I tried RCI and I'm coming back to DCL

[ducklite]

We did a 12 day Med cruise on the Serenity of the Seas last June. While we had a nice time we felt a little let down from our Disney cruises. The shows were not that good and we did not care for the normal dining. Some of the specialty restaurants were very good though. We also felt it was odd that the outside deck activities seemed to stop about 9 PM. All the top deck bars would close up. Some night there would a move shown outside but the deck would be almost empty.

 

Hi neighbor! I grew up in Saratoga County and now live in Clermont.

 

I tried RCCL and was very unhappy with them for numerous reasons. Now that our son is grown, DCL isn't as appealing and we have tried two other lines, and loved Windstar. I'm not saying I wouldn't cruise DCL again under the right circumstances, but as adult cruisers we've found a better match as adult cruisers--for a lot less money. Just something to consider for the future. :)

[Disnydad]

Hey Ducklite! Our daughter lived in Clermont while she was in her Disney Professional Internship. Anyway, I see in your signature you've sailed on the Windstar and Paul Gauguin. We've seen the Windstar while in Venice on our Med cruise and recently watched a Mighty Cruise Ships show on the Paul Gaugin and they are both on our to do list now. For our upcoming Fantasy cruise we are swapping our Disney timeshare points for it.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Disnydad

[ducklite]

Hey Ducklite! Our daughter lived in Clermont while she was in her Disney Professional Internship. Anyway, I see in your signature you've sailed on the Windstar and Paul Gauguin. We've seen the Windstar while in Venice on our Med cruise and recently watched a Mighty Cruise Ships show on the Paul Gaugin and they are both on our to do list now. For our upcoming Fantasy cruise we are swapping our Disney timeshare points for it.

 

 

I would skip the Paul Gauguin. Take Windstar in Tahiti instead. Much better food, service, and overall atmosphere.

[bmc alabama]

I would swear that after Wonder got renovated (or Magic if I picked the wrong ship) there was a bathroom smell issue that wasn't getting dealt with for a good while.

 

That might have been YOUR experience with DCL and RCI, but it hasn't been ours.

 

On our second Dream cruise DH wasn't feeling terrific on embarkation day and stayed in the room after we could get into it. The room was FREEZING. DH had nothing but time, and raised the temperature (by the way, he's almost never too cold in a room). Napped, woke, freezing. etc. He called something like three times and they just kept blowing him off.

 

Finally sent a tech who wasted everyone's time and patience by NOT looking at the innards of the air control, and just accusing DH of lying. He must not have changed the thermostat, he must have changed it but not waited, etc etc. I can't remember who DH finally called, but they finally got someone in who continued to tell him he had to wait at least 20 minutes after changing the temperature...meanwhile it had been hours and hours and it was after dinnertime by the time this guy finally got there.

 

THEN the tech guy went outside, opened some compartment in the hallway, tinkered around, banged around, and voila! The heat came on.

 

Hours of being ignored and accused of being impatient, when the heater was broken AND was easily fixed.

 

 

Meanwhile, on RCI, it's been the opposite. We had the Replenish beverage package, which, among other things, included 500ml bottles of spring water. (just Crystal Geyser on that sailing) On the last day they "ran out". Now, this isn't awesome, and we didn't check *every* bar, but the bars we checked, they were out. DH went to Guest Services, talked to someone, and within 5 minutes the Hotel division manager knocked on our door with his arms FULL of Liter Evian bottles for us.

 

 

For us, we've had the exact opposite experience as you did.

 

We have no DCL cruises booked at present. We have two RCI cruises booked. So I suppose we're going to take each others' spots on this ships.

 

I actually agree with OP. We tried RCCL on the Serenade of the Seas last November. Tons of issues. I have not had an issue on DCL (or Princess, for that matter), however, I acknowledge that they do happen. I think that the thing I noticed is that they continually happened on the Serenade. We had some issues one night with MyTime dining (my dessert did not come out until 20 minutes - we timed it - after the other 3 people at my table, and that was just one of the issues with the dinner that night). At any rate, I told the Maitre'd about our issue at the table and his exact quote was "Well, that server has served over 52 people tonight, so you should give him a break". I wanted to say that if person 53 put them over the edge, then maybe RCCL shouldn't have assigned him so many people! We had a number of issues and got similar responses all that week. We have named that ship the "Excuses of the Seas"…