In this post, we want to talk about some of the differences we experienced between a Royal Caribbean (RC) cruise and our Disney Cruise Line (DCL) cruises. We’ll try to go through various categories, but in some cases, we can’t do an apples to apples comparison.
Stateroom
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Stateroom categories obviously vary, but we will compare our recent stateroom on Ovation of the Seas and a Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Veranda that we had on the Disney Fantasy. We felt that the RC veranda stateroom seemed slightly smaller than the average stateroom on DCL, mainly in the front entry area. The width was probably also slightly smaller. The bed in the RC stateroom was as comfortable as the one we always enjoy on DCL, in fact, we think it’s slightly bigger (possibly a king vs. queen). We actually ordered the DCL mattress from Sealy and have it at home.
Our kids are used to the DCL bunk beds, where the sofa converts to one bunk and the other pulls down from the ceiling. In our RC stateroom, the sofa pulled out to a double-sized sofa bed where they sleep side by side. Initially they weren’t too excited about this. After the first night, they were singing the praises of the RC bed. They both said it was much more comfortable than the hard DCL bunk beds. I would note that we have 17 and 15 year old girls, so younger kids and/or children of different genders might have different perceptions of personal space.
We liked the amount of storage in the RC stateroom. In addition to ample space under the bed, there are small nightstands on each side of the bed, flip-up cabinets over the headboard of the bed, and closets to either side of the bed (one side for hanging items and the other side with shelves and drawers in addition to a smaller section for hanging items). There is also a desk area with a lighted make up mirror and a dresser/cabinet with a fridge and several drawers for storage. With a seven-day cruise, we had a lot of stuff and had no issues organizing and storing it all.
Overall, although DCL might have larger staterooms, we felt like there was a bit more storage in the smaller RC stateroom.
Bathrooms
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The most significant difference between RC and DCL is that most Disney Cruise Line staterooms feature the split bathroom – essentially, two separate bathrooms, with one having a toilet and sink and the other a sink plus bathtub/shower (with curtain) combination. Our Royal Caribbean bathroom on Ovation of the Seas had a toilet, shower (that was glass enclosed), and sink in a single room.
Our bathroom on RC was small, but very well laid out. The shower featured two platforms (like soap racks) for shower accessories, as well as a two-pronged hook for hanging items. There was also a two-pronged hook directly outside the shower and two hooks on the back of the bathroom door. The bathroom had three shelves in the corner (4 drinking glasses sat on the bottom shelf) as well as a small amount of counter space on either side of the small square sink in the bathroom. There is additional storage space under the sink. Our RC bathroom featured a night light which activated when the other lights in the stateroom were off, which was nice for midnight bathroom visits.
The DCL bathroom is very nice because of the split design. Two people can get ready at the same time, which is especially important when there are four people sharing a room. The DCL bathroom also has lots of storage, both with various shelves, hooks and under the sink storage in both rooms. The shower room features a retractable clothesline in the tub which is a nice place to hang damp items such as bathing suits.
For families with younger kids, the availability of a bathtub on DCL is a nice touch. We missed having the split bathroom for the convenience of having two areas for people to get ready (change in privacy, brush teeth while someone else showers, etc.) – but overall, the RC bathroom is well designed for such a tight space.
Shopping
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If you are looking for jewelry, handbags, and upscale cosmetics, it’s fun to be on a RC ship and to browse Cartier, Kate Spade, etc. It was very interesting seeing all the deals they had in the atrium of the Royal Esplanade. People were going nuts, especially for RC-branded jackets prior to our Alaska ports of call. RC had some nice Alaska and Pacific Northwest-themed merchandise.
On a Disney ship, you are hard pressed to find anything that’s not Disney branded (except for a limited amount of upscale clothing, cosmetics, perfume, and things like toiletries). The larger ships have opened a Tiffany & Co. and the smaller ships have opened a smaller high end jewelry kiosk.
Overall, for shopping, Royal Caribbean definitely has more opportunity for shopping onboard the larger ships.
