RCCL vs ....

[Flyinman]

Well I have been very loyal to RCCL taking all my 7 cruises on them. However, my last 3 have had their fair share of problems. I am considering trying another line but hesitate as I do know what to expect from RCCL for the most part. I would just like to hear what other's have experienced on different lines good or bad and how they would compare that cruise to one on RCCL.

 

Thanks,

J

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

Absolutely, shop around a bit !! We love RCI but there are lots of ships at sea. Every line that we've tried so far has its pluses and minuses. I think it's a great idea to broaden your horizons a bit and experience some different cruising styles -- if all you ever try is vanilla ice cream, are you sure it's really your favorite? :)

 

If you have any specific questions about the lines we've tried, I'd be happy to share our experiences.

[Twice_a_year]

RCI has many pluses and, of course, some negatives. No cruise line or any thing in life is 100% perfect. The important thing is what do you like and what do you dislike.

Some things are easily obtained with other lines but the question becomes – What do you have to give up?

It is all in the balance. Sure we would all love to have every thing we want but this is rare. Even with me, somehow my wife fines there are things that could that could be improved. I know it is hard to fathom but somehow she thinks this perfect husband could be improved.

Fluff off the small stuff. If it is major, then change.

[boykin]

I think it is nice to try different lines. We went on a birthday cruise with friends and tried Princess. (We were all pleasantly surprised.) You don't have the promenade area but the balconies are much BIGGER and there are 4 pools. If you are sailing where you want to spend more time in port the anytime dining is nice. If you are looking for a step up food wise then you may want to try Celebrity. We sailed on the Century 8 years ago and it was nice. We were in our early 30s and the night life was a little slow and probably won't sail Celebrity anytime soon only because our children are now cruising with us. All that being said, RCCL works best for our family right now and I haven't gotten up the nerve to try NCL or Carnival. Good luck!

[BILL-WI]

RCI has many pluses and, of course, some negatives. No cruise line or any thing in life is 100% perfect. The important thing is what do you like and what do you dislike.

 

Some things are easily obtained with other lines but the question becomes – What do you have to give up?

 

It is all in the balance. Sure we would all love to have every thing we want but this is rare. Even with me, somehow my wife fines there are things that could that could be improved. I know it is hard to fathom but somehow she thinks this perfect husband could be improved.

 

Fluff off the small stuff. If it is major, then change.

 

Oh no...I think we are married to the same wife!:eek:

 

BILL

[cruiseman_tx]

Oh no...I think we are married to the same wife!:eek:

 

BILL

 

You guys from Utah??? :D :D

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

Oh no...I think we are married to the same wife!:eek:

 

Oooohhhhh that's not good. :eek: Even here in Utah we don't put up with that! :p ;) :D

[Twice_a_year]

to add a little humor into this all too serious world.

[TEXASMUNK]

if, and only if, you are into a more traditional style of cruising. Formal nights are more formal, resort casual will see alot of sport jackets..No announcements....Cigar bars, fine wines...etc.etc.etc

[Cruisegirl6]

This is my comparison of Princess, Royal Caribbean and Carnival:

 

Food Buffet- Royal Caribbean

Food Dining Room: Royal Caribbean, Princess

Desserts dining room: Princess, Carnival

Service Dining Room: hit and miss on all cruise lines but I choose Princess

Beverage Service in Dining Room: Royal Caribbean, Princess

Carnival gives complimentary espresso and cuppichino's others charge

Breakfast buffet: Royal Caribbean

Lunch Buffet: Royal Caribbean

Room Service: Royal Caribbean

 

Love the Promenade deck and the viking crown lounge in Royal Caribbean

 

Ship interior decor: Royal Caribbean

Outdoor deck: Royal Caribbean

Pool: Royal Caribbean

 

Casino: Carnival

Shows: Hit or miss, Carnival has more choices when it comes to music types, shows it really depends upon individual preference, have to say Royal Caribbean has a decent variety including Carnival

Disco: Royal Caribbean, Princess

Kids activities: Carnival, Royal Caribbean

 

Royal Caribbean offers more activities for kids such as rock climbing, ice skating, flowrider, etc.

 

 

Late evening after 11pm, Princess is all quiet. Royal Caribbean on the Enchantment last year the disco closed at 2am, Carnival stays open past 3am.

 

I choose Royal Caribbean.

[Nliedel]

I sailed the Crown Princess last summer. All in all, I really enjoyed Princess and found it quite comparable to RCI. I liked them better than Carnival, overall. I am not someone who enjoys freestyle cruising. Just too, "old guard." I'm not anti NCL. It's just not my thing.

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I should state that I was on the Crown when she had the unfortunate tilt. That did not dissuade me from sailing her again. I thought the service was outstanding.

