What is your "other" favorite cruise line

[ancldaca]

Princess is much more "me" right now, a fact I noticed again on my last 2 RCL cruises. Since it isn't officially booked yet it isn't in my signature, but I'll be doing my first Carnival cruise in December 09. I'm helping organize a small group (max 10 cabins) and the pricing was great. Want to find out firsthand what it is all about; they aren't the #1 brand for nothing (talking brand not the Corporation that owns all the other ones).

[wato1963]

i like costa cruises,their food is wonderful

[ebandive]

We had a great time on Carnival. We are 25 and are not partiers. Don't rule it out without trying it. It can be a terrific value.

[mt6631]

We have sailed on both Carnival and Disney and truly enjoyed them both. We are looking forward to our first RCCL cruise in 2 weeks but wouldn't hesitate to book on the other lines in the future.

[BrainChemicals]

X is my other favorite cruise line. I also second the Costa nomination.

[maggieq]

We tried a short HAL cruise and while the ship was nice, the rest was not really us. Although, I would have to say their headliner (entertainer/comedian) was one of the best I have seen. I just seemed very strange that the majority of the waitstaff and cabin attendants were from the same country.....no diversity. This was a cruise that definately lacked any atmosphere and I never heard anyone laugh.....strange. The food was ok. Probably the nicest cabin we have been in.

 

 

Princess was the first cruise my boyfriend and I took together...everything was perfect except for his major sunburn (wouldn't listen to me about tanning prior to cruise and would not keep up with applying the sunscreen....can anyone say lobster man!!!). Well our cabin attendant was the best, food was great, we didn't go to any shows except one in the explorers lounge and thought it sucked (i understand that the main shows in the theatre are great). Service overall was great along with a terrific itin...

 

Then we tried the Navigator...and really have not looked back. We were blown away by the ship. I love what the RCCL ships offer and am a little scared to jump to another line..

 

That said, I would really like to try a 10 day southern on the Ruby Princess in 2010 and eventually try the Solstice or Equinox.

[rednancy1]

If I had to select one other cruise line it would be HAL with Princess coming in a close second. However, we are trying Celebrity for the first time in July. I would not be surprised to like Celebrity best of all.:)

[ondeckatsea]

Celebrity is a nice line. It would be our second choice. We've had 18 cruises on Royal Caribbean and 3 nice long ones on Celebrity. NCL would be our last choice right above staying home and not going at all. We've just had bad luck with them and can see so many shortcomings.

[Jennifer823]

I'm a Princess person myself - but I leave for my very first RCI cruise tomorrow! I've been reading on the boards that Princess is very similar to RCI, and I'm hoping that's true. :) I've taken a few Carnival cruises too, and while they are OK they aren't my favorite (you get what you pay for!)

[ERTHDOG]

we have only sailed princess besides rccl...we did enjoy it very much and will likely do a princess hawaii cruise because they still have round trip socal sailings;)

 

i know what you are saying,we love rccl but want to mix it up a little for some variety...some day:)

 

dave

[FL_Cruiser64]

I have had no other line preferences besides RCI. I tried Carnival and NCL before and wasn't to fond of them.

 

But if what I heard becomes reality I will dump all my cruises next year and 2010 and try Princess beginning in 2009.

:)

[dutchess43]

Definately X keeping it all in the family.

[james j feller]

CRYSTAL and SEABOURN are on the top of my list.

 

JIM

[mudscraper]

We tried a short HAL cruise and while the ship was nice, the rest was not really us. Although, I would have to say their headliner (entertainer/comedian) was one of the best I have seen. I just seemed very strange that the majority of the waitstaff and cabin attendants were from the same country.....no diversity. This was a cruise that definately lacked any atmosphere and I never heard anyone laugh.....strange. The food was ok. Probably the nicest cabin we have been in.

 

 

Princess was the first cruise my boyfriend and I took together...everything was perfect except for his major sunburn (wouldn't listen to me about tanning prior to cruise and would not keep up with applying the sunscreen....can anyone say lobster man!!!). Well our cabin attendant was the best, food was great, we didn't go to any shows except one in the explorers lounge and thought it sucked (i understand that the main shows in the theatre are great). Service overall was great along with a terrific itin...

 

Then we tried the Navigator...and really have not looked back. We were blown away by the ship. I love what the RCCL ships offer and am a little scared to jump to another line..

 

That said, I would really like to try a 10 day southern on the Ruby Princess in 2010 and eventually try the Solstice or Equinox.

HALs cabin attendants are from the Philipines and the waitstaff are Indonesian.

 

 

Rich

[cruiserbryce]

Princess:D

[want2seaitall]

What other cruise lines? :p

 

Actually...I'm looking into HAL because they give a firefighter discount. I'm a little put off that RC gives an airline worker discount :confused:, but not a fire/police discount. I'm definitely booking a cruise next Christmas...it will be a choice between HAL and RC. But I don't want to hijack this post about a debate over who deserves discounts and who doesn't. :)

[hawkfanI]

Celebrity!

 

Classy operation, beautiful ships, quality food, great service!

 

 

Have to agree, we've been on 2 Celebrity cruises, Mercury & Celebrity and thought both were great. Definitely a couple steps above the Princess cruise we took. Now just 3 days away from our first RCCL cruise!!!!!

[stlpanther]

We have three young girls (6, 9, 13) and have only been on Disney cruises. However, my wife and I have a RCCL planned next summer for our 20th wedding anniversary WITHOUT kids. So, it will be nice to have something to compare. Looking forward to it!

