Advice in choosing a cruise

On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 11:51:04 -0600, "Jean O'Boyle"
wrote:

"Janet Wilder" wrote in message
eb.com...
On 1/16/2011 12:42 AM, unfrostedpoptart wrote:
On Saturday, January 15, 2011 9:31:06 PM UTC-8, Stu wrote:

Carnival would as well handle your want list. Make sure you get travel
insurance, and stay away from the party cruises unless that's all you
want to do 24/7.

Not from what my wife and I just experienced. We just went on Carnival
Triumph and the ship's facilities and entertainment were pathetic
compared to our cruise on Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas last
year. It sucks that RCI is pulling out of the US west coast. I'd never
try Carnival again. I guess we'll give NCL a try next. Their ships look
pretty good.

If you prefer RCI to Carnival, you'll probably hate NCL. IMHO, NCL has
appeal only to those who don't know that there is anything better out
there. Also be prepared to spend money to eat at the specialty restaurants
as the regular food venues are pretty awful. The paid specialty
restaurants aren't much better, but better than the included fare.

If you are used to Royal Caribbean's well-trained crews, you will be
unhappy with the level of service on NCL. Look for cheap flights on
Southwest Airlines and find a real cruise. Personally, if someone gave me
free tickets for an NCL cruise, I'd give them back. No cruise is better
than an NCL cruise.

We disliked the first RCI cruise we took so much that my husband said
he was never cruising again.

I really love the NCL ships but HAL is our favorite.. We took a
Celebrity cruise last year and loved the service but did not
particularly like the ship.

We are taking a second RCI cruise because I thought that we should
give them a second chance. The crew and service on this one are MUCH
better than on the first one, but the design of the ship and cabins is
still poor compared to any other cruise line we've been on. Things
just don't work the way they should - storage is poorly thought out
and insufficient (I want to open the bathroom cabinet without my
toothbrush falling out on the floor) and the only way you can get out
of bed without crawling down over the foot is to have twin beds like
those couples on 50's TV. I buy computer time and each time I log on,
it says I have the package rate for the minutes, but charges me at the
highest rate.

I wouldn't totally discount NCL...of our 52 cruises, five have been on
NCL...the first way back in 2000 on the Norwegian Sea sailing from Galveston
and one of the most fun filled and best cruises we have taken; then we took
the Norwegian Crown to South America and that was very good...perhaps having
a penthouse helped there and it had a great narrator onboard while going
through the Panama Canal that made it very interesting, as well as visiting
and mingling with the gentle and kind people of Peru and Chile. The next one
was on the Norway.. and who could say a word against that wonderful
ship?...I can still hear her mighty horn! A wonderful memory that will
always remain for anyone who ever sailed on that magnificent cruise liner.

We have taken the Norwegian Spirit twice because we liked the ship and
service so much and our most recent NCL cruise was the Norwegian Gem last
September that had a Mediterranean itinerary leaving and returning to
Venice. The ship itself did not impress us with its gaudiness and the
service was not up to par... The head of guest services told us that the
crew was mostly new and would have to make a lot of adjustments to provide
the type of service they were striving for and during our conversation, she
asked that since we had cruised so often, would we give her an idea what we
expected and had gotten on our cruises with the other cruise lines. She
wrote down all the comments we made, covering a whole large sheet of paper!
We got treated to dinner and wine in Le Bistro for that information...the
service and food there was impeccable! The itinerary was port intensive
with lovely Split, Croatia and the beautiful islands of Corfu, Santorini,
Mykonos and Crete which really made that a memorable cruise for us.

I can only speak of the NCL ships that we have taken...I have heard many
derogatory statements about NCL, but this is my story! Does every cruise
line or ship meet all our expectations? No...but I guess the closest for us
might have been the RCL Oasis that we took last October. We are looking
forward to seeing how the Celebrity Eclipse compares when we take her next
month. We find that ships, like people, have different
personalities...that's what makes cruising such fun! I don't like "cookie
cutter" ship experiences!

I don't think the bigger ships would suit us. We've been on the NCL
Crown twice and really liked the smaller size. We also did
back-to-back on the Pearl (after our first RCI cruise) and liked that
ship and I've also done the Jade. Really like the ship and decor.

