Over 55s Which cruiseline is your favourite

[DKCDKC]

We're not huge cruise types ... But have 8 cruises. We cannot fly, so cruise ships are our way across the pond. Our favorite lines are Holland America and Celebrity. Cunard is pretty good, and we had no problems really with RCL and Norwegian. We've done two cruises on Carnival. The first, in 1986, was fairly blah. But that was when cruising was young. We did another Caribbean cruise on Carnival in 2009. It was terrible. Wait staff were rude and really awful to the vegan in our party. (Vegan was unable to get good food for several days from anywhere on the ship.) Crew was blah, except for those running shuttle boat to a port - they were rude and insulting toward those with less abilities. We will never sail Carnival again.

 

The other lines, however, have been great.

[Cruisa Loosa]

having cruised over 30 times now on the likes of Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, Norwegian, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and one other line that no longer exists - we love Princess.

 

We are elite on Princess, so of course we love the little perks they give us. I guess the intangible item is the ambiance onboard the ships. Very friendly and very open.

 

One other consideration is that we tend to travel on 14 or more day trips and so there are never really any children on board of significance. The longer trips give us time to really get to know other people and it gives us time to utilize the specialty restaurants. That said, this is probably true of all cruise lines.

 

Hope this helps a bit. Knick

I have to agree with Knick. We started cruising later in life, in our fifties and are totally hooked. Have done three cruises with Princess, one being a 28 day; and one cruise with HAL. I prefer Princess for the overall ambiance, the activities in the evening and the decor of the ship. I think HAL is very similar in many ways but the overall energy on the ship seems a little understated. I do like the larger staterooms on HAL. We are doing 22 days on HAL next summer so we will have a better chance to compare then.

Overall, I am thrilled to cruise anytime, on any ship. You meet fantastic people from all over and get to see so many places. The itinerary is really the deciding factor for us. We plan many more cruises for sure.

[LuvBNatC]

Used to be a poster girl for NCL, but then along came Freestyle...

 

Now I prefer Royal Caribbean.

 

I'm giving NCL another chance because Royal's pricing this year for singles was terrible. Trying a much bigger ship with more venues than were available on my last NCL Freestyle cruise, and hope they won't make me feel like a pariah if I have to dine alone.

[lkj1301]

We started cruising with NCL because of freestyle dining for DH (that's what he wanted). Now he's changed his mind to traditional dining :rolleyes: We have only sailed NCL & Princess with Celebrity coming up in Feb. We try to cruise when kids are in school. Or take 10 - 11 night cruises. Not that we do not like children, but since we do not have any, I feel I don't want to deal with them. If I did, I could visit nieces and nephews (plenty of them, now ages 16 - 27).

 

We've sailed Coral Princess - Panama Canal - wonderful cruise except DH came down with Norovirus the last night. NCL Pride of America was another wonderful cruise. I am, however, looking forward to our 1st Celebrity cruise, 11 night western Caribbean. After Celebrity...who knows :eek:

[pascalburns]

princess is my pick.have sailed rcl,norwegin and carnival.still like princes

the best.:):)

[karska]

Celebrity is my pick. Used to be Princess. Not any more. Don't like NCL or RCCL. Just did first Oceania loved that.

 

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[Floridiana]

Celebrity is my pick. Used to be Princess. Not any more. Don't like NCL or RCCL. Just did first Oceania loved that.

 

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I am glad you liked Oceania. It's my favorite. I have been on Princess, was ok, and HAL, I like their long itineraries. One NCL cruise was one too many. :rolleyes: I have been on Celebrity Xpedition, but I think that ship is not typical for the line. Our next cruise will be on Ponant for the itinerary.

