In this post, we’ll be comparing Royal Caribbean to Disney Cruise Line and talking about some of the similarities and differences.
As lifelong Disney travelers (and travel agents specializing in Disney vacations), we have taken a lot of Disney cruises over the years. In fact, it’s our favorite way to vacation! I have been on 15 Disney cruises, while Josh has been on 22. Even as adults without kids, we have loved sailing with Disney Cruise Line as a couple, or with friends and family. We actually met onboard a Disney Cruise, and we love it so much we had a Disney Cruise wedding too. We had all that cruise experience, but had never tried sailing with another cruise line. When the opportunity came up (through our job) for us to sail with Royal Caribbean, we knew we had to try it! Here’s what it was like for avid Disney cruisers to go on our first Royal Caribbean cruise!
Our FIRST Royal Caribbean Cruise
Our Royal Caribbean cruise was a 7-night sailing aboard the Harmony of the Seas. The Harmony of the Seas is an Oasis class ship, and one of the biggest ships in the world! We sailed out of Port Canaveral to the Eastern Caribbean. Our cruise sailed to St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s famous private island.
Harmony of the Seas
Royal Caribbean has the biggest cruise ships in the world. Harmony of the Seas is not quite the biggest (the biggest is the brand new Wonder of the Seas) but it is VERY big! Being so large, it has space for a lot of unique things you won’t find on any other ship. You’ll find unique things like an ice skating rink, an AquaTheater, a Zip Line and more! The ships has its own Central Park and a Boardwalk. Both these areas are open area (Central Park from Deck 8 up, and the Boardwalk from Deck 6 up) so the ship has a unique shape to it with its big open sections in the middle. Despite the size, we found we got used to it very quickly and were easily navigating it by the second day.
Comparing our Royal Caribbean to Disney Cruise Line
Since posting about our Royal Caribbean cruise on TikTok and Instagram, we have gotten a LOT of questions asking how it compares to our Disney Cruise experiences. It felt impossible to fit our thoughts into a short TikTok video, or even the caption of an Instagram post, so we thought a blog post was the best way to share our answer.
The short answer is that for us personally, we found the two cruise lines to offer very different experiences. While there are similarities, each cruise line will offer something different. Both offer an experience that will appeal to different types of people! Or, they may even appeal to the same person at different times, depending on what you’re looking for on a particular vacation. Even though we may prefer one over the other, it doesn’t mean we wouldn’t ever sail with the other again.
And for the long answer….
Royal Caribbean Compared to Disney Cruise Line: Similarities & Differences
When comparing two different cruise lines, we’re going to start with the similarities. Obviously, they are both cruises! On all cruise ships, you’ll experience the amazing feelings of being at sea and the incredible ocean views. They both offer an experience that combines your hotel, entertainment, dining and more, all in one vessel. On both cruise lines, you can also expect to be enjoying a lot of really delicious food!
Another similarity is that they both offer the opportunity to sail to multiple destinations while only unpacking once. They sail to many of the same regions, and will visit the same ports on similar itineraries. For example, if you are comparing a Western Caribbean cruise between the two, the ports/itineraries will likely be similar.
Now, onto what you’re really interested in – the differences. If you’re torn between the two, hopefully these comparisons will help you in making your decision!
Dining
As I mentioned, both cruise lines offer a lot of really delicious food. No matter the cruise line you choose, be prepared to EAT! It’s hard to choose which cruise line was better because we felt they each had different strengths.
Buffet
Our favorite place to eat on the Harmony of the Seas was the buffet, Windjammers. This was where we really felt that Royal Caribbean had the edge over Disney. We both agreed Windjammers really impressed us (much more so than Cabanas on the DCL ships)! Windjammers had a superb variety of offerings, and the food was always hot and fresh. We really loved it and ended up eating there almost every day! We also loved that they had a themed dinner night each evening like Chinese, Indian and Caribbean night.
