Curious

[cruisecriticmember]

Celebrity is my favorite ocean cruise line and while I see no reason to change I am curious as to what is Your favorite line (if Celebrity is not) or your second favorite line? I did sail the Caribbean on RCCL and liked it as well as Carnival which for me was a once (and only once) in a lifetime experience.

[WALKER1313]

Second Favorite is Princess, because they actually have west coast options. Also we have cruise friends who LOOOOOVE Princess.

[OCruisers]

Princess ... but never a problem cruising on Celebrity! :D

LuLu

[obnurse]

Celebrity followed very closely by Princess, but I've never had a cruise I didn't enjoy to the fullest!

[deelastcre]

I was curious about Princess and sailed several times. The food did not appeal to and they changed the wine policy. They will be my second choice when they are offering an itinery that I like at a good rate. My only complaint with Celebrity is the entertainment.

[itzmered]

We really like Princess but thoroughly enjoyed our recent Celebrity cruise. Enough so that we booked two more, well I have to admit the 123 all inclusive also played a huge factor in booking two more. I know a lot of people stay very loyal to one cruise line, we have enjoyed checking a lot of them out. Although I dont think I will ever book one on Carnival. Each line had things that we liked and disliked. I cant say that there is one that I would never cruise again but if I had to rate the ones we have done in order of preference I would say it would be

 

Princess-- love MUTS and just the general atmosphere of Princess - good food, decent entertainment and I like the layout of the ships

 

Celebrity -- fabulous crew and lots of little attentions to detail that we enjoyed, good food, entertainment on par with Princess, loved all the different bands that played in different venues. Now if they would just put the big screens up I would be totally sold ;)

 

Royal

Holland

NCL

[junetraveler2014]

Celebrity the BEST of all the rest IMO!

[texkan]

First cruise was RCCL but moved to our favorite Celebrity (Caribbean). Princess was great for land and cruise in Alaska.

[Cruisin'Lady]

Well, Holland America was our favorite for quite awhile. I really love their food (which out of the several lines I have been on, theirs is still the best). I also liked that the staff was very good at remembering and calling us by name and always smiling. The only problem with them, was I could not use their hot tubs or pools.

 

We went on our first Celebrity X cruise the last time we cruised and I was so much more impressed with them for accessibility than I was for the other 3 lines I have been on.

 

Although I agree that Celeb could do better for their shows (another thing that HAL exceeded in IMO), their accessible cabins in general are bigger and better with the automatic doors! As well as the accessible pools via the chair lift. There staff was friendly, and only after we had mentioned to the maitre d that we were used to the friendliness of the staff on HAL calling us by name, did we get that same familiarity with the Celebrity staff.

 

We have only taken 1 Princess cruise. Quite frankly that was not my cup of tea. They were not very accessible even though they claim to be. I think their shows were good and I liked the movie under the stars (when it wasn't too cold), but they didn't really have any place for accessibility for full time wheelchair users other than up at the top row in the back where people are coming in and talking while the show is going. And they only had 6 spots for the chairs and their companion. Thus if you didn't get there fast enough, they would run out of spots quickly. Don't get me started on their elevators!:eek:

 

So for the lines I have gone on so far I would rate as follows:

 

1. Celebrity

2. Holland

3. Cunard

Edited January 30, 2015 by Cruisin'Lady

[huskerc]

We've enjoyed NCL and for a strong enough difference in itinerary (Alaska/Glacier Bay or Hawaii) will still choose it, but definitely prefer X.

[nekzaadvakil]

Celebrity first for its food and itineraries. Royal Caribbean a close second for its mega ships, great service and laid back atmosphere.

[Queen of Oakville]

Depends on you/age/lifestyle.

 

DH and I are in our mid-40s (:eek: how did that happened?). We have two kids aged 7 and 8. We enjoy good food, great service. We are not sun worshippers nor activity chasers. We enjoy the casino (especially a non-smoking one). We enjoy larger ships (HAL falls down my ranking for this reason) for the sailing stability but the mega-ships have too many people for our liking). If the entertainment is good, we'll partake, but if it's not we're happy to spend our timing doing other things. A good kid's club that our kids want to spend time in also important.

