Other cruise line ?

[Labdog]

I know this is a dis place and the wife and I are booked for an Oct DCL but we are starting to think about a family cruise later when the boys are home on brake Jan 2014. Is there a cruise line you would not sail with and if so why not ? and if you didn't book a DCL who would be your 1st choice to sail with and why ? Thank you very much for any help

 

[quickcat]

If I were to sail a different cruiseline, it would be on the new Norwegian Getaway. That ship looks like it has something for everyone.
We are sticking with Disney for now but that would be my first choice for a different cruiseline.
Good luck with your choice!

 

[justmestace]

Any of the newer Norwegian, Royal Caribbean or Carnival ships would be nice.

I book according to a good price and a good itinerary. It's only been lately that Disney has started to branch out and go to different places.

We took our 18 year old son and a buddy of his on the Carnival Magic this past summer. It went to Jamaica, Cozumel and Grand Cayman, and we all loved it. It has quite a few features that the Disney ships don't have....and more food/restaurant choices.

We're going on NCL's Dawn in January 2014. Great price, love the ports...Belize, Costa Maya, Roatan and Cozumel.

Going on Disney in Sept 2014 out of San Juan because I got a good price on a lower category balcony and I want to go back to St Kitts, Barbados, St Lucia and Antigua, and also see Grenada for the first time.

They ALL have good things to offer!

 

[bumbershoot]

I have, would, and will sail with RCCL again.

 

[BethC1952]

We're taking our first non-Disney cruise on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas in April. It's a trans-Atlantic, from San Juan to Southampton, UK, with stops at St. Thomas, St. Maarten, St. Kitts and St. Lucia. We were originally booked on the trans-Atlantic on Magic in May, but had to cancel because of a work project. Royal Caribbean is our second choice. We chose it partly for the price. We had an inside GTY on Magic and hadn't been assigned a room at the time we cancelled. For half the price, we'll be in a standard oceanview on Royal Caribbean. There are more stops on the cruise we're taking, but obviously none of them will be Castaway Cay.

I'm planning to post an objective report when I get back, which will be in mid-May. I'm really excited about this cruise, just as I have been about my 15 DCL cruises, and about my upcoming DCL Alaska cruise! I'm not the kind of person who will say "If only I could be on DCL right now..." so this will be another "Adventure" for me!

Beth

 

[jeppler]

We have sailed on NCL 3 times in the past. You can almost get a suite for the price of a balcony on Disney and the service and amenities on their newer ships are pretty nice...

 

[MikeAndNick]

As you can see on my signature I have done a few different cruise lines. The other cruise lines have some good ships and some bad ones. So from our experience here is how we rate the ones we have done.

[1] Disney - Great shows and good food. The people have bee very good and my son likes the kids on the ships.
[2] Royal Caribbean - Good shows and good food. I liked the shows they had in the bars. I stayed entertained. My son liked the rock walls, Ice Skating ring and roller blade course.
[3] Princess - Good shows and good food. Not as many kids but my son made closer friends.
[4] Carnival - This was the 4 day cruise. Turned out to be a party cruise with lots of drunk people. We want to try a longer family cruise with them.
[5] NCL - We did not like this ship. It felt like motel 6 on the water. They put my 11 year old son in a room with some Lego's and expected him to stay and be entertained. Food was sub par.

 

[kalc12345]

My second choice would be RCCL. My parents have went on a ton of Royal cruises and they love them.

You could NOT pay me to go on a Carnival cruise. That is the one cruise line I would avoid. They have had too many problems lately.

 

[kshark1958]

As you can see on my signature I have done a few different cruise lines. The other cruise lines have some good ships and some bad ones. So from our experience here is how we rate the ones we have done.

[1] Disney - Great shows and good food. The people have bee very good and my son likes the kids on the ships.
[2] Royal Caribbean - Good shows and good food. I liked the shows they had in the bars. I stayed entertained. My son liked the rock walls, Ice Skating ring and roller blade course.
[3] Princess - Good shows and good food. Not as many kids but my son made closer friends.
[4] Carnival - This was the 4 day cruise. Turned out to be a party cruise with lots of drunk people. We want to try a longer family cruise with them.
[5] NCL - We did not like this ship. It felt like motel 6 on the water. They put my 11 year old son in a room with some Lego's and expected him to stay and be entertained. Food was sub par.

Were their a lot of kids on RCCL as compared to DCL and if their were did RCCL have adult only sections like DCL.

 

[MikeAndNick]

Were their a lot of kids on RCCL as compared to DCL and if their were did RCCL have adult only sections like DCL.

Yes there were a lot of kids on both ships. RCCL did not have adult only section on the ship I was in. I liked that they had the main show and a smaller show going every evening, one on each end of the ship. I just remember looking forward to going to the bars at night to see the entertainment they had. It was lively and included everyone in the room. During the day we spent a lot of time on the rock walls and roller blade track (the track was small but the kids loved it). We have friends that only cruise the big RCCL ships and spend the entire day on the wave runners.

 

[tajz90]

My kids call Royal Caribbean, Royal Boribbean. The ship we sailed on closed kids activities earlier than DCL and if you wanted them to stay, you had to pay. The kids thought they'd be able to rock wall climb and ice skate at any time, but there were only certain times the activities were open.

We took our youngest on a Carnival and he wouldn't leave our side nor did we want him too.

NCL, just say no. We have only sailed once and never ever again.

