From Disney boat to Royal Caribbean - Liberty of the Seas

[Aggiecruiser01]

I’m writing this thread for anyone contemplating trying a family cruise on Royal Caribbean. We just got off the Liberty of the Seas with our family of 4 (kids ages 6 and 8) and.. we loved it! Prior to RCCL we sailed with Disney twice. We thoroughly enjoyed our Disney dreamy vacations but this time around we wanted to save a little $$ and see if taking our kids on another cruise line would be just as good. I have to admit the first 24 hours I kept thinking ‘this is not Disney’ but shortly got over it. It is NOT Disney- it’s Royal Caribbean. Yes, there are obviously many differences but let me tell you the good stuff about Royal. First of all my kids said they loved it way more than the Disney cruise (what?). They enjoyed the kids club much better and constantly wanted to go. This is a big score as my daughter never wanted to go to the Disney kids club. Royal’s club was much more structured, counselors knew the kids by name, and there was no ‘down time’-always a game/activity going on. My kids loved that. We figured the best sea day schedule for us was- eat breakfast; go swimming early/ play at Splashaway bay in the morning; late morning flow rider/ big water slides; eat lunch; ice skating- or ice show; rock climbing; afternoon kids club; dinner; evening kids club. We stayed away from the pool in the afternoon as the ‘scene’ was a little too PG13 for my kids (and for me- not into the world’s sexiest man contest). I would say that’s the biggest difference between the two cruise lines- Disney is more ‘rated G/PG’ with their activities/etc and Royal is more PG13- even pushing it a little. (That’s the best way I can describe it). You will not see Mickey, sodas are not included, the shows are not all family friendly like Disney, and the service is not ‘Disney grade’ but it is still really good. We enjoyed ourselves so much we booked another cruise with Royal. Hope this information is helpful to someone.

[Clarea]

This is not the first report I've read from folks who normally sail on Disney that said the older kids liked Royal's Adventure ocean better.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[indychristine]

I am happy to read your post. We are not a family, mid 50's couple, but we have sailed Disney 7 times and love it. We tried Carnival, last three cruises, first two not bad, last not good. We were going to go back to Disney and were extremely excited about that- we miss Castaway Cay and the level of service. And the beauty of the ships. But our 4 night cruise was pushing 3k and I just couldn't do it!

So I visited RCCL site and the only ship available for our timing was OASIS.... And we are not fans of the Mega ships. Although we had said we should try one once. So decided this was that time.

Booked on Oasis for our anniversary trip March 5, 2017 price is so much better for a 7 night cruise and we love the Eastern Caribbean as well as we have not visited St Marteen. So all in all we had a lot to be excited about. But still.....

So......long story to say- I'm happy you all (Disney cruisers) loved your RCCL cruise!

Thanks so much for posting!

 

 

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[cb at sea]

Yes..most kids prefer the structure of RCI's clubs...especially, those under 14 or so....after that, older teens prefer doing their own thing!

[kbubbles]

Thank you for posting. Getting ready to go with grandkids and this is helpful.

[ukintheus]

Thanks for posting. We are trying Liberty after sailing with Disney on all of our previous cruises. Looking forward to it! :)

[Cya@Sea]

Thank you for sharing. We are scheduled for Liberty next May, and am glad you were happy with the Liberty. She has been revamped since we were on her last. I am excited to see the changes.

[jjjjjsmom]

We just got off the LOS on Sunday. Unforuntately, we did not have the same experience as you did. Our triplet boys (14 year old) and our 9 yr old son preferred the Disney Cruise to RC. Our kids spent more time in the room than they did ever on Disney. They said there was not much to do. When we were on Disney there was so much for the kids to do that my hubby and I hardly saw them. On this one they all said they were bored. So from now on it is only Disney for us.

[Beachammo]

We have friends that we've been trying to move over to Royal from Disney. They are in their 50s with no kids at home. My friends are not Disney fanatics.....I love Disney World more than they do. They just love the Disney service and think the price is justifiable.

 

The Disney boats still sail full and they are building 2 more.

[LuCruise]

Great review and comments. Haven't been, but the Liberty looks great with the waterslides (big and in the kids area), and you get the DreamWorks and stuff. We were just on Allure with our kids 6.5 and 10.5 and although our kids didn't use the kids club, they absolutely loved the Royal cruise. We looked at Disney Fantasy, and like you, selected Allure because it was a lot more reasonable cost wise. We were not sorry one bit.

 

Disney cruises are kid centered, and all the shows are for them whereas Royal is family centered (and non families too)

 

Great to hear such good feedback.

Edited May 31, 2016 by LuCruise

[JaniceB]

Nice to hear that the kids enjoyed this new experience. My last cruise was the Fantasy with grandkids, this time going without them but need a less expensive alternative to Disney since the grandchild number has grown by 3, not sure I can afford Disney with my new crew.

[son3cruisers]

We too moved on from Disney.

We loved each and every Disney cruise we have taken, but we needed new itineraries. We can only cruise March and summer, and the offerings have not changed over the years ( Bahamas, Eastern / Western with the same stops year to year) . But I do so so miss Castaway Cay!

Royal has so many exciting itineraries!

Yes, there was a big difference in service, but Royals price difference makes up for that!

Edited June 1, 2016 by son3cruisers

[KiwiGal117]

We just got off the LOS on Sunday. Unforuntately, we did not have the same experience as you did. Our triplet boys (14 year old) and our 9 yr old son preferred the Disney Cruise to RC. Our kids spent more time in the room than they did ever on Disney. They said there was not much to do. When we were on Disney there was so much for the kids to do that my hubby and I hardly saw them. On this one they all said they were bored. So from now on it is only Disney for us.

 

Interesting the different experiences... it could be the age difference of the children involved. Or just their personalities and likes and dislikes! Different strokes for different folks, right?

 

We are on Harmony in August, with my 12yo son. I'll be interested in his reaction. We did Splendour a few years ago (he was 9 at the time) and he didn't want to go to the kids club, but he was by himself, which is probably why. He still enjoyed the rock climbing wall, mini putt and other things to do. I suspect because of all the extra bells and whistles on Harmony, he will enjoy it, but who knows? You can only try it and find out.

[Dentcruiser]

I totally agree with the OP , I always felt so comfortable on my Disney cruises , unfortunately can't justify prices anymore, took 2 RC cruised on freedom and enchantment, wouldn't repeat the enchantment again as it was fairly boring for the kids , but I don't mind taking freedom ( or bigger ) again , service was good , I think twice before going to SOME of the shows being not so kids friendly , I sure hope they state the rating on the compass if PG or not , and I really don't want to have to explain to my kids what does the cruise director mean when he said that the number oh the honeymooners caused the ship to rock a lot 😡😡😡 . Come on , I wasn't even on the comedy show .