Which cruise line will you Never, Always and Try to cruise with and why?

[chromered7]

Never. Azamara. Very friendly staff and good service but you can pay over the odds for that.

Always. Celebrity. Never had a bad cruise with them.

Try. Oceania. We have looked at them many times but have yet to try them. They have a good reputation for their food but we are after an itinerary grads us.

[NonnaTLC]

Always X

Never again NCL

Never Princess or Carnival (the age group)

Willing to try RC and Oceana

We also look at itinerary,  but food is VERY important to DH, and service by staff also important. 

[HskrCrsr]

Never: Carnival. No interest - age group, general atmosphere I associate with them.

Always: Celebrity. Never a major problem and they offer specifics (AQ, Blu) I have not found elsewhere.

Try: HAL. They cruise out of my home city and generally get good reviews.

Also, may try again: Disney. Enjoyed our one cruise with them and they have some nice short cruises out of my home city.

[tonyd285]

Never Carnival, for the reasons stated above.  We usually sail with Celebrity, only one bad cruise (Norovirus, we were unaffected but the cruise devolved into chaos)..  Willing to try Oceania.  Loved a cruise on Viking Ocean and would certainly consider them again.  Booked next February on Princess.  First time on that line.  Hope they are up to the Celebrity standard.

[paulh84]

Never 

Carnival - no explanation needed. 

NCL - one and done was plenty. similar to Carnival. 

RCL - unfortunately this one is on the never list. Outlet Mall of the Seas has lost its appeal. 

 

Always 

Celebrity - Price, ships, overall vibe all appeal to us. 

 

Will Try

MSC (Yacht Club only) - have one booked that I have slight reservations about.

Princess - due to being compared with Celebrity so often. Also booked. 

Regent/Oceania/Windstar - all may be a bit too subdued for us but I am willing to try under the right circumstances. 

 

Younger-ish and no kids puts us in an odd place with most lines. Celebrity is just the best all around fit for wants and price at this point. 

 

[iancal]

We have cruised on HAL, Celebrity, Carnival, RCI, NCL, Crystal, and Princess. Most of them multiple times.

 

Enjoyed every one of them.   Some better than others but that is often down to the crew and/or the ship.   We would not hesitate to cruise on any of them again.

 

BUT....for us the ship is as or more important than the cruise line.  Seems to us that they are all moving to the lowest common denominator (except Crystal of course).

 

Want to try MSC, Azamara, Costa,  and some of the new, smaller startups that recently purchases excess capacity from the majors.  Actually, we are willing to try any cruise line that has the right ship, the right itinerary, the right price, and a good reputation.

Edited April 6, 2021 by iancal

[cruisestitch]

Never Costa.  Moldy food.  Horrible service.  Shockingly poor taste entertainment.

[deliver42]

Have been on Royal, Celebrity, Princess, Carnival, MSC( both in and out of the YC),NCL, and have HAL reserved for December of this year. The only one I wouldn't go on again is Carnival, though my wife loves them. I just don't really care for their ships, and they're too crowded.

[ORV]

11 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Never Costa.  Moldy food.  Horrible service.  Shockingly poor taste entertainment.

I've been on Costa before, personally I liked it better than Princess which many people compare favorably to Celebrity. I do actually kind of like Royal, especially if you try to go when kids are in school. 

 

I wouldn't go on Princess again, it was a one and done. We started with Carnival because we didn't know any better, but now we do. It would probably be a never again. Disney probably also in the never as we have no kids or grandkids. 

 

We've done Oceania, Regent & Silversea. I would try Viking Ocean, Virgin, Seabourne, Crystal, MSC Hal(maybe). Probably not Cunard or any of the regional lines(country specific). If I ever went on NCL it would have to be in their Haven product, but I rarely spend suite money. I usually judge a line by it's mid level product. 

[Hygge!]

Never again - Princess, RC and Carnival.  Had a terrible experience with Princess - crew and those in charge very rude to each other.  RC and Carnival for obvious reasons.  
 

Always: Holland America (no matter what - great crew!!!), Celebrity (have done 2).
 

Sometimes: Cunard - only thing don't like is the dress code, but the speakers are wonderful.
 

Maybe: Oceania - actually scheduled in 2022. Willing to try any line depending on price, rep and itinerary. Maybe Viking but not happy about how far out have to pay for cruise in full.
 

River Cruise: Always Avalon. 

[swjumbo]

Seadream good but old ships.

Cunard ok, older guests.

P&O terrible and fellow guests think it’s British but it’s actually crap.

RCL too big.

Celebrity, perfect!

Edited April 6, 2021 by swjumbo

[hawkesbaynz]

Never Carnival. I can imagine a cheap Cancun  Resort on a ship.

Also TUI UK. Tried em but never again for the price

 

Always  Celebrity (this is the Celebrity Forum). Wish they were a little bit more adventurous with the itineraries though

 

Will Try  Oceania We have booked a 43 night LA to HK in 2022 as heard good things. Great itineraries

Fairly open minded for trying other cruise lines depending on price and itinerary. Keen to sail Cunard Queen Mary although not on the normal Transatlantic though. Crystal interests me. Lots of cheap P&O cruises sail from Southampton so will likely try them again (only did a weekend booze cruise in 2015).

[Treasure Hunter]

26 minutes ago, tonyd285 said:

Never Carnival, for the reasons stated above.  We usually sail with Celebrity, only one bad cruise (Norovirus, we were unaffected but the cruise devolved into chaos)..  Willing to try Oceania.  Loved a cruise on Viking Ocean and would certainly consider them again.  Booked next February on Princess.  First time on that line.  Hope they are up to the Celebrity standard.

