Hi there,
we have cruised with Holland America to Alaska and Celebrity to Europe.
We are from Australia and don't know much about RCCL. They seem to have some good itineries we are interested in. We are in our 30's and 40's and are wondering how the cruiseline compares to the other ones we have been on.
We enjoy the pool area, casino, bars, quiet nooks and crannies etc.
Thanks in advacne
Donna

We have been on all three. Each has strong points. RCCL of course owns Celebrity so there are some similarities. RCCL has some very huge ships that carry many people, but they are well designed and never seem crowded.

We actually felt the food was better in the dining room on RCCL than on Celebrity. However, the specialty dining (for which you pay extra) was much better on Celebrity and we felt worth the cost. Not true on RCCL - it was very good but not so much better than the main dining room to justify the extra money.

Holland ships are elegant and well done up. The service is excellent and they have very good food. We have not been on HA in a few years so do not know what current passenger mix is like. It used to tip towards the more mature group, say 50s and up.

Celebrity and RCCL, at least on our cruises, have a nice mixed group age wise.

I think, if you were happy with Celebrity, you will like RCCL.

From our experience Celebrity is a far better cruise line. than RCCL..Holland America attracts a much, much older crowd no matter what they say.. RCCL the ships that have rock climbing, ice skating rinks.. Celebrity is a much classier ship. On our cruise last year we had a mixed group..

Try: www.cruisecritic.com. for tons of reviews. I've haven't been on X or HAL but have been on RCCL. Much of the reading I've done is consistent with PM's assessment.

I have been on RCI (3x), HAL, and Celebrity all in the last nine months.

HAL and X were heads above RCI in the food and service department.

On my March HAL cruise, there were far fewer seniors than on HAL many years ago when I cruised with them.

I am just off RCI's Jewel of the Seas. The ship is beautiful but it was a mass of kids, strollers, noise and people dressed for dinner and after in t shorts and shorts, the worst of any RCI cruise in my history (49 over 30 years).

Forget quiet nooks and crannies; we stayed on our balcony.

They even took up valuable pool space with flea market sale tables of t shirts and gold by the inch. Tacky.

We opted for specialty dining every evening of the cruise as the dining room menus were boring.

I would stick with HAL and Celebrity personally. The amusement park atmosphere was annoying.

I think if you were happy on Celebrity, RCI would disappoint.

The M class ships of Celebrity are built on the exact same hull as RCI's Radiance class of ships (their best, IMO). RCI however, packs in 600 more passengers and you can feel everyone.

We were on a HAL cruise to the Mexican riviera last week, our third HAL cruise.

There were many, many families - more children than I've ever seen on the two previous cruises. In fact, the hotel manager told me that the usual number of children per cruise is around 30, but last week there were 500! Of course, that also brought down the average age range of the passengers, not to mention the level of class I've associated with HAL in the past. There were 5 casual nights on the cruise, and I would guess that about 30% of the "grown" men wore jeans, something I never saw on our previous cruises.

So if you want a classy cruise experience, with an older, more elegant clientele, stay with HAL - but not during holiday weeks.