What is your favorite Cruise Line?

[chrisnsteph]

I think Disney is great if you have a family. Personally, we absolutely love it and will be going on our fourth one in 2007 when they have new itineraries. Sure, you can see characters and shows at the parks, but you can do that AND have the benefit of cruising at the same time. I've read many posts from people complaining about the kids, and the shows and basically everything that Disney is known and loved for. These people are best served by maybe cruising without children on a different cruise line, or maybe these are the people that leave the kids at home while they cruise, I don't know. DCL isn't for everyone, the same goes for every other cruise line. When our kids are older, we would love to experience what other cruise lines have to offer, but for now, we love the Magic, our kids love it, the staff is wonderful and friendly, the ship is gorgeous and we are very happy to stick with them for the time being.

[Kokanee]

Voted Disney

 

Just returned from a Carnival cruise and was very disappointed (for many reasons) . Did not feel pampered at all. The Disney cruise ship just makes you feel special.:)

[SunFunCruiser]

Voted Disney

 

Just returned from a Carnival cruise and was very disappointed (for many reasons) . Did not feel pampered at all. The Disney cruise ship just makes you feel special.:)

 

which Carnival ship was it?

That was the one thing on DCL, we didn't feel like we were pampered at all.

I do think Disney is a special kind of ship though, it's sort of an extension of Disneyworld or land.

[Kokanee]

which was supposed to be better than the Holiday that we went on 13 years ago.

There were many reasons, chips in the wine glass, chips in the saucer, a hole in one of our towels, they also screwed up our friends we travelled with excursion. Many more little things but little things add up to alot. Not what I expected.....

[mikeymars]

Being a Disney Vacation Club member, I don't have to compete with anyone here to wave the 'I'm a hard core Disney fan" flag, and we are at Disney properties almost every year.

 

However, when it comes to cruising, I voted Carnival above.

 

Why?

 

One word:

 

VALUE.

 

DCL charges an enormous premium for the "differentiation" they offer. And exactly what is that differentiation?

 

Theme.

 

Not dining (yes Virginia, better food and service is readily available on many other mid-market lines - including Carnival. A meal in one of the specialty dining clubs on that line beats anything we had at Palos).

 

Not entertainment (the shows on the Magic were full of…cute, textbook Disney theming, but behind that one smells…cost-cutting. As example, NO live orchestra as part of the performances in the main showroom!??!? For heavens sake, even Carnival has that!)

 

Not itineraries (in a two ship line, what is offered is not only limited but very, very generic. Or stated differently, experienced cruisers looking for "something different" need not apply.)

 

I'm not diminishing DCL. It’s a class act, and because of those who really love it -- who tend to be cruise neophytes with kids who aren't counting pennies -- the line is succeeding (DCL has one of the highest percentages of repeat cruisers of any line).

 

However, for those without bottomless bank accounts and/or who have tasted other wine and for all who are more focused on "vacation ROI," other options are more attractive.

 

Which is why Carnival, RCCL, Princess et al aren’t losing sleep over DCL.

[SunFunCruiser]

Mikey Mars

 

Great post, and so true.

[kacey1289]

any cruise is better than a day at work!

[kidoctr]

So far, we've only been on Holland America, Norwegian, Celebrity, and Royal Carribean. Of those, our favorite was Holland America.

[momofmeg]

This is on the "Questions asked" section of cruisecritic also. What I noticed is Carnival is the one people hate worse-people feel Disney is too expensive-most were not impressed with NCL that had cruised that line-there were a couple of snobs who only cruise the more expensive lines like Crystal- but it basially tied between Princess, RCCL and Celebrity.

 

 

I still plan to cruise different lines because that is what I LIKE. I sometimes want to do a small ship for the intimincy, sometimes I want to do the bigger nicer ships that have more recreation choices but no matter what line I am on I will have a good time. I still hope too to try other lines I have not been on yet in the future and hopefully I will do a Disney cruise again also.

[MrsBoo]

I've sailed 2x on Royal and 5x on Carnival. Royal gets my vote for atmosphere, onboard activities, food and general friendliness, although debarkation needs major improvement unless they've changed procedure in the last several years. I've finally talked hubby into a Royal to Panama Canal in Oct. Wouldn't you know they switched departure from San Diego to Ensenada after we booked and are charging a $79pp transfer fee :mad: BOO HISS. Felt like cancelling but didn't want them to sell my cabin for a much higher price. Guess we'll have to eat an additional $79 each worth of food to get our money's worth.

