Gasp... Another Cruise Line ?

[Zandy595]

Believe me if I had my way I would only cruise on DCL, but DH wants to try something different and less expensive. I may consider it, if I can find a cabin similar to a DCL category 9 stateroom. I like the set up with the queen bed and pull out sofa.

Anyone know of a cruise line that has nice cabins that aren't extremely expensive? I looked at some pictures on the Royal Caribbean site and was very disappointed.

 

[justmestace]

We were on Princess in October, and they have a range of mini-suites that are cost-comparable...and have the two twins that make into a double, plus the fold-out sofa bed. The closet and bathroom were good size, and the balcony was actually deeper than Disney's.

Norwegian also has nice ships at good prices. We did that one in December.

We've been "testing" to see if we can ever truly make the switch!

One thing that really made it nice with the Norwegian cruise....we only had to fly from AZ to Houston....saved a lot of money there. We would be willing to try other closer ports, too....New Orleans, Galveston....

 

[WeLuvDCL]

I would suggest looking at ships that are not more than 5 years old. Most travel agents or cruise books will include the date the ship was built. The older the ship, the smaller the cabins (and the more run-down they are - even if they have been refurbished). RCCL is our 2nd fav crusie line. We've never been on Princess but I hear very good things about them. I didn't care for NCL, service was not up to Disney standards. Carnival is hit and miss to me, we've cruises with them twice, one good, one not so good. We also cruised Costa once and it was ok.

I do not know of any other crusie line that has the split baths like Disney. Also, be aware of NCLs freestyle dining. This means you can go to dinner whenever you want but may not get the same server. Some people love this, but we don't. We like to get to know our servers. Although, you can request a certain time and/or waiter and they will tr to accomodate you.

We have enjoyed all of our cruises, just some are more enjoyable and memorable than others.

 

[Danthesand]

People, DCL didnt invent cruising, and while they deliver a very nice product, they could still learn some things from their competitors. Here are some of the wonderful things Disney doesn't do that you can experience on lines like Celebrity, Carnival, HAL, NCL, etc.:

- Competitive pricing.

- Sailings from "local" ports (Boston, NYC, Philly, Texas, CA, etc.)

- Brand New Ships (The Magic and Wonder are almost eight years old, gang).

- Regular itineraries outside the beaten Caribbean path.

- An actual live band/orchestra in the main showroom.

- A decent wine list

Bottom line: there are more and more threads like this appearing, and there's a reason: Henry Ford couldn't get away with telling people "you can get the car in any color, as long as it's black" forever. DCL is an expensive, two ship line that never substantively changes/updates its product, and even their most loyal clientele can only put up with that for so long....

 

[scrappy910]

We cruised RCCL (Mariner) last February and found the stateroom we had to be similar to the one on Disney. Because RCCL is less expensive you may find that you can get a bigger stateroom for the same cost you would be paying on Disney for a smaller cabin. There are pros and cons for every line. No "perfect" ship for everyone. We enjoyed our cruise on RCCL and there were things I liked better but there are also things I like better on Disney than I did on RCCL. Confusing enough????

Carol

 

[castlegazer]

Princess Mini Suites are more comparable to a Cat 6 but they cost about the same as a Cat 9. I would recommend Princess - also the web site of the cruise lines will tell you who has the pull out couches versus the pull down berth. I really loved the Princess cabins - very spacious and awesome decks - much bigger than DCL.

We have sailed on Celebrity too and the cabins were small.

 

[castlegazer]

Because RCCL is less expensive you may find that you can get a bigger stateroom for the same cost you would be paying on Disney for a smaller cabin.

I think this is not the case in every instance or sailing. I found that RCCL was more expensive for the sailings I wanted to book than my early booking of DCL - but I also want their mega new ships too so that hikes the price a lot.

 

[lucas]

People, DCL didnt invent cruising, and while they deliver a very nice product, they could still learn some things from their competitors.

I love Disney but I have to agree with the above!

We started cruising with Holland America 20 years ago. Besides HAL we have mainly cruised with Princess, Royal Caribbean, and twice on DCL. We've cruised 4 times to Alaska, once thru the Panama Canal, and many times to the Caribbean. We always get an inside cabin and they have been all basically the same. On DCL we have never had a split bathroom so even the bathrooms have been the same for us on all ships on all cruises. DCL has the tubs in all cabins and the others don't, so that is a plus. Other cruise lines give tote bags to all passengers - not just repeaters - it is basically just good advertising for them. We love the newer Royal Caribbean ships with their main "street" on the ship - love those parades down the middle of the "street!" Also love their ice skating shows which are the big nightly shows on some of the nights - they are wonderful! I think you should give another cruise line a chance once in awhile. Sometimes knowing exactly what to expect, what you will be eating, and seeing the same shows can get old. The first time we tried Princess it was like having the excitement of our very first cruise all over again and it really opened our eyes that we didn't have to always cruise with HAL.