 

I am back at RCI, however. It's not the fault of the Crown, or what happened.

[GMoney]

My advice is to try them all. I love RCI, but my best cruises have been on Disney and HAL's Noordam. The other thing I find limiting is RCI's itineraries.

 

There are just too many good products out there to not sample them.

[Cruising89143]

I'm reaching out and trying NCL in July. My last time on this line was back in 94 on the Norway. Just want to see what Freestyle is all about. RCI is still my first choice and I don't see that changing.

[iheartbda]

cruisingator2

I did not care for NCL's freestyle cruising. They say eat when you want, with whom you want, etc. We never once were able to eat when we wanted for dinner and had a minimum of a 30 minute wait and up to a 50 minute wait to be seated every night. Maybe we didn't understand something about reservations, which was never explained. You could opt to share a table which many people did not, therefore you would see many tables half empty while others were waiting to get into the restaurant.

 

Just felt the level of service was not as good as having the same wait staff every night. They all were getting the same pay at the end of the week so there's not the incentive to go the extra mile for an extra tip. Service was not bad, just nothing extra.

 

We sailed on the Norwegian Empress which is a small ship, (we prefer smaller ships), so maybe that had something to do with the wait time. One couple I spoke to loved the freestyle dining and said they never had a problem because they went every night at 5:00. But that just shoots down the whole premise of dining anytime you want. One night we couldn't be seated so we went to the show first and did not finish dinner til 10:00. Other times we missed things because of waiting to be seated.

 

One thing I really missed was getting to know table mates which doesn't happen when it's different people every night.

 

This was my first time on NCL. It was ok for what it was, a girlfriend's winter getaway, but I would not take NCL for a vacation with my husband. We have always cruised Celerity but we are trying RCCL this fall.

 

Don't want to seem like a crabby nitpicker, just telling you my experience. Like I said, maybe there's something about making reservations that we didn't understand and you may want to check into that. Just hope you have a better experience than we did, and then again, maybe you'll LOVE it.

[emilygrace]

We like to try different cruise lines, but we always come back to RCCL, mainly for the perks they offer for repeaters. Can't beat those balcony discounts and coupons!

 

I've also tried Princess, Cunard, Celebrity and NCL. It would have to be an outstanding itinerary that absolutely no one else does to get me back on NCL. Freestyle???? The only reason we never had to wait was because we made all our reservations for the week on the first day. Which totally defeats the concept of Freestyle. Loved Celebrity and Cunard and Princess were nice, but we just feel "at home" on RCCL.

[MrPete]

I'm reaching out and trying NCL in July.

 

You're a brave man.

[wlee]

You might want to give Princess a try. Princess is pretty close to RCI, but I like the Princess intineraries. I didn't care at all for Canival, but then again, I'm 40-something and I think Carnival appeals more to the younger crowd (ok, I'm late 40-something). Disney was nice, but the shows were too Disney-like (go figure!) for me, and I missed not having a casino.

[cruisingjon]

I am the type to try different lines just to be as versatile as possible. I have cruised RCCL 2 times, and Carnival once. I would only consider another Carnival cruise if it were on one of their newer ships. I cruised on Carnival fantasy and did not enjoy it at all, but I think it was more the ship than it was anything else.

 

I have been researching our cruise itinerary for 2008 and I am looking at Norweigian because the free style cruising sounds appealing to me. I am also looking at a cruise line I have only recently heard of called Costa Cruise Line. I have not looked much at princess, mainly because (silly as it may sound) they have some of the ugliest looking ships I have seen. AND we are planning an Alaskan cruise in the future that we will likely use Princess for. We also plan on sailing on Celebrity in the future.

 

As far as comparing them all, each line has its strengths. It really depends on what you are looking for. I am also content with RCCL as I have just recently finished my cruise on Mariner and have another one booked on Jewel in December. But it never hurts to see what else is out there.

[mjready2go]

So we just got back from our second cruise, first one on the Jewel of the Seas, this one on NCL Spirit. Besides the differences in the age of the ship and the size (Spirit being a little smaller and older), I thought they should be similar. My husband was also excited to try the freestyle dining and he did not want to pack a suit. I never really understood why so many are devoted to one cruise line but now we know why. So here are our opinions.

 

RCCL - better itinerary, more activities including bigger crowds (pool parties and games, bartender show), better food, bigger balcony room, better service

 

NCL - activities in smaller groups (sports trivia, darts), food just okay, service just okay, did not care for freestyle, liked the casino better and the staff there was excellent.

