We're looking at two cruise options leaving from Tokyo in August, and we were hoping to get advice on which of these is the better option for us, since we're not familiar with either cruise line. Itineraries are comparable.
Diamond Princess vs MSC Bellissima
About us:
40s
Will cruise in a suite this time (honeymoon) so we'll have access to some suite benefits if those are particularly interesting
Prefer mega ships over small ships (we prefer some anonymity over running into the same people repeatedly)
Decent Wifi is important (don't need streaming, but we need to so some work for our business)
Favorite line is Virgin Voyages (amazing food, younger, more adult themed), second favorite is RCL (reliable, and we're Diamond so some nice benefits).
Our favorite ships have been Spectrum of the Seas and Scarlet Lady.
We've sailed HAL (bit geriatric and boring at night but good food), Norwegian (felt very low budget), and Celebrity (comparable to RCL, little more middle aged, good food, enjoyable enough)
Activities we typically prioritize include stuff like trivia, game shows, excursions, food, playing board games, escape room, skydiving simulator. We also enjoy specialty coffees, adult oriented entertainment like on Virgin, tiki bars.
Activities we don't typically care about include pool, spa, sun deck, dance shows, stand up comedians whose jokes are mainly about colonoscopies.
Our preconceptions about MSC (may be totally off base) is that it's low end with not very good food. Does MSC rank below Norwegian in being more on the low end?
Our preconceptions about Princess (again possibly totally wrong) is that it's super geriatric, even more than HAL, and this ship is somewhat small (2500) and might be totally dead after 8pm like our HAL cruise was. Is Princess better or worse than HAL in terms of being too quiet/geriatric?
Neither may be an ideal fit for our preferences, but options are very limited post-covid, and we've already done the Spectrum from Singapore voyage, so this is about it for Asia, other than a Cambodia/Vietnam river cruise. What would you recommend, and what are your experiences with either or both of these? Thank you in advance for your advice!