 

[TiggerKing]

One thing I see a lot on this board is that the other cruise lines are so much less expensive. But, when investigating cruises, I have NOT seen that difference. Maybe it is because it is DW and I only, no kids. We normally cruise in a lower priced season (our anniversary is 11/28), but even when I have thought about cruises at other times, I didn't see the huge savings on RCCL or any of the others.

I would love to try some of the other lines to get a feel for their style of cruising, but to counter Danthesand , I have to say that Disney does not do some other things that make me prefer them:

• They don't allow smoking in the cabins
• They don't have casinos on the ships that you have to walk through to get just about anywhere
• They are not as susceptible to having spring break college students whose goal is to get as drunk as possible

This is just personal opinion, as will be the case on ANY type of vacation.

I would love to hear someone's comments on the price differences though. I would love to do a shorter cruise before our DCL cruise this year.

 

[TheWog]

I may be booking the Mariner of the Seas this week. Similar balcony room as Cat. 6, leaves from same port, goes to same ports as Magic (Cozumel, Grand Cayman) but instead of CC and Key West goes to Jamaica and Labadee (RCI's private island) for $1,300 less for the same week.

 

[Danthesand]

I would love to try some of the other lines to get a feel for their style of cruising, but to counter Danthesand , I have to say that Disney does not do some other things that make me prefer them.

"They don't allow smoking in the cabins"

That's policy, but as expected compliance is never 100%. The real issue here is veranda cabins; passengers who smoke and are in those categories inevitably do it out on the balcony, polluting the breeze for all the cabin balconies aft and above. That's annoying on any line, and DLC is no exception.

"They don't have casinos on the ships that you have to walk through to get just about anywhere"

Can't argue with the lack of a casino (I don't care for them). I do disagree with the "you have to walk through it" point; that varies by ship even within line (on Carnival, as example, the casinos on the Fantasy class vessels are isolated, you don't have to go through them to get from point A to point B. However, on the Spirit Class ones, you do). The real benefit of the "no casino" thing is using public space for other purposes, ergo Disney's vaunted (and IMHO slightly overrated) children's facilities.

"They are not as susceptible to having spring break college students whose goal is to get as drunk as possible"

Again, varies by line and itinerary. On RCCL during March and April, that's definitely a problem (actually worse than Carnival; we've sailed them during school break periods and I was surprised at how little "Animal House" behavior I saw). On lines like HAL and Celebrity, this is a complete non issue.

 

[kaseyC]

[*]They don't have casinos on the ships that you have to walk through to get just about anywhere[/list]


NCL's Pride of Aloha, Pride of America and soon to be launched Pride of Hawaii do not have casinos on their ships.

 

[Zandy595]

I forgot to mention a couple things in my first post. DH and I have been on Carnival and were not impressed at all. If I do decide to try another cruise line I want to spend less money for a cabin similar to a DCL cat. 9, not the same price for a better cabin. If I wanted to spend the same amount of money that I do on a DCL cruise, I'd book DCL. Like I mentioned in my first post, this is DH's idea, if it were totally up to me I'd probably never cruise another line.

I like knowing what kind of vacation I'm gonna get, that's why I prefer doing Disney, again and again. I don't like change, but that's just me.

Since I live on the east coast of FL I'd like to sail out of either Port Canaveral, Ft. Lauderdale, or Miami.

Thank you to everyone for the advice. I'll try researching newer ships and see what I come up with.

 

[abitjaded]

I, too, have been researching other lines to try and figure out if another line would make us happy. Get one of the big cruise guides like Frommers. You get an overview of each line. I get the overall impression that there are many lines that can compare to DCL.

Royal Carib, Costa (bad food reviews), Princess, Carnival, Holland, Celebrity and Norwegian all have ships that compare well to DCL, food, public, dining, etc. HAL and Celeb have cabins in the 175-185 sq ft range (DCL is 225 approx). RCLs are pretty darn small (120-160). Princess 160-250, but pricey for the larger.

Royal Caribbean has the most ships and has Caribbean itineraries in the summer months. Celebrity sounds great, but moves their ships to Alaska and Europe during the summer months, as does HAL. But these three seem to get quality ratings more on par, or better, than DCL.

