Two part question for cruisers experienced with other lines:

[DisneyCruiser83]

Hello,

 

I know many of you have sailed with other cruise lines other than Disney, but my husband and I have only done Disney. We would like to go to Alaska, but are concerned with which cruise line to choose. We are very happy with Disney and would like to find a cruise line that would be of comparable quality. Does anyone have any suggestions to a line that would be close to the level of service there is on a Disney ship. Our top three factors to look for are service, entertainment and adult activities/spa services (most everyone's concerns :)) Factors that would not influence our decision would be children's services or casinos/bar activities.

 

The other question I have for seasoned cruisers is how many is too many? We already have the 7 day Key West cruise planned for September of this year and are booked on the 11 day Mediterranean in April of 2010. We know we have to go to Alaska in the summer, so would going on another cruise in the summer of 2010 be too many cruises too close together? We will most likely go the the Caribbean again in September 2010 for our anniversary. We love cruising, we are just concerned doing so many back to back would tarnish some of the novelty.

 

Thank you so much for reading this long winded question, and would appreciate any ideas/suggestions you have! :)

[grand isle joe]

Dear DB83, We have both cruised on Disney as well as Royal Carribean. On both the Wonder and Magic as well as Magic in Europe. We are booked back in Europe April 2010 also. The spa was a little better on the pampering side on Disney than RCCL but RCCL was good as well. Food was a smudge better on Disney but enjoyed RCCL. Service was friendlier on DCL but fit our needs on RCCL.Never a bad interaction on RCCL at all. We also don't really drink nor gamble so that

aspect does not

ot concern us.RCCL offers more extras for a more diverse passenger interests.(sports, etc.).The ships are different in RCCL are flashier and slick where you know the classic lines of DCL. I enjoy both for their style and amenities. I enjoy RCCL for their itineries and their cost vs. value. They offer alot of extras for the money. Both shore excurtions we took on both lines were wonderful and efficient. DCL groups on board before the excurtions where RCCL groups the excurtion on the docks. I enjoy both lines for different aspects but I choose both with no reservations or regrets. Disney is alone in its' "family" feeling amoungst passengers which is hard to duplicate on other lines. We are cruising RCCL in Europe in two months are looking foward to that. One line that I can NEVER recommend is Norwegian Cruise Line. AWFUL>>AWFUL>>TERRIBLE..:eek::eek::eek::eek:.especially if you love DCL. Can't come close to the service and staffing. If you gave me a FREE cruise I would refuse... I hope this helps somewhat. J.F.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

2nd question.

 

For me all those crusies would not be too much.

Each time you go it is a totally different experience.

we take a different excusrion than the last time we were at a specific island so ti all seems new again, plus it is a comforting feeling for me to kinda know my way around some of the islands. You feel more at ease exploring a bit more the 2nd or 3rd time on the same island.

 

One thing we like to do on St. Thomas for example is one time we will go to St. Johns for the day, so its a new experience. There were 3 different kinds of excusrions there alone.

 

Also if we want one time we will stay on the ship all morning while everyoneis off. That is a nice experience too. Then after lunch as people start returning to the ship, we go off and get some last minute bargains.

 

On the ship we try to go to things we missed the first time. Plus they always have something new to see and do. We like the feeling of already knowing our way around the ship, it makes the cruise more relaxing.

 

We love to crusie and even the same ship on the same itenary can be a whole different cruise by just doing different excursions and trying new things on the ship.

 

 

we ALWAYS join a roll call or meet on board thread for every cruise to get aquainted with others on our crusie, that really adds to the fun and excitement too. We always have a meet the first day and love meeting new friends every trip. It is amazing how many times you will run into these people around the ship too.

 

Good luck, I beleive you will enjoy each cruise as a totally new one and love every minute!!!

[stsomewhere]

My Dh and I just got off our first DCL cruise.

We would compare it to HAL.

