Which Cruise Line is Best?

[suntan]

We are researching our cruise options for 2006. We have previously sailed on Celebrity Cruises, however, Celebrity does not appear to be focusing their ships in the Caribbean in 2006. Therefore their itinerary does not offer many choices for us with respect to ports of call. We are considering one of the following cruise lines: Princess, Royal Caribbean, Holland America. We would appreciate your comments on the "good, the bad, and the ugly" of your experiences with these cruise lines. Much appreciated.

[voyageur]

I'm sure you would be happy with any of those 3 choices... I don't know your age or preferences... Holland America seems to have older passengers on cruises that are longer than 7 days, but the food and service are consistantly good. All have wonderful qualities... Royal Caribbean ships I think are livelier as far as activities during the day, and maybe a slightly younger crowd. Princess is in the middle of the 2.

[kitty9]

What do you want from the cruise? What's important to you? Do you have kids? All those questions are important in order to answer your question. If you have kids, RCCI, by far is the best. If you want a more relaxed and upscale cruise, go with HAL, Princess is in the middle of the other two lines. Not as relaxed as HAL and not as many families as RCCI.

[bluehorizonlover123]

Carnival often has a rowdier crowd with lots of activities going on all the time. Princess is usually an older crowd and is very low key. There are activities but not as many as Carnival. RCCL is similiar to Carnival. Celebrity is an older crowd but more elegant. NCL is more low key also.

[suntan]

Just to clarify a few things to help you with my query. The age group of the women (two are family members) I go cruising with ranges from 42 to 71. Mind you, the 71 year old is quite lively; and the 69 year old comes with me snorkeling. We are looking for a cruise line that offers both an exciting itinerary (we never stay on the ship in port) and one that offers some relaxation. Carnival is definitely out - I did that in my 20's in the '80s and from what I hear Carnival still attracts mainly a younger audience. I'm a little nervous about Holland America being too much for the older passenger who just wants to stay on the ship and admire the scenery.

 

Your continued replies are greatly appreciated.

[momofmeg]

Just to clarify a few things to help you with my query. The age group of the women (two are family members) I go cruising with ranges from 42 to 71. Mind you, the 71 year old is quite lively; and the 69 year old comes with me snorkeling. We are looking for a cruise line that offers both an exciting itinerary (we never stay on the ship in port) and one that offers some relaxation. Carnival is definitely out - I did that in my 20's in the '80s and from what I hear Carnival still attracts mainly a younger audience. I'm a little nervous about Holland America being too much for the older passenger who just wants to stay on the ship and admire the scenery.

 

Your continued replies are greatly appreciated.

 

I found HAL a little too subdued and stuffy myself-but still it was a cruise and better then a land vacation for sure. Princess had more going on-things do wind down around midnight-1 a.m. but that was fine with me as I am winding down myself as I love to get up early especially to watch when the ship is coming into port so I am not a "late nighter" too much anyway.

 

One thing too that you have to consider is the ship you are considering-ships can vary a lot within the same line. For EX. we took 2 Carnival cruises 4 months apart-Inspiration was just mediocre but Miracle was absolutely great-food, shows, entertainment in lounges were tons better. So to me, I feel the newer and nicer the ship it seems the nicer the cruise. As far as the "hard partiers" this seems to be the mini cruises in my experience-it is as though people feel they need to cram 7 days worth into 3 or 4 days. This has been my experience on both Carnival and RCCL. I never let those people bother me-though-like I said I still go to bed fairly early as I want to get up at 6 a.m.-as long as people are not trying to beat my stateroom door down or something while I am sleeping I could care less what they do.

 

One thing you could do if you are looking at certain ships and ittenaries-read reviews of these cruises-that will help you to make a decision about what is best for you. Still though -all this is people's opinions-and what I think is good may not be your cup of tea. So just remember-even if everything is not as good as you hoped- you are still on a cruise the best vacation in the world no matter what line you are on.

[debshomespun]

You may want to try the RCCL Radiance Class ships. They have many activities for all ages. We have cruised Carnival 3 times and RC 3 times. We are 45 and 48. Our last cruise was in Jan. on the Jewel of the Sea, Eastern 8 day itinery. This is an excellent cruise, and in Jan'Feb there will be very small amount of children, as school is in session (other than presidents day weekend). We feel the service on RC is much nicer than on Carnival and the food was very good on the Jewel.

