Celebrity vs Princess vs HAL vs Norwegian vs Royal vs Carnival vs MSc vs Costa

[drsel]

Can anyone  do a comparison of the pros and cons of some or all of these mass-market Cruise lines?

 

How would you rank them based on quality of entertainment, shows, activities, food in the main dining room and buffet, state room, crew service and other facilities. Thanks!

Edited February 28, 2021 by drsel

[SpainAlien]

Rick Steves cruise ports books have a comparison across line but it would breach copyright to show it here I'm afraid. Perhaps if you don't get a relevant answer it might be worth buying the book.

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

How can anyone answer those question as no one know what cruising will look like once it opens after a year 

[dunedinmaiden]

I believe any rankings you'd receive would be totally subjective.  Every cruiser has their own opinions on ship size, destinations, food, pricing, entertainment, etc.  There's probably disparity based upon age groups, as well (no disrespect to anyone).

[asctony]

Been on all except Carnival. They each provide something a little different. Any cruise is a wonderful experience! 

Stay Safe! 

[Mapleleafforever]

It's all purely subjective. We're Diamonds on Royal but have often talked about trying other lines as we know people who swear by some of them. If the price, ship, and itinerary is right than we're more than willing to give it a shot. 

 

[rimmit]

Been on all on that list except costa and MSC.

 

It would take a post a mile long to encompass all the differences and similarities between the lines.  Could you be maybe a little more specific as to what you are specifically looking for and what is important to you? 

[Tree_skier]

I have only been on Royal and MSC.  Royal beat MSC in every single category that I can think of.  We enjoyed our MSC cruise but only because it was our first time in the Med and the ports of call were what did it.  I had a Princess cruise scheduled for last Sept but, alas, we all know what happened with that.

[smokeybandit]

That's like asking "what kind of car should I get" without knowing how many miles you drive a day, the climate you live in, how many people would be in your car, etc, etc.

[mek]

I've sailed many times on all of the  lines listed, except MSC.  Like variety and  they all have their + and -, but I didn't care for Costa and won't sail on them again.

Edited February 28, 2021 by mek

[George C]

7 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I have only been on Royal and MSC.  Royal beat MSC in every single category that I can think of.  We enjoyed our MSC cruise but only because it was our first time in the Med and the ports of call were what did it.  I had a Princess cruise scheduled for last Sept but, alas, we all know what happened with that.

I doubt you would say that if you cruised MSC yacht club, but I do love Royal. 
I have cruised all lines listed but some I have not cruised in decades and have no intention of going back Carnival and NCL.

Royal has best entertainment all others have positives and negatives and I would cruise again.

[matj2000]

Quite a hefty request to ask.

 

Do you really think someone is going to sit down for 2 hours.

 

Just to put together an analysis of 8 cruise lines?

 

If you are interested in something particular,

 

Go read the member reviews of that cruiseline/ship...

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

50 minutes ago, rimmit said:

Been on all on that list except costa and MSC.

 

It would take a post a mile long to encompass all the differences and similarities between the lines.  Could you be maybe a little more specific as to what you are specifically looking for and what is important to you? 

 

Ditto this.  🙂  I've also been on most of them and would be happy to share what insights I can, but more focused questions would be helpful.

[Tree_skier]

25 minutes ago, George C said:

I doubt you would say that if you cruised MSC yacht club, but I do love Royal. 
I have cruised all lines listed but some I have not cruised in decades and have no intention of going back Carnival and NCL.

Royal has best entertainment all others have positives and negatives and I would cruise again.

I am comparing balcony cabin to balcony cabin...  I have read this before where people say "oh but yacht club is so much better."  That really doesn't mean much to me... I don't generally book suites on Royal and wouldn't book Yacht Club if I ever chose to cruise MSC again.  Only a tiny fraction of people do so.  The vast majority are untouched by benefits of Yacht club or Royal Suite Class so to me this comparison has little meaning.

