Loyal to Royal...

[printingchick]

Thanks for saying this. Everytime I think I might try out another line, DH says "If it ain't broke ... don't fix it" ... then we book another Royal Caribbean cruise.

 

I don't think I'll be trying other lines either, but I sometimes toy with the idea. In fact, Princess was the biggest contender until this post!!! ;)

 

On the other hand, I held that same, "If it ain't broke ... don't fix it" attitude through six cruises on Carnival before I tried Royal Caribbean. I'm not saying I wouldn't consider Carnival again, but only if there was no comparable Royal itinerary.

[RavaRiles]

Hi Jimbo, Iam also booked on this cruise coming up in november. It will be my first ever cruise.

Have you been on explorer before ?

cheers Ian

[cruzysuzy]

printingchick, don't let some of the posts discourage you. I found Princess to be a good alternative to RCI, Bigeagle12's comparison chart seems spot on to my opinion.

[cde48]

DH and I sailed on the Grand Princess 7 years ago, before the Carnival buyout. This was by far the best food and service I've experienced in all of my cruises. We had a wonderful time even if we were the youngest (late 20's) folks on the ship by several decades.

 

Having said all of that, I've heard that things have gone downhill since the buyout - no surprise there. It's really a shame.

 

This was our 5th on Princess, 37th cruise overall! I agree with you. Princess was great before CCL bought them out! Now, it is a diluted product. The ships layouts are horrible, and the Princess Theater was tiny compared to how many passangers on board!

 

Now all we need to do is book our 18th RCI cruise!;)

[forecruiser]

Well, I am here to confess my sins and let you know I booked a Carnival Dream cruise for this summer for my family to celebrate my parents' 50 anniversary. The reviews have been terrible and I regret the decision, but the price was right and I had to consider everyone's budget. I WILL NOT do it again! I even had to book a future cruise on the Navigator in December to make up for my mistake.

 

I still hope our Carnival cruise on the Dream will not be a NIGHTMARE, but can't change it now.

 

We will be loyal to Royal forever and ever!

 

Thanks for letting me share!

[cde48]

Well, given that this is the RCI board and also given that we too, are loyal to Royal and can't wait to cruise again, I think you might be painting the entire line with a very wide brush. You've made quite a generalization here and I just wanted to say that I think it's unfair, given that you only sailed on one Princess ship (a smaller one, at that).

 

We sailed Emerald Princess last year and although we too kept making "comparisons" to Voyager and Freedom-class RCI ships, there were many things about Princess which we loved. I'm not saying try Princess again, but I did want you to know that everything you mentioned can and is being found on all ships of all lines, RCI included.

 

Like I said, we love Royal and will be back twice more this year. We also liked Princess and I dare say, had you chosen a larger ship with a different itinerary (and hence, demographic), you may have enjoyed yourselves more. :) Just wanted to offer that.

 

The Star is a larger ship in the fleet, and it was a 7-day Eastern Itinerary. It is only 4,000 tons less than the Emerald, and is in the same class size ship (Grand). It's not as if we went on a dinky ship, for 30 nights.:D

[willysgrandma]

The Star Princess is 9 years old. Princess' newer larger ships are much nicer than that ship.

[cde48]

Well, I am here to confess my sins and let you know I booked a Carnival Dream cruise for this summer for my family to celebrate my parents' 50 anniversary. The reviews have been terrible and I regret the decision, but the price was right and I had to consider everyone's budget. I WILL NOT do it again! I even had to book a future cruise on the Navigator in December to make up for my mistake.

 

I still hope our Carnival cruise on the Dream will not be a NIGHTMARE, but can't change it now.

 

We will be loyal to Royal forever and ever!

 

Thanks for letting me share!

 

We actually had to take a CCL cruise last year as well, due to various budgets with the crew that we sailed with, and found the service to be much better than that of Princess, this time. The decor on CCL is a little too much, but we had a great time! Still prefer RCI, though!:D

[cde48]

The Star Princess is 9 years old. Princess' newer larger ships are much nicer than that ship.

 

Don't get me wrong the ship was very clean, and MUTS was great, but there were too many negatives to make up the difference! :rolleyes:

[Working 2 Cruise]

I am very interested in how we will react to the Sapphire Princess. We are sailing on her in May to Mexico. The last time we strayed from either RCCL or X was 13 years ago. So, I'll post my impressions after we get back.

 

Please come and join our roll call! I would love to hear your impressions firsthand!

 

Nina

[pcur]

Please come and join our roll call! I would love to hear your impressions firsthand!

 

Nina

 

Will do!

[isujim]

I am very interested in how we will react to the Sapphire Princess. We are sailing on her in May to Mexico. The last time we strayed from either RCCL or X was 13 years ago. So, I'll post my impressions after we get back.

 

Peggy I don't think you'll find much difference in the basic cruise experience. We did a two week Alaska cruise on the much smaller Pacific Princess last August and had a wonderful cruise........but we were looking for a smaller ship. I do think the service is a little better on RC.....I have never been a big fan of pre paid tips.........I do believe the service lacks a little when you are automatically getting your tips........JMO of course. I will be interested in your overall impressions when you get back. We are branching out and actually trying HAL in October for the first time.........don't know if I'm ready for that but gonna try it anyway.

