25th Anniversary Advice, Please!

[sister jo]

We've cruised Royal Caribbean on Oasis and Allure. We'd like to cruise to celebrate our 25th next June. I can't decide if we should stay with Royal or try another cruise line. We enjoyed both ships and I'm sure we'd like a newer ship. We like the Caribbean but would like to try ports other than St. Thomas/St. Maarten. Any advice on your favorite ships/itineraries would be appreciated. Thank you!

[Tom47]

My wife and I like Celebrity and Azamara, both owned by RCI. Some perks transfer. Azamara goes to lesser visited ports, but costs more--smaller ships, drinks included, higher staff ratio. Best wishes on 25th:)

[TwinMamainMN]

What about doing a Panama Canal cruise? Still the weather and tropical feel you enjoy, but something different.

 

We are doing Alaska in 3 weeks and next want to go on a Med cruise and a Baltic cruise. The world is too big IMO to only cruise in the Caribbean.

[ToddnMichelle]

i ran across a similar question on another forum. A guy was wanting to celebrate his 50th birthday with a cruise. Had always done Royal but was considering NCL. What i had told them and I offer up to you as well, 25th anniversary is a big milestone! Congratulations by the way. In my opinion, since it sounds like you've cruised exclusively on Royal, stick with what you know but maybe try a different class ship and itinerary. My reasoning behind this is sure, you could try another line and everything might go without a hitch but...considering this is for a milestone anniversary, if you were to try something else and it was less than satisfactory, consider how that may tarnish the event.

 

Stick with what you know and is in your comfort zone for your 25th. Then try a different line at another time when if things don't go as planned, it wouldn't effect things as much.

 

either way, congratulations on making it to 25, here's to many many more!

[lazydayz]

Agree with sticking with the Royal family of ships, as this is a wonderful milestone. That said, check out Celebrity - much like Royal but a a little more upscale and laid back. Congrats on the upcoming anniversary.

 

For our 40th next year, we are doing the Carnival Legend's repositioning cruise from LA to Tampa. Get to transverse the Panama Canal, check out some new ports and end up in our hometown. But we know Carnival and have sailed the Legend before.

 

Enjoy the planning and whichever cruise you decide to take!

[Tom47]

We have only done 1 RCI cruise, 8 with Celebrity and 2 with Azamara. Here is a comparison that I did between X and Az.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2477526

There are other comparisons between X and RCI on the boards.

[Ashland]

Stick with RCI and considering next June lots to choose from...Baltics, Western Med, Italy, Greece...you have lots of amazing options...look carefully at each one and start narrowing it down.

[sister jo]

My husband only has a week long vacation so that limits our options.

[TYMAN]

We're celebrating our 25th next year also. We've been on 59 cruises, different lines, all Caribbean. We're going to board the Ovation of the Seas next September (our anniversary is in Dec) in Vancouver and take a 10 nighter to Hawaii. Come join us!

 

 

Oops, just saw your husband only has a week off.....maybe join us when our 50th comes along? lol!

[Ashland]

My husband only has a week long vacation so that limits our options.

Then consider the 6 nighter Canada & New England on RCI Adventure out of Cape Liberty. Great ports...we've done this itinerary but a 9 nighter with more ports.

[balanceok]

We prefer RCI, but its all about the itinerary.

 

Take the leap and go on the RCI or Princess British Isles cruise. We did it on Princess last year and loved the itinerary. Ship was okay, too.

[Bloodgem]

:champagne-toast: Congratulations. :bottle-pop: Does your cruise have to be in June? For my parent's 60th wedding anniversary in March 2018 they decided to take a cruise in May, to celebrate their anniversary, as my dad cannot fly and cruises do not depart from Southampton in March. Sorry if this adds to your headache. In compensation for your headache how about 7 night Alaska Glacier Cruise; Leaving from: Seattle, Washington Aboard: Ovation of the Seas there are 15 sailing dates to pick from.

 

[vacationlover_mn]

We've cruised Royal Caribbean on Oasis and Allure. We'd like to cruise to celebrate our 25th next June. I can't decide if we should stay with Royal or try another cruise line. We enjoyed both ships and I'm sure we'd like a newer ship. We like the Caribbean but would like to try ports other than St. Thomas/St. Maarten. Any advice on your favorite ships/itineraries would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

 

 

We did an a RCI over our June 20 anniversary on Radiance this year, and it was fantastic :). I think next year they have a newer ship going up there? Something like Anthem... it’s spendy, but a cool experience [emoji4]

 

Note, I think RCI just does fri-fri up there, so your husband would need at least 6 days off...

 

 

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[CaribCruiser54]

We've cruised Royal Caribbean on Oasis and Allure. We'd like to cruise to celebrate our 25th next June. I can't decide if we should stay with Royal or try another cruise line. We enjoyed both ships and I'm sure we'd like a newer ship. We like the Caribbean but would like to try ports other than St. Thomas/St. Maarten. Any advice on your favorite ships/itineraries would be appreciated. Thank you!

Congratulations on your upcoming 25th Anniversary. We are doing an 11 nite cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver on Ovation of the Seas from May 2 - 13, 2019. We will be celebrating our 40th Anniversary on that cruise. It will be a definite change from the Carib.

[BobbyD]

I would recommend a cruise to the Med. Very port intensive but awesome! Very different than a Caribbean cruise. We have done both east and west, both on Celebrity. They do the Med very well, as I am sure Royal does also.

 

 

If you want to stick to the Caribbean, I recommend a Southern Caribbean leaving out of Puerto Rico. Aruba, Curacao, etc. are great ports!

[sister jo]

I should have said we plan to go in May to avoid higher temperatures and before kids are out of school. I'd love to join those of you cruising to Hawaii if it was possible. Thanks for the invite!

[maggie cruises]

We've done several ncl cruises over the last few years and have reached silver status

 

That said....for our 30th anniversary...a milestone bday...and the baby's high school grad...we are doing rccl

 

Why? Simply because we book all our cruises based on ...price dates ports...in no special order either

 

So rccl had a great itin at a great imho price at the exact dates we needed...plus ncl price gouged a similar cruise .....and chartered out and canceled another similar cruise

 

Win win for us. Find the cruise that pleases you the most on any line

 

 

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[cruisemom67]

We celebrated our 25th last year. We flew to San Juan and did the Southern route, and it was fantastic!

[Ashland]

I should have said we plan to go in May to avoid higher temperatures and before kids are out of school. I'd love to join those of you cruising to Hawaii if it was possible. Thanks for the invite!

Yes...this detail helps ;)

[cindivan]

Congrats on 25! That is an accomplishment!

 

You are a bit ahead ahead of us (by 4 months). DH and I went back and forth because we are pretty loyal RC cruisers and kept thinking we need to do something “different and special” for our 25th. Like you, we had to keep it to a week for that time of the year. We ended up doing a higher level category of room than we usually do on a ship we have been on, on an itinerary similar to what we have done before. We figured the “different and special” is making to our 25th, the room, being able to totally relax knowing the ship, and having access to suite lounge and associated perks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[dreamer976]

Southern Caribbean out of San Juan, or Alaska get my votes.

[Ourusualbeach]

How about something different, there are a couple of 7 night cruises in May. A 7 night Norway and a 7 night Scandinavia / Russia cruise at decent prices.

 

https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/?dates_maxDate=05%2F31%2F2019&dates_minDate=05%2F01%2F2019&icid=hpnvbr_pagehe_fnd_hm_awaren_938&shipCode_SR=true