maggie blossom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2010
I am a big DCL fan but recently completed first cruise on RCCL. Writing a comparison report and thought I would share it here as well in case anyone else interested.
Just off 8 day cruise in the Med on Independence of the Seas, "Indy". This was our first cruise with RCCL. We have previously done 3 with DCL; including one in the Med in 2014. We have cruised on the Magic and the Wonder on DCL, not the larger ships so this was our first cruise on a ship this size. There are 3 of us, 2 adults and our 17 yo daughter. We thought long and hard about which cruise line. Just thought I'd share some thoughts in case others are considering which line.
Why this one? My daughter has always loved joining the kids clubs on cruises. She is an "only" so it is her way to hang with others her age. She really wanted to do one more cruise before she turned 18 so she could participate in the kids clubs. I had read a long comparison review of RCCL which basically said it was just as good with programming for kids so this is the line I chose to consider.
If we were going to do Disney this year the options were: Alaska (been there), Caribbean (didn't want to do it in the summer) and the Med. Using the weeks available for school vacation there were really only two med itineraries with DCL. One included Greece, we did that a few years ago. The other was a small loop around Italy. I really didn't want to see Italy this way. We plan to spend time in Italy at some point but we want to immerse ourselves there, not on and off the ship. The Indy had a great itinerary: Belgium; Oslo, Norway; Hamburg, Germany; and La Havre, France. This was far more exciting to us.
Basically we were able to do an 8 night cruise on RCCL for almost $2000 less than a 7 night on DCL. AND we preferred the ports. No brainer for me. Took some convincing to the 17 yo.
Odds and Ends comparison:
Check In/ Embarkation: Super, super easy on RCCL. We had no loyalty status with RCCL and were on deck 2. A week or two before our cruise we got an email saying our check in time was 3:00 pm. Thanks to others reports here I learned they would not enforce that. Check in started for all at 11:00. We arrived at the port at 11:15. Luggage was left with a porter. We got in a short line to check in. We had to leave our passports. That was new for me and unsettling as we were in a foreign country. But we did it. (We later got them back I think on day 5). Check in was fast and we were on the ship at 11:30. Faster than DCL. Shorter line. No throng of people hanging and listening for our boarding number to be called. No one announced our family name when we walked on board. Nice touch on DCL but not worth extra $2000.
State rooms felt similar. We have always had an ocean view and did again. The bed was set up under the large porthole window which I didn't love. Don't know if that is the same with all our just on our deck. We did GTY and were assigned to room 2542. I was not happy when I saw it online as it is near a stairwell and I was afraid of noise. We ended up loving our room! It was way forward. It was very close to stairs but there was a small half wall in between the stairs and the rooms. This served was just enough to block out any noise from the stairs. We were one of 4 or 5 rooms at far front. Across from us was this half wall; not other staterooms. So quiet and not a lot of foot traffic. Would highly recommend this room! Luggage was there at 1:00; easy. Our stateroom attendant was sweet, and was fine. Other odds and ends of the room: I missed the DCL split bathroom. I like having the two separate. Also RCCL had a shower stall only and it was not large. No nice shower gels, shampoo etc that you get on DCL. In fact no conditioner at all. But we did get some when I requested it. We had towel animals 3 days out of 8. No chocolates.
Food: Food quality was probably similar. We say "we don't cruise for the food". We ate in MDL 7 out of 8 nights. Did not take advantage of MTD. I had good luck with the appetizers; loved all I chose. My main courses were mostly ok, some better than others. I was disappointed in dessert. There were always 2 dessert choices and two sugar free options. In addition there was always "classics" which were the same every night. Thank God for the classics as the desserts offered really were not appealing. I would have loved more choices. Our wait staff was fine; no better or worse than DCL. I will say I think the head waiter spoke to us once. On DCL we saw much more of the head waiter. But otherwise service was fine.
I wasn't expecting entertainment during dinner like you get with DCL. But I will say I got bored with dinner in the MDL. It was the same thing every night. I realized that whether it was the entertainment for some meals on Disney or the rotational dining I don't know. But it wasn't the same spot, looking at the same people at other tables for 8 nights. One night we just took a break and ate at Windjammer. Large choice there but often not hot food.
Will stop here for now. To be continued. I want to touch on many more areas.
