Our cruises have pretty much been a 50/50 split between RC and Disney (about 7 on each line). When our boys were teenagers, they greatly preferred RC - we were on the larger ships and the activities and additional teenagers (girls) were a big plus to them. We really enjoy RC - will make another voyage on Freedom to the Southern Caribbean beginning Sunday - but if the price were the same, my wife and I would choose
Disney Cruise Line. Our experience has not been that the DCL ships are more crowded than the RC ships. We enjoy the rotational dining, and have generally preferred Disney’s dining (including the food, not just the experience), characters, ship aesthetics, spa, service level (although both are generally very good) and, despite some other enthusiastic perspectives in this thread, we enjoy the Disney shows more. We also find Castaway Cay superior to RC’s Labadee or Coco Cay (perhaps this changes with the new version of Coco). So, although everyone is entitled to their opinion, I adamantly disagree that RC is flat-out better and certainly not - IMHO - significantly so.
Having said all that, they definitely are not priced the same, as has been pointed out repeatedly. It’s not even close, and this really can make Disney a tough choice. Disney is welcome to charge whatever they want - and God knows they do - but the expense means we look at other options. The value equation, therefore, is more complex. RC is much more accessible: more ships, more itineraries, and also offers a great vacation. Our 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise was about the same price as a 4-nighter on the Dream. We’ve done Nassau, but never the ABC islands and never San Juan. So, three more nights, balcony stateroom, on a totally new itinerary and a very good ship? Well, we’re excited to be back on RC for this. Now, we also have a reservation for Disney’s Fantasy in 2020, but it’s a 5-night cruise that’s a bit more affordable than that ship’s typical 7-night EC or WC. We are looking forward to that, too, but boy it would be nice to be on a 7-nights. We keep hoping the new ships will drive Disney’s prices down a bit, but nothing really seems to do that.
We are also planning to do Alaska in the future but, because we are not independently wealthy and unlikely to be future lottery winners, we will probably be sailing Princess or RC. I look at Disney’s Alaska prices, and I just laugh. I love the Wonder, but I’m pretty sure I don’t love it that much.
In short, you can’t go wrong with either cruise line in our opinion. Really great, albeit quite different, experiences. It’s what works for you and your family. I don’t begrudge anyone their opinion on either cruise line, but the short for us is, although we prefer Disney, the Disney ticket price means we’re going to continue to cruise on RC, Princess, and other cruise lines, as well.