Help choosing a ship

[mips]

Planning a cruise with some girlfriends for next Feb. We have settled on an itinary and it's very port intensive. 2 sea 4 port days. Costa Maya, Roatan, Cozumel and Belize.

 

Ships are Carnival Valor, Norwegian Dawn and Vision of the Seas. I know and like the Valor, one of the other people going liked the Dawn, but would prefer a change. Nobody has been on Vision, and it's the most expensive.

 

Which would you pick? If it makes any difference getting to Roatan is important to me.

Edited June 17, 2015 by mips

[paul929207]

I would pick Vision of the Seas, mainly because I have sailed Carnival & NCL and was not thrilled with either

[JimAOk1945]

That's an excellent itinerary. I would choose Vision of the Seas! Royal Caribbean has never disappointed us.

Edited June 17, 2015 by JimAOk1945

[runner15km]

We had a great time on the Valor and I believe she is going into drydock shortly for upgrades and a facelift. :)

[SuiteTraveler]

Mitsugirly is doing a review of the NCL Dawn right now. She has most of the ship photos up so you might want to see what she has to say about that ship.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2221726

 

The NCL Dawn was built in 2002, refurbished in 2011 and is due for a dry dock shortly, I believe (not sure when.)

 

RCCL Vision of the Seas was built in 1998, refurbished in 2013.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=83

 

Carnival Valor built 2004, refurbished 2011.

 

If you want a suite experience, then NCL is the line to be on hands down. They do suites far better than the other 2 lines.

 

It would be helpful to know what you were looking for in a cruise in order to be able to advise you further. Each line has pros and cons and it's really about what matters to you most.

[mips]

Mitsugirly is doing a review of the NCL Dawn right now. She has most of the ship photos up so you might want to see what she has to say about that ship.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2221726

 

The NCL Dawn was built in 2002, refurbished in 2011 and is due for a dry dock shortly, I believe (not sure when.)

 

RCCL Vision of the Seas was built in 1998, refurbished in 2013.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=83

 

Carnival Valor built 2004, refurbished 2011.

 

If you want a suite experience, then NCL is the line to be on hands down. They do suites far better than the other 2 lines.

 

It would be helpful to know what you were looking for in a cruise in order to be able to advise you further. Each line has pros and cons and it's really about what matters to you most.

 

 

That's the issue with 20 plus people going it's hard to say what matters most as we all have a different agenda. We will NOT all be spending every moment together but we would like to have the option to meet for dinner, so a set dining time and table is important to me. Free entertainment options are important to several, I don't think anyone is particularly foodie.

[fishywood]

I was on the Dawn's sister ship Norwegian Star in 2013 and Vision of the Seas in 2014. Both are their respective cruise line's "entry level" class of ships--and while I don't at all care for the mega-sized classes I found the public spaces on these ships limited and often crowded. The Vision added more staterooms and more dining venues in her last refit but crew capacity is the same; the understaffing is obvious and has actually resulted in reduced hours and menu choices at existing dining locations. Any one of your group who has been on any of the newer RC ships will be disappointed by comparison. As for the NCL Dawn, remember that NCL has no fixed-time dining, only open seating. And you also will not find anywhere near the activities that are on the newer NCL ships.

 

While many people view Carnival as an entry-level cruise line, Valor is not one of their entry-level ships and will likely give you the most bang for the buck of your three choices; you will get essentially nothing for the higher tariff on Vision.

Edited June 17, 2015 by fishywood

[SuiteTraveler]

This is JMO, but the buffet on RCCL is nowhere near as good as on Carnival and NCL. With a huge group of 30, you couldn't all sit together at the same table. I believe the largest on NCL is 10 and what you would do is talk to the MDR maitre'd and schedule your time to eat there for each night. Like the above poster, I'm kind of leaning on you all going on Carnival as I believe it will lend itself better to such a large group dining together. The RCCL ship was retrofitted with multiple smaller restaurants as opposed to a traditional MDR so that would be problematic for your group. Also the Carnival ship is the newest of the bunch. Shame you are limiting yourselves based on a single port, since I think you all would probably enjoy one of the newer Carnival, RCCL or NCL ships far better.

[Keith1010]

I would try Vision Of The Seas based on what you have posted.

 

Keith

[geoherb]

Here's another vote for Royal Caribbean over the other two lines.

[SuiteTraveler]

That's the issue with 20 plus people going it's hard to say what matters most as we all have a different agenda. We will NOT all be spending every moment together but we would like to have the option to meet for dinner, so a set dining time and table is important to me. Free entertainment options are important to several, I don't think anyone is particularly foodie.

 

I think you are going to have to try to narrow it down and prioritize a bit. Can you send out an email survey to the group and ask what is most important?

 

RCCL has become more focused on getting people into the specialty restaurants in recent years and as a result the MDR and even buffet food has gone downhill. The buffet is repetitive and rather blah, IMO. My cruise on Allure last November, I never found anything in there I wanted and some of the food smells mixed together in a very unappealing way. Indian + Chinese = stinky and nauseating. With RCCL you have to make reservations for the shows. RCCL does a lot of acrobatic type shows. On the largest ships they have broadway musicals, too.

 

NCL has a better buffet and their MDR food is somewhat better, IMO. However, the Dawn just has traditional cruise shows - no real wow factor unlike the shows on NCL Epic and newer ships.

 

Carnival also has a better buffet and there MDR food is overall pretty good. IMO Carnival focuses more on comedy and music shows.

 

So it's all a question of what your friends want out of their cruise. I think you are making a mistake insisting on one particular port of call vs. choosing a great newer ship for the group with a wow factor. Is there any special reason you want to go to Roatan? Do you have family there or something?

[mips]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

 

Several of us want to go to Costa Maya, the only port I have not been to on this itinary is Roatan, that's why I wanted to go. But having done several Carribean cruises there's not many new ports left for me to see.

 

I have several of this group adamant about not sailing Carnival which puzzles me as most are new cruisers. From what I am reading I personally wouldn't like RCCL. I have a phobia of nights and would not want to watch the high wire shows, and upcharges for good food just annoys me when they are already more expensive.

 

I don't think this is going to be an able to please most trip.

 

So with that said can anyone suggest any ships? We are looking at next Feb, before spring break. Most definitely do NOT want to waste a port day going to Nassau.