X fans, have you tried other lines?

[DCguys]

We've only cruised celebrity S-class ships and love them, but are considering trying something else soon for price and itinerary options and to see the difference. Has anyone tried RCL or NCL and liked it? We're two adults (36 and 42), active, but also looking for R&R. We're specifically looking at Western Carib and Bermuda itineraries on newer ships.

 

We're doing Viking Oceans in 2015 so clearly we're eager to experience very different styles of cruising.

 

Thanks,

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Variety is the spice of life. I have tried various cruise lines. So far my favorites are Celebrity and Princess. I am giving NCL another try, having not sailed them since 2005. The weak point IMO on NCL is the standard cabins are smaller than on all of the other mainstream cruise lines.

 

Princess has great swimming pools and I do love the outdoor movie theater. On my last Princess cruise, I sailed through Alaska while watching Les Miserables at sunset.. great experience. They have really good trivia and great music onboard. Service is better on Celebrity though. The cabins are also dated looking on Princess. Self- service laundry is a plus.

 

I have sailed Royal Caribbean and I am not a big fan of Royal Caribbean. Of all the vessels I sailed, Serenade of the Seas was closest to the vibe on Celebrity but RCL is still a distant third IMO. While I absolutely love Movies Under the Stars on Princess, I couldn't stand the pool area on Royal because of the blaring sports on the outdoor "movie" screen. Granted the last two times I sailed on Royal it was during football season but it was sports most of the time and even the movies advertised in the newsletter were trumped by sports in overtime. So unless there was a stupendous deal on Royal- I probably won't sail them again.

 

Holland America has some great itineraries and their standard cabins are large. They also have self-service laundry, which Celebrity does not. Food was good and I enjoyed the Pinnacle Grill in particular. The passengers tend to be 70 plus and some were downright grumpy.

 

So if you are looking for a change- I'd opt for Princess over NCL, Holland or Royal.

Edited April 26, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain

[dst87]

My first cruise was on Queen Mary 2 with Cunard. Though I'm not the standard demographic (or even for Celebrity...) at 26, I had always seen Cunard brochures as a child and though "One day...". I thought they were the crème de la crème of ocean travel.

 

My first experience was enjoyable, but sorely underwhelming. I don't know what I expected, but this wasn't it. The food was OK. The service was OK. The ship was stunning though, and I especially loved the Commodore Club, which is a bit like the Sky Observation Lounge in it's location (high overlooking the bow).

 

When I then cruised on Eclipse, I was simply blown away by the better service, better food, better entertainment, better cabin...

 

I'd love to try Cunard again, probably QM2 on a TA or one of the other Queens on any other itinerary. Then again, I want to try a lot of other lines!

[TxnAquarian]

We are HUGE fans of Celebrity, but cruise strictly for itinerary. If X doesn't offer something we want, when we want to go, we have no problem booking other lines. My partner and I are both in our late 30's. We do two long cruises a year, and while we always look to X first, we usually do one X cruise a year and one on another line for variety.

 

Celebrity's Solstice Class ships blow everything else away for us.....even better than Crystal, which cost us 4 times the price of an X cruise.

 

We have done several cruises on NCL....we could only recommend it if cruising in a suite. We did the Owner's Suite the first time and Penthouses the following two times. It's the whole ship-within-a-ship concept and kept us pretty well-insulated.....butler and concierge, private dining room, private elevators to reach tenders, etc. Overall, the NCL product is pretty lowbrow and just offers basic cruise experience. But their suite experience is probably better than any other line.

 

Our trip on Holland America was on one of their older ships....a dilapidated old tug....we really hated the ship, but loved the service, food, and general customer service experience. We could only suggest one of their newer ships. HAL does have some of the best itineraries of any line.

 

We have Azamara and RCL on the books, but have yet to try them.

 

 

 

Michael

[lexdisic]

We have sailed various lines and cant say that we are loyal to any particular one, but have sailed X twice. Our favourite was Oceania (Nautica). They seem to provide what X is trying its best to remove ie. traditional cruising (call me a dinosaur - I dont care), but of course it comes at a price. The main reasons is that we prefer the intimacy of the small ship, the R&R atmosphere, and the itineraries that large ships struggle to deal with, but the small ships are getting fewer with less being built. It all depends what you are looking for. There is something for everyone out there - we take pleasure trying them.

