Loyal Princess Cruiser's Experience on RCCL

[regnig]

MacThespian I agree 100% that sometimes the individual ship and crew can make a lot of difference. Some of what we experienced though had to be because RCCL had set the bar so low or at least on the LOS. As far as the cabin not being ready when we boarded at 1150am as it turned out it was. One of our family members is quite ill and they really needed to get rid of their carry-ons. So, not being shy, we managed to open closed doors and found our cabins to drop off our hand luggage. But, not without being yelled, and I do mean yelled, at by some crew member we encountered along the way. While most of the RCCL staff we dealt with were very pleasant I honestly can't say they were anymore so than on Princess. Plus I'm a firm believer of what goes around comes around and we always treat them with full respect and friendliness.

 

I do hope you enjoy the Sapphire Princess and if she emulates the Emerald I'm sure you will.

[rcacace]

RCCL usually has some "named" entertainer aboard or at least they did in the past.

I supposed we'll just stick with Princess but it would be nice to reach that Diamond level to get some better perks. :)

[sunsetbeachgal]

Hi Barb,

 

Your thread is getting alot of interesting comments!

 

We are off to Sunset Beach this afternoon...I assume the ocean will be all churned up with the hurricanes out there! We always go to Sunets-our golf community (golf junkies here as well) has a beach house/parking lot on Sunset Beach. On our travels we seldom see beaches we like as well as Sunset. You will enjoy the "other" Emerald irtinerary as I'm sure we will ours. However, I have to say that after doing Alaska this summer, the Coral is my new favorite Princess ship.

 

Carole

[mizLORInj]

You have to sign up for the RCI Crown & Anchor program, unlike Princess where you are automatically enrolled in the repeat guest program.

Took my first RC cruise May 31 to Bermuda and it was very nice on Explorer of the Seas. But did it make me a RC loyalist? No.

You'll find rude people, different personalities, great or less than good service everywhere. I don't book a cruise based on service I received from one or two people on a cruise.

I would go on any of the 3 lines I've cruised again--especially on a newer ship.

I've not had a bad cruise yet.

[Pam in CA]

Did you join Crown and Anchor? Because after ONE cruise, they leave a coupon book in your room with the free wine tasting, free Johnny Rockets, free internet minutes, and assorted other discounts for use throughout the ship. Even the children receive a coupon book geared towards them (arcade, ice cream, etc). Each member of your party also gets a gift (tote bag, messenger back, picture frame, etc)

 

If you didn't receive the coupon book or gift after your first RCI cruise, it's because you didn't register for their passenger rewards program.

Of course I did. :) And I receive the RCCL brochures by mail with my Crown and Anchor # on the label as well as email offers. My daughter (who is an adult) and traveled with me received a tote bag but I never did.

[pris993]

Thanks for your review. We initially started cruising with RCCL and Sitmar in the early l980s. We stopped crusing with RCCL in the late 1980s, when they started building biggers ships and smaller cabins. We took a ship tour in San Francisco and I noticed the basic balcony cabin had twin beds that were smaller than normal.

 

Over the years RCCL has added rock climbing, ice skating, etc. Inspite of all their innovations, this line simply does not appeal to us. Your review confirms my basic instinct.

 

We have cruised lots of lines: Princess, HAL, Celebrity, Crystal, Royal, NCL, RCCL and Sitmar. At present we have also dropped NCL -- because it no longer appeals to us. So we stick with Princess, HaL and Celebrity.

 

Different lines appeal to different types of cruisers. We have found what works for us best.

[spongerob]

Carole I'm glad your experience was better than ours. Maybe they were just saving up the "awful" for us. ;)

 

Maybe you just happened to be lucky recipients of a visit from the Bad Cruise Fairy. Almost all the complaints you listed, I have experienced at one time or another on Princess. I don't think it's fair to make a broad comparison based on just one cruise, regardless of the cruise line. Your comments are perfectly valid for your cruise and experience, but to go beyond that and assume that it is a true comparison of two entire cruise lines stretches the point more than just a little.

[rcacace]

Does RCCL still have their Shipshape activities similar to the old Princess Cruisersize program?

[Clutterlady]

Carole we are doing the 10th of March sailing which is the alternate itinerary than the one we took this March. This one includes Bonaire which is about the only island we have never visited. Loved the Emerald so much we booked on-board, even the same Caribe deck cabin.

