DCL gets out-Disneyed by the competition...again

[Gaston]

I've never gone on a cruise, but I would pick the Disney ships, just for their visual appeal. I hate those floating shopping carts the other companies have.

[Nftysqrt]

As much as I want to agree with you Goin2 I don't. I don't think we can compare this new ship to the Wonder or Magic. The ship is not even completed yet and Disney has yet to even come out with the plans for the two new ships.

Once Disney releases those plans and concept art then I think we can go back and compare. Those new ships are supposed to be the same size or slightly smaller then this one. And I'm sure Disney will do whatever they can to compete with this since this ship will already be sailing for about a year until the new ones will be ready.

[Gaston]

As much as I want to agree with you Goin2 I don't. I don't think we can compare this new ship to the Wonder or Magic. The ship is not even completed yet and Disney has yet to even come out with the plans for the two new ships.

Once Disney releases those plans and concept art then I think we can go back and compare. Those new ships are supposed to be the same size or slightly smaller then this one. And I'm sure Disney will do whatever they can to compete with this since this ship will already be sailing for about a year until the new ones will be ready.

I have to agree with you. I would never want to sail on a floating shopping mall. It's a ship! It should look like a ship.

[stevek]

This new ship is incredible, but it fits a different set of cruisers. More retirees and couples. Less on the family focus. I would much rather take my family on a Disney cruise, just because of this. This other boat would be nice if it was just the two of us.

Same here. As much as I love Disney, I'm not sure I'd want to pay the Disney "upcharge" if it was just my wife and I. We specifically booked the DC because of both our love for all things Disney and the fact we were bringing our two young daughters and were willing to pay more for the strong family environment. While I'm sure we'd enjoy a DC on our own, we'd most likely do something that is more oriented to adults versus families if we cruised without the girls.

[socalkdg]

One thing not mentioned so far about the upcharge is the room configurations. When you choose a room with the same square footage of a Disney cruise the price is very comparable with RCL or CCL(you must get a mini-suite to get equal square footage).

Standard RCL and CCL rooms are much smaller, while a Disney ship has seperate bathroom areas, curtained off sleeping areas for the kids and adults, etc, and run 35% bigger, thus the increase in cost. Disney knew the number one complaint about the rooms was size, thus they created larger rooms. The running joke by comedians on RCL and CCL was stepping in the toilet when getting out of bed.

[Goin2Disneyland]

Disney's staterooms are no longer larger than the industry standard. Royal's newer ships all have staterooms of comparable square footage to what the Magic and Wonder have. It was very smart of DCL to build larger staterooms, and now the industry has followed suit.

Older ships of any line, however, can have staterooms smaller than DCL.

[Gaston]

Disney's staterooms are no longer larger than the industry standard. Royal's newer ships all have staterooms of comparable square footage to what the Magic and Wonder have. It was very smart of DCL to build larger staterooms, and now the industry has followed suit.

Older ships of any line, however, can have staterooms smaller than DCL.

I have to seriously wonder why any sane person would care about the size of the stateroom, when they have an entire ship to explore. Unless they stay in the stateroom the entire cruise.
Only a boring person would spend any amount of time in a stateroom, other than sleeping, perhaps breakfast, and getting ready for a full day of vacation fun.

[Goin2Disneyland]

You know G, I used to agree with you. My first Royal cruise was one of their older ships. The room was tiny, but it didn't matter...we were hardly in it beyond being passed out on the bed.

However, on our 7 night Disney cruise, we spent WAY too much time in our spacious (by comparison) stateroom. The activities for adults were so sparse and for the most part unappealing that we were either at the pool or in the room. And you can't stay at the pool all day when its sunny. You'll bake. Two days of our cruise were quite stormy and rough...no pool time. Good thing the room TV had some good free movie channels...a towel folding seminar or the twelfth art auction of the week held no appeal.

[figment1986]

the DCL rooms were nice.. esp on some days when you've been on the ship for 10 days that and it was a balcony so who wants to be up on deck to see the canal when you could be on your own balcony...

but normal cruises i don't know, depends on the activities and such.

[disneycharacter]

I don't know if Disney is supposed to be the excellence standard when it comes to cruising. I would hand that expectation to Cunard. I personally find the Disney ships to be a step above the bar when it comes to design. They are gorgeous and striking and definitely stand out among others. I don't think Disney is in the business with the goal of having the biggest and flashiest offerings like Royal Caribbean seems to be. I personally think their success is in part attributed to the sort of "limited" offerings they have had for the past 11 years making it more exclusive and special. It is not spread as thin as Royal Caribbean or Princess or Carnival (yuck!). I went to the Mediterranean with Disney in 2007 and would choose to do another Disney cruise in a heartbeat mainly because of the ships themselves.

Would that stop me from wanting to take a trip on Oasis of the Seas? No. That is one ship I would love to see. But for the rest of their classes, they are more or less that same floating milk cartons. And that goes for Princess, RC, and Carnival. Plus it never made sense to me as to why Royal Caribbean is so dedicated to out-doing itself. Everytime it builds these revolutionary cruise ships, it makes its own cruise ships obsolete. They made the Explorer class obsolete with the Freedom class and they are making the Freedom class obsolete with this Oasis class. It almost as if they are competing with themselves.