My Favorite Cruise Line...

“Don’t ever confuse motion with progress.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

One of our commenters has asked that I do a comparison of different cruise lines. It's taken me a while to figure out what I want to say about it. I've been blessed to travel on a number of lines and had incredible experiences on all of them. The last thing I want to do is dissuade anyone from traveling on any particular line because of something that I disliked. Everyone has different things that are important to them. Some folks need a casino, a rock wall, laser tag, duplicate bridge play, pool games and bingo. For me, those things are sort of  "meh." I'm a self-confessed musical snob, so my classical leanings make others yawn. Some people enjoy formal nights, other's cringe when they see it on the daily program.

So consider the source and take everything I'm about to share with a grain of salt. 

My first cruise ever was in the early 80's on Costa-3 days, Miami to Nassau & back with my sister. She was a travel agent then on a familiarization trip and was able to take me with her for the amazing price of only $15! We had a great time, but we both decided it's not so much fun to stroll in the moonlight with your sister. She hasn't cruised again, but I was bitten by the cruise bug and never recovered.

Since then, all my cruising has been with the DH (and sometimes with my parents and our kids)--4 days on the now defunct Dolphin line, 7 days on American Hawaiian shortly after 911 (It was the next to last cruise for that historic line that once hosted presidents and Hollywood stars), 12 days on Carnival, 21 days on Cunard, 28 on Norwegian, 86 on Holland America, 127 on Princess, and 133 days (after our next 12 day Search for the Northern Lights cruise) on Viking. All told we will have enjoyed 421 days afloat on various cruise ships. 

It's long enough to learn what we like and what we...like less. 

We're starting to think about another extended voyage, possibly in 2025. We'd love to go sooner, but a total eclipse of the sun is scheduled to roll through our backyard in April 2024 with over 4 minutes of totality and we're expecting lots of family and friends to visit. Besides, the USA won't see another solar eclipse until 2052, and then only in Florida. I suspect I'll be otherwise occupied by then, so this is my last chance to see it! 

So for purposes of comparison, I'll focus on Cunard, HAL, Princess and Viking, the lines we've cruised with longer than a week at a time. 

All 3 Queens were in Southampton at once!

Cunard--I've already done a pretty thorough review of Cunard after our 2019 trip to Norway. Here are the things I love about Cunard, and the things that were a problem. Cunard ticks a lot of boxes for us:

• Fixed dining--I don't want to make a reservation unless I'm going to a specialty restaurant.
• Excellent live music throughout the ship, leaning heavily classical! Concerts, recitals, & a 12 piece orchestra for dancing in the Queen's Room!
• Shows in the theatre featuring West End revues and even ballet!
• Informative and entertaining lectures 
• Free launderette--even the soap is included!
• Room service without an extra fee (at least that's true at the time I'm typing this!)
• Art and dance classes included (there's a small one time fee for paints and brushes)
• Lots of sea days! We love them!
• Formal nights--Elegance is fun to try on now and then, and if they get to be too often for us, we can always stay in and order that free room service!

In the early days after Covid when cruising was just beginning to reopen, many lines would not allow me to sail due to my use of a portable oxygen concentrator. However, Cunard has recently lifted that restriction on a case by case basis, so they are still in the running for our 2025 plans. 

Love how the elevators tell us what day it is! 

Holland America--We've been on a couple of longish voyages on HAL, a 30 day Polynesian cruise in 2016 and our recent 21 day Seattle-Ft. Lauderdale  in 2022. If you have the time to read my posts from both of these adventures, I'm sure you'll notice a change in tone. One was practically giddy and the other disappointed. Not only has covid disrupted cruising, it's played havoc with my expectations. I was hoping for a return to normal, but so many things had changed on HAL, and not for the better. Upcharges in the MDR, reduced and repetitive menus, $25 per person per canvas fees in the art class, arbitrary masking rules--it didn't feel like the Holland America we knew. Still, HAL has some strong points:

• Fixed dining
• Lincoln Center Stage with an excellent piano quartet performing daily
• Engaging mainstage shows
• Formal nights--I do love a chance to see the DH in his tux! 

That said, one main reasons HAL is probably not in the running for a longer future cruise is that they do not have passenger launderettes. We're short 64 loyalty points of getting free laundry, but even so, some of my clothes have never seen the inside of a dryer. I have to be able to do at least some of my own washing.  

First glimpse of the tiny Pacific Princess!

Princess--I used to call this our "Goldilocks" line, everything just about right. Our first world cruise in 2018 on the petite Pacific Princess taught us to love small ships (only 670 passengers.) That voyage was magical from start to finish. Everything was new to us, with the exception of Hawaii and Bermuda, our first and last ports of call. We made some incredible friends and saw so many amazing places. Singing in the passenger choir was a true highlight. The onboard cultural opportunities were wonderful. The Belinda King Dancers who traveled with us and provided 12 productions shows were marvelous. I've never seen such synchronicity in a cruise dance troop. The Princess excursions we took were excellent and varied--better in some respects than the Viking excursions from our 2022 WC!

