Was RCCL your first cruise?

[Riff Sniff]

My wife and I have taken three cruises, all with Royal. We chose Royal Caribbean based upon recommendations from friends that have cruised many times with all of the major lines. They felt that the overall cruise experience was best with RCL. We have been very pleased with our RCL experience and are looking forward to our next cruise in March 2013 - Brilliance out of San Juan!

[Coov]

My wife and I have been on 2 Carnival cruises (Imagination and Fascination). Now we are hooked on cruising and are taking my parents with us on their first (our first RCI) cruise on the Enchantment in May.

[luvfamvaca]

First cruise was Carnival, after that it was Royal and we booked Royal for our 3rd! :D

[Onessa]

Our first cruise was on Radiancy back in about 1990 (note - Radiancy not Radiance "of the" Sea :)).

 

We went to Alaska back at a time when AK was a rather exotic destination and between our budget and the limited number of cruise lines operating in AK, we were limited in our choice.

 

The ship was old (it was a sister ship of the Adrea Doria) and was exceedingly traditional (no dining venues other than the MDR and you had to climb down two+ decks on ricketty metal stairs temporarily attached to the side of the ship to get to the tenders, and the distance from the dock to downtown Juneau was about a mile or so!). The sabalizers were old and a bit out of commission so the ship always listed just a bit to starboard. It was an interesting experience and I am sometimes a bit surprised my DH was able to talk me into trying again some time later -- THAT was RCCI (and Radiance :)!) and we've cruised ever since.

[karena1]

We have theory that people tend to stick with the first cruiseline they experience. We took our first cruise in 1996 and it was with RCCL. Since then we have taken 27 of our 43 cruises with RCCL. We think that RCCL is literally making people miss the boat when they have no ship deployed year round on the West Coast when it could be the first cruise that someone experiences and then they would be very loyal to RCCL. We think that RCCL us trading short term profits in Europe for long term market share in the US and giving that first cruise experience to Carnival, Princess and HAL. What are your opinions?

 

Yes, Monarch in 1994. Fell in love with cruising! However, after that we did go on 2 Princess and 1 Celebrity, but we kept coming back to RCCL. Part of it for us also was the ability to go on the 3 night cruises with Royal. We have loved Royal since our very first cruise which is why we keep going back:)

[CruzieSue]

YES, first cruise was on Voyager of the Seas - actually won it through a nationally syndicated radio show, Kidd Kraddick in the Morning :D Before we got off the ship, we had put deposit down to cruise same time next year and take our son with us this time. We were very impressed with RC and the Voyager and just loved the entire experience. Have looked at other cruise lines through their websites but will likely not switch (even though some cruises are less expensive). Just not impressed with what I can find on the other websites. I'm sure we will be LOYAL TO ROYAL for years to come !!! :)

[Ned11]

Yes!

[debshomespun]

Our first cruise was Carnival Destiny 7 nights out of San Juan. We fell in love with cruising. 6 weeks later, we took our first cruise on RC Explorer Western out of Miami. This is when we realized there is a big difference ships AND cruiselines. We REALLY fell in love with cruising then, and have tried 6 different cruiselines. We prefer Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. Then the rest. We have enjoyed ALL of our cruises. Some though, have been much better than others! :D

[wl2cruise]

We have theory that people tend to stick with the first cruiseline they experience. We took our first cruise in 1996 and it was with RCCL. Since then we have taken 27 of our 43 cruises with RCCL. We think that RCCL is literally making people miss the boat when they have no ship deployed year round on the West Coast when it could be the first cruise that someone experiences and then they would be very loyal to RCCL. We think that RCCL us trading short term profits in Europe for long term market share in the US and giving that first cruise experience to Carnival, Princess and HAL. What are your opinions?

 

My first cruise was with Royal 2003. Have cruised 11 more time with them and have one more booked after that I am looking at trying Princess.

[paget]

Our first was with RCCL, second and third with Carnival and the fourth is the end of August back on RCCL.

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

Our first cruise was on the Britanis, I don't even know what line that is/was. Next was Royal Majesty which was not RCL, maybe the Imperial Line but not sure about that either.

 

After that it was a couple of Cunard ships. I had a friend that worked for Cunard when they had their office in NYC. All we had to pay was port and taxes. That was nice!!! Also was a very long time ago!!!!

 

The Britanis sailed for the Chandris Line... the very same line that later became Celebrity Cruises, which ended up merging with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd... so you've come first circle :) The Britanis was retired from service in November, 1994.

[Ladysilver]

Our first cruise was on the Norwegian Sea. Then Rhapsody of the Seas, then Carnival Triumph. Having tried all three, we're comming back to Royal Caribbean to stay! :D

[linkerbink]

Yes...Song of America in 1996. Since then, a total of 10 cruises, all on RCI, with two more coming up.

