Disney fan does RCL

tltay2005

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
I consider myself a Disney fan. We have been WDW annual pass holders for 28 years and have done 4 Disney Dream cruises. We really wanted to do a 7 night cruise (as one can only go to Nassau so may times)and due to work constraints we can only do 7 night cruises during the summer and that eliminates DCL due to pricing, so we jumped ship and went on the Allure of the Seas this past week. I am not going to repeat my trip report here, so please join me on the Royal Caribbean thread. My report contains lots of pictures and some comparisons to the two ships.
 
I consider myself a Disney fan. We have been WDW annual pass holders for 28 years and have done 4 Disney Dream cruises. We really wanted to do a 7 night cruise (as one can only go to Nassau so may times)and due to work constraints we can only do 7 night cruises during the summer and that eliminates DCL due to pricing, so we jumped ship and went on the Allure of the Seas this past week. I am not going to repeat my trip report here, so please join me on the Royal Caribbean thread. My report contains lots of pictures and some comparisons to the two ships.
Would you mind posting a link here?
 
Thanks for posting- I'll be reviewing it because my next cruise is actually on Allure this fall! It will be my first non-Disney cruise.
 


I appreciate the review, thanks! Can I ask what you may have saved going on RCCL vs Disney Fantasy?
 
I appreciate the review, thanks! Can I ask what you may have saved going on RCCL vs Disney Fantasy?

That's an easy one, price! The same cruise (date and itinerary) and same balcony stateroom, was almost more than twice as much. Allure was $2187 and Fantasy was around $5400. Same for next summer. We booked another Allure for early June (Western Caribbean) and it is $2670 the same cruise on the Fantasy is $5628.
 


That's an easy one, price! The same cruise (date and itinerary) and same balcony stateroom, was almost more than twice as much. Allure was $2187 and Fantasy was around $5400. Same for next summer. We booked another Allure for early June (Western Caribbean) and it is $2670 the same cruise on the Fantasy is $5628.

So you enjoyed it enough to book another RCCL Allure cruise! Cool! :)
 
My Disney loving family also tried out a Allure of the Seas cruise this past May...I think the best way to find out if something is a match for your family is to try it yourself...We did not re-book another Royal Cruise and are more certain than ever that we are a DCL family when it comes to possible further cruises.

All of my family members who did this cruise are in agreement that the only way we would consider another RCCL cruise is if we were asked to join a large extended family or friend group and that was the focus of our cruise. Yes, it was a tad bit cheaper for our family to cruise with Royal over Disney. Yet, not as much as we thought when we compared what our families deems necessary to our style of cruising. Besides, for me personally I would rather pay a bit more and have what I feel is the better cruise for me and my families desires when cruising.

Every family is different. I'm happy for the OP that their cruise was a wonderful experience. We already booked the Fantasy for next May.
 
Thank you for the review OP. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip but for me it reaffirms my decision to stay with DCL for now. The photos of the Allure were enough to overwhelm me.
 
Thank you for the review OP. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip but for me it reaffirms my decision to stay with DCL for now. The photos of the Allure were enough to overwhelm me.

If you want to try RCCL but are overwhelmed by the huge ships, I recommend the Radiance Class ships (Radiance, Brilliance, Jewel, and Serenade). They are much calmer and less overwhelming than the "Behemoth Class". Much closer to DCL.
 
I definitely don’t think the megaships are for everyone. I absolutely agree that sometimes it’s worth more to cruise on DCL but for my family, it isn’t worth 2-3X more. We are doing the transatlantic because it seemed like good value on a per night basis, and we had placeholders, but I’m not sure we will do DCL again after that.....we’ll see.
 
I read your trip report since I was on the fence about whether we made the right choice going with DCL. I think we absolutely did for us, though maybe not for others. I almost laughed out loud when I saw the picture of the shower! You weren't kidding it was small, but I had no idea so small. I don't think I could fit in that, let alone try to wash a squirmy toddler in one.

The fact that there were so many kids in adult shows and activities suggests to me that the kids programming is not as good. Also a red flag for me.

Also somewhat odd that the bed was right next to the balcony. Did it make it a squeeze to get outside?
 
