Best cruise for group of fun but not fratty late 20-year olds

[thechicagoans]

Some background: My wife and I have a very close group of friends (roughly equal male-female ratio, and growing as our friends get married themselves) and we are all in our late 20s and we do an annual trip together and are considering a cruise together for 2012. My wife and I have organized this trip for the past few years. As most of us are Midwesterners/North East people, we usually do the trip in October - December to escape the cold so our time frame would be October - December 2012.

 

While on land, we (our group) enjoy dining at great restaurants, going to shows (musicals/Cirque-type shows), and going out dancing/clubbing. We're not into the bar scene and not the "black-out drunk" crowd and we are also quite active - not the lounge by the pool the entire time crowd. My wife and I have only cruised once before - on RCL Liberty of the Seas on a short sailing and enjoyed it very much.

 

What we liked: ship was beautiful, crew was very friendly, most of the crowd was nice (except for a gigantic group of perhaps 100 fratty SEC types), club [Catacombs] was really fun, and entertainment (especially the Ice Show) was great.

 

What we didn't like: the quality of the food. Lunch in the MDR was quite good but dinner was mediocre almost every night.

 

What we are looking for:

1. Duration: 3 - 5 nights (hard to get such a large group to take much more vacation) between October and December 2012

2. Crowd/Nightlife: Don't care about the overall crowd as long as there are enough people to fill up the clubs at night.

3. Food: Liberty of the Seas is the minimum level of acceptable food but preferably something better

4. Type of Cabin: Everyone in our group would probably prefer a balcony but I know some older ships only have Oceanviews

 

FYI on the cruises/prices I keep seeing for such a duration/timing are:

1. Norwegian Sky

2. Carnival Destiny

3. Carnival Imagination [no balcony]

4. Carnival Sensation

5. Monarch of the Seas [no balcony]

6. Majesty of the Seas [no balcony]

 

Thank you for your help!

[Breezie68]

I LOVED the Imagination when I went on her, and I think she fits your bill. I too traveled with a mid 20s year old girlfriend. While we were not too impressed with the shows (I found that the larger ships tend to have better shows, but that's my opinion... especially after being on RC Liberty of the Seas, I haven't found shows on Carnival that have compared), we enjoyed the people, the service and the ports. I also enjoyed the Exctasy (a sister ship to the Imagination).

I have a Destiny cruise planned, and the ship is slightly larger than the Imagination. I will let you know how that goes when I get back.

[firefly333]

All the bottom type cruiselines cater to children and will have younger people on them.

 

If you go to the next notch up, Celebrity, Princess, HAL etc, the food is better, and people older, and less night life. I personally think you were too hasty to judge that RCL has SEC fratty types based on one special date (this ship mostly does longer cruises).

 

The problem I see also, is the ships that normally do these shorter cruises are the oldest in the fleets of the lines .. so you deprive yourself of all the new bells and whistles.

 

Shorter cruises do attract a crowd more prone to making the most of the shorter time and more drinking as a rule of thumb.. so that was probably why you noticed more drinking.

 

I think your group needs to decide more night life and drinking at night vs a older crowd with less nightlife, but better food.

 

Carnival for one has cut back yet again, and the waiters are so overworked that lots of people have noticed how slow dinner is served. Now they also added comfort foods, so if you want fried chicken on the menu nightly..this is your cup of tea.

[Starry Eyes]

well, I generally like Royal Caribbean's food, and that is your lowest acceptable level. food is subjective, of course, but as I did not like Carnival's food (far inferior to RCI's in my opinion), so I could not recommend any of the Carnival ships. I am aware that some people love Carnival's food, so you will differing opinions. that is mine. Continuing on the food theme, NCL's food is adequate to me, but again, I'd rate their free fare below RCI's. So, unless you are prepared to spend money for the specialty restaurants, that may not be a good choice either. If you can afford to budget for specialty restaurants, that ship might work.

 

The two Royal ships you mention are their oldest and smallest. Nothing like LOS, so you may be disappointed. what about LOS again? Or maybe Radiance of the seas?

 

For better food, you might want to consider Celebrity. In think Constellation is doing a few short cruises next year...Nightlife may be an issue as Celebrity might draw a bit older crowd.

[Colorado Kat]

I think that if you can go for a little longer cruise, you will enjoy it more. The newer ships usually do 5-7 day cruises, and have more bells & whistles on them. The over-hanging hot-tubs, the adult-only serenity areas, the fun water-works areas with water slides. Specialty Steakhouse restaurants (fee).

[thechicagoans]

Thanks everyone for the thoughts. I do think that RCL Liberty of the Seas was a fantastic first time cruising experience. I would love to do a longer sailing but just think I can't get our group to all get vacation for an entire week at the same time.

 

I looked up Celebrity Constellation's shorter cruises and there are only a few of them and they are quite expensive. I appreciate firefly333's comment that there is a tradeoff when one chooses a shorter cruise.

 

Any thoughts on the two following ships? They both seem to have high ratings on CC.

 

1. Carnival Glory

2. RCL Jewel of the Seas

 

Thanks again.

[firefly333]

 

Any thoughts on the two following ships? They both seem to have high ratings on CC.

 

1. Carnival Glory

2. RCL Jewel of the Seas

 

Thanks again.

 

I got a super duper group discount deal of a lifetime is why Im flying to florida for such short cruises as jewel. Its the only class of RCL ship I have not been on Radiance class which supposedly is a smaller ship, so it will have less to do, but people say its one of the most beautiful ships they have been on.

 

I also upgraded to a JS and me and my friend will pick out a more expensive excursion to make it worth while to fly for such a short cruise.

 

You can take a short cruise and make the most of it. I got some super hotels too.

 

I will personally only do Carnival if its a drive to port. The prices are good and its a cruise, so I do Carnival whenever I get a really good deal. As far as beauty of the ship RCL spends a lot more on their cruises and it shows, but Carnival provides a good standard product. I get a little more bored when I do Carnival, but its nice to get away.

[thechicagoans]

Thanks everyone. I think we will stick with RCL or Celebrity (if we can find a price that is not too much higher than RCL).