[Gordo]

First cruise was on a Costa cruise for my senior class trip. Since then we have sailed on a variety of cruise lines based on the destination. We really like RCCL and will check their itineraries first but don't sail them exclusively.

[Lazirus65]

My first cruise was with RCCL on the Brilliance of the Seas, however who i cruise with is based on the itineraries and value for money.

[guineapig]

We first cruised with Ocean Village (4 times)-still nothing was as good as they were, have some great memories on their ships. Then we went Royal Caribbean (3rd one coming up) mainly as Lazirus65 says, for the value for money and the itineraries which are more important to us, don't like too many sea days or the ridged mealtimes/dress code, BUT, we have embraced both and join in when we want. Yes, I know you don't have to dress up and you can eat when ever you wish in Windjammers so there are ways round things, but we have enjoyed RCCL and if the itinerary is where we want to go and its good value we will choose them again but we are always looking at other cruise lines too-even river cruises.

I guess its more the STYLE of holiday we enjoy-traveling to new places-unpacking once-relax if we want-explore if we want, hope to do it for many more years yet!:D

[GoochDSA]

RCCL was actually the 5th different cruise line I was on. The first was Premier (The Big Red Boat), then American Family Cruiseline, Princess, Celebrity and finally RCCL. While RCCL is our preference, we do not only cruise them. We have been on NCL twice (won't return) and have our honeymoon booked on Princess. For us it's more about the itinerary than the cruise line.

[jillyfish]

Our very first cruise was in 1990 on Royal Caribbean - Sovereign of the Seas. We caught the cruising bug and returned to Sovereign a couple of years later. After another cruise on Royal Caribbean we felt the experience wasn't the same as our earlier cruise(s) so started wandering to other lines. We've come full circle and are back on Royal Caribbean. But after our most recent cruise on Allure we were dissatisfied with the Royal Caribbean experience - again. Not sure where this will lead us; smaller Royal Caribbean ships, exploring other lines, or just staying on land.

[sanderson25032]

My first cruise was RCI. The second cruise was Carnival. And yes, we went right back to RCI for the vast majority of our cruises - 3 more on Carnival and 1 on Celebrity.

 

Respectfully, I think you are wrong with your reasoning concerning the west coast cruises. I think the prices were so low that RCI pulled out. Safety was a good excuse although I don't buy it since other cruise lines are still doing the Mexican Riviera and even RCI goes to Acapulco (on PC cruises), the worst of all as far as I'm concerned.

 

When RCI puts a ship back on the west coast, people will be so happy that the prices will be higher than ever before. At least for a while. That's what I think anyway.

 

Gina

I agree, pulling out of the Los Angeles market was a big mistake, imho, our first cruises as a couple were on the Viking Serenade out of LA and this introduced me to the wonderfull world of cruising. ;-)

[sanderson25032]

Anyone else remember the Viking Serenade, quite possibly one of the ugliest cruise ships run by RCCI but so much FUN!!

[Johnd6rose]

Our first cruise was on Voyager. We have sailed 3 times with Celebrity and twice on Princess with another Pricess cruise booked. We have sailed with Royal six times with another scheduled in September. We have enjoyed all of our cruises and use itinerary and embarkation port as criteria for choosing a cruise.

[dal_diva]

Our first cruise back in 1987 was a WindJammer cruise, it was fabulous although very casual.

 

Our first real cruise was on Rhapsody of the Sea when she was cruising year round out of Galveston. This was back in 2002. We probably would not have done that cruise except we could drive to the port in less than 5 hours. It is sad that RCCL does not have a ship there year round.

 

d

[golf43]

My first cruise was aboard the NCL - SS Norway back in 1984. We cruised again on NCL in 1988. In 1989 We cruised on an American Hawaiin cruise ship. We took a break from cruising then in 1999 we went on RCCL then back to NCL and Carnival. The last few cruises have been aboard RCCL which I prefer.

[b&wcruiser]

The Explorer of the Seas, october 2002, Western Caribbean, was our first cruise. After that we took 20 more cruises, only RCL. Loyal to Royal.

Last couple of years, doing 2 Transatlantics a year, love sea days.

[legion3]

Actually it was

 

Song of Norway 1973

 

I have a shot of the pool on a sea day, 17 total people in the picture, only 4 in the pool.

 

have some great shots of my brother, I was to young, shooting skeet with a shotgun off the side.

 

These days I can't justify the price difference over carnival for my family of 4 to cruise. I wish I could but cannot. will try it again at somepoint.