[jerrymanos]

DW and I are in our early 60's. We love to dance. Up until our last cruise on Solstice, our favorite line was Celebrity. The Solstice Class ships are not designed for couples dancing. Celebrity seems to be trying to attract younger clients, so our favorite cruiseline now is Cunard. The largest ballrooms at sea with elegantly attired formal nights are more our style. There are so few venues any more where one can enjoy elegance in formal wear -- and I'm not talking about wearing a suit which is at best semi-formal. I'm going to sail on Cunard as much as I can right now before the casual dress and personal comfort trend takes over every aspect of style. Cunard is more expensive than Celebrity and the food and service are better on Celebrity to us, but the elegance, the ballrooms and the music now make Cunard a better choice for us.

 

The music on Solstice had an interesting pattern. Early, on each evening of music, the party band would play good couples dancing music. After about 1 hour they would change to music that lends itself to what I call rhythmic bobbing. The younger passengers preferred that. They would stand on the floor - each individual bobbing up and down. Partners not required. That's fine, but since I'm an old man set in his ways, I just changed to Cunard as my cruiseline of choice. When they no longer do elegance, I may move up to Crystal. If they move to casual dress all the time and rhythmic bobbing music, I guess I'll just have to stay home. Time to make room for the younger generation. Jerry of Jerry and Lady Kathryn

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Holland hands down ..

[Chelly]

Holland first, Celebrity second.

This year I have a HAL coming up, followed by my first Carnival, followed by my first NCL. Just wanted try something different.

[Folk Singer]

What ever turns our fancy.

[Ecugrad]

We've pretty much given up on the larger ships. To us they've become like a floating circus. In the last 3 years, we've started going on much smaller ships (under 100 passengers). We like the more laid back styles and the more off the beaten path options. On first glance, they'll appear to be much more expensive than the mass market lines but nearly all of the excursions are included in the price. In addition, they are much more flexible in their scheduling. The only certain things on the schedule are the initial departure time and port and the ending disembarkation time and port. Places like Alaska are especially well suited to this type of cruise.

[bar_20]

I have cruised Hal, Celbrity, Princess, RC, Disney, Seabourn and Azamara.

Seabourn and Azamara are tied for first for me.

 

 

They should be because they 1/3 to 1/2 more than the mainstream lines.

 

That's like saying I have driven a Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Honda and Mercedes Benz. I liked Mercedes the best.

[BillOh]

I would stay away from RCCL. Lots children since they have a great camp program.

 

I would dispute this as a blanket statement for 2 reasons.

 

1. There are certain ships and times of year you can minimize this. We cruise around our anniversary which is post Spring break and pre- end of school year and don't see a lot of kids.

 

2. The bigger ships have adult areas and kids areas and we had no trouble avoiding kids when we wanted to for the most part. There are a lot of things I don't like to do and those things attract people away from the ones I do like to do. Sometimes on Royal's bigger ships we will walk through the kids areas just to see what they are doing with themselves and then retreat back.

[Folk Singer]

Wish we were on board right now as we are busy shovelling right now.

 

:):)

[Ky Colonel]

Except for 2 Disney cruises (which we took with our granddaughters), all of our cruises have been on HAL. I highly recommend HAL for the following reasons:

 

1. HAL passengers are typically older than what you will find on RC, NCL Carnival and, of course, Disney, so the on board activities are geared to a more mature crowd and there are seldom any young children (well-behaved or otherwise) on HAL cruises;

 

2. Price-wise, HAL is generally less expensive than Cunard, Celebrity, Seaborn and Azamara but IMHO offers a comparable level of service to the higher-priced lines;

 

3. HAL's itineraries are as good as, and in many cases better than, you will find on any other cruise line you'll find on any other line;

 

4. HAL's staterooms are typically larger than comparably-priced staterooms on the other lines;

 

5. The artwork on display around the HAL ships is absolutely first-class and well worth the price of a cruise; and

 

6. Most important to my DW and me, HAL is the only cruise line that has a Catholic priest on every one of its cruises, so we are able to attend daily Mass and enjoy some spiritual renewal as part of our vacation. (If you're not Catholic, don't worry about being "forced" to attend Mass - it is all voluntary and very low key.)

