What is your favorite cruise line?

[awsmrn]

We have only cruised with Carnival. We are looking to cruise with a different line. Who is your favorite and why?

[johnql]

NCL. I love NCL's Freestyle policies: 1) resort casual dress is deemed appropriate every night, including the optional formal night(s); 2) Freestyle dining - love being able to dine when, where and with whom I choose; and 3) Freestyle disembarkation procedure - being allowed to stay in my cabin until my disembarkation group is called, versus being forced to vacate the cabin and waiting in a public lounge.

 

Other than that, I consider NCL's entertainment top-notch and the service on par with other lines. On the newer ships (designed with Freestyle specifically in mind), I love the wide range of dining venues and cuisines.

[LHT28]

We like Oceania...good food, good ports, less children, smaller ships,

Casual dress, open seating, great staff, nice cabins

[caviargal]

Radisson for luxury, food, service, itinerary.

 

Celebrity for ships, food, service and Concierge Class, but prefer when I am sailing as part of a couple on this line. Nightlife and activities not a strong feature

 

RCI's Radiance class for an all around active, social, fun cruise, with good food, beautiful ships, warm and friendly staff and best frequent sailor perks in the biz.

[mr green]

HAL and Princess are in my opinion the best. I would advise you against Celebrity, as I found that the line was overrated, and their customer relations sadly lacking. This was three months ago. Had that been my first cruise, I would never cruise again. john

[Tarkus]

having just completed a week on the zuiderdam i would give my favorite nod to princess... but would still rate both ahead of carnival.

[1cruiselvr]

Only bad cruise I experienced was on Carnival. Sailed RCI, Princess, HAL, NCL and enjoyed each for different reasons. I suggest you choose the next cruise for the itinerary and you will have a great time. Happy Sailing!

[ElCruiso]

Obviously it's Carnival, that's why we're on the Carnival threads. Carnival has always done us right and given us a good product for a fair price. Norwegian is OK. Tried Holland America 3 times and thought we were in a Steven King Novel, Cruise Cemetery!!!! We'll just stick with Carnival we always meet nice people, the Crews are always friendly and courteous the food is good and PLENTY of it. Nobody will ever starve on a Carnival Cruise that's for sure.:cool:

 

:eek:

[Tomm]

We've only cruised once with RCCL but are booked on Princess this year. The RCCL trip has us hooked on cruising. The service, the entertainment, the ship, the sea, the islands, the food, formal nights, the photographers. The RCCL crew really made us feel like VIPs. We were 100% satisfied with our RCCL experience. Is what I call RCCL, Royal Carribean Cruise Lines the same as RCI, which I think stands for Royal Carribean International?

[Andee]

I agree with LHT28---LOVE Oceania.

[kitty9]

For luxury lines, nothing beats Seabourn and Crystal. For mass market cruising, Celebrity all the way. Carnival has really been trying to improve themselves, and it seems to be working. Least favorite cruise lines---NCL and Costa by a very wide margin.

[luv2cruise450]

We've been fortunate enough to have cruised on several lines and have enjoyed all of them...but HAL is our very favorite. We love the elegance, the size and layout of the ships, the staff and crew have always been outstanding, we have enjoyed our dining experiences and they have some great itineraries! ANd we have just turned 50 and feel that that there are always a range of age groups on board an HAL ship. Tho on the longer itineraries...yes there are more pax that are older (but interesting and well travelled)...often that is due to the constraints of time and money since when one is still working...vacation time might not be that generous. But every cruise experience is unique to you...what one person might dislike another will love. But cruising in general is a fantastic way to travel and see new places!

Enjoy your sailings!

[musicmansmom]

Obviously it's Carnival, that's why we're on the Carnival threads. Carnival has always done us right and given us a good product for a fair price. Norwegian is OK. Tried Holland America 3 times and thought we were in a Steven King Novel, Cruise Cemetery!!!! We'll just stick with Carnival we always meet nice people, the Crews are always friendly and courteous the food is good and PLENTY of it. Nobody will ever starve on a Carnival Cruise that's for sure.:cool:

 

:eek:

 

dido on all of that. and carnival has the best prices as far as im concerned. im a carnival fan and will stick with them.

[MSC]

Well, that's a tough question. When we took our first cruise twenty years ago it was on the Nieuw Amsterdam and I thought we died and went to heaven. It was a most memorable time and HAL was the line we always told our friends was the "fantasy" cruise line. However, since that time we have been on the Disney Magic twice and in my opinion it's the best. I'm looking forward to sailing on the Amsterdam in July but it will have to go a long way to match the Magic.:)

[cruzobsessed]

we are very loyal royal caribbean people. having said that....we've only gone on 2 cruises only on royal carib. we have a 3rd booked for this december. when we were researching our 1st cruise...overwhelmingly....my friends and family recommended royal carib. our first cruise was on the majesty. that is one of the oldest ships in the fleet. we were so impressed with her that you can't imagine our reaction when we went on our 2nd cruise on the jewel which was the newest ship in the fleet. our feeling (family of 4 two young teens) is if it ain't broke don't fix it. we love royal caribbean.

[marco]

Any cruise I happen to be on at the moment.

[Grumm]

Best so far (by far) is Royal Carribean, especially the Brilliance. Fantastic food, service,staterooms. Going on Sea Princess this year and am fearful that it will not be up to RCI standards-we shall see.

[cruisingbuckeye]

We've only been on one so far, so others have much more experience - - but we were on Holland America and had a wonderful time.

[Bruin Steve]

I've sailed on six different cruise lines...and they all will give you a good cruise...it's really hard to have a truly bad cruise...Sort of like picking out the prettiest contestant at the Miss America Pageant...You can't even go that wrong taking the "ugliest" one...

 

That said, we all have our preferences...

 

Mine, hands down, is CELEBRITY...most spacious ships (passenger to space ration), best service, best food, most elegant, nicest extra touches...

 

Last place, in my book, is either Princess or Norwegian...I am not big on the "Personal Choice" gimmick...Traditional dining just has more grace, class and charm...

 

As to "customer service", the worst I got, far and away, was from Princess...BUT, everyone can have some rare bad experience on any line...none are immune...and the good seems to always outweigh the bad...

 

I had Carnival hold up a ship for over an hour and a half in Cabo once when my daughters and a friend were presumably missing in port (it all turned out well in the end)...but that "customer service" was exemplary...of course, I don't know what other lines might have done...luckily, I've never had the chance to find out...and Carnival gets a bad rap from a lot of folks for a lot of stuff...but, truth be told, there's alot they do quite well--like entertainment...

 

Nicest ships are, easily: 1) Celebrity, 2) Royal Caribbean, 3) Princess (in fairness, I haven't sailed HAL, Disney or Oceania)...

 

Food: 1) Celebrity 2) Princess

 

Service: 1) Celebrity, 2) everyone else

 

Entertainment: 1) Carnival, 2) Royal Caribbean, 3) Celebrity 4?) Princess

 

Shipboard Amenities and activities: 1) Royal Caribbean 2) Carnival

 

Cabins: 1) Celebrity 2) Princess

 

Itineraries: 1) Celebrity 2) Royal Caribbean 3) Carnival 4) Princess

(Actually, some trade-offs here...Princess does some great exotic itineraries no one else touches, but they lose points with itineraries that dock in inconvenient places like Nynashamn for Stockholm and for shorter hours...Carnival is finally getting to the Mediterranean, but has too many short 3 and 4 nighters...)

 

Of course, that's just my opinion...