The menu on this RCI cruise is good but they don't have (for instance)
good cocktail sauce for the shrimp and there is no hot fudge sauce. No
cranberry juice is available anywhere on the ship. I like the
appetizers better than the entrees so sometimes I get three of them
and no entree at all. Dinner service was excellent, but breakfast and
lunch are incredibly slow. The buffet is extremely difficult to
negotiate and disorganized. Also they seem to have an awful lot of
east Asian dishes. There's a lot of 'menu speak'. I got kung pao
chicken and it wasn't anything like what I get on shore.

wrote in message
...
On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 11:51:04 -0600, "Jean O'Boyle"

We disliked the first RCI cruise we took so much that my husband said
he was never cruising again.

I really love the NCL ships but HAL is our favorite.. We took a
Celebrity cruise last year and loved the service but did not
particularly like the ship.

I can only speak of the NCL ships that we have taken...I have heard many
derogatory statements about NCL, but this is my story! Does every cruise
line or ship meet all our expectations? No...but I guess the closest for
us
might have been the RCL Oasis that we took last October. We are looking
forward to seeing how the Celebrity Eclipse compares when we take her next
month. We find that ships, like people, have different
personalities...that's what makes cruising such fun! I don't like "cookie
cutter" ship experiences!

I don't think the bigger ships would suit us. We've been on the NCL
Crown twice and really liked the smaller size. We also did
back-to-back on the Pearl (after our first RCI cruise) and liked that
ship and I've also done the Jade. Really like the ship and decor.

The menu on this RCI cruise is good but they don't have (for instance)
good cocktail sauce for the shrimp and there is no hot fudge sauce. No
cranberry juice is available anywhere on the ship. I like the
appetizers better than the entrees so sometimes I get three of them
and no entree at all. Dinner service was excellent, but breakfast and
lunch are incredibly slow. The buffet is extremely difficult to
negotiate and disorganized. Also they seem to have an awful lot of
east Asian dishes. There's a lot of 'menu speak'. I got kung pao
chicken and it wasn't anything like what I get on shore.


Did I miss something?...You are posting from an RCI cruise from what I
gather, but you did not mention which one.
Ask them to give you some horseradish for your cocktail sauce! ;-) By the
third day, I usually end up getting a couple appetizers or soup and
dessert...Having an entree every day is too much food for me.

Have a great rest of the cruise!

--Jean

On Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:49:27 -0600, "Jean O'Boyle"
wrote:
wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 11:51:04 -0600, "Jean O'Boyle"

We disliked the first RCI cruise we took so much that my husband said
he was never cruising again.

I really love the NCL ships but HAL is our favorite.. We took a
Celebrity cruise last year and loved the service but did not
particularly like the ship.

I can only speak of the NCL ships that we have taken...I have heard many
derogatory statements about NCL, but this is my story! Does every cruise
line or ship meet all our expectations? No...but I guess the closest for
us
might have been the RCL Oasis that we took last October. We are looking
forward to seeing how the Celebrity Eclipse compares when we take her next
month. We find that ships, like people, have different
personalities...that's what makes cruising such fun! I don't like "cookie
cutter" ship experiences!

I don't think the bigger ships would suit us. We've been on the NCL
Crown twice and really liked the smaller size. We also did
back-to-back on the Pearl (after our first RCI cruise) and liked that
ship and I've also done the Jade. Really like the ship and decor.

The menu on this RCI cruise is good but they don't have (for instance)
good cocktail sauce for the shrimp and there is no hot fudge sauce. No
cranberry juice is available anywhere on the ship. I like the
appetizers better than the entrees so sometimes I get three of them
and no entree at all. Dinner service was excellent, but breakfast and
lunch are incredibly slow. The buffet is extremely difficult to
negotiate and disorganized. Also they seem to have an awful lot of
east Asian dishes. There's a lot of 'menu speak'. I got kung pao
chicken and it wasn't anything like what I get on shore.


Did I miss something?...You are posting from an RCI cruise from what I
gather, but you did not mention which one.
Ask them to give you some horseradish for your cocktail sauce! ;-) By the
third day, I usually end up getting a couple appetizers or soup and
dessert...Having an entree every day is too much food for me.

Have a great rest of the cruise!

--Jean

We decided to give RCI a second chance and are on Enchantment out of
Baltimore. We are doing b2b Bahamas and Caribbean itineraries. I'm
still not sold on RCI, but I will have/am having a good time. Just
because there are some things I don't like doesn't mean that I won't
enjoy myself. I complain and then forget about it - I don't let one
or two things that I don't like keep me from enjoying the good things.