West Coasters, where are you going now?

[Poorplaya]

I guess I will figure something out, i like being able to cruise out of LA and SD so my wife and i will figure something out.

[critterchick]

We've already cut back on our cruising since Monarch left. Although I really enjoyed my first cruise on Paradise, we haven't found that sense of "coming home" that we had on Monarch.

 

I'm not a fan of Mariner, so frankly won't miss her much, but am not happy that RCI won't have a presence in Southern California except for the occasional repositionig cruise. It's a mystery to me why they can't make money in this market when the other lines can.

 

We'll just cruise less and do some of the land-based things we've been meaning to - visit the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, take the Napa wine train. I do think that RCI will be back eventually, but until they are we'll only be cruising them 1-2x per year instead of 10. Their loss, not ours.

[pscruzinboyz]

Not Happy about the departure of the Mariner....but reluctantly we will fly. UNLESS...They KICK US OUT of the CL...we will see next month where my loyalty lies.....Stay tuned!

 

29 cruises with # 30 on the Oasis in October :)

 

Mike and Bill

[bonnie&clydecruzers]

Well since cruising on the Carnival Splendor last year and not really caring for it, I will be making the dreaded flight across the states and taking Freedom out of Canaveral. Not really ready to try Princess yet, so I guess I will stay with RCI for now but will not be able to take too many cruises due to now having to add airfare to the total bill. :(

[pscruzinboyz]

Well since cruising on the Carnival Splendor last year and not really caring for it, I will be making the dreaded flight across the states and taking Freedom out of Canaveral. Not really ready to try Princess yet, so I guess I will stay with RCI for now but will not be able to take too many cruises due to now having to add airfare to the total bill. :(

 

OK, You are not the first....Why do RCL people HATE the Splendor?

 

Mike

[sjb317]

OK, You are not the first....Why do RCL people HATE the Splendor?

 

Mike

 

I'm curious about that myself. We have sailed on the Splendor twice and while the Radiance class is our favorite, we loved our cruises on the Splendor and would prefer it over the Voyager class.

Sherri:)

[pcur]

I'm curious about that myself. We have sailed on the Splendor twice and while the Radiance class is our favorite, we loved our cruises on the Splendor and would prefer it over the Voyager class.

Sherri:)

 

I think the previous poster was referring to the Carnival Splendor, not RCCL's Splendour of the Seas.

 

We have cruised for 37 - 38 years, so DH and I have some firm opinions about certain things on our cruises. We have cruised on Cunard, Celebrity, Costa, Cunard, Princess, and Renaissance, and if the cruise doesn't compare favorably to RCCL we just stay with our fav!! I would have preferred it if we loved Princess, but we didn't. If it was things that aren't important to us that we didn't like, then we would book Princess again, but unfortunately it was things that WERE important to us where Princess fell short.

[Happy ks]

We've cruised the MR 3 times now and quite frankly, don't really care to again. But I'm still sad Mariner is leaving for other peoples sake.

 

We do have a couple of Princess cruises planned, both on Sapphire, but neither to the MR. One is just a sampler, to Santa Barbara and Ensenada in December. Then a "wine region" repo cruise, 7 nights heading north to Vancouver....really looking forward to that.

 

So actually, we're really mourning the loss of Monarch even still. It was nice to have a short cruise fix.

 

We'll either fly to other embarkation ports, or do some land trips now.

[joeyancho]

I'm going to Disneyland. The jungle cruise is awesome. And Club 33 has better food than any cruiseship.

[mtchg]

NCL has a nice Mexican Riviera cruise out of LA

 

 

I agree; a few years back we took our kids and cruised with another family on the Norwegian Star. It was an 8 niter at a great price, and we had low expectations; but heck it was cheap, it was a cruise and we had never been to some of the ports.