Happy to answer questions
Just off 8 day cruise in the Med on Independence of the Seas, "Indy". This was our first cruise with RCCL. We have previously done 3 with DCL; including one in the Med in 2014. We have cruised on the Magic and the Wonder on DCL, not the larger ships so this was our first cruise on a ship this size. There are 3 of us, 2 adults and our 17 yo daughter. We thought long and hard about which cruise line. Just thought I'd share some thoughts in case others are considering which line.
Why this one? My daughter has always loved joining the kids clubs on cruises. She is an "only" so it is her way to hang with others her age. She really wanted to do one more cruise before she turned 18 so she could participate in the kids clubs. I had read a long comparison review of RCCL which basically said it was just as good with programming for kids so this is the line I chose to consider.
If we were going to do Disney this year the options were: Alaska (been there), Caribbean (didn't want to do it in the summer) and the Med. Using the weeks available for school vacation there were really only two med itineraries with DCL. One included Greece, we did that a few years ago. The other was a small loop around Italy. I really didn't want to see Italy this way. We plan to spend time in Italy at some point but we want to immerse ourselves there, not on and off the ship. The Indy had a great itinerary: Belgium; Oslo, Norway; Hamburg, Germany; and La Havre, France. This was far more exciting to us.
Basically we were able to do an 8 night cruise on RCCL for almost $2000 less than a 7 night on DCL. AND we preferred the ports. No brainer for me. Took some convincing to the 17 yo.
Odds and Ends comparison:
Check In/ Embarkation: Super, super easy on RCCL. We had no loyalty status with RCCL and were on deck 2. A week or two before our cruise we got an email saying our check in time was 3:00 pm. Thanks to others reports here I learned they would not enforce that. Check in started for all at 11:00. We arrived at the port at 11:15. Luggage was left with a porter. We got in a short line to check in. We had to leave our passports. That was new for me and unsettling as we were in a foreign country. But we did it. (We later got them back I think on day 5). Check in was fast and we were on the ship at 11:30. Faster than DCL. Shorter line. No throng of people hanging and listening for our boarding number to be called. No one announced our family name when we walked on board. Nice touch on DCL but not worth extra $2000.
State rooms felt similar. We have always had an ocean view and did again. The bed was set up under the large porthole window which I didn't love. Don't know if that is the same with all our just on our deck. We did GTY and were assigned to room 2542. I was not happy when I saw it online as it is near a stairwell and I was afraid of noise. We ended up loving our room! It was way forward. It was very close to stairs but there was a small half wall in between the stairs and the rooms. This served was just enough to block out any noise from the stairs. We were one of 4 or 5 rooms at far front. Across from us was this half wall; not other staterooms. So quiet and not a lot of foot traffic. Would highly recommend this room! Luggage was there at 1:00; easy. Our stateroom attendant was sweet, and was fine. Other odds and ends of the room: I missed the DCL split bathroom. I like having the two separate. Also RCCL had a shower stall only and it was not large. No nice shower gels, shampoo etc that you get on DCL. In fact no conditioner at all. But we did get some when I requested it. We had towel animals 3 days out of 8. No chocolates.
Food: Food quality was probably similar. We say "we don't cruise for the food". We ate in MDL 7 out of 8 nights. Did not take advantage of MTD. I had good luck with the appetizers; loved all I chose. My main courses were mostly ok, some better than others. I was disappointed in dessert. There were always 2 dessert choices and two sugar free options. In addition there was always "classics" which were the same every night. Thank God for the classics as the desserts offered really were not appealing. I would have loved more choices. Our wait staff was fine; no better or worse than DCL. I will say I think the head waiter spoke to us once. On DCL we saw much more of the head waiter. But otherwise service was fine.
I wasn't expecting entertainment during dinner like you get with DCL. But I will say I got bored with dinner in the MDL. It was the same thing every night. I realized that whether it was the entertainment for some meals on Disney or the rotational dining I don't know. But it wasn't the same spot, looking at the same people at other tables for 8 nights. One night we just took a break and ate at Windjammer. Large choice there but often not hot food.
Will stop here for now. To be continued. I want to touch on many more areas.
Happy to answer questions
and I must say I have yet to find any cruise where I was blown away by the desserts! In fact, I always get a Mickey bar on 
.
