<p>My D & I like Carnival; like RCC a lot; like Celebrity A LOT; are ok with Holland America; and do NOT like Norwegian. </p>
<p>Everyone has their favorites. My D would go on any ship as long as it weren’t sinking!</p>
<p>Little to no nightlife for young adults (or adults who are young at heart) on Holland and Celebrity. A little too much party on deck on Carnival.</p>
<p>We now splurge on balcony cabins (often booking ‘guarantee’ - which means you don’t get to pick your cabin) so we have our own quiet retreat when we need it.</p>
<p>We have done several family reunion cruises and they are a huge hit as everyone gets to do their own thing and yet still be ‘together’ as a family. Even the nephews (ages 5 to 16) love them. We make dinner our ‘must check in’ time. Several times the kids will show up just to say hi, and then take off for ‘camp’. </p>
<p>If you can book 8 cabins (or more), one of them should come free.</p>
<p>DeskPotato: No age limit on any of the public rooms (venues). Where the age limits come into play are in the Teen or Kids only rooms. These are part of the on board ‘camp’ program.</p>
<p>Our Norwegian cruise had “Freestyle dining”. That allowed us to eat any time / any place (assuming not overcrowded). We had a cruise heavy on shore excursions, and that added flexibility was terrific for us. Many other cruisers we met had done it before and really liked it too.</p>
<p>A few cruisers that we met did miss the traditional formal dining (set seating time and arrangement) from their other cruises. They liked getting to know the tablemates and waiters. For the OP’s purposes of family reunion, I’m thinking traditional migh work better… there would be fewer logistics to arrange.</p>
<p>I recommend Princess Cruises for a large family gathering. They’re a bit tamer than Carnival, but their clientele isn’t quite as old as Holland America. They have the option of either a traditional nightly seating or dining whenever you want, and their large ships (3000 passengers) have 3 virtually identical dining rooms, so you don’t feel like you’re eating at a cattle call, plus several specialty restaurants (extra charge) plus multiple buffets.</p>
<p>Princess has really good itineraries. What I’ve heard from Travel Agents is that if you want to go somePLACE on your cruise, book Princess. If you want to go on a vacation where the ship is the main attraction and it happens to stop a few places, then the Royal Caribbean mega-ships are for you (we saw the Oasis and Allure in port and referred to them as the Behemoths of the Sea… they’re just too big for me).</p>
<p>We will be doing a 5 day Royal Caribbean cruise to Bermuda on the Explorer (more of a mid-large ship) with our kids in June. I’ll see how it compares to the 2 Princess cruises we have taken and loved. Unfortunately this time S has his heart set on Bermuda and Princess doesn’t go there.</p>
<p>I would agree with Lafalum84’s assessment of the basic differences between Carnival-Princess-Holland America. My biggest gripe with Royal Caribbean is their cabins are a little tight. </p>
<p>If you are cruising with “multi-generational” family members, I would suggest traditional dining for dinner-- all sitting down for dinner at the same time each night. It is a great way to recap everyone’s daily activities while enjoying a meal together. It “forces” everyone to dine for dinner at the same time and it is enjoyable to have the same waiter each night for the duration of the cruise. If we didn’t do traditional dining for dinner, I would see even less of my kids than I already do. You might also want to eat together in one of the specialty restaurants for one of the nights. If crowds bother you, I would also recommend doing the sit-down breakfast and lunch in the main dining room. You will sit with different folks during these breakfast/lunch meals, unless you have a very large group of your own, and I (usually) enjoy talking with these varied folks. It is a much calmer experience than hitting the Lido Deck for buffet style breakfast and lunch. The only catch is that the hours of operation are limited.</p>
<p>I don’t agree that any particular cruise line provides better “destinations” to go to vs. better shipboard experience.</p>
<p>For instance, when i checked the itinerary, depending on the region, there were places where Royal Caribbean provided the best itinerary, while MSC or Celebrity provided a more interesting one. Besides, it really depends on what one is looking for even in terms of itinerary. Some people like more cultural destinations, while others like more “sun and beaches” destinations.</p>
<p>As I mentioned earlier, a site like vacationstogo.com will spit out ALL the cruise options for the region during a particular window of time, and one can very easily compare each cruise’s itinerary, departure port, length, price very easily. So, no need to contact travel agent for this kind of insight. In general, I skip the travel agents all together and do my own research. I highly doubt that service quality is that much different: cruise industry is extremely competitive: no company would survive providing measurably inferior services within a similar price category. </p>
<p>I have tried four different cruise lines, and the services were ALL very good, and we had nothing to complain about. It was the target marketing population that made all the difference: carnival targeted young adults and as such, the whole atmosphere and what the cruise company wanted to do to make this “target demographics” happy were NOT to my liking at all. I had no such problem with other cruise lines.</p>
<p>Note that shore excursions can be VERY expensive, especially if the port is far from the destination. (Example - Rome full day tours can be $200 per person,. Factor that in. An intinerary that includes mostly self-touring ports may make sense budgetwise.</p>
<p>We have done several cruises, all with Princess, and are leaving for another in a few days (Alaska here we come!). Lots of reunions, indeed. Mobility does not seem to be an issue, I have seen elders that operate motorized mobility devices (?) with skills befitting a WRC driver. Food is good, staff is very attentive, itineraries are the usual (nothing exotic), and the younger crowd end up Celebrity or Carnival, the masses with Royal Caribbean, and the super-elders cruise with Holland Assisted Living :).</p>