Main Dining
Alternatively, when it came to the Main Dining Room on RCCL, it couldn’t compare to the main dining on Disney Cruise Line. We had a pretty negative overall experience in the Main Dining Room on the Harmony (more on that later), but the food was still very good. Disney has amazing rotational dining, while on Royal Caribbean you are eating in the same Main Dining Room each night. The restaurant is also much less themed. About half the menu was the same each night, while the other half changed out daily. The menu selection we found to be less ‘fine dining’ than Disney’s main dining. They had some casual options on the menu like spaghetti or fish & chips, which are just less ‘fancy’ than we expected. There were also certain premium entrees that cost extra. Overall though, almost everything we had was delicious!
Specialty Restaurants
On Disney, the main dinners feel like a key part of the cruise experience. On Royal, we felt like the Main Dining Room is very similar each night to encourage you to pay extra for the specialty restaurants. The specialty restaurants onboard cost extra and there are a lot to choose from. We were trying to keep costs down, so we only ate at one – Jamie’s Italian. The food at Jamie’s was very good and we enjoyed it! We didn’t love that you have to pay extra for so many of the restaurants, though.
Disney Cruise Line has specialty restaurants too, but it’s only 1-2 per ship and they are adult-only dining. Those restaurants (Palo and Remy) feel like optional experiences to us – definitely not a must-do because the main restaurants are so fantastic. But on Royal Caribbean, the specialty restaurants feel more like a common thing and you should expect to pay more for those or feel like you are missing out.
Casual Dining
For quick service/grab-and-go meal options, we found both fairly equal. Both offer a variety of casual dining options. There are definitely quick options on both cruise lines that we liked and others that we liked less. One thing we really liked on the Harmony was Sorrento’s pizza, which was open until 1:00 AM and was delicious! One that we didn’t care for was the Boardwalk Dog House; for a place that only has hot dogs, we thought the hot dogs would be better. Overall though, there was a lot to try and for the most part was great!
Room Service
Finally, room service! We only got room service once on the Harmony of the Seas because there is an extra fee. While the food is free, there is an $8 fee per order plus a service charge and gratuity. However, the food was very good quality! The salmon and cheesecake I had were really delicious. The room service food quality was better than Disney Cruise Line, however Disney’s is free. On Disney we usually get room service most nights – but on Royal the fee deterred us from doing that.
As you can see, it’s a trade-off because both cruise lines did better in certain areas. Overall though, they do both have great food so your taste buds will definitely be happy on either one!
Entertainment
For entertainment, we didn’t go in with the highest expectations because we are used to the phenomenal entertainment on DCL. Disney is an entertainment company first, and a cruise line second. They are an entertainment company with a cruise ship, while Royal Caribbean is a cruise line with entertainment. We’ve heard that before, and found it to be an accurate assessment about the quality of the shows. That doesn’t mean the shows were bad, and there was definitely a good variety, but for us overall it just wasn’t up to the level we have experienced with Disney.
Unique Shows
One of Royal Caribbean’s biggest assets is the unique variety of entertainment. They had shows in both the ice skating rink and the AquaTheater in addition to the Royal Theater and smaller venues around the ship. We really enjoyed the ice skating show (iSkate)! If you’re sailing on the Harmony of the Seas, that is definitely a must-do. In the AquaTheater, they we’re running a show called Big Daddy’s Hideaway Heist. The stunts involved in the show were great and the performers were very talented. However, we found the actual plot of the story very strange and hard to follow. We would have honestly preferred if the cast just came out and did cool tricks, rather than try to work it into this storyline.
Royal Theater
In the main theater, they had different shows throughout the cruise. One thing we didn’t like is that you have to make reservations in advance. On Disney Cruise Line, we are used to having our set show time and no reservations needed, so that was an adjustment for us. We went to 3 different shows – Grease, a comedian and a game show called Love and Marriage (adults only). The other main performance was a Journey cover band, which we didn’t go to see.
