which cruise line should we try next?

[NCteacherlovescruising]

This question is for those that have cruised Carnival and other cruise lines as well. We debarked from our 5th Carnival cruise today. We are ready to try a different line with better customer service. We enjoy the shows, the comedy club and lounging by the pool. We like Caribbean ports but would also like to see Alaska. We are in our mid-late 40's and our youngest is17.

[Brooklyn Boy]

You might want to try Royal Caribbean. IMHO the decor is a lot nicer, and there is a lot more live music. On the down side similar cabins on RCI are smaller. The big difference I have found is the pricing. RCI prices seem to be approx 20 to 25 percent higher than CCL. It is a matter of personal taste and finances as to wheather or not RCI is worth the extra cost.

[sgcass123]

We haven't been on any others besides Carnival, but we are trying Norwegian next summer because they are in Europe. I'm excited to try a new cruiseline, and hope to like it as much as I do Carnival.

[golfadj]

We did our first Princess cruise, a TA to Europe earlier this year and loved it.

[evandbob]

This question is for those that have cruised Carnival and other cruise lines as well. We debarked from our 5th Carnival cruise today. We are ready to try a different line with better customer service. We enjoy the shows, the comedy club and lounging by the pool. We like Caribbean ports but would also like to see Alaska. We are in our mid-late 40's and our youngest is17.

 

Try NCL for shows and entertainment; for Alaska, go with Princess, they have the best access and most experience in that state.

 

When your kids are a few years older or married/engaged , experiment with Celebrity for a family cruise.

 

I applaud you for branching out to other lines. After 5 cruises on Carnival, you've probably have the CD spiels and "entertainment" down pat.

Edited July 13, 2014 by evandbob

[SeagoingMom]

If you are truly open to any other choices, why not pick the ship that has the itinerary you want at the price you want, and try it? Take advantage of your openness and be adventurous! Let "fate" decide which line/ship you take.

 

Many people (not I, however) will tell you there is nowhere to go but "up" from Carnival. You can read these boards 'til the cows come home and find for every cruise line and for every ship, folks who love it and folks who hate it. On threads about every ship and line "customer service" is as popular a topic of complaint as any other topic.

 

We have sailed on Carnival, Princess, Celebrity and HAL and not had a bad cruise yet (though HAL was my favorite and Princess my least favorite.) But we enjoy different things than you do while cruising.

[SadieN]

For Alaska try either Princess or HAL. Both have multiple ships there and the prices are usually lower. Both have a huge infrastructure in Alaska if you want to do a cruisetour.

 

We have really enjoyed our cruises on Princess and HAL but missed the vibrancy of Carnival.

[loubetti]

Definitely try Celebrity. No, it's not a party atmosphere and more sedate, but it is more upscale, and the price might not be as bad as you think. :)

[Yazoo cruiser]

We just completed our 78th cruise on several lines including RCCL, Princess, Norwegian, Commodore, Dolphin and others I have forgotten. Each have their advantages and disadvantages. As someone above said, I would think the itenerary and price to be the main deciding factors. You mention better customer service, of all the ones we have sailed we have NOT had better service than Carnival. Whatever you decide I hope you have great time and come back and give us a short review.

[Crusin Hogs]

Princess is nice

[Confuzzled]

Sitting in the San Juan airport right now after getting off the Valor. It was a wonderful cruise with a great itinerary and we had a blast. That being said, we definitely found the service lacking and are also looking elsewhere for our next cruise. We met several veteran carnival cruisers, one of them Platinum, who assured us this wasn't the norm for Carnival. While nobody was rude or unfriendly, the service we have experienced on NCL was vastly superior.

[champagne123]

Love Celebrity. Hoping to cruise on this cruise line again someday...

RCCL is our second favorite.:o:):o

[gsu_paintballer]

Definitely try Celebrity. No, it's not a party atmosphere and more sedate, but it is more upscale, and the price might not be as bad as you think. :)

 

You're right about the pricing. We booked a Celebrity cruise this year and paid less than the comparable CCL cruise AND it included the drink package.

[FireEater]

As you can tell in my signature line below, I have been on CCL, DCL, NCL, and RCL with 11 cruises total. I have had issues on a few, but nothing that will cause me to run to another cruise line for the issues.

 

I tried NCL last for a quick 3 day cruise in advance for a 7 day one next April. I found the crew, from the glass wiper in the passageways, to the mid level officers, to the senior officers all to be pleasant and nice.