 

BTB - Sunset Beach is the only beach we go to and we even have the yearly parking pass. We actually live in Long Bay Club in Longs as hubby is a golf junkie! Barb

 

Barb, I do believe I will be on your Emerald sailing:)

[DonnaK]

Bummer. Guess there are more negatives than positives when it comes to RCL.

 

 

I don't feel that way. We've just come back from a wonderful Princess cruise. There are some things Princess does better, and other things RCI does better, and I hoenstly believe that it all balances out to an equally wonderful cruising experience. We'll probably cruise Princess again, but we will definitely go back to RCI, as it remains our preferred cruiseline because in our experience, RCI provides better service.

[notentirelynormal]

Negatives –

Stateroom Attendant – While ours was a very nice lady apparently they do not perform the same duties as those on Princess. We did not see ours until 630pm on embarkation day at which time she handed me two pillow chocolates and the daily activity paper for the next day, advised me of her AM and PM work hours and then vanished. At no time that day did she fill our ice bucket, turn down our bed or ask if we had any questions. It didn’t make for a particularly good start to the week. She did a reasonable job of cleaning our cabin, but apparently removing room service items, extraneous cups and glasses from the Windjammer and cleaning the balcony do not appear anywhere in her description. BUT, for all you towel animal fans out there she did do one heck of a job in leaving us a variety of creatures each night. The negative – well on two occasions her creatures had to be hung up using a hanger with pants clips and both times she went into our closet removed a pair of pants from one hanger doubling them up on another to get her “hanging” implement. NO, NO, NO! I considered this an evasion of my personal spaces and belongings and it should not have happen. :mad:

Dining room table – We were a family group of 9 that included a 2 year old. RCCL chose to seat us at a table designed for 10 and then added 2 additional people. The couple they added was a marvelous young couple whose company we enjoyed but I truly felt sorry for them. I suspect they had asked for a large table expecting to meet a few other couples their own age but instead ended up seated with our large family.

 

 

 

I agree.

The staff on RC weren't pleasant. Very rarely smiled. Some would turn and walk away. On Princess crew members are eager to help.

Never saw our RC Cabin Steward. He never introduced himself.

On Princess the Cabin Stewards always stop by to ask if you need anything several times throughout the cruise.

 

My one and only RCL cruise I experienced similar to Larsen. Our room steward never removed the lunch dishes when he made up the cabin at night. We used the sofa bed and the table was put in such a way that we literally had to walk over the bed to get to the other side of the room. Never got my ice, which is my only real request to a room steward. I called room service and was told it would be 1 to 2 hours. I’m still waiting. I can deal with all that. The worst and totally unacceptable part of his service though was: I left my tip in the envelope and put it underneath my book completely out of sight on the desk. We went to dinner and when we returned I went to give it to him. I was P*ED. He had already taken it from my desk.

 

Oh, our toilet was broken. We were told to wait in the room and someone would be along in a few minutes to fix it. We waited and waited. After two hours I’d had enough. I called many times to the front desk. I went down at least three times to the front desk. Our room reeked. Why were we waiting? So that they could walk down the HALL and fix it from there. As well, the bathrooms outside the dining room were also out of order so you had to go to a different floor, for the entire cruise.

 

Never saw a crew member walking around that would help. Had to search them out and they were not smiling. I remember having a conversation with my TA when I returned about how ironic it was because she had just come across an article about the friendly staff and hearing my experience.

 

The dining room was another experience I was astounded by. I ordered a bottle of wine. I drank a portion of it and had it labeled and put away for the following night. One bottle usually lasts me two nights. The next night I asked for it and was told that I obviously had drank the entire bottle and not realized it because they couldn’t find it anywhere. Umm, I think both my husband and I would have noticed if I had drank the whole thing. To me, this adds up to being taken advantage of twice and (borders on outright stealing) and that’s twice too many times for me.

 

While my experience might not have been typical it is reason enough for me to never sail on that line again. The rudeness of the staff, the taking my tip envelope before it was offered and the missing wine incident. That was three strikes and you’re out for me.

[FOXTROT]

Larsen it is interesting reading your comments. We were loyal RCCL cruisers until this year. We took 2 Princess cruises. The most of the comments you made were close to our experience but the other way around. You have to admit the RCCL bedding was much more comfortable than Princess. We will be doing a Princess cruise next year.;)

[regnig]

RCCL usually has some "named" entertainer aboard or at least they did in the past.

 

No one on our sailing that we had ever heard of. They did have one fellow, singer/guitar player, performing mostly in the Hoof & Claw who was pretty good but even his CDs were home made, not production lables.