Grease
Grease was the musical aboard the ship. It was shown 3 times (one afternoon, one evening and one late night) throughout the cruise. It was well done, the performers were talented and the production quality was good. Our biggest complaint was with the show itself – it was not family-friendly in the slightest. While the movie Grease is already not very kid-friendly, this show was far beyond that and much more vulgar than we expected, especially for a family cruise line. I wouldn’t recommend this show for teenagers, let alone kids, due to the crude and sexual nature (note: we aren’t parents, this is just our opinion). For a family cruise line, we wish they had a show that was more designed for the entire family or at least toned it down a bit to it was more suitable for all audiences.
Love and Marriage
Love and Marriage was the piece of entertainment that most surpassed our expectations. If you’ve sailed with Disney, you are probably familiar with Match Your Mate. Love and Marriage was the exact same concept – a couple’s game show like the Newlywed Game. This adult-only show was hosted by the cruise director in the Royal Theater and was super fun. It was very funny, the host was great and the couples who participated were hilarious. We also loved that they had a Kiss Cam in the theater while waiting for the show to start! This is a must-do for adults on Royal Caribbean.
Variety Show (Comedian)
The comedian we saw did Action Comedy like juggling and unicycling! He did some very cool tricks like juggling machetes, climbing a free-standing ladder and doing some very cool unicycle stunts. While it wasn’t the best cruise ship performer we’ve ever seen, it was definitely not the worst either. This was pretty on par with the quality of performances we would expect to find on a Disney cruise. We enjoyed it and were glad we went to see it.
Disney Characters
A key component of Disney Cruise Line’s entertainment that you won’t find on RCCL is of course the characters. We enjoy seeing the characters around the ship, but we aren’t super into meeting them like some people are. If you are a big Disney fan and especially if you have kids with you who are really into characters, this may be something you would really enjoy about a Disney cruise.
Live Music
One area they also did very well was the live music. They had so much live music happening around the ship! Musicians were playing in a lot of venues and doing all kinds of different genres. While Disney Cruise Line has live music around the ship too, I feel it’s rare to see people really dancing and enjoying it like we saw on the Harmony.
Activities
Unique Activities
In terms of activities, there’s no comparison when it comes to the sheer amount of unique activities onboard Royal Caribbean! Ice skating, rock climbing, casino, a zip line, a Bionic Bar, the Ultimate Abyss (giant slide), the FlowRider – there were just so many unique things to do. We were able to try some of them during our trip and it’s cool to be able to say we’ve been zip lining on a ship! The closest Disney Cruise Line has to that would be the water coasters and mini golf on some of the ships, it’s nowhere close to the amount that Royal Caribbean has. The sports facilities on the Harmony of the Seas were also numerous and we constantly saw people using them.
Scheduled Activities (like Trivia)
Both Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise Line also offer activities like trivia and crafts that happen throughout the day. For these types of activities, we’d say Disney offers more variety and more of a mix of adult-only and family friendly offerings. We only went to one trivia session on the Harmony (we saw Disney trivia scheduled and knew we had to go)! It’s hard to compare the quality of a trivia session, but bear with me. Just in simple things like the paper and pencils provided, the way the trivia was run and the seemingly random photos on the powerpoint of questions (unrelated to each particular question), we would say the production quality was lower.
Pool Areas
We didn’t attend as many activities on Royal Caribbean because we spent most of our time enjoying the hot tubs and relaxing in day beds. The sheer number of hot tubs onboard was so impressive for us! We really enjoyed that. While Disney Cruises have a great adult-only pool area, we always have felt the lack of enough hot tubs was a major downside. On the Harmony, we also loved the Solarium area. A beautiful relaxing space (for guests 16+) with tons of lounge chairs and day beds. That was definitely a win for us! In terms of pools, the Harmony’s were definitely bigger but of course it’s a much larger ship with many more people. I would think the guest to pool ratio was fairly similar. I do wish they had an adult-only pool but overall, the pool areas were really great!
Stateroom
We really loved our stateroom on the Harmony! The staterooms on Disney ships are a bit more homey, while our room on the Harmony was very modern and stylish. We really appreciated the color scheme and the theming of the room. When we first walked in, we were SO impressed by our room. It definitely exceeded our expectations in terms of the design.
