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When I don't cruise RCCL, I cruise....


FManke

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When you aren't cruising RC, what other cruise lines are you booking and why? 

Since I've booked on RC, I've been getting a lot of cruise brochures and would like others opinions about other cruise lines.

What are peoples opinions about river cruises? They look pretty nice. 

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I just did Princess, mainly for the itinerary. While there were some things that they did better than Royal, Royal is a better fit for my family, but Princess had the superior itinerary. 

Next is MSC Seaside and Meriviglia. The first simply because it's a new, unique design. The second because of itinerary (Norway and Arctic Circle), price, and ship design. 

We are also booked on the Majestic Princess for a New Zealand cruise. While we did consider Ovation of the Seas, the itinerary was better on Princess and the dates of the Princess cruise worked better with our schedule. 

Having cruised a lot, we favor Royal, but are also seeking new experiences mainly in terms of itineraries. Thus, itinerary comes first followed by the cruise line. Someday I would like to try a river cruise; however, my son says he's not ready to try sailing without a kids club quite yet. 

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2 hours ago, DocLC said:

We are also booked on the Majestic Princess for a New Zealand cruise. While we did consider Ovation of the Seas, the itinerary was better on Princess and the dates of the Princess cruise worked better with our schedule. 

You'll have to let us know your NZ itinerary. Depending on schedules etc we might be able to give you the locals experience :5_smiley:

We did Ovation in January which include New Caledonia, Vanuatu and then a few days in NZ (Auckland, Tauranga and Bay of Islands. It was interesting seeing you home country from the prospective of a cruise ship. Living here day in day out you kind of forget how beautiful it actually is. 

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We've done a 'few' Disney cruises that we love but I must admit we are probably won't be going back to Disney for a while. I just don't think there is value in it for me compared to Royal. If it was 25% difference in cost then maybe... we it's more like 50%+ at the moment

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We have sailed on Princess and Royal Carribean but prefer Royal for a couple of reasons. 1) we tend to sail on Voyager class ships and there is just more to see and do. We enjoy going to the ice skating and watching people on the flow rider. We don't mind paying extra for restaurants and the suites are good value. Princess feel mores traditional and seems to attract an older cruiser. 2) the Loyalty programme works better for us. You can get through the levels quickly and the perks offered are much more useful than what Princess offers.

That said we would sail Princess again if we prefer the itinerary as the destinations are important to us as well. We did the Mediteranian on Ruby Princess and that was pretty port intensive (about 10 ports in 13 days) so we were busy most days. 

We would also like to try Celebrity at some point as our Loyaty status is transferable.

Our next cruise is on Ovation in November so we will see how an even bigger ship than Voyager class compares. Looking forward to it.

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Tried Princess for a few years, enjoyed their sailings very much. Lately, we tried MSC Divina and liked it enough to book the new Seaside this January. If RCI doesn't drop the ball, so to speak, we will stay mainly with them. However, for the right itinerary and price, you never know.

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5 hours ago, EmersonNZ said:

You'll have to let us know your NZ itinerary. Depending on schedules etc we might be able to give you the locals experience :5_smiley:

We did Ovation in January which include New Caledonia, Vanuatu and then a few days in NZ (Auckland, Tauranga and Bay of Islands. It was interesting seeing you home country from the prospective of a cruise ship. Living here day in day out you kind of forget how beautiful it actually is. 

I live in California and did a California Coastal cruise on Celebrity a few years ago. It was on of the best cruises and fun just exploring my home state. 

I'll let you know how it goes. I also agree with you regarding Disney. There last cruise I proceed through them was a 3 night cruise from San Diego. For the three of us, it would have been $1700 for an interior cabin. That's what I paid for a week on Liberty in a nicer room. 

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Disney - liked it better but the value isn't there at the price point Disney commands so I don't look their way except for special occasion cruises.

Carnival - found Vista compares well to Voyager and up on Royal, prices generally slightly lower ... better value prop for me.

Norwegian - found the Getaway class compares well to Voyager and up on Royal, prices generally competitive with Royal but include Bev Package .... better value prop for me.

Definitely different flavors, Carnival and Norwegian less broadway show more comedy club and other smaller activities. Similar sizes/range of amenities, Ropes course vs climbing wall, slides vs flowrider, etc.

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On 8/17/2017 at 0:48 AM, DocLC said:

Next is MSC Seaside and Meriviglia. The first simply because it's a new, unique design. The second because of itinerary (Norway and Arctic Circle), price, and ship design.  

I am expecting a full report on the Maraviglia, as I was just looking at that same itinerary a couple weeks back as one option for a 50th birthday present to myself. She only started sailing last year and is reported to have fixed some of the food quality / prep consistency issues that I see reported on pretty much every other current MSC ship.

Not keen on that "Polar Zone" aqua park, but the rest including the Cirque du Soleil performances, looks pretty darn great!

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@JLMoran Actually, the ship just started sailing two months ago (June 2017), so she'll be a year old when we sail on her. There have been a lot of mixed reviews. Food is a big one, but also customer service issues and technology breakdowns. Could be a problem for a two week cruise if those issues aren't fixed. 

We're also considering sailing the Meraviglia instead of the Seaside this winter as they Med is now appealing than the Caribbean and the prices are much less with the airfare less than $200 more roundtrip per person, which is more than made up by the savings. 

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We did Princess for Alaska and will be going on Princess to Australia and New Zealand and Alaska again . Main reason is itinerary and secondly you can do your own  laundry. You can"t do that on RC or Celebrity.   When you are gone 3 and 4 weeks doing your awn laundry saves a lot of money esp. if you can nail down that elusive drink pkg. which Princess actually includes oh their sales quite often.  

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