DH and I are thinking of going on a cruise this summer. We have cruised together once, and DH cruised once with his family before that, and we wanted to know what lines people have cruised on and what they liked/didn't like.

DH's first cruise was on a line that is now belly-up, so his opinion of that line is a moot point.

When we cruised together, we were on Carnival Cruise Lines. We had fun in spite of the staff. Our waiter and assistant waitress were great, but everybody else had an attitude problem. So we don't plan on going with them.

We're looking at Royal Caribbean, and have friends taking a cruise with them next month, but I wanted to know what people thought of Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines (including Carnival - if you had a good experience, I'd love to know).

We went on Royal Caribbean and had a great time! It was a very nice combo of classic entertainment and "party" atmosphere. If you are going to drink and have a grea time, they are wonderful as well as a great place to take a family. The ships are beautiful as well..... :)

Our honeymoon was on Princess (7 days cruising and 7 days on land). We went to Alaska. We had a blast. The food was great, the entertainment was great, so much to do!! I would love to go on another cruise someday.

I really like Windstar www.windstarcruises.com (http://www.windstarcruises.com)

We went on Royal Caribbean and had a great time! It was a very nice combo of classic entertainment and "party" atmosphere. If you are going to drink and have a grea time, they are wonderful as well as a great place to take a family. The ships are beautiful as well..... :)

My exact thoughts...we went on Royal Caribbean for our honeymoon and then about a year and a half ago. It was GREAT! I would sail Royal Caribbean again anytime!!

Royal Caribbean. I would recommend RCCL over Carnival anytime!

In fact, I'm cruising in just 3 short weeks to the W. Caribbean on the Navigator of the Seas....

We went on Celebrity Cruises and loved it!

We also loved Celebrity Cruises! I think it depends on the kind of atmosphere you are looking for - we found that Celebrity was definately NOT a party ship type of atmosphere (and we were very happy with that!).

We went on Carnival and while it was fun, I wouldn't recommend it. The good thing is it is economical - you can get a great cabin at a lower price than other lines. But the food - something most people rave about on cruises - was not that great, and the ship wasn't all it was cracked up to be either. But Royal Carribean is supposed to be the higher end (they are the same company as Carnival I think) but more expensive. My mom has been and she loved it - and she has pretty good taste I think :)

We did a cruise to Alaska for our honeymoon on Celebrity Cruises! It was amazing!! We'll definitely do that again!

Thanks everyone. I think we're going with Royal Caribbean, but I'm not sure yet.

We went on Royal Caribbean for our honeymoon and loved it! I have been on Carnival twice as well, but would choose RC over them in a minute. RC is just classier and nicer but still very fun. When I was on Carnival it seemed more like a college frat party atmosphere. Which is great if you're in a college frat.... :rolleyes:

we went on Carnival for our honeymoon, and loved it.
we are planning another Cruise next month and are going with Royal Caribbean..so i am glad to hear good reviews.

Celebrity cruise to Alaska & can't wait to go back! The ship & staff were great.

We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and I wasn't all that impressed. It was the only cruise I've ever been on, so I really can't compare. It just wasn't what I was expecting.

When we got off the bus from the airport, a man pulled our luggage off and sat it on the ground. He then announced tothe group that he would be taking our luggage on board. He basically told us that if we wanted our luggage delivered safely, we would need to give him a good tip. One person in the group asked if we could carry our own luggage, and he said no. I have always tipped well, probably more than expected, but I didn't appreciate being told that the only way my luggage would arrive intact was if I paid him.... especially since all of our paperwork said that our transfer from the airport to the ship had already been paid for.

We were on the Majesty of the Seas, which seemed really old. Its late eighties/early nineties decor made it feel kitschy. I wasn't at all impressed with the food, although there was a ton of it. I also didn't like how people were contantly trying to sell me something- for example, halfway through dinner, our waiter showed us a cookbook in case we wanted to make any of their signature dishes at home. The cost? $29.99.

And when I first got on the boat, a man handed me a tropical drink- I said "No thanks," because a) I am not much of a drinker and b) i didn't know how much it would cost. He said, "It's your welcome aboard drink- It's yours - go ahead and take it," which made me think it was complimentary. After I took a sip, he pulled out the sign that said $7.50. The sneakiness really irked me. From then on, I was totally paranoid about everything that I was offered! (Don't get me wrong- I don't have a problem with a drink that costs $7.50-it was just the sneakiness that bugged me.)

I had always heard that there were tons of things to do on the boat, but I didn't find that to be true. I looked at the schedule every day, and didn't see much that looked interesting.

My best friend and I were taking the cruise to celebrate our thirtieth birthdays, so she arranged for us to have pedicures at the spa, and I arranged for us to go snorkleing. Well, the activities director changed the time of the snorkling and it ended up clashing with our pedicure appointment. The people who ran the spa said that we would be charged whether we showed up or not, because cancellations are not allowed. :complain: They didn't care that the REASON we wouldn't be there was because the side trip had been changed. (Apparently the spa has nothing to do with the cruise line- they just rent out space on the ship, and couldn't care less about scedules.)

I was also a little disappointed by the other passengers onboard. Apparently, if you are a Florida resident, you can get dirt cheap prices for cruises. I think the girl at our table said they had paid $99 a person, whereas we paid over $400, plus $300 for our airfare. The low price for the locals seemed to attract a lot of people whose idea of acceptable behaviors was different than mine.

