comparing cruise lines....??

[robint]

My husband and I have never been on a cruise. We are usually dive dive dive maniacs, done a few liveaboards and lots of land-based dive trips over the past 14+ years. BUT this year my husband had major surgery on his hip (not a replacement, but still major bone and muscle repair). For that reason, he is still in recovery and no diving is possible for several months. We are actually considering a Cruise! Probably NOT diving, would like to relax and just enjoy traveling, some shore excursions, but mostly just have fun.

So.... all of you Cruise veterans, we want the real scoop on preferences on cruise lines. I know everyone has their favorite LINE and I want to know which one and why.

We can fly direct to Houston, use our free flights on Southwest so this is our plan, probably in November.... we are looking at NCL, RCCL, and Carnival. The prices varies enough to ask for help, so we want to know is it worth it to go with one or the other. Which is the better line for our first time?

robin

 

[tomfcrist]

I have only cruised Carnival (twice many years ago), and thought they were fantastic. Never a dull moment on any cruise, and there is alway something for everyone to do.

 

[fire_diver]

I have cruised on both RCCL and Carnival. For me there wasn't any real difference between the companies. Our son was very young when we started and Carnival had more stuff for kids to do so we ended up sticking with them.

 

[LowVizWiz]

I've been on Carnival and Royal Caribbean a few times and didn't really find much difference. We try to book our cruises on fairly new ships (2 or 3 year old ships at the most) there can be marked differences between a new ship and and old ship regardless of the cruise line. We also book our cruises during the offseason as the prices come down and there's usually less people on board.

Last year we booked our first cruise on NCL and I was very impressed with the food both on the restaurants and in the buffet. In my opinion it was a few notches above RCCL and Carnival. Overall service has been great in all of the cruise lines so I would pick based on your preference of accommodations availability (interior cabin vs balcony) ports, sea days and price.

I prefer less sea days so a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise is better than 7 day Eastern Carib. but there are more ports to visit on the Eastern caribbean so you have to pick your poisson sort of speak.

For us the higher the better and stay away from booking a cabin above or below a restaurant or night club. We tend to look for deck 9 or 10. Also for years I was never really sold on paying extra for a balcony, but my wife finally convinced me to get one and I highly recommend it specially if you can have a few other families or couples in adjacent rooms with connecting balconies. However, having the ability to close of the balcony for late night rendezvous with your spouse is key!

 

[fire_diver]

For us the higher the better and stay away from booking a cabin above or below a restaurant or night club. We tend to look for deck 9 or 10. Also for years I was never really sold on paying extra for a balcony, but my wife finally convinced me to get one and I highly recommend it specially if you can have a few other families or couples in adjacent rooms with connecting balconies. However, having the ability to close of the balcony for late night rendezvous with your spouse is key!

OMG! That is gospel to follow right there! When you go online you can see the ship's layout so do NOT pick something adjacent/above/below the casino or night club, etc. Made that mistake early on!

Balconies are more expensive but it is sooooooo nice compared to an interior or even an "ocean view" (means you have a port hole or window) room. To be able to walk outside and sit and watch the ocean without being surrounded by people, eat a meal or snack out there is so nice.

I don't know about other cruise lines but carnival has free room service 24 hours a day. Just tip your delivery person a dollar or two. Be prepared that times can be slow during peak times.

 

[cmulvaney]

I prefer NCL to Carnival and RCCL. it seemed more upscale and relaxing to me. I like the Freestyle way much better. A balcony is the way to go. The higher up on a ship you go, the more swing you might get and be able to feel. I get a room in the middle height and center of the ship as it moves the least. I suggest going to the spa and paying the $100 or so fee that allows you access to the spa whirlpools and steambaths. Not just for them but for the full size mens and womens locker rooms you can use to shower and get ready and not have to use the tiny one in the room.

 

[jimbeeler]

My wife and I have been on 6-7 cruises so we're not "experts" and my wife has been on a few Carnival cruises before we got married. She will only cruse Royal Caribbean because of the older crowd and less of a party atmosphere. I understand that Norwegian is similar to RCCl but I haven't been on one of theirs.

We always get an external balcony on a floor 2 floors down from the main top deck. I just like being able to go out there and watch the ocean. Occasionally you will get smokers out there as well as loud neighbors but for the most part its quiet. As for noticing, rough weather, on our last cruise 2 weeks ago there was a storm one night that I did hear but didn't notice any significant swaying. It was later reported by a crew member that the winds were 60 knots from the west (we were headed north). Pretty stable.

