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NE/Canada - help deciding on which cruiseline


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Hello,

I have taken several cruises to the Caribbean, and this will be my first any place else. The only line I have ever been on is Carnival and after the last one, I vowed "never again". I just want a step up... A little classier than what Carnival has to offer. Better food... I was so sick of the Carnival buffet line and was disappointed in the dinners the last two times we went.

That said... I thought that I had found my answer in a Norwegian Cruise, but after reading reviews, I am feeling like it is comparable to the Carnival Cruises. I love that it offers ports in 2 cities in Maine, as that is my all time favorite vacation spot (so far!) And the dates are good... October vs September. Can someone please offer insight into the differences in Royal Caribbean, Princess, HAL and Norwegian ? I love that NCL has affordable prices, but does that mean sacrificing in other areas? I don't want to feel "cheated" if we do NCL... I love the things that make you feel "special"... bathrobes, chocolates, entertainment, truly good food (Lobster and seafood, since this IS a New England trip) ...I don't want to feel like I am eating at the cafeteria night after night....

 

Please help me decide!!!

Thank you!

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Just did the Canada/New England cruise on Norwegian Gem a couple weeks ago. Personally we love the Gem. Food in the buffet is generally fine and they have some great specialty restaurants too, but no lobster that I saw. Entertainment was very good. We had just a balcony room and as they turned down your bed at night. That's all we need to feel special. YMMV

 

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

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We were booked on Carnival Sunshine for September 2017 out of NYC, and we cruised it to Canada/NE last year as well and enjoyed the cruise and the ship. The Sunshine is different than many of their ships. However, having recently come off Anthem of the Seas and realizing it was also doing Canada/NE this fall, we jumped ship (haha) and switched to the 9 nighter (got great perks from travel agent from warehouse club.)

 

NCL Gem which, we have cruised on many times, was quite a bit more $ for some reason. I like NCL food better than Carnival's, but if you go hungry on any cruise I feel you're too picky! ;p Norwegian no longer serves lobster included in your cruise fare -- only for an upcharge in their main dining room or at the upcharge restaurants. I did not like that decision when they made it a few years ago.

We have had nice cruises on Princess ships too. Truly, I would go on any of them although I can't speak about Holland America.

 

I don't think most of the lines have chocolates at night anymore, and bath robes are usually for those who have some higher status on the cruise lines, although it never hurts ask your cabin steward anyway.

 

I've been a big help I'm sure. LOL.

Edited by mizLORInj
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We're doing an 11 night cruise from Quebec to New York on Sept 20th, sailing on the Vision of the Seas.[Royal Caribbean] Lots of lovely stops in New England inc an overnight in Boston. We've been on one of the sister ships around the Med and loved it. Looked at Holland America Line but the ship they were using did not get very good reviews. Counting down the days now.:D

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We took the New England and Canada cruise on the Norwegian Dawn and thoroughly enjoyed it. They had a special promotion that gave us the beverage package and Internet and specialty dining which certainly helped. The cruise director staff were excellent and we had fun with them. We thought the food in the dining room was good and we took advantage of specialty dining for 3 nights which was excellent. The weather wasn't the best on the cruise but otherwise it was wonderful.

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We have sailed Carnival, RCCL, and NCL. We plan to cruise Princess this fall (Regal to Canada). There have been aspects to each ship/line we liked and things that bothered us on each. Ideally we could find a line that combined all of the positives and had none of the negatives, but realistically that won't happen;)

 

Preferences are so subjective and personal, but based on your disappointment with Carnival and desire for an "upgrade" I would recommend (from my limited experience) Princess or RCCL. Our RCCL was on a small ship so I'm not sure if the mega ships would have the same service level, but we found better service and little touches there than the other two. It appears that Princess and Celebrity have similar service levels too. We found NCL a little too relaxed and were disappointed in the food, but they did a really nice job at embarkation and the ports at making us feel welcome (complimentary water/juice, wet cloths after hot ports - even popsicles once).

 

Ultimately I think they are all similar and can provide a nice vacation if the cruiser has the right attitude so we choose based on dates available, itinerary, departure port, and price more than a specific line or ship. Maybe searching for reviews or youtube videos of a specific ship you are interested in would help you get a better feel for each line.

 

Have a great cruise whatever you decide.

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For the Lobster I would recommend finding somewhere at the ports of call - likely to be fresher/better than anything on ship. I have seen very good reviews for the seafood at the specialty restaurants on Princess while researching our cruise.

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You need to decide how important itinerary vs ship is.

 

First of all for Canada in September or October you want to have inside pool... So it is HAL Veendam from Boston, Royal (Serenade? from Boston or Anthem from NY) , Celebrity Summit from NJ.

 

We sailed on Brilliance (Same as Serenade)

Boston - Bar Harbor - Halifax - St John, NB - Portland - Boston

 

Veendam from Boston

Boston - Bar Harbor - Halifax NS - Sydney NS - Charlottetown PEI - Québec City - Montreal

(one way)

 

First ship was newer , second was older and smaller, but interesting

 

Food was better with HAL

 

Itinerary was better with HAL.

 

Both had inside pools.

 

Crowd was older on Royal ship, but cruise was in the end of September vs Labor day cruise with HAL.

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Don't overlook the Celebrity Summit or RCL's Anthem of the Seas. Both do Canada/NE from Port Liberty, NJ. We are going there on Summit this September. Celebrity is a bit more upscale than RCL. However, we have sailed on Anthem which is a much newer ship and it was a wonderful experience.

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