RCCL V Other lines

[hansolosmom]

I know everyone has an opinion on this and there have been some great, thoughtful comments on this thread.

 

We have sailed, Royal, Disney, Celebrity, Norwegian and Princess.

 

I agree with whoever made mention of it really depends on the ship! We sailed most recently on Anthem and Breakaway. I've decided I'm not a mega-ship girl. I liked Anthem better than Breakaway. The 'away' ships on NCL have poor traffic flow (IMO) so the ship always seemed crowded. I didn't get that feeling on Anthem, but it was still pretty busy. If possible I will try to go with smaller ships, maybe trying Gem out of NYC or going on Grandeur again.

 

Again, in my opinion, the food and entertainment on all lines is pretty similar and depends on the cooks/staff on that particular ship and it can vary even on the same ship. For example I was on Breakaway with my mom and sister March 2016, then with my family May 2017, a little over a year apart. For the May trip it was the first week for the entertainment staff, so the trivia was uneven, and there were not a lot of activities compared to the previous weeks. So you really never know.

 

I'll continue to book based on itinerary and price like I do now and not really worry about loyalty to a brand. Especially since they all keep increasing the number of nights to make it to higher tiers, at the rate I'm going I won't ever hit the good levels :)

[skipperanne]

I understand going for the lowest rate, but 1/2 with NCL, not going to happen.NCL and Royal are usually very close in price. I do agree about the "free" items, though you pay about $200.00 in grats for the drink pkg, and about $25.00 for the specialty dining. They sre still good perks. Royal very rarely gives anything other than price increases.

 

 

 

It is $14 per day in gratuities for the drink pkg. per person. You exaggerate a bit. Dining pkg gratuity spends upon number of nights. Prices are closer to each other out of NY. Don't know about southern cruises.

 

 

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[Milwaukee Eight]

Running out of food after 3 days, crazy

 

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I think running out of Bloody Mary mix of first night on EN was the pits.....

[LMaxwell]

Most mass market lines will be fairly similar and many things about a sailing are subjective. Try something by ship, itinerary and value and not name brand.

 

That's about the best advice I've read on there forums in a while. Most are variations on a theme, not drastically different.

 

NCL - Royal Caribbean-lite and heavy handed on pay venues

Carnival - Their best matches RCI's midlevel. Do the math.

RCI - Got a fairly successful regional VP in your company? That's where I put RCI on the totem pole. Worst food around though.

Celebrity - Same regional VP but his life looks like an Amex commercial <shrug>

Princess - Whiff of Cunard, RCI aging

Holland America - The parents of the aging

MSC - RCI-Italian flavored

Disney - If a $6000 balcony to the Bahamas seems normal....

[skipperanne]

I think running out of Bloody Mary mix of first night on EN was the pits.....

 

I was on Carnival Paradise last October. . . i purchased the soft drink package, and they ran out of root beer by the end of day one, thankfully their package also included fruit juices as i don't drink colas, and those were my other options.

 

Also the only cruise line I have been on that carries Ginger Beer is NCL, and I like it, moreover, it works really well for a queasy stomach, it has enough Ginger to settle things down. (NCL, RCI, and CCL i know limited, but I am being honest about that).

[skipperanne]

We've been on Royal, NCL, and Carnival and have enjoyed all three thoroughly. We're a late 20's couple with no kids from Canada. Great food quality, plenty of entertainment, and pool time = awesome trip for us. We don't concern ourselves too much with the other details. Breakdown of the pros and cons of each from my perspective:

 

Carnival:

- Best for our taste in entertainment. We're not really into musicals and singing/dancing type shows nor do we find ourselves entertained sitting at a bar. Give us comedians and guest game shows (think Quest, Love and Marriage, etc.) and we're happy. You can expect hours upon hours of comedy acts every single night so we were always entertained.

- Worst for food. Food is so subjective and we've only been on one Carnival ship so take this as you will. In our experience sometimes they tried to make food really "fun" at the expense of quality. Think cereal-covered french toast that just turned into a soggy mess.

 

NCL:

- Best for food. The quality was amazing and tons of different options. I definitely recommend going on a ship with O'Sheehans (most do), it was our favourite place to hang out. I would say the MDR and buffet was about the same quality and offerings as RCCL but O'Sheehans really set it apart for those in-between-meals or late night snacks. Most lines will offer somewhat-lacking pizza, pastries, salads, and sandwiches as snacks whereas O'Sheehans offered wings, nachos, spinach dip, fajitas, etc. Anything you would expect from a good pub restaurant back home.

- As mentioned above, the Free at Sea promo is great. While you still end up paying a little, it's still a great deal

- Worst for entertainment. If you enjoy broadway style musicals you will love it. On Breakaway specifically they have a comedy club where they performed one or two improv shows per night. We didn't find it that funny and the shows were repeated throughout the week. We found ourselves walking through the ship aimlessly in the evenings on multiple occasions.

 

RCCL:

- Well rounded and somewhere in the middle when it comes to food and entertainment. Always something going on for every taste.

- The thing that really puts RCCL ahead of the rest for us is their indoor solariums. It's something that has really set RCCL apart from the rest for us as very few other ships offer this while combined with the rest of our interests. We're from Canada so all of our travel costs plus the weak dollar make it considerably more expensive for us than the average cruiser and limits us to one cruise per year (I know, first world problems lol). With that in mind we try to avoid too many risks and go with ships that we know will deliver great food, we will be entertained, and we'll be guaranteed plenty of pool time (indoor solarium). We're already spending thousands of dollars just to get to the port, what's a couple extra hundred dollars at that point then to go with RCCL which does well across the board. You may not be in that situation so take this as you will.

