NCL Haven vs DCL Balcony

[tomservo]

I'm doing this comparison because somehow they are around the same price. Which would you rather do? Is the DCL experience really worth that much, or Disney taking advantage of Disney fanatics to charge exorbitant prices? For a cabin for 4, Haven rooms and DCL balcony rooms start at around 900-1000 per day for a typical 7 day cruise (both go to as much as 2k per day as well). Thoughts?

[Diane123boys]

I have done both - In my opinion the NCL Haven experience is leap years over Disney Balcony - dont get me wrong I loved Disney - that was the first cruise line I went on - BUT if you dont have young kids it really isnt worth it .   It all depends on  what NCL ships you are looking at also - The larger ships have the "Haven" area and thats really nice but the smaller ships that dont have that you are still very pampered 

[ClarkBHM]

Yes, Disney is taking advantage of Disney fanatics to charge exorbitant prices. Wouldn't you?

[Pens fan]

We sailed on Disney several times when our son was younger, always in regular balcony cabins.  We loved each and every cruise, but now that our son is an adult and often doesn't even come with us, our last two cruises (and our next one) have been on NCL in suites.

 

Honestly, yes, you are paying for the Disney touch - the characters, the Disney shows, Disney themed dining experiences, etc.  We found service to be comparable on both lines and the food to be considerably better on NCL.  Disney's food isn't bad, but it definitely is aimed at families with small kids - pretty bland for our tastes.   Disney entertainment is better, quality wise, in my opinion, but it's also geared more towards children and the Disney obsessed.  

 

All that being said, I'm sure we will sail Disney again at some point.  But we are big Disney fans, so occasionally it's worth it for us.  The fact that we can sail in a suite on NCL for the same or less than a balcony on Disney makes it awfully hard to go back, though.

 

Edited to add:  Keep in mind there are no casinos on Disney, if that's important to you.  I also think that's at least part of the reason they are so expensive, as they miss out on that extra revenue.

Edited January 31, 2019 by Pens fan

[complawyer]

while we have never sailed on a disney cruise, we have taken over 15 with norwegian, the last 5 in the haven, I assure you, there is nothing to compare to the haven suites. My wife is so spoiled she wont go on a cruise unless I book a haven suite ( i dont blame her) Your butler always takes good care of you, and the concierge is worth the price of admission, if nothing else, at disembarkation, he can get you off the ship, and to your luggage within 10-15 minutes. By the way, we are currently booked for the 10/2019 transatlantic sailing on the getaway ( our 3rd time on this ship) it's a fantastic ship, and we are really looking forward to the 19 days. The intinerery is amazing. Cant wait to cruise down the seine river in paris. We are also going to renew our vows as its our 50th anniversary.  

 

Hope to see you on board

 

complawyer

[tomservo]

2 hours ago, complawyer said:

while we have never sailed on a disney cruise, we have taken over 15 with norwegian, the last 5 in the haven, I assure you, there is nothing to compare to the haven suites. My wife is so spoiled she wont go on a cruise unless I book a haven suite ( i dont blame her) Your butler always takes good care of you, and the concierge is worth the price of admission, if nothing else, at disembarkation, he can get you off the ship, and to your luggage within 10-15 minutes. By the way, we are currently booked for the 10/2019 transatlantic sailing on the getaway ( our 3rd time on this ship) it's a fantastic ship, and we are really looking forward to the 19 days. The intinerery is amazing. Cant wait to cruise down the seine river in paris. We are also going to renew our vows as its our 50th anniversary.  

 

Hope to see you on board

 

complawyer

Congrats on the anniversary! Have you done Star Class on a Quantum or Oasis Class RCCL ship? If so, how does it compare in your opinion?

