Disney Cruise Line vs Royal Caribbean

Trying to decide between Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise Line? They're more similar than different, but there is one GIANT difference between these family cruise lines that you should know about.

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[tubetop]

Been on 2 DCL and 1 Oasis of the Seas. One big difference is the feeling.

Disney brings back childhood memories, I literally cried during some shows. The entire feeling is magical.

Royal Caribbean had no feeling for me. Just a massive ship with over excess of everything.

So, if I had to choose, I'd choose Disney everytime. Even if it was 3x more. Just save up and go less frequently. But once you are there, you enjoy it so much more.

[jessicabrennan]

Here are my thoughts. I have cruised both and will continue to cruise both. DIsney pros: Theming, food quality, alcohol cost, clientele, and level of service is why we will continue to sail Disney and that no other cruise line has matched. Royal is great and we love it too, but as a family of 4 with 2 small kids. Royal doesn't cater to kids as much as Disney does. My waiter on Royal does not take the time to play games with my kids, cut their steak for them, or make a small bed for them at the dinner table when they fall asleep. ALL ABOUT THE SMALL DETAILS. I am sailing on the Odyssey coming up and most of the activities on board my 4 year old will not be able to do, but the cost was much cheaper and we are getting to go to new ports that Disney does not sail to. So while my kids are young, we will continue to sail Disney. That may change when they get older. If you don't have young kids, I can see why you think sailing Disney is obsured. but for me it is all about their experience. When it is just my husband and I.... then yes Royal is all we sail :)

[rjscrimo]

So here's my thought...We took our daughter on the Disney Fantasy when she was 4. I wasn't ready to deal with the parks yet since she was so young. DCL was absolutely perfect! She got the Disney experience (characters, Disney shows, and princesses) without the stress of being in a park all day. The DCL kids club was magical and the characters did crafts at night with them. HOWEVER, now that my kiddo is 8 yo so we are moving on to other cruise lines. We are going on Oasis of the Seas in June 2022! Super excited.

[grj]

Our first two cruises were on DCL and they were great, but expensive. DCL priced us out as our family grew. We tried carnival and had a horrible time. We found RCL and we’ve been loyal to royal ever since. RCL is more affordable and the ships have SO MUCH MORE to offer than DCL, and I don’t mean pools, bars, and kids area. RCL has flow riders, rock walls, ice skating, skydiving simulators, etc. A person needs to try really hard to be bored on RCL ships. Yes, we won’t see Disney characters, but the dream works characters are great. Hope to see them back on the ships soon. Bottom line, RCL has more too offer at an affordable price.

[monsterman]

We have never done a Disney Cruise; however, our daughter is 9 so we decided to book one for November just to give her the Disney (princess) experience. We have done several Royal Caribbean Cruises and have two booked for this year. The Disney Cruise is a 4 day cruise . We are in a balcony. The cost of that Disney balcony on a 4 day cruise in comparison to our 7 day on Anthem is $1, 000 more. So I definitely agree with you. We have let our daughter know this is the one and only Disney Cruise we will be doing. 14 days til Wonder. Hope to see you there.

[DisappearingBoy]

I've done two DCL cruises and just went on our first RC cruise this past week on the Harmony. I have a larger family with 4 teenagers (2 staterooms) so we wanted to try RC because there were more activities for older kids such as the rock wall, flow rider, zip line, etc. At the end of the day, we spent about $2000 less on this cruise for the same cruise on DCL three years ago. And that was with spending money on the casino and the arcade that DCL does not have. I felt the food, drinks, pools, ping pong, running track, bingo, trivia, excursions, etc. were pretty much the same. But there were more offerings on RC for less money. And this may shock people - but our service was BETTER on RC than DCL. Yes, yes, I know. We had bad experience with our dining room waiter on DCL and actually had a phone conversation with a DCL manager when I got back. Basically the guy was not very friendly during our dinners and made my wife upset a couple of times with his somewhat curt attitude and then had the balls to ask us to give him 5 stars because his contract was up and he wanted to get renewed. On this RC cruise the staff was fantastic! The only thing is felt the staff and ship was way more laid back. If you have ever been to a Disney theme park, they are OBSESSED with herding the guests and telling everyone where to be and what to do. God forbid you ever have a toe in front of a yellow line. There's a cast member waiting to order you to get that toe back behind the line or be somewhere. As far as RC my only gripe - and it's a serious one for me because I love my Diet Coke - is I think it's bullshit to pay for sodas. I know this is small considering how much money I am saving and I wouldn't go on DCL just because of that. But come on RC. Charging for fountain drinks? Really? Also RC makes you check out your towels and return them else you pay a fee of $25 per towel. Feels a little nickel and diming. My verdict: I probably will go on RC again unless my kids just really want to do Disney for whatever reason. Ultimately it depends on what gives you the emotional satisfaction. Neither is a bad choice and if one makes you happier, by all means go for it.

[Slipknot-fmzl]

I have never taken a cruise but since I have found your channel and watching your videos I’m considering taking a cruise in the next 3-4 months. It’s very overwhelming being new to all of this with the options and packages that are offered. I’m just glad you have videos so I kinda have an idea what to look for

[kevinkoch]

We have been doing DCL cruises for the last 10 years and have loved every one of them. We are now trying RCL for the first time, kids are now 9 and 15, and we think we’re ready to give something else a try. The price has everything to do with it, we could cruise almost twice as much on RCL so I hope we enjoy it just as much. I have to say I am apprehensive as I really have come to love our experiences with DCL and am hoping for a comparable trip. We have been watching this channel and it really has been helping with our preparations for May!