[Majesty Fan]

We have done Disney 2 times with a 3rd in the fall on the Wonder. We had been loyal to Royal and were even married on the Majesty 8 yrs ago. We have done Alaska twice. Once out of Seattle and Once out of Vancouver. Flights were about $350 chgeaper out of Seattle and quite a lot to do there. I actuallt lived there and met up with some of my old friends. You can also take the train to vancouver or rent a car. The train with AAA was about $30. Out of Seattle we did Juneau, Skagway, Icy Straight, a glacier and Vistoria. Out of Canada we did Juneau, Ketchican, Glacier, and Skagway. Both were good cruises. The service was good and had good food and entertainment. We went in Late June out of Seattle and had wonderful weather. It was even 70 in Juneau. The other cruise was about 3 weeks later and it was col, and wet. We don't do the spa. But I have also heard that Princess is very good at Alaska and has a lot more ports to choose from.

Lexi

[NancyIL]

For me - the most important thing about choosing a first Alaska cruise is the itinerary. I did northbound cruises on the Coral Princess and HAL Veendam, and both were great. This year I am doing a roundtrip on the Golden Princess due solely to the great price - although I do like the itinerary. It just wouldn't be my choice if this were my first visit to Alaska.

 

DCL cruisers seem to be pickier than most about going on other cruise lines. It's too bad Crystal doesn't still cruise to Alaska, but you might check out the Regent Seven Seas Mariner.

[RUBBER DUCK]

Have been on both Disney, plus 4 other ships on 2 other lines. Disney is comparable to the nicer/better ships in the RCCL line. If you plan on saving a buck and going on an older ship, you will most likely be disappointed. The RCCL Serenade would be in the neighborhood of age, something only about 4 years old or so. Carnival would be same thing. The older ships are usually not quite as well maintained, and typically become the sampler ship for short weekender cruises. Not to say they are totally crappy, but Disney is well-known for not only the cleanliness and upkeep, but the entire experience. Newer ships generally follow course.

[gatour]

In recent years I have been on Disney, Princess, and RCL. Princess and RCCL are similiar in most regards but I think Princess has better service. Since someone mentioned the Coral Princess, I sailed on her for a Panama cruise and it was one of the best cruises I have ever been on.

 

Your second question. We have been averaging a cruise ever 7-8 months I think you should be fine since you are mixing up your trips. What we started to several years ago is one trip take a "conventional" cruise like an Eastern or Western Caribbean run then the next trip we take a "new" cruise to islands or places we haven't been. In essence you are doing the same thing. For the Eastern/Western Caribbean runs we have regular things we like to do in each port and we are mostly doing the cruise for the ship (we love sea days).

[DisneyCruiser83]

Thank you everyone for all your input! I think we may hold off on Alaska until Disney adds a port there. Eventhough you all had some good information, we just feel other cruise lines would not compare to Disney enough to make us change over, even for one cruise. We have a pretty full cruise docket as it is. I love the information I find on this board! :)

[ilovecraig929]

:eek: you can never have too many cruises!!!

 

we've sailed royal caribbean three times and LOVED IT! we have a disney cruise booked this november and i cant wait because ive only heard good things! with that being said im sure we'll one day sail royal again as well as try carnival and others. i think every cruise experience is completely different even if you're on the same ship...a cruise is what you make it! and you sound like the kind of people who make it fun!

 

we also dont drink or do the casino thing so all of that is wasted on us with royal. we joke that they dont make any more money off of us once we step on board because we dont have a bar tab or gambling bill so we have cruised very cheaply in the past before! i think thats part of royal's plan, put out some super great rates and hope to lurer people in and then hope that they drop hundreds of dollars in the casino and on drinks...

 

i dont know where you live but if youre close enough that you drive to the port maybe try one of royal's really short (really cheap) cruises and it'll give you a taste of their customer service, dining rooms, how they do things, etc...