[bearette]

I have been on all except Costa and msc, my med got cancelled. More similarities on cruise lines then differences, so it depends on which specific items you like or are annoyed by

Carnival- more party but not as bad on longer cruises

Rccl- fa!Iliad and multi generations

Ncl- same as Rccl with more " freestyle" concept

Princess - couples and middle to upper age. More refined in my opinion, with a more then a handful of families

celebrity-upscale but more grandparents with a handful of families

 

I also agree that guidebooks on cruising most do a nice comparison, you just need to get nit-picky.

 

 

 

[atgood]

Here’s our comparison:
 

Cruise line   Flowrider

Celebrity          No

Princess.         No

HAL                  No

Norwegian      No

Royal               Yes

Carnival           No

MSC                 No

Costa               No

 

RCI for us. 

[drsel]

4 hours ago, Airbalancer said:

How can anyone answer those question as no one know what cruising will look like once it opens after a year 

I am asking about past experience

[drsel]

3 hours ago, rimmit said:

Been on all on that list except costa and MSC.

 

It would take a post a mile long to encompass all the differences and similarities between the lines.  Could you be maybe a little more specific as to what you are specifically looking for and what is important to you? 

Specifically entertainment shows and activities.

These are the most important for me

Edited February 28, 2021 by drsel

[SNJCruisers]

The 8 lines you mention can be broken down into 3 categories.  Adult oriented-Celebrity, Princess, HAL.  Family oriented NCL, RCI, Carnival.  European oriented Costa, MSC.

[drsel]

2 hours ago, la_croisiere_s'amuse said:

 

Ditto this.  🙂  I've also been on most of them and would be happy to share what insights I can, but more focused questions would be helpful.

I am most interested in entertainment activities and shows

[SNJCruisers]

2 minutes ago, drsel said:

Specifically entertainment shows and activities

Royal and NCL for their shows, Carnival for comedy shows and piano bar.  MSC's shows are very European oriented such as opera.

In general though, if you just pick an individual line, there are so many variations and disparities comparing the different class of ships that it's impossible to paint with a wide brush and do a comparison.  You would have to pick  3 or 4 specific ships and then a true comparison could be discussed.

[George C]

10 minutes ago, drsel said:

Specifically entertainment shows and activities.

These are the most important for me

Rccl is by far the best for entertainment , the bigger the ship the more entertainment, Celebrity entertainment is so so, was surprised on the quality of msc for entertainment, Hal is decent, princess has good entertainment but there showrooms are small and hard to get a seat for there shows. 

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

4 hours ago, drsel said:

I am most interested in entertainment activities and shows

I agree with the other posters that RCI has the best shows overall, especially for the big-budget production shows. More variety on the bigger ships, of course.

 

I will say however, as a former semi-professional singer...some of those shows had vocal talent that left a lot to be desired. I never experienced that on the other lines (different priorities in the entertainment budget would be my guess). So if that happens to be important to you, you could be disappointed. But unless you have a finely tuned or highly trained ear, you might not even notice. 

 

I would say that Celebrity, Princess and Carnival tied for second place for entertainment, with HAL coming in last.

[Tree_skier]

6 hours ago, drsel said:

Specifically entertainment shows and activities.

These are the most important for me

I thought the entertainment on Royal was much better.  In the main theatre every night on MSC was some type of variety show.  While the singers and dancers were pretty talented, the format just get a little old.  MSC caters to a crowd that has a far more international feel to it.  As a result of that their shows must cater to those whose language is not English.  For an American audience that limits their types of performers. 

 

For example, the performed the songs of Grease not the full performance of grease.  There was no comedian as telling jokes in 5 languages would probably fall pretty flat.  There was no big production show at all.

 

Activity wise, besides the pool, the ship we were on had nothing of interest.  I imagine there was a casino but we didn't go.  The pool area was packed all the time whenever I tried to spend anytime there so I just gave up.  Getting served at the pool bar was an exercise in futility.   They served gelato out of the pool bar so there was always a crush of 20 or more kids clamoring to get some so the bar was inaccessible. If you waited around for a server to come by to take your order and return with a drink you were guaranteed sobriety.  

 

 

[Tom47]

Of these cruise lines, we have only cruised on RCI(1)and Celebrity(8).    RCI has better shows, but X does not  allow any indoor smoking.  X has better MDR food and a more laid back attitude vs,  party time at RCI.  RCI has more children activities.