angel97701
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,571
Jun 26, 2014 2:04:25 GMT
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Post by angel97701 on Sept 28, 2024 19:57:19 GMT
Last minute planning for a cruise in December . . . looking to do Eastern or Southern Caribbean
Norwegian for 11 days
MCS for 14 days includes Western Caribbean to ports I've been to once. Princess for 9-14 days
OR any others you can recommend.
TIA
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Post by mom on Sept 28, 2024 20:09:23 GMT
We've only cruised on Royal Caribbean and absolutely loved their service and our experience.
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Post by librarylady on Sept 28, 2024 21:08:07 GMT
I have cruised on Norwegian (Alaskan cruise) and on Royal Carribean (cruise to Cuba).
On Norwegian,we could eat at whatever table we wanted each meal.
On Royal Carribean we were assigned our table & mates and had to eat there each meal. I liked moving around to meet new people.
Norwegian had a more casual attitude about the meals. No jeans in the dining rooms but you could wear jeans in the buffet eating area.
Both cruise lines had buffets if one desired to eat there.
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scrappinmama
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,122
Jun 26, 2014 12:54:09 GMT
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Post by scrappinmama on Sept 28, 2024 21:42:36 GMT
I have only cruised Disney and Norwegian. We just cruised on Norwegian Encore to Alaska in a Haven room. It was fantastic! Absolutely cannot say enough good things about the Haven! Our room came with a butler who served us breakfast in our rooms if we didn't feel like going to one of the dining rooms. He also brought snacks in the afternoon. The Haven is a private part of the ship, so you will have less people to contend with. We were escorted on and off the ship separately from the rest of the ship, were the first ones to board at the start of the cruise. There is a private dining room for Haven guests, and in my opinion was the best food on the ship. I don't think I would ever cruise outside of the Haven again. We were spoiled.  |
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Post by ntsf on Sept 28, 2024 22:13:05 GMT
I like princess.. not too much of a party boat, but fun things to do. it is kinda in the middle. so I like them.
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TXMary
Pearl Clutcher
And so many nights I just dream of the ocean. God, I wish I was sailin' again.
Posts: 3,035 
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Post by TXMary on Sept 28, 2024 22:20:22 GMT
I have cruised on Norwegian (Alaskan cruise) and on Royal Carribean (cruise to Cuba). On Norwegian,we could eat at whatever table we wanted each meal. On Royal Carribean we were assigned our table & mates and had to eat there each meal. I liked moving around to meet new people.Norwegian had a more casual attitude about the meals. No jeans in the dining rooms but you could wear jeans in the buffet eating area. Both cruise lines had buffets if one desired to eat there. Royal added what they call My Time Dining several years ago. You can eat whenever and with whoever you want to eat with. Of our 30+ cruises, all but two have been on Royal. We love them! |
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Post by paperaddictedpea on Sept 29, 2024 0:48:51 GMT
I’m actually doing an 11 night cruise on Norwegian in December. I haven’t sailed with them before, but my brother and sister in law have done several cruises with them and enjoyed it and talked me into joining them for this one.
I’ve cruised Carnival and Royal previously but it was many years ago and I’m sure things have changed quite a bit since then. I’ve heard good things about Celebrity but haven’t sailed with them.
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Post by paperaddictedpea on Sept 29, 2024 0:51:56 GMT
I have only cruised Disney and Norwegian. We just cruised on Norwegian Encore to Alaska in a Haven room. It was fantastic! Absolutely cannot say enough good things about the Haven! Our room came with a butler who served us breakfast in our rooms if we didn't feel like going to one of the dining rooms. He also brought snacks in the afternoon. The Haven is a private part of the ship, so you will have less people to contend with. We were escorted on and off the ship separately from the rest of the ship, were the first ones to board at the start of the cruise. There is a private dining room for Haven guests, and in my opinion was the best food on the ship. I don't think I would ever cruise outside of the Haven again. We were spoiled. I like to watch Cruise with Ben and David on YouTube and they did blogs about their experience cruising in a Haven room. It looked amazing. |
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Post by juanita on Sept 29, 2024 2:39:37 GMT
Our last 15 cruises have been with Celebrity and we have a b2b booked in April from Sydney Australia to Vancouver Canada. We have done Royal and NCL, I prefer Royal over NCL and I haven't heard alot of great things about MSC.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Sept 29, 2024 3:14:17 GMT
I’ve cruised on Disney twice and Norwegian twice and liked the Disney cruises much, much more. We felt that on the last Norwegian cruise we were being nickel and dimed to death since every single thing there was to do on the ship incurred extra fees. With Disney it felt like a lot more stuff was automatically included and we preferred how the shows and live entertainment were handled on Disney.
