Honest Question on Not Liking the Ships

[mcd2745]

You may have ships you like better than others...but I don't know how you can hate a ship.

I may not be too fond of the Wish, and like the four original ships better. But I don't "hate" it or would ever say "I'll never sail on that ship again!". I've had no issues with any of the ships we've been on from other cruise lines, either.

 

[holula]

I’ve sailed on DCL (23 times), Royal (3 times), NCL (3 times) and Princess (once.)

The only ship I hated was Enchantment of the Seas and that was specifically because of how the casino smoke permeated the whole ship. I sailed on her 10 years ago and am much more sensitive to smoke now than I was then, but even then was bad enough. I also didn’t think there was enough to do. Princess was also kind of boring but the cruise was like $600 with $400 OBC so it was cheaper than being at home.

I won’t sail on other lines older ships specifically for those reasons.

However I had a good time on Freedom, Oasis and all three NCL ships (all Breakaway/Breakaway+ class).

That said, nothing is like DCL for me. I want to try Virgin but the way they advertise really doesn’t seem like I’d enjoy it. I also really struggle to find out what they actually offer on the cruise.

 

[KKKKCS]

19 DCL cruises for me, 21 for my wife, 5 more booked between now and next June, and we have tried Royal Caribbean twice, Celebrity once, and Norwegian once. Obviously we like DCL the best, but we have had great experiences on the others as well. The worst experience was with Norwegian. The ship was nice, ports of call were great, customer service was, quite literally, nonexistent. Every level from officers down to wait staff were rude, surly, and made us feel like we were an inconvenience to them. Everyone we talked to on the ship felt the same way. Interestingly, our extended family and daughter went on the same cruise, same ship, the next year and had the best cruise ever! Not sure what changed, but we are happy it did. Our favorite ships are the classics, Magic and Wonder. We love the smaller, more intimate feel where you get to know the the other passengers and crew better. We certainly enjoy the other ships as well and will happily cruise on any of them, and any other cruise line given the chance (any day on a cruise is better than not being on a cruise ).

I guess this is a very long winded way of saying don't be afraid to try other cruise lines or ships. You'll always have your favorites, but you can surely have a great time on any ship you are on.

 

[kylenne]

Oddly enough I really want to try the Royal Caribbean mega ships but also fear they might be bonkers packed.

I can truly say that the Royal mega ships (at least Oasis and Quantum class, I haven't done Icon yet) don't feel crowded because they're laid out very well and Royal does an excellent job managing guest flow so you really never feel like everyone is in one spot at the same time. NCL Breakaway is smaller and actually felt worse due to some weird layout decisions; tbh people who think the Wish is badly laid out need to go on that one and they'll really see a badly laid out ship lol.

My issue with Royal is more so the nickel and diming feel, the post-covid cutbacks in MDR in particular basically force you into specialty dining unless you want to eat at the Windjammer the whole cruise and then you have to look at specialty dining packages. Drink packages are absurd. My sister has high C&A status with them so some of that I get to mitigate but on the whole, while I very much enjoy their product (I think they're the only other line that begins to approach Disney in terms of entertainment quality, specifically) and would continue to sail with them in the future I generally like Disney better. Virgin is next on my list to try after the Destiny.

I'm with you though tbh the only ships I would avoid altogether are older ones as the newer ones tend to have more amenities and things to do but even then, I would never say never. Sometimes you just want to get on a boat and if the price is right I would. (Except Carnival. That is one line I avoid altogether just because I am not at all a fan of their overall product.)