Your Opinion....

[Deborah]

Ok, I've tried Princess and Carnival. I'm looking forward to trying RCCL next. We're in our late 40's and will be taking our 16 year old daughter. It will be her second cruise. Her only other cruise was with Carnival (at 13) which she loved, but we hated...lol.I'm trying RCCL because I'm hoping it's a mix of Princess (food) and Carnival (fun). For those of you who've sailed RCCL which ship would you recommend that we book for our first RCCL experience? We don't want to duplicate ports, so the Mexican Riveria/Mexican Baja is out. We'd like to try the caribbean....but have no idea which itinerary. My husband and daughter love the beach excursions...any suggestions? Thank you!!

 

[Figee17]

My first and only (so far) RCCL cruise has been the Southern Carribean on Adventure. It was an absolutely wonderful trip with lots of options for beach days and an amazing ship. I didn't find the food "wonderful" but we also did not try the specialty restaurant which we heard was fabulous, so shame on us. There is a lot of variety for things to do and things to eat. When we went, we sailed out of San Juan, and went to St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Thomas, Barbados, and Antigua. That ship alternated between that itinerary and one that went to Aruba. I would highly recommend it to anyone!

 

[Deborah]

The itinerary sounds fantastic! I am seriously considering taking RCCL for our next cruise. Carnival was a disappointment. Perhaps it was because we chose an older ship. I'm not sure, but when you get off the ship and feel depressed about the money you spent for the cruise something is definately wrong. I'd never felt that way before. How was the service you received with RCCL?

 

[Figee17]

Service was very good. As usual, we loved our dining room staff and liked the RCCL has attentive staff at the buffet seating as well. Our room steward was available if we needed him and everyone was very friendly. We had had a great trip previously on the Carnival Glory as well, but RCCL was a little upgrade from that. The ship itself was amazing and the itinerary was perfect (for us)! Good luck with your planning!

 

[Deborah]

Thanks for the information. After taking our one Carnival cruise, I felt real disappointment. I thought about trying Carnival again by booking on a newer ship. However, if that too was a disappointment I would kick myself for not trying RCCL instead of Carnival twice....lol. Know what I mean? Getting my DH onboard Carnival again would be no small feat. I think he'd give up cruising if we had another Carnival experience. I'd be on my own =huh

 

[Figee17]

I had to practically drag my husband on a cruise ship the first time, but he ended up loving it (it was the Carnival Glory). We were both blown away by the ship when we went on the Adventure. I would not hesitate to go back, especially with the itinerary we did, we got to see so many places and enjoy so many things. I was trying to post a photo album of our trip in the photo gallery and couldn't seem to figure it out, not sure what I'm missing, but if you are really interested, you can send me a personal message and I will send you a link through kodak gallery.
Happy planning!

 

[Deborah]

Like I said before I am not familiar with RCCL at all. Since you've cruised on both Carnival and RCCL, which would you choose for your next cruise? Did you find one line had better food, service, and entertainment? Do you choose your cruiseline based solely on the itinerary? I assume that the service and level of quality is different on each ship even if those ships are in the same cruise line. Assuming that I would still be leary of taking a second cruise on Carnival when I didn't enjoy the first one. I am leaning toward trying RCCL and seeing how that experience goes. I can tell you from first hand experience it's a sick feeling when you get off a cruise and wish you would have spent a little more to have cruised on another line. I'm new to cruising and the only conselation is that I've learned this lesson during a short 4 day cruise instead of a more costly 7 day or more.

I appreciate the information about the RCCL Adventure. I will take a look at the itinerary of that ship. Maybe it will be the one we'll book next. I'm sending you a pm with my email address so I can look at your pictures. Thanks again!

