HELP! Allure of the Seas vs Anthem of the Seas vs Disney Magic!

[Rubeng724]

Our family is having trouble deciding between these three cruise options:

 

Option 1: Allure of the Seas

Date: December 2016

Departure Port: Fort Lauderdale, FL

Ports:

- Cozumel, Mexico

- Falmouth, Jamaica

- Labadee, Haiti

Pros:

- World's largest cruise ship!

- Labadee, Haiti

- 21 hour drive (don't worry, we're used to it!)

 

Option 2: Anthem of the Seas

Date: December 2016

Departure Port: Cape Liberty, NJ

Ports:

- Orlando, Florida

- CocoCay (Little Stirrup Cay, Bahamas)

- Nassau, Bahamas

Pros:

- World's most advanced and innovative ship! (Or at least I've heard)

- Onboard activities are a bit better than Allure's (Rip Cord, Northstar, and Seaplex beat Zipline, Ice Skating, and Boardwalk IMO)

Cons:

- 28 hour drive (7 more hours than the other options, but I think we can handle it!)

- Cold weather.. BUT I've heard this won't be a problem on the Anthem since it was specifically made for cold weather (hence, more indoor spaces, such as Two70 and Seaplex). Is this true?

 

Option 3: Disney Magic

Date: December 2016

Departure Port: Miami, Florida

Ship: Disney Magic

Ports:

- Tortola, BVI

- St Thomas, USVI

- Castaway Cay

Pros:

- 21 hour drive (Again, I don't mind!)

- Disney ship!

- Castaway Cay

- More "inclusive" (i.e. free soda and free 24 hour room service)

Cons:

- Less activities on board (Or at least for our age; 2 teens, 4 adults in their early 20's, and 2 adults) BUT we're ALL BIG Disney fans! (Been to Disney World approx. 10 times)

 

A little more details:

- If we cruise on the ALLURE or the MAGIC, we would stay in an OCEANVIEW cabin. If we cruise on the ANTHEM, we would stay in a BALCONY. All prices are more or less the same. We would obviously prefer a balcony, but would be satisfied with an oceanview.

- Our first family cruise was 2 years ago aboard the Navigator of the Seas; we had a BLAST!

- The MOST important factor for a cruise vacation is the SHIP. The itinerary is also important, but if a port is boring, we definitely wouldn't mind spending another "day at sea".

 

Also, which cruise line (Royal Caribbean or Disney Cruise Line) has better food? Service? I'm guessing Disney Cruise Line, but please correct me if I'm wrong!

 

So, which option would you recommend? Thanks in advance!

 

P.S. I also posted this on the Royal Caribbean Forum.

[Ex techie]

With your family dynamic of 2 teens, 4 adults in their early 20's, and 2 adults, I'm going to have to say Anthem or Allure.

 

That is unless your kids are happy just hanging out and one water drop slide, and probably no space to use a pool.

 

I've read the service on Anthem is still a bit hit or miss and glowing reports from Allure.

The service on the Magic is usually great, but in years gone past other lines have stepped up to match the higher level reported that DCL offered.

 

Food is too open to subjection to comment on, but on Oasis and Allure you have more options for dining outside of the MDR's, and also with your teens if you wish to as a family, where as on DCL the other options are 18+.

 

If it were a Fantasy cruise, I would say probably a tie with Allure and Fantasy.

 

From your info posted, I think Anthem would be the right fit for your family.

 

ex techie

[moki'smommy]

Service on DCL is great, food had really gone downhill in recent years. We've recently found better food on two other lines.

 

If you are dealing with active, adventurous type teens, the other ships offer more.

 

I love the Magic, but I'm not sure it is the right ship for your teens.

[LuCruise]

Since you are posting on the Disney Board yu you will probably get a lot voting for Magic. Maybe ask specific questions in Royal section. But how old are your kids? If younger, then Magic may be a better option. If say 8 or older, then Allure may be better option. We chose Allure for our kids 6.5 and almost 11 as both Royal and Fantasy looked amazing, but big price difference.

 

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[LuCruise]

PS _ just noticed that you did state you have 2 teens so personally I'd select Allure as its a great ship for teens and entire family. And it's a nicer itinerary than Anthem (unless you want to combine a few days at Disney)

 

Sent from my ONE E1005 using Tapatalk

[Ex techie]

Since you are posting on the Disney Board yu you will probably get a lot voting for Magic. Maybe ask specific questions in Royal section. But how old are your kids? If younger, then Magic may be a better option. If say 8 or older, then Allure may be better option. We chose Allure for our kids 6.5 and almost 11 as both Royal and Fantasy looked amazing, but big price difference.

