Which ship to choose. Please help!

[Fisical1]

My mother is taking my sister and I on a cruise to Mexico. We get to pick which cruise. 3 adults in 1 room. The choices that I saw that were still available are: Noregion Starr, Golden Princess, Carnival Elation, Carnival Spirit, Holland America Oosterdam.

 

Which would you choose and why?

[justhanging]

Norwegian Star: want to try this one. Crew passenger ratio is two to one.

Golden Princess: would be my pick. 24hr horizon court. Nice atmosphere.

Carnival Spirit: been on this one because price was right. I think Carnival is the bottom of cruise ships. Bad service and food. Will sail Carnival again if I get the same deal as before.

Holland America: no clue.

[#1TravelMom]

We just returned from Caribbean Princess to Western Caribbean/Mexico-LOVED it!!!!!!! Is this ship possibly an option, if not definately the Golden. We've been on 10+ cruises-Princess it no doubt our favorite.

[GORDONCHICK]

My mother is taking my sister and I on a cruise to Mexico. We get to pick which cruise. 3 adults in 1 room. The choices that I saw that were still available are: Noregion Starr, Golden Princess, Carnival Elation, Carnival Spirit, Holland America Oosterdam.

 

Which would you choose and why?

 

I would look at more than just the ships. You didn't give your mom's age, nor that of your sister and yourself. That would be helpful, along with what's most important to you. Food?? Service?? Ports??

 

HAL tends to attract an older crowd (50+ and older). Norwegian has optional formal nights and flexible dining. Princess has anytime dining or traditional. Carnival would have more lively activities for the younger crowd.

[rlkubi]

Carnival Spirit - have cruised on this ship twice and loved it!

[newmexicoNita]

Gordon put it very well: I will voice my opinion as well, but it will be similar:

 

HAL no matter how hard they try they are still the line of the truely age seasons traveler. The food is great, the cabins large, but there are not many activities.

 

CARNIVAL: again large cabins: the ships appear to be so gaudy that they are actually tacky and even though the cabins are large, often the decor is not to some peoples liking. The food is so, so as well as the service.

 

PRINCESSS: not large cabins (the same with NCL) service can be very good or not so good. Food, of course is very subjective. You will get those who say it is the best there is and others hate it. The personal dining is popular,allowing you to choose Traditional Dining or more the freestyle, but the dress codes will be a little more like HALs, dressier. Although not as subdued as HAL there are not as much going on as on CARNIVAL.

 

NCL: offers a very good itinerary; an 8 day cruise will get you one more port as a rule. Freestyle dining is gaining in popularity. You can choose to dress up on formal optional nights or go casual like the rest of the nights. If you prefer to limit the amount of clothes you take, NCL is the answer. Again, cabins will not be as large. The crew on NCL is usually very friendly and relaxed.

 

Remember these are just my opinions. I haven't cruised on the Star, but will in Sept. I have cruised NCL, Carnival and HAL. My opinion of Princess is based on my clients feed back.

 

If it were me, I think I would base my decision on a combination of itinerary and price. First choice for me: NCL; second: HAL>

 

Nita

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

I am not going to get into any kind of a disagreement with my friend Nita, and I have not been on an NCL ship. Yes, HAL does cater to an older, affluent group but this cruise line has excellent ships, outstanding itineraries, very good food and wonderful service. Further, HAL does have very competitive prices, that is, you get a lot of cruise for your money. And yes, the nightlife isn't much but after a day of sightseeing, hiking and so on, drinking and partying into the late night doesn't make a lot of sense. HAL does provide some nice cruise enhancements such as free shuttles from ports in Mexico to cities like Los Mochis. My favorite is still Celebrity but this cruise line seems to be pricing their cruises in the ultra luxury market and does not go to as many new or different ports as HAL.

 

In this situation I would go on Princess. Princess and RCCL are the all purpose cruise lines...something for everyone, more nightlife, younger people, nice ships and so on.

 

Hope that this helps.

 

Fred

[Fisical1]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. Well the itinerary is the Mexico-Pacific side. All cruise lines mentioned go to the same place. Looking to go out of LA or San Diego for ease. We are in our 40's, mom is in her 60's. We are all going to share a room. Just want a ship that the service will be good, food good, not looking for great and the ship over all is nice with good service. Been on lots of cruises and every cruise is a good one to me. My mom and sister have only been on one so they are leaving it up to me to choose. The pressure is on!