T
I read your trip report since I was on the fence about whether we made the right choice going with DCL. I think we absolutely did for us, though maybe not for others. I almost laughed out loud when I saw the picture of the shower! You weren't kidding it was small, but I had no idea so small. I don't think I could fit in that, let alone try to wash a squirmy toddler in one.

The fact that there were so many kids in adult shows and activities suggests to me that the kids programming is not as good. Also a red flag for me.

Also somewhat odd that the bed was right next to the balcony. Did it make it a squeeze to get outside?

The rooms alternate, one has bed by closet, the next by the balcony. I honestly like it by the balcony as it made it easier to get into the closet. It also made the room feel bigger. Also nice for room service as the delivery person did not have to walk around your bed with a tray of hot coffee to put it on the table.
 
The fact that there were so many kids in adult shows and activities suggests to me that the kids programming is not as good. Also a red flag for me.

I haven't done RCCL yet but I still feel that the DCL kids clubs are the least interactive, least structured kids programs on all the lines we have been on. It worked for my kids in the sense that they sure loved the unlimited ipad time they had, but I wouldn't say that DCL kids programming was any better, with the exception of meeting Dr. Strange (the only character they met all week in the kids club).
 
I won a free cruise for the inaugural sailing for the Harmony of the Seas. It was awesome (though it was not packed, and was mostly travel agents, and had an unrealistic experience that included all drinks free and free wifi, tips included, etc.) I took it with my sister, as kids weren't allowed, and since it was mostly TAs, there were open rooms of all categories and suites for touring. We really considered for a future cruise one of their rooms that slept 5, but it had no split bath, and an unnecessarily large closet. It was a little weird.

There were some totally fun things, but my kids love the clubs, and no amount of better waterslides is going to offset the weird and inconvenient club hours on RC. It was a great experience though, but may just have to wait until my kids are teens.
 
I haven't done RCCL yet but I still feel that the DCL kids clubs are the least interactive, least structured kids programs on all the lines we have been on. It worked for my kids in the sense that they sure loved the unlimited ipad time they had, but I wouldn't say that DCL kids programming was any better, with the exception of meeting Dr. Strange (the only character they met all week in the kids club).

Really? How odd. My kids had programming from Tiana, Stitch, Mickey, and Star Wars characters, and they were only there a couple hours a day for two days of our 3-day cruise.
 
I haven't done RCCL yet but I still feel that the DCL kids clubs are the least interactive, least structured kids programs on all the lines we have been on. It worked for my kids in the sense that they sure loved the unlimited ipad time they had, but I wouldn't say that DCL kids programming was any better, with the exception of meeting Dr. Strange (the only character they met all week in the kids club).

I must also disagree. My youngest was very into the science, cooking, and other planned activities in the club. She's now in the Edge and also enjoyed the planned activities there. In the Navigator there was always something going on and the hours are much longer than reports I've seen from other ships.
 
I must also disagree. My youngest was very into the science, cooking, and other planned activities in the club. She's now in the Edge and also enjoyed the planned activities there. In the Navigator there was always something going on and the hours are much longer than reports I've seen from other ships.
I agree the hours were GREAT! No closing at lunch, etc. However, not one counsellor learned my kids' names, they were very disinterested at dropoff and pickup, and I never saw any of them actually interacting with my kids. And my kids went every single day of our 7 day cruise.

What I mean by the level of interaction isn't so much that they don't offer activities - absolutely they do - but they don't really do much to encourage kids to participate. I sent my kids a couple of times for specific activities listed in the Navigator but each time, my kids came back having no idea that that activity even happened. That's b/c the staff didn't actually approach any of the kids to ask them to participate. I learned that I had to tell my oldest to actively go and ask when activity X was starting so that he and his brothers could participate. On other lines we have been on, my kids came out every time with some new craft or having done some group activity. It's just different on DCL, I am not saying it is bad, and like I said my kids really enjoyed their downtime there. I'm not suggesting that children should be forced to do any kind of activity, but had the counsellors gotten to know my kids they would have seen them gravitate toward ipads and they could have, for example, intercepted them to suggest that they do something else. I absolutely accept that my kids were engrossed in the ipads, I was just a bit perplexed to see that no one ever encouraged them to do anything else.

And yeah - no characters other than Dr. Strange. Well Thor too, but we missed that one.
 

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