Royal Caribbean, Princess or Celebrity

November 20, 2004

Hi. Thinking of booking a cruise for 2005 to give to my SO as a christmas gift. We have never cruised before. We have been talking about booking one, but never have gotten around to it, so I figured it would be a nice surpise. I am looking at the following:

Royal Caribbean Adventures of the Sea, Nov 20, 2005 out of San Juan.

Celebrity Constellation, Nov 19, 2005 out of San Juan

Princess Golden Princess Nov 19, 2005 out of San Juan.

I am 40 my SO is 27. We want to have fun, and not just sit around the pool, but that is fine too. We get a lot of conflicting reports about age groups for the ships, with everything from they are all kid orientated to they are all trying to attract crowds over 50. When I called each cruise line, they asked our ages before answering the questions about what ages, types of people, so they could then tailor their responses to our situation.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

PS - I am new here, so I hope my questions don't seem stupid.

GottaCruz · November 20, 2004

Welcome aboard, Glacier. We're glad to have you here with us. I'm sorry I can't answer your questions but we have very friendly and helpful members who can. I hope to see you posting often and hope to get to know you. Cheryl alt text

KeithnRita · November 20, 2004

Glacier,

Welcome to CruiseCrazies! Your three choices are all good, or should we say great, as there are no bad cruises. We have sailed RCI and Celebrity, but have yet to sail Princess, however, we have heard mainly good things about them. We do believe the food and service on Celebrity is a slight cut above RCI, but that's just our opinion. If the price, timing, and itinerary was attractive would not hesitate to cruise on any one of the three. Also, when it comes to cruising there are no stupid questions.

Congratulations on choosing such a wonderful Christmas present for your SO.

JohnG · November 20, 2004

Royal Caribbean, Carnival and NCL are all termed "mass market", which will attract a somewhat younger crowd. I find these more up tempo.

Celebrity, Princess, and Holland America are termed "premium", which will attract a slightly older but not old crowd necessarily. These also offer better food, IMO, and some extras. They also cost a bit more, so that eliminates the pure price shoppers. I find these three more laid back with plenty of quiet places to relax.

Shari2 · November 20, 2004

Welcome aboard, Glacier!

I haven't been on RCCL or Princess, yet, but I love Celebrity. They have great food and service, and they are a little more laid back. I have heard good things about the Constellation! The Constellation may have a bit younger crowd than some of the other Celebrity ships because she is doing the Carribbean from San Juan. A younger friend of mine went on her recently and just loved the ship.

Royal Carribean may have more on board things to do, and a slightly younger crowd. I think that you would enjoy any of these ships, though!