Favorite Cruise Line

[SuJoy]

Hello to All.... I am booking another cruise and would like some feed back on your favorite cruise line and why? Thanks to All

[paul929207]

Princess - Most of all for the itineraries. We also like the food, service and staff.

[Cruzaholic41]

Hello to All.... I am booking another cruise and would like some feed back on your favorite cruise line and why? Thanks to All

 

For awesome ships - Royal Caribbean.

 

For unmatched service - Celebrity.

[pokey's mom]

Our favorite is Princess. They seem to be the mst port intensive. We are not beach people so a private island day for us is a waste of time. We also think that we get the best bang for our buck. We have sailed with Celebrity which was very nice and Norweigian not so very nice. Whatever you decide, enjoy your cruise.

[wwinfl91]

I will list three as recommendations. Princess has already been mentioned as has RCL. The one I will add is HAL which is the line we have cruised on the most times. The clientel will be older but the whole cruise experience with them is a little more refined than my other two recommendations.

 

All three offer about the same level of food in the main dining room and on the buffets. All three have speciality extra charge restaurants that provide excellent service and food.

 

HAL has larger standard cabins and bathrooms.

 

I agree that RCL has larger and showier ships that offer lots and lots to do. Their newer ships are almost destinations in and of themselves. You can enjoy a vacation on them even if you don't go ashore.

 

Princess has a wide variety of sizes of ships. We love the smaller ships, like the Tahitian Princess and the Island Princess over the bigger ones like the Caribbean Princess.

 

I don't think you can go too wrong sailing on any of these three lines.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[STARFISH*4]

right now its NCL...just because they have offered me the BEST deals on my last 6 cruises and because I LOVE FREESTYLE!!

whenever non-cruisers ask me about my experiences with the lines i tell them if you WANT to be CATERED TO:

CELEBRITY

if you WANT lots of stuff to do on the ship:

ROYAL CARIBBEAN

if you WANT a PARTY SHIP:

CARNIVAL

in my future cruising i hope to be able to SAIL the others~~

whichever you PICK...ENJOY!!!

[trixietx]

It's RCCL for us!

[eetonaee]

Not to be 'snarky' but why not just ask everyone what their favorite color is?

 

Many people on these boards cheer for their cruise line of choice just like others do for their favorite sports team. In other words their cruise line can do no wrong.

 

When someone comes on to say that Carnival has a party ship reputation, someone else will argue that they saw just as many 80 year olds on their ship as they would on Holland America.

 

Some people think Celebrity is a premium line while others will say their ships are just like the other mass market ships.

 

The good news is that Cruise Critic has an extensive review board that lets you see specific reviews on the ship and itinerary you are considering.

 

To paraphrase an old joke - a man was marooned on a deserted island for 10 years and was finally spotted and rescued. While getting ready to take him off the island the rescuers noted that he was in the process of building two boats. They asked him why he was bothering to build two boats instead of concentrating his efforts on just one.

 

That's easy he said - before I was marooned I used to be a member of Cruise Critic.

 

The boat on the right is my favorite - the one on the left I wouldn't sail on if you paid me!

[Andee]

Oceania is our favorite; we like the size of the ships, the excellent service, the lack of big production number type shows, all open seating dining, no formal nights; no extra charge specialty restaurants, very few (if any) children, port intensive itineraries, Tourist Office reps who get on at every port.

[operafan]

For awesome ships - Royal Caribbean.

 

For unmatched service - Celebrity.

 

I totally agree. We had always taken Celebrity (X) in Europe until we got a great deal on RCCL for our Canary Islands cruise. While the service on X is more formal and refined, the service on RCCL was very good and they had more to do. We love both lines.

[G'ma]

My favorite is the one that offers the best price for a solo traveler in a balcony.

 

Fortunately, that has always been Carnival.....which I enjoy immensely. Great food, good entertainment, NO "for-fee" venues (except a specialty coffee/pastry concession) dazzling ships, largest cabins.

 

I'm a happy cruiser......with 67 Carnival cruises under my belt over 30 years......Wah-hoo!

[Cruzaholic41]

Fortunately' date=' that has always been Carnival.....which I enjoy immensely. Great food, good entertainment, [i']NO "for-fee" venues[/i] (except a specialty coffee/pastry concession) dazzling ships, largest cabins.

 

What about Supper Club?

[printingchick]

Oh, SuJoy...you will get so many different responses.

 

I'd recommend looking for articles on-line which discuss the personalities of the different cruise lines. That helped me to choose the first time.

 

For example:

 

Carnival ("The Fun Ships") specifically market themselves to a young party crowd. The decor is loud - what you might think of as Vegas-style. They appeal to a 20-30 something crowd, as well as to young families. (They have great kids' programs and terrific water slides at the pool!) They have activities like the Hairy Chest contest, Belly-Flop contest and ice-sculpting demonstration.