 

Jim

[isujim]

Those looking for much better food, you might want to try Holland America. Cuts of Beef were outstanding last month on Eurodam.

 

Jimbo:)

 

 

Jimbo we are doing the Eurodam in October for our first HAL cruise.......if you did a review post me a link. Would like your impressions of the ship if you have time.

 

Jim

[Desert Cruizers]

My husband & I have had 4 cruises, two with Princess 2002 & 2006 two with RCL, 2004 & 2008 and April 2011 and again Oct 2011, we will be sailing RCL. We have not sailed Princess's new ships so can't speak for them, but we did have wonderful service on our princess cruise. That being said, RCL suits my husband and I much better, seems to have more activity, far better entertainment and better accomodations.

[melbur]

No question we sail RCI primarily, as we love the product. We have sailed both Princess and NCL when the itinerary is what we are looking for. The last three times with Princess in no way compare to Royal - ships are lovely, service good, etc but not a fan of their food, their Horizon Court or the teeny tiny balcony rooms (we book mini suites for that reason) .

Sadly though, Royal's Europe 2011 itineraries did not interest us. We are booked on the Star Princess for Oct 2011. When the trip is that port intensive, Princess is fine. But I'm feeling that way about alot of the new itin's Royal has published, they aren't that interesting.

[nanfromatlanta]

Although I am very Loyal to Royal, this past Christmas we sailed on the Ruby Princess. That ship is gorgeous, and I must say that the food was terriffic. I don't say that lightly. Some of the foodie highlights were the chicken salad, sandwiches, and jumbo shrimp at the International Cafe', the pizza which is true NY style with real mozarella cheese, wonderful selections in the buffet, and always something good every night in the dining room. They even had a seafood buffet one night in the Cafe' Caribe with shrimp, crab legs and lobster claws... OMG!! The dining room wait staff went out of their way to accommodate a picky eater in the group and even prepared a special dish on the fly.

 

The shows were great, and we never had a problem finding a good seat, and we enjoyed the impromptu entertainment in the Piazza. The cabin stweards remembered our names from the first day and went out of their way to please us.

 

Although we always return to Royal, that cruise will always rank high on my list.

[volleyballmom87]

Over time we have adjusted our standards with the economic choices that the lines have been forced to make. We have also chosen cruises/ships based on our own economic choices. Would Majesty be on the top of my list? NO... did I have fun? YES! Why? because I refuse to not have fun on vacation. I also knew that Majesty was an older, smaller and more "tired" RCI ship and adjusted my expectations accordingly. It was my Holiday Inn Express vacation instead of Marriott. :D

 

Have any of you "Loyal Royals" gone luxury and returned happily? :confused: We decided to go with Oceania (Four Seasons-sticking with my hotel analogy) as a treat in Europe, but worry that it is going to ruin us for the mass market.

[Mom33]

This was our 5th on Princess, 37th cruise overall! I agree with you. Princess was great before CCL bought them out! Now, it is a diluted product. The ships layouts are horrible, and the Princess Theater was tiny compared to how many passangers on board!

 

Now all we need to do is book our 18th RCI cruise!;)

 

My you have a done a lot of cruising for someone in your thirties. :cool:

[critterchick]

We still prefer RCI by a whisker over Princess, mainly for the service and entertainment. But the Sapphire has very good to excellent food, far better than any RCI ship other than Rhapsody in our recent experience. So we could happily sail both lines.

 

As for luxury, we've sailed Azamara, which is the closest thing to luxury in the RCCL family, and it didn't spoil us for the mass market. I didn't think that anything other than the food, which was amazingly good on the Quest, really outshone RCI.

[isujim]

We still prefer RCI by a whisker over Princess, mainly for the service and entertainment. But the Sapphire has very good to excellent food, far better than any RCI ship other than Rhapsody in our recent experience. So we could happily sail both lines.

 

As for luxury, we've sailed Azamara, which is the closest thing to luxury in the RCCL family, and it didn't spoil us for the mass market. I didn't think that anything other than the food, which was amazingly good on the Quest, really outshone RCI.

 

Jean I appreciate your take on Azamara............we had a cruise booked on them and then cancelled it due to scheduling conflicts.........but I appreciate your take on them........I think we will stick to mass market. Your opinion goes a long way with me. Thanks.

 

Jim

[mommywholuvstocruise]

My you have a done a lot of cruising for someone in your thirties. :cool:

 

Mom33 - I think you are confusing me with cde48. I'm the one in the mid-30s who posted the quote that CDE48 commented on.:o

[Aquahound]

The Star Princess is 9 years old. Princess' newer larger ships are much nicer than that ship.

 

The Adventure of the Seas is also 9 years old, and she, along with two of her older sisters, are still right up there with the best of RCI ships.

 

I've never sailed Princess, but I'm not against it. Are you saying I have to book a new ship of theirs to have a good cruise? :confused:

[FireIce0010]

I am not bolted to one cruise line. I like all of them with the exception of Carnival. Tried them twice and both times the cruises were the bottom of the list. I agree that Princess was a much better line before Carnival got their claws into them. They have cheapened the product.

[Mom33]

Mom33 - I think you are confusing me with cde48. I'm the one in the mid-30s who posted the quote that CDE48 commented on.:o

 

Not at all....cde48 claims to be in his or her 30s.:D on another board