Royal Caribbean Alternatives

Hi, we have booked a cruise of NZ on Explorer of the Seas in December. The falling dollar and the increased cost of drinks, etc that I keep hearing about with Royal Caribbean has me considering alternatives.

Can anyone please tell me what P&O, Princess & Holland America are like? We have sailed with Carnival once before and really enjoyed ourselves but unfortunately their NZ cruise options are limited.

Any information and opinions are more than welcome and appreciated (even those defending Royal Caribbean).

Cheers,

dave

Princess has some amazing itineraries all around the world. The only thing to look out for is that some of their ships located in Australia are a little older and a little smaller (the Sun, Sea and Dawn Princess).

The Explorer is bigger and has some amazing features so if you want a similar ship I would consider the Diamond Princess.

Princess is very nice IMHO. Their food is better than Royal Caribbean and I thought the drinks prices were very reasonable - depends what you like to drink though.

The Drinks prices on P&O are the best we have had, roughly the same as pub prices in the UK. Pint of lager about £3.50. Gratuities are now recommended at £5 pppd, much lower than other cruise lines.

:)

Thank you for your replies

We aren't massive drinkers but would like to have a couple of drinks a day. We had the soft drink package on Carnival and it was just under $8 a day, the equivalent on Royal Caribbean appears to be around $22us a day. However drinks aren't our primary concern, its the overall cost of the cruise when you add tipping, exchange rates, excursions, on board extras (shopping,etc).

How do the other ships compare (in regard to facilities, etc) to Royal Caribbean & Carnival? The ships we are looking at are:- Diamond Princess, Pacific Pearl, ms Noordam & Dawn Princess.

Can anyone please tell me what P&O, Princess & Holland America are like? We have sailed with Carnival once before and really enjoyed ourselves but unfortunately their NZ cruise options are limited.

P&O Australia cruises around New Zealand are limited as well, as I think they are doing one New Zealand cruise from Australia, next season, and they are also doing a New Zealand cruise to/from Auckland as well.

Princess are good :), we have been on them 6 times (We have been on the Sun Princess, Diamond Princess and Sea Princess, and they are all great ships).

If you want to go on a big Princess ship have a look at the Diamond Princess or Golden Princess, they both do New Zealand.

Also all the Princess sailing from Australia is in AUD $$.

Holland America - You will have the same problem as Royal Caribbean with the costs of thing as everything on Holland America is in USD $$

There is a soft drink package for about $8 a day on RCI. The P&O Australia ships are more at the motel end of the scale (the ships are all hand me downs and it is a very different company and experience to UK based P&O).

Given the ice skating rink, surfing simulator, rock climbing wall, the Promenade and the Dreamworks characters the Royal Caribbean International Voyager class is hard to compete with when it comes to facilities.

After our second cruise I posted a comparison of the two ships which you might find useful.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2190861

After our second cruise I posted a comparison of the two ships which you might find useful.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2190861

With all due respect, i think your comparison is now no longer applicable as Rhapsody has left our shores and wont be back in the forseeable future. Also a little unfair to rub out a complete cruise line with A sailing on only one of the ships.

Personally, i think Rhapsody was the most friendly ship afloat and has a happy crew. I could find no fault with Rhapsody and have sailed on her several times.

Rhapsody brought Australian cruising out of the doldrums. Rhapsody will be replaced by the smaller sister ship Legend of the Seas out of Brisbane.

Voyager class ships (Explorer and Voyager in Australia) were the biggest ships afloat until only a few years ago and would not be a fair comparison with little Rhapsody. Explorer will be fully refurbished for her Australian season.

Also dont forget rcl is bringing out the newest ship to Australia next year - Ovation of the Seas.

Personally, i would go either Princess, Celebrity or Royal. You wouldnt get me on an Australian P&O ship even if it was free.

The only factor that the current exchange rate really affects is your on board spending. The purchase cost of the cruise is similar to the other lines.

 

How do the other ships compare (in regard to facilities, etc) to Royal Caribbean & Carnival? The ships we are looking at are:- Diamond Princess, Pacific Pearl, ms Noordam & Dawn Princess.

Explorer will have the most 'activities' of any ship, as that's RCL's thing.

Diamond Princess is most comparable in size, standard and so on to Explorer. Both Princess have the benefit of AUD onboard, and no tipping required (unless desired) for most things.

Dawn Princess is a bit older/smaller, more like Rhapsody was. There was mention of an RCL soft drinks package, but Princess have a more generous one for $7.95/day.

Pacific Pearl is also AUD onboard. However, there are a few more charges than the other lines for some things the others include e.g. pizzas, room service. Nothing compulsory, i.e. you can avoid them so it wouldn't be the deciding factor, but if everything else was equal (which it never is) worth considering.

The oldest ship of your choices so fewest balconies so price for those is higher, again depends what grade you're thinking of. P&O tends to have a younger crowd/more vibrant parties and entertainment activities. Some want that, some less so. :-) In fact, Princess and especially HAL are more towards the other extreme, at the old end of the demographics.

And as said before, HAL also follows US conventions of currency and tipping, so is like RCL in that respect.

Thank you everyone for your help. I think we have narrowed our decision to either staying with our existing explorer of the seas booking or changing to a diamond princess one.

Unfortunately budget will play a large part of our final decision. Rough calculations have put the cost of gratuities and the poor exchange rates for on board purchases, at an additional $500+ per person for the Royal Caribbean Cruise.

Looks like we have some number crunching and a lot of thinking to do.

Thank you everyone for your help. I think we have narrowed our decision to either staying with our existing explorer of the seas booking or changing to a diamond princess one.

 

Unfortunately budget will play a large part of our final decision. Rough calculations have put the cost of gratuities and the poor exchange rates for on board purchases, at an additional $500+ per person for the Royal Caribbean Cruise.

 

Looks like we have some number crunching and a lot of thinking to do.

You could reduce your costs by not doing the ship's shore excursions. Lots of private operator opportunities on a NZ cruise. Check out the local Tourist Info offices at each port, they are called i-sites. Also get involved with the roll call for your particular cruise and join in with some of the privately organised tours. Also a good way of meeeting people.

You can prepay your gratuities. Only add extra tips if a server or cabin steward has gone above and beyond. The bar prices already include tips so dont add anything to the tab you will get to sign each time you buy a drink. I would only tip the bar staff extra if i was the type who sits at the bar all day long.

Restrict your use of the speciality restaurants to just one or two outings.

Stay out of the shops:eek:

Have a fantastic cruise.

Celebrity Solstice is a lovely ship and also does NZ cruises. Doesnt have things like rock climbing wall, wave pool etc, more of a relaxed feel to them. Their prices are quite reasonable and have a Pick Your Perk special on at the moment.

http://www.celebritycruises.com.au/specials/pick-your-perk/

Princess is my favourite line, BUT you will have a much older demographic, at least that has been my experience and not things like rock walls, surfing, water slides and the like.

You will have good food [i know very subjective and cruise food is about on par with Wedding food], great service, great itineraries, and most cruises from Aus or NZ in Aus$ and no tips required [they're bundled in the fare].