 

[CRUZINQUEEN]

Hi, just my humble opinion....I have cruised Carnival 3 times once in the 80's, 90's, and 2006, and you couldn'tgive me a free cruise to get back on. I have sailed with RCCL 14 times from 1993 to the last in Feb on the Granduer. I noticed in your back and forth with Figee who gave you alot of great information on AOS, which I also sailed on in a similar intinerary on in 2006. We may have different needs and wants in a cruise, I do not sail with a teen, and I have been fortunate to sail 20 different times, with RCCL my obvious favorite. A middle ground cruise as you described, I have sailed solo about 10 of those cruises, and despite the bad publicity, I have found it a very safe, relaxing way for a working girl in her 30's and now 40's to sail solo. After all that rambling, I am not a big ship girl, and loved my cruise on AOS, but found it HUGE. I went with another couple and they love the newest and best cruise, but not me. In your case, you talk about the newer ships which are getting bigger and bigger, so I think that is something appeals to you. I reccomend the Adventure, but remember sailing out of San Juan gives you a great Southern Caribbean itinerary, but the ship is likely to have alot of Puerto Ricans. I am not saying this is a bad thing, but many others have commented on the different cultural differences. I found the teens to be rude and not well supervised on the AOS. For that reason I would also reccomend you check out any of the other Voyager class ships, the Explorer, Navigator, Mariner or Voyager, or even the Freedom class, Freedom, Independence and Liberty that will give a great Eastern or Western cruise, with a ship full of fun things to for your whole family. My comments on AOS may sound bigoted, but they are echoed all over cruise boards. I love sailing out of Peurto Rico, but would not again on a big ship, that gives big discounts(such PR children sail free) to allow the ship to sail out of PR. I would do another Windstar cruise, which I wouldn't reccomend for teens, but an adult cruise with great itineraries. I would be happy to respond to any other questions, or comments.

 

[Figee17]

Great comments by CRUZINQUEEN, and I agree with them to some extent. I just today heard about someone who hated her crusie out of San Juan because of the large concentration of Puerto Ricans. The reason that she stated that she did not like it was because she felt like she didn't understand anyone speaking around her, as msot were speaking Spanish. I did not notice that on our cruise on the AOS, but that may have been because we flew into Puerto Rico a day early and stayed at the Rio del Mar...well, we didn't know that there was a political rally/conference going on at the same time, so we were completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of people and their "excitement" (apparenly, politics is very heated in Puerto Rico)...to the point that there were armed gaurds around the hotel. Luckily, we were only there for one night and once we boarded the ship, things seemed much more relaxed! As for the teenagers not being well-supervised....unfortunately, that tends to be true on a lot of ships and in a lot of other places as well. I have VERY low tolerance for this type of thing (possibly because I am a high school teacher?) and did not notice it on AOS at all. I guess, as always, its depends on the "culture" of the particular cruise, as it is sure to change every week with every new set of clientel and also on your tolerance level.
AOS is a very large ship and for some, might be too large. I seem to enjoy myself on all sizes of ships, from the original Royal Majesty (now stretched to be the Norwegian Majesty) to the AOS and anywhere in between. And I would gladly try larger or smaller if the opportunity presented itself. Off to Alaska on the Celebrity Infinity in three weeks, can't wait to try it out!

 

[cruisingator]

I suggest that you try the Freedom out of Pt. Canaveral or the Liberty out of south Florida. Both ships will be great for your daughter and plenty to do for everyone. I am a person that likes the bigger ships.

 

[Missmadge]

I would also suggest the Liberty or the Freedom, They both have an ice rink where they put on a really great show. If you take skates you can use the rink at various times. There is a flo-rider, rock climbing wall, and a large promenade with shops, bars and eating places. If you are into "my time dinning" they also have that. The Eastern Caribbean trip on the Liberty only has three stops. One is St Maarten where you will find great beaches. Also you can do all kinds of water sports on Labadee...Royal Caribbeans, private stop. The Western Caribbean on the Liberty has more stops, but as not being a "beach person" can't tell you much about that.

Good luck.

 

[Deborah]

Thanks Missmadge. Your information is helpful. I wasn't aware that RCCL had their own private island. Do all the cruise lines have an island?

 

[sealover]

Thanks Missmadge. Your information is helpful. I wasn't aware that RCCL had their own private island. Do all the cruise lines have an island?

Many of the cruise lines have or share a private Island...RCL has Coco Cay & Labadee.. Carnival & their other lines have Half Moon Cay..NCL has an island next to Coco Cay, not sure what it is called & Disney also has an island

These are basically a "beach day"... the ship provides a BBQ lunch...and they usually have Jet Ski's & Para Sailing you can do...some have(had) horseback riding too...