Which cruiseline is best for European trip?

Question

Please help! My mom & I want to go to Europe- Western Med in June and decided upon taking a cruise. We just took our first cruise to the Caribbean this past August on Princess Cruises and fell in love! Now we are currently going thru a travel agent who gave us three options: Celebrity, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. These cruise itineraries are pretty much the same. We also found a Norwegian cruise that is cheaper with basically the same to offer. We are wondering why it is so much cheaper? And which cruiseline do u think is best for two 18 yr olds and my older mom?? We want to have fun and also be waited on hand & foot. Please help!

Answer 1

I have been on two Mediterranean cruise among the approximately 20 cruises I have been on.  I have also been on Royal Caribbean, NCL, Princess and Celebrity cruise lines. So here's what my opinion is.  

If you want to be waited on "hand and foot" and you have been on Princess, then you DO NOT want to go on Norwegian.  We just did a western Med cruise on the new NCL Gem ship this past Oct/Nov.  The ship was in my opinion for a new ship not very well decorated; it was OK but not as pretty as the 3 Princess ship I have been on or the 7 or 8 RC ships I have been on.  

The NCL's "freestyle" cruising means that you do not have to pick a dinner seating time and you can just go whenever you want to.  But there are hassles with that because you can end up standing in line at the main dining room door waiting for a table.  The line was so long on our cruise that they were actually handing out buzzers like in restaurants to let you know when a table is ready.  I am  a person who likes traditional cruising where I have a table assigned to me and a waiter whom in the course of my week or two I get to know and the waiter and assistant get to know what I like.  On NCL you will have a different table and wait staff each day.  You can make reservations in the main dining room so your wait is shorter, or if you get there at opening there hardly any wait, but they would only let us reserve for two days at a time, so that because another hassle.

Then at the end of the cruise you are charged $10 a person per day for gratuities and that money goes into a pot that all share.  So there is really no incentive for wait staffs to go overboard to serve you.  That's my opinion and the opinion I have heard from others.

I actually rate Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Princess very close in terms of service, food, shows, and the comfort and beauty of their ships.  However, I did find that Celebrity was just a cut above the other two.  I have also think that Royal Caribbean has the better activities on its ships.  Things like (on certain ships) the rock climbing wall, roller blading, ice skating, an ice show that is fantastic, a solarium with pool and hot tubs as well as an outdoor pool, and great cabins.

All three cruise lines that you were given by your agent will have the same basic fun activities/night life for you; shows every evening, a variety of bars and lounges, a disco that starts late in the evening, and a mix of fun people in the age range of perhaps 35 and up.  There will be a few younger people and families with kids but not many.

If you decide to go on NCL you will probably enjoy the cruise, but in my opinion you will enjoy it more on Celebrity, RC, or Princess.

Answer 2

Go with Princess or Royal Caribbean.  

DO NOT EVER CRUISE WITH NORWEIGIAN!  They can't suck enough!

Answer 3

My family and I went on a trip on the mediterranian along the Millenium which is ran by Celebrity and it was great.  Everything about the trip was awesome and it was a great overall experience. I highly recommend going on this trip.

Answer 4

I agree with what the other guy said, if you fell in love with Princess then you will NOT like NCL-they are an okay cruise line, but there is a reason they are cheaper than anyone else:

In my personal opinion I would choose this itenerary:

Emerald princess July 11th--I'm doing it in Sept and CANNOT wait!

ITINERARY



DAY  DATE  PORT  ARRIVE    DEPART  

Fri Jul 11 Barcelona, Spain   10:00pm

Sat Jul 12 Marseille, France  8:30am 6:00pm

Sun Jul 13 Florence / Pisa (Livorno), Italy  7:00am 7:00pm

Mon Jul 14 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy  7:00am 7:00pm

Tue Jul 15 Naples / Capri (Sorrento), Italy  7:00am 7:00pm

Wed Jul 16 At Sea  

Thu Jul 17 Mykonos, Greece  7:00am 2:00pm

Fri Jul 18 Istanbul, Turkey  8:00am 6:00pm

Sat Jul 19 Ephesus / Kusadasi, Turkey  Noon 7:00pm

Sun Jul 20 Athens (Piraeus), Greece  6:00am 5:30pm

Mon Jul 21 At Sea  

Tue Jul 22 Venice, Italy  1:00pm  

Wed Jul 23 Venice, Italy  Disembark



Good LUCK!