I just had a friend make a comment that struck me as a little funny...

[NWACruiser]

A friend of mine posted on a comment about cruising that it really does not matter what ship you are on but that you are on a ship.  He commented that it does, because <his favorite line> treats their passengers better.  I have cruised on <my favorite cruise line> and <another cruise line> and I have found that every cruise I have been on has been fantastic.  I have not met any real problem crew members on any cruise that I can remember.  Given I have not been on his favorite line, but the treatment I have gotten from the two lines I have been on, I cannot imagine how well they must treat their guests on the line I have not been on.

 

My question for people who have been on multiple lines, and be honest, is there a big difference between how passengers are treated on certain lines over others?

[Toofarfromthesea]

29 minutes ago, NWACruiser said:

A friend of mine posted on a comment about cruising that it really does not matter what ship you are on but that you are on a ship.  He commented that it does, because <his favorite line> treats their passengers better.  I have cruised on <my favorite cruise line> and <another cruise line> and I have found that every cruise I have been on has been fantastic.  I have not met any real problem crew members on any cruise that I can remember.  Given I have not been on his favorite line, but the treatment I have gotten from the two lines I have been on, I cannot imagine how well they must treat their guests on the line I have not been on.

 

My question for people who have been on multiple lines, and be honest, is there a big difference between how passengers are treated on certain lines over others?

 

Different is not necessarily better or worse.  It is just different.

 

I've never had a bad cruise because, IMO, the single biggest factor in having a good cruise is the cruiser.

[CruiserBruce]

That will depend on a couple of variables. First, are you comparing apple to apples, or apples to oranges. For example, I wouldn't expect a mass market line with 4000 people on a ship to treat me the same as a ship with 2 or 400 on board. 

 

Second,  how easy are you to please?

[navybankerteacher]

Try a couple of different lines -- not in the same mass market niche.

[mom says]

The answer depends not only on the line, but, I think, on the passenger. Whether the line is mass market, premium or luxury. Or if one was in a suite or not. What level of service one deems acceptable. Whether one "problem crew member" is sufficient to taint the perceived service of the entire line.

 

 

[klfrodo]

I've only sailed Carnival and Royal. While there are some minor differences, both lines are more alike than different. I have never felt I was treated better or worse by either line when it comes to the staff.

[pris993]

We have cruised over 60 cruises, on 9 different lines, over 40 years.  I would say not a lot of difference.  

[donaldsc]

I definitely think that I have been treated better on some lines than others - generally the lines w small ships treat you better.  I have never been treated badly on any line but the crew on the small ships appear to be more interested in me.

 

DON

[Hlitner]

Over decades we have been blessed to have cruises on 16 lines (more than 65

different ships) calling at 6 continents.  Our cruise lines have included budget and high end lines with just about everything between.

 

Yes, there are lots of differences between how passengers are treated but we have found it’s more about the class of the line.  So within the mass market lines the differences are less apparent than the stark differences

between the expensive luxury lines and generally less expensive mass market lines.  One does often get what they pay for.  
 

Folks should understand that a luxury line with a higher number of hotel department crew to passenger numbers will almost always provide better services.  While we are still happy when on mass market lines line Princess, HAL, etc. it is simply not comparable to the services we get on a line such as Seabourn or the now defunct Crystal.

 

The real question is how much are you willing to pay for the higher end services?    
 

Hank

[GUT2407]

Better for me may be different to better for you. Like most things in life.

[Honolulu Blue]

10 hours ago, NWACruiser said:

My question for people who have been on multiple lines, and be honest, is there a big difference between how passengers are treated on certain lines over others?

 

I've been on cruises with Carnival, Princess, Holland, Celebrity, and Royal.  I haven't noticed much difference in service to me, though I should note that I normally don't require much service and think the best service is to leave me alone unless and until I need service.

 

One small exception was the cruise I took on the Celebrity Summit in September.  Remember, this was early in the U.S. restart phase and the passenger count was truly tiny - 320 passengers serviced by 750 crew.  Not even the luxury lines can come to that in normal times.  The crew I interacted with seemed to be happy to be there and happy to have a little breathing room.  I think I got treated a little better on that cruise, but those days are gone (I note with mixed emotions 🙂😞).

[cruizergal70]

8 hours ago, donaldsc said:

I definitely think that I have been treated better on some lines than others - generally the lines w small ships treat you better.  I have never been treated badly on any line but the crew on the small ships appear to be more interested in me.

 

DON

They aren't truly interested in you. They just may have more time to operate differently. 

[Joebucks]

People love to choose brands for <insert random reason> and love even more to believe they made the right choice no matter what. 

[Hlitner]

8 hours ago, cruizergal70 said:

They aren't truly interested in you. They just may have more time to operate differently. 

Interesting point of view.  I do not really care if they are “interested in me” as long as they do a good job and provide excellent service.  Over our

more than forty years of extensive cruising we have made a few good friends among the crew.  But the norm is that a good crew performs up to or beyond expectations and a good passenger always treats the crew and fellow passengers with the utmost respect.  Our expectations are certainly higher when we are on luxury lines as we expect additional quality when we pay higher prices.  

 

Hank

[JMorris271]

18 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Interesting point of view.  I do not really care if they are “interested in me” as long as they do a good job and provide excellent service.  Over our

more than forty years of extensive cruising we have made a few good friends among the crew.  But the norm is that a good crew performs up to or beyond expectations and a good passenger always treats the crew and fellow passengers with the utmost respect.  Our expectations are certainly higher when we are on luxury lines as we expect additional quality when we pay higher prices.  

