Anyway, while some of our friends are enjoying upgrades and various perks on their cruises because they always cruise with the same cruise line - we are not. Because we choose the cruise based on who is going where we want to go - when we want to go - at the price we want to pay.
Our last cruise was with Holland America. We were told we'd be the youngest people on board. (Darn, it wasn't true!) But so far, we've cruised with Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Holland America.
I liked Holland America. Embarkation was a breeze - minimal waiting. (I don't know if that was a function of Holland America or the Port Everglades Terminal. - So many variables! I just know that I've waited in line at Galveston, Houston, Miami and Port Canaveral for Norwegian, Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean.)
Every cruise line has a target demographic. I'm really not sure what all of them are, but I'm pretty sure I'm not in Carnival's target demographic. They tend to have lots of kids on board - but kudos to them - you don't actually see those kids. But they also like to have events like "hairy chest" contests and belly flop contests - things that just don't hold a lot of appeal for us.
We've been happy with Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Princess. I think it was Princess that had the egg drop contest - devising a way to drop a raw egg from the top of the atrium to the bottom without breakage. Ours didn't break, but that wasn't the sole criteria for winning - it was also a popularity vote. (If you had your entire family on board, you were more likely to win.) I also think it was Princess that had the fun champagne fountain where all the ladies were invited to pour champagne into stacked glasses.
Holland America didn't seem to have any goofy contests, and that was okay. We were happy with evening trivia and you really only need those other diversions if it's a rainy day at sea.
Anyway, we haven't been on MSC - I heard that it was rowdy - sort of like Carnival - so I was avoiding it. But I also read that they have installed state of the art safety features - so maybe I should reconsider. We also have not been on Celebrity. No reason for that other than the itinerary we wanted has always been less expensive on another line. I know there are some other lines, like Seabourn that we'll probably never consider just because the ships are smaller and consequently they charge more. I've also heard that Cunard still has different classes of passengers. Apparently this defines where you can eat. I don't know if it limits access to entertainment, but we're not likely to book a cruise that divides people that way.
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