[SANDY BEACH]

If you could book an SC, SB or SA suite on Holland, you would love the space and the extra amenities. It's a great room for three people. This would be my choice.

[Happy ks]

I'd not discount the HAL ships because of the other pax age, that just doesn't mean a whole lot to me. But, my husband and I cruise for different reasons than many do, we keep to ourselves quite a bit, preferring relaxing with a good book over pool games.

 

I've only toured one HAL ship and it was gorgeous, I would not hesitate to cruise that ship. I have sailed on NCL Star a couple of times and it is nice, although I don't recommend their food with the exception of the specialty dining rooms. Some friends of ours cruise Star this past Feb. and loved the one port Zihautanejo (on the 8 Day cruise) that we didn't see on the Vision itinerary.

 

We've cruised several different cruise lines and out of all of them, sorry, just could not bring ourselves to cruise on Carnival again. I don't intend to trash them, because a lot of people like their product, it's just not for us, we prefer a more understated elegance than what they provide.

 

We haven't sailed on Princess (yet) but I would probably compare them to RCI.

 

We first settle on an itinerary, then a ship.

 

Have fun planning :)

[GORDONCHICK]

With the info you've given now, I would put Princess #1, but HAL should get serious consideration as well. Look at pricing and if the cabin or cabins you want are available for each of those.

[hammybee]

I am going to weigh in and recommend HAL too. Passenger age onboard any cruise line is a factor of time of year and duration of the cruise. Avoid holidays and school breaks if you prefer to not sail with a lot of children.

 

I think HAL works because it delivers a classic cruise experience and there is something there for everyone.

[qorc]

HAL are nice ships, but I gotta believe much more expensive than Carnival.

 

What is the price differential for similar rooms on each? We always factor that in, although we only do RCI now.

 

all things being equal, if I had no kids, I would take HAL among those choices. Its service and quality are far superior to NCL, Princess and especially Carnival.

[Fisical1]

I appreciate all your feedback. Im leaning to Holland America (highest price), Vision of the Seas, or Golden Princess. My family is not helping me at all make the choice. They keep saying "you pick" Im leaning towards Holland America due to never been on it, rooms look good and the kids are staying home. Hope to make my decision by the end of the weekend. Any extra feedback I can get really helps.

[amenuensis]

I appreciate all your feedback. Im leaning to Holland America (highest price), Vision of the Seas, or Golden Princess. My family is not helping me at all make the choice. They keep saying "you pick" Im leaning towards Holland America due to never been on it, rooms look good and the kids are staying home. Hope to make my decision by the end of the weekend. Any extra feedback I can get really helps.

 

My 2 cents - I have only been on 3 cruises do far, I have been on Carnival to Mexico 2 times and on Holland America to ALaska once (in August 2005), so I'm far from an expert, but I will say that my favorite ship so far was Holland America (it was the Zaandam)

 

The ship decor was beautiful, and the food (especially breakfast buffet -- they had Muesli which I love for one thing) was a cut above Carnival with their choices...and their legendary bread pudding...wow. Much nicer spa too, and didn't seem as crowded and lots of activities as far as I am concerned, just a bit more refined? My son was 11 and had a great time in the Kids Club.

 

Of course it's the Zaandam not the Oosterdam so I don't know how similar the ships are. Holland America must have the Signature of Excellence upgrades on most of their ships by now so the whole ship is sure to be just gorgeous with lots of great spots to hang out.

 

Carnival - of course I love ANY cruise but Carnival is just gaudier design-wise....Las Vegas style. I thought the food and service was very good on Carnival also, just the breakfast didn't have as many healthy choices as HAL. I hear Princess is outstanding but I've never been on Princess. I know nothing about Royal Caribbean.

 

Oh, the other thing I learned (too late) - if you go on the Holland America ship and don't want to eat in the Rotterdam dining room, the Lido is quite nice for dinner because what they do is transform it from cafeteria to sit-down restaurant at night, they have white tablecothes and waiter service and the exact same menu as the Rotterdam dining room. I wish I had known this because we were with a large family group that did not get seated together and I didn't think they'd want to eat dinner in the Lido because I thought it was cafeteria style where we'd have to stand on line and get the food, but that's only lunch and breakfast. So we could have at least had one dinner all together that way and not been bound by the assigned dining time and seats.