[TSC]

We've been on HAL, Princess, Celebrity, Carnival, Princess, Disney and RCCL. (We keep trying new ones and so haven't achieved super user status on any other them! :o)

 

My favorite is probably Celebrity and my husband's HAL - but its a really close call. I think Celebrity, RCCL, and Princess are all quite close.

 

In my opinion, the differences between Princess and RCCL are pretty minor. Both seem about the same quality - both seem to cater to about the same crowd and we've really enjoyed our cruises on both. The biggest difference is that RCCL has more of the athletic/sports things on board like rollerblading, ice skating etc. Princess doesn't have as many of those things - but they have lots more entertainment options. For instance, on Princess there is usually a show in the theater and in the second smaller venue - at the same time. The shows in the smaller venue were usually great. Plus Princess has the movies under the stars which was fun.

 

We are 52 - and first went on HAL when we were 45. Yes, HAL can be a bit older crowd, and I wouldn't choose HAL to take my grandkids on, but otherwise it was lovely. My husband loves the staff on HAL - so friendly and helpful. HAL doesn't have the sports options but has nice lectures and especially on our Med cruise - it had great port talks. Not just the typical cruise talk about where the shopping was (with encouragement and scare tactics to only go to their partner shops) - but expert speakers on the history and interesting facts.

 

We've only done one Celebrity but it was really nice and I think the food was the best yet. (but I usually think the food is pretty good on most of my cruises.)

 

Carnival is fine - but I do think its dining falls just a bit below the quality of the other lines. Also its shorter cruises tend to be more party boats. We call short Carnival cruises - the hot dog and beer cruise. However - my grandkids (4 and 8) love them. They have a ball at the kids camp and there are usually lots of other children on board.

 

I've liked them all and would go again tomorrow! :D

[piercetc4]

we havent had a bad cruise yet.........knock on wood....lol

i would go on any line tomorrow as well-

rci is still our fav. with princess 2nd- only reason princess is second is muts- i think ccl has ships with that now too so maybe they tie for 2nd -

we did one ccl cruise in sept and it was not the party boat most lines are during spring break week- so time of yr does matter and lenth of cruise plays a part in that also- short cruises are more of party atmosphere than longer ones

[jaxon41]

My husband and I have been on 4 RCCL cruises in the last 5 years. We really love the cruise line but we want to try another line that offers diffent Caribbean ports. We are in our late 30's. We have no interest in Carnival. What other lines have you sailed and loved and is it you like about that line? We were thinking maybe NCL, Princess or Celebrity.

 

Thanks all!

 

Celebrity is my first choice, Royal my second choice. Nothing wrong with NCL if you like their free style dining, which means you will lose dance floor -- virtually none to speak of with live music -- and like to pay extra for food. The free restaurants are ok, but not up to par with Celebrity or Royal, imo.

[Leafpeeper]

We love to cruise on lots of differnt cruiselines for many reasons. First of all, we get bored sailing the same type of ship over and over. We like the variety of entertainment on different cruiselines.

 

We love to take 10 day cruises from NY and 7 day cruises from LA or Miami. However, last year we were spending a week at Disney and checking in on a Sunday. We didn't want to wait until Sunday to fly to Orlando so we booked a short 3 night cruise out of Port Canaveral. We ended up booking a 3 night weekend cruise on Carnival and we had a great time! We were just trying to kill some time and didn't expect much considering what we paid for an inside cabin. HOwever, we were so delighted in our cruise. The entertainment was FANTASTIC. DH loved the casino. We had great weather and had a blast on Paradise Island --especially on the beach and at the Atlantis Resort. We met some great people who lived in Florida who were part of a poker tournament on this cruise. What a fun time we had.

 

A cruise is what you make of it. Sometimes we book for ports of call and weather conditions. Sometimes we book for our budget. Sometimes we book based on sailing from ports close to home that we can drive to. Most of all, we like variety. There are things we like about every cruiseline. We don't compare--we simply appreciate the differences. We love all the restaurants NCL has to offer and the fact that we can dine at whatever time we want. We love all the swimming pools and different lounges on Princess--especially their outdoor movies. We love the decor of Royal Carribean ships. We enjoy the kareoke, pizza & ice cream and fun on Carnival--not to mention the layout of their casinos.

 

Instead of sticking to one cruiseline--we prefer to enjoy as many as possible.

[mammy]

Carnival.....not for me.......it was the jerry springer cruise from hell:eek:

We love RCI for the layout of the ships, the service and food is much better than CCL......Celebrity was awesome.......great food, good service, loved the relaxtion poolside no announcements......but by 9 pm you could basically roll a bowling ball around......everyone was asleep, the disco had 4 people in it at 11 pm 2 of which were my friend and I....LOTS of older people on board......We stick to RCI for the late night etertainment.......I am a night owl......

[DeepWaterMariner]

We love to cruise on lots of differnt cruiselines for many reasons. First of all, we get bored sailing the same type of ship over and over. We like the variety of entertainment on different cruiselines.

 

Instead of sticking to one cruiseline--we prefer to enjoy as many as possible.

 

I couldn't agree more. We've sailed most cruise lines many times. RCI use to be our favorite but Princess is more our style now a days. Our last cruise was on Carnival and our next is on HAL. RCI slipped out of the top spot with us because of changes to the menu and Celebrity is suffering the same problem. We're giving RCI another try next year. Anyway, we like the menu on Princess, the entertainment options, the dinning flexibility, and their wide range of itineraries.

[rednancy1]

I forgot to mention....we are sailing on Regent's Paul Gauguin in Tahiti this May. I'm afraid this will become our favorite cruise line. :eek:

 

Economically speaking, our favorite cruise line will continue to be RCI. :cool: