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Old 16 Oct 21, 06:48 PM  
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Lizzim
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A touch of Disney and 2 cruises in a week! A comparison and future plans

Having been on the 2 cruises (Disney and Royal Caribbean) so close together I thought I'd do a comparison in case it is useful for people.

Food and drink

We found that the Disney Main Dining Room food just won out in terms of appearance and quality. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the RC food but Disney just had some little extra touches that tipped the balance.

We did however, think that the Coastal Kitchen (only available to suite guests) on RC was the best food we had out of both cruises - but don't have a comparator for Disney.

We had the soda package on RC and found this much more convenient than on Disney because whilst soft drinks are included on Disney you can't get them 'free' from bars (unless we were misinformed?). We found having to go and get drinks from the beverage station to be a pain (even on our 2 night cruise). So paying for the package on RC was far better for us.

Pizza and hot dogs - Rob says that Disney wins marginally - I only tried the pizza on RC so cannot offer a view

Entertainment

I would have to give RC the win on this element as there was such a range of shows. I loved the Disney shows (and the dinner entertainment at Rapunzel's) but the entertainment on RC was exceptional.

I suppose to some extent I was lucky as the offerings really appealed to me (Frankie and The Dreamers, Gary Williams and We Will Rock You) but even the Spectra show was brilliant and not something we would have planned on seeing. The only thing I didn't like was the inability to see a show twice if space was available (as there were so few people on board).

Crew

This is a tie - the crew on both ships were amazing! They were so happy to have guests and could not have done more for us.

Experienced cruisers - I would love to know what a reasonable extra tip is for stateroom attendants and servers is. We assume they are not highly paid (but aren't really sure) and gave extra on both ships but don't know if we were insulting or not

Onboard experiences

RC wins out for us. We managed to do the iFly and Northstar for free and both were fab for us (we don't have kids). We also got to play on the bumper cars (with no reservation) which was fun

The Disney ship was great but much smaller and didn't have anything like this as far as we were aware.

Overall cost / value

So, the Disney cruise was expensive - there is no way of getting away from that.

We paid £680 for an inside cabin for 2 nights compared with £1582 for a junior suite for 6 nights with RC. Neither of these include gratuities (which were pretty much the same cost per day) but we did get a 10% discount on the RC cruise.

That being said, I was so happy to be back surrounded by Disney Magic that I was content with the price paid. But when you compare Disney and RC I struggle to see the value on a like for like basis.

Future Plans

So, in the trip report I mentioned that we have booked a cruise from Seattle to Alaska with RC in Sept 22.

We got home and found the price had dropped (within a week of booking onboard) so we called and managed to get a price reduction of £650 and extra OBC!

We are also planning a trip to Florida in June (flights already moved from this Sept) and are considering a 4 night cruise with RC out of Canaveral... we looked at Disney but they are very expensive in comparison!

Finally, we are trying to be sensible but I have seen some very good prices for a flight to Florida just after Xmas so we might go for a little New Year trip (watch this space)!

Thanks to all who read and commented, and I hope I have helped someone along the way


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Old 16 Oct 21, 06:57 PM  
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Melanie R
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Loved reading along, and very interesting to see your comparisons - I’ll admit I haven’t cruised Disney as I can’t bring myself to pay the extra as I can’t see the value given I know how much I love other cruise lines!
Very jealous of your Alaskan trip - we will be visiting the future cruise desk when onboard next week, and I’m very keen to return to Alaska. You’ll have a fab trip ❤️
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Old 16 Oct 21, 07:11 PM  
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Originally Posted by Melanie R View Post
Loved reading along, and very interesting to see your comparisons - I’ll admit I haven’t cruised Disney as I can’t bring myself to pay the extra as I can’t see the value given I know how much I love other cruise lines!
Very jealous of your Alaskan trip - we will be visiting the future cruise desk when onboard next week, and I’m very keen to return to Alaska. You’ll have a fab trip ❤️
Thank you

I looked at Disney for June and it’s about 3 times as expensive as RC for a similar itinerary. I love Disney but that is crazy!

I think our Alaska trip is now officially a bargain - £2230 for 7 nights in a suite guarantee including gratuities and we have $150 OBC. We still have to sort flights etc but it looks amazing!
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Old 16 Oct 21, 07:47 PM  
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Melanie R
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That is a real bargain - I paid more than that in 2019 for 1 person! Will definitely be checking out the itineraries 😊
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