What's everyone's favorite ship & why

[cbelc]

I love the Allure of the Seas. This October we’re going on our first Celebrity ship, the Infinity. I’ve been on a variety of RCI, Carnival, and HAL ships. I’ve never met a ship I didn’t like!

 

 

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[molsonschooner]

Oasis, but folks will say I have a bias.

 

Beach Pool

Aqua Theater

Ice Show with Sand Artist

Comedy Club

Jazz Club

Coastal Kitchen when booking a Junior Suite or better

Central Park restaurants

Johnny Rockets breakfast

Zip Line

Two FlowRiders

Two rock walls

Carousel (it's just not for kids)

Dawg House

Wipe Out Café

CATS, I like it. ;)

Large casino helps dissipate smoke

Champagne Bar is huge

Rising Tide

Great Promenade events

Did I mention Beach Pool? :halo:

Great Solarium

Solarium Bistro at night

Lots of shopping

Most times it totally absorbs 6,000 passengers

Hump balconies are huge

Loft Suites and Star class for those that can afford it

Izumi Hibachi experience

Lots of bars

she never tenders

You make a lot of great points. We especially liked the sand artist. Just amazing to watch her work. We were on Harmony last year, enjoyed that ships also. Loved the slides.

[John&LaLa]

You make a lot of great points. We especially liked the sand artist. Just amazing to watch her work. We were on Harmony last year, enjoyed that ships also. Loved the slides.

Well be on Harmony in September. Looking forward to slides and Solarium mister.

 

Not looking forward to the lack of umbrellas at Beach Pool

 

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[potsie57]

We love the Serenade of the Seas!!

[A boat named Jenny 1]

We have been on Serenade 2 times (honeymoon w/ suite and 10 day south Caribbean) crew was great! She is a beautiful ship, But not a lot to do after 9-10 pm. The spa was awesome.

 

Freedom had good food, you had the large ship feel but not the large ship activities to go along with it. A lot of things were closing or done at 10pm. She was going into dry dock in two weeks, so that might have had something to do with it. Her crew was great.

 

Harmony is my favorite. She is beautiful, large ship with out feeling crowded. (only at the times you would think like shows or sales). The adults only pool was excellent. The shows were great. Crew was wonderful. We personally felt that the food was good but "to fancy" for us.

 

We sail on Oasis in 30 days, so we will see how she is. Then next year, Allure for a New Year's Eve cruise.

[printingchick]

My favorite class is Radiance Class. I've been on Serenade and Jewel. I like that class because of the smaller size, fewer crowds, excellent service, outdoor dining at the Windjammer (HUGE factor), amazing solarium pool area and all the glass, providing an almost constant view of the sea. It doesn't have all the same bells and whistles of the larger ships (no FlowRider, for example), but I think that tends to limit the number of families with young children. I'm the mother of three, so it's not that I hate kids, but my "baby" is 24, so I rather like traveling in a more adult environment these days.

 

My second favorite class is Voyager, which adds some fun perks (ice rink, FlowRider, Royal Promenade), but is still a manageable size.

 

I like the food on Royal. It's not ALL amazing stuff - some is just so-so - but plenty suitable for my taste. The main dining room is lovely and the service usually outstanding.

 

I have not sailed on the mega ships. I cruised on Freedom once. While it tends to be a passenger favorite, I found it too big and crowded for my taste and have avoided ships larger than Voyager Class ever since. I know it seems counter-intuitive that a larger ship with more space could feel more crowded, but when there is a very popular activity that draws a large percentage of passengers, it can be hard to move! I recognize the big ships draw much better entertainment options, like Broadway plays and more current musical acts, but I don't need all the resort features. I enjoy gazing at the sea and on the smaller ships, that opportunity is never far away. I also prefer port-intensive cruises, and the smaller ships have the ability to dock in more places. That provides more variety and less tendering!

[txdee]

I've only been on one cruise, and that was June, 2017, on the Allure of the Seas. We left Ft. Lauderdale with ports of call in Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Kitts/Nevis with three days at sea. It was a wonderful trip, and I'm glad I experienced it as my first cruise. Having said that, though, the ship is HUGE and was very crowded in June. Since school was out, there were many kids on board, but there were also a lot of activities available for those kids (of all ages from birth to teens). The pools were very crowded, so we didn't really get to experience them, but we really enjoyed all of the shows that were available at no extra cost. We had to wait in line for over an hour for the zip line, and most of the other sports activities were very crowded on the at-sea days. I think your younger travelers would enjoy the ice skating rink, the boardwalk, the sports activities, and just the myriad of other things to do. We had a Central Park balcony room, and I would highly recommend it. The weather was perfect for enjoying the people-watching from our balcony, and I had breakfast on the balcony several mornings (there is no additional cost for the Continental breakfasts!). There was live music in Central Park during the evenings, so it was nice to sit out on the balcony and listen....and the Central Park area was beautifully lit at night as well. So, I enjoyed my time on the ship, but the experiences at the ports was not as enjoyable. We had very limited time in each port. We had to be back on the ship by 2:00 pm at least one of the days (I don't remember the deportation on other days), and it just seemed like there wasn't enough time to enjoy the destinations. I am glad that my first cruise was on the Allure, but I'm afraid I am spoiled to all of the amenities available on that ship. I have a New England/Canada cruise scheduled for Sept, 2018, on the Serenade of the Seas, so I can't wait to see what the experience on a smaller ship will be like. Have fun on whatever ship you decide!

[starfish216]

Anthem is our favorite we will be sailing on her for the fifth time in a few months. Been on seven different RC ships, the smallest being Radiance and the largest being Oasis.

 

We love sailing with RC and we are so lucky that RC made the Anthem's home port in Bayonne, it's only a 20 minute car ride for us.