Why cruise line matter …

Cruise is where you leave your worries, your trouble, your stress, and your responsibilities behind. All you need are literally your “fun” attitude and a lot of cash to spend.  However, the relaxing cruise can turn into disaster if things are not within your expectations. That is why knowing what to expect does matter.

Let’s take a look at what matter …

 

Port of calls …

Each cruise line may or may not offer the same port of calls, so, please do a comparison as where do you want to go and decide which ship to take. If the size of the ship matter to you, please take that into your consideration as well. How about the amenities that the ship offers, well, even the same cruise line that goes to the same location offer different port of calls and amenities. 

For instance, if you are interesting in going to Southern Caribbean, both Adventure Of The Seas and Brilliance Of The Seas  from Royal Caribbean have slightly different port of calls and the ship offer different amenities. 

Adventure Of the Seas leaves from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Oranjestad, Aruba, Willemstad, Curacao, Basseterre, St. Kitts.

On the other hand, Brilliance Of the Seas goes from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas , Castries, St. Lucia , Pointe A Pitre, Guadaloupe, St. John's, Antigua ,  St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands , and back  San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Let’s look closer, both ships have different amenities. Adventure of the Seas offers Ice-skating rink, and In-line skating track as well as Golf simulator where Brilliance of the Seas doesn’t but both offers Rock-climbing wall, Mini-golf Course and etc. See what my points?

Stateroom …

What type of room to book is all depending on what you need, what you want. If this is your first cruise or you know that you merely use the room for retiring/resting. I would recommend “Inside cabin.” Perhaps you do not wish to spend extra money on the room.

I never once a fan of ocean-view, but then the only ocean-view room that I have been in was the one with the “pot-hole,” literally a circle and you can peek thru and yes, you could open it to feel the sea-breeze. But, why paying more if that is all you could get. But, looking closer, I believe you could pick the one with more elaborate window. If you like it and you don’t mind paying for more. Why not!

My ultimate choice would be the balcony. It is like having a room of “Ocean-front,” literally. Every single day when you open that balcony door and you can literally hear the ocean‘s chanting. It was so tranquil, so refreshing. The air, the wave, the sunrise, the sun-set and the scenery … what could you ask for more … it is out of the world.

For more luxurious type … the suite! Oh my … if you have extra bucks why not try it and decide whether to stay there for second time :-)

Okay you got the room type, now you need to pick the location and it is extremely important where your cabin is located. If you know you don’t get sea-sick, then it won’t matter to you, forward, mid or aft. However, if you are sensitive to motion sickness, I would recommend “Mid ship.” Where it is the safest place to be and bring a lot of “Dramamine,” (anti-motion medicine.)

Here is the deciding factor for the food lovers ….

I didn’t realize the difference until I re-board Carnival again. My first cruise was with Carnival to the Southern Caribbean. I had so much fun and the fun lasted for a decade plus. Then we took the girls to their first cruise to Alaska with Princess. Princess offers the exquisite fine dining experience. Every dining (both lunches and dinners) was quite exquisite. (Dinners were finer dining as you know.)  

Disclaimer, I only have experienced three different cruise lines, so my knowledge is only limited to Princess, Norwegian and Carnival. Please do more research as to others cruise lines’ dining experience.

Before I go further, you have the choice of table for your own or share with others. Some people like to share in the hope of meeting more people, extending their social connections. Some people like us, prefer our privacy. Not that we are hermit or something, we just didn't want the stress of worrying about our girls' table manners while with others. (Though they are old enough now, but still we like to stick to each other)

Oh .. yes, don’t forget to decide which dining time and preference. There are normally two types of dining preference. First one is what they called a “Traditional Dining,” basically you will be sitting in the same table for however long your cruise would be. Your servers (waiter/waitress stay the same) With that it comes with two time preference, “Early sitting,” which is around 5:45 – 6:00 pm depending on the ship and “Late Sitting,” which normally around 8:15 pm or so.

Second type of dining preference is “Dining anytime,” meaning that you could arrive anytime between 5:45 – 9:30 pm, varies from ship to ship and you will be seated based on the availability. (Keep in mind, your servers may change based on the table location.) You can always fall back to Buffet which is always open from designated listed time.

