If you had to pick..

[Marc D]

Thank you everyone for your responses! We have been looking at sailing on Celebrity. I have 3 kiddos (2, 8, & 9.5) so I know that DCL is great for them but I don't think we will be sailing on them exclusively going forth. I would be interested to see what kind of experience their kiddos have had with the programs on Celebrity.

Quite honestly, Celebrity is not geared toward kids that age so don't expect a great program. They advertise their 'Camp at sea' but, for us, there was a large gap between what they mentioned and what we saw.

On our last Celebrity cruise, our son had just turned 9. He was used to the clubs on DCL and we had given him permission to check himself out of them for a couple of cruises. When we went to visit the club on Celebrity Silhouette, it was deserted. No kids at all and only one CM. The rules were very restricting : we had to pre-book him to specific activities ; since he was not 10, he could only attend the activities and could not leave them or a specific space that was more suited for little kids and that reminded him of his old kindergarten.

If he wanted to register, he had to obtain a wrist band. We asked him if he wanted one. He immediately said no. We agreed with him that the space and the rules were not very appealing. We didn't mind since this was a port-heavy cruise (14 nights Baltic cruise) and we weren't expecting the kids club to be a significant part of his cruise. We went by the space a few times and we saw very few kids. Maybe if it had been a Caribbean cruise, it would have been different.

 

[dez1978]

I've never sailed Celebrity, but a couple of things.

1. I think their ships are extremely ugly, even uglier than MSC. They look like commercial fishing boats.

2. This isn't Celebrity-specific, but onboard casinos are such a huge turn-off. It would take a lot for me to get on a ship with one. And most (all?) allow smoking, and the smell doesn't stay contained.

Lol, the casino is probably the only draw of a cruise for my DH

 

[quickcat]

We have been on many Disney cruises but also been on Carnival, Princess and Royal. I can say hands down we loved Royal just as much! We have a cruise planned on their new Wonder ship and also the new Disney Wish as well- we are looking forward to comparing them
I know people talk about the casino but I can honestly say on Royal, I never even had to walk through the casino so it didn’t bother us at all. Have a great time no matter which line you decide on

 

[tidefan]

Our go-to line outside of DCL is and will probably for the most part be Princess. We really like the overall package, plus our DD (a teen) actually prefers it to DCL. Love the food and there is always something going on. Plus.. Alfredo's... Can never go wrong with Princess. We did RCCL Oasis in January and it was "OK", but we followed that up in March with Carnival Mardi Gras and all of us preferred the Mardi Gras. I did not anticipate that prior to taking those two cruises. You may want to check out Mardi Gras, I think it's definitely worth a look.

OTOH, having done our first Virgin Voyages cruise this past November, we will be sailing more with them as well. To me, it's the "Adult" version of DCL (it's 18+ only...)

 

[Dug720]

OTOH, having done our first Virgin Voyages cruise this past November, we will be sailing more with them as well. To me, it's the "Adult" version of DCL (it's 18+ only...)

I'd be more interested in hearing your experience with Virgin. It strikes me as very "Vegas" and Vegas has never held any appeal for me.

 

[disneynme]

We are looking at the Edge class ships on Celebrity. They are absolutely beautiful and look so amazing! Our daughter is 19, so no worry on the kids clubs. So glad to hear so many choose Celebrity.

 

[Dug720]

We are looking at the Edge class ships on Celebrity. They are absolutely beautiful and look so amazing! Our daughter is 19, so no worry on the kids clubs. So glad to hear so many choose Celebrity.

I sailed on Edge just before everything shut down and LOVED it. Eden is one of the best meals I've ever had in my life. And the Oceanview Cafe and the MDRs are nice as well.

Yes, there's a casino, but I did not find it nearly as intrusive as I have casinos on some other lines - if that's a concern.

 

[tidefan]

I'd be more interested in hearing your experience with Virgin. It strikes me as very "Vegas" and Vegas has never held any appeal for me.

Funny you say that. Virgin’s marketing needs some help. Not sure what I expected, but I thought it all may be like a floating tattoo parlor…

When we got on, we realized how wrong we were. Virgin is very upscale. IMHO, they don’t push that enough. The food is amazing and we found the atmosphere to be great. I would not describe it as “Vegas” at all.

 

[Dug720]

Funny you say that. Virgin’s marketing needs some help. Not sure what I expected, but I thought it all may be like a floating tattoo parlor…

When we got on, we realized how wrong we were. Virgin is very upscale. IMHO, they don’t push that enough. The food is amazing and we found the atmosphere to be great. I would not describe it as “Vegas” at all.

Ah... So it's the like the "Fun Ship" advertising that Carnival used to do that embedded "Party Ship Atmosphere" in everyone's heads and they're still trying to overcome it for many of us?

(It doesn't help that the one vlog I really looked at had the two guys discovering a very, um, adult "favor" in the room that they said came standard with that room type. I'm not a prude, but I do not need that kind of "gift" from anyone or any corporation.

 

[tidefan]

Ah... So it's the like the "Fun Ship" advertising that Carnival used to do that embedded "Party Ship Atmosphere" in everyone's heads and they're still trying to overcome it for many of us?