 

We were all pleasantly suprised at the level of service (as good or better than my other RCCL and CCL cruises)..entertainment was as good; C.D. was one of the best..his name is Simon, later saw him interviewed by CNBC for a special about the business side of cruising. The Main Dining Room food was not quite up to par with the other lines mentioned..but the specialty restaurants; some fee....some free...were GREAT, and their buffets on the Lido very impressive.

 

I enjoy RCCL (can't wait for Indy), but some of you Loyal to Royal folks have some skewed impressions of the other lines; they offer comparable positive experiences at rates sometimes lower than RCCL. I would look at this as an opportunity to try other cruise lines.

 

 

Mitch

[willyguy]

I will take what ever ship we can sail on from the west coast. Just want to cruise.

[locafordan]

We already went on Mariner on June 28th 2009. We booked a cruise with Carnival next year. And afterwards we are taking Allure of the seas on 2012 God willing.I really want to see the central park and try the zip line on Allure:D

[novalab]

I was on the Mariner in February and LOVED it, so I'm sad she's leaving, too. We are on the Sapphire Princess this weekend to see how she does the Mexican Riviera. It will be interesting to compare the two.

 

How did you like the Sapphire Princess? We were thinking of giving her a try next year.

[Nanaimobound]

We really liked Princess, they are just a little harder on the wallet!

but they have a last night bash like no other!

It's like New years eve and they have a champagne waterfall that they stack with amazing skill and then you can get your picture taken filling a glass.

they drop balloons and confetti on everybody, and it is a real party! Without a doubt the best last night sendoff ever. Makes you forget how sad you are to leave.

[bonnie&clydecruzers]

OK, You are not the first....Why do RCL people HATE the Splendor?

 

Mike

 

Well its not that I HATED the Splendor, but more of a dislike. I didn't like that ship doesn't flow well. You have to go up a floor and then walk and then down a floor just to get somewhere. Ship didn't feel spacious to me. They did activities like bean bag toss in the middle of a walking aisle so constant delays. I mean the ship is supposed to be big and it was hard to find a lonely place. I didn't like the low ceilings in the dining rooms. We were actually exploring the ship right after embarkation and ran into a few TA's and we compared notes. They agreed about the flow of the ship and the low ceiling and small public spaces. I also don't like the enclosed 3 story area around the ships main pool. I like it more open like RCI ships. So once again didn't hate it, just didn't enjoy it as much as our 2 previous RCI ships which BTW were actually smaller than the Splendor (Monarch, Vision).

 

So for the record I would consider going on the Splendor again if we ran into some REALLY awesomely LOW prices, just merely because it means I don't have to spring for airfare.

[cruiserbryce]

since flying is such a pain we will still be cruising the west coast...just probably with Princess

[pscruzinboyz]

Hi and OK, Thanks for your honest input....I appreciate it....We are RCL guys but not sure what we will do starting in 2012.....we are booked with RCL for the next year and a half and probably will do the last cruise in Jan. 2011. Like many....we are only 30 minutes south of Long beach so Carnival just seems easier....but like you....I have heard some of the same stories....with RCL they have spoiled us to no means.

Thanks again and hope to cruise with you one day...maybe on another RCL ship out of LA.

 

Mike

 

Also you will see me on the boards late every night....Probably after 9:00 pm

[bonnie&clydecruzers]

Hi and OK, Thanks for your honest input....I appreciate it....We are RCL guys but not sure what we will do starting in 2012.....we are booked with RCL for the next year and a half and probably will do the last cruise in Jan. 2011. Like many....we are only 30 minutes south of Long beach so Carnival just seems easier....but like you....I have heard some of the same stories....with RCL they have spoiled us to no means.

Thanks again and hope to cruise with you one day...maybe on another RCL ship out of LA.