 

Maybe you just happened to be lucky recipients of a visit from the Bad Cruise Fairy. Almost all the complaints you listed, I have experienced at one time or another on Princess. I don't think it's fair to make a broad comparison based on just one cruise, regardless of the cruise line. Your comments are perfectly valid for your cruise and experience, but to go beyond that and assume that it is a true comparison of two entire cruise lines stretches the point more than just a little.

 

Yep Rob, the Bad Cruise Fairy was out in full force hovering right over us! I really tried not to sound as if I was making a "broad comparison" but only that as it applied to us and our sailing. Guess I wasn't as successful in doing so as I had hoped. Sorry......

 

Larsen it is interesting reading your comments. We were loyal RCCL cruisers until this year. We took 2 Princess cruises. The most of the comments you made were close to our experience but the other way around. You have to admit the RCCL bedding was much more comfortable than Princess. We will be doing a Princess cruise next year.;)

 

Actually we even like the bedding on Princess better. We both like a hard mattress and the Princess comforters are, for us, a better weight as the ones on the VOS seemed very heavy.

[yorky]

Not a big fan of RC to be honest. Loads of novel ideas to draw in the crowds but for us not up to the quality of Princess in everything that matters to us which is food and overall service.

[regnig]

Hi Barb,

 

Your thread is getting alot of interesting comments!

 

We are off to Sunset Beach this afternoon...I assume the ocean will be all churned up with the hurricanes out there! We always go to Sunets-our golf community (golf junkies here as well) has a beach house/parking lot on Sunset Beach. On our travels we seldom see beaches we like as well as Sunset. You will enjoy the "other" Emerald irtinerary as I'm sure we will ours. However, I have to say that after doing Alaska this summer, the Coral is my new favorite Princess ship.

 

Carole

 

Interesting, you bet! Beach tomorrow for me too. Even having grown up in Ocean City MD I still favor Sunset. Not sure about that new bridge - judgement to follow.

We sailed the Coral through the Panama Canal and she also became our favorite ship. Several here on CC feel the same way about her.

 

 

Barb, I do believe I will be on your Emerald sailing:)

 

Yes I can see you are. Funny how even this far out we count down the days.

[texascruzer]

I agree.

 

We enjoyed our RC cruise but it didn't compare to Princess.

 

On RC the food wasn't as good plus didn't have the variety \ selection as Princess.

 

RC entertainment was much to be desired.

Princess has several choices to chose from. Where as RC only has one main show nightly.

 

The staff on RC weren't pleasant. Very rarely smiled. Some would turn and walk away. On Princess crew members are eager to help.

Never saw our RC Cabin Steward. He never introduced himself.

On Princess the Cabin Stewards always stop by to ask if you need anything several times throughout the cruise.

 

The passengers on our RC weren't as friendly like those on Princess. Not sure why.

 

The cost of RC is higher then Princess - yet Princess offers more.

The only time you'll see me on another RC cruise is when they offer a really good deal and cruise itinerary that I haven't done yet.

 

That is funny because I had the exact opposite experience on Princess. I felt like I was at someone's funeral most of the time and when you asked a Princess employee a question they would literally walk away without answering.

[TexasMom2]

We have been on 7 cruises in 5 years (1 Carnival, 2 Princess, 4 RCL) and they have all been consistently good vacations, but all slightly different except for the two Rhapsody cruises. Different sizes, different times of year, different passenger mix. Best food - Grand in Dec '05. Best staff - Rhapsody in 2003 and 2007. Best ship - Jewel in Dec '06. Best itinerary - tie between Adventure in June '06 and Tahitian in Jul-Aug '07. Best cabin - tie between aft on Adventure, aft on Rhapsody and aft on Tahitian. Worst embarkation - Grand in Dec '05 (no check in at the terminal, only at a hotel then bus to the terminal).

 

I'm glad I didn't let the Grand embarkation fiasco turn me off of Princess or I never would have experienced Tahiti the way we did. The ship was definitely not the highlight, it was the islands.

 

We were kind of turned off of cruising after the Tahitian but starting to get the bug again after trying Carnival in June. Tried Colorado in July, going to Vegas in November, but I really love being on the water so a Med cruise is in the cruise for next Sept-Oct. Could be Princess!

[jd618]

Let me start by stating THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BAD CRUISE! That being said let me assure you that there sure are cruises that are worse than others. .........