 

Carnival gets my vote for customer service and price. Any problems we had they did everything possible to make things right. 4x the food was good, last time there was too much weird foreign stuff for buffet lunch, food never hot enough in the dining room, and wait staff was slow and had to be prompted for coffee & water. Weren't as friendly as what we were used to.

[CarolynK]

I voted "other" just because the only 2 lines we've tried are HAL and DCL, and I just CAN'T vote for DCL. My reasons for not voting DCL are the same as all other posters who have stated what they don't like about DCL.

We are trying Princess for the first time this summer, Alaskan cruise. We want to like it better than HAL, because HAL just hasn't been the same since we first cruised them 12 years ago....we're looking for something different.

[momofmeg]

I've sailed 2x on Royal and 5x on Carnival. Royal gets my vote for atmosphere, onboard activities, food and general friendliness, although debarkation needs major improvement unless they've changed procedure in the last several years. I've finally talked hubby into a Royal to Panama Canal in Oct. Wouldn't you know they switched departure from San Diego to Ensenada after we booked and are charging a $79pp transfer fee :mad: BOO HISS. Felt like cancelling but didn't want them to sell my cabin for a much higher price. Guess we'll have to eat an additional $79 each worth of food to get our money's worth.

 

Carnival gets my vote for customer service and price. Any problems we had they did everything possible to make things right. 4x the food was good, last time there was too much weird foreign stuff for buffet lunch, food never hot enough in the dining room, and wait staff was slow and had to be prompted for coffee & water. Weren't as friendly as what we were used to.

 

 

I am a little pis%^&sed at RCCL too. They are so popular now that they do not give any customer service as THEY KNOW if we cancel they can sell our berth to someone else for more money.

 

We booked Mariner of the Seas for Oct. 23. last Sept. We picked that week because it was later in hurricane season- so safer and our friend could not go after Nov. 1 as she is a manager in retail. That week we were scheduled to go to Jamaica along with Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Labadee.

 

Well in Jan. -4 months after we booked -we received notice that instead of Labadee and Jamacia it was now Coco Cay and Costa Maya. (Berthing porblems) Now I did not mind the Labadee change to coco Cay -but I felt Costa Maya was a poor substitute for Jamacia.

 

We tried to change to the Oct. 9 sailing-so we could still do Jamaica-it was going to cost us $100 MORE for a cheaper stateroom (we had atruim-this was an inside) I felt this really unfair of them-yes I understood the price of the cruise had went up-but I also knew they would- as you said-sell my stateroom for more money. I could not see why they could not give us at least an even exchange-after all we would be in a cheaper stateroom-but RCCL did not give a FLIP. The sad part is- when we booked back in Sept.- there was maybe $20 differance in cost of the 2 sailings-not enougth to affect which we picked. As I said we felt the later sailing would be safer as it would be a little later in hurricane season. If it wasn't for our friend we would have picked a Dec. sailing.

 

Anyway I AM NOT happy. We are still doing the cruise but I will say this-these voyager class ships really better be something-if not-this is the LAST RCCL cruise I will ever do.

[judyzoo]

Holland America. Everyone (well, almost everyone) is attentive, and they make you feel pampered.

[tam-tam]

I've been on Carnival 7 times and Princess once. After sailing Princess DH and I went back to Carnival because we preferred the more balanced mix of clientele.

 

When planning other cruises I always investigate RC and Celebrity, but book Carnival every time. As other posters have stated, other cruise lines may offer "free" sodas but those freebies are paid for up front in the cost of the vacation. As someone who does not drink soda, that's not a selling point for me. Now, if they start offering free wine, that's another story altogether. ;-)

 

I have always gotten excellent service on Carnival and do not think that the service on Princess was any better. The Carnival staff are always professional and fun.

[mcboo]

Seabourn all the way. Pure pampering, all-inclusive and all suites. What could be better?

mcboo:):):)

[bags6490]

We still vote for Disney! We just got off the Princess ship Caribbean Princess (which is beautiful and huge!) but just still saw stuff that would never pass on Disney (like severely scratched rails in the elevators). Will definitely take the kids on Disney cruise instead of a Princess cruise (much better children's program on Disney).

[deborahjo]

Carnival has my vote hands down. The major reason is the size of their cabins. Where else can you get an inside cabin with 187 sq ft. I hate the thought of a smaller cabin.