Our room had beds that could be arranged as two twins or as one Royal King (double). I believe our particular room could only sleep 2. For families, I believe rooms that can sleep 4 are available with the exact same layout, but the sofa pulls out to make additional sleeping space. Some Royal Caribbean ships/rooms have pullman beds that come down from the ceiling over the main beds, so it can really vary depending on your ship and room type. The Disney ships have more similar layout across the board, with a queen bed (a true queen, it can’t convert to twins; we find this way more comfortable) and a sofa that converts into a single-size bed. In additional, the vast majority of DCL rooms have another single size bed that pulls down from the ceiling over the sofa, forming bunk beds. Kids seem to love the bunk beds and it’s a very functional design for families.
Size
In regard to the size, the staterooms on Disney Cruise Line are larger than the our room was (we had a regular Oceanview stateroom). A regular Oceanview stateroom on the Disney Fantasy is 204 square feet, while on the Harmony of the Seas it’s 179 square feet. With the layout, the main area of the room didn’t feel that much smaller than we are used to on Disney ships. When you walk into most Disney staterooms, the first part is narrow with closets and the split bathroom. When we walked into our room on the Harmony, it was right into the main area, so it felt more open.
Bathroom
Unlike Disney’s split bathroom layout, our bathroom was a more traditional layout with a toilet, shower and sink. As you would expect from a cruise ship, the bathroom is quite small. Overall, it was functional enough for the two of us and the design was nice. It had shelves for storage which helped make up for the lack of counter space. With a family sharing the room, I think I would miss DCL’s split bath design more but with just the 2 of us it was fine. The water pressure in the shower could have been better, but it wasn’t too bad. I take long showers, which did cause the bathroom floor to flood on two different days but I don’t think most people would have that happen.
A few additional notes about the stateroom:
- We found the bed was not comfortable; both our backs were getting sore by the end of the week.
- The big TV in front of the bed was really nice, but we didn’t end up using it because the movies cost about $12 each for on-demand.
- One thing we liked was that the desk could be moved very easily. When we got room service or late night pizza, we could slide the desk to the sofa and use it to eat!
- The amenities could definitely use some improvement. There was one pump in the shower that had a hair/body wash combo, and bars of soap. There was no lotion and no conditioner. For most of us with long hair, a soap/shampoo combo is not enough, and I can’t imagine how tangled it would be without conditioner! Luckily, I had heard about this before and brought my own shampoo and conditioner.
Service
Cruise ships are known for having fantastic service, so our expectations were high. Overall, we had very good service from the vast majority of the crew we interacted with on our Royal Caribbean cruise. Disney is also known for having amazing service, so I think on Disney Cruise Line you get the combination of both stellar Disney service and stellar cruise ship service for the best overall.
While overall service on Royal was good, I did allude earlier to a very negative experience we had during our cruise. After getting a terrible table location and bad service in the Main Dining Room, we asked to be moved to a new table. We talked to someone and thought everything would be fine. However, when we arrived the next night they put us back at the same table again even after we told the hostess that we had talked to a manager already about moving.
Nobody wanted to help us and they kept passing us off to someone else. There ended up being at least 4 crew members involved who all acted like they were too busy to help us. It literally felt like nobody cared at all that we were unhappy, and like we were an inconvenience to them. We were polite the whole time and maybe that was why they didn’t take our request seriously; but the entire thing was SO awkward and uncomfortable. Even though they eventually moved us, after that experience we both agreed there was NO WAY we were going back to the Main Dining Room again, so we ate in the buffet the rest of the cruise.
Just a fluke?
That one negative experience really put a damper on things for us and impacted our enjoyment of the cruise. I truly hope that it was just a rare fluke and that the vast majority of guests would not experience something like that. It’s hard to give a fair judgement on that when this is the only Royal Caribbean cruise we’ve been on. From friends and clients who have sailed Royal, we haven’t heard of bad experiences like this. But, compared to a Disney Cruise Line cruise – I’ve been on 15 and never had an experience anywhere even close to this. It’s rare for us to have problems because we are very easy going, but I have not felt so disregarded before and that nobody cared and everyone was too busy to help us.