<p>If you do a cruise, and it is financially feasible, it would be lovely if the easily fatigued family member was in a balcony (or “verandah” on some cruise lines) cabin – get to enjoy the outside as often as you like without having to muster the energy to find a spot on the main deck. I’m partial to balconies that are at least partially covered so that there is some respite from the sun. The other cabin choice issue might be to pick one near an elevator that goes to the floor with the dining. On one cruise we had a great cabin at the stern, but it was a long, long hike to the elevators that got you up to the dining areas. Not a problem for us, but it could be. </p>
<p>Also, don’t be shy about bringing a folding wheelchair with you – there are companies that rent them specifically for cruises. We used one for MIL at a time when she could still walk reasonably well, but it made a big difference when she needed to go from one end of the ship to the other, which she wouldn’t have had the stamina to do on her own two feet. It also turned out to be a godsend when we hit some rougher seas, as she would have gone flying had she tried to walk when the ship hit some of those rolls.</p>
<p>Carnival certainly has a reputation as a “party hearty” kind of cruise line; Princess & Norwegian (NCL) not so much. We liked HAL, but didn’t see a huge variety of activities that might be of interest to young adults. Royal Caribbean has monster huge ships, and certainly plenty of activities, but that many people trying to get on and off ship at ports doesn’t give me a good feeling. We liked the very casual attire on NCL – first cruise where we ever went on with a single suitcase each.</p>
<p>If you want to know what types of people will be on different cruise lines, look at their brochures. I was told once that cruise lines (and hotels, resorts, etc) will use models that look like the people they are trying to attract. So if the brochure is full of families with young kids, or happy/active looking silver haired folks, you’ll know where their target market is.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all this great info! Our travel agent is on the case, but I really like hearing about all of your experiences. We will have several young adults with us (if we can get them to come!) but they are not big on partying. No one has mobility issues exactly, but with chronic fatigue, it’s more about being able to go to a quiet room to rest/sleep whenever necessary. Carnival would not be a good choice for us, clearly.</p>
<p>There is always something that these age groups can do together. Later in the evening (around 11 or so), there may be some venues that are 18 or older, and some comedy shows are “adult only.” However, I don’t know how active the crew is in checking ID or whether a 17 year old’s key card looks different than a 19 year old’s. That’s something you should ask your travel agent.</p>
<p>But even if some venues are adult only, there will always be some that are not.</p>
<p>Re the young adults - the 17 year old will probably not be able to get into the casino, and the 19 year old won’t be able to get into the teen club, if there is one. There will also probably be drinking venues, such as discos, where under 21 will not be admitted after a certain time. Their key cards will most likely identify their age groups (at least they did on Royal Caribbean). </p>
<p>Also, I agree with everyone who suggests taking your questions over to cruisecritic - they are a wealth of knowledge over there on every aspect of every cruise line and more.</p>
<p>We went on a week-long western Caribbean cruise out of Tampa, the week of (most K-12) school spring break, on Carnival, and it didn’t strike us as all that raucous. There were lots of families, probably not so many seniors as on some other cruise lines or dates. We picked Carnival for affordability and spring break week (sigh) because we had a high school senior. The accommodations and food were good and we all enjoyed the vacation very much. I am aware that as previous posts have mentioned, other cruise lines are commonly considered more classy than Carnival. From my family’s experience, however, I’d say if Carnival fits your budget and itinerary preferences, don’t rule it out.</p>
<p>My family & I are big fans of cruising. We have been on 30+ cruises over the years. There is always something for everyone to do - including nothing if that is what you want to do! You never have to worry about feeding everyone as there is always something on the menu for every taste or desire. You get to see different ports of call so you never feel stuck in one place. You can get some nice group photos taken. I think this is a great option for someone traveling with a group. </p>
<p>Our favorite cruise line is Celebrity - every thing is done in an elegant and understated manner.</p>
<p>Our least favorite (as in the last time we went on this line we said never again) is Carnival - seems to attract a rowdy crowd - four 20 somethings to a room - leaving their doors wide open yelling up & down the halls - not a family atmosphere. This type off scenario has happened on more than one cruise thus our reason for “never again”</p>
<p>We also like Royal Caribbean and always suggest this line fo first time cruisers because it seems to offer the best over all experience in terms of what a first time cruiser would expect out of a cruise.</p>
<p>Norwegian is so-so in our opinion - nothing wrong with it just have never had a great time with them.</p>
<p>Holland America - trends toward a more sedate,mature crowd.</p>
<p>Princess - have only been on this line once- to Alaska. It as a fantastic trip. They did a great job. I am not sure how they operate in the Caribbean but it was a great cruise line.</p>
<p>We have been fine doing Carnival (though Royal Carribean is much nicer) several times with our kids. We have run more into families than rowdy partying, but maybe because we go in the summers.</p>
<p>Some Carnival ships offer a dining room that has flexible times (ie show up b/t 6-8pm), but that one always fills up fast. Enjoy!</p>
<p>We really loved our recent tour on the Norwegian EPIC (Western Med cruise out of Barcelona). The room was small, but the balcony more than made up for that It is a huge ship though, and I know that some experienced cruisers said they prefer smaller.</p>
<p>Yes, Cruise Critic is fantastic. I found the site a little hard to navigate, but it was worth the trouble.</p>
It is a huge ship though, and I know that some experienced cruisers said they prefer smaller.</p>