Looking for a new cruise line...

[StarSong]

We've been (mostly) loyal RC cruisers, and rather like the Caribbean, but don't want to repeatedly go to the same ports.

 

We tried Carnival, but it didn't um, float our boats. So I'm looking for some advice about other moderately priced cruise lines serving North America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. I've done some looking around and see a lot of lines, but am hoping to hear from seasoned cruisers about which lines they like and which they don't.

 

RC's amenities are appealing, but we need some new adventures in this hemisphere. Due to seasonal business, our travel opportunities are from early November - May, excluding Thanksgiving through New Year's.

 

HAL, Norwegian, Princess and the others are a mystery to us.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bigeagle12]

We have only sailed RCI and Princess and have thoroughly enjoyed both. Sounds like our destination preferences and cruising times are similar.

Here is just a quick comparison (our opinion) of the 2:

 

Embarkation - equal

Disembarkation - advantage Princess

Muster Drill - equal

Food - slight advantage to Princess - little better quality and more variety

Dining Room (service) - equal

Dining Room (decor) - advantage Royal

Cabins - advantage Princess - bigger closet - better layout

Entertainment - equal

Ship (Promenade vs Atrium) - advantage Royal

Casino - advantage Royal

Service (Dining Room) - equal

Service (Windjammer vs Caribe) - advantage Royal

Service (cabin) - equal

Johnny Rockets vs Trident Grill - advantage Princess (free)

Movies Under the Stars (MUTS) - advantage Princess

Promenade Cafe vs International Cafe - advantage Princess

Pizza - advantage Princess

Bars/Lounges - advantage Princess

Onboard Activities - advantage Royal

[wolfganghowell]

You might investigate Celebrity. If you are Crown & Anchor, your level will be honored there in their Captains Club. It's a bit more upscale, less kids and families, skews a little bit older - more couples 40s to 70s. The ships are beautiful and the food is amazing. Prices are quite reasonable.

[StarSong]

Bless you, BigEagle for such concise information. Your descriptions are perfect, and give a great means of comparison. :D

[bigeagle12]

You are welcome. We are actually considering a 10 day on the Emerald in February.

[Tagsalong]

Like you we got tired of the Royal Caribbean caribbean itineries so, after 45 RCCL cruises we've been doing a lot more Celebrity and Princess to the southern caribbean. Celebrity is generally more expensive and are 14 dayers, whereas Princess has had some real good bargains in Sept. thru December, ie $299 & $399 for 7 & 10 dayers , last year at least. These were last minute deals, for first time bookings only, and might not occure this year, but we are waiting and hopeful. Either way, I think you'll enjoy the islands of Aruba, Antiqua, Barbados, St kitts et.al.

 

We still do an occasional RCCL (RCI) but enjoy everything onboard Princess and Celebrity equally as well.

[eyeglassbrad]

You might investigate Celebrity. If you are Crown & Anchor, your level will be honored there in their Captains Club. It's a bit more upscale, less kids and families, skews a little bit older - more couples 40s to 70s. The ships are beautiful and the food is amazing. Prices are quite reasonable.

I agree 100% we try to do Royal cruises with the kids and Celebrty cruises just with my wife.

[Scotty G]

I'd say try Celebrity. We are doing that as we like having our C&A benefits recognized by Celebrity.

[StarSong]

Oooooooooo! Good to know about Celebrity. I thought they were very expensive. Ditto Princess. Guess it's time to expand our horizons a bit.

 

Our kids are grown, but we're in a child centered business, so the number of kids on board don't factor in either way. We love kids and enjoy having them around, but can manage to go a week or two without them and have no fear of suffering crippling withdrawal symptoms.

[Mewissy]

I, also, did some research into the other lines and found Princess to be an attractive option. One thing I didn't like, though, was that on the ships I was researching you had to pay to be able to access the adults only area. I really like the Solariums on RC and thought that was a negative.

[orville99]

Have sailed RCI (10x), Disney (8x), HAL (4x), and Princess (3x). If HAL sailed out of Florida year round, they'd be my No.1 choice. RCI and Princess are about tied for second (although I agree with bigEagle on most points, none of the differences are biggies to us). Disney is IMO, a distant third: overpriced for what you get - very little public space, limited shops on board, tiny pools, bland food, always feel crowded - but if you're into Disney characters everywhere you turn...

 

As another alternative, consider Cunard. Their three ships (QE, QM2, QV) do occasional caribbean sailings, and they put the mainstream "cruise" lines to shame when it comes to atmosphere.

