Disney vs. Royal Caribbean: Kids’ Activities Showdown
If you have followed any of our other posts you will know our family of 6 loves to cruise! We have sailed on both Disney and Royal.
Are you struggling to decide between the all out magic of Disney and the thrill of waterparks at Sea on Royal Caribbean?! Look no further we are here to help.
Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean both deliver epic onboard fun for kids, but their activities cater to different vibes—magical immersion vs. high-energy thrills. In this post we compare top on board activities for each cruise line to help you plan the best family vacation!
Kids Club
Both of these cruise lines offer fantastic complimentary kids club opportunities where your kids can be dropped off to enjoy kids only activities. Each has similar operating hours and both can be found using the cruise app during your sailing. For these activities children need to be over 3 years of age and toilet trained. For children younger they both offer a nursery though these are pay per session and not included in the cruise fare.
Disney: Oceaneer Club and Lab
Disney offers two very large spaces for kids to play in. The ages range from 3-10 on Disney and all ages are grouped together. Often times throughout the day they will make smaller groups with similar aged kids.
You can almost guarantee to run into some fun Disney Characters while in Disney’s Kids Club. As you can expect from Disney, both of these spaces are fully decked out with Disney fun.
Royal Caribbean: Adventure Ocean
Royal offers great kids clubs as well. Their Adventure Ocean programs are separated by age. Typically there is one group for 3-5 year olds, 6-8 and 9-12 years. Each group offers age appropriate activities for the specific age groups. Children over 10 can be registered to sign themselves out.
Both cruise lines offer complimentary care until 10 or 11pm, after that it is a paid service.
Fun Activities
Disney
Arcade: Use the cruise app to add funds for your children to battle in the arcade.
Character Meetings: Character sites are both a pro and con. These lines can be really long so you can end up spending a lot of time waiting- consider having one person stand in line for the longer waits.
Bibbity Bobbity Botique: As an added cost your little one can turn into a pirate or princess on the magical sailing.
Broadway Shows: Disney hits above the mark on their shows- they are incredible and hard to believe they preform them on a cruise!
Movies: The Disney Theatre offers movies all day and night long- its a great way to beat the heat or shelter from any rain.
Royal
Arcade: Buy arcade credits for your kids on the Royal App.
Rock Climbing/Zip Lining: Be sure to double check the age and weight requirements but this is a blast. Rock Climbing and ziplining while sailing in the middle of the ocean is pretty cool!
Skating/Laser Tag: Throw on a pair of skates or lace up your shoes for an intense game of laser tag.
Broadway Shows: Royal offers some great broadway shows and lots of fun game and comedy shows.
Diving Shows: This show is second to none! It is amazing. It is only on the Oasis class and above but it is not to miss and maybe try to even watch it twice!
Central Park: We love strolling through central park, it is beautiful and there are so many places to enjoy a cup of coffee and play a game of chess or checkers.
Pool Deck
If I asked my kids what is the most important amenity on a cruise ship it is the pool deck. Both lines offer multiple pools but both are also very different.
Disney
Disney has the famous Aqua duck which is a water coaster on the top level of the ship- it is a lot of fun. Though the wait times can be pretty long.
There is a smaller slide on the ship as well and a toddler area splash pad. There is a zero entry pool that is great for young swimmers. Lifeguards do clear the pool every 30 minutes or so. Be prepared for this if you haven’t experienced this because your little ones could end up crying. While they wait to get back in go and grab a yummy ice cream cone.
Royal
Royal hits it out of the park with their pool deck. Freedom classes and above all have little splash parks complete with slides, tipping buckets and sprayer- it will keep your child busy all day long. There are also larger slides to you can race down against mom and dad. The larger ships have massive waterparks on them- really you would never need to leave the ship.
Both cruise lines offer pools to keep you cooled off all day long. Both offer fantastic life guards keeping everyone safe. As an add
ed touch for the adults both cruise lines also offer an adults only area to enjoy some down time away from the kids while they are enjoying kids club.
Final Verdict
We hope this helps you to decide on which line you decide to sail with your family. If your children are younger and full into the magic of Disney then Disney cruise is for you. If you have older kids and teens then Royal is for you with non stop thrills for the whole family.
For more family travel tips and ideas be sure to check out our other posts at Blog – Together We Can Travel.