 

Hank

That's true with all things in life. Not just cruising.  I believe it's linked more towards a person being good at what they do than service being personal though it may seem that way.

[cruizergal70]

3 hours ago, JMorris271 said:

That's true with all things in life. Not just cruising.  I believe it's linked more towards a person being good at what they do than service being personal though it may seem that way.

That's my point.  People do their job and hopefully do it well. It doesn't mean they "care" or are "interested" in you.  Calling you by name, knowing your preferences, smiling,  etc are just a part of the job. Nothing personal. 

[Aquahound]

19 hours ago, NWACruiser said:

My question for people who have been on multiple lines, and be honest, is there a big difference between how passengers are treated on certain lines over others?

 

I know some people love to say that service is so much better on (insert any line here) over other lines but in my experience, service has been great across the industry.  I wouldn't say I'm treated better on any particular line over another.  Then again, I don't treat them bad either, so maybe that has something to do with it.   

[iancal]

We have not cruise on all the mass market lines.

 

Our experience is that there is little or no difference to the service levels or how we are treated between HAL, Princess, and Celebrity.   We see more differences between the ships themselves and the entertainment etc.

 

About the only place that we have noticed service inconsistency is the the MDR's from time to time.  We put that down to staff cutbacks, not on service folks who always seem to do their very best.

 

I suspect that some people may prefer service on a specific line if most of their cruises are on that line.  I believe that knowing the staff or familiarity with the ship layout or specific cruise line  does seem to enhance the experience.  We certainly feel that same way about the service level and people at some of the  hotels/B&B that we have frequented a few times.

 

But....we are not looking for a new best friend.  Nor do we confuse someone who provides consistently good and personable service as someone who we consider to be a friend. 

Edited April 18, 2022 by iancal

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've sailed on a bunch of different lines, at least nine, and really never noticed any significant difference in how we were treated.  In almost all cases service was great.

 

I do believe a lot--maybe everything--depends on the cruiser and their attitude and expectations in general.  

 

I can certainly see that smaller/luxury lines would have an elevated level of service, but for me I don't want or need more than the mostly really great service we normally get.  Too much would probably annoy me!

 

 

[lenquixote66]

Our first cruise was 50 years ago.We never encountered a negative crew member on any of the 6 cruise lines we have been on.

[Hlitner]

22 hours ago, JMorris271 said:

That's true with all things in life. Not just cruising.  I believe it's linked more towards a person being good at what they do than service being personal though it may seem that way.

We have previously gotten into online

discussions regarding some

folks who may confuse professionalism with empathy or “caring.”  We see this a lot on CC when some cruisers will comment that they like their PCC or cruise agent because “they care.”  I have sometimes teased my favorite cruise agent with “I am loyal as long as you give me the best deal”.  She and her agency are loyal to me , not because they care, but simply because I generate a lot of commissions for that agency.  They are simply being good professionals which is exactly the service for which I pay.

 

While I believe that good customer service may often mean feigning empathy, that is simply the proper professional behavior and does not generally mean they “care about you” beyond a normal professional relationship where empathy is simply part of the schtick.

 

Hank

[lynncarol]

My husband and I have been on many cruises on a number of different lines.  This only time we had an issue was on a river cruise.  The concierge was very inflexible.  At one stop in Amsterdam we had the whole afternoon until 7:00 pm free.  The two of us approached her asking about taking a train to the Hague.  Far from being supportive, she kept insisting that if we returned late, the ship wouldn't wait for us.  We said fine, the next port is pretty close so we could get ourselves there if needed.  At that she became confrontational, and not wanting to escalate this further, we just left her desk. We did take the train to the Hague, returned well within the allotted time and thoroughly enjoyed our little excursion. Unfortunately, for the rest of the cruise, whenever we passed her desk, she glared at us. I considered mentioning her behavior when we were sent our review form, but didn't want to jeopardize her job.

[ldubs]

On 4/17/2022 at 8:10 PM, pris993 said:

We have cruised over 60 cruises, on 9 different lines, over 40 years.  I would say not a lot of difference.  

 

On 4/18/2022 at 5:14 PM, lenquixote66 said:

Our first cruise was 50 years ago.We never encountered a negative crew member on any of the 6 cruise lines we have been on.

 

While I like the atmosphere on some ships more than others, I agree there are more things the same than not.   I sure agree about the absence of negative crew members.  Never really had any issues.   But I'm not one of those people needing something to complain about.  

[navybankerteacher]

On 4/17/2022 at 10:34 PM, klfrodo said:

I've only sailed Carnival and Royal. While there are some minor differences, both lines are more alike than different. I have never felt I was treated better or worse by either line when it comes to the staff.

 

On 4/18/2022 at 5:22 PM, iancal said:

…

 

Our experience is that there is little or no difference to the service levels or how we are treated between HAL, Princess, and Celebrity.   We see more differences between the ships themselves and the entertainment etc….

 

 

 

On 4/18/2022 at 6:52 AM, Honolulu Blue said:

 

I've been on cruises with Carnival, Princess, Holland, Celebrity, and Royal.  I haven't noticed much difference in service to me, …

 emotions 🙂😞

The lines identified are all mass-market — likely to be similar;  while premium lines are likely to provide distinctly better service.

[pris993]

35 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

 

While I like the atmosphere on some ships more than others, I agree there are more things the same than not.   I sure agree about the absence of negative crew members.  Never really had any issues.   But I'm not one of those people needing something to complain about.  

In 60 cruises we have been on we only had two negative experiences with crew members, both in the MDR.   Decided a long time ago, if something is not working or not enjoyable, we will change what we are doing.