RCI 4 nights inc 2 trips to Coco Cay, or 4 nights DCL inc Castaway?

[Zigby]

Which would you choose, and why? I've chosen one, and am now really second guessing myself about whether I've made the right choice.

It’s me and 2 kids aged 12 & 9 travelling, both are autistic and need gluten free and GF/dairy free diets. We will have spent 5-7 days at WDW prior to cruise, and looking at concierge level on Disney, or grand suite level on Royal Caribbean.

Any insight and opinions appreciated! Thank you

[Bats]

I have a food allergy and DCL handle it brilliantly. I know DCL have an allergy kitchen and take the food prep very seriously indeed. They provide soy and rice milk, dairy free desserts and they will often make a normal menu item GF and/or DF for you if they can (you order the night before for this, not on the night).

They will prepare food for your children for Castaway Cay too, although there would be plenty of meat/fish anyway if they ate that as it's essentially a BBQ on the island.

Silly question and probably worded incorrectly, but how autistic are your children? I mean, are they verbal, high functioning?
The youth activity areas onboard are amazing, but the spaces can be loud. You can go in with your children on the first day and when the spaces have Open House, but not at other times.

If you go concierge, you should be prepared to be treated royally. The concierge hosts are a breed of their own. There is a FB cruise group called Disney Cruising Concierge and some of the members there will have experience of autism within a ship environment. You'd need to join it's parent group first called Disney Cruising - it's very well run by great admin.

We love concierge, go for it!

I can't comment on RCI as never sailed on them, but Yorkshire T recently did so may be able to chip in with comments.

Joa

[Zigby]

Thank you so much, that’s all really informative and helpful. The DCL cruise sounds fabulous, especially regarding the catering for allergies, but I'd still be grateful to hear more about the RCI cruise too, if anyone has any info to share?

[danisleigh]

We have cruised with both but not done coco day or castaway cay yet. We love DCL and they would always be my first choice and we just got back from a week on the magic however RCL are our second choice and we are visiting coco cay on the symphony next Easter as we got a good deal. Which ship were you looking at?

[Zigby]

The cruise I was looking at is 4 days on the Mariner, with 2 stops at Coco Cay. I thought the Grand Suite entitled us to free room service, which would be super helpful if the dining areas are too much for the kids, but those ‘Sky Suite’ perks apparently don’t apply to Voyager class ships ☹️

[Bats]

Originally Posted by Zigby

The cruise I was looking at is 4 days on the Mariner, with 2 stops at Coco Cay. I thought the Grand Suite entitled us to free room service, which would be super helpful if the dining areas are too much for the kids, but those ‘Sky Suite’ perks apparently don’t apply to Voyager class ships ☹️

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Just be aware that ordering from room service with allergies may not be the service you need/expect.
On DCL, I know they have GF options (you have to just ask for this), but not sure if they could easily do DF and GF and serve it to you on the spot.

Room service is free for all on DCL (just tip $1 a plate generally).