Is your favorite cruise line today....

[Bridge Maven]

Is your favorite cruise line today the same one that it was a few years ago?

[Hflors]

No It use to be RCCL now I love Celebrity!!!! Quieter less announcements.

[sail7seas]

Yes, sure is.

 

When we first started cruising, we sailed about 5 times on Princess, about 5 or 6 on Celebrity, once on RCI (that was enough) and once on Carnival ( sort of - long story) and HAL.

 

We only sail HAL now and have sailed with them exclusively for about 13 or more years.

 

Love, love, love that cruise line, their ships and most especially their crews. :)

 

[Cruzman]

No change for me. My complaint is that HAL only sails the Caribbean half of the year, so from April to October, I have to find another cruise line.

[mr green]

We used to sail NCL, but changed to Princess several years ago, but would sail HAL, if the same cruise could not be found with Princess.

 

john

[Bridge Maven]

My husband and I took our first cruise 35 years ago on the defunct Italian Line (Leonardo da Vinci), which was our best cruise ever, before we had children and didn't take our second cruise until the nineties when our daughter was in college. However, since that time we have done two or three cruises a year.

 

After taking three cruises on different cruises lines within a short time frame during the nineties, we decided that we liked Celebrity best so we took all of our cruises on Celebrity for the next ten years.

 

Then we started trying other cruise lines for a number of different reasons such as a better itinerary, better ship for a family reunion, cruises leaving from a convenient port, etc. We then discovered that as the fleets of various cruise lines expanded the ship itself became a more important factor than the cruise line and that almost every cruise line has at least one thing that they do better than the others.

 

So now we don't have a favorite cruise line per se and select our cruises based on the ship itself, itinerary, and port of embarkation. We also consider whether we are cruising by ourselves, with another couple, with our daughter and her family, or taking a family reunion cruise with my brothers and our families.

[Andee]

We've only sailed on four cruiselines (Celebrity, Oceania, Orient, and Princess), but our favorite, by far, is Oceania. It's just a great fit for us--the small size of the ships, the port intensive itineraries, open seating dining, no formal nights, fabulous staff, excellent food.

[momofmeg]

My husband and I took our first cruise 35 years ago on the defunct Italian Line (Leonardo da Vinci), which was our best cruise ever, before we had children and didn't take our second cruise until the nineties when our daughter was in college. However, since that time we have done two or three cruises a year.

 

After taking three cruises on different cruises lines within a short time frame during the nineties, we decided that we liked Celebrity best so we took all of our cruises on Celebrity for the next ten years.

 

Then we started trying other cruise lines for a number of different reasons such as a better itinerary, better ship for a family reunion, cruises leaving from a convenient port, etc. We then discovered that as the fleets of various cruise lines expanded the ship itself became a more important factor than the cruise line and that almost every cruise line has at least one thing that they do better than the others.

 

So now we don't have a favorite cruise line per se and select our cruises based on the ship itself, itinerary, and port of embarkation. We also consider whether we are cruising by ourselves, with another couple, with our daughter and her family, or taking a family reunion cruise with my brothers and our families.

 

I am with you-if hubby and I are on our own-HAL or Celebrity. If our daughter is with us, Princess, NCL or RCI. We have friends that love Carnival. We don't, but we will cruise Carnival with them.

[gertz]

1991 The Crown Princess.:D

A bunch in between.:D

2009 Sapphire Princess and The Island Princess.:D

2010 Golden Princess Hawaii.:cool:

[jpg1747]

For the overall experience, my favorite line is Princess; but for price it's Carnival.

[Prettygirl]

Our favorite cruise line is still Princess followed by Carnival and HAL. We have only had one RCCL cruise on Legion Of the Seas and it almost ruined cruising for us. We like a mix of passenger ages (but not kids) and a bigger ship.

[Sewinglady1960]

I sail exclusively with Princess. Great staff, service and ports. To me, Princess is my only choice. I have sailed around the world with Princess and am working on going around again. :D

[balanceok]

but we´ve become greater fans of RCI over our original favorite of HAL.

 

We would be happy on any of them though.

 

:D

[srlafleur]

We don't have a real favorite, we choose for itinerary & cost first. Cruise line comes a distant 2nd.

I wouldn't discount a cruise line based on one cruise experience. There are things I have liked and disliked on each one I've experienced. And each has been different.

About the only way to truly compare is to book the same itinerary, same time, same excursions, etc., which I don't care to do.

[Clutterlady]

Right now our favorite cruise line is Princess....just a right fit for us :) Down the read, who knows!

 

Princess, and I think most main stream cruise lines, have changed over the last 5 years. Some for the better, some have put a lot of cost saving measures on board! Still the best best bang for your buck...;)

[sail7seas]

No change for me. My complaint is that HAL only sails the Caribbean half of the year, so from April to October, I have to find another cruise line.

 

I so agree. HAL always used to have their newest ship doing the Caribbean their first summer after they joined the fleet and we always sailed during the summer on the new ship. We love the Caribbean 12 months a year and really miss that HAL pulls all ships out of there a full 6 month from mid April through mid October.

 

We now cruise HAL every summer on Maasdam doing Canada/New England itinerary and really love that.

[jocap]

Of the 4 lines we've done, NCL has become our favourite because of the freedom- BUT, after a stunning freedom dining cruise on Ventura, P&O has to be back in the running.- jocap.