 

i do know that one of royal caribbean ships they use for alaska has lots of glass. glass elevators facing the sea, windows everywhere, lots of glass in public places and i think that would be a plus while cruising alaska because i think you'd want to be able to see out as much as possible.

[Fordman]

We haven't sailed with Disney, but we are booked in July on the Wonder. We have sailed with Carnival several times and with Princess once, in Alaska. The Princess was very nice, Golden Princess. The itenary worked with what we needed. The food was a bit bland, I thought. Don't wait for Disney to put in a port - you need to experience Alaska!

[Modern_Viking]

Well, you won't know for sure if you can have too many cruises until you try. ;)

 

Seriously though, have you been on two major (7 day +) vacations in the same year before? Have you been to WDW or a similar place twice in the same year before? If so, and you liked it, two cruises in a year should be fine. If not, you will need to decide for yourself.

 

If you do try a new cruise line, you will get to play the "how does this compare to DCL" game. It might be fun, but might not. Again, that is really a personal choice.

 

Also, while it has been a long, long time since I have cruised in Alaska (it was my first cruise) I have heard that it is still most popular with first time cruisers and with retirees. Thus, many of the people you meet will be "testing the waters" to see if they like cruising or will simply be there as the easiest way to visit Alaska (and not because they have a fondness of being on a ship). Still, I am sure that you will meet many people who love cruising and cruise often. But, it will likely be a different demographic (maybe more like a 3 night DCL cruise in a sense).

 

 

I would strongly suggest an Alaska cruise with Glacier Bay or Hubbard Glacier on the itinerary. Other stops to look at the ice can be nice, but I hear they just aren't as impressive as those two locations.

 

Sailing the inside passage can also be a little bit nicer. That is usually only an option on cruises involving Vancouver and not trips out of Seattle, however.

 

I think you will be hard pressed to find another cruise line with the same entertainment as DCL. Still, for service, Holland America (HAL) might be close. Also Princess might fit the bill. Many will suggest Celebrity, but my one cruise with them felt generic and lacking personality, so I would steer away from them coming off of DCL. HAL does have a loyal following from my experiences with them (i.e. if that is what you mean by a "family" on-board, that people like sailing their ships and return year after year).

 

Most all cruise lines seem to subcontract their spa services out to the Steiner company, so the services might be very similar. The facilities will vary, however.

 

You might be in for a long wait if you only want to visit Alaska on DCL. But, I have no idea what itineraries they will have in 2012 and beyond when they have 4 ships.

[TexDisneyMom]

We took the NCL Pearl last summer to Alaska and loved every second of the trip! It was fabulous!

[MESH]

We have sailed Celebrity 8 times and Disney 11 times.

 

I am a cruiser, which means I enjoy the cruise and many times when at port we stay right on the ship to enjoy everything.

 

No one can compare Disney's Broadway style shows with what others have. One has to love Disney in order to love the Disney cruise line. Disney service and their staff makes us feel like family. Lately we have been doing back to back Disney cruises. We have know staff that have been on since the ship first sailed.

 

I like Celebrity, because the service is about the same as Disney, and I can do my own thing. In fact I think the Celebrity breakfast and lunch buffets are better than Disney. Yes, Celebrity appeals to an older crowd. Do you like people who are not interested in pushing and shoving, saying thanking you, carrying on an intelligent conversation, having the ability to relax and read, common courtesy, etc. I like the older the crowd and what they have to offer.

 

Enjoy cruising. In my opinion there is no better way to travel.

[JsMom2]

As someone else pointed out, the spa will pretty much be the same on all of the ships. If having a rainforest type room/thermal suite is important be sure to check out the ship deckplans.

 

I vote for Princess. DD and I sailed the Crown Princess to the Baltics in June 08 and the Coral through the Panama Canal in Jan 09. We loved both of them!! And their entertainment isn't Disney, but the shows are still excellent. On the Coral, we used to get to the theatre as soon as it opened to get a seat. It wasn't unusual to see folks lining up outside the doors. Everyone would bring a book to read while we waited for the shows to start. One day the cruise staff handed out balloons as we entered the theatre. Then everyone blew them up and had a huge balloon fight! And these were 99% adults! You'll also enjoy the champagne waterfall party on Princess. It was only one night, but it was fun.

