Disney Cruise Line vs. Royal Caribbean: Which Cruise Line Wins? Our Family’s Thoughts!

In this video, all four of us discuss how we compare Disney Cruise Line to Royal Caribbean. After having sailed on 6 Disney cruises (all ships but the Dream) and 1 Royal Caribbean cruise (Symphony of the Seas). So many of you have been asking us what we think, and how we compare both cruise lines. This is a long video, so whether you watch all the way through or if you are looking for just a few topics (hint: go to the chapters of interest), we appreciate you watching and don't forget to give us a comment, whether it is a question, your thoughts or you just want to say hi ☺️🚢🛳️

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We are the Miller family and love to share a bit of our life as a family in the Central Valley of California! We love traveling, food, Disney, and experiencing new things together! Please subscribe (it's free!) and click the notification bell so you don't miss any of our adventures!

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* Chris

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----------------------------------- CHAPTERS -----------------------------------

00:00 Intro
01:21 Staterooms
04:29 Overall Vibes
11:26 Outdoor Activities/Pool Deck
19:36 Coffee
21:33 Dining/Food
33:56 Entertainment/Shows
38:49 Private Islands
46:50 Service
48:14 Embarkation/Debarkation
50:59 Pricing
52:37 Which Cruise Line Wins?
56:35 Closing

Our channel is focused on making quality content for adults. However, it is a huge value that we create family-friendly content that is safe for the entire family to watch together.

[AngiBelle]

I think for me, the thing is that I'm a Disney fan first and a cruise fan second, so any typical cruise activities are going to be enhanced by the presence of Disney theming and Disney characters and Disney music. I've been on Royal Caribbean. My husband and I actually got engaged on Freedom of the Seas back in 2011. We had a great time. The food, the service- all on par with Disney. I'd absolutely like to go on more RC cruises eventually. But at the end of the day, I'm happier being surrounded by Disney magic.🚢

[kennethpreston]

Excellent comparison, I liked hearing the kid’s viewpoint too!

[michelletetreault]

Thank you so much for the comparison! I really appreciate it!And I like the teen point of view too!🥰

[judyvancleef]

I love the salted caramel coconut latte on the Wonder. Watching your video reminded me of how much I miss it!

[ChristieBowden]

This has been the most helpful video. I recently cancelled our Treasure cruise in April and booked Symphony instead. I feel so much better about the switch and I love all of your comparisons. Having 2.5 hour dinners sounds excruciatingly painful and I do not want a set dining room each night except nights where have booked special dining experiences. While our kids will be in the kids clubs on Symphony, they will enjoy any clubs regardless.

[Algebrina]

Headed on the Symphony next week and appreciat running across all your videos as we get ourselves hyped! ⚓

[ruthqueenietaylor]

I went on my first Royal and my first Disney last year within 4 months of each other. While I enjoyed Royal, I LOVED Disney 🛳️🚢

[nievesaj]

Great video! Thanks for taking the time to compare and also including the girls' perspectives! 🛳🚢

[andrewschmidt]

🚢 Love your channel and thankful for all of your vlogs and this comparison!! 🛳️

[toxaris]

Thank you so much for this video! We have been on a back to back cruise last August on the Disney Fantasy and are now looking for next summer. We were really debating the last few weeks to chose another cruiseline or to pay the extra for a Disney cruise again. Your video actually made up our minds, we are Disney cruisers, not regular cruisers, if we go, we need to do Disney again.

[Starz]