 

Whichever line you choose, I wish you smooth sailing,

 

Rod

[Oppalopa]

Royal

[Folk Singer]

We perfer Royal as well. Although seriously looking at HAL right now as they do the longer Cruises.

[SurferJoe57]

Carnival - just be sure to go when the kids are in school! If you take a longer Iteniary, during a non-school break period, you'll see energetic happy people... Yep there's a water slide, but I'll have it all to myself (and I'll be 60 shortly).

[Chelly]

Carnival - just be sure to go when the kids are in school! If you take a longer Iteniary, during a non-school break period, you'll see energetic happy people... Yep there's a water slide, but I'll have it all to myself (and I'll be 60 shortly).

 

Oh, I love your attitude. I am taking my first solo Carnival cruise on Aug 29. I am looking forward to that water slide. Will turn 70 next week (oh oh....Is there an age limit on the water slide?)

[SurferJoe57]

Oh, I love your attitude. I am taking my first solo Carnival cruise on Aug 29. I am looking forward to that water slide. Will turn 70 next week (oh oh....Is there an age limit on the water slide?)

(I think there might be a minimal age limit...?)

I'm obliged to try out HAL, as they have some great iteniaries and after I "stop going to this regular job" (? retire? ) I'm planning on a round-the-world, and that would most likely be on HAL - but - I'm happy with Carnival's entertainment selections, food, and have gotten used to Joe Farca's over-the-top decor on certain ships.

I don't know that I'd like Princess, and have no opportunity, baring flying over to the UK, to try P&O and the other British lines that were mentioned.

Kids fall into two groups: The youngish ones that are fascinated by the atrium elevators and ride them up & down continually..which is ok, I need the exercise on the stairs....and the Spring Breakers...I've stumbled onto that crowd a few times...and happily note that (a) my daughters never did go on "Spring Break" and (b) I didn't either, as I put myself through college, and © your parents are obviously idiots to have raised you to behave like this. But that's like free reality tv, so I've enjoyed watching the show.

Edited April 23, 2015 by SurferJoe57

[DFWGUYZ]

Although we've been on one HAL and one Princess Line cruise since our discovery on which line is best suited for us...it truly is a toss up....while HAL provided a satisfactory experience, Princess offered a more diverse ,yet , tolerable cross section of American/Canadian passenger ratio. HAL is differently a more refined and traditional cruise experience (IOHO) however Princess allowed more freedom in expressing the overall experience as GLBT pax. Why?, you ask?, because of the overall acceptance and accommodation in requesting a "two-top" table for dinners in the MDR. And pairing us with a GLBT friendly assistant waiter and main waiter. Clearly there were considerations in deciding how the seating and pairing of waiters would be determined by our requests. Well Done, Princess! We were happy cruisers with your decisions on waiter/assistant-waiter choices in making us feel comfortable.

[iancal]

Our scale changes to reflect our perceived changes in cruise lines. The ship is often as important as the cruise line to us.

 

At the moment, in mass market cruise lines, Celebrity is at the top of the list, Princess has moved up to a close second.

 

HAL used to be tied for our number1 or 2 choice but has moved down over the past several years. RCI is moving down on our scale as well. We are neutral on Carnival and NCL-very ship and itinerary dependent.

 

Just us, others clearly have different preferences. This is why it is great to have such a large choice of ships and cruise lines.

 

Our favourite is the ship/ cruise line that ticks all of our boxes and has the most attractive combination of price/benefits for a balcony gty on a particular itinerary. We are not married to any one cruise line.

Edited May 17, 2015 by iancal

[karska]

Celebrity is our favorite ,used to like Princess until they put in a large screen TV by the pool. Like piece and quiet. Night life is somewhat important. Esp music/dancing. Not a big show person. Also won't do 5000 passenger ships.

[Noodles84]

OCruisers, may I ask what it is about Princess over Celebrity?

Generally, we prefer Princess because we like long cruises and they seem to have more of a selection of over two week cruises. I would say the service and food were comparable. The exception was Celebity Xpedition which was only a week cruise but was absolutely fabulous!