Entertainment
Ovation of the Seas had a huge amount of overall entertainment and activities on board the ship. The Seaplex itself offered multiple activities, including basketball, volleyball, roller skating, and bumper cars. Three are also ping pong tables, foosball tables, Xbox stations, and air hockey tables. The top decks of the ship offered multiple pools, rock climbing walls, a Flow Rider, Ripcord by iFly, and the North Star. There is also an escape room and various age-based kids clubs. There are multiple bars and music clubs spread throughout the ship, as well as a casino!
The Disney cruise ships have a baseketball court, mini-golf, sports simulators, foosball and ping pong tables. There are two small pools (and adult pool(s)) as well as various age-based kids clubs. There are multiple bars and clubs spread thought the ships as well.
On Ovation of the Seas, we tried the bumper cars, rock-climbing wall, and Ripcord by iFly. We went to several of the clubs and bars. We did not go to any of the major shows on board (Legs or Pixels) as they did not seem overly interesting, but one of our friends who went on a subsequent cruise on board the Ovation said the shows were great. One RC venue we really liked was the Music Hall – with a classic stage, dance floor, and lots of seating.
Another thing we found interesting was the timing of some of the adult entertainment on board the RC ship. There is a love and marriage type show on both cruise lines. DCL puts their couples-themed show in one of the adult clubs late at night. RC put theirs in the main theater in the middle of the day. RC also had a “sexiest man” contest in the middle of the day at the indoor pool. It was something that DCL never would have done. We didn’t find it to be grossly inappropriate for that time of day, just a bit towards the edge. DCL would never have a show like it on their cruise ships, let alone in the middle of the day.
On the DCL ships, we usually go to the main stage shows as we really like the Disney songs. The shows are top notch. We also definitely missed having Disney movies and programming onboard in the theater, on Funnel Vision, and in staterooms. We did find some older kids/teens programming on RC TV that was fun to watch (Doogie Houser and Malcolm in the Middle) but we didn’t have Mickey cartoons to stream 24/7.
We definitely were never bored on Ovation, but missed some of the familiarity of the Disney Cruises.
Food
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There are many food offerings onboard both cruise lines. We tried out the quick service options all over the Ovation of the Seas, including Sorrento’s, Fish and Ships, SeaDogs, Cafe 270, and Cafe Promenade. We ate in the main dining room and in the various specialty restaurants, including Jamie’s, Izumi’s, Wonderland, and Chops Grill. We found all of the food to be at least acceptable (e.g., Sea Dogs was OK, but not more than adequate). Most of it was good all the way to outstanding. We didn’t find a quick service place that had burgers or chicken sandwiches with the exception of the Windjammer buffet.
Disney cruise ships have pizza, burgers, wraps, and plenty of chicken tenders at their quick service locations. We found the quick service dinners to be somewhat better on the RC ship. We especially liked the pizza at Sorrento’s and visited there several times during our trip. The other quick service locations were equally good at providing standard type food. I think if you are a burgers/hot dog/nugget/fry family, then DCL might have the edge. If you want something different from that, RC might be for you.
In terms of buffets, we found the Disney buffet to be a bit less hectic at breakfast, with more crew members helping to clear tables and help you find seating. We definitely give the nod to RC for having better coffee than Disney though. Other than the Cove Cafe, I don’t find the coffee on Disney to be acceptable at all. Both cruise lines have premium (up charge) coffee choices available throughout the ship. In terms of lunch and dinner options at the buffet restaurants, it seemed like Windjammer on RC has more variety and options than Cabanas on DCL – although it did seem like Windjammer was also more crowded than the buffets on the Disney ships. One thing worth mentioning is that the Windjammer had absolutely delectable looking desserts at dinner. Unfortunately, the night we discovered this, we had specialty dining booked for dinner – so we didn’t get to try the pies and pastries that were so tempting.
While Disney does include soda in the price of their cruise fare, RC sells soda packages at acceptable rates. We believe that Disney’s soda fountains are located in much more convenient locations (the pool deck and the buffet) than the ones on the Ovation of the Seas, which are located on Deck 4 and in the main buffet. DCL has cups at their soda fountains, unlike RC where you need to bring your cup (included with your soda package) with you everywhere, which isn’t convenient at all. We do give the nod to RC for soda varieties, because they have Coke FreeStyle machines. RC also has water, iced tea, coffee, and lemonade throughout the ship, all of which are included with your cruise fare.