[okgirl]

I've only ever sailed with Carnival. I'm coming up on #18 in December with 19 and 20 booked so far in 2010.

 

I have never had any reason to change. I like the product, I've never come even close to having a bad time or poor service and I like knowing the Carnival routine.

 

I don't sail for the ports anymore so it really is the onboard experience that I keep going back for.

[travlnblueberries]

HAL was, is and always will be my favorite! :)

[vacation luvver]

Several years ago, NCL was my favorite cruiseline, and Royal Caribbean was my second favorite. I always sailed solo back then.

 

But now that they do freestyle, NCL is IMHO the worst cruiseline for solos, based on personal experience, although if I sail with a friend, it is still my favorite.

 

Based on a recent Royal Caribbean cruise, it is now a poor second favorite.

 

I sailed on HAL twice many years ago and thought they were okay but nothing special. Maybe I should sail with them again and see what they's like nowadays.

[CruiserChloe]

My very first cruise was on Carnival. I was totally "wowed" by the ship, meaning the size and complexity of cruise ships. However, I was a little turned off by certain things, like dining room congo lines, hideous decor, orange cabin, and certain other things that just seemed "cheap."

 

My second cruise was on RCI. I was amazed at the difference and RCI became an instant hit and favorite for me.

 

Now, Celebrity is my favorite because that is the line I am booked on next! ;)

[LHT28]

We did not have a favourite until Oceania came along.

 

Oceania is our cruise line of choice

 

Lyn

[edrosado1]

My wife and I started with NCL, then we were wowed by RCCL with their big ships. But as the ships got bigger the service and the rest start to go south. We also did Carnival, Princess, and Celebrity. We are now totally in love with HAL. no other line can compare with the service provided by their Indonessian crew.

[Happy ks]

We haven't decided yet. We have been on more RCI cruises than any other line, mostly due to Monarch being on the west coast for a few years. We feel they provide a great cruise experience at a fair price. But, we're always willing to try other lines.

 

We've cruised Carnival, NCL, Cunard, Disney and Celebrity plus the defunct American Hawaiian and have found they are all quite similar.

 

Disney is a top leader in the list as far as being a beautiful ship, but it's not what I would care to cruise on a lot, their prices are so high. Cunard is like buying dessert at the grocery store....it looks so yummy but when you bite into it, not any more tasty than a pre-packaged dessert. I do have to say, QM2 is a stunning ship and again, very expensive for what you get. Carnival and NCL, well as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Celebrity was awesome and we hope to cruise on one of their ships again. We cruised on Infinity, lovely ship and we felt the price was fair for what you get.

 

We'd love to try HAL, we have a future cruise booked on Princess. Oceania and Azamara are on the wish list, as is MSC and perhaps a river boat in Europe.

 

All in all, I think it's a mistake to just cruise one line all the time. I read here all the time about people only sailing one line, only going to the Caribbean. Travel should encompass many areas of the world. Although we love cruising, we also like land trips so don't discount those either! We'd both even love to see more of the US in coming years :) We've never been to DC or New Orleans or Savannah, Georgia....sigh.

[momofmeg]

We haven't decided yet. We have been on more RCI cruises than any other line, mostly due to Monarch being on the west coast for a few years. We feel they provide a great cruise experience at a fair price. But, we're always willing to try other lines.

 

We've cruised Carnival, NCL, Cunard, Disney and Celebrity plus the defunct American Hawaiian and have found they are all quite similar.

 

Disney is a top leader in the list as far as being a beautiful ship, but it's not what I would care to cruise on a lot, their prices are so high. Cunard is like buying dessert at the grocery store....it looks so yummy but when you bite into it, not any more tasty than a pre-packaged dessert. I do have to say, QM2 is a stunning ship and again, very expensive for what you get. Carnival and NCL, well as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Celebrity was awesome and we hope to cruise on one of their ships again. We cruised on Infinity, lovely ship and we felt the price was fair for what you get.

 

We'd love to try HAL, we have a future cruise booked on Princess. Oceania and Azamara are on the wish list, as is MSC and perhaps a river boat in Europe.

 

All in all, I think it's a mistake to just cruise one line all the time. I read here all the time about people only sailing one line, only going to the Caribbean. Travel should encompass many areas of the world. Although we love cruising, we also like land trips so don't discount those either! We'd both even love to see more of the US in coming years :) We've never been to DC or New Orleans or Savannah, Georgia....sigh.

 

KS, Savannah, Ga is a nice old city with lots of history-you could a happily spend two or there days there. But Charleston, SC is even better. Perhaps you could take a trip and do both. They are only about 120 miles apart.

 

We are going to Myrtle Beach for a couple of days Thanksgiving week. Then, after a couple of days, we will leave there and spend a few days in Charleston. But you have me thinking, it has been almost 7 years since we have been to Savannah. It probably is time to take along weekend there.

 

We took our daughter to DC when she was younger-did the Smithsonian thingy, Holocaust museum, Washington Monument, and also did all the president's houses in Virginia. Jeffersonian is the best. Washington's is second place. I have been to New Orleans also, but I was younger than my daughter. I have not been there in over 30 years.

 

But then, all this is my side of the country. Of course, I guess I need to see California and the Grand Canyon.