Ship vs. Ship is better than Line vs. Line

I have seem countless "which is better" posts comparing Princess to RCL or to Celebrity or to HAL or to Carnival, and each one of those boards has seen similar posts comparing each to the other.

I submit that is an incomplete question in that each line has a broad range of ships and experiances available on those ships. True each has some niche it has a rep for, Carnival has the entertainment, Celebrity is known for it's food etc.

Some lines have dozens of ships and up to 5 or 6 classes (generations). It is inherently inaccurate to generalize and that is certainly the case with line vs. line.

All cruise lines have solid packages but every once in a while one takes the lead with a ship or class of ships in some way that might be important to you personally.

Size?.. gotta be RCL, nothing on the water bigger than the Eagle class. Food and choices?.. you might have to go with Princess' new Diamond-Saphire-Carribean class. Quiet intimate feel?... HAL's older fleet is a strong contender. Night life?, thy name is the newer Canival ships. But even those are generalizations just narrower ones.

My own formula goes like this, 3 points for ship which includes pricing and cabin factors, 2 points for the cruise line as there are some things that each works harder at, and one point for the route, which after 10 or more cruises becomes less and less an issue for alot of cruisers.

[B]<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 05/04
Mercury 06/02
Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98
Legend o.t. Seas 09/95
[B]<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 04/04
Sea Princess 01/02
Vision o.t. Seas 04/02
Star Princess 12/02[B]<FONT color=red>
West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>[/B]
Ecstacy 09/01
Vision o.t. Seas 10/02
[B]<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 12/97
[B]<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 9/96

I agree with your statement that there is great variation within a cruise line. We loved our Sapphire Princess cruise; our Grand Princess cruise, while good, was lacking compared to the Sapphire Princess, Galaxy, Serenade and Constellation, all of which we've been on recently.

I've even noticed that a particular ship can change over time as the staff, crew, and most notably the executive chefs change.

[b][font=Comic Sans MS][color=darkred]srphnx.. Agree.. Much better to rate one ship against another.. [/color][/font][/b]

[b][font=Comic Sans MS][color=darkred]BTW.. Welcome back..[/color][/font][/b] :D

And the same ship can vary greatly from cruise to cruise.

Change the exec. chef, and food can go from fair to outstanding (or vice versa).

Some people think different Cruise Directors make a huge difference.

I think the Captain and Staff Captain make a big difference.

Isn't it wonderful we have so many choices?

I totally agree with the premise of this post. There is a great variance ship to ship. Some people are extremely defensive of a cruise line ( whether Princess or something else) and will not acknowledge this .

[quote name='srphnx']I have seem countless "which is better" posts comparing Princess to RCL or to Celebrity or to HAL or to Carnival, and each one of those boards has seen similar posts comparing each to the other.

I submit that is an incomplete question in that each line has a broad range of ships and experiances available on those ships. True each has some niche it has a rep for, Carnival has the entertainment, Celebrity is known for it's food etc.

Some lines have dozens of ships and up to 5 or 6 classes (generations). It is inherently inaccurate to generalize and that is certainly the case with line vs. line.

All cruise lines have solid packages but every once in a while one takes the lead with a ship or class of ships in some way that might be important to you personally.

Size?.. gotta be RCL, nothing on the water bigger than the Eagle class. Food and choices?.. you might have to go with Princess' new Diamond-Saphire-Carribean class. Quiet intimate feel?... HAL's older fleet is a strong contender. Night life?, thy name is the newer Canival ships. But even those are generalizations just narrower ones.

My own formula goes like this, 3 points for ship which includes pricing and cabin factors, 2 points for the cruise line as there are some things that each works harder at, and one point for the route, which after 10 or more cruises becomes less and less an issue for alot of cruisers.

[b]<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>[/b]
Diamond Princess 05/04
Mercury 06/02
Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98
Legend o.t. Seas 09/95
[b]<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>[/b]
Diamond Princess 04/04
Sea Princess 01/02
Vision o.t. Seas 04/02
Star Princess 12/02[b]<FONT color=red>[/b]
[b]West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>[/b]
Ecstacy 09/01
Vision o.t. Seas 10/02
[b]<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>[/b]
Century 12/97
[b]<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>[/b]
Century 9/96[/QUOTE]

Tell me - what's the best ship - Sea Princess or Legend of the Seas?

We are on one, mum and dad are on the other at the same time!

Great post! I like RCI and Princess but have been on ships for both lines that were o.k. but not my favorites!

Even though I favor Princess and RCI, I'm always checking itineraries, trying to get to places I haven't been. I'd be willing to sail with HAL some time or even go back to NCL or Celebrity and Costa, doubtful but I might! Just can't get into sailing with one all the time or defending it to the bitter end!

Susie

We have sailed on most of the Mid priced cruise lines. The first cruise was the best and that was on the Holiday along time ago. but now most of ships are the same some a little better than others. So far Celebrity has the best of the mid
priced ships. We have not sailed on Princess yet, that is our next cruise so I can not say if they are as good as Celebrity. I am hoping that the cruise is at least as good as our last two on Celebrity was? I would like to know if some one who has sailed on both lines could compare the Summit and the Diamond???????????

Thanks
Ralph

srphnx ~

Where have you been? Have I been missing your posts or did you just come back?

I definitely agree with the OP's opinion that it makes much more sense to compare ships vs. comparing lines. And, as others have pointed out, even the same ship can vary from sailing to sailing if significant crew changes have occurred.

For those looking for the original poster you may want to check the date of the post...

How odd - How could this post have started a year ago and not have one response until 2005? Never noticed the OP date before since it was April.

I agree with the others that say even cruise to cruise can [and does] change on the same ship. Also we have been on cruises that have had horrible reviews[by one or two persons] and still had a wonderful time. We once took a B2B2B and the personality of the ship was drastically different each time the pax changed. All good, but different and perhaps unpleasant to some.


Our rule of thumb is to read positive reviews to see what others have enjoyed. When a review turns, or starts, negative, we find something more worthy of our time. Anything.

Dan