[Mini&Me_Cruisers]

Hi Tomservo- you mentioned that there were 4 people in your party, but didn't specifically mention age range of children (i'm assuming two of your party are kids).  That might heavily influence your choice.  The very first cruise I went on was on Disney Dream with my daughter for her 3rd birthday.  We went the first week of December, which is actually one of the least expensive weeks  on DCL, but still higher than NCL balcony I think.  Not sure if it's similar price to haven room during that time period.  The ship was beautiful and Disney really goes out of their way to make things magical.  From the phone call from Mickey to the beautiful cruise packet, themed waiting area to board, and costumed staff, every detail seemed special.  Our favorite part of the trip was Castaway Cay.  It is far and away the best private island we've been to.  If I could go stay there for a week, I would do it in a heartbeat.  Balcony rooms on Disney are larger than balconies on NCL for sure.  The bathroom also has a small bathtub, which is important if you have younger kids.  Food, in general, was very good.  Main dining room food was definitely better than RCCL or NCL MDR, but I think there was only one specialty dining restaurant on DCL.  The staff onboard the Disney ship was top notch.  If your family really loves Disney, they will have a good time on a Disney cruise.

      We enjoyed DCL, but for us, it wasn't worth the extra cost.  There were a number of things we didn't really like.   First, the way their kids club is structured was not great for a young child without a sibling.  They don't have separate clubs for younger kids.  There are different themed spaces, some of which are geared more toward older or younger kids, but the club is one big space.  There isn't a staff member responsible for specific age groups either.  It was just too much for my daughter.  We much preferred the setup of RCCL's kids clubs.  We haven't taken my daughter on NCL, but I think NCL's clubs are pretty similar to RCCL, in that kids are divided by age into groups and there are planned activities for those groups.  Other things we did not love about disney included the character appearances.  They were truly awful.  They would bring a character out for about 15 minutes.  If your child wanted to meet the character you had to get in line 30-45 min ahead of time.  Some of them you actually had to get tickets to be able to attend.  My daughter did one and hated it as much as I did, so luckily I didn't spend a large portion of the cruise standing in line. For a Disney themed cruise, I felt like the characters should have been out and about much more often.  Dinners were also exhausting.  Despite the cruise being geared towards kids, dinner in the main dining room was a 2 hour affair every night, either at 5:15 or 8:30 (and you had to stick with one time).  Neither time was particularly convenient with a young child, but earlier was definitely better for us.  Unfortunately, they stuck us at a table with another family whose kids (3 & 5 I think) were terribly behaved.  My daughter certainly didn't have perfect manners at 3 years old, but these kids whined, cried, screamed, spit out food, were constantly up and down, and only ate crap (one of them only ate mac and cheese, chocolate milk and ice cream every night).  We gave up on eating in the MDR just to avoid sitting with them.  The pool area was pretty nice, but on sea days it was so crowded you literally couldn't move in the pool.  At one point it seemed very unsafe due to some older kids engaging in rough play despite the crowded pool, so we left.  The water slide had a 42 or 44 in height requirement, despite the fact that it was quite small and splashed down into a few inches of water.  My daughter was very disappointed that she couldn't use it.  The shows were amazing, but if you had early dinner, you had to go to late shows, which were too late for my 3 year old.  (However, they did broadcast them, so you could watch from your room)  All in all, I guess I expected the cruise to be more kid friendly, given that it was a Disney cruise.  There were also so many kids on the ship (as you might expect) that all the kids activities were super crowded and always involved waiting in long lines.  We actually had a much better time on RCCL, simply because there weren't as many kids. 

      As far as the haven, again, the age of your kids probably matters a lot.  Little kids aren't really going to get much out of the extras that the haven provides in my opinion.  Elementary school ages and up might enjoy having special treats brought to their rooms and might appreciate the excellent food.  if your family likes the type of shows offered on your sailing, having premium seats available whenever you'd like will be fantastic.  Priority embarkation, tenders, etc will also be very nice.  However, depending on which haven suite you pick, some are actually quite small and might seem crowded with 4 people.  I think Disney rooms tend to be larger than similar categories on other ships.  The bathroom arrangement is also better (water closet & sink in one bathroom, shower/bath and sink in other bathroom in balcony rooms).

 

[soonerdoc]

I'm a platinum level Disney cruiser, and have gold status on NCL, so I am pretty familiar (and a fan of) both lines.  In my opinion, the Haven experience on NCL beats anything that Disney has to offer.  That being said, if I had kids under the age of 12, I would strongly consider Disney, as I think their offerings for young children are tremendous.  

[Vyhanek]

A regular Disney balcony cabin compared to an NCL Haven suite?    There is no comparison at all.     NCL's Haven suites are the benchmark in cruising.