[DocJohnB]

My opinion on RCI vs Celebrity (as copied from bigeagle12's post)

 

Embarkation - equal

Disembarkation - very slight advantage to RCI

Muster Drill - Celebrity

Food - advantage to Celebrity - better quality and more variety

Dining Room (service) - advantage Celebrity

Dining Room (decor) - advantage Celebrity

Cabins - layout - RCI, overall though slightly Celebrity

Entertainment - RCI

Ship (Promenade vs Atrium) - advantage Royal (definitely)

Casino - no opinion - don't use

Service (Dining Room) - Celebrity

Service (Windjammer vs Caribe) - definite advantage Celebrity (Solstice class)

Service (cabin) - equal

Johnny Rockets vs Bistro on Five- advantage Bistro

Pizza - equal

Bars/Lounges - advantage Celebrity

Onboard Activities - definitely Royal.

 

Some of my own.

 

Smoking policy - definitely Celebrity

Guest relations - very equal

Loyalty program benefits - Celebrity

 

I am a big fan of Celebrity, but have enjoyed every RCI cruise I have taken and look forward to my next.

[Kokomo91165]

Celebrity Solstice class are just sensational.

 

You can try Solstice or Equinox out of Port Everglades, Eclipse out of Miami, or Silhouette out of New Jersey. Reflection (2012 out of Miami) will be the largest of the Solstice Class ships with some major additions. Should be spectacular.

[negc]

We've been (mostly) loyal RC cruisers, and rather like the Caribbean, but don't want to repeatedly go to the same ports.

 

We tried Carnival, but it didn't um, float our boats. So I'm looking for some advice about other moderately priced cruise lines serving North America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. I've done some looking around and see a lot of lines, but am hoping to hear from seasoned cruisers about which lines they like and which they don't.

 

RC's amenities are appealing, but we need some new adventures in this hemisphere. Due to seasonal business, our travel opportunities are from early November - May, excluding Thanksgiving through New Year's.

 

HAL, Norwegian, Princess and the others are a mystery to us.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What ports in the Caribbean do you want to visit? It shouldn't be difficult to find an RCI cruise that goes to just about every island you care to visit if you are able to be a bit flexible about the length of the cruises you are able to take or the port of departure. Don't be fooled by the fact that their newest ships sail limited itineraries which appeal to many first time cruisers but not as much to "seasoned" cruisers such as yourself.:)

Bill

[DonnaK]

I, also, did some research into the other lines and found Princess to be an attractive option. One thing I didn't like, though, was that on the ships I was researching you had to pay to be able to access the adults only area. I really like the Solariums on RC and thought that was a negative.

 

 

We sailed twice on the Caribbean Princess, and while you had to pay to access the Sanctuary, there was another adults only pool - the Terrace Pool - that you did NOT have to pay for. I believe this is the arrangement on most, if not all, Princess ships.

 

 

To the OP: We felt that Princess provided an equivalent cruising experience to RCI. There were differences - some things Princess did better and other things RCI did better, but it all balanced out. RCI is still our preferred cruiseline, but we enjoy Princess too.

[negc]

Like you we got tired of the Royal Caribbean caribbean itineries so, after 45 RCCL cruises we've been doing a lot more Celebrity and Princess to the southern caribbean. Celebrity is generally more expensive and are 14 dayers, whereas Princess has had some real good bargains in Sept. thru December, ie $299 & $399 for 7 & 10 dayers , last year at least. These were last minute deals, for first time bookings only, and might not occure this year, but we are waiting and hopeful. Either way, I think you'll enjoy the islands of Aruba, Antiqua, Barbados, St kitts et.al.

 

We still do an occasional RCCL (RCI) but enjoy everything onboard Princess and Celebrity equally as well.

 

My only quibble would be that the islands you have mentioned are all available on RCI itineraries. In fact we will be visiting most of them this fall on the Jewel of the Seas when it repositions from Boston. Last year that cruise included Dominica, a port that was new to us despite many cruises to the Caribbean.:)

While we enjoy the variety of cruise experiences offered by other lines, we find ourselves returning to Royal Caribbean time after time. :)

[riclop]

Bless you, BigEagle for such concise information. Your descriptions are perfect, and give a great means of comparison. :D

He forgot to tell you about the HARD beds which will give a back ache when you wake up.

[Janice M]

You might investigate Celebrity. If you are Crown & Anchor, your level will be honored there in their Captains Club. It's a bit more upscale, less kids and families, skews a little bit older - more couples 40s to 70s. The ships are beautiful and the food is amazing. Prices are quite reasonable.

 

We did our first Celebrity cruise in May and thoroughly enjoyed it and will definately do Celebrity again. Their food was great. We felt we had a real good deal price wise.

Jan

[StarSong]

He forgot to tell you about the HARD beds which will give a back ache when you wake up.

 

On which cruise line?

[negc]

We have only sailed RCI and Princess and have thoroughly enjoyed both. Sounds like our destination preferences and cruising times are similar.