 

Royal Caribbean markets itself to a young, active crowd. They offer many opportunities for "ACTIVE" activities with the rock-climbing wall, in-line skating rink, ice skating, H2O-zone and full-sized basketball court. There are events like the crew versus passenger dodge ball or water volleyball competitions. RCCL's decor is a bit more sophisticated. They still offer FUN activities, similar to Carnival, such as the Sexy Legs contest and Belly Flop contest, as well as a great passenger-participation event called "Quest."

 

Norwegian Cruise Lines markets themselves to "Freestyle" cruisers. Passengers plan their own dining times and dress codes and, from what I understand, there are fewer planned activities. I've never cruised with NCL.

 

Celebrity markets itself as the cruise line for people who want to be treated like rich celebrities. They used to have a series of TV ads touting their superior service and passenger-focused staff. It's more upscale with very sophiticated decor and, I understand, excellent food. Celebrity tends to draw an older, more affluent passenger base.

 

Princess is to Carnival what Celebrity is to Royal Caribbean. Just as Royal Caribbean is more upscale than Carnival, Celebrity is more upscale than Princess, putting princess somewhere between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity (in my opinion). Again, the line generally draws an older, more affluent cruiser, but would also draw a significant number of younger passengers and families.

 

I don't know very much about Holland America. Can't help with that one.

 

As always, "labels" can be misleading and a cruise is really what you make of it. There are so many different things to do and see and each passenger gravitates toward his or her preferences. You and I could take the exact same cruise and walk away having had entirely different experiences. However, I really believe it helps to look at how each cruise line markets itself and determine if they seem to be marketing YOU!

 

Good luck!

[momofmeg]

Hello to All.... I am booking another cruise and would like some feed back on your favorite cruise line and why? Thanks to All

 

I am an equal opportunity cruiser. I do not have a favorite line. Now I do have favorite ships. Celebrity Constellation and HAL Westerdam of the ships I have cruised so far. Disney Wonder would come in third.

 

I look at itinerary first when booking a ship, then price, and then ship/ line. For example, we are doing a partial Panama canal itinerary this next cruise. We liked that 2 of the ports were Arbua and Curacao. It was a bonus that the ship is a vista class. ( sister ship to Westerdam)

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL -- we like the larger cabins -- friendly crew.

[momofmeg]

HAL -- we like the larger cabins -- friendly crew.

 

I prefer the Vista class on HAL, but those cabins are not larger, as the older HAL ships (ex. Statendam) are. In fact our cabin on NCL Pearl, our minisuite was larger than our deluxe balcony on HAL Westerdam. However, those are about equal categories, those are what the category between balcony and suite is called on these two lines.

 

Now, our Statendam ocean view was huge, as big as balcony room we had on Disney Wonder, where the room itself-was almost 300 square feet.

[Aquahound]

What about Supper Club?

 

Yes, you are correct. Supper Club is Carnival's Specialty restaurant. Last I read, it was $30 pp and the food was excellent.

 

I love specialty restaurants. The food is well worth the extra cost. Almost all newer ships have them, including Carnival, so her post had me scratching my head as well.

 

On RCI, I highly recommend Chops, and on X, I highly recommend Tuscan Grille.

[pinkie1]

I think it depends on what you like to do on a ship. Relax by the pool or be active with lots of stuff.

I'm 36 and work out a lot and enjoy being active so I really like Royal Caribbean's ships with all their activites (the Oasis is going to have a zip line!!! woo-hoo!) along with all the other stuff the other posters have mentioned.

That being said the two Princess cruises I've been on were a lot more toned down than what I like. A bit boring, IMHO. But the cruise was still nice. (The dining service on my last Princess was horrible, but I think that was a fluke. I'm hoping)

 

I think "printingchick" did a great job in summarizing the cruise lines.

[mickym]

It looks to me, when I look at the list of cruises people have taken, that people tend to return to the first cruise line they have gone on. I think the very first time you see one of these huge and beautiful ships, and have a wonderful experience on it, even though you try others you will tend to return to the first cruise line trying to recapture the thrill of that first cruise. RCCL is my favorite but we have only been on that and Carnival.

[Sharon I]

The previous poster is correct. Only we've never tried any other line. We first traveled with RCCL and have had seven others since all on RCCL. We figure, why mess with perfection. Each one of our cruises was a thrill and RCCL has never let us down. I look forward to someday soon trying the Oasis of the Seas if everything works out.

[Aquahound]

My experience was just the opposite. After several great NCL cruises, DW and I tried RCI and were blown away. The difference was so much better (in our opinion, of course) that we only just tried another cruise line this past Spring. I can safely say that going back to NCL will not occur anytime soon. For now, it's RCI and Celebrity.

[InHeavenOnEarth4]

I've only sailed on Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Between those two, my favorite was Carnival. I though Carnival was a lot of fun, had friendlier staff, better food, better shows, ship lay out was better, and I could go on. Now, that's not to say I didn't have a good time on RC's Mariner of the Seas, I did, but it just wasn't as good IMO. I'll be sticking with Carnival from now on! (We're in our late twenties, so maybe that's why Carnival just appeals more to us) :)