So my take from your review is, if you want a certain feature then you have to pick a specific ship. But if you want the best overall and most 1st, 2nd and honorable mentions for one ship, then the pick is clear...NCL's Prima. Seems to cover the most bases from entertainment, food, ocean blvd, music venue, beauty of the ship, cabins..etc. and I must say that I agree. While it's not a perfect ship or cruise line we sailed on her ( 2nd sailing 12/16/23) and she hit on all that you mention.
Prima is a beautiful ship, and we did enjoy the dining and entertainment, but some venues are too small. Also, getting reservations can be difficult. Happy cruising.
Lee was such a good cruise director that I recognized him instantly when he showed on screen, and I've only been on one cruise and that was is 2019. Going on another one in a few days !
This comparison is so helpful if, like me, you are trying to decide which ship fits your style/preference the best. We just came back from Carnival Celebration and you are on point on quick dining/burger. But I’m now looking for different vibes/style for our next cruise so was happy to find your video!
The only thing I disagree with is that the cruise line is not try to kee track of how much you drink. They set a limit because after a point the will not be making as much money off the package.
Top of the list for cruise director, on our 14 day TA cruise to Rome, in my experience, Luigi on Celebrity Beyond!! High energy signature entrance with "Hola!", charismatic and overall personable! He even greeted guests as we disembarked individually!
Loved this review. So refreshing to get valuable information not people who are just ego vlogging. Didn't agree with your Prima comments. I thought the three story race track was a disaster as not enough space by the main pool. Also the drop slides were not received well. Slow and people getting stuck...We deffo need to go on Celebrity Beyond.
This is a great overall comparison of most major cruise lines’ new ships. I’m sharing this with my friends who haven’t yet decided which cruise line to sail with. Thank you for sharing the strengths of each of these new ships. Definitely do these new ship comparisons at the beginning of each year!
donna manitu, I can say that you will likely find much to enjoy aboard Holland America's ships, including the Rotterdam, which, though it is super new, is not on the scale of Carnival's or Royal Caribbean's mega-ships. Both Rotterdam and Royal Caribbean ships generally have excellent adults-only areas e.g., Solarium on Rhapsody of the Seas....and that includes its own cafe, swimming pool, fitness-centre, spa, salon, and heated Jacuzzis. You would not believe that you are on the same Pool Deck on the same ship . . . with the main buffet restaurant and the main pool-area not far away physically, but miles away in terms of quietness, uncrowdedness, and convenience.
You NAILED IT! I haven't been fortunate enough to go on all of these new ships (I'm jealous!), but I've experienced many of these lines and researched a lot. I correctly guessed most of the category winners, or at least the honorable mentions, lol. I agree with your assessments, and I think many other people would too. Thanks for the video!
Surprised at the focus on ‘fast food’ on a cruise on Carnival celebration. With the primo food available on all of these ships. Last thing I want to consider. Can get that crap any time of day of the week.
The cruise experience is not just about the ships. I Would love to see you do a comparison of the Boarding process....queueing, priority boarding, waiting areas and facilities prior to boarding. How swiftly is checked in luggage delivered to your cabin. A comparison around Room Attendants in some basic functions like room being serviced, or a basic request such as providing of an extra towel or some coffee mugs for the room. Guest Services is also a biggy that can create a lasting impression ( good or bad ) . How well do Guest Services resolve an issue, or reconcile your on board account I would like a comparison between the cruise lines Disembarkation process during port stops, Priority disembarkation At cruise end luggage handling, priority disembarkation, and collection once cruise has finished would also be helpful for us to make informed choices around which cruise line we spend our money with. The End to End experience is just as important to me as dining or entertainment. Thank you for a great video to start the conversation around what line or ship to cruise on.
