Over 55s Which cruiseline is your favourite

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Holland hands down ....

[Priya2]

Holland hands down ....

may I ask, have you sailed on other Lines e.g. Celebrity? What is it about Holland America that makes it special for you?

[springfire]

We are about to take our 16th cruise on RCCL. We love the ships, the new ones Oasis and Allure are amazing. It seems like they would be crowded with that many people but actually feel small. It is worth it to gain some status with a line. We are Diamond with RCCL and they really make it easy for us.

 

I also prefer RCCL!

[Raring to go]

Whichever one I am currently sailing on!

[SailBadtheSinner]

Whichever one I will be sailing on next!

 

 

SBtS

[OCruisers]

We liked Princess when we were way younger than 55. :)

We still like Princess now that we are way over 55. :D

 

LuLu

~~~~

[DJSchib]

First time cruiser. We are 55 and trying to decide between Celebrity Reflection or the Oasis. Want to relax and enjoy, not big into drinking or gambling. Is there way too many kids on the Oasis vs Reflection to be able to relax? Is there enough entertainment and things to do on the Reflection?

 

DJ

[Gunner22aa]

Been on five different lines, all but one at least twice. NCL was a once and once only for us for a lot of reasons I won't get into. We have settled on Princess and our last 6 cruises have been with them. It seems that they offer the itineraries that we like and longer cruises which we tend to take these days. The next is 31 days this coming April. We are blessed that we can stay in a suite and for us the ammenities that Princess offers its suite guests are ones we use. I for one don't need a butler and frankly the last one we had on Celebrity was a ghost. A big one for us is the free laundry and dry cleaning that not many other lines offer. I'll be packing for the next cruise as if it were 10 days and not 31.

 

Everyone has a favourite and for their own reasons. Enjoy which ever one you pick.

[MommaBear55]

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean x4, Celebrity twice and Princess once. As quiet, relaxed people who don't party or gamble, we like Royal best for the food, the pools, the availability of quiet areas. However, would cheerfully sail any of the three, and now that we are experienced cruisers, we would like to try Princess again, as it was our first cruise and had no idea what to expect! You can shuffle board or party hearty on any of these.

 

Sail when school is in session, the cruise is more than 6 days long and you will have the fewest children. I love kids but would not want the mayhem of a spring break cruise.

[Ontariotrekker]

Voyages to Antiquity - small ship, usually no kids, no casino, great shore trips, low single supplement &wine/tips low included but you do have to travel overseas to pick up the cruise.

 

I also travel HAL.

[Tom47]

Have now looked at Oceania. Looks lovely, but too expensive for us if we want to go on lots of cruises! :(

 

 

See below for my comparison RCI to X We are in our 60s Tom

Just off Brilliance of the Seas, 10-22-11 Hi Folks

Liz and I have returned from BOS Eastern Med. cruise, starting and ending in Barcelona--stopped in Palermo, Sicily, Rhodes and Athens, Greece, Istanbul, Turkey and Malta.

Food ranged from very good to very poor. Liz received a Salmon fillet that was so dry it was inedible.

Shows were excellent. Casino was smoky and you had to walk thru it to get to certain places.

We are not gamblers or smokers. We participated in the 1st night slot pull and found the smoke annoying.

Music at Sail Away party was so loud it hurt my ears!!

All of the ports were great. Weather was very pleasant--50's and 60's most days.

Crew were always friendly. Room steward Thomas was friendly and efficient.

I think that I like Celebrity better--smoking not allowed in Casino, food was very good w/o exception, sail away party was friendly and not loud.

[CRUSINCBS]

I have found fewer families (with children) on Holland American. Also, when we cruised on Cunard I didn't see any children, at all. Cunard was very upscale, however, my husband found it too conservative with not enough to do during the day. Weather was factor. It was December and not pool weather. I would stay away from RCCL. Lots children since they have a great camp program.

[boopsahoy]

NCL-they do the suite life so well!

[Badbird]

Since I am still working I have to choose what is available on my vacation week. We have only sailed with Carnival and RCL, we love RCL especially Freedom of the Seas. I am hoping Carnival has improved since we will be taking a 7 day cruise in Nov on the Dream. I'll let you all know when I get back.

[West Coast Gal]

Princess is our favorite of the ones that we have been on. Though it isn't as great as it was say 7 years ago, the service seems more crisp, MDR food seems better than most other lines, enjoy the itineraries better, lots of choices of things to do on the ship, Best steakhouse on the seas . . on the con side the buffet and the nickel and dime with too much paperwork showing up in your cabin.

