What is the difference between different Cruise companies?

Question

Is there a huge difference between all the major Cruiselines and if so, what is it? Which Cruiseline is typically the best experience?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Besides price, ship amenities, and itianeries, the main difference is the target market.

Carnival offers more late night entertainment options and is geared to a  "young, hip, fun crowd"-it is the "fun ship".

Royal Caribbean, Princess, Norwegian, and Regent are aimed towards families, and middle aged and older travelers, and those on a romantic get-away. They have a lot of kid friendly activities, however...you will have a hard time finding a "rocking party at 2 am.".

Some of the smaller ships offer a more intimate experience for families and romantic getaways. One of my favorite "little known cruise lines" for romantic getaways is MSC.

As for "best experience"-it depends on what the individual is looking for...and matching the line to the want and need.

Answer 2

There are some luxury cruise lines like Seaborn, Regent Seven Seas, and Crystal that are considered THE best.  They have prices that are much higher than the next tire of cruise lines with prices starting around $4,000 for a 7 day cruise. The next tier of cruise lines that I have listed below will have cruises starting in the range of $700 to $1,000 per person for a 7 day cruise, again depending upon the date and type cabin you select.

HOLLAND AMERICA

http://www.hollandamerica.com/

CELEBRITY:

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

ROYAL CARIBBEAN:

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

NORWEGIAN:

http://www.ncl.com/

PRINCESS:

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

CARNIVAL:

http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/

I have been on Princess, Celebrity, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean ships and can vouch that they are good cruise lines. However, there are some differences.

- Princess, Celebrity and Holland America have great ships are more classy and reserved. They are just a little more upscale and luxurious than the other cruise lines. Their ships are very well decorated and you feel like you are on a luxury cruise.  Passengers tend to be middle aged and up and have cruised multiple times. Holland America has mostly senior citizens cruising on its ships.

-Norwegian cruise line is good, they cater to families and have mostly passengers in the range of age 35-40 and up. Its the line that you want to go on if you want to be informal for pretty much your whole cruise. They have formal nights like other cruise lines but they do not stress dressing up; the call it "dress up if you want to" night.

Carnival is the budget cruise line that generally has the lowest prices. They cater to young people, first time cruiser and families. The best of their ships are their newer ships so do pay attention to when the ship was launched is you find a really cheap cruise. A seven day cruise on a Carnival ship can be as low as $650. per person.

Royal Caribbean is also a cruise line that caters to young cruiser and families. It has the advantage of having the most on-board activities. Things like ice skating, roller blading, mini-golf course, a full sized basketball/tennis court, the rock climbing wall, and on the new Freedom Class ships the surfing simulator, the Flowrider.   RC also has more ships than the others and thus generally cruises from more ports and to more places.

Disney has good ships and caters to families with kids.  But Disney has just two ships and its itineraries are pretty much limited to the Bahamas and Caribbean, although the do a few cruises to several other locations.

Cunard is an old style cruise line that stresses more formal/semi-formal dining.  The line has just two ships and they do most of their cruising trans-Atlantic between NY and Europe, plus a few cruises to other locations including the Caribbean.