If not X, then which line?

[cruisestitch]

Am having trouble finding just the right "fit" of dates, itinerary, length of cruise, etc for next year, so I got to thinking, if we couldn't cruise on Celebrity, what other line(s) should we consider? I'd especially like to hear from cruisers who have actually sailed on other lines and can give their own impressions or side/by/side comparisons. TIA.

[AR 4030]

We were on Holland America, before we went on Celebrity. I like Celebrity the best. However Holland America was very nice. I would say they are almost on the same level. We will sail either line again, depending on price & where we want to go & when. We also sailed Royal Caribbean, its fine, but no way it is as nice.

[TRadle]

We also sailed Royal Caribbean, its fine, but no way it is as nice.

 

Royal Caribbean is different but I'd hesitate to say that is no way near as nice. I think they have some of the most beautiful ships at sea. :)

 

As for making recommedations, it really depends on what type of experience you are looking. A little more information might help.

[cruisestitch]

I guess you could say that we are the target demographic of Celebrity -- that's why we have been so satisfied and are repeat cruisers. We like the level of "casual elegance". We enjoy dressing up. We like good food and good wine. We love the variety of enrichment options, especially when they have cooking or wine experiences on board -- guest chefs, etc. We are not into scuba or snorkel or parasailing. We like not having lots of announcements. Really, we're perfectly content with Celebrity, but we find when we look at their offerings for 10-12 day cruises in January or February in the Caribbean that we would be repeating our last three or four itineraries, so that's why we need advice.

[kelmac]

I guess you could say that we are the target demographic of Celebrity -- that's why we have been so satisfied and are repeat cruisers. We like the level of "casual elegance". We enjoy dressing up. We like good food and good wine. We love the variety of enrichment options, especially when they have cooking or wine experiences on board -- guest chefs, etc. We are not into scuba or snorkel or parasailing. We like not having lots of announcements. Really, we're perfectly content with Celebrity, but we find when we look at their offerings for 10-12 day cruises in January or February in the Caribbean that we would be repeating our last three or four itineraries, so that's why we need advice.

 

cruisestitch,

 

My wife and I alternate between Celebrity and Holland America. The Millennium class ships from Celebrity are our favorites, but Holland America excels at great itineraries.

Maybe the Noordam would fit the bill??: (10 days $899 for inside cabin)

 

 

ITINERARY

DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART Tue Jan 13 Fort Lauderdale, FL 5:00pm Wed Jan14 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 8:00am 4:00pm Thu Jan15 At Sea Fri Jan16 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 8:00am 5:00pm Sat Jan17 Roseau, Dominica 8:00am 5:00pm Sun Jan18 At Sea Mon Jan19 Curacao, Netherlands Antilles 8:00am Midnight Tue Jan20 Aruba 8:00am 5:00pm Wed Jan21 At Sea Thu Jan22 At Sea FriJan23 Fort Lauderdale, FL 7:00am

 

Half Moon Cay is the best of the private islands and I like the Curacao/Aruba run!

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[julieanne]

I guess you could say that we are the target demographic of Celebrity -- that's why we have been so satisfied and are repeat cruisers. We like the level of "casual elegance". We enjoy dressing up. We like good food and good wine. We love the variety of enrichment options, especially when they have cooking or wine experiences on board -- guest chefs, etc. We are not into scuba or snorkel or parasailing. We like not having lots of announcements. Really, we're perfectly content with Celebrity, but we find when we look at their offerings for 10-12 day cruises in January or February in the Caribbean that we would be repeating our last three or four itineraries, so that's why we need advice.

My DH and I are the same. We love X, but, I don't have to sail with them. I think having sailed with HAL many moons ago (enjoyed it) and people saying they enjoy them, I think they would fit the best. We actually returned to Carnival last November and had a really great cruise, but they are not for us. RCCL is our usual staple, but I do not feel like I get the same experience, they just do not have the special touches like Celebrity. We are going back to NCL this time as our next voyage will be "tour intensive"!

[willysgrandma]

Take a look at Princess' newest ships. Princess is similar to Celebrity, has a bit of a younger demographic than Holland and has some really great itineraries.

 

I don't particularly care for their smaller or older ships, but the Crown and her sisters are excellent ships.

[Denisern2]

Princess I feel they are pretty equal

[usha]

Celebrity is our absolute favorite cruise line:D , but Holland America is a close second:) , with Princess trailing waaaaaaaaaay behind both of the first two:rolleyes: .

[TRadle]

I have my eyes on Regent....I'll keep dreaming.

 

We did book one but it was cancelled due to a dry dock schedule. We booked two on Celebrity for the price of that one cruise. :D

[Andy]

Am having trouble finding just the right "fit" of dates, itinerary, length of cruise, etc for next year, so I got to thinking, if we couldn't cruise on Celebrity, what other line(s) should we consider? I'd especially like to hear from cruisers who have actually sailed on other lines and can give their own impressions or side/by/side comparisons. TIA.

 

Hi Cruise !

 

I am also looking for a new favorite cruiseline, I am hoping that Princess will be a good fit for us. We sailed on them some time ago, and we had a very good Cruise. I am curious to see how they stand up this time around. I am sailing on Princess in less than 2 weeks. I will be sure to report back when I return home.

[cruzmaven]

As fans of Celebrity, you will comparing your experience on whatever other cruiseline you choose to X. I'm afraid Princess will not fare favorably to those comparisons. I've enjoyed cruises on Princess on the Emerald Princess and Carribean Princess, but have been able to do so because I've tried to go into them with lowered expectations. Princess cruises are nice, but you do not receive the same level of service on Princess as on X. The dining rooms and service on X are much nicer, IMO.