 

Negatives –

Embarkation - When passengers boarded prior to 1pm they were not allowed to go directly to their cabins. They were directed to go to explore the ship or go get something to eat in the Windjammer/Jade café. Close your eyes and picture 3600 hungry people dragging their carry-on luggage behind them. :eek: Not a pretty picture! .......

quote]

 

Loved your initial comment and agree completely!! That being said, our last RCCL on Liberty was disappointing for us as well. IMO:

 

Prefer about RCCL over Princess:

• Room service has a better menu
  
• Windjammer’s great varieties & service (we actually preferred it over their main dining room)
  
• Free yogurt (ice cream is my favorite dessert)

Disliked about our last RCCL cruise on Liberty:

• Location of children’s pool area = right outside the Windjammer
  • Prefer it to be tucked away

  [*]Lack of evening entertainment = only one main show each night. After that there were some music venues in some of the smaller areas (typical of RCCL).

  [*]Totally agree with your Embarkation comments!!

Neutral comments:

• We’ve never had a bad cabin steward on either line
  • Try calling room service when you are finished eating, so they can come and pick up your dirty dishes (even if they’re from the Windjammer)

  [*]If we didn’t like our table mates in the main dining room, we either asked to switch tables or just ate somewhere else. Your family must have been lovely to visit with each evening. That’s a huge compliment. I’m guessing your families felt invaded by having this couple of strangers join your group, and I don’t blame you.

  • Maybe this could have been avoided by discussing it w/ the dining room staff as soon as you arrived on board? But how were you supposed to know, this was your first RCCL cruise. I do understand.

I know I’m only listing 2 negatives, but they were huge for us. As a matter of fact, we were suppose to cruise it again in October w/ friends to celebrate our 20th anniversaries . . .but decided to change after our experience.

 

That being said, we would travel again on RCCL in a heart beat. Not necessarily on Liberty of the Seas, but certainly on a newer ship that was sailing where we wanted to go. I would suggest you give RCCL another try some time, if you can’t find a Princess sailing/ship you want but you can find a RCCL you do want.

 

Either way . . .happy cruising!!!

 

 

We are sooooo looking forward to our next cruise . . .

Crown Princess Oct. ’08 – 7Eastern Caribbean

Liberty of the Seas March ’08 – (9704 Stern balcony = big DISAPPOINTMENT) 7 Eastern Caribbean

Crown Princess Oct. ’07 – 7New York to San Juan

Golden Princess April ’07 - 10Mexican Riviera

Constellation Oct. ’06 – (8185 Stern balcony) 11Western Caribbean

Brilliance of the Seas April ’06 (9258 Stern balcony) - 10Panama Canal

Jewel of the Seas Oct. ’05 – 10Bermuda and Caribbean

Dawn Princess March '05 – 10Western Caribbean

Caribbean Princess '04 (C752 Stern balcony) – 7Eastern Caribbean

Island Princess '03 – 10Panama Canal

Star Princess '03 – 7Mexican Riviera

Grand Princess '02 - 7 Western Caribbean

Enchantment of the Seas '98 -7 Eastern Caribbean

[skellis]

I stopped cruising RCCL after a holiday cruise with 300+ badly behaved kids, who ran up and down hallways at 3:00AM, pushed and shoved people at the pools, monopolized the elevators, and the cruise line did not do anything. The worst was when I was playing blackjack in the casino and a 16 year old sat down at the table and began playing stupidly. When I pointed out the plaque behind the dealer which showed an age limit of 21 to the dealer, he said the parents get mad if they enforce it. The father came in and said "I paid for this cruise and my kid can do whatever he wants." the dealer allowed him to continue playing (this was about the third day) and I never gavethe casino another penny. I went as far up as the passenger service director and they told me that there was nothing they could do.

On one Princess cruise I saw a bunch of 8-14 year olds pushing and shoving each other on the tile edge of the pool at midnight without a single adult around (can you spell L I A B I L I T Y) I called security and they sent the kid's program employees over to take charge.

 

on the Dawn last year we were wakened up (at 3AM) by a possible person overboard search for a 13 year old girl. After everyone was awakened and a half hour of searching, she was found hiding somewhere on the ship.

I may sound like an old grouch, but why didn't her parents realize she wasn't in her cabin at a reasonable hour. The ship handled it as well as they could and the crew lost the same amount of sleep as the passengers.

 

Princess seems to handle this aspect better than RCCL and all of the other criticisms of RCCL applied to that cruise. I won't cruise them again.

[emdia43]

I've only cruised Caribbean Princess but no one was able to go to their room before 1pm either, on embarkation day.

 

You just go and have lunch....

