Which Cruise Line Preferred

[lilphilly]

We typically tend to cruise Carnival. We cruised RC once and was not impressed with the service and activities onboard. We loved the private island we visited though. We are booked with carnival for Dec but where considering trying RC again. I know Carnival has had a lot of cut backs and changes so was just wondering what others preferred

 

 

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[Living4acruise2day]

I think all of the cruise lines have had cut backs, so I would not base my choice on that reason alone. I think you should give RCCL another chance, but a different ship. The one you cruised on, the Enchantment is 20 years old. Go on a newer one and you will have a very different experience. Try the Oasis Class!

[Hlitner]

Unfortunately, it is not just Carnival that has been playing "cut back" games. It seems to be nearly across the board with the brands of both CCI and RCI. If you are looking at the Caribbean, you might want to read a little about MSC...which is a privately owned Italian cruise line that also has some ships operating out of Florida. They have more of an international flavor on their ships. On the other hand, if you are into activities you could consider one of the Mega ships of RCI...such as the Oasis.

 

Hank

[Hey Tina]

I cruised Carnival a few years ago and RCI a week ago and vastly preferred Royal. I liked the food better and the not having to buy a beverage package for both in the room worked better for me. I'm cruising MSC next and I'm looking forward to being disappointed by the food.

[lilphilly]

I've wanted to try MSC and Norwegian so I may look into both of those as well.

I preferred RCL food as well

 

 

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[jennybenny]

It's not always just the cruise line to consider, the ship can make a difference as well.

Also one cruise does not define a cruise line. I would say, it's always nice to give it another try. I have not cruise RC in over 15 years. I liked them when I cruised them, but at the time I did not find the price difference compared to Carnival to be worthwhile to us.

We've cruised Disney and also found that while it was an AMAZING cruise, what we got for the price was not something we wanted to keep doing.

 

I did Carnival for a family cruise last year and really enjoyed it, but my husband is unwilling to try it again. We cruise on Princess now because we like the laid back feel of the ships. It works for us.

 

I'd love to try a luxury line, but I suspect that even though we would love that cruise that it would not be worth the extra money for us. We are comfortable in our niche.

[nyllrap]

I have only had one Carnival cruise, but am almost Diamond level with Royal Caribbean. I hated the Carnival cruise, but it may have been the ship. However, most of my friends who have tried Carnival have not cared for that line. As someone else suggested, your negative experience with RIC may have been the ship. I don't care for the Enchantment much anymore. I suggest looking at the Freedom or Oasis classes of ships. I do agree that RIC has changed since we first cruised them 20 years ago. But not enough for me to stop.

[geoherb]

Here's the list of cruise lines we've sailed on in order of our preference from top to bottom:

• Princess
  
• Holland America
  
• Celebrity
  
• Royal Caribbean
  
• Carnival
  
• Norwegian
  

I'd love to one day try one of the luxury lines, but for now, we're fine sailing on our top two.

[champagne123]

Here's the list of cruise lines we've sailed on in order of our preference from top to bottom:

 

• Princess
  
• Holland America
  
• Celebrity
  
• Royal Caribbean
  
• Carnival
  
• Norwegian
  

I'd love to one day try one of the luxury lines, but for now, we're fine sailing on our top two.

Agree....NCL is ALSO at the bottom of our list. I hope the OP will change her mind..

[sanger727]

Agree....NCL is ALSO at the bottom of our list. I hope the OP will change her mind..

 

 

 

And that's why it's worth trying multiple lines for yourself rather than going strictly off reviews. Our list is:

 

Celebrity

 

Norwegian

 

Princess

 

Carnival

 

I'd like to try royal some day but so far it's never worked out for us price wise.

 

 

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[iancal]

Happy with HAL, Celebrity, Princess and RCI. Though the last few have been Princess and RCI.

 

We do not have a favourite cruise line. Too similarities (and mediocrity) between cruise lines, too many differences between ships within the same fleet.

 

We generally select on itinerary, ship, and price. If all things are equal it will be Celebrity if the ship is a Solstice class or RCI because of their frequent cruiser benefits are first rate...and they give us credit for our Celebrity status.

 

NCL and Carnival are fine two....but very much ship/itinerary/timing based.

 

Never had a bad cruise but we do select the ship carefully to meet our preferences.

[leaveitallbehind]

Have years of cruising experience with RCI and they were always our first choice. Not so much any more and our recent last two and all of our upcoming planned cruises are with Celebrity.

[Korimako]

Crystal

[Azure Moon]

My favorite from top down:

1. NCL

2 Princess

3. Carnival

[clackey]

I've wanted to try MSC and Norwegian so I may look into both of those as well.

I preferred RCL food as well

 

 

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We really like RC, especially the adult only area, but to be truthful, the very best cruise that we have done was Norwegian. The entertainment was the best that we have had out of 16 cruises and food was on par with the other lines.

We tried Princess and was really disappointed with it. I had to look for something to do.

 

We have done Carnival 11 times and can really tell the cutbacks, especially in the food and entertainment area. . If you like Crapaoke and not so funny comedy it is ok.

 

Some of the best deals that I am seeing this fall is on RC. I will probably book within the month.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've cruised five different of the major cruise lines and liked them all. Every cruise has some good and some so-so points. I can truly say that we've never had a bad cruise. HAL was our least favorite.

 

We've cruised the most on Princess (11), then Celebrity, Carnival, RCI, Norwegian and HAL. And some old no longer existent lines.

 

The best entertainment ever was last year on our NCL Getaway cruise.I do think that the newer ships can really wow you.

 

We like Princess because the price is usually very good, we like the product and now we are starting to get some nice perks.

[Warm Breezes]

We have sailed 4 lines: Disney, Carnival, NCL, and Princess. We loved Disney but refuse to pay the premium without children to share the Disney experience with. We need to wait for our kids to get married and have Grand kids now. After that DH slightly prefers Carnival over NCL and I slightly prefer NCL over Carnival. We probably won't sail Princess again for at least another 10-15 years or so unless there is a deal or itinerary too good to pass up. The average demographics of our Ruby Princess sailing, 5 nights out of FLL during Spring Break season, was at least 15-20 years older than us (we were 48 at the time). I could only handle "My Way" so many times. Looking forward to trying other lines when they offer up a sailing we are looking for at a price we are willing to pay.

[paul929207]

All the lines have their fans and those who are not happy with them

[King of Cruising]

To us the cruise line does not matter. The fact that we are on the high seas and not at work is what we care about. Just time to relax and reconnect. :cool:

[navybankerteacher]

Because there are slightly different aspects, I would apply categories to groups -then in order of preference within each group.

 

Preferred: HAL, Celebrity, Cunard

 

Acceptable: Princess, Royal Caribbean

 

Marginal: Carnival

 

Unacceptable: NCL

[SteveH2508]

Our order of preference is as follows:

1. Azamara (great cruise but their prices at the moment are a bit too steep.)

2. Princess (both were last minute cruises but at a very good price and good guarantee cabins. We enjoyed the food/ambience/fellow passengers. Shows were not top notch.)

3. P&O UK (reasonably priced and acceptable service/fellow passengers. Not too expensive re drinks and tips and food was fine.)

4. NCL. (Used to be our go-to line of choice but the recent changes and same old itineraries have rather put us off.)

5. RCCL (1 taster cruise which had many issues – enough to put us off ever trying them again. Their ships are just too big for us.)