We try not to let that one experience damper our view of the service for the whole cruise. We interacted with a lot of really wonderful crew members, especially in the buffet. They definitely wouldn’t deserve us giving a bad rating of Royal’s service overall. But, we can’t say we had wonderful service the whole time when we also had such a negative experience, and we always want to be honest with you on here.
“What’s Included?” on Royal Caribbean vs Disney Cruise Line
It’s important to remember that these two cruise lines do typically come at different price points, with Royal Caribbean being less expensive than Disney Cruise Line. Many travelers choose Royal Caribbean over Disney for that reason alone. That will definitely reflect in the amount of things that are included on each. Overall, Disney Cruise Line includes a lot more things. For us personally, we like for things to feel more all-inclusive and not feel like we are being nickel-and-dimed. For others, they don’t care about paying as they go for things, especially if the final total still may come out less than a Disney cruise would.
Optional Extras
There are things that are not included on Disney Cruise Line as well. However, we feel like on Disney we could easily go the whole cruise without paying for those extra items as they all feel ‘optional’ for us. On our Royal Caribbean cruise, we felt more like we were missing out if we didn’t pay for some of the extras. I touched on that when discussing the Main Dining Room. On Disney, the specialty restaurants are an optional extra (just for adults) which don’t feel necessary because the main dinners are so spectacular. On Royal, the Main Dining Room is less themed and much more repetitive, making the specialty restaurants feel more like a must-do.
Here are a few things that cost extra on our Royal Caribbean cruise that we wished were included:
- Chat feature on the Royal Caribbean app ($2 per person per day)
- On-demand movies on our stateroom tv (about $12 per movie)
- Soda (beverage packages available)
- Room Service ($8 fee per order, plus service fee/gratuity)
Beverages
Another example of this is the beverages onboard. On Disney Cruise Line, alcoholic and specialty drinks (like smoothies or specialty coffees) are extra. Soda is included though, both at the 24-hour soda fountains and in the restaurants (not at bars though). Juice is also included in the restaurants as well.
On Royal Caribbean, they offer soda packages at about $9 per person per day. I don’t drink soda, so I mostly drank water with the occasional lemonade (which was free in the restaurants). Josh likes soda but didn’t think he would drink enough to make the soda package worthwhile ($63 + gratuity is a lot of soda). He decided not to get it, but then ended up not even buying any soda throughout the cruise. They also offer beverage packages that include specialty drinks (like smoothies or specialty coffees) for about $30 pp/pd, or an alcohol package that was about $90 pp/pd. All the beverage packages also have an automatic gratuity added as well.
Guests wishing that Disney Cruise Line had an alcohol package option will likely be happy to know that Royal Caribbean offers that! Disney Cruise Line of course has alcohol available for purchase, but they do not offer unlimited drink packages. This helps them keep more of a family-friendly environment. For those who want to drink more while on vacation (enough to get good value out of the $90 per person/per day alcohol package), Royal Caribbean will likely be more your speed.
Wi-Fi
Neither Royal Caribbean or Disney Cruise Line includes Wi-Fi in the cost of the cruise. If you want Wi-Fi to share your vacation photos or (like us) typically have to work while you travel, Royal Caribbean has the superior Wi-Fi option. On Disney Cruise Line, they offer internet packages by the megabyte or by the minute. With slower internet speeds at sea, that goes quick! On Royal Caribbean though, their VOOM internet is available for a set daily price and worked perfectly for us the entire cruise. We wish DCL offered an internet service like that!
Comparing Royal Caribbean’s Private Island to Disney Cruise Line’s Private Island
It’s honestly hard to compare the private islands we’ve visited because they are so different. Castaway Cay (Disney’s private island) is designed to seem as though you have stumbled across a lost paradise. For this reason, it’s not very built up. Perfect Day at CocoCay, the Royal Caribbean private island we visited, is almost the opposite. It’s very built up with unique and exciting adventures to experience! A water park, zip lining, a hot air balloon, over the water bungalows (in addition to cabanas and daybeds to rent)…. the list goes on. For those wanting a day of thrills, CocoCay offers things no other private island does!