All that being said, I'd sail RCCL again and probably Carnival depending on the deal. We have never found the prices so rock bottom that we were willing to give up Disney.

 

[wdwwishes]

My dream cruise would be on one of the smaller lines like Windstar that offer truly personalized experiences. They however are pricey and I'm thinking not family oriented. European river cruises interest me as well but again, I'm thinking they aren't too family friendly either. Snobs ! With that in mind, I'll just stick with DCL for now. They offer everything I want except maybe a lower price. I suppose if I couldn't do DCL, I'd do RCCL. You may want to check out the boards at cruise critic.com as they have boards dedicated to just about every cruise line out there.

 

[Meriweather]

We have sailed RCCL, Celebrity and Holland.............loved them all.
Princess one, not so much. But hear it might have been our specific cruise that was bad.

Wouldn't do Carnival. Thought about because it is cheap, but travel agent talked us out of it.
NCL doesn't appeal to me.

 

[Fielhol]

I've sailed Carnival, DCL and NCL. Did not like Carnival. The decor was neon and gaudy. And the food was ok. Did not do any of the kids programs. I did like the water slides on Carnival. But it was a chartered cruise. NCL was fantastic!! We went in the Pearl and the ship was clean and the stewards and servers were great! The shows were also fantastic. Again no children. I will sail with NCL again. And if course DCL. The only cruise we've done with the kids. And of course the best cruise I've been on so far. But I wonder if that had to do with us taking the kids with us? I hate travelling without the kids.

 

[FJS961]

We have only sailed DCL so far, 6 times and sampled all 4 ships, but taking a break from them this year.

NCL is getting our business in 2013. First is the Pride of America Hawaiian inter island cruise in April. We know going in its not about the ship at all so low expectations for the ship itself. We have a deluxe 2 BR family suite so hopefully will be OK. We have extensively planned out our port days but I have researched next to nothing about the ship. Planning on eating off ship on the overnight stays in Maui (luau booked) and Kauai.

The other cruise will be in the summer on the new Breakaway. That ship looks like it will be worth checking out. They plan on fireworks at sea too, cool. We have a 2 bedroom family villa in Haven booked for that one.

Carnival has zero appeal for me. Seeing the Carnival ships in port next to DCL was a turn off. Also, their recent track record is scary. Lastly, I get the impression from the boards that it is a budget line, party line although its not fair to say not having sailed them - but don't plan on finding out.

RCCI looks like they have nice suite amenities and would consider for a southern caribbean during the kids school vacation in feb.

Celebrity looks like I might enjoy as well. They have southern caribbean routes in April and some really nice Med cruises that leave out of Barcelona, Civitavecchia, Venice.

 

[keishashadow]

DCL #1 experience but smaller fleet = limited port opportunities but starting to change for the better.

RCCL very nice, enjoyed our 1st sailing a month ago on Independence of the Seas. Food very good in MDR as was service and the specialty restaurants were excellent. It is true that they schedule the flow rider and rock wall. Ice show was pleasantly 'a wow'. they enforced the kid's free adult pool area it was very relaxing.

CCL great value, especially for anybody who served in military and has DD214. We are able to book the aft wrap balcony/suites for less than price of inside on DCL. Food in MDR is good, specialty restaurants very good. I've never seen what i'd term a sloppy drunkaboard one of their ships although we don't sail their short itineraries or older ships. Their serenity deck concept is nice but just had hot tub vs pool

NCL we sailed on older ship the Star to Alaska, food awful, cabins tiny and staff lack luster at best. The Breakaway does look interesting but we're waiting for the reviews to roll in before we give it another go-around.

OP depending on when you'll be traveling in January, there may be few children aboard most ships.

 

[meajuly5]

My dream cruise would be on one of the smaller lines like Windstar that offer truly personalized experiences. They however are pricey and I'm thinking not family oriented. European river cruises interest me as well but again, I'm thinking they aren't too family friendly either. Snobs ! With that in mind, I'll just stick with DCL for now. They offer everything I want except maybe a lower price. I suppose if I couldn't do DCL, I'd do RCCL. You may want to check out the boards at cruise critic.com as they have boards dedicated to just about every cruise line out there.

I did a med cruise on the windsurf. Most definitely not for families. I don't even know if kids are allowed. Great to get into the small intimate ports but a very different experience.

 

[eyenerd]

Will never sail with NCL again. They changed our itinerary a week before because of ship issues. The issues had been going on for over a month--before we had even booked.

That was not the deal breaker though. It was just lack luster and the staff was somewhat rude. The way they handled things were also weird, so unless we got a free cruise, we will not be giving them our money!

I am sure we will try RCCI or celebrity in the future. We also had a fine experience with Princess.

Would not do carnival-even before their disaster.

 

[MAD4EEYORE]

Other than Disney I have sailed with Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Princess. Royal Caribbean would be my choice if I couldn't sail Disney. We sailed the Liberty of the Seas this past Thanksgiving. They had a flow rider, rock climbing wall and an adult area. It's part of the Freedom class of ships and is smaller than the Oasis class. I think it's the most like Disney.

I have heard good things about NCL but haven't sailed with them. It's on the bucket list. I'm wanting to try one of their newer ships.

Check out cruise critic. It's to cruising as the Disboards is to Disney.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

RCCL gives a very good product!

I will not sail on carnival and I have convinced all family and friends not to as well, as I feel they have real safety problems (fires, accidents, sinkings, vessel design issues,investigations going on into maintiance and operational policies) over the last 10 years and it is getting worse.

AKK