 

We are also going on the RC Navigator of the Seas in May, a Voyager Class Ship. They are my favorite, as they have the "Royal Promenade" down the middle of the ship. There will be more children on these sailings, but we have never encountered any problems with them. We always cruise in the spring, mostly when they are in school. There are even more activities on the Voyager class ships, and the ice show is one of the best shows we've ever seen. (we've seen many shows in Las Vegas too). Check out the ships on the RCCL website: http://www.royalcaribbean.com to view them.

 

We haven't been on Princess yet, or Celebrity, and they are hopefully our next ones to try out.

 

Good luck with your cruise hunting!

[crisp1]

I have cruised on 4 different Carnival ships on 5 cruises. The only 'party' cruise was on the Imagination 4 day over Memorial day weekend - to Cozumel. All the other cruises had a wide cross section of pax, from newlyweds, families, to retired reserved. I think the reputaion the line has is unwarrented- although they still have cruises with rock bands ocassionally. I pick my cruises based on itinerary/ cost/ reputation- in that order. This upcoming cruise is on the Golden Princess- southern caribbean, 5 ports in 7 days. From what I've read, there will be little difference from our past cruises other than the anytime dining option. BTW, our roll call of around 20, 6 are between 45-55, all the others are in their 30's

[momofmeg]

I have cruised on 4 different Carnival ships on 5 cruises. The only 'party' cruise was on the Imagination 4 day over Memorial day weekend - to Cozumel. All the other cruises had a wide cross section of pax, from newlyweds, families, to retired reserved. I think the reputaion the line has is unwarrented- although they still have cruises with rock bands ocassionally. I pick my cruises based on itinerary/ cost/ reputation- in that order. This upcoming cruise is on the Golden Princess- southern caribbean, 5 ports in 7 days. From what I've read, there will be little difference from our past cruises other than the anytime dining option. BTW, our roll call of around 20, 6 are between 45-55, all the others are in their 30's

 

That is exactly what I said crisp1-the "party" cruises are the mini cruises. We had "hard partiers" on our RCCL sovereign of the Seas cruise too. It seems to me the mini cruises are the "party" cruises and Carnival offfers alot of mini cruises more then RCCL and ofcourse Princess, HAL and Celebrity rarely do the mini cruises so ofcourse you never see the "partiers" on them. So since Carnival offers more mini cruises they get the rep of being "party" ships. I prefer the 7 day cruises and usually do one a year but sometimes I do a mini cruise too-I would love to do two 7 day cruises a year but I can't afford that-so I am happy to slip in a mini sometimes-if I run into any obnoxious drunks-I just go elsewhere-a ship is a big place-I still have a good time. Why do people let what other people do spoil their fun? I do not understand that.

 

I always enjoyed Carnival until they started the smoking and nonsmoking lounges policy. The paino bar-my fav. lounge is always smoking-and where as before they had the policy about smoking and nonsmoking I could enjoy the paino bar-but now that the smokers are not allowed in most of the other lounges-the smoke is too thick to breathe in there and I am NOT a person who is terribly bothered by cigerette smoke. Only when it is concentrated. That is why I am not so crazy about Carnival anymore. Before that policy I always had a good time.

[caviargal]

I agree that Radiance Class on RCI would be a great choice, especially if you enjoy X. RCI offers more in the way of fitness activities and live musical entertainment than X, and Radiance class are the most elegant of their ships. They are lively but classy.

 

 

I found HAL to be very subdued and definitely older in spirit and demographic.

 

My one Princess sailing was over ten years ago and I just was not all that impressed. I found the staff to be a bit standoffish, not like the warm and friendly attitude one experiences on RCI and Celebrity.

 

I would not consider Carnival.

 

CG

[momofmeg]

 

 

 

 

I would not consider Carnival.

 

CG

Pleas explain.You explained about HAL and Princess why you disliked them and then made a blanket statement about Canival .

Is it really because of TGI Friday type food? I wonder- the 4 ships I were on served the same quality of food as HAL and Princess. Much better quality then RCCL and my one Disney cruise (except for Palos) The food I had was what you would expect when dinning in a 4 star restuarant-except for ofcourse the Lido restuarant and even that was top quality-not the high calorie high fat stuff that most people love about TGI Fridays and similiar restuarants.

[balanceok]

Based on our experience and for a variety of reason, I would rate the lines we've been on in this order:

 

1) Princess

2) RCI

3) HAL

4) Celebrity

5) Carnival

 

We've enjoyed all our cruises. I'll get back to you next year on where NCL fits in all this.

[coolmello]

Hopefully after your cruise NCL will be near the top of that list:) Im going on NCL Sun in October