(It doesn't help that the one vlog I really looked at had the two guys discovering a very, um, adult "favor" in the room that they said came standard with that room type. I'm not a prude, but I do not need that kind of "gift" from anyone or any corporation.

Yes, about that. There is a "show" you can attend and get those things, but if you know not to attend that specific show, you'd never know the better. Those "items" that were in the room were only on the UK cruises and they removed them when the ship came Stateside...

 

[DVC Doc]

OTOH, having done our first Virgin Voyages cruise this past November, we will be sailing more with them as well. To me, it's the "Adult" version of DCL (it's 18+ only...)

Completely agree with you! We are platinum+ DCL cruisers with no kids and did our first Virgin Voyages this past January and were blown away by the experience! Definitely not the “Vegas” experience you get on Carnival or RCCL, I more think of Virgin as a very large “mega yacht.” The food is exceptional, the crew is diverse and extremely happy (we met a lot who are former DCL), and the ship is just stunning.

Disney was the disruptor to the cruise industry in 1998, and in 2022 the disruptor is Virgin. And it comes as no surprise as their CEO Tom McAlpin was formerly the head of DCL! We have two cruises coming up on the Wish and will be sailing Virgin in the Med next summer!

(It doesn't help that the one vlog I really looked at had the two guys discovering a very, um, adult "favor" in the room that they said came standard with that room type. I'm not a prude, but I do not need that kind of "gift" from anyone or any corporation.

Definitely did not have this in our suite

 

[tidefan]

Completely agree with you! We are platinum+ DCL cruisers with no kids and did our first Virgin Voyages this past January and were blown away by the experience! Definitely not the “Vegas” experience you get on Carnival or RCCL, I more think of Virgin as a very large “mega yacht.” The food is exceptional, the crew is diverse and extremely happy (we met a lot who are former DCL), and the ship is just stunning.

Disney was the disruptor to the cruise industry in 1998, and in 2022 the disruptor is Virgin. And it comes as no surprise as their CEO Tom McAlpin was formerly the head of DCL! We have two cruises coming up on the Wish and will be sailing Virgin in the Med next summer!



Definitely did not have this in our suite

Yep. We will be on Scarlet Lady again in August and on Valiant Lady next March!

 

[holula]

Funny you say that. Virgin’s marketing needs some help. Not sure what I expected, but I thought it all may be like a floating tattoo parlor…

When we got on, we realized how wrong we were. Virgin is very upscale. IMHO, they don’t push that enough. The food is amazing and we found the atmosphere to be great. I would not describe it as “Vegas” at all.

Virgin’s advertising had absolutely turned off off sailing with them but I’ve seen several people really love their ships and cruise. Maybe I’ll give it a try.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Anyone have any comments about MSC?

Just got off the MSC Meraviglia. We haven't been on a ton of cruises (it was our 4th) but I would put them behind RCL and Carnival. The ship was nice but entertainment was weak, the food was average, and their customer service off ship is awful.

We got a fantastic price on the cruise (7 night for $1,000 for a balcony stateroom with drink package and internet package included) and would do it again at that price. If the pricing was similar to other lines? Nope.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Just got off the MSC Meraviglia. We haven't been on a ton of cruises (it was our 4th) but I would put them behind RCL and Carnival. The ship was nice but entertainment was weak, the food was average, and their customer service off ship is awful.

We got a fantastic price on the cruise (7 night for $1,000 for a balcony stateroom with drink package and internet package included) and would do it again at that price. If the pricing was similar to other lines? Nope.

Thanks. I have often looked at their page and wondered why their prices weren't as high as many of the other lines. That gave me pause.

What was the food like?

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Thanks. I have often looked at their page and wondered why their prices weren't as high as many of the other lines. That gave me pause.

What was the food like?

Main dining room was pretty much what you would expect from other cruise lines. 5 options for each course. Small portions but you can of course order more. The pasta dishes were usually good (MSC is an Italian line originally) but some of the others were mediocre. They only offered steak 1 night and it was pretty mediocre... I could cook better at home for sure.

The buffet had some really good pizza and a nice salad bar but otherwise the options weren't great. There was very little rotation in the offerings as well so it seemed pretty repetitive by day 7. I think I had the same exact breakfast 3 days in a row.

Everything was edible but I just don't feel like anything stood out on the food side. The only really good meal we had on board was at an upcharge restaurant.

If anything should give you pause, it's their customer service haha. We paid $100 extra to book a specific room (mid ship). 2 weeks after booking they took our room selection away from us and put us in a "guaranteed balcony" room. I posted about it in a facebook group for the ship replied with "yeah, the 9th floor is a quarantine floor... don't know why they let people book those." Up until the week of our cruise we still didn't have a room assignment. 3 calls that week resulted in 3 different stories from customer service agents, the last one being able to read off a list of rooms for me to choose from. Stuff like that is when you realize where they are saving money I guess.

 

[Intr3pid]

I have no idea why anyone would recommend Viking - or Oceania or Regent or Silversea - to someone looking for a comparable to Disney. Those cruise lines aren't just for adults - they are for 60+ year old group. A quarter of the guests might even have pacemakers and oxygen tanks in the tow. Yes, you will love those small ships for itineraries and on-board service - which are really top-notch - but the entertainment is seriously lacking and your kids will be bored like no tomorrow.

OP, where are you planning to cruise?