Need help picking ship

A Little background I have been on 3 RCCL cruise Freedom 2008, Oasis 2011 and Explorer 2014 and 2 Disney cruises Wonder 2002 and Magic 2004. These cruises are a mixture of Eastern/Western routes and include Bermuda.

This cruise isn't happening until summer 2018 so I have a lot of time to prepare.

The people cruising are me and DH, our DD25 and her DH27, my DS21 and his GF21. Also, along for the ride are my parents in their late 70s. My parents are Diamond with RCCL.

My original thought was to do Liberty since it goes to some ports that we haven't been to and we have never sailed out of Galveston. The previous cruises were out of FL except Explorer out of NJ. But now I am thinking about going back on Oasis or possibly Adventure.

What would you do?

I don't want to say price is not a concern because it is but I am looking for a ship that will be fun for the whole group with some interesting ports.

Thanks! :)

For me, its a no lose situation. For the group, I'll vote for the Oasis class.

I would not consider Galveston unless you are able to drive there. It's the least convenient fly-in port for us.

We have switched off the Freedom over to our first Oasis cruise for April 2018 and really looking forward to sailing on the larger Class. Only slight downside is the 45 + minute commute from Orlando to Cape Canaveral. We have the Liberty booked with friends for July and not looking forward to the 1 1/2 hour drive. We will stay 30 minutes outside Galveston by the NASA Space Center.

My in-laws first RCCL was Allure with us, and they loved it! It was fun for our little group of 5 :). So much to do for everyone! However, my friend's first cruise was a girls trip on Independence, and the 4 of us also had an amazing time- so much to do on that ship as well :)

Note, I'd pick Independence over Adventure... I like the ship better (though Adventure had awesome ports).

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Sailed on both classes of ship (Freedom and Oasis) and like Oasis class with the many speciality restaurants better. Voyager class is older and not sure we would do a group cruise on that class. We also seemed to have crowd issues at the aft elevators on Freedom class ships and I mostly use the stairs, but DW will walk down some, but not up if she is dress for the evening beyond 1 flight.

Not sure you can have a bad choice! Have a great cruise! :)

Been on Allure and Anthem and would go back on both in a heartbeat with an edge to Anthem.

Dan

A Little background I have been on 3 RCCL cruise Freedom 2008, Oasis 2011 and Explorer 2014 and 2 Disney cruises Wonder 2002 and Magic 2004. These cruises are a mixture of Eastern/Western routes and include Bermuda.

 

This cruise isn't happening until summer 2018 so I have a lot of time to prepare.

 

The people cruising are me and DH, our DD25 and her DH27, my DS21 and his GF21. Also, along for the ride are my parents in their late 70s. My parents are Diamond with RCCL.

 

My original thought was to do Liberty since it goes to some ports that we haven't been to and we have never sailed out of Galveston. The previous cruises were out of FL except Explorer out of NJ. But now I am thinking about going back on Oasis or possibly Adventure.

 

What would you do?

 

I don't want to say price is not a concern because it is but I am looking for a ship that will be fun for the whole group with some interesting ports.

 

Thanks! :)

Lot's of choices. All sound good to me.

Since you have only gone Eastern/Western, have you thought about Southern routes? Going out of PR there are usually many ports and few sea days per itinerary. They have a Voyager and a Radiance class home ported there most of the time.

We haven't taken a Southern route out of FFL or Miami but that's a possibility too.

Oh, and I see you haven't tried a Radiance Class yet. They are very nice.

If the port visits aren't that important, then the bigger ships might be a better choice. We are going on our first Oasis cruise in December and we are looking forward to something new.

I would not consider Galveston unless you are able to drive there. It's the least convenient fly-in port for us.

I have to agree with Bob on this. I would not do anything out of Galveston if I were you. I have done one cruise out of there on the Navigator a few years back and it we a miserable experience. I would recommend one of the Florida ports or try Puerto Rico (on the Adventure). We will be on the adventure next week and are looking forward to trying out that Port.

That is just my opinion, but I would steer clear of that port, unless, like Bob said, you are planning on driving there.

Some things to think about, you said you are going during the summer months

1. The cruise fares will be higher

2. Kids will be out of school and ships will be loaded with kids

3. The Caribbean is HOT during the summer

Adventure, Liberty, & Harmony all have water slides on them (and yes adults like water slides too). Have not been on Adventure since they added the slides (next month) but I liked the slides on Liberty better than Harmony.