[GetNLine]

I've cruised RCL and Carnival in the past. I then tried Disney and haven't looked back. I like the setup of the rooms and the ships aren't too big. I'm not a fan of the mega ships

[catherinehargrove]

When we disembarked from our first cruise(Disney) 5 years ago we were in tears. Best customer service ever, great food and a feeling that they catered to your every need. A year later while searching for another cruise I came across Royal Caribbean Blog. After listening to Matt being so excited I decided to give RCL a try. Terrified because I wanted that same Disney experience.
On DCL it was dead on the ship at 10 pm, I was shocked to see RCL was still going strong at 1 am.
There’s just something about Disney and the feeling you get being there but I got over that real quick after one RCL sailing. Never looked back😊

[Martys.Corner]

I completely agree with everything you stated in this video. I have been on all four of the Disney’s ships and have the new Disney Wish scheduled for September. There’s nothing special about that itinerary I am going solely because it is the new ship and honestly for the price I could’ve got a one week European cruise on RCI. I also have the Alaska cruise scheduled on RCI this coming May which I have already taken the same itinerary on with Disney 10 years ago. I’m a huge Disney fan and for me I just want one go on each one of their ships for the experience of that specific ship then I’m good. When it comes to cruising in general I’ll go with RCI or something comparable. But I am not much of a Carnival fan. Haha

[BBB-oudv]

You get what you pay for.... This comes into play when deciphering which line is best.

[FeelingCreatively]

We go on our first RCL in April and honestly, I was just going because my in-laws wanted to go rather than DCL. DCL totally brings out my inner dork and it seemed like a better deal than going to Disney World. However, I’m really starting to warm up to RCL and these videos have been helping. And I like how you and many others were big fans of DCL too. Also how could one not love Disney when our very first cruise was Carnival😅

[JasonKidd]

Just been to DCL May 2023 and RCL Dec 2022 with a 6 year old and here my 2 cents:

Cabin: DCL>RCL (DCL Cabinets r more spacious, feels cleaner and newer, the 2 bathroom setup on DCL is a huge plus if u have kids)

Dining: RCL>DCL (DCL has no buffet during dinner so that was a huge issue for us as it was hard to plan for different activities, flexibility is important for us. I see that many people say DCL food quality is better than RCL but I don’t agree with that, I think they are pretty even and maybe even a slight edge towards RCL)

Embarkation: RCL>DCL (Checkin was a lot quicker and more staffs working on site, the luggage drop off area was tiny @ Disney and staff forced us to give them tips)

Overall Entertainment: RCL>DCL (Unless u r really into Disney, the RCL entertainment choices are much greater than DCL. We find that the shows are activities are very limited on DCL. The ice show on RCL is amazing, it is no less spectacular than Disney on Ice! There r many shows throughout the day on RCL for people with all ages and u don’t get bored, we find very show choices on DCL. RCL also has Arcade and Casino which could be a plus for some people)

Family Entertainment: Even (Disney has better activities for younger kids but older kids will enjoy RCL more. Both lines have mini golf, basketball court, several kids clubs but RCL has an Arcade, a play structure which is a plus. DCL has better water structures)

Public Area: DCL>RCL (I find DCL focuses on quality and details more than RCL. The public spaces r always very clean and there r staffs cleaning everywhere literally 24/7)

Service: DCL>RCL (Staffs seem more friendly on DCL overall)

Private Island: Depending on your age (Coco Cay is much bigger Castaway Cay and with much more “intense” activities. For more adventurous person, RCL island would be much better. But the ocean water at Castaway is much cleaner and u can find a lot of fishes swimming by u as u swim in the ocean. I could be wrong but i didn’t find any pool @ Castaway Cay?)

Value for Money: RCL>DCL (I personally don’t think DCL is worth >2X what u will get on RCL which is the price u r probably gonna be paying. For younger kids I would say DCL is a better choice but I think >8 year old will find DCL boring unless they r Disney fans)

[masblas]

Loved the Disney Cruise I went on, but that huge jump in price for Alaska is why I'm gonna try another cruise line.

[lindabaca]

I went on many Disney cruises when the grandkids were young but now go on Royal Caribbean. As you said price is a big incentive. I can usually take 2 Royal cruises for what one Disney cruise coat

[wonderfulworld]

We have been on DCL twice and once on RC. We are not wealthy by any means. We have two girls who are now 10 and 8 but were younger when we first cruised... probably about 2 & 4. RC treated us like cattle!!. They didn't take the time to know us, serve us and they obviously didn't care about us! DCL, on the other hand, made sure that they got EVERY single little detail right! When we sailed with RC there was a huge and I mean more than 4 hour delay at the Miami port. No one apologized to us at all. We weren't even given water. snacks, nothing. This was way before COVID BTW. Both times on DCL were absolute magic! Our waiter as well as the person who cleaned our stateroom knew us all by name. Yes, DCL is way more expensive but it is definitely twice as magical. After traveling with RC we vowed to never use them again! And BTW, we did let them know how disappointed we were for several reasons, and no one EVER got back to us. DCL goes above and beyond to make sure its clients are happy. We cannot take vacations that often so when we do, we want them to be special and magical. To each their own I guess.

[michaelsowell]

Royal: we have 7 day cruise for about $3, 500 😀

Disney: We have a 7 day cruise with cool characters for $8, 000 😐

[MathieuLeblanc]

I honestly prefer the Disney Magic and Wonder ships because the ships are smaller and easier to navigate than RCL ships since a lot of the floors are not connected so you have to plan out exactly where you want to go, also for me, I mainly go for the characters since the meet and greet experiences are much better than at the Disney parks

[johnconey]

Disney prices drove me to Universal Studios and Royal Caribbean, and I’m so glad they did! Our family’s vacation budget stretches much farther now and we still have great experiences with great service.