We've done several Disney cruises and recently just finished a cruise on RC's Harmony of the Seas. My three kids are older now--youngest is 9--but they all slightly preferred RC at their current ages because of the greater range of activities offered by RC vs. Disney. For kids younger than 9, RC would be a fine choice but no one does that age group like Disney.

Anonymous wrote:Look at the square footage in royals rooms. Omg. Pony up the money and cruise with Disney.

We've only been on on one cruise so I can't compare, but we got the largest suite that Royal Caribbean would allow for 2 adults/1 child and that made the difference in our decision. The cost would have been the same for a tiny stateroom on Disney and I couldn't stand being in such tight quarters. It was nice to have a place for downtime or a nap without sitting on top of each other and our kid loved spending time on the balcony, looking at stars at night and watching all the action when we came into ports.

The kids club was meh. I think he liked the fun and games and staying up past normal bedtime, but all the activities were confined to a large room with small porthole windows. I think he would have been much happier if there were a dedicated space out on deck somewhere. But I was pleased with their safety protocols and he got a lot of attention from every single staffer.

I agree with Celebrity. They have fewer children, which means the kids on board get much more personal attention in their excellent Kids Club (if you are into that), more room in the pool, etc. My children loved our Alaska cruise at ages 7 and 4, so much so that we did a Caribbean cruise with them 6 months later. Note that on the Alaska cruise, they let kids go in what is usually the "adults only" indoor pool for two particular hours a day, which is nice, because the outside pools are of course unusable. Beautiful ships, too.

People will tell you that Celebrity is for a more "mature" clientele who don't want to be around kids, but we found that to not be true at all. Other passengers would go out of their way to say how nice it was to see our boys, how sweet they looked when dressed up for dinner, etc. The wait staff doted on them too.

All of this assumes that one's children are reasonably well behaved, though, and that they don't need a lot of action-oriented activities like water slides or mini golf. If you are lower-key in your vacation style, Celebrity is wonderful for kids.