The shows were way better on Liberty and Harmony than Adventure

Look at the average temps for the month that you are looking at on each of the port stops. You will probably find the more Southern routes have lower temps in the summer, not only do they have the trade winds but there year round temps are more balanced.

Look if you are planning on spending anytime at your departure port and what there is to do there that interests you. Galveston is fun for the weekend and so is San Juan.

Your parents look to have experience with RC, what is their opinion? Definitely have your son & daughter look into it and weigh in, they will probably think about researching things you haven't.

If it were me I would be picking Adventure to the ABC islands and places I've never been. If it was just us and my parents I would pick a ship with good shows. Just with the kids (21; 19; & 15) a ship that had entertainment other than the shows and great excursion opportunities.

We did Harmony with the whole family including my parents (70 & 73)and although my parents enjoyed it they said they would not do it again and they prefer the Voyager class. I know you are just looking for a different perspective here but I would consult your family (and you maybe doing that also), they are all at different stages of life that you will definitely get a different perspective.

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With the demographics of your group, I would go Oasis class for sure. Something for everyone!

We are planning a similar family cruise for December this year. We have been on the Disney Fantasy, RCI Freedom and the Allure, all Caribbean cruises. We much preferred the Freedom class over the Oasis class. Although, it's difficult to compare ships when you've only done a single one week cruise, here are some of my thoughts on the Freedom and Allure.

I felt that the Allure was a bit too crowded and didn't enjoy the layout as much. It felt way more like a floating hotel than the Freedom. I really felt like I was on a cruise ship with the Freedom and enjoyed the ocean views much more. I also think the Freedom has slightly better quality finishes that make it somewhat nicer....just a bit. It's like they picked the $8 tile instead of the $11 tile for the Oasis ships. Quite minor really, but it still made me prefer the Freedom more. It's unlikely I would sail on an Oasis class ship again.

We predominantly ate in the MDR and would say our experience was good on both. The shows were equally as good, although the Allure had a couple more options. The best part of the Allure is Central Park. Quite nice. We never ate at specialty restaurants, so I can't comment on that, but if that's really important maybe the Oasis class ships are a better choice since they offer more options.

Of course, you've been on both so I don't know why I bothered writing all that, lol.

That being said, we decided to choose a ship that would have enough to do (e.g., Flow Rider) with a nice itinerary. So, we chose the Adventure of the Seas out of San Juan with a southern Caribbean itinerary. Lots of ports with nice beaches and excursions. If you think ports are an important consideration, I suggest you look at this ship. Originally we were going to do the 8 day cruise on the Freedom, but the group wanted more ports. So, the next best thing was the Adventure IMO. I will definitely miss going to Vintages and Sorrento's, but that's OK. Next time!

Alternatively, if the ship is far more important I'd try a Quantum class ship. Although, I've not been on one, it looks like a lot of fun and would be an interesting experience. Without as much of a crowd as the Oasis ships. Issue for me was that I was not fond of the current itineraries, but if you want more ship than ports, it might be worth consideration.

For a family group cruise, I think your best bet is an Oasis-class ship. Something for everyone, and so many entertainment and dining options.

Thanks for all your insights.

My parents are leaving this up to me to decide. They have been on all classes except the small ships(Enchantment/Empress/Grandeur) in fact they are on Anthem now and have booked a nextcruise which we will have to move once the summer 2018 itineraries come out. I talked to them briefly while they were on the ship and they loved their experience so far.

We have cruised the Caribbean in August and visited Florida in August. My DH is a teacher who teaches year round so we are limited to the time we can go. The upside is that we usually go the 3rd week of August so some of the schools are back in session and the prices are slightly lower.

The upside to Anthem is that we can drive to Cape Liberty NJ but the prices(At least for this year) are double the other options.

I like a good mix of port days and sea days and I would prefer to go to places I haven't been but if everyone decides they want the eastern/Western Itinerary I would be OK with that too.

My Dh saw the RCCL TV commercial and said that he wants to go back on an Oasis class because we didn't get to see the Aqua Theater show due to bad weather.

Hmm...such a tough decision.

I would love to hear others experiences, so please share :)

We typically choose itinerary over the ship (Closely followed by price). A good example is that our next cruise is on Freedom Of the Seas (2nd time on it) and we choose this over the NCL Epic as its an 8 day cruise and goes to Labadee, San Juan and St. Kitts vs. 7 days (St Thomas, Tortola, GSC). When we booked the total cost of each cruise for us was within 150$.

We have been to St. Thomas, would love to see Tortola but GSC wasn't a must see for us. We do think we would love to see a different ship especially with waterslides and bowling and other new things. It was a tough choice really but the 8th day and itinerary helped us to decide.

