off kids menu due to no interest in adult menu

Entertainment - enjoyed the shows, parades, etc on FOS more

Kids area - Way better on Disney - only spent a couple hours over 7 days in play area on FOS - spent twice as much time in there on our 3 night Magic cruise

Other activities - She enjoyed the FOS options more, disclaimer...she has no interest in waiting in line to say hi or take a picture with a dressed up character. She likes them, just doesn't want to wait to say hi. We ended up with zero character pictures on the cruise as much as we tried

 

Comparisons from adults - 40ish

Food - better on FOS

Entertainment - FOS - adult options too

Kids area - Disney by landslide, daughter spent a lot more time with us on FOS...which was fine, lots to do

Other activities - FOS

Cost - we are FL residents and got an increadible rate on Disney, but at normal prices, FOS

Adult activities/entertainment - FOS by a huge margin - felt that Disney focuses way more on the kids and kind of forgets the adults (at least the ones that aren't huge Disney fans)

 

Anyway, after typing all that I can't remember the question. Hope my two cents helps. Our motto, a cruise is a great cruise!

[mollyeilis]

My 9 year old son likes both.

 

He says DCL is better, and he says it's because they have more videogames. :rolleyes: It's true, they do. But every time we went to pick him up on the Dream, he was busy on the light up dance floor, having tons of fun with all the girls that were amazed a boy would dance. (he's in the Y's dance company, so he loves to dance AND is comfy around girls) So I'm not sure it's totally videogames that he likes on the Dream.

 

But he really enjoyed Freedom as well. He liked their activities and had fun with the other kids. On our cruise the 6-8s and the 9-11s were in together, and the counselors seemed to do a good job keeping them all entertained. I personally think that he would have been totally thrilled by the Freedom club if he had gone at the beginning. But 2 of the 3 weeks before the cruise were spent with me and DS sick (that coughing weird virus from January) and by the time we boarded he was still too tired to play like he wanted to play. So he only started going by the 4th day. There were things they did (like the way the counselors got their attention) that he never understood, and of course the other kids had had 3 more days to get to know each other.

 

As for the rest...

 

On Disney he ordered adult appetizers and kid's meals. On Freedom he found NOTHING interesting from the adult menu, and only ordered noodles with marinara the whole time.

 

Freedom calls to him because of Ben&Jerry's. There's only one flavor whose ingredients we already know are OK for him, but that's OK, because that flavor is chocolate. He's cool with that. For our next RCCL cruise that has B&J we'll have to have a separate budget for his ice cream consumption. :)

 

I don't think any of us went to even one show. I caught the comedian at the C&A event, but left to go meet up with them. But I'm not a show person on Disney, either, and after seeing all but Believe, neither are DS and DH.

 

 

So in a pretty big way, my guy agrees with Plantcitycruise's daughter. The club might be more fun on Dream, but the rest of Freedom is more fun.

 

For us, we just like cruising. So I think it'll be itinerary and budget that set our plans in the future!

[jagwebb]

My daughter (now 7) has been on DCL Dream, Freedom, and Oasis and hands down prefers the Disney's club. Like you said - we could barely drag her out of the kids club on the Dream. On the Oasis and Freedom - she went 3 or 4 times. And she says the same thing...she likes the free play on Disney and thinks the club itself is more fun. With that being said - she prefers the RCCL ships, especially the pool area.

[AF-1]

My wife and I took our 5 grandkids on Freedom. We looked at Disney but chose Freedom. Since we paid for 10 people 5 kids and 5 adults, cost did come into the equation. Disney was way more money than Royal. This was kids first cruise so they had nothing to compare to. They were busy from sunrise to sunset. We saw them at the dinner table, other than dinner they were involved with kids club day and night. Think its a wise choice to book Freedom

Edited March 1, 2014 by AF-1
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