Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Comparing Royal Caribbean vs Disney Cruise Line Our Pick for Best Family Cruise

royal caribbean vs disney cruise

With an emphasis on family-friendly entertainment and exceptional service, Disney Cruise Line ensures that every voyage fills your heart with lasting memories and a sense of wonder. This really comes down to who takes priority in your travelling party. This is a fake porthole that has a live view of the outside of the ship, so you can at least see whether it’s daytime or not. Both cruise lines sail to a range of destinations, although Royal Caribbean certainly has more variety – helped with the size of the fleet. Understandably, the Caribbean is the key destination for both cruise lines, though both offer a range of European cruises too. Kurt is a former Disneyland Cast Member and seasoned explorer and is your trusted guide to the world of theme park travel.

Carnival

Before we begin discussing suite perks, it’s important to note that for the remainder of this post, we will mostly be comparing the Royal Caribbean Oasis class ships to the Disney Cruise Line fleet. The larger ships that are part of the Oasis class and Icon class offer some of the more popular features for families. If you are traveling with children, kids’ clubs may be a big part of your cruise ship experience.

What Is a Royal Caribbean Cruise?

royal caribbean vs disney cruise

These dining options include the buffet, room service, and quick service restaurants near the pools. In addition, DCL offers a few specialty restaurants for an additional charge. For adults seeking a diverse array of onboard experiences, dining options, adventurous activities, and a more extensive range of nightlife and entertainment choices, Royal Caribbean may be the more appealing option. The cruise line’s ships feature numerous bars, lounges, and clubs, providing a wide variety of atmospheres and experiences to suit different tastes. In addition, Royal Caribbean offers an impressive array of entertainment options, such as Broadway-style shows, live music, comedy clubs, and even outdoor movie nights under the stars.

Cruise Destinations

A limited selection of cruises are available from Southampton for UK guests. Royal Caribbean has a huge mammoth fleet of 27 ships, with another three on the way for now (Utopia of the Seas, Star of the Seas and one TBC). All pricing above is for a 3-night sailing to the Bahamas on March 7th, 2025, from Port Canaveral, Florida.

Celebrity Cruises

For instance, on the Royal Caribbean Odyssey of the Seas, different experiences include an iFly, a climbing wall, a FlowRider, a North Star observation capsule, and bumper cars. On the Wonder of the Seas, you’ll see a FlowRider, two rock walls, a carousel, Ultimate Abyss slides, mini golf, zip lining, ice skating, and a sports deck. Be sure to check the specific activities on the ship you are booking because they do vary. Both cruise lines offer complimentary basic beverages, including tap water, coffee and tea (excluding premium coffee), and standard juices. Other beverages are available a la carte, and each cruise line has different beverage purchase options.

Other than excursions, watersports equipment rentals, and a little souvenir shopping, there aren’t really any extra charges to incur on the island. Plenty of shopping opportunities exist onboard Royal Caribbean ships, from sundries and souvenirs to clothing, jewelry, watches and vintage haute couture bags. On other ships, Family Connected Junior Suites combine three cabin types to sleep ten, while the Presidential Family Suite can house 14 in four bedrooms. If your cruise is one of these special-themed cruises, it will be clearly labeled. You can also see first-run movies from Disney-owned studios in the Buena Vista Theater. Singers and other musicians perform at various venues across the ships, throughout the day.

royal caribbean vs disney cruise

Disney Cruise Line Entertainment

Disney Cruise Line vs. Royal Caribbean: Which family-friendly cruise line is for you? - The Points Guy

Disney Cruise Line vs. Royal Caribbean: Which family-friendly cruise line is for you?.

Posted: Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

There are still separate clubs for different age ranges, and different spaces such as the Adventure Science Lab, the Imagination Studio and an Adventure Theatre. Family cruise lines such as Disney and Royal Caribbean have to cater to younger guests – and neither disappoint. But it’s the choice of speciality restaurants where Royal Caribbean outshines Disney.

Trading up to a balcony cabin: The differential stays the same

Their shows showcase wonderful talent but aren’t specifically family-friendly. They also have some very unique venues, including an ice-skating rink, an aqua theater, and smaller theaters like Two70. Like on DCL, performers can be seen in bars and other venues throughout the day. If you’ve been a frequent reader here, you know that I am an avid cruiser on the Disney Cruise Line. I absolutely love their beautiful ships and fantastic service and have been happy on every single sailing I’ve done. We’ve reviewed all of their ships here and we’ve always had a positive experience.

Speaking of amenities, make sure you understand what you'll get as part of your fare and which extras will come with an additional cost. For example, most cruises offer drink packages for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, but a few have drink stations where you can get complimentary lemonade, coffee and tea. Other amenities that might be important to you are Wi-Fi, spa services, babysitting, fitness classes, and upgraded dining experiences. You can usually get a decent discount if you sign up for an amenities package before you sail, so keep an eye out for promotions in the months leading up to your sailing. The tricky part for Disney Cruise Line is that with such a small fleet in comparison to other cruise lines, they are mildly limited on the variety of available ports and destination options.

Since Disney does label itself as a more family-friendly environment, you’re not gonna be able to play a round of craps with Donald Duck, or anything. But, depending on what you’re looking for, the lack of a casino could be a major draw or deterrent for you. The average standard cabin for Disney measures around 205 square feet — not including the rooms with an additional balcony. Note that the room size isn’t a significant difference unless you’re talking suites (which are much less expensive and offer more perks on Royal). Royal Caribbean boasts moderate prices — but this cruise line is also rather generous when it comes to their extra promotions.

After swimming, we would go back to the pile of towels to discover that one of them was missing. Luckily, we noticed that the crew member at the towel desk didn’t count the towels when we returned them. So, we were able to just show our SeaPass card and throw the towels in the laundry bin. Royal Caribbean requires you to show your SeaPass card at the towel desk on the pool deck in order to take a towel. A crew member will mark down the number of pool towels you take, and you will be charged if you do not return them.

Disney Cruise vs. Royal Caribbean - NerdWallet

Disney Cruise vs. Royal Caribbean.

Posted: Mon, 14 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

You'll also have a wider selection of departure ports in the U.S. with Royal Caribbean. Its ships sail from secondary home ports, such as Baltimore, Boston, Cape Liberty (Bayonne, New Jersey), Galveston, New Orleans and Tampa, as well as the major Florida ports, Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver. Disney has previously offered Bermuda and Canada/New England cruises from northeastern U.S. home ports but does not currently have any on its schedule. The cruise line employs numerous musicians, including pianists who perform at the Schooner Bar, Dueling Pianos bar and even in the elevator and other unexpected locations (you never know where the Stowaway Pianist will appear).

Disney staterooms are noticeably larger than Royal Caribbean’s staterooms and those of other cruise lines like Norwegian. Disney rooms also have lots of extra storage spaces built right into the room, and extra large bathrooms with partitions to make getting the kids ready much easier. Royal Caribbean’s cabins and suites are known for being some of the most luxurious in the cruise world. They have cabins for all kinds of budgets and even their smallest staterooms don’t skimp on the indulgence. The 180- square-foot space features a king bed or two twin beds, a sofa, and a workspace. There’s something for everyone on a Royal Caribbean cruise, from family-friendly dining, activity, and entertainment options to plenty of upscale restaurants, bars, and nightclubs for young couples and singles.

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