[cynbar]

We love Celebrity but also cruise Princess and NCL and Windstar, have enjoyed them all for different reasons. For us, it gets a little boring to repeatedly cruise the same line with so many similarities from ship to ship. Princess we find to be similar to Celebrity, love their mini suites and Movies under the Stars and International Cafe and smaller MDRs, find their entertainment better and more varied. NCL is a totally different experience but has its own charm --- no dress code to speak of, more and varied specialty restaurants, multiple suite levels with extensive amenities. NCL we particularly like for a port intensive itinerary like Europe, and also Bermuda because of the casual atmosphere of 3 days and 2 nights straight in port. Windstar is in its own realm, like your own yacht with excellent food and service but little entertainment and obviously fewer amenities (no shows, minimal casino, no balconies, and so on.) Windstar however can go into small ports the bigger lines cannot, so that is a big plus. We have not yet found a cruise line that is perfect in every way so we try to focus on the strengths of the ship we are on.

[sheffield]

After doing 8 cruises on Celebrity over the last 3 years we sailed on the Norwegian Getaway out of NYC last month. We chose it because it was a last minute decision to vacation and the airfares to Florida from Massachusetts were extortionate. Our biggest worry was the smoking policy as we are nonsmokers. You could smell smoke in the casino and sometimes in the surrounding area. It did not bother us too much as we are not gamblers. Other than that area I did not notice any difference to being on a Celebrity cruise. I have to say that was the only negative thing we could find.

Embarkation and disembarkation were incredibly fast and smooth. We had a Spa balcony room which allowed us to go in the Spa Therapy area which was wonderful. It had a large thalassotherapy pool, several jacuzzis, steam rooms, saunas and salt room. There were the heated beds like they have in Persian Gardens and many sun beds. You had to be over 18 to go in this area.

The cabin was pretty much the same as a Celebrity cabin, maybe fractionally smaller. It was decorated a little more plainly than a Celebrity cabin, as was the whole ship. The storage space, bathroom area were pretty similar to what you find on Celebrity.

The biggest surprise to us was the food and entertainment. Both were, in our opinion far better than Celebrity's. We only ate in the free restaurants, the speciality ones were always quite empty. The food in the MDR, they had several restaurants you could eat it in, was wonderful. I really thought we might be disappointed in the food but every night it just blew us away. The potato and vegetable choices were much more varied than on Celebrity. The service was up and down but that can also happen on Celebrity. We loved the freestyle way of eating and the relaxed dress code.

The entertainment was far superior to Celebrity. We never had a problem getting into a show even though they suggest you book in advance.The cruise director is something we have never paid attention to on Celebrity but this guy was so good, came across as a very genuine person, appeared to love his job and certainly knew how how to energize people.

The whole atmosphere of the ship was very relaxed, people seemed to be having fun. We are pretty quiet people and enjoy our own company, and despite the fact that we cruised during spring break and the boat was certainly full of families, teens and younger children, we never had a problem finding a quiet place to relax. We never saw any rowdy people, unlike on our cruise to Bermuda with Celebrity last August.

So I have to say we were very pleasantly surprised with our cruise on the Norwegian Getaway and would not hesitate to sail on her again Not that this means we will stop sailing on Celebrity, it just gives us more options than we thought we had.

[Cruising89143]

We've only cruised celebrity S-class ships and love them, but are considering trying something else soon for price and itinerary options and to see the difference. Has anyone tried RCL or NCL and liked it? We're two adults (36 and 42), active, but also looking for R&R. We're specifically looking at Western Carib and Bermuda itineraries on newer ships.

 

We're doing Viking Oceans in 2015 so clearly we're eager to experience very different styles of cruising.

 

Thanks,

 

After Celebrity RCI is next in line. Incredible ships, good entertainment, service in line with X but there can be a lot of kids on board and a lot more announcements during the day for things like bingo,belly flop contest, art auctions, etc. One has to choose dates carefully to try and avoid the kids. Food is not as good as X IMHO. I like that Celebrity has not added those annoying loud tin boxes on the pool deck called MUTS. If you decide to try RCI look at one of the Oasis class ships. Those two ships still remain as my favorite two ships to date. Simply nothing like them in the world.