 

On my last RCL 3 day cruise, I found all the crew that I came into contact with as being robots, just going thru the motion, no smiles, no excuse me, no nothing except for my room attendant. That along with the size of our cabin (balcony) has now pushed us away from RCL. I know food is subjective, but we found the food to be good though, although the previous RCL cruise, to be bland.....Bad chef day ??

 

No issues with either Disney or Carnival.

 

My next booking will be either Celebrity or Princess, just to try something different. Not because of any bad issues on previous cruises, but due to not experiencing other lines to know what, if anything, I am missing.

 

Good luck in your choice....

 

As mentioned above, they all have their pros and cons plus bad week...

Edited July 13, 2014 by FireEater

[golfb4cruzing]

We did our share of Carnival and now Princess. Imho the food, shows, ambiance, adult areas are all better. Not sure there would be much for the 17 yr old to do. We cruise to relax and do not want constant sales announcements or pool contests. We also do the smaller ships and not 6000 people.

[AdGuyMG]

For Alaska try either Princess or HAL. Both have multiple ships there and the prices are usually lower. Both have a huge infrastructure in Alaska if you want to do a cruisetour.

 

We have really enjoyed our cruises on Princess and HAL but missed the vibrancy of Carnival.

 

Agree with both paragraphs 100%.

[ScottsSweetie]

We just got off our 2nd NCL cruise and would like to try more of those. However, be prepared for your room to be smaller than on Carnival! We felt like we were on that commercial where the (grown) kid comes home and the parents have expanded their kitchen. "Slide on in", lol! :) Also would love to try another RCCL, as it has been years since we've been there, but their prices are a LOT higher than other lines.

 

We have Alaska on our bucket list, and as other posters have already noted, I have also been told to choose Princess or HAL for that itinerary.

 

Happy Cruising!

[sunnydaygirl]

Have done Alaska on Princess, I must say, the best desserts and a great soda pkg that includes all Non-alcoholic drinks(smoothies, shakes, hot choc etc) I loved it. I'm sure teenagers would too. I've traveled with Carnival the most, but have enjoyed RCCL ships the most, have also sailed Norwegian, and have a Celebrity booked. My advice is to look at ports first, destination 2nd, and then ship, not line! Eventually I believe the ship can be the most important choice. If you love to cruise and your port choices are limited( travel considerations ) then going back to the same old destinations can be boring, it's the ships that can offer the difference! Hope you take chances and enjoy!!

 

 

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[Bahcruiseyguy78]

I find this thread very interesting ... as I'm in the same boat ... Been a few times on Carnival ... was nice .... once on NCL Epic - epic Fail! - never again! - only thing good was the shows! .....

Was planning a Celebrity Cruise last year, but that fell through!

I'm a chef, and was thinking about trying MSC Line ? ... ..... any thoughts???

[Hlitner]

Consider expanding your horizons beyond the Caribbean, as well as trying a different cruise line. DW and I have been fortunate to have cruised on 14 different lines (about 70 ships) over a lot of years, and enjoyed every cruise. Like most, we started out with short Caribbean cruises and we still try to do a 14 day Caribbean cruise each year. But cruise ships go to all 7 Continents, far more then 100 countries and hundreds of ports. Not only are there differences between the various cruise lines, but there can be major differences between some of the ships of the same cruise line. So look at your budget, time you can get off, and research various itineraries.

 

Hank

[OCruisers]

An easy jump from Carnival when talking about Alaska would be NCL.

Only Princess, HAL, & NCL are allowed to go to Glacier Bay so since you like Carnival, NCL would be more of a little bounce than a jump. :D

LuLu

[Calgon1]

Holland America and Princess "do" Alaska better than anyone else. You won't do any better. As you appear to have discovered, price is not not the best criteria. The cruise industry is like most others . . . you usually get what you pay for.

[big al]

This question is for those that have cruised Carnival and other cruise lines as well. We debarked from our 5th Carnival cruise today. We are ready to try a different line with better customer service. We enjoy the shows, the comedy club and lounging by the pool. We like Caribbean ports but would also like to see Alaska. We are in our mid-late 40's and our youngest is17.

