Our first cruise was in 2017 to Alaska with Holland America in a Neptune Suite. At the time it was Dh, myself, DD 6, DD 4, DS 2, and infant. It was amazing. I loved the nature and wildlife talks. We saw the world and got a bit of date time when Grandparents kept the 2 littles and the big kids went to whatever Holland's rather lame kid's club is called. They loved it and had a great time-I thought it was lame.
Next cruise, after more thought and planning was with Royal. We've been on 3 Royal cruises for a total of 27 days! We have loved just about everything about our Royal adventures over the past 2 years. We've been to Canada on the Adventure of the Seas, Southern Caribbean on the Serenade, and then by the skin of our teeth a February/March 2020 on the Majesty (smallest ship in the world, I mean, smallest ship that Royal runs). The kids LOVE Adventure Ocean and beg to go and it's often a huge dilemma if we say, "AdventureOcean or swimming this afternoon?" It's awesome because then DH and I get to read, play cards, swim, sleep, and do things we enjoy knowing the kids are having "vacation" too. We actually chose Royal because of the high praise of their kids programming over Disney. Also, we tend to cruise when school is in session so the kids are 4 out of 27/43/68 respectively so the staff get to know them and vice versa.
So we haven't been on a huge Royal ship yet (that's planned!) and my kids got a bit jealous being docked across from a Disney ship with the sea coaster when we were in the Bahamas. All it took was pointing out the long lines and that they were cruising for 3 or 4 days while we were cruising for 7 and my kids were like, "Bye bye Mickey!" They know value! My kids used to write cards to Royal that went "Dear Cruise Ship, I miss you. Can I see you again soon?" LOL.
I'd love to give Disney a shot but more than that I like having two cruises for the price of one so we probably won't ever do a
Disney cruise. We own DVC and love Disney but we don't require the brand to have a great time. We usually go to Disney in January but there is no longer a "low season" at WDW we decided to try a January cruise. Fingers crossed Royal is cruising again soon!