When it came time to leave the ship, they dismissed you by groups, and it was supposed to be according to your flight. Well, our flight was leaving at 11:30, and they didn't let us off the boat until 11, even though we had bought our flight THROUGH the cruise line. Miraculously we made it to the airport in time, but it was much more stressful than either of us needed on a "relaxing" vacation.

The attendants and wait staff were okay... but I wasn't impressed. BUT, to be fair, our cruise was a week or so after the terrorist attacks, and I think everybody was on edge in the tourist industry. I know lots of people who really enjoy cruising.

I think I will probably try cruising again sometime in the next few years- I'll just lower my expectations before I go!

We've been on two disney cruises and loved them! If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

We're HUGE Royal Caribbean fans! :aok:

We've been on Princess cruise line and we LOVED it! Our next cruise will most definately be with Princess again. They have good prices, delicious food and great entertainement!

I used to work for Royal Caribbean. While I was fired and really hate the call center...the cruise line itself...I would highly recommend. I've never cruised on it myself, but I know very much about it and if I could talk DH into it...we'd be going on a cruise with them. I would love love love to go on one of the megaclass ships (Explorer, Adventurer, Navigator, etc.).

I was also a little disappointed by the other passengers onboard. Apparently, if you are a Florida resident, you can get dirt cheap prices for cruises. I think the girl at our table said they had paid $99 a person, whereas we paid over $400, plus $300 for our airfare. The low price for the locals seemed to attract a lot of people whose idea of acceptable behaviors was different than mine.

I just wanted to mention one thing...
It's not just because they are locals they get different prices. They are already there...and they can just pick up and go without having to plan. So they can wait until the last minute or keep calling back to get those low prices. Where someone who has to fly in...has to make arrangements. Prices of cruises change very often...you just have to look for the lowest price.
If you ever decide to go on another cruise with Royal Caribbean...I would definitely suggest the Explorer or Navigator...they are huge ships and actually have a lot to do without having to plan excursions.

I have been on 1 Norweigan (sp?) and 2 carnival. I had a great time on all of them. I didn't have any problems on the carnival ones like everyone else has. I think they all have their ups and downs and it depends on what you really like. :)

I have been on 10 cruises. 9 with Carnival and 1 with Premier (which is now defunct). I have had no problems with Carnival in particular, our only problems were something that can happen on any cruise or at any land resort so I don't blame Carnival. If you choose Carnival I would suggest one of their newer ships (Pride, Spirit, Conquest, Miracle) they are so very nice. Not that other ships aren't nice but they are really nice ships. We have not found the frat atmosphere others have suggested but we also sail at off peak times, for the cheaper prices. Basically peak times are anytime school is out and weeks where there is a holiday (very popular because people would only have to take 4 days off instead of 5). Some people are suprised by the crowd on the ship but forget to take into consideration they are sailing during spring break or over the x-mas holidays. Not saying that is what was wrong for anyone here but I have read several reviews where people expressed suprise with the number of children but they sailed over x-mas where of course there will be more families on board.

Carnival Corp. owns the following cruiselines: Carnival, Princess, Cunard, Seaborn, Holland America, Windstar, and 3 others that slip my mind at the minute. Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity.

If you book your own airfare, which I highly recommend to save major $$$, don't book anything before 1pm on the day you sail out and fly in the night before if you can. The cruiseline doesn't control when people get off the ship, customs controls that completely. And if someone on the ship does something stupid they can and will hold the entire ship until they deal with that one person. It does happen. About once a month or so some ship will get held until after 1pm or so because someone thought they could fool the customs agents and tries to sneak drugs back into the country or something similar. Puts the cruiseline in as much of a bind as it puts you because they have a full load of people ready to get on the ship at that point and it still needs to be cleaned from the previous sailing.

For more info about cruising check out the following websites. cruisemates.com and cruisecritic.com they are full of great info and reader reviews on every ship out there.

About a month before sailing the cruiselines drop the prices on the remaining available cabins. Anyone can purchase those cabins but it is generally only people within driving distance of the port because that is about the same time airfare takes a major jump. If you see that your particular sailing has dropped drastically in price call your travel agent, or cruiseline if you booked directly thru them, and request a refund, upgrade or shipboard credit. Most of the time you will get an upgrade. On our last 5 cruises we have always booked the cheapest inside room with 2 beds on the floor (4A on Carnival) and always got ourselves upgraded to an outside cabin free of charge. The worse they can say is no and you are in no worse shape then you were before.

I've been on the following Carnival ships if you have any questions about the ships or the routes, southern Caribbean is our favorite and mexican riviera was our least favorite.
Carnivale (no longer in service)
Festivale (no longer in service)
Marti Gras (no longer in service)
Tropicale (no longer in service)
Fasciation (southern caribbean at the time)
Sensation (western caribbean)
Destiny (southern caribbean)
Paradise (western caribbean)
Pride (mexican riveria)

We went on the Disney cruise line for our honeymoon and loved it. We didn't even have any kids yet, but there was still a lot to do for adults..and there were adult only areas on the ship so you aren't bombarded by kids.

If I had my choice - I would always go on a Disney Cruise. (I agree that it's not 'just for kids'). Royal Caribbean was pretty good and I would love to cruise on one of their 'Mega Ships'.

We went with Royal Caribbean. We had the best time!

We have done Royal Caribbean and Carnival. We preferred Royal Caribbean. The food was alot better, the service was better, and the entertainment was better. THere were alot of excursions on Carnival, but expensive. Unfortunately most were cancelled due to weather-something we couldn't control. Carnival's activities and shows were also very late at night and not too much earlier in the evening- 7 to 9 o'clock.

I'd go back on RC!

~Kerrie