What's the best cruise line?

Question

OK, I went on a Carnival Carribean cruise for my honeymoon. My wife and I felt herded like cattle, treated like annoyances, and just didn't fit in with the "get drunk and get naked" atmosphere onboard. If price is not an object, what is the best line to cruise on for a vacation? I want the best rooms, best food, best service, smaller crowds, and a classy atmosphere. Based on those five criteria, what do you think? Thanks in advance for the help.

Answer 1

There are the "luxury" lines, like Crystal, Seaborne, etc - smaller ships, very classy and upscale, and very expensive.

Or there are the "premium" mainstream lines, like Celebrity and Holland America.  Princess is also considered by some to be a "premium" line, although they do let under-21's cruise without adults, so I'd be really careful about cruising at certain times of the year.  Celebrity is introducing a new ship - "Solstice" - which sounds wonderful.

Royal Caribbean is supposedly less "party-hearty" than Carnival, but the quality of service/food/cabins is not any better and it's more expensive.  Norwegian has the least quality of all, although they certainly have their fans.

With the criteria you state, I'd suggest you look at the luxury lines.  Go to CruiseCritic.com, click on "Boards" or "Reviews" and you can find lots of info from experienced cruisers.  If you check the reviews, be sure and read the "member reviews", too.

I'm curious about what ship you sailed on.  Carnival has been making an effort to tone down the "party" atmosphere [if not the decor!! - Yikes!] in recent years, although they still get a large proportion of passengers with a "my vacation, I'll do whatever I want" attitude.

Hope you find a cruise that you'll love.  Once you do, you'll be "hooked"!

Answer 2

Best cruise line hands down is Celebrity Cruise Lines.

Answer 3

If money's not a problem, I'd say to go on a luxury cruise, such as Regent, Seabourne, Silversea, and Cunard.

If it is sorta, go to Royal Caribbean. I hear it's more family-oriented, friendly staff, great quality of service and food, bigger, and practically have the same itineraries and ports of call as Carnival, maybe even more. Also, I've never heard of a Royal Caribbean cruise that went bad or is overrated.

Answer 4

Carnival is known as the party cruise ship and I would never go on it. I enjoy Princess as they have it all, but I have not been on Royal Caribbean or celebrity, or Cunard line either. Stay away from Norwegian as they are just not up to par with the rest.

Answer 5

My husband and I went on Royal Caribbean and did the Eastern Caribbean cruise.  Everything went well.  The staff on the ship catered to your every need, the food was excellent and of course, there 24/7 and one of the nice touches, although it seems silly is that our maid created animals out of towels and left them for us after our turn-down service.  :-)  Everything was organized nicely...you get a SeaPass card that you can charge everything on and it also acts as a boarding pass back onto the ship and every night you get a paper delivered to your room with the activities/shows, etc...for the next day.  We loved it and want to go on another Royal Caribbean cruise!!  I also went on the Holland America cruise line to Alaska and that was also a very good one.  But not as memorable as the Royal Caribbean.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

If you have the money to spend for the very top and best cruise lines try Crystal, Oceania, Windstar, and Silver Sea. These cruise lines are a cut above the others because they run smaller ships (about 500 to 700 passengers) and have a higher staff to passenger ratio so you get top of the line service. They also have more amenities included in the much higher price, like all veranda/balcony cabins, tubs and shower bathroom, larger cabins, daily wine and/or champaign with meals, etc. . Prices for a 7 day cruise on these top of the line ships may start at $4000 to $5000 (vs about $1200 on the next tier of ships.). These ships tend to have a more sophisticated and older crowd and more formal dining.

The luxury cruise lines are:

REGENT SEVEN SEAS:

http://www.rssc.com/

RADISSON:

http://www.cruisingluxury.com/Radisson.....

SILVER SEAS:

http://www.silversea.com/

CRYSTAL:

http://www.crystalcruises.com/home.asp.....

I have been on about 20 cruises with 4 different cruise lines and you can get better service and cruising with lines other than Carnival.  The best cruise line I have been on was Celebrity.  The service was definitely a cut above the others.  You will also get a better ship and group of people cruising (not the partyers) on Princess and Holland America.  All three of these tend to have older and more reserved cruisers.  Holland America is the ship that will have mostly senior citizens, but their food, and service is great.

Other cruise lines that most people go on:

CUNARD:

http://www.cunard.com/

HOLLAND AMERICA

http://www.hollandamerica.com/

CELEBRITY:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/home .

ROYAL CARIBBEAN:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/gohome.d.....

AZAMARA:

http://www.azamaracruises.com/07/azama.....

NORWEGIAN:

http://www.ncl.com/

PRINCESS:

http://www.princess.com/index.html

So you can spend top dollar and you will get exactly what you want.  Or you can spend a little less and still have a much better cruise than you had on Carnival.  Another thing to consider is that the cruises that are more than 7 days tend to have a more reserved crowd and fewer kids on board.  Also, cruises going to places other than the Caribbean and Bahamas or Mexico have more reserved people; like cruises to Alaska, the Med, or the Panama Canal.

Answer 8

Disney and no, it's not just for kids.  They have wonderful activities for adults and it's so nice.  We've been on several cruises and loved our Disney cruise the most of all.

Answer 9

We loved Norwegian.  It can be classy, but also casual.  But if you're looking for classy is of major importance, then I can't help you.  Norwegian was just a very relaxing, friendly and casual cruise line.  We enjoyed the staff there too.  They treated us really great.  I think we came back with more stories about how great the staff was than most other things!  There are restaurants you can go to and dress up for...but like I said, it's more casual.  I hope someone can help you find the best cruise line for your taste.  Good luck!