Change of pace

[diesel1973]

Have been cruising X past 10 yrs and ready for a change. Am considering Carr. cruise next year on Serenade which fits our sched. Will I be disappointed or not?? We have cruised RCCL in past and were satisfied back then and wondering if it has changed that much. Any opinions????

[tserface]

We switch between Celebrity and RCI all the time. We love both. If you are used to S class ships you may find the Serenade to be a bit small, but since you're looking for a change of pace that might be worthwhile for a try.

 

I think the Serenade has also been refreshed lately (renovated in cruise line lingo).

 

We've never been on Serenade, but we have been on Brilliance and Radiance (same class) and we loved the ships.

 

RCI is a little more upbeat than Celebrity (rock climbing walls, more silly fun competitions, etc.), but that's always a refreshing change for us as well.

 

We've been sailing on RCI since the early 90's and aside from fancier bigger ships and no more midnight buffets I don't think there is a lot of difference. Others may not agree, but the experience is still as great IMO.

 

You have to change it up occasionally to keep the experience fresh.

 

Tom

 

Have been cruising X past 10 yrs and ready for a change. Am considering Carr. cruise next year on Serenade which fits our sched. Will I be disappointed or not?? We have cruised RCCL in past and were satisfied back then and wondering if it has changed that much. Any opinions????

[siestaclaud]

We are huge X fans and have been on 3. Just got off our second ever - and last ever - RCI on the Freedom for NYE. It was a HUGE disappointment. X spoils you to death with all the little things and awesome service and food. The ships are amazing, tasteful and beautiful. The level of obnoxiousness is low. We had some nice towel animals on the Freedom, but service and food were terrible, and there were so many people that there were really no special things. Obnoxious LOUD everywhere. No cold towels or water after a day in port, no towels to take when going into port (sorry - all out), my time dining was terrible - no special service at all - rushed overwhelmed service - we felt terrible for the staff. I could go on and on and on here. :( Glad we had a vacation, but huge regrets that we did not choose X. We are trying NCL Getaway in August with a group of 15. I am trying to mentally prepare this time that it will not be as good as X - but hey its a cruise so I will do my best to relax and enjoy! :)

[Starry Eyes]

We are huge X fans and have been on 3. Just got off our second ever - and last ever - RCI on the Freedom for NYE. It was a HUGE disappointment. X spoils you to death with all the little things and awesome service and food. The ships are amazing, tasteful and beautiful. The level of obnoxiousness is low. We had some nice towel animals on the Freedom, but service and food were terrible, and there were so many people that there were really no special things. Obnoxious LOUD everywhere. No cold towels or water after a day in port, no towels to take when going into port (sorry - all out), my time dining was terrible - no special service at all - rushed overwhelmed service - we felt terrible for the staff. I could go on and on and on here. :( Glad we had a vacation, but huge regrets that we did not choose X. We are trying NCL Getaway in August with a group of 15. I am trying to mentally prepare this time that it will not be as good as X - but hey its a cruise so I will do my best to relax and enjoy! :)

I can understand your reasons for favoring Celebrity over Royal Caribbean. Reading the reasons for those preferences, I must say that NCL Getaway sounds completely wrong for you! I personally sail all three lines, and I find things to enjoy on each. I think you will find NCL to be louder (decor and volume) than Royal Caribbean. For years I have felt service is generally substantially better on Royal Caribbean than NCL, and I must say NCL's service seems to be declining substantially further of late. So bad I may not sail them again unless there is a special reason (like unique itinerary). Their service is a far cry from X. Same goes for food, unless you go to specialty restaurants. I will say that some NCL ships sometimes set out beverages or towels for guests returning from port calls, but not consistent.

If your NCL trip is about enjoying the 15 people, I get it; otherwise perhaps best to re-consider your options.

[TravelerThom]

We are huge X fans and have been on 3. Just got off our second ever - and last ever - RCI on the Freedom for NYE. It was a HUGE disappointment. X spoils you to death with all the little things and awesome service and food. The ships are amazing, tasteful and beautiful. The level of obnoxiousness is low. We had some nice towel animals on the Freedom, but service and food were terrible, and there were so many people that there were really no special things. Obnoxious LOUD everywhere....

I realize that every cruise is different, even on the same ship. We were Elite on X before setting foot on RCI; and now are both Elite+ and Diamond+ (and no, Plus is not reciprocal). There are lots of things I like about X, but I have found that I am sailing less and less on X because I often find Celebrity obnoxiously loud, and find it much easier to avoid intrusive noise on RCI. I base this on a number of cruises, including 6 weeks on RCI in 2014 and 2 weeks on Celebrity in 2014. Leaving in two weeks for 2 weeks on RCI. YMMV.

 

Thom

[tserface]

Wow, sounds like you had a bad experience. That's sad. We were on Freedom last year for a B2B in the Caribbean and we thought it was the best ship and cruise we'd ever done. We did get cold drinks and towels on the way in from ports. We don't take towels on shore so I don't know about that, but we had towels in our room that we could have used. We thought the food was delightful and MTD ran flawlessly for everyone we know on board.

 

We've never been on NCL so can't really comment on that, but I guess different sailings have different experiences. Of course, food and service are subjective so there are often different opinions from the same cruise.

 

To be fair, one time we were on a Celebrity cruise in a Sky Suite that ended up right under the buffet so every morning at 5:30a they started rolling around carts. The butler was pretty much non-existent. The food was still really good (we're not very picky so it always seems good to us).

 

I guess it could happen anywhere.

 

Tom

 

We are huge X fans and have been on 3. Just got off our second ever - and last ever - RCI on the Freedom for NYE. It was a HUGE disappointment. X spoils you to death with all the little things and awesome service and food. The ships are amazing, tasteful and beautiful. The level of obnoxiousness is low. We had some nice towel animals on the Freedom, but service and food were terrible, and there were so many people that there were really no special things. Obnoxious LOUD everywhere. No cold towels or water after a day in port, no towels to take when going into port (sorry - all out), my time dining was terrible - no special service at all - rushed overwhelmed service - we felt terrible for the staff. I could go on and on and on here. :( Glad we had a vacation, but huge regrets that we did not choose X. We are trying NCL Getaway in August with a group of 15. I am trying to mentally prepare this time that it will not be as good as X - but hey its a cruise so I will do my best to relax and enjoy! :)