 

Our ranking based on our sailing experience

 

1. Celebrity

2. Royal

3. HAL (for the size of ship, if they had larger ships - they would be our #2)

4. Disney

5. Carnival

6. Princess

Edited January 30, 2015 by Queen of Oakville

[parallax]

The majority of our cruises have been on Celebrity. We have also be on RC (3 times), HAL (1) and Oceania. Our favorite cruise was on Oceania but of the mass market lines we enjoy Celebrity the best. That being said, we recently cancelled our cruise on Celebrity and decided to try the Yacht Club on the MSC Divina. Is nothing against Celebrity other than a little Celebrity fatigue.

[4774Papa]

X is our first choice, but we also go with NCL if the itinerary and prices are good.

 

I sometimes check HAL, Princess and Royal for cruises. Royals cruises are usually short and on mega ships that we don't care for. HAL's prices are always way higher, unless you book specials closer to the cruise, and I like booking early.

 

Sometimes Princess looks good, its prices are generally closer to X, but so far I have not seen one that beats X in itinerary and price.

 

We like the change of NCL once in a while, with freestyle dining and their specialty restaurants as well as entertainment.

[Jane2357]

Although I dont think I will ever book one on Carnival.

 

Don't rule Carnival out based on what you hear on CC - especially the Celebrity Board where many of the Carnival bashers have never cruised Carnival. I love Carnival when I am cruising with groups, friends, girlfriends as it is affordable for most everyone and has a fun vibe. Relaxed and more casual with more diverse, younger passengers. The service is as good as Celebrity and the food is one point below Celebrity but the desserts are better. I stopped sailing Carnival due to their smoking policies but that has changed now - so I would consider them if the situation was right. So - I'd just add you might want to try it someday. :D

 

Our current favorite is Celebrity (for the romance, upscale factor) but if they continue to slide into a casual dress code then we will be looking at moving up to a more premium line that still adheres to a dress code. At 57 & 61 we aren't exactly old yet but we do enjoy formal nights.

[happyscmom]

Don't rule Carnival out based on what you hear on CC - especially the Celebrity Board where many of the Carnival bashers have never cruised Carnival. I love Carnival when I am cruising with groups, friends, girlfriends as it is affordable for most everyone and has a fun vibe. Relaxed and more casual with more diverse, younger passengers. The service is as good as Celebrity and the food is one point below Celebrity but the desserts are better. I stopped sailing Carnival due to their smoking policies but that has changed now - so I would consider them if the situation was right. So - I'd just add you might want to try it someday. :D

 

This will be my first X cruise, so I can't comment on it. But I have cruised Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Carnival. I agree that Carnival can be great! We have taken our kids on Carnival cruises and they had a BLAST. Also, my husband and I took a last minute Carnival cruise a few years ago for New Year's Eve. It was deeply discounted, so we thought, "What the heck!" It turned out to be absolutely WONDERFUL. Cruising is awesome, so I'm willing to try out almost any line.

[cruiserhal]

At one time this would have been an easy answer - Royal Caribbean, but they have gone down hill so much over the years I'm not so sure anymore. We will have to decide after our Quantum cruise in March. We already know we will not fly to a Royal cruise because we would take the Celebrity ship (if available) so we only book Royal from Bayonne or Baltimore.

 

We did try NCL a few months ago and really loved it but to be honest we were in the Haven which is not entirely a fare comparison. We would go again in a minute if we found a good Haven deal.

 

For a mass market line I have been looking at HAL again. We sailed with them many times a number of years ago and loved it.

 

I guess this means we don't really have a true second favorite but are looking for a new one. So long as they don't have Dynamic Dining that is. :)

[sunshine nana]

Princess has been the only line to do a partial of the Panama Canal. We loved it on the Coral. That itinerary avoided a long and expensive plane trip. We also really liked the Princess itinerary around the UK because it started and ended in Southampton, not Amsterdam.

We also took NCL for the itinerary around Hawaii without having to cross the Pacific to take it. I would only go on NCL in a suite and would plan to eat in the specialties or buffet every night.

[excitedofharpenden]

I love the smaller ships and atmosphere of Azamara.

 

Phil

[archerniak]

I would sail HAL again. I cruised with them when I was 22 years of age as well as 40 and I loved every cruise with them. For me Celebrity reminds me of some of what I loved about HAL - but I have only sailed on the M class ships - so they are smaller and more, dare I say, refined. I am a tradionalist when it comes to cruising - I like the "hokey" shows, the food in the MDR (although now I am a true fan of Blu as well), and even Bingo. I don't go on a cruise ship to rock climb, ice skate (I think there is a line with an ice skating rink right?), or surf. I don't want my cruise line to have a "Central Park". I want good food, a nice deck chair, interesting ports and most of all some quiet spaces.