 

NCL was good but not good enough to get me back on after two cruises. They do suite perks better than just about every other mass market cruise line but that's where it ends for me.

Edited April 26, 2014 by cruisingator2

[kevinyork]

Weve been on P&O (UK line) 5 times and RCI twice. We were on X the first time last July (Eclipse) and are back on her twice this year which says a lot.

 

P&O are for the Brits largely, British food, entertainment and decor. Average service, good food but their ships differ alot. From small 800 person ships to 3400 person ships equal to the Princess Grand class. Prices onboard are very reasonable. Overall 3 out of 5. Entertainment good and varied.

 

Weve enjoyed RCI. Lovely ships, very impressive, lots to do, buzzing atmosphere, food ok (style over substance on occassion with menu items sounding much better than they actually were), good mix of age groups. Service very good. Overall 4 out of 5.

 

Celebrity Solstace Class is currently our favourite. Ships are not wow but they are lovely. Very tasteful design. No bells and whistles like RCI but more relaxing. Food was excellent in the MDR and buffet and nothing disappointed. Large ships but doesnt feel like it. Few kids on our last cruise. Great cabins. Service is good but variable. Select dining service ranged from just ok to very good depending who you got. Overall 4.5 out of 5.

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[gem lady]

Tried NCL Pearl this past February. Disaster from start to finish. Ship was filthy. I mean really filthy! Music was fabulous as it was a partial music charter with some great bands, but I could not get over the condition of the ship. I think I will stick with Celebrity!

[marco]

I was surprised to read one of the above posts regarding NCL. I orchestrate a "Friends and Family Winter Caribbean Cruise" every year and have been for years. Again, not wanting to fly, we went on NCL out NYC. More than half the group said, "If you go on NCL again, we will NOT be coming". None of us were impressed with the dining, the service, or the overall fit and finish of the ship. MDR service was awful, but not the staff's fault. MDR is WAY WAY understaffed! They only have "Free style" dining and we always got a beeper and never waited less then 1/2 hr for our table. But....some folks LOVE NCL, others, not so much. We fall into the later category. We pretty much bounce between Celebrity, HAL, and Princess and we find the 3 lines comparable. We choose based on dates, length, and price. (At this point, after 25 years of an annual winter Caribbean cruise, itinerary is unimportant)

[deelastcre]

We have sampled Carnival(1), Norwegian(2), Princess(2) and we have most of our sailings on Royal and Celebrity. It took me a few years to find Celebrity after sailing Royal and enjoying the experience. I haven't had a desire to sail Carnival, again because I didn't like the demographics. NCL Epic had great specialty restaurants and entertainment, but the service was lacking. I had one okay Princess Cruise and one the best cruise to date. I switched from Royal because of the smocking policy and the wine policy. When I boarded Infinity in Seattle and they handed me a glass of bubbly, I've been smitten ever since. I am a little vexed that they cut out the brunch. It was just always a great way to end a great cruise. The dining, service, and my accommodations have been great on the smaller ships. The entertainment is the worst that I've found on any ship. I am looking forward to my first sailing on the S-Class ships. On my last Celebrity Cruise the dining room service was not up to par and it was difficult to order a cocktail or wine during dinner. This was new to me. It seems that there's a lot of changes, so I will still sail Celebrity,when I like the itinerary. I will continue to book Royal and Princess for those good deal 7 day Cruises. I prefer the longer cruises on Celebrity or Princess.

[runner15km]

Good times on NCL, CCL, RCI and X, Princess up next. :)Do your homework !

[Dr. Cocktail]

After 32 cruises and 245 days on board, my partner and I said "farewell" to Celebrity last year - the product just didn't do it for us anymore. Unfortunately, all of the mass market cruise lines (RCI, NCL, Celebrity, HAL, Princess) are under the same financial realities - you can only offer so much for what people are willing to pay. That is, the total $ that the cruise line is willing to spend per passenger (and I am including the cost of building the ship, the cost of servicing the ship, providing the meals and entertainment) is basically the same across the board. That is, if someone has a nicer ship, the other may have worse entertainment or some other combination.