Here is just a quick comparison (our opinion) of the 2:

 

Embarkation - equal

Disembarkation - advantage Princess

Muster Drill - equal

Food - slight advantage to Princess - little better quality and more variety

Dining Room (service) - equal

Dining Room (decor) - advantage Royal

Cabins - advantage Princess - bigger closet - better layout

Entertainment - equal

Ship (Promenade vs Atrium) - advantage Royal

Casino - advantage Royal

Service (Dining Room) - equal

Service (Windjammer vs Caribe) - advantage Royal

Service (cabin) - equal

Johnny Rockets vs Trident Grill - advantage Princess (free)

Movies Under the Stars (MUTS) - advantage Princess

Promenade Cafe vs International Cafe - advantage Princess

Pizza - advantage Princess

Bars/Lounges - advantage Princess

Onboard Activities - advantage Royal

 

I would differ on several counts but many of the differences will really depend on a number of factors: ships involved in the comparison, ports of embarkation, the itinerary.

MUTs - good concept but virtually destroyed when it became Movies Under the Sun and Stars with programming beginning in the early morning and continuing during the entire day and into the evening - tends to intrude on some who want to lie by the pool in quiet contemplations. As far as service goes, it depends very much on the individuals who will be serving you but overall we found the servers on RCI ships to be more outgoing and friendly than many on our Princess cruises. I definitely agree with ranking Princess' pizza superior to what is offered by RCI but I did find that some Princess ships offered different and more interesting onboard activities. Bars and Lounges on RCI's ships were far superior to those on the Princess ships we sailed on, but again that may vary from ship to ship. The wake view bar on Sapphire Princess had no view of the wake unless you were eight feet tall or stood on the circular staircase to look out, and the dead end routes to get from one spot on a Deck to another, coupled with elevators which didn't go to some floors was annoying. Our outside balcony rooms on Princess were noticeably smaller than a similar category on RCI and the closet on Sapphire Princess did not even have a door on it. Having to move the barrel chair in our stateroom when we had to get into the refrigerator or out to the balcony, was a minor irritant. Apparently you need to book a mini-suite if you want a reasonably sized room.:) And Anytime Dining has so many flaws that I was hesitant to try RCI's My Time Dining when it was first introduced. RCI took the Anytime concept and eliminated those flaws and we are now strong proponents.:) Not everyone will agree with my comments, but I wanted to offer some of my impressions.

[Quigley10]

We agree with the previous posters. We're loyal RCI cruisers who have also traveled on Carnival, and who took our first Celebrity cruise last month - the Century to Alaska. While it was a different experience from RCI, it was much more similar to RCI than Carnival was. We enjoyed it greatly and wouldn't hesitate to rebook.

 

There are some good deals to be had on Celebrity, if you watch for them. For our Alaska cruise, we had a "Concierge Class" stateroom, which is a cross between a suite and a regular balcony stateroom. We paid $1500~/person, which was fairly comparable to the Radiance at the time; interiors were around $700/person for our sailing. All in all, we walked away feeling as though it were good value for the money, just as we have on the RCI cruises we've taken.

[Mewissy]

We sailed twice on the Caribbean Princess, and while you had to pay to access the Sanctuary, there was another adults only pool - the Terrace Pool - that you did NOT have to pay for. I believe this is the arrangement on most, if not all, Princess ships.

 

Thanks for that clarification :D

[riclop]

On which cruise line?

Princess...

[klingoncruiser]

We have been using Norwegian lately. As with all lines, they do some things good and some not so good. Rooms seem to be quite small. If you can spring for a suite, that is different. I have found the food quite good and plentiful. Service is a bit spotty, especially in the main dining. However they really do trot out a good price and quite often a very robust port line up. (i.e. out of NOLA, they hit 4 ports instead of 3 like all the others do. They are not all that into sea days.)

 

I have been on Princess, Celebrity, and Carnivore. Give all the lines a chance, you never know what you will find. Always good to try new lines.

[DeepWaterMariner]

I have been on Princess, Celebrity, and Carnivore. Give all the lines a chance, you never know what you will find. Always good to try new lines.

 

I couldn't agree more. We are not wedded to a specific cruise line but over the years are well established in the loyalty programs of RCI, Celebrity, Princess, and HAL. Going on a different cruise line after a stretch of trips on the same line can be like a breath of fresh air. With that said, these cruise lines are much more the same than they are different. We've done the Emerald Princess 10 day itineraries to the east and southern Caribbean and may do it again. We recently did a 10 day southern Caribbean on HAL's Noordam which was terrific. If you are a left coaster you might consider one of the Panama Canal cruises with Princess or HAL (our next cruise is Panama Canal on HAL from San Diego). Viva the difference!