 

I have cruised 29 times- 12x on RCI, 6x Carnival, 5x NCL, 2X Disney, and one each on HAL, Princess, Celebrity, & Celebration..I am also a cruise agent and have toured another 30 ships, most recently the NCL Getaway ( very cool), and MSC Divina ( possibly THEE most beautiful ship I've seen so far)..these are MY thoughts & opinions: The nicest ships are Royal Caribbean's Oasis class & Freedom Class ships..certainly compared to any Carnival ship, they have a lot more perqs & attractions for a family ,especially ones with teens..the flowrider ( surf simulator), amazing diving shows in the Aquatheater ( Oasis ships only), ice skating shows with Canadian, Russian & U.S. skaters is lots of fun ( to great music, BTW),rock-climbing wall , Central Park ( Oasis), a zip-line ( Oasis ships) and the Royal Promenade should keep all busy all week..also the private islands of Coco Cay & Labadee have plenty for the family to do..yes, RCI is more $$, but the ships are soooo much nicer IMO..

 

For LOTS of activities and LOTS of dining options, the new NCL Getaway in Miami, and Breakaway in NY cannot be topped..a friend of mine went on the Breakaway a year ago after 15 cruises mostly on RCI & Celebrity and LOVED her..he said the entertainment was the best he ever saw, and he dined 5 nights in specialty venues and all 5 were superb..he STILL talks about that cruise a year later..they have good prices and often lots of ship board credits ( know as SBC or OBC -on board credit)..I love specialty dining..they have a Japanese restaurant ( Teppanyaki), where they cook the food hibachi style ,right in front of you..also an American steakhouse called Cagney's and my fav, a French place called Le Bistro...most of these venues are $20-30 PP ,but you get better food, better service, better ambiance, and things like escargots, creme brulee, surf & turf, fried rice, NY strip, and more..things you cannot get in the main dining room ( MDR)...also they have an Irish Pub called O'Sheehans, which is 24/7 and has FREE food, including fish & chips..there's a great magic /dinner show called "Illusionarium" and a play called "Legally Blonde"....you & your family will NOT be bored on the newer NCL ships .

 

For something a bit more upscale, the Celebrity Solstice class ships are wonderful..great food, top notch service and there's entertainment going on throughout the ship all day..Disney IMO, has the best service, best shows ( especially if the kids grew up with Disney movies), best cabins ( most cabins have TWO bathrooms!!) , best private island in Castaway Cay ( a destination in itself) and the best MDR food IMO..they had shrimp cocktail, crab claws AND coconut fried shrimp in the buffet,wow! Disney has a great 4 night cruise on the Disney Dream or a 7 nighter on the Disney Fantasy, the # 1 rated ship on CC..it's important to know that Disney is about 20% more than most other mainstream lines..we are early 60's, no kids and loved both cruises..there are water slides and water flume rides and Pirate shows with fireworks...Disney DOES know how to do it..

 

Finally, you may want to try Princess for Alaska, they are considered the best for Alaska..BUT, they tend to be a bit older in passenger age ( as ALL Alaskan cruises are) as is HAL..we tried HAL a few years ago, but at 54 & 52 ( wife) we were 25 years younger than the average passenger..we also found the food ( which is subjective) to be mediocre...shows were below average and the ship closed down at 10 or 11 PM..

 

If I wanted to try something with a young family, I would try RCI ( Oasis class, Freedom class or Voyager class only) or NCL ( just the Epic, Breakaway or Getaway, not the smaller ships) , or Celebrity ( Solstice class ONLY) or Disney, if $$ is not an issue ..also ALL of these IMO, would be an upgrade from Carnival- Carnival is fine, but IMO, there's a lot out there much better...many don't like the cutbacks CCL has made like a DJ at the pool instead of a live reggae band, and mediocre shows at night..anymore specific questions, let me know..I've been doing this a long time and as you can see, cruised a lot of different lines..good luck..

 

Big Al

[GUT2407]

We did our share of Carnival and now Princess. Imho the food, shows, ambiance, adult areas are all better. Not sure there would be much for the 17 yr old to do. We cruise to relax and do not want constant sales announcements or pool contests. We also do the smaller ships and not 6000 people.

 

 

I agree about the 6000 people I find even 2000 to be too many.

[Warm Breezes]

We have sailed Disney, NCL, CCL, and Princess, but have researched most cruiselines when searching for our cruises to pick. With a 17 year old my suggestion would be NCL or RCCL....IMHO there just seems to be more for teens to do than on the other lines mentioned on here.