 

In looking at the 2009/2010 itineraries that just came out for X, I was also a little disappointed in that they are more of the same that we've been doing the past few years. However, I was able to talk myself into the 11 day western carribean itinerary on Equinox. In particular the holiday cruise 12/24/2009 has some nice ports I haven't been to. As an alternative, HAL has a nice itinerary on the Zuiderdamn (which is now in drydock and should be in good shape) for 12/09 featuring the Panama Canal but not a coast to coast transit.

[Pilot70D]

We have sailed on Princess, HAL and then we took our first Celebrity cruise this past December. Here is my over all rating of these three mass market cruise lines:

 

1) Celebrity

2) Princess

3) HAL

 

We started out cruising with Princess and we really liked their product. We never had a major problem on any of our cruises with them and we would sail with them again IF the price and itinerary were to out liking. The food was just as good as that on Celebrity and we really liked their anytime dining. The only reason we left Princess was their itineraries. We wanted a 10 to 14 day cruise to the Caribbean and Princess didn't offer such a product.

 

We then cruised with HAL three years in a row. The first two cruises were really great. Unfortunately the third cruise while not the cruise from hell was pretty close consequently we decided that there had to be a better way and we tried Celebrity. On our third and last HAL cruise the quality of both the food and service had declined noticeably. We encountered numerous service lapses in the main dining room which we think are directly attributable to staff cutbacks put in place by HAL's management. The food in the main dining room on our last HAL cruise was mediocre at best. We found that both food and service was better up in the Lido buffet so we dined there most of the cruise. Embarkation and disembarkation were events from HELL. Disembarkation was so bad that I swore never to cruise with HAL again. Several other CC members noted in their posts how bad disembarkation was for this particular cruise.

 

We tried Celebrity and we once again had a really great cruise experience. Embarkation and debarkation were efficient. Celebrity's disembarkation process is the best that we have seen out of three cruise lines. The food was very good on our cruise and the level of service throughout the ship was excellent. Our next cruise will once again be on Celebrity.

 

Cabin comfort and layout on the three lines goes something like this. First is HAL, second is Princess and third would be Celebrity. Let me state that VERY LITTLE separates first from third though. We have always had either minisuites (Princess & HAL) or a CC cabin. The cabin layout on HAL we think was better then that found on Celebrity. There was more closet space and storage in each of our HAL cabins. Princess wasn't far behind in these categories though.

 

Evaluating the entertainment on any cruise is highly subjective. Some will love a particular entertainer or show while others will hate the same things. Overall I would say that the entertainment on Princess was a half step better than that on HAL or Celebrity. Public rooms and spaces on all three were very good we felt and were just about equal.

 

We definitely like the Celebrity demographics better than that which we encountered on HAL. All of our cruising has been done during the same time of the year and to roughly the same destinations so we do have an apples to apples comparison. On HAL we were definitely younger than the overwhelming majority of passengers. We are both divers so we went diving in almost every port. We were the ONLY two divers on all of our HAL cruises. HAL didn't even offer any dive excursions. A lot of the time I wondered if we had sailed on the Geritolendam rather than the Volendam or the Veendam. On Celebrity we found that there are many, many more passengers in our age group (late forties to late fifties).

 

One the enjoyment scale there is one thing to take note of. The War Department (aka Mrs. B) is a rabid BINGO addict......oops, I meant dedicated BINGO enthusiast. She rates the BINGO on HAL to be a little bit better followed by Celebrity and Princess in a dead heat.

 

I hope that our opinions help but whatever line you cruise on next, enjoy it to the max.

[Luckyladym]

We have tried lots of lines....never did have a cruise we hated. However, if you are going to cruise in Jan. or Feb. you will find that most of the ports on any ship are going to be repeats.

 

We recently tried Azamara because the Carribean itinerary was "different." We soon learned why ships keep going to the same ports....there is little to do or see on many of the islands...they just aren't ready for the tourists yet. Unless you solely want beaches and water sports.

 

Our solution when we want more than 7 days is to take back to back cruises on the ships that run one itinerary for 7 days and then a different one on the alternate weeks. It means coming back to either Ft. Lauderdale or Miami after the first week and going back out again, but to different ports. It is available and has worked for us.

 

Good luck finding what you want...we like the M class Celebrity ships and the smaller RCI, HAL or Princess vessels.

 

By the way....loved Azamara...but not the ports.

 

Marilyn

[DeepWaterMariner]

We've done just about every cruise line. Our last cruise was on the Emerald Princess about a month ago and we were blown away by the great service and quality of the product. To our tastes the food was equal quality to Celebrity and the cuisine more to our liking. I personally have never noticed a big difference in dining room service between cruise lines with the rare inept waiter being the exception. A difference between our cruise on the Emerald compared to other Princess cruises in the past was the organization of service in the buffet area. Tables were preset with napkins and silverware with wait staff immediately available to get drinks so there was no need to scurry after beverages or carry silverware without the benefit of a tray. I'd sail the Emerald again in a heartbeat.

[ablumenfeld]

What about Oceania?

 

I've heard fantastic things about them, and they aren't that much more in price. They have positioned themselves as an option between the mass market lines (NCL/Carnival/RCL/HAL/Princess/X) and the true luxury lines (Regent/Seabourne/Crystal/Silversea.) Azamara is also supposed to be targetting this demographic. We've booked a South America cruise on Oceania in December - looking forward to what (hopefully) will be a vastly superior product.

 

My wife and I have sailed on HAL, Celebrity, and RCL, and they all seem pretty equivalent. These so-called "premium" lines all have their own minor pros and cons, and are good value for what they charge, but are nothing extraordinary.