Which line(s) wouldn't you cruise with?

Hey just wondered if theres any company you would avoid either through rumour or a bad experience.

Not a bashing thread, just interested to hear peoples opinions and valid reasons

Naturally I would take any free cruise but I would never book a HAL/Seabourn/Windstar et al cruise. I feel like I am a bit too young for those types of lines. For similar reasons I would not do a river cruise either.

thoughts?

...but we're a "no-go" with Carnival. Sure, we sailed with them in the past, but no longer care for the crowd they've attracted on the shorter cruises. There's only so much of the "hairy chest and beer-drinking competitions" we can take anymore. Carnival absolutely has their following...there's a cruise line out there for everyone....but YOU ASKED and we ANSWERED.

We enjoy Celebrity for our shorter cruises these days, and Regent for those longer voyages.

BTW -we've never had a BAD cruise...it's just that some are better than others.

We've cruised on 8 different lines so far. The only ones I would really hesitate to book again would be Carnival and NCL. I would also not likely book again on one of the larger RCI ships.

I have been on all of the above, so it's not due to what I have read on CC or anyone else's perception. Just not for us.

Our last cruise was the new Royal Princess and although we would book Princess again, would probably not go on that ship again. Just too crowded.

I wouldn't book on Carnival (not my type of product or passenger, too large) or RCCI (also too large, too busy). I also likely wouldn't book Cunard, because I'm not a fan of the stratified services - though they do cross the Atlantic year 'round, which has some appeal. I wouldn't choose to travel on a ship with more than about 1500 passengers either, and that includes a lot of lines.

There's only one line I wouldn't cruise with -- NCL. I had a horrible experience on my first (and only) cruise with them. It wasn't only the issues we had (which were major, but not something that would be likely to happen all the time) but the way those issues were addressed -- or not addressed -- which pointed to a more systemic problem.

My vacation days are too precious, and my experience too bad, to give them a second chance.

While there are no other cruise lines I would completely avoid, I also avoid the very large ships.

One other thing I keep in mind are port times. Some lines have very limited time in port, and I cruise mostly for the ports. MSC, for example, has cruises that routinely offer 6 or 7 hours in ports like Naples or Athen, whereas other lines may have 10 or 12 hour stays in port.

Any ships with more than 1300 pax

Blount (formally ACCL) I would avoid

others I may try except thoses with formal nights ;)

I sail Carnival, why am I not your type ? :( Anyway, all of my cruises have been good, Carnival, NCL, X, and RCI. Looking forward to Golden Princess in July.:)

I will pass on Carnival & NCL

Three lines are on my no-go list: Azamara (all casual all the time), Carnival (WallMart of cruise lines), and NCL (don't care for "free style" dining.) To each his/her own.

Three lines are on my no-go list: Azamara (all casual all the time), Carnival (WallMart of cruise lines), and NCL (don't care for "free style" dining.) To each his/her own.

At least get the spelling correct. Walmart !

We crossed NCL off our list after our 1997 cruise on the Windward. I do not remember what we did not like about the cruise, NCL has changed since then, the Windward is long gone, but we meant it when we decided to never sail NCL again.

We would never consider Carnival and NCL. After one Carnival cruise, we knew that line was not for us - too much like a cheap Las Vegas resort hotel. As for NCL, it's too much like a week at the local mall/amusement park. Too causal, and devoid of that "something special" feeling. We prefer to cruise on lines that give us a more upscale experience that we don't often enjoy at home.

Any cruise line that's too expensive.

Any cruise line that's too expensive.

Any cruise line that's too cheap.

There are reasons why they are cheap, reasons I don't find appealing.

We would never consider Carnival and NCL. After one Carnival cruise, we knew that line was not for us - too much like a cheap Las Vegas resort hotel. As for NCL, it's too much like a week at the local mall/amusement park. Too causal, and devoid of that "something special" feeling. We prefer to cruise on lines that give us a more upscale experience that we don't often enjoy at home.

Ditto. And for the same reason, we wouldn't sail on RCCLs larger ships.