We found the main dining room offerings to be comparable. DCL offers rotational dining (where your wait staff follows you to each of the dining rooms on the ship), which is unique. We had specific servers assigned to us on RC, but we were assigned to a single dining room for the duration of the cruise. There are either one or two specialty restaurants on each of the DCL ships. We had mixed feelings about food quality in our family. Some in the party thought RC was better, some though it was the same. We found that RC has larger dining portions while DCL has a better presentation to the dishes. We did like the desserts on RC better than the ones on DCL – though it could be that after 12 cruises, we are burned out on DCL desserts.
For specialty dining, we think DCL probably has a lock on high end quality. That’s not to say that RC didn’t have great food, but it wasn’t quite as high end as DCL. We did like the number of specialty dining places on RC as it gave us something new to try versus the same two offerings we find on DCL.
Kids Clubs
Our girls are both teenagers, so we didn’t get a chance to compare the RC younger kids clubs. Having said that, we did go look at them while we were on the ship. I don’t believe our girls would have enjoyed the clubs. They aren’t nearly as visibly engaging or themed as well as the DCL clubs. We would have had a hard time getting them engaged in the RC clubs, where we had to practically drag them out of the DCL clubs.
Both of our girls did go to the teenage club on RC. The older one loved the club because she immediately found a group to hang out with. The younger one did not, but she said it was mainly a social issue. She has had the same difficulty in the pre-teen club on the DCL boats. My older daughter reported the teenage club was comparable to the Vibe on the DCL ships, but the facilities weren’t quite as nice. My younger daughter did say that the RC ship made up for the lack of club interaction because of all the activities that were available on the ship. She reported that she never got bored because there was always something to go do.
Service
Despite only going to the main dining room 2 nights out of 7 on RC, we liked our server team on Ovation and thought they were very attentive. Most (but not all) of the DCL server teams we have been paired with have been wonderful. All of the crew members we interacted with on Ovation were great, which is almost always the case on DCL as well.
The only negative I would note was the frequency of cleaning on the pool deck with RC. We noticed several times where dishes would sit on tables on the pool deck for longer than I would have expected. On DCL, those dishes disappear quickly, sometimes as soon as they are put down empty. It took noticeably longer on RCL for that to happen, primarily because there seemed to be less crew working on the pool deck. It wasn’t horrible, but noticeable.
Overall Vibe
Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas is a huge, modern, sleek cruise ship with glass everywhere. But it kind of reminded us all of an upscale shopping mall. The DCL ships have a sense of glamour but more wood than glass and metal, giving it a homier feel. The art throughout Ovation is very modern, with lots of abstract works, manipulated photos (think pandas and koalas dressed like people) – vs. Disney themed art everywhere you turn on DCL.
We walked through the casino just to see what it was like, but it’s not something you would see on a Disney ship. It didn’t detract from our enjoyment but it wasn’t a draw for us either as we aren’t into gambling.
The enclosed pool area was our favorite public space on the RC ship. It was warm even on glacier day and there was plenty of seating available. The windows provide great views of the scenery (unlike on DCL where it’s not easy to see out from the main pool deck). We did check out the Solarium, the adult area – which has a very nice pool and hot tubs, as well as tiered seating with lounges and sofas – but it was always more crowded and louder than the enclosed family pool area.
Price
The largest difference between the two cruise line has to be the price. Our cruise on Ovation of the Seas, including the soda package and the four night specialty dining package, came out to about $6,000. A similar cruise in August on board the Disney Wonder in a Verandah would have cost about $14,000. In fact, the Oceanview room cruise we took on the Disney Wonder more than six years ago cost about $6,800 at that time. To drive home the point, our week long cruise on Ovation of the Seas (verandah room) plus a seven night Southern Caribbean cruise on the Disney Wonder (oceanview room) cost us less than what an Oceanview cruise to Alaska on the Disney Wonder would have cost in summer 2019.
While we think DCL is a superior product, it isn’t worth two to three times the cost of the Royal Caribbean cruise we took. Everyone would like to take the best possible vacation, but we all have to balance out our priorities to maximize our vacation dollars. We won’t completely switch to Royal Caribbean in the future, but we will balance out our cruises to avoid paying peak DCL prices.
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page or our Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!