After trying other cruiselines, our hearts belong to RCI!!

[alecsmom]

Hi everyone - First of all, let me say I am not a frequent poster, I have posted on occasion, but I read threads quite often, and have found so much helpful information on these boards that I don't know what I'd do without them! And this might be a little long, so please bear with me!

 

I am writing this for people who wonder "should I try [another cruise line] even though I like Royal Caribbean?" I wondered the same thing myself. My husband and I have been on two RCI cruises - and not even on the newer classes - one on Monarch of the Seas and the second on Grandeur of the Seas. We loved both of those cruises and figured we didn't need to try any other cruise line.

 

HOWEVER, when we went to plan our third cruise, I have to say that Princess had an overall better deal that we couldn't pass up - we got an awesome balcony room on the Caribbean Princess plus $100 shipboard credit for $1400 total for the two of us - I couldn't find anything comparable that RCI had to offer at the time, so we decided what the heck, we'd give it a try. I have to say that while it was an absolutely beautiful ship, and we had a great time and met wonderful people, the whole time I had this little nagging feeling that "RCI is better in this regard, or that..." and by the time the cruise ended I had no hesitation in saying that I preferred RCI. I agree with the consensus that the crew of the Princess seems a little "stuffy" sometimes - the dining room staff was the least friendly of all. We were supposed to have Traditional Dining but got placed in Anytime Dining - I have no idea how - and I didn't care for that too much. The food was just okay, not great. Our cabin steward on Princess was just okay, nothing out of this world. I realize this was just one cruise and I can't judge a whole line on this one experience, but I still believe RCI just got all the details right in at least what we were looking for in a vacation.

 

Fast forward to this summer, my family wanted to take a cruise together and as we were going to have kids with us, summer was the only realistic option. Of course summer is a more expensive time so the best option for all of us on a budget seemed to be the Carnival Conquest. Once again, I thought, what the heck, I'd give it a try. Well we all had fun, but I don't think I'll be trying Carnival again anytime soon. It definitely lives up to its reputation as "the Fun Ship" in that it was LOUD, LOUD, LOUD, always something (usually a party) going on. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, if that's your thing, then that's definitely the line for you - I might have even felt different about it if I was still in college and went with a bunch of girlfriends - might have been the perfect match. But not for this married couple in our mid-thirties with a three year old and my mother, sister and her two kids. The kids didn't like Camp Carnival too much, which was a shame, because I'd read good things about it. The ship was not all that clean in some areas, in need of paint, etc., it didn't smell too great at times and again - the noise! I don't know what it was about our floor, but everyone seemed to slam doors (including their balcony doors) as loud as they could at all hours of the day and night, and they talked and laughed and yelled all the way down the hall at all hours of the day and night was well. It was just LOUD. But did we have a good time? Yes, a vacation is what you make it I believe, and I certainly enjoyed being out on a ship visiting the Caribbean again. I had no complaints about the majority of the food, our dining room staff was superb, especially with the children, and our cabin steward was very good, all so much so that we gave them extra tips in cash at the end of the cruise.

 

But in the end, the bottom line at least for me and my husband, is that as soon as I got home - I started planning and dreaming about our next cruise (as I always do when I finish a cruise!) and I have no hesitation in saying that it will definitely be on RCI again. To me, RCI wins hands-down on everything, from the beauty of the ships, to the service, to the atmosphere, the entertainment and yes even to the food, and right down to all the little details that I believe they get right. I understand that people can have bad experiences on any given cruiseline at any given time, and I don't doubt that some people get turned off by RCI as well, but in my opinion based on my experiences, I've tried enough to know I'm going back to Royal Caribbean to stay.

 

Like I said, I'm writing this for everyone who asks, should I try....? I don't see the harm in trying something new, you might find you like it, if the price and timing is right, why not. I'm very glad we tried the other lines, because now I know what we prefer. I'm still open to trying other lines like Celebrity and maybe Holland America, but probably WAY down the road sometime.

 

Well with that being said, now I'm off to plan our next cruise for just my hubby and me - our 10 year anniversary cruise next year on Liberty of the Seas!!!

[lv2cruisgrl]

Thanks for the post and we agree. We have done Princess and Celebrity and have decided to stick with RCCL ships. We always feel like we are "coming back to our cruise home" when we walk on their ships. Nothing better than that!!:D

[PAISANO]

I too ventured off to Celebrity once just to see what a STEP above was all about. Well let's just say I ran back home and booked my next cruise

right away on Radiance!:D

[gmouse]

We also started with RCCL (Majesty). We tried Celebrity and Carnival and they just didn't live up to our expectations. We are "going home" to the Navigator of the Seas next week. :D

 

I just wish we would have stayed with RCCL then we would be close to the next level of the Crown & Anchor membership.

[PGorgonne]

Thanks so much for your posts. This is the input I was looking for.