I did not care for the double standard on MSC ...Italians get Royal treatment others ...nah

Would not take them again unless a super itinerary at a Super price

I loved all my experiences on both Carnival and NCL ..treated very well

All cruise lines are ok in my books you make your vacation ..i dud find celebrity pax)hotty snotty ...on 4 different cruises

Im not sure I see most of the main stream cruise lines as expensive/too cheap either way.When I was looking at Med cruises it seemed major ones such as NCL, Celebrity, Pand O, RCL, MSC, Costa and Princess etc were very similar in price.

See my opinion on Carnival is an odd one, I have only sailed with them around the Baltics so the crowd was very different to what I had heard and they had trouble finding people to enter poolside contests etc. It was an amazing cruise with different nationalities on board and I booked to sail through the PC with them this year.

But that reminds me, I am a little hesitant to sail Costa/RCL due to their tipping policies (Ie paying before your cruise if you have anytime dining and whatnot) being a bit odd.

I have been trying to convince myself to cruise Princess or Celebrity, but everytime I look at them I feel that I will enjoy more on Holland America or Disney.

One time on Carnival was enough.

I have been trying to convince myself to cruise Princess or Celebrity, but everytime I look at them I feel that I will enjoy more on Holland America or Disney.

Odd post to make without stating your reasons. :confused:

HAL and Disney are nothing alike. Instead, I would say that Celebrity is more like HAL, next would be Princess, with Disney a distant third. I have cruised with all four, so I have the benefit of actual experience, which to some people is not a valid basis to form an opinion. ;)

There really are no cruise lines upon which we would not cruise (we have been on 14 lines to date). For us the issue is more about the itinerary and length of cruise. We would never consider anything less then 7 days in the Caribbean, and generally prefer 14 day cruises (the real thing...not back to back) when in the Caribbean. As far as Carnival goes, we have only cruises on 3 of their ships but they were all good experiences. But we would not consider any Carnival cruise in the Caribbean because we are seniors and prefer to be on a ship with an older crowd then we find on those short Carnival cruises.

And by the way, we have met many Carnival "bashers" who will often tell us they have never even been on Carnival..or have not been on the line for many years. Although our favored mass market lines are currently Celebrity, HAL and Princess we would go back on Carnival for the right itinerary. For a nice change of pace we do like Azamara, Regent and Crystal.

Hank

We sailed with NCL in 2007 on the Spirit and in 2008 on the Dawn. We were not happy with the Spirit but thought that maybe it was just that NCL ship. So, we sailed on the Dawn the following year. That convinced us that NCL was not for us. We didn't care for the attitude of the crew. They weren't very concerned with pleasing the passengers. We found the food included in the cruise fare to be inferior.

Our cruiselines of choice are now RCI and Celebrity. We're very happy with the service and the atmosphere on the ships. The ships are beautiful. The staff is always very accommodating. We find the dining to be good to excellent.

Any cruise line that's too expensive.

While you might not get everything you pay for, you can be pretty sure that, especially it comes to cruising, you will not get anything you do not pay for.

While I am inclined to avoid Carnival - and NCL (more so) because of the quality of the product - I would never absolutely rule them out: for the right itinerary, the importance of the shipboard experience might have lesser importance.

Both Carnival and NCL offer value for their price - but there is a reason why their prices are generally so low relative to other lines. Sadly, NCL seems to have priced virtually all competitors out of the New York market.

Hey just wondered if theres any company you would avoid either through rumour or a bad experience.

 

Not a bashing thread, just interested to hear peoples opinions and valid reasons

 

 

Naturally I would take any free cruise but I would never book a HAL/Seabourn/Windstar et al cruise. I feel like I am a bit too young for those types of lines. For similar reasons I would not do a river cruise either.

 

thoughts?

We would ocean cruise with any of the cruise lines if we had money for the cruise. However we would not sail on the ships with upwards of 1800 passengers. That is about our maximum.

Carnival and Disney would be our least favorite because geared to families so too many kids and teens. But if the itinerary and price were right we'd cruise on them.

We'd stay away from river cruises only because the included excursions involve too much walking for my mobility impaired husband.

Disney