What's the best Cruise Line?

[strop]

I'm sure there must be some experienced cruisers here. That is experience with cruise ships. My wife and have been toying with the idea of a cruise vacation later this summer. Still talking about destination. We've been on one cruise, 15 or so years ago, with our 2 kids. We were on Carnival Cruise lines then, supposedly very kid friendly. Our youngest was always busy with the "kid group" on board, and we were able to just lay around a relax for a week.

No kids to worry about now! Are there any Lines that are "better" than others? Any more catering to adults rather than kids? Any to avoid at all costs?

If you've been on 8 cruises on the same Cruise Line and never had a bad experience that means something, but I'd especially be interested in hearing from someone whose been on multiple Cruise Lines.

 

[rockviper]

SWMBO has let me tag along twice with Royal Caribbean: Eastern Caribbean a few years ago; Western Med in November.
Both were nice and we had no issues. Food looked great bust was generally hit or miss in terms of flavour.

 

[strop]

I was looking at the Royal Caribbean site earlier, and the Western Med one looked interesting. Would you do it again? I see now that they have various dining options, including some that have some additional charge. Did you do any of those or was the "hit or miss" with the standard dining?

 

[rockviper]

We would do Eastern Med next time (Greece and Turkey).

Out itin...itener...eatinary.... "stops" were:
Barcelona, Spain ...flew in 2 days early to adjust to timezone and see the city (nice!) REVISIT
Palma De Mallorca, Spain ....
Valletta, Malta
Messina (Sicily), Italy
Naples (Capri), Italy; ... didn't do Napeles, but hit the Almalfi coast (Positano & Almalfi..... expensive, but beautifil) REVISIT
Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy; ..... found Rome VERY confusing and "tight"
Livorno (Florence), Italy ..... didn't do Florance, but did the Tuscan countrytside REVISIT
and back to Barca.

Stay away from the "special" restaurants. Food is pretty much cooked by the same chefs. you're just paying for the atmosphere. Standard dining worked great for us. This trip we were paired with English and Scots... what a hoot! Really a good table of folks with no "airs"

Royal Caribbean now lets you carry a bottle of wine (not hard liq) onbaord sine the start of 2013, i think.

 

[Prince]

Royal carribean was really nice. We went on Disney last year with our 9 year old and there were plenty of couples without kids. The service was fantastic. Top notch all the way around.

 

[rushchairman]

"show me the moneyyyyyy!!!"

 

[oc_in_fw]

I have been looking into a European river cruises. From everything I have read, AMA Waterways beats Viking.

 

[Edcculus]

I'd go back on a Disney cruise in a heartbeat. Kids or no kids. My wife and I went on a 7 day Western Caribbean for our honeymoon. Food is awesome. The shows are amazing. Service is all around incredible.

The only thing I have to compare to is Carnival. The Carnival experience was horrible. Lets just say the class of people Carnival caters to is well, people I like to avoid. Pretty much a bunch of fat people who want to tuck up to a buffet 24/7.

 

[jmsodpc]

Norwegian gets my business.

 

[strop]

I have been looking into a European river cruises. From everything I have read, AMA Waterways beats Viking.

That's on the radar as well. They sound like fun.

Norwegian gets my business.

Any experience with others as a comparison? If not, was there a particular reason you chose them?

 

[DonN]

we've only taken 2 cruises - took an NCL carribean cruise for our 10th anniversary many years ago and it was a great classy experience with the stop in Haiti very memorable - more recently we took an Alaskan cruise on Holland America and were disappointed with the overall feeling we had on the ship - hard to describe in words but it seemed not to be as elegant as we remembered our Norwegian experience - for a carribean cruise we would favor a Norwegian line .

we're currently thinking of a European river cruise & I've taken note of AMA Waterways that was suggested above by another poster.

don't know what your budget is but if you search on "luxury mediterranean cruises" as I recall one line comes up that shows a picture of a modern looking all white ship with sails - it was pricey but it looked interesting and worth some research .

good luck !!!!!!

 

[Ixtab]

My Ex-wife went on one of those, horribly dreadful experience it was.





They didn't throw her overboard & brought her back in one piece.

 

[maxman]

My folks say of all the cruises they've been on Celebrity was the nicest.

 

[bhorsoft]

We liked Norwegian (NCL) to Bermuda. We liked the Freestyle aspect - eat when and where you wanted instead of set seating times. I've heard other lines have adapted something like Freestyle, but I don't know what they are.

 

[knlgskr]

We have taken +-30 cruises over 20+ years in order of preference: Celebrity, good all around, best food/service of the lines we have cruised with, ships clean, neat, personnel very good i.e. best for your money; Royal Caribbean, owns Celebrity, not as formal as Celebrity, very good service and personnel; Norwegian: Independent cruise line, allows you to pretty much "do your own thing", overall a good line with a good attitude toward passengers; Princess, similar to Royal Caribbean but no longer the "Love Boat" and buffet dining organization outside the dining rooms could be better; Carnival, owns Princess and Holland America, many short cruises i.e. 7 days or less, well organized, could have more variety in dining, reputation as "Party Central" but a lot of fun and least formal of the aforementioned lines.

We prefer longer duration cruises i.e. 10+ days while school is in session and in doing so encounter less "Party Animals" and children. Royal Caribbean seems to be best for those cruising with children.

We have used two travel agencies for all our cruises and have been very happy with the results. If interested, PM me or email [email protected] and I will be glad to help you in any way that I can.

 

[JoshuaNY]

I have been on Royal Carribean and Carnival. Twice on RC and once on Carnival. I had a better experience with RC, the customer service was better and the food(at least to me) was far superior. Just stay away from any NY style cheesecake. I dont know what they do to it to make it Nautical friendly, but it aint good. Everything else was top notch.

 

[sentrydriver]

My wife and I have been on five cruises. The first was with two then-teenage daughters and we cruised Royal Caribbean out of Galveston. We all loved the ship, the food and the activities/ports. My wife and I have cruised twice on Carnival. One was a three day out of San Diego and the other a four day out of Jacksonville. In both cases, we took these because it fit our limited days off. We enjoyed both and would cruise them again if our schedule demanded it. It is a younger party crowd but we didn't feel out of place at all. Our favorite has been Princess and we've cruised them twice; once from San Juan and once from LA to Ft. Lauderdale via Panama Canal. Loved both cruises. Beautiful ships, fantastic staff, great food (main dining room, we avoid buffets) and fun bars. On Princess, my wife and I are the youngsters (we're early 50s and still working) but we have always enjoyed the crowd on Princess. After all, they're doing exactly what we hope to be doing in five years...enjoying retirement. I recommend the web site CruiseCritic.com for professional and user reviews of cruise lines, ships and ports of call.

 

[strop]

Thanks for all the info. Looks like I've got a fair amount of research to do.

 

[jmsodpc]

i've been on 15 cruises so far,
celebrity, carnival, princess, royal carribbean, and norwegian.
i choose norwegian when i can because i dont like having a set dinner time at the same table with the same waiters.,
norwegian has anytime dining.
i also do not like mandatory dress up day....everyday i wear a shirt and tie and a vacation to me is to NOT dress up.
most ships have a dress up day if you want to eat in the main dining areas....i like having optional dress up like on norwegian.
i also get a friends and family discount on norwegian so that is nice too.

That's on the radar as well. They sound like fun.




Any experience with others as a comparison? If not, was there a particular reason you chose them?

 

[dundak]

“I feel the need – the need for speed.”