 

You aren't really going to notice a change until you move up the food chain - like Azamara, Oceania, Windstar or another entry-level luxury line. NCL offers a "ship within a ship concept" in their Haven suites that we are going to try. But for the rest, the better comparison would be: is a Hilton very much different from a Marriott or a Sheraton? Not really.

[wallie5446]

We have sailed 7 lines over the years since our 1st in 1987, 1 is gone. 15-20 years since we sailed on NCL, HAL, and Cunard-Crown. In the last 3 years, RCCL-C&A Emerald, Princess-Capt Circle Gold, & Celebrity-Capt Club Elite after the next sailing. I just hit 60 & the wifester is 57. We took our DD on 6 lines with 10 sailings before she turned 18, and went to work for RCCL on ship in 2003.

 

I think we qualify under the been there, tried that sailing group :D

 

Are we set in our liking's ( is that a real word? sorry if it aint ) probably so. After sailing on the S-Class Reflection last Nov we will be hard pressed to book else where if everything falls in line.

 

The Freedom & Voyager class with RCCL would be our 2nd choice, if there is no workable date and ship option with Celebrity. We have looked at P&O and MSC, they were close to the same price point as X, so we said, what is the point! I suggested to the wifester we look at the 'new' HAL & NCL ships, again, close to the same cost as X, so what was the point.

 

Just like an apple come's in different colors and taste's, so do cruise ships and the Companys that operate them. You try a different one, but always seem to keep making your pie out of the good ole stand-by.

Edited April 26, 2014 by wallie5446

[cpj]

Finally broke away from Celebrity. Went on oceana for the first time and the food was outstanding. Did not like the small ship experence. Last March tried NCL new ship theGetaway and was totally impressed. Shows were top notch and the ultimate dining package was well worth the money. The magic dinner show was well worth the extra charge. They hit a homerun with this ship and it was nice being around a younger crowd. They must have the largest casino at sea and we were not bothered by smoke. Also if you play a lot they have the best casino program at sea. Also eating out every night on the waterfront was a great experence. Don't know about other NCL ships but this one I would go back in a heartbeat. Did not think I would like freestyle but now it's the only way to go for us. Don't know why we waited so long to try this line but we also paid attention to reviews. What a mistake that was.. RCCL on there new ship is now trying the freestyle and I can't wait to go on that new ship. Tired of the old ways of cruising. Give it a chance.

[Kellie Poodle]

We did one NCL Freestyle sailing and will never board one of their ships again.

Other than a few river cruises we cruise exclusively with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. We stopped doing the Caribbean a while back so most of our cruises are overseas embarkations.

 

We did an Azamara Club cruise in February and were not impressed. I've had better food and service on Royal and Celebrity. It wasn't a bad cruise, it just wasn't as "amazing" as all the hype proclaimed.

 

We cruise for ports so some of the fancy stuff offered by the small ship lines isn't worth much for us. As long as there are Celebrity and Royal ships sailing where we want to sail, why bother trying something new?

Edited April 26, 2014 by Kellie Poodle

[Pete B]

Hi there.

We are fairly new to cruising (the last 5 years) and have always cruised RCI. It fitted in with our circumstances initially because we had young(ish) children and we liked the look of the ships. After 5 cruises with RCI, we are considering trying celebrity. During our last cruise in the Med, the afternoon belly flop competition on the pool deck kinda tipped me over the cliff. The bingo announcements when I was taking a nap were particularly annoying too.

Just looking for some comparisons on food, entertainment, general atmosphere on the pool deck. The kids are now 14 and love swimming and the gym. They have never really gone for the kids club stuff and enjoy just hanging out on deck.

Do you think Celebrity would suit us ?

 

Thanks

 

Pete

[wallie5446]

Do you think Celebrity would suit us ?

 

Thanks

 

Pete

 

Yes! Our DD sailed Celebrity the first time in 1994 at 12. It is still her favorite line.

( See my comment in post # 15 )

[RDC1]

We routinely sail with Celebrity, Princess, Holland America and Royal Caribbean. Mostly on Princess and Celebrity. Selection depends upon itinerary, cost, etc. For example next year we will be doing a transatlantic on Celebrity, then the day we get into Southampton will be switching to Royal Princess for a 12 day UK cruise, two days after we get off that we will be boarding a Holland America ship to do the Arctic circle and Norway. 3 cruise line during 1 trip.