I can't give you a comparison like the poster did, but I can tell you that we were VERY happy with Virgin Voyages boarding process. THey board later than other lines, with terminal arrival times assigned beginning at 1:30. You are asked to NOT show up more than 30 minutes before your assigned time. If you do, in Miami you can drop your luggage and board a bus for a nearby shopping center (continuous loop bus trips) and return when scheduled. In Barcelona, you can have a seat in a nearby plaza or coffee shop. We showed up about 25 minutes before our assigned time and were able to get right into the check in and carry on screening area. We had done the on line pre-check, so check in took maybe 2 minutes. Then, because boarding hadn't started yet, we were seated in a waiting area. There was a different waiting area for people in suites. At 1:30, the crew member supervising the area excused herself, saying that it was time to board but she hadn't gotten clearance for us to proceed yet. She returned a few minutes later and started the boarding process which moved VERY quickly. When my bracelet was scanned, the security man said that he needed to retake my photo--grabbed a tablet and did it without any real interruption to the line. We went directly to our cabin, and within minutes our host came and introduced himself. We basically dropped our carry ons, used the restroom, and were ready to head to lunch when our luggage arrived. While I didn't look at the clock, I think it was about 1:45. We went to The Galley and ordered, and while waiting for our food, watched the safety video on our phones. I know that my "video complete" time was 1:56. So VERY smooth, fast, embarkation and luggage was fast. If you show up more than 30 minutes prior to your assigned arrival time and essentially refuse to leave, you will be lined up in queues based on your assigned time. There is really no point in doing this. You might get to start processing a few minutes before your assigned time, but not by much. If you arrive and have not done the pre-check on the app, you will be directed to an area where you can complete this with help from crew, so you are not delaying those who arrived with this completed. This was SO much better than any other line we have sailed. The only "wait" time was from about 1:10 to 1:30 which was on us as we chose to arrive the 25 minutes before our assigned time...and we were seated comfortably during this time. You can select your terminal arrival time on the app. For our next cruise, we selected about 5 1/2 months in advance of the cruise, I don't know when it "opens." to select.
I personally have loved Msc Yacht club on Seashore and Celebrity Beyond Retreat both for food. Definitely were the best for food on seas hands down. I also thought Celebrity Beyonds entertainment was un matched. I also have sailed Wonder and thought the stand out was 150 central park speciality restaurant. And in my opinion nothing will ever beat cruise director Matt Mitcham we had him on the Vista many years ago. If you were lucky to sail with Matt you already know what im saying. For experience Msc Yacht club beats everything out there not only on price but service. Celebrity Retreat is also one of the best experiences out there just expensive.
I have not heard you mention the Carnival Magic. Why ? Is the Magic at the bottom of the cruise ship list, or do you just evaluate the very top cruise ships. Many friends of mine and myself included, want to cruise again post CoVid. We want good dining and menus, good service, and amenities, but we do not wish to spend a fortune for a 2 - or 3-week cruise.
You’re right about the Disney Wish. Having been on their other ships, we were not impressed with the Wish. Yes it was beautiful, but it left much to be desired compared to their other ships.
Great video! I'm convinced that there is no "best" cruise ship or line, but rather it is a matter of which line is best for you/your family at this time in your life or perhaps based on what you want out of this vacation.. Has Princess gone back to their original pizza recipe? They used to be great, and then they changed to "artificial" cheese and it was awful. I'll second that the pizza on Valiant Lady was great. I'll also give Virgin best overall food at sea. I've had isolated better items on other lines, but never had a cruise with such overall excellent food that compared to upcharge dining on most other lines.
I really liked your video, its very thorough and full of great content. I even subscribed. What i didnt like though was how you referred to Your wife. She is not "The Wife" she has an identity and should be valued as so. She's your wife. When referring to her it should be by name or try My Wife. This isnt the 60's. Great video though and i look forward to watching more.
That was an awesome, well organized video. Thank you. From this I know I still want to try Disney, but Carnival Celebration and Norwegian Prima seem to be my next two big ship choices. I still prefer the smaller older ships, but you made these new ones sound enjoyable.
SeaTravelr123, I agree with your comment about the smaller, older ships. I think that, among all these new ships for years 2022 and 2023, therefore, you will enjoy Holland America's Rotterdam the most. It has many new features and technologies, while retaining the mid-size ship ambience, comfortable numbers of guests (2,000 to 2,500), breathtaking art and decor, excellent dining, and the best organised Buffet Deck that I have seen at any venue at sea or on land. Rarely do libraries get a mention in documentaries like this, but Rotterdam has the most beautiful and best organised and well presented library that I have seen anywhere, at sea or on land. It is one of those reliably quiet spaces for people who need some solitude, or simply a suitable place to read, to write, or to think.
Although the video is nicely edited, narrated and structured, ultimately the cruise lines you compared should never be compared in that way. You compared premium cruise lines (also targetted towards different customers) with mainstream mega cruises. The premium lines will almost always be inherently a step up in most areas, unless you're looking for a more resort like atmosphere, but these are segments which cannot be compared side by side like this.