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Post by melanieg on Sept 29, 2024 5:41:43 GMT
Princess over NCL over MSC. Just my opinion from my experiences.
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Post by KiwiJo on Sept 29, 2024 8:26:10 GMT
We’ve been on Norwegian, Princess and MSC - I loved MSC and Norwegian.
I have heard that many Americans aren’t so fond of MSC, seemingly there are some things that are just a bit too different to most of the American cruise lines, especially around the food. Not as many choices in the dining room or buffet, smaller helpings in the dining room. Several other difference too, but of course it depends what you’re used to, and what is important to you.
We sailed with them in Europe and announcements were made in a few different languages, but I don’t know if that would be the case for American sailings (though the announcements were not frequent a5 all).
Really though, I would choose which itinerary most appeals to you.
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valincal
Drama Llama
Southern Alberta
Posts: 5,802
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Post by valincal on Sept 29, 2024 9:09:50 GMT
I’m on my first MSC cruise right now…we just boarded yesterday so I can’t say much. We usually sail with NCL but DH received an amazing free offer for the Yacht Club that we couldn’t pass up. YC is very much like the Haven on NCL. The boarding was fantastic but we are in Europe where it is never as busy as in the US. Haven and YC are very expensive but nice if you can swing it.
I would recommend sailing around school break dates regardless. We sailed out of New Orleans on December 28 last year and it was a nightmare. Lol
I find differences between cruise lines negligible (we’ve sailed on many) at the baseline so choose the best itinerary for you and go to Cruise Critic for all the tips and tricks.
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Post by buddysmom on Sept 29, 2024 13:50:40 GMT
For the larger/mainstream companies, from top to bottom I like
1) Celebrity
2) Princess
3) Royal Caribbean
4) Carnival
5) NCL-did once-never again
6) MSC-never been on but I've read that they nickel and dime you
If you are going during Christmas, there will be a lot of kids.
If it's early December, you might be able to get some good prices and probably be fewer kids (except the little/under school-age kids)
Celebrity and Princess are generally less kids except in the summer/school breaks.
Royal-good for families/ multi-generational
Carnival-fun ships; but I went on a 3-week transpacific a few months before covid and there were very few kids
I've been on 20+ cruises and heading out again in a couple of weeks.
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Post by Alexxussss on Sept 29, 2024 20:01:39 GMT
Not on your list but I adore Holland America - and I’m in my 40s (they often have a reputation for an older crowd). Excellent food, service, activities, and people.
I’ve done Royal as well, but they didn’t compare.
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Post by rahnee on Oct 1, 2024 1:31:59 GMT
We've cruised twice on Disney, 4 times on Royal Caribbean and once (our latest cruise) on HAL.
Despite being a huge Disney fan, I don't think I would cruise Disney again. We had an amazing time both cruises but I really didn't feel they were substantially better than the other cruise lines to justify the massive price difference.
Royal is our favourite. We like to have things to do and find they offer a large variety..
We were pleasantly surprised by HAL. We chose them as it was an Alaskan Cruise ex Vancouver and we wanted to go to Glacier Bay. The food was by far the best we've experienced on any cruise. Plenty of things to keep us occupied and we loved the entertainment in the Rock room every night. We would absolutely cruise with them again.
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