Similar to how we felt on the ship, it seemed that in order to get the full experience on CocoCay you should consider opting to pay extra. On Perfect Day at CocoCay, guests can choose chill or thrill. The thrilling activities like the water park, zip line and hot air balloon ride cost extra, each was about $100 per person on our cruise. If you’re planning to go that route, be sure to factor in the costs for your planned activities. The ‘chill’ option is more easily done for free; though there are options for guests to pay extra to have access to the Coco Beach Club. Guests can chill at the Oasis Pool or one of the beaches for free, though; that’s what we did.
Perfect Day at CocoCay: Our Experience
Our day at CocoCay was extremely windy, which unfortunately caused some issues. Many of the activities were cancelled or unavailable, like the zip line, hot air balloon, kayaking, and swimming with the pigs excursion. We spend the first part of our day exploring the island, just walking around and taking it all in. We basically did a loop of the entire island seeing all the unique things and taking photos and videos!
Once we arrived back where we started, we went to find a beach chair to relax in. Due to the wind, the first beach we went to, Chill Island, had sand blowing up so much (getting in our eyes) that we decided to go to a different beach. Of course, the wind is not something Royal Caribbean can control! We walked to Harbor Beach, which was completely full; not an open chair in sight. We then walked to the Oasis Pool; again, not an open seat anywhere. We walked to South Beach, and again found it completely full. After all this walking, we decided to grab some food from the Snack Shack.
As we ate, we eyed the beach chairs and just after we finished eating, we finally saw one open up. We instantly snagged it so we could lay out and relax. However, after a few minutes there, we figured with the island so busy there were probably a lot more open chairs on the ship. So, we just decided to go back.
Crowd Levels
If we had known how busy it would be, we definitely would have been sure to go EARLY and stake out a spot. For how crowded it was, it likely would also be worth it for a lot of people to rent a cabana or daybed (or an over-the-water bungalow if you wanna be fancy!). For comparison of crowds, there were two ships at CocoCay on our day, one large (ours) and one smaller ship. Our ship was sailing a little over 50% capacity, but I’m not sure about the other ship. So, the crowding wasn’t because there were two ships since it’s very common to have two ships there, and we weren’t even at full capacity!
Private Island Food
The food situation on the island felt very similar to the ship. There were some complimentary options, but there were also other options that cost extra. We partook in the complimentary option, one of the Snack Shacks. We had chicken sandwiches, fries, mozzarella sticks and funnel cake. Everything was pretty good, we especially liked the mozzarella sticks and the funnel cake. For comparison, all the food on Castaway Cay is included.
Conclusion: Comparing Royal Caribbean to Disney Cruise Line
As you can probably surmise from the things we highlighted in this post, there were definitely some things we really liked about Royal Caribbean but also some things we didn’t like. On Royal Caribbean, we especially loved the buffet, the Solarium/day beds, the hot tubs and the Wi-Fi! For the entertainment (overall), the main dining, attention to detail and the level of service, we prefer a Disney cruise.
For our own personal travel style, we both feel that Disney Cruise Line is still our preferred choice. It’s been our favorite way to vacation for years now, and that hasn’t changed. However, we still had a great time on Royal Caribbean! We can definitely see that there would be circumstances where we might choose Royal Caribbean for a particular vacation over a Disney cruise. For example, a trip with young adult friends who maybe aren’t as big Disney fans.
Though we may have a personal preference for DCL, we also know people who have a personal preference for Royal Caribbean! There definitely isn’t a wrong choice, only differences! Some things will work better for certain people than others. We hope this post helps you compare the differences and make a more educated decision on which one may be best for you. If you’ve sailed on either of these cruise lines, let us know your experience and which one you prefer!