 

Sent from my ONE E1005 using Tapatalk

 

The OP has said 2 teens, 4 adults in their early 20's, and 2 adults.

Probably tapatalk not showing post clearly.

 

Edit, you've seen it!

 

ex techie

Edited January 2, 2016 by Ex techie

[azkcruizers]

I was on the Allure in January and the Anthem for Thanksgiving. They are both beautiful ships but we preferred the Allure. The food and service on the Anthem were a real miss. We were not fans of dynamic dining at all and probably wouldn't sail on the Anthem again because of it. The kids enjoyed the Ripcord and we all liked the North Star but those are two activities that don't take up too much time. I wouldn't base my decision just on those. I haven't sailed Disney, trying the Dream next week! Good luck!

[LuCruise]

I'll add too that I would think that you teens would enjoy the shows on Allure/Anthem more than Disney shows. Disney shows are top notch, but they are geared to kids. Royal has full Broadway show, Aqua shows on Allure, and other things that may interest them more. (but depends on your kids). They also have a sports pool and pools in general will be bigger along with zipline, flowrider. But if your kids love waterslides, you won't find that on Allure or Anthem (only on the new Harmony and Liberty)

[Rubeng724]

Thank you all for the help! I think we'll be sticking to either the Anthem or the Allure! The Disney Magic looks fun, but I'm not so sure our family would enjoy it as much as the Allure or the Anthem due to our ages. We'll stick to Disney for the theme parks ;).

I was leaning towards the Anthem before, but now I'm not so sure! The Allure looks awesome too! Is the food and service really that much better on the Allure? I know Dynamic Dining on the Quantum was a huge fail for some (I know I would HATE it), so if I went on the Anthem, I would choose Dynamic Classic.

[azkcruizers]

We have sailed on the Oasis, Allure, Vision, and the Anthem in the last couple of years and we all felt the quality of the food and selection was not as good on the Anthem. We chose the classic dining, but even with a reservation at times there was still a wait in line. Once inside service was hit or miss. We often waited for water refills and besides not thinking there was a great selection on the menus, the food was just not very good to us. We did Jamie's and much preferred Giovanni's on the other ships.

 

Weather at that time is always iffy out of NJ that time of year......we did miss Cococay which left us just with Port Canaveral and Nassau.

 

The other thing I noticed on the Anthem was how crowded it seemed. It didn't seem as crowded on the Allure or the Oasis.

[N41EF]

I'll throw a fourth option, Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston. It's been upgraded to the newer technology from Allure. A heck of a lot closer, cheaper, and it's a great ship.

 

I don't think any line has free room service 24 hours, I believe they all have a delivery surcharge after midnight.

 

Disney has free soda, but for $8 per day you can get soda on RCL.

[GatorMomInNC]

I'll throw a fourth option, Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston. It's been upgraded to the newer technology from Allure. A heck of a lot closer, cheaper, and it's a great ship.

 

I don't think any line has free room service 24 hours, I believe they all have a delivery surcharge after midnight.

 

Disney has free soda, but for $8 per day you can get soda on RCL.

 

Disney has free room service (on most items, there are a few things that are an extra charepge) 24/7 but for the last night of the cruise, when they shut down at 3am

 

Of the ships you ask about, I have only sailed on the Magic, so sorry, no input here. I will say I am not sure I personally would like a "mega-ship" like Anthem or Allure -- I prefer smaller ships.

[e2011]

Allure would be my choice. Anthem is a great ship but I don't do cold weather.

[TheGaDawgFan]

I wouldn't let a $4 room service surcharge from 12-5 AM (or close to that be a deciding factor. Even if you ordered during that time every night, it wouldn't be a huge amount.

[Club Disney Chandler]

My 2 teens love DCL but we do tons of activities together, bingo, trivia, and other misc things hosted by the activities staff. Also, if you're really into Christmas nobody does it better than Disney.

[moki'smommy]

I'll throw a fourth option, Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston. It's been upgraded to the newer technology from Allure. A heck of a lot closer, cheaper, and it's a great ship.

 

I don't think any line has free room service 24 hours, I believe they all have a delivery surcharge after midnight.

 

Disney has free soda, but for $8 per day you can get soda on RCL.

 

You are wrong about room service. DCL has free room service 24/7 except during the muster drill and on the last night of the cruise. If you order alcohol, boxed candies, or canned soda there is a charge, but for normal items, no charge ever.

 

Princess has room service at no charge 24/7 with the exception that there is a $3 charge for pizza. The explanation was that teens were ordering whole pizzas, eating one slice and wasting the rest. The charge stopped that. For $8 on Princess, you can get "soda and more" which includes mocktails, milkshakes (on ships that have an ice cream location), premium hot chocolate, etc. in addition to soda.