Thanks for watching. Many of the contemporary cruise lines actually did quite well. We compared mega ships, not luxury lines like Viking or Oceania, which we also sailed on in 2022. We appreciate the feedback. Happy cruising.
The ships are all made by 2-3 companies, financed in the same manner, and cost about the same. It's how the operators choose to decorate, maintain, and use them that is different. And, like anything, newer is often cleaner, more plugs, etc because rarely is there reinvestment beyond basic cosmetic and soft items.
@@Eatsleepcruise1 well i guess definitions for mega ships differ, and i know you weren’t comparing to luxury lines, but princess, celebrity, holland should not be compared to carnival or msc, not only because they are different but also because they are for very different customer segments.
@@Kingblazeforever okay well what do you back that statement with? Because I’ve studied the cruise industry for years and interviewed VP’s of cruise corporations, so when i gave that constructive feedback to the youtuber, i did it as someone who understands the industry
as a relatively new cruiser who isn't loyal to anyone this comparison works for me because it's perfectly valid to look at all types of ships and experiences first then you can narrow your choice down from there. Your comment works if I only wanted to look at one type of ship. I'm looking at all of them.
Tough call. We would say find an itinerary going to glacier bay national park. Then, if you are looking for low key, pick HAL or Celebrity. For families, we are partial to Royal Caribbean.
Thanks for watching and for the suggestion. Which ship are you considering? If you have any questions about the vessels, please let us know. Happy cruising!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video. That’s a tough question. HAL Rotterdam is doing crossing now as part of its 150 anniversary that are cool. They have great food and live music. But not as many bells and whistles as say Norwegian Prima. Of course, we are also fond of Celebrity Beyond. Any of these 3 would be great for a crossing.
That's why I sail when kids are in school. I was just on Rhapsody of the Seas and there were only 5 kids in the whole ship, all from one family. Never saw them the whole cruise.
I have kids and I totally understand that 😊😊😊 I tell my kids don't make me or anyone else miserable on the ship! 😂 Yes, I have gone without kids as well.
I'm going on the Celebration!! Was the main dining OK at least? What was you thoughts on the ship looks like alot of class ?? I loved your walkthrough of the ship!!
Seeing all the comments I had to say something. I've been cruising for years and the most important part of the cruise is your attitude versus expectations. If you go on a cruise not wanting crowds well oops you just booked Celebration which has close to 10k people on board. The reason why cruising is the best is it caters to what YOU want to do. One last thing if you don't like the food go eat somewhere else, every ship has a ton of options and the quality and safety of the food is very high to keep illness down because healthcare is expensive for the ship swell end Rant!
No offense, man and I appreciate the work you have put into this, but this is not really a true comparison where nothing negative is mentioned. I have been to 3 of these ships already, and there are a number of issues in many of the categories you mentioned ie food and entertainment. When a comparison is being made, it is helpful together with the positives to also include the negatives so as to be able to make informed decisions.
I am a bit confused about your night life section and your pizza section. You mentioned virgin voyages for pizza but did not name the ship. As for the night life you said MSC had the best but you never mentioned what ship in MSC.
That dude was just being an a-hole. As a fat person, I wish everyone would realize that no fat person has to be told they are fat. They already know. It’s never a “do you really think so? I had no clue”. Some people
"Carnival Celebration" "Carnival Celebration" "Carnival Celebration" really??? I hope all viewers understand that the overwhelming praise for this ship comes from a biased point of view;; all reviews depends on passenger ages, families / non families, young children/no children . . . from this review one would think Carnival payed you handsomely for their win. BTW, I enjoyed every cruise I took on Carnival (and no fights occurred!!!!) but really . . . .
DO NOT ever go on NCL cruise line. They charge extra for everything, cancel stops at their discretion, Make sea days out of stops to safe money, They plainly suck...... They hire inexperience people to work on their ships and pay them less than other cruise lines. The free perks that they give you are not worth it. Book with other cruise lines and you will be happier....
I agree. I did an NCL years ago and was woken up every morning to a banging sound. Like metal on a pipe. It was so annoying, we had to change our room halfway through the cruise. No assistance or anything. Food was gross too. That was my first and last sailing on NCL.
Also agree. Been on 2 NCL cruises many years ago and felt nickeled and dimed at every turn. Food in MDR was horrible, I believe deliberately to get you into a specialty dinning venue. Never again.