[Bruin Steve]

First, the standard acknowledgements:

 

I have cruised on SEVEN different cruise lines--Premier (the forerunner to Disney), Norwegian, Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Oceania. I am a "Diamond" Crown & Anchor member on Royal Caribbean and an "Elite" Captains Club member on Celebrity...

 

I have USUALLY believed that no cruise is a bad cruise...any of them beats working...

 

That said, having done my third (and final) cruise on Carnival last summer, I have pretty much crossed them off my list...I have no particular reason to return to Norwegian...and have likely "outgrown" Disney...

 

Aside from that, though I do have my favorite (Celebrity), I generally choose my cruises for itinerary first, then the ship, the timing, the price, etc., so I generally do not rule out most cruises due to a bias against the cruise line...

 

That said, I am often amused at the bias (some folks call it "loyalty") some folks have toward or against certain cruise lines...It's often most pronounced among Carnival loyalists who tend to feel personally afronted when someone "insults" their favorite line...

 

Last summer, I cruised on RCCL Liberty of the Seas and Carnival Liberty back-to-back and posted my review and comparison, noting among other things, how much more crowded the Carnival ship was and how much poorer the service was on Carnival...Of course, it would be one thing if it were a mere subjective comparison...mere personal opinion...BUT, what I did was to give the actual numbers--passengers on board vs. size of the ship, number of passengers served by each waiter and assistant waiter in the dining room--actual instances of substantive differences betwen the lines...Still, Carnival loyalists would counter back with statements like "Oh, yeah? Well, I went on an RCCL cruise and it seemed more crowded to me" or "I LIKE the service on Carnival. I think it's great?

 

Problem is that most cruisers, especially those who have grown loyal to a particular cruise line over the years, are really just not very objective...

 

And, many of the things that most people find important to them personally are really matters of personal taste...Whose food is better than whose? Depends on YOUR taste and your background...Whose entertainment is better? Again depends on your personal taste...Whose Pizza is better? Again, a matter of taste...Ship's decor? Heck, Some loyal Carnival cruisers actually LOVE Carnival's overly gaudy decor...Which ship is more fun? Depends on what YOU find fun...And on and on and on...

 

The other problem with these sorts of threads is that people will support their opinion with specific anecdotal instances which may have nothing to do with overall cruise line operation and which might actually happen on ANY cruise--as an exception...as in "I was on the "whatever" ship and my cabin steward didn't clear away my breakfast room service tray until the afternoon"...You, know, those are likely not the rule on ANY cruise, but could happen on any cruise...

 

On ANY cruise, most things go generally well and a few negative things happen--guaranteed...If you are of a mind to be positive, you will generally overlook the bad things...If you are of a mind to be critical, all those bad points will stand out...

 

Now, I, too, cruised on the RCCL Liberty of the Seas...and, IMHO, the ship was flat out incredible...

Note that I am a "Diamond" level Crown and Anchor member...so my coupon book contained coupons for 1) a FREE alcoholic drink with free souvenir glass, 2) a FREE Photo, any size, 3) a FREE Ben & Jerry's ice cream, 4) a FREE specialty coffee, 5) $10 internet credit, 6) FREE Bingo card, 7) $12 in chips for $10 in the casino and lots more...I get a free gift (I think on this cruise it was a tote bag)...PLUS, I was given a card key to the "Diamond Lounge", a private club on an upper deck with a concierge, nightly hors d'ouevres and FREE and unlimited before-dinner drinks each night...

 

Yes, I'm a little too old to do the surfing, ice skating, rock climbing et al...but I can still appreciate watching the activities...and one great benefit of the ice rink is a fantastic Figure Skating Show...Entertainment on RCCL is first rate (From my experience, Princess does not come close)...

 

IMHO, there are few ships out there (maybe none) that come close to the magnificence of the Liberty of the Seas...

 

Of course, what I value in a ship may not be what you value...We all have different criteria, standards, expectations and desires in a cruise ship...and we all have our biases...

 

Really, most of you ought to check out other cruise lines from time to time...If you went with an open mind, you'd likely find that some of them do some things better, some worse...but most things about the same...If you'd weight them under an independent criteria, you'd likely think differently than if you've predetermined that Princes is what you like and only consider where they stand in your mind versus Princess...

 

If the OP posted this on the Royal Caribbean board, my guess is very few would agree with the post...and most would be flabbergasted at both the assertions and the conclusions...

[regnig]

 

[*]If we didn’t like our table mates in the main dining room, we either asked to switch tables or just ate somewhere else. Your family must have been lovely to visit with each evening. That’s a huge compliment. I’m guessing your families felt invaded by having this couple of strangers join your group, and I don’t blame you.