You did mention interesting ports. Maybe as someone mentioned above a Southern Itinerary out of PR would be something worth looking into? I would love a southern itinerary or maybe even think completely out of the box and look at Europe? In the past I've seen some great deals on cruises out of Barcelona.

If ship is more important, I'd go for an Oasis class ship. I think if we did an Oasis class we wouldn't get off the ship but shoot for trying all the fun stuff to do on the ship instead. I'd love to try a Quantum Class but those seem to be priced a bit higher than the others.

So I guess the question is - Itinerary or Ship?

Its never easy... especially when they say... "You Choose"

-Sean

My Dh saw the RCCL TV commercial and said that he wants to go back on an Oasis class because we didn't get to see the Aqua Theater show due to bad weather.

 

Hmm...such a tough decision.

 

I would love to hear others experiences, so please share :)

If August is your normal month to travel I am sure you are well aware hurricane season is in full swing and the seas maybe rougher depending on the season and you may still not get the aqua show.

With that being said both shows were excellent on Harmony! In fact every show except the comedian was great. But the comedian's rotate out.

We did the entertainment tour on Harmony and they said the pool is 15 feet deep and that on the high dives, I do not remember the exact amount but they come incredibly close to the bottom. So they have a formula for every inch the ship lists they lose something like 6 inches for the divers so in any kind of even slightly rough seas they cancel the high dives and sometimes the show. He did say that if they cancel a show and another day they have calm seas they try and do an extra show on the calm day so more people can see it. Sometimes though it is not possible because the cast for the aqua show are the stage hands for the production show and vice versa.

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Lot's of choices. All sound good to me.

Since you have only gone Eastern/Western, have you thought about Southern routes? Going out of PR there are usually many ports and few sea days per itinerary. They have a Voyager and a Radiance class home ported there most of the time.

 

We haven't taken a Southern route out of FFL or Miami but that's a possibility too.

 

Oh, and I see you haven't tried a Radiance Class yet. They are very nice.

 

If the port visits aren't that important, then the bigger ships might be a better choice. We are going on our first Oasis cruise in December and we are looking forward to something new.

Jewel of the Seas was beautiful, but I heard she'll be in Alaska in the summer of 18.

For what you want to do, I would go on Adventure of the Seas out of San Juan. If I was doing Adventure again I would take the itinerary with the ABC islands since I've never been to Bonaire.

Edit: Of course this was aimed at OP, if you haven't made a decision yet! I hope this helps.

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We booked the Navigator of the Seas out of Miami in March, 2018 to cruise to the ABC islands (never been to Bonaire) in the southern Caribbean!:cool: Definitely prefer driving to Miami vs flying to San Juan!;) However, not sure if Navigator will have that itinerary during the summer months.:rolleyes:

If August is your normal month to travel I am sure you are well aware hurricane season is in full swing and the seas maybe rougher depending on the season and you may still not get the aqua show.

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Another factor about the hurricane season is the possible change in itinerary. RCL reserves the right to change the itinerary at the last minute due to weather without compensation. We cruised on Enchantment years ago during hurricane Mitch and our itinerary was changed. A lot of people were upset with RCL and some demanded reimbursement etc.. I would imagine cruise lines would not be in business if they had to compensate for weather... Although our itinerary was changed, we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise.

Another factor about the hurricane season is the possible change in itinerary. RCL reserves the right to change the itinerary at the last minute due to weather without compensation. We cruised on Enchantment years ago during hurricane Mitch and our itinerary was changed. A lot of people were upset with RCL and some demanded reimbursement etc.. I would imagine cruise lines would not be in business if they had to compensate for weather... Although our itinerary was changed, we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise.

We were out during Hurricane Mathew and thought for sure we were not going to make our itinerary but Mathew was one step ahead of us so we stopped at two and the third got cancelled as it was a tender port and they could not run the tenders. We did not get a third port but this can happen with rough seas in general with no hurricane. We were fine with it but there were people who were upset, like the cruise lines can control the weather.

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Thanks for all the thoughts.

I talked to my family and my DH wants to go to ports that we have never been to and as of now he is leaning toward Adventure out of PR. The kids have absolutely no preference and are happy just being on any ship.

I then talked to my parents as they were driving home from their Anthem cruise and my mom wants to go back on Anthem...she loved the ship!

I just saw that RCCL posted the release dates of the summer 2018 itineraries and Caribbean is 3/27/17 so we have plenty of time to debate this :)