 
Comparing Norwegian and Princess, I believe they are comparable though we believe that Princess is slightly better in my humble opinion. We reconfirm our experience with the 2^nd trip with Princess to Eastern Caribbean and the dining was really exceptional.

As far as Carnival is concern, well, I must say it is definitely not within my expectation. Let’s be specific, I don’t quite remember the Carnival Victory that we took a 15 years ago. But, Carnival Spirit that we took just a few weeks ago still fresh in my mind. The buffet food selection was okay, the Asian corner was less quality than “The Panda Express.” (Seriously!)  The Fine dining at the main dining room is more or less like a mediocre Italian restaurant or Black Angus Restaurant. Sometimes, I hit jackpot … sometimes it is just NOT to my taste. The dessert selection is not as exquisite as the Princess or Norwegian. (Yes, I am not a dessert person, but even so I noticed!)

Did I mention that all cruise lines have complementary 24-hour room service and you pretty much can get food any time even thru late night. Time to gain few pounds I say!

Ah … attire …

Of course, don’t leave behind those nice dresses/suits that you have. There are always couple nites of formal attires required. More or less time for photo. We participated couple times for the photo session, then we decided to ditch it since we have our own nice camera anyway. But, nevertheless, I always enjoy wearing a nice attire for dining. To me, every nite is formal nite. I simply bring all of my nice dresses that I don’t get to wear normally. Might as well enjoy them at the right time at the right place …

If you decide to hit the gym, don’t forget to bring your gym attires as well. Of course those swim suits/trunks of yours. They come in handy for those beautiful white sand beaches that you would visit along the way. After all, isn’t this what the cruise all about?  

Not enough place to store all of those swimsuits/trunks/gym attires, you say .. Don’t worry, washer-dryer is available (yes, they sell detergents there.)

What else come with the cruise line …?

Actually you might be able to retain your original figure if you choose to hit the Gym/Fitness Center. The Fitness Center is equipped with variety of exercise equipments and the view is outrageous. You are after all standing literally in the middle of the ocean. :-)

Speaking of a luxurious life style, many cruise ships also come with Spa center that can take your relaxation to the next level. Facial, ladies? or perhaps loosen up those tension muscles ... Hm.. that is my kind of life style!

One thing that I noticed that Carnival offer that both Norwegian and Princess cruise lines don’t offer (at least the ships that I were on.) Carnival crews make different towel animals for each night that you are on-board.  Check out the photos that I took on recent cruise: (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150556185441635.429815.736886634&type=1&l=c15ed48ff0)

Also they offer so called, “Show-time” nightly at dinner time where the crews would dance to the rhythm of the music and they encourage anyone to join them. I truly enjoyed this as I participated in couple of those. :-)

All three cruise lines offer nightly show time; please check out the flyer that comes nightly to your cabin as the time and location. They are fun shows, some nights are juggling show, mind reading, hypnosis, comedy and at least couple nights of fun Las Vegas or/and Broadway type of shows. I can’t tell the difference between different cruise lines’ show, each show has its own unique personalities and specialty. To me, they are fun-fun-fun!

Another amenity that Carnival doesn’t offer (at least with Carnival Spirit.) is the tip from the cruise line to us, the passengers, on each island. I know both Princess and Norwegian would print out details information for each port of calls. What the port is famous for, what food, currency, how to get to the down-town, etc. A lot of useful information! This is crucial for those of us who prefer to explore on our own rather than joining the pricy port excursions. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of shore excursions are worthy but still, you want to know your options. That I believe Carnival has not done great job on this. (Again, I am referring to Carnival Sprit leaving from San Pedro, CA to Mexico.)

Most cruise ships come with program for the children/teenagers and such. I don't have much to say since my girls prefer to stay with us. But, for what it worth, check it out!

It is worth to note that all cruise lines recommend that you tip for the service that you have received, most of them will include the recommended tips amount into your account. You could adjust accordingly but I believe most people would take the recommended amount unless you feel otherwise. 

So, which cruise line matter to you? At the end, you need to weigh as what the ship has to offer , Does the port of calls, or amenities, state room and/or food matter to you or the price tag that come with it. You decide then close your eyes and have fun!

Until next stop,
Journey of Life