• Maybe this could have been avoided by discussing it w/ the dining room staff as soon as you arrived on board? But how were you supposed to know, this was your first RCCL cruise. I do understand.

 

Oh please don't misunderstand what I was attempting to say. We (our family) loved the company of the other couple and we didn't feel in the least bit invaded. Our concern was for them not ourselves as we figured they might be a bit uncomfortable. It just really seemed unusual to us that in a dining room that wasn't full RCCL would have made such seating arrangements.

 

 

 

If the OP posted this on the Royal Caribbean board, my guess is very few would agree with the post...and most would be flabbergasted at both the assertions and the conclusions...

 

Oh had I posted this on the RC board I'd be dog food by now. As to "assertions and the conclusions" - I attempted to point our facts as they pertained to our particular experience. Additionally, my post was not intended to be a full fledge "review" of the cruise but rather a comparison, from an admitted Princess Loyalist, of our cruising experience. And yes, you are correct, the Liberty of the Seas is a beautiful ship but she is one that I will admire from the balcony of a Princess ship in the future.

[mellowrose]

We had a wonderful cruise aboard the Navigator of the Seas but the Enchantment cabin we had was fit for sardines and the bed was hard as a rock. I have since learned that you can ask for a foam topper. Really looking forward to our first Princess!

[Julia’s Journey’s]

 

Did I mention watching watching the kitchen staff drop a full tray of ribs in the sand at Labadee Haiti, take them into the mens room rinse them off and proceed on the the buffett? :eek: :eek:

 

 

You didn't eat that did you!!:eek: :eek:

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We had a wonderful cruise aboard the Navigator of the Seas but the Enchantment cabin we had was fit for sardines and the bed was hard as a rock. I have since learned that you can ask for a foam topper. Really looking forward to our first Princess!

Make sure you ask for foam toppers on Princess! You must have sailed the Enchantment before the bedding changes!

 

I am a Platinum on my way to Diamond on RCI, but I enjoyed my one Princess cruise enough to try them again! There are differences between the lines, but for me it will come down to itinerary - which is the number one reason I chose the CB for our family cruise next year. We choose to sail while the majority of kids are in school, which has made for a better experience for us, I believe. I'm sorry the OP had some difficulties on his last RCI cruise. However, some may have been because of the amount of stress caused on the staff by the number of kids on board. If I had teens or younger I would probably choose RCI as it seems to be more 'family orientated', IMHO than Princess. However, there is no excuse for the way that some parents will let their kids be so unsupervised on a floating city. However, that is another thread......:rolleyes:

 

The Pros for me for each cruise line are:

 

RCI - better shops onboard; better morning room service selections; better theater seating; better layout of the buffet area (I like the food and can always find something to eat!); better return passenger benefits; better bedding. Also - much better balcony rooms. We have to get a minisuite on Princess in order to get a sofa. We do spend time in our room and my DH likes space to spread out on with his computer. And for DH a biggie - free soft serve available 24/7.....:rolleyes:

 

Princess - better dining room food; nice to be able to get into our cabins right away; much improved muster drill; more entertainment options in the evening (loved all the live music available!); larger balconies.

 

I'm sure there are more, but those are what come to mind. As far as service is concened - I had excellent cabin stewards on both cruise lines. However, on the EOS on my last cruise I never saw the attendent more than once in 9 days! He did an ok job. No complaints, just no compliments either! I have always had polite crew on both lines.

 

One benefit I can see for changing lines occasionally - you get a variance on the shows and the menus! After a while they both get old. I'm sure that holds true with any line.

 

I will continue to choose my vacation now based on itinerary, ship, price and cruise line - in that order. There are a few cruise lines I know I would not be interested in, but I do not include them in my search. The next line I would like to try would be Celebrity. However, as the OP said, no cruise is a bad cruise!:D

 

Just one addendum - if you go to a new line with the attitude that you are looking for ways that your 'favorite' line will compare, you will be sure to find them. On our Golden cruise I sailed with a CC member who appeared to be having a nice time the whole cruise. She did tell me on the first day that she would rather be on a certain NCL ship sailing a similar itinerary, but came on this cruise because of friends. As soon as we were back she wrote a biting review of the Golden & stated how she was going back to NCL. From her review I couldn't tell we were on the same ship! I went on Princess knowing it would be a different experience than RCI and just enjoyed my cruise. Sometimes we get comfortable with the familiar & confuse "different" with "bad".