Jumping ship from Royal Caribbean

I have always loved Royal Caribbean as my favourite cruise line to sail with, but have been swayed by other companies due to where they sail to and from.

The only cruise where the ship was the choice, was Anthem of the Seas when she first started and sailed from Southampton. Loved that ship so much that went back on her before she left for the States.

This year's cruise, we choose to go with Fred Olsen. A bit of an old ship but as we wanted to do Greenland, she is doing the best ports of call in our timeframe. Also, we booked a Terrace Balcony Suite, which is a new class we haven't tried and gave us some lovely extras with loads of space.

So when booking for next year (Summer 2019), for our budget, we were looking at either Freedom of the Seas or Independence of the Seas, in a Junior Suite. Having done a Junior Suite on Grandeur last year, this is a comfortable grade we can afford and are happy with, except the pointless Silver Sea Pass that no one cares about and gives you nothing but Royal say's it gives you special recognition, which it doesn't.

We visited a Grand Suite on Grandeur to see if the extra money would be worth it. And turns out, the DW didn't like the waste of the bar area, that we didn't have a reason to use.

Then when Marella announced their summer bookings we saw the lovely Legend of the Seas, now DIscovery 2 doing the Meditteranean. What we weren't expecting was the difference in price.

An Owners Suite (Executive on Marella) was nearly half the price of RCI, we had to book it. This price also included drinks, tips and flights. Only things not included is excursions, spa treatments or speciality restaurants.

This cabin grade was always out of our budget and we love the style of Royal ships and Britishness of Thomson/TUI/Marella.

This comparison also includes Royal's sale of 2nd Guest 60% off and $500 OBC.

The only thing that will draw me back to Royal would be to have an Oasis or Anthem Class ship from Southampton, and I don't get hooked on the larger suites.

Anyone else "not loyal to royal" anymore?

I think you are the last one. What will Royal do now!

I'm still very loyal to RCI (25+ cruises)...but Celebrity offered an amazing itinerary I'm sailing on next month.

Ireland, Iceland & Scotland. Very excited to finally give X a try.

We've been loyal to Royal and Celebrity with a few Disney Cruise Line trips thrown in for quite a while now. But, we're trying HAL again after 14 years for a Thanksgiving cruise later this year and it we're looking forward to it.

We have been loyal to royal for about 25 cruises (3 last year) but we do not have any booked for this year. We are doing a Trans Atlantic on Celebrity and have a cruise booked on NCL in the fall. Time to try something different.

Admittedly, I have not been on nearly as many cruises as those on the boards here but they all have been on Royal up until this past fall. Some cruising friends asked us to try Carnival so we went with low expectations. We were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed ourselves. Though we will continue to look to Royal for the bulk of our cruises, we would consider other lines if the itinerary and price was right.

I am loyal to my family and our budget. If it means trying a different cruise line, we are open to it.

I am loyal to my family and our budget. If it means trying a different cruise line, we are open to it.

Same!

3 out of my last 4 cruises in the past 6 months, have been on MSC

6 future cruises booked on RCI.

I'm open to MSC and their way of doing things, but it does have to be one of their newest ships (which are magnificent).

I wouldn't do it. You could get severely injured. Always board safely and never leap over to another ship even if very close.

Best cruising decision we ever made was to be loyal to no line. We would have missed out on so much sticking with only one.

I say go for it! I truly don’t understand why anyone is loyal to one cruise line. We love them all!! This year I have Royal booked, Carnival, and MSC....which we are very excited about.

All of my cruises have been on Royal, and Anthem was my first choice for my upcoming cruise to Bermuda. Then I looked and NCL had an extra night in port, was less expensive...

In the end, DW's work schedule meant the extra night wouldn't work, so RCI it is...but if we had an extra night, I really think we would've given NCL a shot.

I am happy you decided to jump ship. I have enjoyed my cruises more since I diversified and tried Royal and MSC instead of sticking to Carnival, and now I realize I am much more in favour of MSC. Trying other lines is good, it shows you what you really value and really don't, and it allows you to see some never-before destinations.

Fred Olsen and Marella are two lines I would love to try sometime soon. Not being British makes it somewhat hard, but I hope to do it soon! Enjoy your upcoming cruises, hope to see you back on RCI sometime soon! :)

We've done 22 cruises on Celebrity, 6 on RCL, and 16 on the other lines. We are disenchanted with Celebrity and have booked a B2B on the Allure in October. We found an excellent deal on a Grand Suite and decided to give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, we're done cruising. We refuse to settle for the current product being offered at any price. We don't mind paying a premium price for a premium price but not for a so-so product, in our opinion.

Well I have only take one cruise and that was Carnival Sunshine out of Charleston SC last May/June. My second will be in a year and 4 days on HOTS.

Overall I enjoyed my time on Sunshine. My main gripe with Carnival is the 15 drink limit. It is one of my hesitations for booking another Carnival.

Looking forward to experiencing RCI's HOTS. We have a group of about 28 or so going on that cruise.

I wouldn't do it. You could get severely injured. Always board safely and never leap over to another ship even if very close.

I appreciated that one.

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I was loyal to Royal for 2 cruises. Then, it was out of my hands when my family wanted to book a Carnival cruise. I was hesitant but we ended up having a great time and found things with Carnival that we liked more than Royal. Since then I haven't been loyal to any particular cruise line. I look for deals, interesting ports, etc. and go with whatever line works.

I have to say I have never been super loyal to any one cruise line. Though my most sailed has been Carnival. I really choose the cruise more based on ship and price more than anything else. We can't afford suites, so often we do an inside cabin or maybe a balcony, all depending on price. Each line has different things I enjoyed with each and we have found we have a good time on them all. In order to cruise more often I go by price and we aren't terribly picky. My husband will have his first Royal cruise in October on the Allure. Will really be interesting to see how those ships compare to all the other lines we have sailed on.

Best cruising decision we ever made was to be loyal to no line. We would have missed out on so much sticking with only one.

I couldn't agree more. I simply don't understand why people insist on sailing exclusively on one line. Personally, I would rather try something new and have it not live up to my expectations than to never try something new and possibly miss out on a great experience.

I usually sail alone. So if other lines would let me pay only 150% and have access to a CL, then I would jump in a heartbeat.

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I couldn't agree more. I simply don't understand why people insist on sailing exclusively on one line. Personally, I would rather try something new and have it not live up to my expectations than to never try something new and possibly miss out on a great experience.

Perhaps it's just the familiarity some of us have with RCI . We very much wanted to like PCL as it would mean sailing out of San Pedro a short drive away and not having to fly to get to RCI...However once onboard the Sapphire Princess and despite having a great mini-suite cabin location, I just couldn't put my finger on what it was, but something just felt off.

So for us...glad we tried...but the grass definitely wasn't greener.

I usually sail alone. So if other lines would let me pay only 150% and have access to a CL, then I would jump in a heartbeat.

 

 

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Worth checking out otherlines, as some dont charge that much as a single supplement.

Marella are one, single supplement was £37 per day.

I am loyal to my family and our budget. If it means trying a different cruise line, we are open to it.

Ditto.

I rotate between RCI, NCL, and Carnival. I like all of them and find the cruise that fits my needs. I do not get bored and love trying the new ships.