Was it just this one ship / worth another try?

[Denise W]

We are likely going on this ship for a 4 night cruise in June with my daughters dance studio (she will get to dance on stage in the theater), but I am so nervous about it since we have only done Disney.

Why would you be nervous about it? RCL is a very good cruiseline.

 

[Coconut8473]

We are likely going on this ship for a 4 night cruise in June with my daughters dance studio (she will get to dance on stage in the theater), but I am so nervous about it since we have only done Disney.

Don't be nervous!!! My "complaints" didn't ruin our trip in the least! Was posting to see if it was an anomaly before rebooking another cruise with RCCL (and we will be doing so, just opting for unlimited dining and perhaps a longer cruise on Oasis class). Congrats to your daughter and her studio - that alone sounds like it will be the highlight of the trip! Have a blast!

 

[OKW Lover]

5. Spa upsell. I always get massages on trips and cruises and know there is ALWAYS an upsell at the end for the products, that it's par for the course. But my masseuse was a total ****** about it... after I politely declined two times, she asked me repeatedly and roughly "WHY NOT?!?!" It was really uncomfortable after spending $200+ (and tipping her).

I hate the spa upsell. Not just on RCL, but any of the other cruise lines. I refuse politely the first time they try it. I'm a bit more firm the second time. The third time I tell them their tip goes down because of the repeated attempts.

 

[tidefan]

Just got back from a 3 night on the Independence out of PC, our first cruise with RCCL. We are 2 adults and 2 DC (8 and 12), along with another family with kids (9 and 15). While my only other cruise experiences have been with DCL, I went in having read tons of reviews, and tempered my expectations accordingly (and knew not to compare to Disney!) I'll start off with the positive so this doesn't come off as a total rant - we really did have a good time overall as a family and with our friends, and the kids all had a blast! There were several things that I was a bit put off by, and keeping me from rebooking on RCCL, but was curious if it was something specific to an older ship like Independence or maybe the fact that we were on a 3 night over a holiday weekend. Or maybe things below are just a reflection of the bigger issues post-pandemic (supply chain, labor shortages, etc.)? Would love input!

1. Main Dining. I knew from copious reviews going it that the main dining food was nothing to write home about, but it was exceptionally bad, and the staff was also so rushed and frankly short/unpleasant to us, it made the whole dining experience 10x worse. Much of the food we recognized from Windjammer, just awkwardly plated, and ironically not as fresh as the stuff in the buffet.

2. Overall cleanliness/maintenance. Our stateroom attendant rocked, and our cabin was perfectly cleaned, so no complaints there. But the rest of the ship was often littered with tons of empty glasses, beer cans and trash... fingerprints on glass doors, etc... just felt sort of grimy.

3. Activities. The big selling features for my kids like the rock wall, water slide, flowrider, archery, etc. were rarely open anytime convenient (and we stayed on board in Nassau). Our 12yo and 15yo friend did try the Escape Room one afternoon, but were put in a group with some obnoxiously drunk adults who cut jokes the whole time and took over the experience.

4. Fitness classes. The gym was fantastic, tons of great equipment, and can't beat the treadmills overlooking the water! But when I'm on vacation, I'm usually really excited when resorts offer group fitness classes (yoga, pilates, etc.) - there was only one instructor for all of the classes, and while I'm not a licensed trainer myself, I do attend a lot of classes... and it was clear to me that this person was in no way trained or certified in group fitness. Yoga wasn't actual yoga (there was zero breathing or actual poses/asanas) - just some random wonky stretches, some of which he encouraged us to use dangerous improper form, like hyperextending our knees. It was... weird. On top of that, the mats were FILTHY and tattered. Holes in them and stank like dirty feet. NO WAY worth $20 (or any money at all, frankly)

5. Spa upsell. I always get massages on trips and cruises and know there is ALWAYS an upsell at the end for the products, that it's par for the course. But my masseuse was a total ****** about it... after I politely declined two times, she asked me repeatedly and roughly "WHY NOT?!?!" It was really uncomfortable after spending $200+ (and tipping her).