We have 35 cruises on Princess. First cruise with teens in 1990. Six on Celebrity when we cruise with friends who only cruise with Celebrity. Celebrity has better perks if you are in a suite and they have a true separate suite dining experience ( although I think the food Is often strange.)  Princess suites dine in Club class with a certain category of mini suites. Other than that, we much prefer Princess. We have been on Oceania, Royal Caribbean, Regent and NCL both in and out of (the Haven). Service is friendlier and all around more caring. Cruise Director staff is visible and there are many games, trivia, shows,  comics at night. Sea days are terrific. People are more relaxed yet easier to make friends with. Excursions are run like the invasion of D-Day. We have been all over the world with Princess from Iceland to New Zealand to Tahiti to the Baltic to the Mediterranean and  have never had a complaint. I think you will be happy.

[onlyslightlymad]

Never.  Carnival - just doesn't appeal.  It was described to me as the party line - I like quiet.  NCL - have been on them twice - all the upselling puts me off.

Always.  Celebrity.  I've only been on two cruise lines and I've enjoyed Celebrity more than NCL.

Maybe.  I have booked with Viking in 2022 because the whole ship seems to be suite class and there are no kids and no casinos and no art auctions.  I'm thinking of trying HAL, Azamara, Silversea and Windstar so keep staring at their sites willing the prices to come down.  If we do a cruise with the grandkids I will break all my previous rules and be looking for advice.

[stickey_mouse]

Never: Carnival, Costa, MSC (just don't think it's a good fit for us; we're willing to pay a little more for a more refined product)

Always: Celebrity, Holland, and Disney (each knows its audience and does very well satisfying the needs)

Will Try: Oceania, Princess (seem comparable to what we like- good food and service)

[cruisemom42]

I've been cruising a long time so I think more about the attributes of a given ship and itinerary more than a "cruise line loyal" mentality.

 

Never:  Really huge ships; ships with a pronounced caste system

 

Always:  Smaller to mid-size ships with great itineraries.  (Azamara a current favorite).

 

Will Try:  Looking for an opportunity to try Viking Ocean; possibly Fred. Olsen; Hurtigruten; any line with a real Black Sea circumnavigation. What most lines are calling a "Black Sea" cruise right now are laughable.

 

 

 

[ECCruise]

Always:  Celebrity, Azamara, Royal, Princess, NCL, Ponant, HAL.  Never had a bad sailing on any.  Have multiple sailings booked on all but Ponant.

Maybe:  Costa again if all the planets align

Never: Carnival (although we enjoyed all our sailings, we've moved on)  Oceania (after 5 good sailings with them did a 24 day early last year that just did not feel right in many ways).  Too much dough and too many options to test their waters again. 

 

[TrulyBlonde]

My typical go to cruise lines are Celebrity and Oceania. Both very dependable and two different products. Family cruise is Disney, they do it right!

Never: Carnival.

Maybe: Seabourn

Edited April 6, 2021 by TrulyBlonde

[GeorgesGal]

I've sailed on many of the main cruise lines, Princess, NCL, Cunard, RCCL,Celebrity, HAL, Azamara and Oceania, but never Carnival.  From this group, the loser is:

 

Never - Carnival for obvious reasons (too much party/excessive drinking

And the winners are:

 

Always - Oceania and Celebrity (To be truthful, Oceania is my absolute favorite line) 

 

Willing to try (again) - HAL, Cunard and RCCL smaller ships as possibilities depending on itinerary.

[hcat]

NEVER  Carnival, MSC, NCL, Virgin...based on reviews photos and company  ads and profiles,  Not our style!

 

Celebrity and Royal still on our list..prefer X.

 

More upscale lines are beyond our reach financially

Edited April 6, 2021 by hcat

[davekathy]

We will always consider cruising with Celebrity, RC, Princess and Holland America based only on our past experiences. Until we have experienced (tried) for ourselves the other cruise lines we don't have any in the never category. 

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by davekathy

[Ken the cruiser]

As of this very moment in time:

 

Always: Celebrity

 

Maybe if the right itinerary comes along: Princess, NCL, HAL, Crystal, Seabourn, Regent and RCCL

 

Never: Cunard (No desire to have to wear a sport coat after 6 pm every night), Oceania (Too many issues dealing with O's HQ after practically every cruise except for our first one which was wonderful!!)

Edited April 6, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[cruiselvr04]

Never again- Carnival and NCL

 

Possible- Princess wasn’t too impressed but it isn’t bad 

 

Usually - RCL. We are actually Diamond plus and have pretty much enjoyed every one.

 

Future- We’ve had 2 booked on Celebrity.  They were both cancelled!  Sad. We will try again I promise.

We might try HAL if the itinerary is right although the demographic isn’t really us and they are not on the top of the list.

We be definitely be trying Viking as we did a outstanding river cruise with them.  They need to resume before we invest in that.

[grandgeezer]

With the current pricing, none of them.

If the pricing gets more realistic, MSC (new ships) in the deluxe Yacht Club only. No others. We did this in 2018 and 2019 and found a new home. All the other 45 cruises we've done, 20+ on Celebrity and 8 on RCL are but a distant memory.

This means, unless things change dramatically, we are probably done, and will go back to land vacations. If this pandemic goes away, we are looking at a 3-4 week escorted tour of Europe.

[Longboysfan]

Never:

Carnival - age group too different

NCL - Just not interested.

 

Always:

Celebrity - Love it never a bad cruise.  Have made great friends onboard.

Royal - Still need to hit the rock wall and flow rider.

Azamara - well maybe...  If they are going somewhere I have not yet.

 

Never again:

HAL - the crowd there is a bit too old for me - not enough activities.

Princess - I'm not interested in their 7 types of fatty meats at breakfast.  Problems with their onshore booking.