Cunard Line Queen Mary 2

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Vs Disney Dream

Overview

Cunard Line Queen Mary 2	Disney Cruise Line Disney Dream
Double Occupancy: 2592	Double Occupancy: 2500
Gross Tonnage: 151400	Gross Tonnage: 128000
17 decks	16 decks
CDC Score: 92	CDC Score: 100
Launched: 2004	Launched: 2010

The Disney Dream is a larger ship than the Queen Mary 2, with space for about 1,000 more passengers, and three more accessible passenger decks.

Both ships are great. You can have a really quality vacation with either, considering the food, entertainment, and room standards. That said, The Queen Mary 2 is a quieter, classier ship, where the Disney Dream brings to mind the phrase rabble-rousing.

The decks of the Dream are continually infested with children. The Quiet Cove area on the Dream tends to not be so quiet as a result. There is little you can do to get away from the armies of adolescents, until 9pm when most venues become adult-only. If you have your own batch of young ones, the Dream would be the perfect getaway, allowing your kids to make friends and stay occupied, while providing some evening alone time with the spouse.

There are kid’s lounges on the Queen Mary 2, one for toddlers and one for children aged 6 to 17-years-old. Though there are staff to keep groups separate and entertained, we do not think that a lounge with such a catch-all age group will satisfy families for an entire cruise.

There are unique entertainment opportunities on both ships. The Dream has the only fireworks display and the only water coaster currently on the sea. The Queen Mary 2 has the only floating planetarium and the largest sailing ballroom in the world. You can discern the difference between these ships given their focus on entertainment: The Dream goes for exciting, instant gratification, the Queen Mary 2 provides a more intellectual and enriching entertainment experience.

The food on both ships was excellent. The Dream, in the main restaurants, made some really delicious, if uncreative, meals. The two specialty restaurants, Remy and Palo, could compete with any other cruiser. The Queen Mary 2 had great food throughout the ship; in the main dining rooms and all of the smaller quick food venues. Some of the best food on the Queen Mary 2 was only accessible if you were staying in a Grills level stateroom.

You can’t go wrong with either ship, but it should be clear that the Dream is your choice if you need to entertain the kids, the Queen Mary 2 is where you go for a classically cultured voyage.