 

My friend and I just booked a transatlantic on Legend of the Seas because we liked the itinerary. We have mostly taken Princess, which we love, but were hesitant about RCI because our last experience (at least 10 or 12 years ago) was not good. After reading your posts, it sounds like RCI has improved since I was last on it.

[alecsmom]

My husband and I did an 11-nighter on the Granduer of the Seas (sister to Legend) and that was simply the best cruise we have taken so far! Everything was outstanding and the ship was beautiful. I hope you have a wonderful time on the Legend - I don't think you'll be disappointed!

 

I find it very interesting that everyone is using the term "home" when it comes to RCI - that's the way I feel as well - we strayed but we're coming back home!! Thanks guys.

[Ocean Boy]

I started my cruise experiences on Celebrity and it was great. I was actually a bit nervous about trying RCI but I did and never looked back. I have thought about trying Princess. Some of their itineraries seem like they would be nice to try and I could get some better pricing but their ships just don't have the same visual appeal to me. Every time I see one in port I think to myself that I'm glad I am on my ship and not that one.

 

So, come March it will be Adventure of the Seas for me.

[cruzobsessed]

we were hooked on our 1st cruise in 2003 on the MAJESTY!!!! my dh and 2 ds's and i are total cruise geeks and extremely loyal to royal caribbean. as a matter of fact.....i feel as though i'm cheating on rc when i just "look" at another cruise web site.

i will go even farther to say that i've been accused by friends that i must "work" for rc because if i convince them to try rc and they complain or compare anything.....i get defensive almost as if it were my company they were talking about. i need to "unclench" (as my kids say):D

[MrsKnuts2]

My DH and I have discussed going on other cruiselines but we always seem to book RCI :)

Alecsmom: When is your anniversary? We're going on the Liberty for my DH's 50th B-day in June '07.

[GaryfmCol]

My husband and I did an 11-nighter on the Granduer of the Seas (sister to Legend) and that was simply the best cruise we have taken so far! Everything was outstanding and the ship was beautiful. I hope you have a wonderful time on the Legend - I don't think you'll be disappointed!

 

I find it very interesting that everyone is using the term "home" when it comes to RCI - that's the way I feel as well - we strayed but we're coming back home!! Thanks guys.

 

Very interesting thread..

I enjoyed reading this.

We are frequent Celebrity (X) cruisers..

We love X, but, we are

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines stockholders (RCL) :rolleyes:

 

Since we are stockholders, we are going to

book a RCCL cruise shortly...

My Captains Club with "X" transfers to

the Crown and, Anchor membership which

will be real nice...

I certainly like what I read on this board. :D

[pxgrant]

Good for you - glad you tried Princess - we did the CP in 2004 and Loved her but we are trying RCI next October on Freedom. Sure we'll love her. Peggy Norwood MA

[alecsmom]

Ocean Boy - I know what you mean about Royal Caribbean having the prettier ships - we were on the Caribbean Princess last September and while that is an absolutely beautiful ship, one day when we were docked we were next to the Navigator - and all we could say was WOW!

 

Mrssully - our 10 year anniversary will be April 12, 2007 - but since the Liberty won't start sailing until May we are going to have to celebrate it later! Not sure exactly when, but I do know we want to do the Eastern itinerary.

[bplazo]

My husband is always looking on other crusing companies to find cruises and I always turn him down. I feel comfortable with RCCL. Although I might want to do a sailboat cruise one day.

[arby70]

I also started cruising on one of Celebrity's millenium ships. I loved the Infinity and wouldn't hesitate to go on Celebrity again. Since Celebrity and RCI are basically the same company, I really didn't hesitate to book a Royal Caribbean trip. I looked hard at the Carnival Conquest, but decided that it didn't even resemble a ship inside to me, and I thought the Rhapsody still looks like a ship and a very pretty one at that. I am very much looking forward to my trip on the Rhapsody. We decided to try to keep the costs down of this cruise so we have booked an oceanview this time rather than the verandah cabin we had on the Infinity. I am anxious to see how we will like this cabin.

[Schplinky]

We tried Celebrity because of all the "step-above" hype, as well. It turned out to be all hype. Variousl things were slightly better or worse but we found we were bored too much. Also, most onboard events seemed geared primarily for late-dining seatings and that was irksome.

[vmom]

sorry to hear that your experience on the Carribean Princess wan't all you had hoped for. regarding Carnival...I've read the same on other posts.

 

Frankly we love both Princess and RCI. We've been on 2 RCI and 2 Princess...no complaints about either. We've done both the Navigator and the Carribean Princess about 1 year apart and loved both equally. One does a little bit of this better, the other does a little bit of that better but we found it all evened out in the end. Our last cruise was on Princess and our next one is scheduled on RCI. the Explorer in December.

 

Frankly I like switching off between them for variety.

