We're Considering Expanding Our Horizons!

[tarheelmjfan]

After taking a cruise several years ago, we finally decided to take our 2nd last summer. We chose Celebrity's Infinity to Alaska, because it was a 10 night, one-way sailing from SF to Van. We caught the bug & have since taken 2 more Celebrity cruises, & have 3 more booked. :o 2 of our cruises were exceptional. The last one... not so much. We know X isn't the only good, mass market line out there, & we're considering branching out to try some of the others. I'd love suggestions on line's we should try. I'm including a list of things that are important to us.

 

1. We enjoy a traditional dining experience, with great food. We also like having an option of a large table or a table for 2, & don't want to make a reservation each evening for dinner.

 

2. As food is important to us, we don't mind paying extra for a specialty restaurant. However, we expect the food in the main dining room to be good as well. FYI, we're adventurous when it comes to food, & definitely not what is considered "meat & potatoes" eaters.

 

3. We don't really care for buffets, & prefer to have lunch in the DR, choosing a table size we prefer.

 

4. A good room service menu is a definite plus, especially for breakfast.

 

5. For us, cruising is an escape from the ordinary. We like dressing up & like that X has 3 different types of dress (formal, informal, casual) in the evenings. We're not interested in any line that makes formal, informal/ dressy casual optional.

 

6. The biggest disappointment we've had on X ships is that so much of the entertainment for late seating diners is before dinner. We prefer the show to be after dinner.

 

7. Also, we prefer longer cruises (9 nights or longer), but would take a shorter one. Even better, we could do a B2B. :p

 

I hope it doesn't sound like we're really picky. We're definitely not! Well, maybe when it comes to food. :D I'm sure we could find these things on the luxury lines, but I'd much rather sail mass market & be able to cruise more often. Also, we're not ones who feel the need to be pampered. Good service is adequate. A butler would go to waste on us.

 

I didn't mention earlier, but we have a DS(14). Unfortunately, he's not very outgoing & isn't one for mingling. :( Obviously, we don't have a problem with lots of kids on a ship though. A lot or a few doesn't really make a difference to us. I'm looking forward to your responses, so I can start checking out itineraties. :D TIA

[ioanab]

Just from reading the boards, it sounds like you might enjoy HAL (we're about to go on our first HAL cruise). Maybe Princess too?... I'd spend some time on their boards and start some threads there :)

[tarheelmjfan]

Just from reading the boards, it sounds like you might enjoy HAL (we're about to go on our first HAL cruise). Maybe Princess too?... I'd spend some time on their boards and start some threads there :)

 

Thanks for the suggestions. :) Is this your 1st cruise, or have you sailed with other lines? I'd love to hear your impression of your HAL cruise, upon your return. I was thinking HAL sounds similar to X, but was afraid they would have the same problem with show times (similar demographic). Princess looks great, if we could get traditional dining, which I hear is hard to get into. I guess I'll lurk on their boards, & see what I can find out. :D

[michmike]

Ditto on the recommendation for HAL. Our first cruise was on Celebrity and we've now done 5 straight on HAL. Most folks who have done both lines will tell you that they are very similar. HAL does perhaps have a bit older clientele but we have never found that to be a problem (mid to late 50s ourselves).

 

I think the food on Celebrity was perhaps a bit more ambitious, but we love the larger cabin size and the great indonesian/filipino crew on HAL. Nothing wrong with the food on HAL, just that Celebrity was a bit more upscale (and keep in mind that was 6 yrs ago, so things may have changed).

 

We just got back in February from a 10 day trip on Volendam which I would recommend. You leave out of FLL and travel to Curacao, Aruba, Dominica, St Thomas and Half Moon Cay. It's nice as you have a good balance between sea days and ports. We tend to enjoy the sea days every bit as much as the port days.

 

Shows are after dinner on HAL. Room service menu is just fine and bfast is especially good. We like to have bfast in room at least 40% of the time. One secret if you try HAL is that you can write things in on the bfast menu if they aren't listed, and will get them. Wife likes oatmeal and while it isn't on the room svc menu we always write it in and get it.

 

The other thing you will love about HAL ships is the size (typically about 1600 pax) as opposed to the 1900 or so on Galaxy for instance, and the 3000+ on the Royal Carib behemoths.

 

Have friends who love Princess, but our TA tells us that after HAL we would find the Princess cabins confining and the bathrooms miniscule. Haven't had a bad cruise yet on HAL, so feel no need to look elsewhere.

[ioanab]

Thanks for the suggestions. :) Is this your 1st cruise, or have you sailed with other lines? I'd love to hear your impression of your HAL cruise, upon your return. I was thinking HAL sounds similar to X, but was afraid they would have the same problem with show times (similar demographic). Princess looks great, if we could get traditional dining, which I hear is hard to get into. I guess I'll lurk on their boards, & see what I can find out. :D

This will be our second cruise. First was on NCL, which I understand is considered by many of fairly low quality. We did not have any expectations though (and possibly the repositioning great price contributed too) and found it very enjoyable. Freestyle dining can mean longer waits for dinner at times though.

 

We picked HAL due to the itinerary and timing, again no expectations other than that. :) We just put down the deposit on a Princess cruise though, and possibly being early enough (it's for November) it was not a problem to get traditional dining. I'll try to check back in after HAL.

[CateW]

As someone else mentioned, you may want to try HAL, however, if you are really into food I would suggest Crystal. We are going on our third Crystal cruise in February 2007 (Panama Canal). The food is truly exceptional and the two specialty restaurants Jade Garden and Prego are truly outstanding provide a culinary experience.

[tarheelmjfan]

Thanks so much. I now have a place to start looking. :D It sounds like Hal may be a good fit for us. I've never really checked into Crystal. I just assumed it was more than we'd want to spend. :confused: We'd rather take 3 to 5 moderately priced vacations a year than one really expensive one. I'll look into it though. :)

[sunshine426]

Don't rule out Princess out of hand. We have done anytime dining and traditonal. Both work, we prefer anytime though because it gives us so much flexabilty. And we never made a reservation, never waited for a table, joined other groups, had tables for four etc. We even had the same wait staff after the second day.

[CateW]

Thanks so much. I now have a place to start looking. :D It sounds like Hal may be a good fit for us. I've never really checked into Crystal. I just assumed it was more than we'd want to spend. :confused: We'd rather take 3 to 5 moderately priced vacations a year than one really expensive one. I'll look into it though. :)

 

I agree with you! We don't do Crystal all the time because some itiniaries are cost prohibitive so we try to mix it up and do one Crystal and one HAL and then a couple of long weekends in between. We recently booked a 15 day Panama Canal for February 2007 that is very competative. When they run specials - they are very, very good. Good luck!