RC won out!

[Wes1stTrip2016]

After serious debate with the husband....the Oasis of the Seas won out over the DCL Fantasy for a 7 night in October 2017. The price difference of almost $1300, the balcony and the rockwall/zipline/flowrider won over the mouse.

I am disappointed BUT I'm excited for the adventure on the Oasis.

I've got a lot of research to do on Saint Maarten, San Juan and Labadee and the ship itself and I look forward to becoming an active member on this board.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!!

 

[disneybass]

Seems like lots of us are making the move from DCL to RCCL due to the crazy price increases the past couple of years. After 6 trips on DCL we took our first last Oct on Brilliance and loved it and are booked on the Freedom for this October. I think we are going to be happy with RCCL

 

[ubish00]

We're making the move to RCCL at the end of the year. I'm hoping the munchkin will enjoy the Allure. It'll be her 4th cruise but first non DCL. She is excited about the carousel and waterpark area so all may be great.

 

[Disney Divva]

Mmmmmm! Interesting... I did a "Future Onboard Booking" on the Wonder last week (October 2017). Perhaps it would behoove me to tip on over to the RCCL website!

Thanks for the thought!!

 

[eskimoinparadise]

We did eight Disney cruises and were thoroughly hooked on Disney. Then DCL decided to move Magic over to Europe for the summer, which left us without a ship, so we were forced to try RCL. 25 RCL cruises later, we took our ninth Disney cruise. Ten RCL cruises later we became Platinum on Disney. We still love the cruise line, it's just that we love cruising more, and we average two-three RCL cruises for the cost of a single Disney cruise. We still slot a Disney cruise in occasionally when the price is right, but that's becoming more difficult to find.

 

[Frozen2014]

We had the same debate over Fantasy and Allure. We decided on Allure (sister ship of Oasis) for sane reason as you. Well, we went in April and wow....we absolutely loved it. You won't be disappointed. And if you have kids , they can see DreamWorks characters, shows, parades, etc.

 

[ubish00]

I'm so glad to hear you liked the Allure. We had to cancel our Fantasy cruise in November and are now booked on the Allure. Are the Dreamwork characters out as much as they are on Disney ships for photo ops?

 

[Frozen2014]

I'm so glad to hear you liked the Allure. We had to cancel our Fantasy cruise in November and are now booked on the Allure. Are the Dreamwork characters out as much as they are on Disney ships for photo ops?

Yes, the DreamWorks characters are out daily throughout the cruise, and there are basically no lines. Check the cruise compass as they list when and where. There is also a character breakfast for a small fee, a DreamWorks Aqua Show, parade, and on Allure they have an additional ice show based on How to Train Your Dragon (it's a different ice show on the Oasis as in the OPs post).

 

[ubish00]

Thank you for the additional information. My niece started Disney cruising at 2 and even at that age she loved the characters. Very happy to know the Dreamworks characters are available daily. I will definitely book the character breakfast. I didn't know about the ice show. Thanks for that.

 

[Frozen2014]

Your welcome. There are usually a few meet and greets each day. Be sure to catch the DreamWorks Aqua show too. And the sail away party has them as well. The ship is very family friendly. You'll love it.

 

[annacali]

Happy to hear this. We are currently on the Explorer of the Seas heading back to Seattle from Alaska. Our only other cruise was a DCL Fantasy Western last summer. We liked the ship and the staff was wonderful. Alaska was absolutely the most awesome experience but I admit I have been rather disappointed with the on board programming, especially where my 11 and 13 yo are concerned. It is Alaska so pool, flow rider and rock wall were really not options (there were a few brave souls but it is cold and windy out there). They showed 2 movies my kids were interested in all week but scheduled them badly--Zootopia conflicted with our turn for the ice show and Star Wars was during our time in Juneau. Only 1-2 movies per day and most were for adults. All the sea day stuff was geared for adults or cost extra (bingo, sushi making demos, spa presentations). We did origami but that and towel/napkin folding was about it. Not even any free movies on demand in the room. We did ice skating once but you only get a 30 minute session and most of that was spent getting everyone in skates! We were lucky there was so much amazing scenery because we mainly spent sea days on our balcony watching it all. After having so much to do on Disney that part was a letdown. Without the pools we were just kind of at a loss. My 13 yo liked the teen club but she was mainly playing the wii up there. My 11 yo felt too old for kids club and they weren't too thrilled about letting her in the teen club.

That said--we had already priced Disney for next year and there was no question Royal had a better deal. We booked an Eastern on the Oasis for next year--desperately hoping the bigger ship and warmer climate would open up a lot more to do onboard! Sounds like this is true.

 

[Frozen2014]

Sorry your Royal experience wasn't so good. I've never done an Alaska cruise but that was probably part of the issue. If it was warm, then there would have been more activity options that you could do as a family (as you mentioned pool, etc). I think you'll enjoy the Eastern Oasis more...and add to that zipline, amazing rock walls, flowriders, the shows, etc.