Royal Caribbean vs Disney Cruise

One of our regular Disney cruise clients, David from New Jersey, sailed on Royal Caribbean for the first time in June 2012.  Thanks to David for sharing his thoughts on this Royal Caribbean Bermuda cruise, and how this experience compared to his past Disney Cruises.

We enjoyed the cruise and RCI.  Of course a 9-night in a Junior Suite has spoiled us completely!  Loved the room.  One of the things we did was go to Cruise Critic and joined the meet and Mingle that had been set up for this cruise.  One of things we did on the cruise with the “cabin crawl” where different cabin types were offered by the group to allow everyone to see each type.  Good way to see each category and the differences (especially in size).  Like I said we loved our Junior Suite.  Plenty of room, a larger balcony and the closet was large.  I was skeptical when someone said that it could be used as a changing room…it actually could be.  We ended up with more drawer and storage space than we needed.  With the NJ resident upgrade rate it was absolutely worth the additional $400 or so.

Another benefit from booking the JS was the check-in and embarkation process at Bayonne.  Easy drive for us, just over 90 minutes.  Sort of an odd set-up when your used to Port Canaveral.  Sort of an elongated permanent “tent” type of structure outside with numbers spots for you to park to drop off and pick up luggage.  Especially fun when you arrive as the prior cruise last passengers are departing, but form the time we first pulled in to the time was maybe 20 minutes and that included driving off to park and walking back to the terminal.  Incredibly easy.  Went through the security scanning and our large insulated water bottle was checked for smuggled alcohol.  Since we had the “suite” notation on our documents, we were directed to a priority check-in area away from the regular check-in.  No wait at all and then to a lounge with cookies, coffee, juice etc. and comfortable padded chairs.

At Bayonne, they bus you from the terminal to the ship (about a 45 second ride, but they don’t want people strolling along the pier).  The “Suite” group gets the first set of busses.  We went up to the Windjammer for lunch and were the very first there.  Got very crowded by the time we left as everyone else arrived.  Went down to our deck at 1:15 just to see if any chance things had opened.  It had and all of our luggage was already there.  Have to figure the “suite” group gets priority luggage handling as well. Fun standing our balcony and looking at the Statue of Liberty.

We were unpacked well before the 3:15 muster drill.  Not that it was unorganized, it wasn’t, but DCL is a bit more efficient in that area.  Left port on time around 4:00, and the 12-18 foot clearance under the Verrazano bridge was interesting to view from the top deck.   Unfortunately two hours out of port , a gentleman suffered a fatal heart attack in the middle of the Promenade in front of the Café.  Once we did not return to port or have a MedEvac helicopter arrive, I assumed the worst had happened.  The family left the ship when we docked in Bermuda.

First night, we booked Portofino and had an excellent dinner.  Great seas (1.5 to 3 foot swells) the entire trip up to the last full day returning to Bayonne.  We ran into a disturbance and had 12-15 foot swells and near gale force winds. Still had a blast walking in those winds on the upper decks.  As far as weather, we had 10 minutes of rain in Bermuda before the full sun came out, and then only a few showers while on board.  Much better seas and weather than I anticipated in the Atlantic this time of year.  Great temperature in Bermuda in the 80s and not too humid.  St. Maarten and San Juan on the other hand were 90s and humid…and Labadee, Haiti had “interesting” heat and humidity, as well.

We didn’t book any excursions.  We’ve been to Bermuda twice before (once on our Honeymoon) and had seen most of the excursion sites and decided to explore the Dockyard area that had changed a great deal from the last we were there.  WE were in St. Maarten last December and had done an island tour then.  We just walked around Phillipsburg and shopped and ate at a restaurant we wanted to try (Chesterfield’s – walking distance to the dock and well worth it).

San Juan offered such a relatively short period and odd times (dock at 7:00 a.m. and on-board time of 12:30 p.m.) that we just decided to walk in Old San Juan around the Fort area and take in the sights.  Going to the Don Q rum tasting center at 11:20 was also fun!

RCI’s private area at Labadee was nice (hot and humid…but nice).  I’d probably rate it slightly above Castaway Cay in some respects.  Hotter for sure, but a great deal of shade.  The buffet picnic tables were placed nicely and did manage to catch a nice breeze.  One small drawback was the craft market.  You run the gauntlet walking by them, pushy sales attempts, but that wasn’t unexpected.  Just the constant sales chatter…  Easy to say “no, thank you” and keep walking.  Keep walking was the key, of course!

I LOVE sea days, so having the last two days at sea was nice, especially since it gave plenty to time for packing for disembarking.  Packing after Castaway Cay always seems rushed to me on DCL.  Disembarkation was a breeze back in Bayonne.  RCI vs. DCL is a toss-up to me.  At least at Bayonne, it’s seems well “metered” (don’t know about other RCI ports).  We had a 9:15-9:30 slot and were able to go to Windjammer for breakfast and leave our carry-off bags in the cabin.  I guess they announced our number about a half-hour earlier than estimated.  Stepped off the ship just after 8:45 and walked in our door at 11:00.  Baggage pick up was well handled in a large area with your debarkation group number largely displayed.  Grabbed a porter and told him our number and he had us breezing through Customs.  Took a bit longer in speaking with the officer in Bayonne than what we’ve had in Port Canaveral, asking us what we were declaring even though he had our declaration.  My guess is that he saw more than 2 one-liter bottles pass by him in our carry off luggage on the porter’s cart and wanted to see what we’d say.  Two liters from the ship and three from San Juan and thus not dutiable.  He smiled and waved us through.  The porter found us a relatively non-busy pick up area and I went to get the car. Given how hectic things were, it was very smooth and quick.  This was the part I dreaded the most about the trip and it couldn’t have gone better.