 

We also love RCI, but I think Princess does a better job of teaching you about the destinations. They'll have guest lecturers onboard throughout the cruise.

 

As far as NCL goes, I also said "never again" after our first cruise on the Star. I did NOT appreciate the whole Freestyle thing. However, we sailed the Jade last December, and again in March and had a wonderful time! We decided to give her a try, because we got an awesome rate on a Penthouse suite and the cruises were more about the destinations. We were totally spoiled by the concierge and butler, and we loved the entertainment. And the ship had a wonderful, homey feel to it. I don't know if the other ships have the same level of service, but the Jade staff was exceptional (despite high turnover between our 2 sailings). We're moving to the East Coast, so I plan to do an NCL cruise to Bermuda in the next couple years, but we'll definitely book a suite.

 

As for how many is too many, well we took 7 cruises in the past year (actually I did 8, because I took a New Years cruise w/o DD)! I think 2 per year is a good number if you're going to new destinations, because then you have time to unpack and organize your souvenirs/photos before the next one! I had a hard time keeping all of my roll calls straight when I had so many booked at once! If you're just doing Disney, then yes the novelty does wear off. We love DCL, but are waiting for the new ships so we can really feel the magic again.

 

Also, be prepared to be exhausted by the end of your 11-day Med cruise. We sailed the Magic to the Med in Jun 07, and decided we needed a cruise to recover from the cruise! We booked a Dec 07 Caribbean while we were onboard!

[RandomIam]

We've done Alaska twice on Holland America. We did the same itinerary (Glacier Bay, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Victoria) both times and enjoyed both of them thoroughly. I will say the first time was amazing, the second time was great but nothing beats the first time you see something!

 

When we went on the Westerdam (one of their larger ships) the entertainment was at a much higher level of quality then when we went on the Amsterdam (a smaller ship). The service on both was phenomenal. We very much enjoyed the crew and made some great friends.

 

It will be interesting to see if Disney does an Alaska cruise. Typically Alaska attracts an older crowd (we were one of the handful of families with young kids--literally 3 or 4 families with kids both times!) but I think kids would love Alaska, ours did!

 

We loved HAL and thought it couldn't be beat, until we went on Disney. We still love HAL but Disney obviously works better for us now that we have young children.

[loveJake]

We had cruised Disney 7 times, and never thought of trying another line. We have now cruised Princess 2x, RCCL 1x, and Carnival 2x with 2 more booked on Carnival. We have found out that Disney is not worth the extra money, maybe when they get the new ships. But the new ships of Princess, very close to Disney in color, service and food and Carnival are also great, we have never had bad service. The idea of Carnival being a pary ship is long gone, except for maybe the short 3 day cruises. The worst drunk and worst language I ever saw was on the Magic. What we enjoy most is that you prepay tips and you don't have someone in your face every night telling you how excellant they are. Disney shows are better, but do not change enough. We are taking our 3 grandkids, who we took on Disney on the new Carnival Dream 7 day for $2800 total in an OV family cabin with split bath. We used to spend close to 3 times that much for 2 connecting CAT9 cabins. Just not worth the difference. I am a devoted Disney fan and loved every Disney cruise I ever went on, but cannot justify the difference in price. The Emerald Princess blew the Magic out of the water. Also the kids enjoy the kids programs more, not as crowded.

[cruisekitty7]

I have sailed on RCCL to Alaska a few years ago and enjoyed it. It seemed very adult oriented and there were not alot of children running around. The service was great, however disembarkation was a nightmare as they funneled everyone down a narrow hall and out one door. We were in a suite and were supposedly getting priority disembarkation. Overall thought the cruise was alot of fun.