Anyway, if you read this far, in spite of the above I didn't post this to be just a rant for the sake of a rant... we honestly did have a good time overall in spite of these flaws. But before we think about rebooking, wanted to see if maybe the other ships have better experiences for the above?

I'm just not an RCCL fan. I've been on Serenade in the past, and this year have been on Oasis and Independence. I just don't care for them, but it's not really in comparison to DCL, it's more that we enjoy other lines better, for many reasons, mainly because we find the included food options to be superior on other lines.

Our current favorite is actually Virgin Voyages, but since you have kids, that one is out. What really surprised us is how much more we enjoyed Carnival Mardi Gras over Oasis (and sailed both within a few months of each other). We felt a lot more was included on Carnival. I'm not sure if I'd go there with their older ships, but we all loved Mardi Gras. And it has just as many activities for the kids as the Oasis class ships do (our DD liked the Ropes Course on Carnival better than any of the things on RCCL. We did not try the roller coaster, though...)

That said, our go-to cruise line outside of DCL is Princess. There are a lot of options out there (also including Celebrity and HAL). Try them all and see what you like best...

Everyone is different, that's why there are different lines... RCCL is great for it's demographic, it's just that that demographic isn't us...

 

[MouseOfCards]

Our first RCCL cruise was on a smaller ship traveling to Catalina island and then Mexico. Felt like there was nothing to do on the ship. Really made us wonder if we'd ever do RCCL again. Our next RCCL cruise was on a much larger Oasis class ship. Night and day difference. Never really felt crowded. Everyone in our party said their next cruise would be on the larger RCCL ships. Just so many activities available.

 

[DizneyNutz]

Our first RCCL cruise was on a smaller ship traveling to Catalina island and then Mexico. Felt like there was nothing to do on the ship. Really made us wonder if we'd ever do RCCL again. Our next RCCL cruise was on a much larger Oasis class ship. Night and day difference. Never really felt crowded. Everyone in our party said their next cruise would be on the larger RCCL ships. Just so many activities available.

We love the larger ships and cruised the Wonder Inaugural and now a group of us are booked on the Icon inaugural also. Happy Cruising

 

[ScooterScott44]

Our first RCCL cruise was on a smaller ship traveling to Catalina island and then Mexico. Felt like there was nothing to do on the ship. Really made us wonder if we'd ever do RCCL again. Our next RCCL cruise was on a much larger Oasis class ship. Night and day difference. Never really felt crowded. Everyone in our party said their next cruise would be on the larger RCCL ships. Just so many activities available.

It is interesting that the Navigator was "smaller" and had "really nothing to do".

While it is not as large as some of the newer ships, the Voyager Class that Navigator belongs to, took the title of Worlds Largest cruise ship in 1999 and held it for a few years. That class also saw the introduction of the skating rinks and climbing walls to cruising, and had additions of the Flo-rider. They also re-worked some of the other public areas with the introduction of the Royal Promenade and new places like Boleros, Vintages Wine Bar and Chops Grille, all of which have become features of many of the other ships in the fleet.

Navigator is also similar in size to DCL's Wish. She is only 99 feet short, but is ~32 feet wider, has a few more cabins and can carry more guest and they have a similar gross tonnage.

Just stating that the assessment might be somewhat subjective, since it really is a large ship and has quite a few similar features to the super large Oasis and Quantum Classes. Wondering if the assessment might have anything to do with the short 4 night sailing from the west coast as opposed to a longer 7 night in the Caribbean or if other factors could be influencing.

 

[peacefrogdog]

We (wife and I, without our kids) recently sailed Mariner (same class as Navigator) after having previously sailed Oasis, Quantum and Freedom class with our kids. We were not looking for the same acitivities as we would if traveling with our kids, but we loved the Mariner size class of ships. Seemed less crowded and busy, food was excellent. At no point did we feel,there was nothing to do on the ship. We also found the activities geared towards younger people like the flow rider were less busy than on larger ships. As people who also love the larger class ships, we are now debating whether to do more cruises on the Voyageur class ones like Navigator and Mariner. Haven’t yet tried smaller ones.

 

[MouseOfCards]

It is interesting that the Navigator was "smaller" and had "really nothing to do".