But I also used to consider Princess a small step down from HAL in terms of quality of experience. By this I mean, included dining choices and onboard entertainment (Princess pipes pop and rock music throughout their ships and, even in 2018, made use of more "canned music" than live musicians.) Since HAL has slipped so, I have to wonder what's happened since our last cruise with Princess. You expect to be pressured hard to buy things if you have a spa treatment, but not elsewhere on board. Is Princess, like HAL, hounding their guests with upselling messages and extra fees?

Then too, the Pacific Princess has been sold and is now the Azamara Onward. The clumsy, badly reconfigured Island Princess is the vessel the line is using for its world cruise now. Among other things, it's missing that lovely aft al fresco dining area we enjoyed so on the PP. (HAL had an approximation of this on the Eurodam, but half of it was reserved for smokers, so if the wind was wrong, the space was spoiled for non-smokers.)

However, a large part of the charm of Princess was in our fellow passengers. They have such an active roll call on Cruise Critic, and everyone was so frank and friendly, it was like a traveling village of people who really got on well. They do have guest launderettes (not free, but at least they are there), and unless they alter their loyalty program again (We've lost our free wifi minutes with them in exchange for a 50% reduction in the cost of an internet package), we'd be Elite by the time we reached Australia and entitled to free laundry service. (Okay, some things I'm happy to send out!)

So it looks like Princess is still on our "to be considered" list, though I think we'd need to take a shorter cruise on the Island Princess before committing to a longer one. Just to see what has changed.,,

Viking--We broke a cardinal rule when we booked our 2022 World Cruise on the Star. It reads: 

"Thou shalt not take a world cruise on a line you've never sailed with before."

Adding to that uncertainty, we were sailing into the face of the Omicron outbreak. All the Austral-Asian countries we were slated to visit were closing down. We knew going in that we'd be masked on the ship, on our excursions and rigorously tested every day we were onboard, but we didn't know where we were going until the day before embarkation when the entire trip was stood on its head with a brand new itinerary. (If you check the green header of this blog, you'll see all three iterations of our planned route.)  

But Viking proved itself so resilient. (As someone who's been married to a Norwegian for almost 47 years, I might also class this as Scandinavian Stubbornness!) The company was determined to make our cruise work and, more than that, to make it a world class experience. They succeeded on every level. 

We were delighted at every turn. Because the ship was below capacity (550 guests on a ship that can comfortably carry 970) there was almost a 1:1 ratio between crew and guests. The service was open-hearted and impeccable. What felt like genuine affection radiated from everyone associated with Viking toward us. We were pampered and protected. "No" was not in their vocabulary.

The calming Scandinavian decor was balm for the turbulent world swirling around us. (Some unkind folk have described the clean, uncluttered design as IKEA on steroids, but I loved it. God save me from the seizure-inducing flashiness of a Carnival ship!) The food was beyond anything we'd ever experienced. The menus were exotic and exciting, but we could always "run home to Momma" for a Viking burger at the pool grill if things seemed too extreme! 

Everything was included--Business class airfare, luggage service for embarkation, an excursion in each port, lavish amounts of on board credit, a Silver Service drinks package (which means only unlimited soft drinks and specialty coffees to us, but amounts to copious choices in alcoholic beverages for our shipmates), pre-paid gratuities, free dining in specialty restaurants, art classes, unlimited access to the Nordic spa (which is only a little bit short of a religious experience!), excellent lecturers, a wonderful entertainment staff as well as high quality guest entertainers, guest launderettes and when we sent a few things out to be washed, there was no charge. 

Sorry this cabin tour is in two parts. I got interrupted by my phone, reminding me to "take a pill, take a pill!"

We actually booked an entry level V2 balcony cabin but were upgraded 3 tiers to a D5 balcony!

But as is true with so many things in life, you get what you pay for. Viking was a huge stretch for us financially, though it helped that we were offered a $5000 reduction in fare for early payment, and an additional 3.3% off for allowing the company to debit our account instead paying by credit card. Then at the end of our world cruise, we were given a $10,000 voucher toward a future cruise with Viking, (which is how we're making the Search for the Northern Lights trip for basically the cost of our airfare and extra excursions.) So in hindsight, our 2022 World Cruise was a bargain! 

However, Viking has not been immune to the Covid downturn. The other cruise lines seem to be trying to make up lost revenue by nickeling and diming their guests. Viking has chosen to raise its fares. The 2025 Viking World Cruise, while enticing, is now priced beyond our reach. We might be able to do one of its Grand Voyages (their Australia, Asia & Alaska calls to me) but sadly, not another world cruise.  

So...which is my favorite cruise line? 

The one that takes me where I want to go. And that's sort of a moving target, because the world is ever changing and my travel dreams change with it. Once all the 2025 itineraries are out, I'll revisit this and share what we decide on and why. 

Thanks for putting up with my rambling. Please share your questions and comments!