My wife really likes cruising for the shows and activities. I'm not quite as excited by them but I do like the destinations (the Caribbean) and the ability to get out in clear water.

Jim

 

[Mike]

The cruise line you choose will impact your experience, but two other factors are as important if not even more important.

1) What is the itinerary. You been to Cozumel a gob of times right? Would you really want to go there on your cruise? The cruise line with the itinerary that you like with the longest shore times should be a major factor, possibly over shadowing the cruise line itself.

2) Probably more important than the cruise line in regard to your over all experience is the age and size of the ship you go on. There is always something to consider being that it will be your first cruise and like a new diver wanting to go to the best dive sites, you don't know what you don't know yet. But the newer the ship typically the better the experience. The bigger the ship, the better the experience, but this is very subjective. I've heard people complain about too big of a ship, but personally if you're already unsociable and too many people around bother you, then you shouldn't go on any cruise in the first place. New ships and bigger ships offer more to do and nicer surroundings and better experiences for example as the best of the best crew only get to work on the biggest, best newest ships.

As for the cruise lines, they are well known for their stereotypes... Carnival is the young person party all the time ship, do you want to watch belly flop contest at the pool and do beer bongs? Norwegian is for the older richer in bed by 8 pm crowd, do you want to buy some over priced artwork on board, see a broadway type show, go to wine tastings... you can look around the internet and get a good feel for what each cruise line is known for, as they do typically target a particular segment, but I still feel the cruise line while important is only one piece of the puzzle.

I've tasted a lot of the cruise lines, Royal Caribbean keeps hauling us back, as they seem to be the inbetween, sweet spot, not to old and stogy, not catering just to the young spring break crowd, great ships, great service... but to each their own and what they personally prefer.

Just don't choose some old crappy ship on it's last season before being completely over-hauled, or you might be turned off for life. Spring for a balcony if you can, at least an outside cabin, it really does make a big difference, many, many people enjoy being on their balcony as the ship comes into port, or having breakfast on their balcony to get away from everyone and have some quieter times. Some of the newer bigger ships are almost all balcony rooms, while the older ones have a shortage of them.

 

[drrich2]

I'm guessing the rock climbing wall and flow rider on some of the larger Royal Caribbean shops might not be his thing? Don't know about you.

The Royal Promenade (like walking down a quaint main street city neighborhood) on some larger Royal Caribbean ships is nice; could be a factor in your decision.

The largest Royal Caribbean ships, the Oasis class (Oasis and Allure), are seen as destinations in themselves, with lots of specialty restaurants. For a 'big ship' experience on Royal, you want a Voyager, Freedom or Oasis class ship (Quantum is new, big and I don't know much about it).

If you want more indecision, from what I understand Princess is similar to Royal Caribbean, and Royal Caribbean International owns Celebrity Cruiseline (I did a Celebrity cruise, and I've been on 4 Royal Caribbean cruises). By reputation, gleaned from forums at CruiseCritic.com (which seems to be to cruising what Scuba Board is to scuba diving) and more, it's like...

1.) Carnival - often the cheapest, similar to Royal, in the pictures I find the color/decor rather gaudy looking.

2.) Royal - reputedly well-designed ships, easy to get around, good overall value/experience, similar to Carnival.

3.) Celebrity - older crowd, a more 'traditional and elegant' experience. Don't expect to see a lot of kids.

4.) Holland America - for the really older crowd, or so I hear by reputation.

5.) Disney - people love it, but said to tend to be much more expensive than Royal Caribbean. On Cruise Critic, a number of people like Disney and Royal, but consider Royal the better 'bang for the buck, hey, I can afford this' option.

Smaller ship cruises are often cheaper. The Vision of the Seas on Royal Caribbean can be inexpensive, but it's one of the smaller ships, so I doubt you'd see a royal promenade, flow rider & some other things. Some people love Radience-class Royal ships due to a lot of glass giving them a lot of viewing pleasure.

Richard.

 

[DMDavid]

Go with Royal Caribbean and you'll have no regrets.
One of my favorite cruises is to the Bahamas where I go diving with Stuart Coves in Nassau to do the shark dive.

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