I was on the Disney dream as it repositioned in New York City and we went to Canada last October 2023. I just got off the Liberty of the Seas with Royal Caribbean out of New York City and we went to Bermuda. Both ships were great. What stood out for me on Royal Caribbean Was that it was a much more livelier ship. There was so much more to do and so many more options to choose from. The dining room was gorgeous, three levels and the buffet was excellent. On the other hand, Disney is in a league of its own because it’s Disney themed. I loved it. I absolutely am a Disney fanatic. The state rooms on both ships were, in my opinion, great. The split bathroom on Disney was lovely. I was traveling solo this time so it didn’t matter about the split bathroom. The food on both ships in my opinion was great. I like the promenade on Royal Caribbean. They had the Saturday night fever show that was performed above everybody’s head on a stage in the promenade. I found that to be very clever which was so much fun with the promenade filled with the passengers and a lot of audience participation. They also had an ice-skating rink of which I did not use. There was free pizza and ice cream all day and all night. On Disney, I really enjoyed Canada and did a sightseeing excursion. We were in Port only one day. On Royal we were in Bermuda for two days. Both cruises were five day long cruises. What can I say, Bermuda is gorgeous and the beaches are beyond spectacular. For me on this particular vacation hands-down, Royal Caribbean. The people & staff on board Royal, for some reason, we’re so much more friendlier. On RC, there were so many more things to do at night right up until 1 AM . I did the excursions by myself. So much cheaper and very easy. $8.00 to get to the beach of your choice from the ship, and then I hailed a taxi back for $20.00 as opposed to taking the bus for only $4.00 The island is pristine and very safe. If I was on a Caribbean island I would’ve definitely been on an excursion from the ship for safety reasons. If you like a ship that is livelier and had lots more things to do, then Royal Caribbean is for you. They do have lots of things for children . They have 2 waterparks. 1 for young children and the other for teenagers and adults. Do your research and then make your choice. I give both cruise lines A+. As previously mentioned, Royal Caribbean hands-down for this particular sailing. It went above and beyond.

[shantellecranford]

🚢 you guys did great! Answered all my questions

[mikeg]

I really appreciate how thorough and well thought out your comparison was. Like you, we have been on several DCL cruises, but we have not experienced RC. My son has aged out of the Imagineers club now and I think the variety that RC brings would be a lot of fun for him now that he is older. We love Disney but the price and value that RC seems to bring is very tempting!

[tiffmcdaniel]

We’ve been on Disney and Royal one time each. We went on Disney when our kids were younger and Royal with teenagers. And our teenage kids were comparing Royal to Disney the entire time. For example, when we got on the ship they missed the introductions we had on Disney. And we loved the dining and shows at Disney. We liked both ships and both experiences but overall we would choose Disney again! Keep in mind we didn’t have a suite on Royal :) just standard rooms on both.

[suewalters]

I totally enjoy watching your cruise videos! And enjoy your vlogs! Have a great weekend!!

[cazzasquared]

🛳🚢This was so helpful! We are booked on a head to head trip next year - Disney Wish vs Utopia of the Seas! Those are the competitors doing the 3 nighters out of Port Canaveral, both going to Nassau and then Castaway or Coco Cay. We even booked the same type of stateroom to try to be fair. We are Diamond status on Royal but haven't been on a Disney ship in 20 years, even though we are massive Disney fans. We are excited to compare our experiences as you did, too.

[jasminesmith]

🛳️ Thanks for a great breakdown! We have only ever done Disney but have talked about trying Royal when our boys are a little older. My worry was always if it would be as relaxing as Disney is for me and this video was reassuring!

[carol_draper]

I’ve been looking very forward to this comparison. I appreciate your genuine opinions based on your experiences. We absolutely adore Disney but we do look forward to just trying out many other cruise lines too!

[TheJackndabox]

A part of me wishes y’all would’ve done a couple more Royal cruises before doing an apples to apples comparison. It’s not all that fair to RCC for you to have gone on several Disney and only one Royal. For example I’ve been on 5 Royal cruises so I would totally be more familiar and comfortable than I work on my first Disney cruise. Great family and great content! Just an observation, keep up the great work 😊

[MP-cruf]

🛳️ Have never been on a RC but did 2 cruises on another cruise line and then did our first Disney cruise and we enjoyed it so much that we booked another Disney cruise (and we really want to go on the Destiny in the future). I loved your comparisons though! We are more of a relaxing/chill family, so we find the Disney cruises more of our speed. The no port holes on RC would definitely be a deal breaker for us too. We also appreciate the no casinos and that the ship is so much quieter at night on Disney. We also love all the entertainment and characters on Disney (not to mention the towel animals and chocolates every night). However, with teenagers and thrill seekers, I can definitely see the appeal of RC.