We need your help please!

Hey everyone!

So my wife and I want to go on our Transatlantic cruise soon. We are both 30 years old and enjoy a nice blend of solid entertainment and luxury. We are kids at heart, so we do enjoy activities as much as we do relaxing.

We have the options of sailing on the following ships:

Royal Caribbean:

Freedom of the Seas

Navigator of the Seas

NCL:

Norwegian Epic

Celebrity:

Eclipse

Silhouette

Reflection

Princess:

Regal

We have done research and watched videos of each ship, but we would like your opinion. What do you think has the best balance of quality, less crowded, decent staterooms, good entertainment, lots of activities, and overall wow factor. What would be the best ship to start off with?

Please remember it is a Repositioning/TA cruise, so we will have many consecutive sea days.

Thanks in advance!

From what you've said about yourself Royal.

What sort of cabin do you want? NCL has the BEST suite perks. Carnival has the best standard cabins. Celebrity has nice food...

What is important to YOU?

They are "overall" similar, but all will sail full..and all have activities, and a "wow" factor, depending on what "wows" you.

Hey everyone!

 

 

 

So my wife and I want to go on our Transatlantic cruise soon. We are both 30 years old and enjoy a nice blend of solid entertainment and luxury. We are kids at heart, so we do enjoy activities as much as we do relaxing.

 

 

 

We have the options of sailing on the following ships:

 

 

 

Royal Caribbean:

 

 

 

Freedom of the Seas

 

Navigator of the Seas

 

 

 

NCL:

 

Norwegian Epic

 

 

 

Celebrity:

 

Eclipse

 

Silhouette

 

Reflection

 

 

 

Princess:

 

Regal

 

 

 

We have done research and watched videos of each ship, but we would like your opinion. What do you think has the best balance of quality, less crowded, decent staterooms, good entertainment, lots of activities, and overall wow factor. What would be the best ship to start off with?

 

 

 

Please remember it is a Repositioning/TA cruise, so we will have many consecutive sea days.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance!

In all honesty, if you really mean "luxury" and "wow factor," you may want to look at the premium/luxury cruise lines. Hard to tell what "luxury" means to you without details or comparisons.

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With you stated ages, I would not choose Celebrity, although they would be my favorite. if you want 'luxury' you will need to sail in a suite, and I understand NCL has the best amenities in the Haven suites. EM

We sailed Royal for our first cruise and I think that would be a good choice for you. Tons of entertainment activities and they don't nickel and dime you to death like NCL is for our upcoming cruise. We had trouble narrowing down our choices to what we wanted to do on sea days!

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Appreciate the answers. Our idea of luxury would be a celebrity cruise ship, we definitely don't need (or are able to afford) ultra luxury. We will be getting an inside stateroom, so we wanted to see which lines had the nicest/most spacious staterooms.

I am starting to think that the Freedom of the Seas seems like a good choice for a first transatlantic, looks like it has many things to do.

I do however love the design and layout of the celebrity ships, and they seem to have the best spas. They also seem less crowded.

The Norwegian Getaway looks fun as well, but that one starts at $1,400 per person.

Decisions, decisions...

NCL's spas (especially on Epic and newer ships) are considerably better than the spas on Celebrity ships. They have dry sauna, sanarium, aromatherapy steam room, water circuit, hot tub, whirlpool, heated tile loungers, rain showers. If you pick Epic, I would suggest you actually consider getting 2 adjoining Studio cabins - this way you get extra space, and 2 bathrooms but even better, there is the Studio Lounge and concierge - all this very inexpensively! You can buy the spa pass online prior to sailing or alternatively purchase a Spa inside cabin which comes with 2 spa passes.

The Regal Princess also has a lovely spa and it is darker and more quiet but does not have as many amenities as the thermal suite on NCL Epic.

The Celebrity ships have a "spa pool" which just amounts to an indoor pool and a spa snack bar that anyone on the ship can go to. It's nothing like what is on Epic or Regal Princess.

I agree that the Celebrity ships are less crowded. The food in the MDR is generally better than NCL's but only slightly better than Princess' MDR. NCL is more about dining in a different restaurant every night - some of which cost extra. On Celebrity and Princess, there are specialty restaurants, but not as big of a thing as on NCL where even in the MDR you are seated with your own party - not at a group table with strangers ever. Some prefer the traditional style of dining so that they can meet people and make friends with them. Others prefer to dine with only their own party at all times like on NCL.

NCL's spas (especially on Epic and newer ships) are considerably better than the spas on Celebrity ships. They have dry sauna, sanarium, aromatherapy steam room, water circuit, hot tub, whirlpool, heated tile loungers, rain showers. If you pick Epic, I would suggest you actually consider getting 2 adjoining Studio cabins - this way you get extra space, and 2 bathrooms but even better, there is the Studio Lounge and concierge - all this very inexpensively! You can buy the spa pass online prior to sailing or alternatively purchase a Spa inside cabin which comes with 2 spa passes.

 

The Regal Princess also has a lovely spa and it is darker and more quiet but does not have as many amenities as the thermal suite on NCL Epic.

 

The Celebrity ships have a "spa pool" which just amounts to an indoor pool and a spa snack bar that anyone on the ship can go to. It's nothing like what is on Epic or Regal Princess.

 

I agree that the Celebrity ships are less crowded. The food in the MDR is generally better than NCL's but only slightly better than Princess' MDR. NCL is more about dining in a different restaurant every night - some of which cost extra. On Celebrity and Princess, there are specialty restaurants, but not as big of a thing as on NCL where even in the MDR you are seated with your own party - not at a group table with strangers ever. Some prefer the traditional style of dining so that they can meet people and make friends with them. Others prefer to dine with only their own party at all times like on NCL.

Solid info, thanks.

NCL's spas (especially on Epic and newer ships) are considerably better than the spas on Celebrity ships. They have dry sauna, sanarium, aromatherapy steam room, water circuit, hot tub, whirlpool, heated tile loungers, rain showers. If you pick Epic, I would suggest you actually consider getting 2 adjoining Studio cabins - this way you get extra space, and 2 bathrooms but even better, there is the Studio Lounge and concierge - all this very inexpensively! You can buy the spa pass online prior to sailing or alternatively purchase a Spa inside cabin which comes with 2 spa passes.

 

The Regal Princess also has a lovely spa and it is darker and more quiet but does not have as many amenities as the thermal suite on NCL Epic.

 

The Celebrity ships have a "spa pool" which just amounts to an indoor pool and a spa snack bar that anyone on the ship can go to. It's nothing like what is on Epic or Regal Princess.

 

I agree that the Celebrity ships are less crowded. The food in the MDR is generally better than NCL's but only slightly better than Princess' MDR. NCL is more about dining in a different restaurant every night - some of which cost extra. On Celebrity and Princess, there are specialty restaurants, but not as big of a thing as on NCL where even in the MDR you are seated with your own party - not at a group table with strangers ever. Some prefer the traditional style of dining so that they can meet people and make friends with them. Others prefer to dine with only their own party at all times like on NCL.

Solid info, thanks! What is your opinion on Freedom of the Seas?