Within each of these companies the ships and ammenities vary greatly. I am mostly running into the fact that when the prices are bargain via the web, the cabins are too small to hold four persons. None of these lines have the "nearly every cabin hold 3-5" persons as does DCL. The cabins that do are few, even on the monster ships.

The best approach, when hunting, is choose the date and place, then see which ships are going where YOU want to go. Then look for a cabin size that fits.

Haven't researched Princess much yet. Nor Norwegian, because I want to be waited on by the same servers, not into standing in line at the free choice restaurants. (Did NCL in the past before "free style".)

This month seems to be the time for lots of cruise shows. We are going to go to a show that has a lot of companies on display, from the dirt cheap (Carnival) to the ultra (Raddison, Crystal). Go to one of these and you can pick up plenty of the guides.

Check out the web sites, try plugging in your party size of four or more and you nearly always get bumped to call them anyway! Check out the cruise critic reviews and links for lots of opinions.

Carla

 

[TheWog]

Royal Carib, Costa (bad food reviews), Princess, Carnival, Holland, Celebrity and Norwegian all have ships that compare well to DCL, food, public, dining, etc. HAL and Celeb have cabins in the 175-185 sq ft range (DCL is 225 approx). RCLs are pretty darn small (120-160). Princess 160-250, but pricey for the larger.

Carla

Cabin we are looking at on Mariner for less money is decent in size...this is a quote from my TA

square footage = 202 + 42 for balcony

 

[mickeyfan1]

I have cruised on Carnival (2), HAL (1), RCCL (2), Premier (5), American Hawai'i (1) and DCL (2). All ships and cruise lines have thier plusses and minuses. I found the food on the Wonder to be Institutional at best, and the service was sorely lacking. I found the food on Carnival to be excellent. Carnivals short cruises are more of a party atmoshere than most other lines. RCCL had a great private Island, and if you get over to the far side early, it is deserted for most of the day, hammocks always ready there. HAL was to Alaska and at 48 I was among the youngest on the ship, the food was so so, but the ports were outstanding. American Hawai'i, while no longer in business, had older ships. The food was OK, and Hawai'i was the best.

You can't compare all ships and all cruises, the best you can do is figure out what is important to you. ports, onboard activities, time of year to sail etc. Then look at those ships that fulfill your needs and go from there.

 

[Zandy595]

I'm not having much luck finding anything. I guess I should have known that the older ships are used for shorter cruises. We want to do a 3 night. I don't like the looks of the RCCL cabins. The only outside (non balcony) cabins I've found have 2 twin beds and a sofa (not a pull out). We are a small family (3 people) but we still need more than 2 twin beds. They don't even compare to DCL. I'll keep looking.

 

[mickeyfan1]

Soveriegn of the Seas was just completely refurbished and stretched. Balconies were added. The rooms are very nice size, even with out a balcony. I sailed on her before the refub and it was the most relaxing 3 night going.

BTW, most ALL ships have twin beds that push together to make a larger bed, including DCL. The sofas usually flold down into a single bed, or they have a drop down from the wall bed. If you are planning lots of cabin time, it could be a problem, but if you are only there to sleep and dress, beds are not usually an issue.

GOod luck in finding something, tho. I know how confusing it can be.

 

[joshua121301]

NCL has the best and largest suites. The Garden Villa Suite on the Norwegian Dawn is quite nice.
Love the Bath!!

 

[wintermom]

We just got back from Celebrity sailing on the Infinity. It was a six night
cruise leaving Jan. 2 returning Jan. 8th. The price was so much better than
DCL I couldn't pass it up. We paid $2800 for CC (concierge class with veranda). Disney's prices for that time of year (new years vacation) were
out of site. In the past two years we have done the land/sea, veranda cabin, starting in the park for 3 days on Jan. 1 and then a 4 night cruise. That ran about $3600 plus the cost of food in the park. We wanted to do
a longer cruise but Disneys 7 days was way, way more.
That being said, we liked Disney better, there service is the best.
I will give the food the vote on Celebrity , and the cabin size is about the
same . A double bed with a pull out couch that could sleep two. The cabin
did have lots of storrage space and a very comfortable bed. You get a pillow
top mattress in CC class. However, no double bathrooms, and with the
couch pulled out for DD to sleep you could not get to the veranda. You had
to climb over her and the bed to reach it. So much for my evening after bedtime sitting on the veranda.
It was a very nice ship and a great deal for the price but not Disney.
Still its fun to try different lines, I still want to try RC and Princess.
I think out cruise line are more price competitive.

Wintermom