 

It was really hard not to compare this to our first cruise. We had such a blast last year that I expected that it would be hard to live up to. But this was the first cruise for my brother in law and his wife and I felt bad that they didn't have the same experience that we did. She even said that she would probably not cruise again. Although we were excited about not having a certain dinner time, by the end of our cruise we decided that we were "traditional" style cruisers. It's nice to know that you have a table ready for you with the same person to help you every night. We also noticed that the service from the stateroom attendant to the waiters, with the exception of a few that we felt deserved further compensation, were not nice and never smiled. Again, tried not to compare the first with the second but by the second night on our first cruise we had bartenders calling us by our names. Not once did someone remember our names on NCL and we frequented the same bars. The only place we found consistent friendly service was at the casino. But since there wasn't much going on, we were at the casino a lot.

 

When we were in Nassau, we were docked next to the Sovereign of the Seas. Our ship ended up staying longer at port due to a rough sea. So after walking around the Spirit looking for something to do other than the casino but found not much going on, I went back to my balcony and sat down for a drink. Across the way on the SOTS, they were having a blast. I could hear the band playing and people laughing and singing. I saw numerous people walking around and it looked like they were enjoying their evening. I called my husband out and at the same time we said, "next time we're going back to RCCL."

 

Again, I want to state my opinions and point out the many differences between the two. I do have to say that we did sleep a lot more on NCL.....never got to takes naps on RCCL because I was too busy having fun:D

[StarCruiser]

Looks like NCL is taking a beating here. Just kidding. I understand the opinions of others here. We have done NCL twice. The first was a wonderful time and not complaints, but that was in Hawaii, so that might be part of it. The second time we felt that the dining room food was not up to par. The "specialty" restaurants were fantastic, including the free ones. The trick is to make reservations at these places at least a couple days in advance.

 

I really like the freestyle dining. While you still have to make reservations most of the time, the reservations can be any time between 5 and 10. So we could make our reservations at 5 pm and eat then. It worked well for us. We decided that we prefer RCCL after the second cruise, but would have no problem going on NCL again (especially for the price we paid for the last one).

[Nliedel]

I think NCL is taking a beating here, because you either love it, or not. Just like traditional cruising. I am a traditional girl, but I know people who swear by NCL. It's one of those black and white things. I suspect RCI would take a drubbing on the NCL boards.

[gaileeh]

Have cruised with RCI, Carnival and another now de-funct line. IMO, RCI is better, hands down over Carnival in all areas. We plan on cruising with other lines in the future. The other important consideration is the itinerary. Our up-comming cruise was chosen just for that. RCI had the itinerary that was most appealing to us.

 

Gail

[Flyinman]

Thanks for all the info. I had a neighbor that just could not say enough about Carnival and disliked Royal Caribbean. They have been on all kinds of lines and did not have many good things to say about Royal Caribbean. Overall I have been very pleased and like I said I know what to expect. Keep the comparisons coming.

 

Thanks,

J

[Tatka]

and I haven't gotten up the nerve to try NCL or Carnival. Good luck!

 

Agree about Carnival, but not really about NCL. I didn't sail with them, but my DH did last year on Norwegian Sun... He said whole experience was the same as on RCCL (Splendor) and other lines, except Carnival.. Food in the free venues wasn't to sophisticated, but pretty decent. We were kind of disappointed with it on Splendor. Service was very nice as a number of people to the size of the ship, unlike on Carnival Liberty.

[Jorinda]

I agree that there are cruise lines for every taste out there, and that for every horror story on a cruise you find someone else who had the time of their lives on the same trip. Attitude plays a major role.

 

That being said, I have to throw in my two cents for NCL here, as the best cruise I ever had was on an NCL cruise 2 years ago to Belize. I had been on both RC and Celebrity, and we took the NCL one as a family trip because it was the only one with dates every could make. I was prepared to enjoy being with my family, and accept the ship for whatever it turned out to be, as it was one of their older and smaller ones. Yes it was small, but immaculately kept and we had a concierge who practically adopted our extended family and gave us the most personalized service I have ever had on any line. In addition, we enjoyed the Freestyle dining for the flexibility it gave us with our shore excursions and shipboard pastimes, and I don't remember ever having to wait more than about 5 minutes to be seated. The food was quite good - the chilled fruit soups were to die for!

 

We're taking our next family group trip in July on The Enchantment of the Seas, for my mother's 80th birthday as a surprise. My parents are loyal Princess cruisers, so it will be interesting to see their reaction to RC.

 

I personally have no desire to sail with Carnival as it looks to be too much of a party ship for my tastes, but I know it appeals to a lot of people.

 

Basically I'd recommend you choose the itinerary and activities you are most interested in, read the reviews here for the ships and service, discard at least 10% of the bad reviews as they are from people who are always angry about something, and head to sea with an upbeat attitude. All cruise lines strive to provide the best vacation experience possible, or they wouldn't be in business very long, so chill out on deck with your beverage of choice and let them pamper you!