 

Mike

 

I think forums are much better when people can share their honest opinions so no problemo. AS far as Carnival Splendor before we had booked on her, we had done 2 RCI cruises and absolutely loved them. Then I noticed Carnival was a big game player to on the West coast so I started reading all the threads about "Carnival vs Royal Caribbean". It was funny to read all the comparisons but ultimately I thought too myself only I can judge who I will like better. So I went ahead and booked on the Splendor. Now let me be honest here and say the decision to book on Carnival was made ALOT easier due to me having $200 in Carnival certificates from my credit card rewards program. Looking back on it, I did have a good time on Her, but She will definitely not be my first choice.

 

I definitely hear you on cruising out of Long Beach is just easier. My 2011 cruise is out of Port Canaveral and I am NOT looking forward to the flight to Florida. But if you have not yet tried Carnival Splendor, I would suggest you go ahead and do it atleast once. Heck you live so close to port, why not?:D

[bonnie&clydecruzers]

Mike

 

Also you will see me on the boards late every night....Probably after 9:00 pm

 

As will I.:D I have a little thing called insomnia but even if I didn't I just love these boards so much I would still be here. It helps me to get by between cruises.:cool:

[Alexis]

So it is off to San Juan again in 2011.

We said we did not want to fly that far again, but we just have to sail those two great itineraries on the Serenade. :D

They are the best. ;)

So I am still Loyal to Royal. :rolleyes: :o

[bonnie&clydecruzers]

So it is off to San Juan again in 2011.

We said we did not want to fly that far again, but we just have to sail those two great itineraries on the Serenade. :D

They are the best. ;)

So I am still Loyal to Royal. :rolleyes: :o

 

Yeah I was checking out those Serenade itineraries too. I like those prices too. Just couldn't imagine taking a flight that far. I think Florida is super far. So exactly how long is your plane flight to San Juan? Would you ever fly that far for just one 7 night cruise?

[beachchick]

My DH cruised the Mex Riviera about a million years ago--so long ago that is was before we were married. I've never had any particular desire to cruise it and he doesn't care to do it again. We aren't interested in any Pacific coastal repositioning type cruises. As much as we love the Mariner, we haven't give her any thought because we just didn't like the itinerary.

 

So we'll continue to cruise the Caribbean (Eastern, Southern), maybe Hawaii again some time, looking at Scandinavia on a small ship again, the Western Med would be good, and most definitely Australia/New Zealand/the Society Islands is a dream cruise.

 

beachchick

[CRUZBUDS]

We cruise pretty much from San Diego -- We are bummed about the Radiance leaving and would have made it to L.A. - eventually for the Marnier :(

Fortunately we still have the Carnival Spirit here and they just re-vamped the itineraries. We'll be doing our next couple on her. It's a terrific ship and the best class of ship Carnival has.

Next year we’re being blessed with a couple of Hawaii cruises on the Century. Maybe if it’s successful, Royal or Celebrity will start doing more. :)

[critterchick]

We really liked Princess, they are just a little harder on the wallet!

but they have a last night bash like no other!

It's like New years eve and they have a champagne waterfall that they stack with amazing skill and then you can get your picture taken filling a glass.

they drop balloons and confetti on everybody, and it is a real party! Without a doubt the best last night sendoff ever. Makes you forget how sad you are to leave.

 

Interesting that you say Princess is more expensive than RCI - I've always found the opposite on the cruises I've looked at.

 

I really didn't like the NYE celebration on the Sapphire last year. It was PACKED in the atrium, and the other lounges only had that party on TV. On Vision in 2007 they had 3 separate parties so you could spread out and have a really bash in any of them.

 

We enjoy Princess and will likely turn to them for our local cruises. Carnival is fine, but not as nice for us. I also didn't like the layout of Splendor, and I HATED the pink circles everywhere. A friend of mine told me that you get used to it, but I'd rather not.

 

I'm still thinking that RCI will be back to LA or San Diego, maybe 2012.

[Puffinater]

I'm still thinking that RCI will be back to LA or San Diego, maybe 2012.

 

I am also one that thinks there will be a return but unless they do a big schedule shift (which as we all know is not out of the question) I also believe we are looking at 2012.