HAL - more sedate [in factor borderline boring] didn't go back

Celebrity, close second for us, just a little slower - but Qsine is a specialty restaurant you shouldn't miss.

Went on Carnival because we had the 20somethings with us

[iancal]

We like them all and select based on itinerary, ship, price, etc.

 

We find that there can be a larger difference between ships in the same cruise line as there is between cruise lines themselves.

 

Our current favourite is Celebrity. But this could change if Celebrity starts cutting back like HAL seems to be. We usually look first at Princess, HAL, and Celebrity.

 

We really do like Celebrity's smoking policy. When all things are equal, that alone can be the deciding factor for us.

 

We have also had great cruises on Carnival, RCI, Crystal, and NCL. Top of our list to try is Oceania and Azamara (sp).

Edited October 3, 2013 by iancal

[Tatka]

I think Princess caters perfectly to all ages. Even during school vacation times there is a limit to a number of kids plus 2 adult only pools.

 

Other than that it all depends on itin and time of the year. We are just of Brilliance of the Seas and in our early fourties were among the youngest pax. Median age was around 55-60. Atmosphere was Celebrity like, great service and right size ship - 90 T.

[yorkiemomjn]

Have now looked at Oceania. Looks lovely, but too expensive for us if we want to go on lots of cruises! :(

 

I understand, but we only cruise once a year. Probably best to NOT try O until you are ready to take fewer cruises because you will really have a hard time going back to the large cruise lines after having been on O. ;)

[nanwel]

I wanted to try Oceana this winter, but the cruise I wanted did not have a single price. My luck - and Seaborn did not go anywhere new.

I cruise twice a yr, or more, and am booked on Royal Voyageur for 2 wks inFeb because it was available where I wanted to be. Around New Zealand.

I have a second trip after that - from LA to Costa Rica, but not on a cruise

I want to visit many different countries, not keep repeating what I have done before.

Been on 9 different c lines - each has something I like, nun I would not go back on,

Find if you pay more for the cruise upfront with more expensive lines, you end up paying less out of pocket on board, they tend to include more.

[jcc1025]

RCCL is our favorite, especially the new big ships. Hard to believe how Oasis and Allure can be so big but seem so small when you are on board. We have sailed a lot and these ships just blow us away.

[ChocolatePirate]

We love Regent Seven Seas. All inclusive except for tips for non-Regent staff (tour guides and bus drivers). Dress code is country club casual--no formal nights except on longer cruises, and then they are optional. No photographers as you enter the ship. Excellent service, excellent staff, and excellent food. We love the all inclusive. We love the small ships.

 

DH is an non-drinker. At first the almost every waitperson said, "Are you sure you don't want something from the bar?" Then we got a waitperson who understood.

Edited November 1, 2013 by DixieDeer

[LHT28]

I wanted to try Oceana this winter, but the cruise I wanted did not have a single price.

They have a single price it is just the same as paying for 2 people less the port fees/taxes for the 2nd person

 

My friend travels solo on Oceania at least once a yr more if she can away with it ;)

[GCHAN]

Thank you. The ratings on such surveys are useful, but I particularly wanted to counsel the views of over 55s because, I guess our needs/wants are often different to young adults and families travelling with children.

 

May I ask, which is your favourite line and why?

 

We have had 4 cruises on HAL , 2 on Celebrity and our first was on MSC.

 

HAL are the best in our opinion and in the price range we can afford. They have what we like. They have excellent food, good entertainment, good activities such as trivia competitions,dancing classes,computer classes and many others. They also had olympics which include golf ,basketball ,volleyball and many others. This a lot of fun on sea days. You meet a lot of people by participating in the activities.

 

They also have self service laundry which is useful.

 

Celebrity is good. We were on Solstice in January and this was very good. We were on the Constellation in The Mediterranean in October and the itinerary was great but in my opinion the food isn't as good as HAL. They don't have self service laundry.

 

I am finding at the moment the determining factor on selecting our cruises is itinerary and this is why we selected the October Celebrity cruise.

 

We will be also looking at Princess as we can get ex military benefits through them and they come highly recommended. They also have interesting Tahiti cruises and Japan cruises.

[Tatka]

Princess is very good for various ages.

[Priya2]

All your responses are really interesting. I hadn't really considered HAL. I'll have a look.:)