To go to your questions, it helped that we had cruised several times before, so in general we knew what to expect each step along the way.  The difference was in how DCL and RCI do things.  We started going to the Cruise Critic RCI discussion board well in advance and read the general interest postings and those specific to the Explorer to get a better handle on the RCI way of things.  Was glad we did since it gave us a large amount of information about the ship before we ever set foot on-board. We were able to become familiar with the various areas on the ship and what was offered and suggested.  By the time we were actually on-board nothing caught us by surprise.  That would be a recommendation for anyone not familiar with RCI.

We enjoyed the My Time Dining option very much, even though we obviously threw them a curve by not going MTD until the third night (Portofino the 1st night and avoidance of Formal Night on 2nd night).  “You’ve haven’t dined with us yet???”  Ended up with a great serving team.  Same team each night at two different tables, depending on which was open at the time we had.  I know people say it’s quicker in and out.  It could be, but we enjoyed dinner and the staff and ended up taking as much time as we’ve had on DCL with table mates.  We’ve always had good servers on DCL, but these two were excellent. We’d ask for their recommendations and if we dithered about what we ordered the second one appear.  Second plates of lobster arrived without asking if it was possible.  Sit down breakfasts and lunches were OK, nothing wonderful and somewhat limited choices.  Ala Carte salad at lunch was definitely the highlight of the lunches.  Johnny Rockets was a major disappointment.  We have one here in Philly that we’re used to so we’re familiar with the offerings and quality.  Service was poor (asking two different staff for more onion rings to be told they were cooking and then never receiving them even after new guests  were immediately served.  No cheery cokes available since they didn’t have cherry syrup (on the 2nd night of the cruise? Really??)  Windjammers was good for what it needs to be…all things to almost all people.  We enjoyed it when we ate there.

Coffee?  DCL’s Cove Café blows away anything on the Explorer.  Yes, there’s a Starbucks at regular Starbucks prices and didn’t appear to be a FULL menu, but it covered the more popular.  NO coffee card and I don’t believe the Starbucks rewards are added on the purchases.  Admittedly they’re not my favorite anyway.

Free coffee at the Promenade Café was Seattle’s Best.  OK, they’re owned by Starbucks, but was pretty good.  We’d rate it better than the coffee at the beverage stations on the Magic & Wonder.  Coffee at dinner, we’d say was even between DCL and RCI.  Even though we had a coffee maker in the Junior Suite, we didn’t really use it that much.  Did OK in an early morning pinch, but we didn’t go out of our way to use it.
DCL vs. RCI on crew members?  I’d have to call it even (excluding the Jonny Rockets gang).  Very friendly and accommodating.  We enjoyed chatting with our stateroom attendant each day.  He always seemed to be in our area whenever we were near the cabin.

Final RCI vs. DCL thoughts…some of which are no doubt influenced by the Magic/Wonder “classic” size vs. a larger RCI ship:

·         RCI definitely is a “later night” ship.  As Disney tends to be very quiet starting 11-12 ish at night, the Explorer kept up until 3 a.m. in some areas.
·         The Casino was something new for us on-board, not that were into gaming all that much, but the “penny slots” were fun, and seeing a guy hit the same number twice in a row on roulette with a large bet on it was definitely fun, then chatting with he and his wife on the elevator later…
·         Food – Dinners – pretty much even.  I liked Palo slightly over Portofino, Kathy called it pretty much even.
·         Food – Snacks – RCI over Disney.  Could be ship size since I don’t know how the Dream and Fantasy are laid out yet.  More options on Explorer and we liked the Promenade Café 24 hour ability.  Kathy mentioned a couple times about how nice it was not to have all the snack areas on the pool deck.
·         “Extra” costs – Disney over RCI.  RCI seems to nickel and dime you with anything out of the ordinary.  Yes, DCL costs more, but taking some of this into consideration the difference seem to lessen.  Not that we’re big soda drinkers, but DCL’s free vs. RCI extra charge builds up the costs if you are one.  Families sailing with kids I can see this being a $$ difference.  Again we’re not big wine/sprits drinkers enough to want to bring much on board to have in the cabin.  DCL lets you do it and RCI strictly prohibits.  Extra for “freshly squeezed” OJ, which we knew about ahead of time, but watching some people get “caught” into say yes, before knowing it was an extra charge….
·         Shows/Entertainment – DCL for shows, although the comic duo we had one night were great.  RCI probably had more diverse options, due to the number of different nightclub venues, but similar.

That’s my “short” capsule….  As  you probably/hopefully know by now, we “booked” an open-ended future cruise certificate with RCI and assigned it to you.  A nice feature to have instead of choosing a “fake” date in the future with DCL and changing it as needed.

RCI isn’t going to dislodge us from DCL, but they certainly are on par and will see us again!

If like David you are an experienced Disney cruiser who would like to try Royal Caribbean or another cruise line, contact us for a no obligation price quote.  We have a wealth of experience sailing on many different cruise lines and booking fun and rewarding cruises for our clients.