[CRUISENAV8R]

Thanks so much for your posts. This is the input I was looking for.

 

My friend and I just booked a transatlantic on Legend of the Seas because we liked the itinerary. We have mostly taken Princess, which we love, but were hesitant about RCI because our last experience (at least 10 or 12 years ago) was not good. After reading your posts, it sounds like RCI has improved since I was last on it.

Make sure you check for price drops every day! Transatlantic cruises are harder to fill, and I've seen them go as low as $499 for 12 nites!

[crusinmama06]

Agreed! We did 2 RCCL ships, then NCL then DCL and the only star I was wishing on at Disney Magic was the one that would bring me back to RCCL. :D

[alecsmom]

Agreed! We did 2 RCCL ships, then NCL then DCL and the only star I was wishing on at Disney Magic was the one that would bring me back to RCCL. :D

 

 

That was cute. But now you've got me curious about what you didn't like on Disney - I haven't done all that much research on the Disney boards - but we were hoping one day when my son is a few years older to take him on a Disney cruise.

[sailor moon]

DH and I also view RCCL as "home". I like feeling that homeiness when I step on board! Radiance class is my favorite size. I don't feel any great desire to stray at this point in time.

We did do Disney as our first cruise and the kids loved it. For them it was a once in a lifetime experience as they were majorly into Disney characters...

[kbt2]

Alecsmom....I saw in your post you might try Celebrity, as we loved our Celebrity cruise, I would like to say that one thing that turned you off from Princess was the wait staff being very impersonable. We have not ourselves had that problem with our wait staff on Princess, as actually ours would do special things for us without us even being aware of it until they brought it to our table. But, on Celebrity...yes fantatic food, but the waiters were almost like robots. They were just no personalities and I even noted that at other tables with different waiters, they too were "robotic"...and when I asked our waiter, hey can you lighten up a bit, he said they were not "allowed" too...and boy, you could see the Head Waiters watching over their section like Hawks, as opposed to RCI and Princess, where the Head Waiters are more laid back as well. And it is more quiet for sure on Celebrity then your Carnival cruise for sure. We will sail Celebrity, Princess again...but now RCI is what works for our family better as well. We too our in our mid 30's...love to have a great time too. We have always enjoyed our Celebrity, Princess, and RCI cruises...but certainly will never sail Carnival or NCL again...too many other better choices. LOL So welcome "back"

[cruiseorbust]

After reading this, I feel you have saved people a lot of time and money, especially if they love RCL! Any cruise can be fun, but the old adage about "if it aint broke, don't fix it" works for me.

 

We have cruised 30 times now, lately all on RCL, but in the early years tried many different lines. It is real hard for me to switch when our funds can be limited, as well as our vacation time off from work. Each cruise line can do something or have something a little better, but in my opinion RCL is the best of all worlds. We also enjoy fellow cruisers more on RCL than we have experienced on some of the other lines. Maybe someday we would try another line, but for now, unless RCL goes downhill, I think we will stay where we are! I just wish that some of the ships that are assigned to a certain port would change their itineraries a little....such as the Mariner. If not change itineraries, change the ships in that port. Ex: switch out the Mariner with the Freedom or Liberty....just a thought.

[MarciaL]

Very interesting. Our first cruise was in 1986 on RCI's Song of America. Since then we have "tried" HAL, Costa, Royal Olympic, NCL and a couple of others that don't even exist anymore. We now have 13 cruises with Royal Caribbean and I don't plan on going anywhere else..... For us, Royal Caribbean is a fit and we love the service and the ships. I will stick with what is tried and proven to be the best.

[KandMGIn]

What is it about RCI? I dont know...I just know we are hooked.

 

I almost wish we had bopped around on other lines before we tried RCI. With the AOS being our first cruise, we compare everything to it. Carnival was a flop and we are now back to the Voyager.

 

Frankly, we are made that we wasted a cruise credit in 04.

 

I do wonder if we would like other lines, but we want to keep bumping up that credit amount. I would try X but we are only 30 and it seems kind of stuffy for now....maybe in 30 years...:p

[HUTCH-1]

My husband and I try to cruise six to seven times a year. We have gone on 21 RCI cruises with 3 more already booked. We've also been on 13 Celebrity cruises. We, too, decided to try another cruise line. Three weeks ago we came off the NCL-Pride of Hawaii. Sorry to say, it was awful. I kept comparing it to RCI and there was no comparison. Never again, that line!

We did take RCI on back to back cruises totalling a month on board- we had such a great time, that I would have gone around again. We'll be doing 29 days on the Sapphire Princess (transpacific) in April and I'm sure that I'll be comparing that cruise line to RCI. I found that once you are a Diamond Member (10+ cruises), you're treated even better on RCI. The Conceige Lounge, the bonus coupon booklet and the upgrades add to the benefits of cruising with RCI.