 

Each has things that they do better, some that they do worse. They are far more alike then they are different.

 

One line that we probably will not do again is NCL.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Kids love Celebrity Pete

[Rick-cruiser]

I had to laugh after reading these posts.. It will confuse the OP more than ever.. One talks about a particular ship/cruiseline being the best ever and sorry they had waited so long to try it...the very next post bashes that cruiseline and says never, ever again.. Some insist you MUST try a variety of cruiselines - that they're in essence all the same but each offer variances that distinguish themselves from others, while others say you must stick with one cruiseline to amass its loyalty program's perks and privileges.

 

Personally, we believe in trying out all the cruiselines and getting to know (and appreciate) the nuances of each... and evaluating for ourselves where they fall in line in their priority for us.... Believe me, there are SO many cruiselines out there, and so many ships within that cruiseline - you will be astonished as to which ones will surprise you with their amenities and overall experience.. We have been so pleasantly surprised with so many of the cruiselines/ships we have chosen.. You really should check them out.. You may find one ship within a particular line to be not-so-much to your liking..but then try another ship within that same line and (as another poster mentioned) becomes the best cruise you have ever taken.. Happened to us last year (after 30 cruises).. Variety is DEFINITELY the spice of life and will open your eyes to a whole new world of cruise options.

 

Don't stick with a cruiseline just because of the "perks" of their loyalty program.. It's the same thing casinos try to do..to make you not go elsewhere.. You will be very pleasantly surprised at all the wonderful experiences all the cruiselines have to offer, and during your journey you may just find yourselves another favorite!

 

Enjoy!

 

- Rick

.

[cpj]

I had to laugh after reading these posts.. It will confuse the OP more than ever.. One talks about a particular ship/cruiseline being the best ever and sorry they had waited so long to try it...the very next post bashes that cruiseline and says never, ever again.. Some insist you MUST try a variety of cruiselines - that they're in essence all the same but each offer variances that distinguish themselves from others, while others say you must stick with one cruiseline to amass its loyalty program's perks and privileges.

 

Personally, we believe in trying out all the cruiselines and getting to know (and appreciate) the nuances of each... and evaluating for ourselves where they fall in line in their priority for us.... Believe me, there are SO many cruiselines out there, and so many ships within that cruiseline - you will be astonished as to which ones will surprise you with their amenities and overall experience.. We have been so pleasantly surprised with so many of the cruiselines/ships we have chosen.. You really should check them out.. You may find one ship within a particular line to be not-so-much to your liking..but then try another ship within that same line and (as another poster mentioned) becomes the best cruise you have ever taken.. Happened to us last year (after 30 cruises).. Variety is DEFINITELY the spice of life and will open your eyes to a whole new world of cruise options.

 

Don't stick with a cruiseline just because of the "perks" of their loyalty program.. It's the same thing casinos try to do..to make you not go elsewhere.. You will be very pleasantly surprised at all the wonderful experiences all the cruiselines have to offer, and during your journey you may just find yourselves another favorite!

 

Enjoy!

 

- Rick

.

 

You are 100 percent correct. I never should have listen to people and reviews and experenced it long before I did. I learned a valuable lesson.

[Bailey & Sophie]

We've done 5 X cruises, one more booked. We can only get away during the winter so we're pretty limited to the Caribbean at this point.

We like to go on 10-12 day cruises. Celebrity didn't have an itinerary that looked interesting (except Equinox but did that one 3 years in a row!). So we're doing a Royal Caribbean for next year.

It looks promising, but even if it isn't as good as what we're used to, it HAS to be better than -20 degree temps in Minnesota in winter!

[bluewhite]

Tried NCL Pearl this past February. Disaster from start to finish. Ship was filthy. I mean really filthy! Music was fabulous as it was a partial music charter with some great bands, but I could not get over the condition of the ship. I think I will stick with Celebrity!

 

I also sailed on Norwegian Pearl a year ago Feburary. It was disgusting then also Trying to gat seated for dinner was a joke. The cabins were so small that was a joke. we were with relatives who wanted a cheap cruise. well we got that. Never again.

Once we discovered the Solstice Class stunning in our opinion, we have never looked back. Been on Reflection three times and two more coming up.

IMHO it is Celebrity Solstice class all the way.