While it is not as large as some of the newer ships, the Voyager Class that Navigator belongs to, took the title of Worlds Largest cruise ship in 1999 and held it for a few years. That class also saw the introduction of the skating rinks and climbing walls to cruising, and had additions of the Flo-rider. They also re-worked some of the other public areas with the introduction of the Royal Promenade and new places like Boleros, Vintages Wine Bar and Chops Grille, all of which have become features of many of the other ships in the fleet.

Navigator is also similar in size to DCL's Wish. She is only 99 feet short, but is ~32 feet wider, has a few more cabins and can carry more guest and they have a similar gross tonnage.

Just stating that the assessment might be somewhat subjective, since it really is a large ship and has quite a few similar features to the super large Oasis and Quantum Classes. Wondering if the assessment might have anything to do with the short 4 night sailing from the west coast as opposed to a longer 7 night in the Caribbean or if other factors could be influencing.

The itinerary, Mexico, was definitely less interesting than Alaska.

 

[PrincessBelle39]

We've had also cruised Disney a few times before trying Royal. These are the only two cruiselines that we have cruised on and all our Royal cruises have been on Oasis Class ships (Oasis and Allure). We don't have any plans to go back to Disney after trying Royal. We found everything to be at least equal to Disney. We found the available activities to be superior to Disney. Our kids absolutely preferred Royal as there was more for them to do. We found no issues with cleanliness. Everything seemed to be spotless all of the time. Whilst the food in the Main Dining room wasn't amazing, it was definitely good, and I wouldn't have said it was anything less than Disney. For our next cruise we are booked on Quantum of the Seas from Brisbane. Disney have just recently announced that they are coming to Australia. Years ago I would have been excited, but we didn't bother to book. Instead we went for a cruise 3 times the duration for less than the cost of Disney.

 

[peacefrogdog]

The itinerary, Mexico, was definitely less interesting than Alaska.

So was it the itinerary that made you feel there was nothing to do? Or the ship itself (Navigator)? Or because you didn't want to get off at the ports, you ended up spending more time on the ship and 'exhausted' what it had to offer? Just curious because have never done Navigator and interested in hearing how it may compare to my experience on Mariner.

 

[DizneyNutz]

So was it the itinerary that made you feel there was nothing to do? Or the ship itself (Navigator)? Or because you didn't want to get off at the ports, you ended up spending more time on the ship and 'exhausted' what it had to offer? Just curious because have never done Navigator and interested in hearing how it may compare to my experience on Mariner.

It has been a few years now ( prior to Covid) but we liked both Navigator and Ovation. If you book go to Two70 on the back of the ship for breakfast early in the trip. We loved breakfast there over Windjammers. They have several bagels with different cream cheese options as well as some breakfast sandwiches and cereals. Happy Cruising

 

[BlueBayou]

We sailed on Liberty (OTS) - same class and Indy and Enchantment (OTS) prior to COVID. And DCL Wonder and Adventure OTS x2 post COVID. We are booked on DCL Magic next month and Radiance OTS in the spring.

I would say my least favorite ship design of those was Liberty. Still a good experience but it is almost like it gets some of the negatives of a larger ship, without a full complement of the positives. And the MDR was more hit and miss. Best food was Adventure.

Worst MDR service was DCL. They were super nice and trying. But they were not great at their job. This was right after shutdown and our assistant server was just 3 weeks on the job. So I don’t think our experience is representative. But we are talking silverware dropped on us multiple times when clearing the table, mixed up orders.

Best service and food in MDR was Adventure. Thought it was great on our first sailing. But is was even better our second. The second trip was a “girls” trip. After two days in a row of ordering a meat and cheese appetizer for the table to share, they gave us one when we sat down for the rest of the cruise - with added bread and olives to account for 3 people.

We are Disney fans. Our now college aged kids have only sailed on Liberty (High School aged) and DCL Wonder (college). They were not fans of Liberty. Loved the Wonder. Now that I have been on a couple RCCL cruises I felt were as good as our Disney cruise, I’m interested to see how the Magic goes next month. I’m on the fence as to whether DCL is worth the upcharge. We do trivia and the character drawings but don’t utilize the kids club area or the family pool.