 

Hopefully that helps. I think sometimes people will throw out their opinions about things without specifying what "good" means to them. What we look for may be similar or completely opposite but you should be able to recognize that fairly quickly here.

 

 

this was a great analysis. I find that I prefer the midsize ships (smaller?) with around 1990 - 2200 passengers In this size Carnival only has their older ships, not dry dock updated. So I find NCL and RCI comparable in offerings. I too love the solarium pool, no sunburn, actually get to swim (on the larger ships the solarium pools are not really swimmable). I found the food and MDR service on RCI really lacking. . . and their specialty dining was rather expensive. I don't drink so the drinks perk on NCL is not an enticement. Which leaves entertainment as the tie breaker. . . I love musicals. . . not a fan of overly loud though.

 

With holding judgement until this season of cruises.

[pspercy]

We've mostly done RCL (now Diamond) but have noticed the same decline in the offering as so many others in the last few years. They also seem to use little imagination with new itineraries these days.

 

Have done two on NCL since 2015 and found them pretty good. Free At Sea promotion excellent. Food generally good, perhaps slightly better than (recent) RCL overall, certainly more choices. Pleasant atmosphere aboard as well.

 

Also sailed once each on Carnival and Celebrity but both long enough ago that comparisons not really valid now. Had no real complaints about either at the time.

 

Beginning to think of trying a megaship but that conflicts with our increasing aversion to flying these days. Just wish we could get some longer trips out of Galveston again, they used to do it. Carnival is trying but it'll take more than a couple of sailings a year.

Edited July 25, 2017 by pspercy

[Clarea]

... Beginning to think of trying a megaship but that conflicts with our increasing aversion to flying these days. Just wish we could get some longer trips out of Galveston again, they used to do it. Carnival is trying but it'll take more than a couple of sailings a year.

You could do a back to back on Liberty. Two different (except for Cozumel) itineraries.

[Rogueperson]

I like trying different things. I've been on Royal Caribbean for the last 3 cruises and loved every one of them and have a 4th booked, but far out in the future.

 

That being said, other cruise lines prioritize different things.

 

I have not been on NCL since they went freestyle, so my opinion of them is VERY dated (last cruised with them 1990), but it was one of my best cruises for many many years. However, many of the reasons why it was so great no longer exist on any cruise line except with the possibility of the luxury lines. It was that good.

 

My impression of NCL from my research that its similar to RC with their innovation. You can't be bored on the ship because they offer so many different kind of novel entertainment. They depart from RC with their freestyle method, but despite that, my take is that it would be familiar. Correct me if i'm wrong, but my impression of NCL would be a more lively RC experience.

 

Royal Caribbean, I find they offer lots of innovation, but they don't overwhelm you. I have not been on the Oasis class yet, but when I was on the Anthem, despite all the offerings, I didn't feel like I was going to miss something if I didn't plan everything to a T. So the result is a relaxing, yet not slow cruise experience.

 

Carnival. They seem to stay safe with the innovation and do not really try anything new outside of food venues. They vary the water slides and the pools, add for the most part, an updated playground and updated movie theater, but nothing on their ship really tests the limit. Instead, they depend more on passenger energy and social connection. I think they call themselves the fun ship because their cruise directors are better. I found that Carnival's cruise directors are more hands on. They seem to run with the vacation energy better than other cruise lines and the result is, as they call it, the "fun" ship. This can easily translate into a party/booze cruise, but any cruise itinerary can devolve into this depending on the demographics on a ship. Throw people together on spring break, and your ship is gonna be a party cruise.

 

Princess. This was one of the few cruises I took when I was single. The was also the only cruise that I felt painfully aware that i was single. Princess' atmosphere screams romance. So much so, I nearly booked my honeymoon with Princess (Celebrity won because Princess was slow). Their service and decoration seem to enhance that. I've only been on one Princess cruise so my experience is a little limited. Food and entertainment was good, but on par with everyone else.

 

Celebrity. I love Celebrity, but I feel i'm a little young for its demographics. I've been on 3 Celebrity cruises and each time, I felt like everyone around me was 20+ years older. The food historically has been couple notches better on Celebrity, but my last cruise, I felt the quality dipped a bit to the point where it was similar to Royal Caribbean's food, with a couple added flairs. The entertainment onboard skewed more towards the "mature". More classical concerts, vocalists and dance recitals than comedians and flashy shows. The ship designs give you a modern contemporary feeling.

 

I am close to hitting Diamond with Royal Caribbean. They would be my highest loyalty level, though I hope to redo Princess with my wife as well as NCL and MSC (especially if they're willing to match my loyalty level with RC). Disney, I'm unlikely to ever cruise with them from my research on them.

 

Correct me if i'm wrong from those who have sailed, but my impression is that its a beautiful cruise experience, but not significantly better than any other as an adult. You are paying a serious premium. But if you have kids, then their kids program destroys every other. From what i'm told, their ships seem to be designed with hidden easter eggs for kids. Magic pictures and effects that kids would have a blast finding and experiencing through their kids program, but maybe lost and pointless to an adult.

[pspercy]

You could do a back to back on Liberty. Two different (except for Cozumel) itineraries.

 

Yes, but that wouldn't be new at all !

 

I'm told you could do 10dy in/out Panama Canal trips until about 2008. Carnival has a couple of 14dy cruises doing this and other places round trip Galveston, great itineraries, looking hard at those.

 

There will be five ships operating out of Galveston next summer, maybe more, you'd think someone could show some imagination:loudcry:

[kctwinmommy]

This kind of question is why I wrote this post. Having not done a Royal cruise before, I wanted to give our thoughts on what we found to be the Pros & Cons of that cruise.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2525095