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Old 14 Oct 18, 01:12 PM  
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sdf
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Hawaii

Hi, we are considering our next cruise and really fancy Hawaii. Now I know dcl are sold out and who knows when they’ll sail there again.

We have only ever sailed with Disney and now there will only be the two of us as the kids are too old now.

Our intention was to stick with dcl however having looked at celebrity they are so much cheaper. I dont particularly want to try another cruise line however can the Disney prices be justified for that particular itinerary? I know it’s all opinion however it’s a lot of money no matter who you go with. I wouldn’t want to regret making the wrong choice.
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Old 14 Oct 18, 03:58 PM  
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catlady
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I've only sailed DCL and Celebrity, and love both cruise lines for different reasons! This year we have done the Celebrity Equinox and the Magic. It's very difficult to say how people will feel about a different cruise line, but we go into it expecting a different experience.

For me DCL is about the characters, shows and theming and meeting like minded Disney fans. Celebrity is more about the food, itineraries and relaxing? Personally if they were the same price I would choose DCL, dh would choose Celebrity. I prefer the food on Celebrity and the more adult areas, but not keen on the casino! (Although it's non smoking &#128077. I also think there's more drink oriented entertainment, mainly because of drink packages and it's a more adult crowd. The upcharge restaurants on celebrity are excellent. There's also anytime dining which we enjoy! However I also miss the themed restaurants and shared tables on DCL!

The Celebrity cabins feel more spacious to me? I prefer the bathrooms too as not a fan of the split bathroom in DCL! I also prefer a shower.

Service is very good on both lines, bit less friendly maybe on Celebrity? But little in it.

Entertainment is not as good for me on Celebrity? Its not bad, but not my thing. I prefer Disney shows etc by far. But dh prefers Celebrity!

I think you just have to try and see really? But if you do go, have an open mind and try not to compare, they are different experiences and types of holiday! I would certainly be happy to sail with either again! 😁

There aren't that many but worth looking at YouTube video vlogs, might give you a feel of Celebrity? Plus their new ships that are coming look amazing!
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Old 14 Oct 18, 09:59 PM  
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Originally Posted by catlady View Post
I've only sailed DCL and Celebrity, and love both cruise lines for different reasons! This year we have done the Celebrity Equinox and the Magic. It's very difficult to say how people will feel about a different cruise line, but we go into it expecting a different experience.

For me DCL is about the characters, shows and theming and meeting like minded Disney fans. Celebrity is more about the food, itineraries and relaxing? Personally if they were the same price I would choose DCL, dh would choose Celebrity. I prefer the food on Celebrity and the more adult areas, but not keen on the casino! (Although it's non smoking &#128077. I also think there's more drink oriented entertainment, mainly because of drink packages and it's a more adult crowd. The upcharge restaurants on celebrity are excellent. There's also anytime dining which we enjoy! However I also miss the themed restaurants and shared tables on DCL!

The Celebrity cabins feel more spacious to me? I prefer the bathrooms too as not a fan of the split bathroom in DCL! I also prefer a shower.

Service is very good on both lines, bit less friendly maybe on Celebrity? But little in it.

Entertainment is not as good for me on Celebrity? Its not bad, but not my thing. I prefer Disney shows etc by far. But dh prefers Celebrity!

I think you just have to try and see really? But if you do go, have an open mind and try not to compare, they are different experiences and types of holiday! I would certainly be happy to sail with either again! 😁

There aren't that many but worth looking at YouTube video vlogs, might give you a feel of Celebrity? Plus their new ships that are coming look amazing!
Thanks so much for that in-depth reply. It’s very helpful. We both love DCL and find it hard to imagine sailing with anyone else but cost is a factor when considering for example Hawaii.
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Old 14 Oct 18, 10:32 PM  
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TGT
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I did a Hawaiian cruise in February. My criteria was to see as many islands as possible, with as little 'at sea' time as possible as I'm not great on the water. We'd done a 3 night Disney cruise a couple of years before and loved it.

There are a lot of Hawaiian cruises but my favoured itinerary was Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America. This is a 7-day cruise every week of the year. It leaves from Oahu, does 2 nights in Maui and Kaui and 1 night in Hilo and Kona. We'd been to Hawaii before including a 4-island bus tour and a 2-island 8-day visit, so knew what we were getting into. The other itineraries I looked at all had 4 days+ at sea from Vancouver or California and I knew that wasn't for me when I could fly to Oahu. We did add a couple of days in Oahu prior to the cruise, then returned on the day we left the cruise.

Norwegian is not for everyone. They have 'freestyle dining' - you go eat where you want to go eat when you want to (it's not early and late sitting). You can prebook restaurants - including the free sit-down ones, and some fares include 'speciality' restaurants - or you can just pay up to them. A UK fare includes all alcohol (to $15) 24/7 and fancy coffees with dinners, also gratuities and 1l bottle of water per day. Suite fares come with more. You don't (generally) get the same waiters every night, you sit with who you want to. If you do a Dibb search on Hawaii you'll see me going into more detail. You can't take liquids on board (can take sealed wine for a $15 corkage fee, nothing else, not even water).

But, while you CAN dress up, it's not a dressy cruise, it's casual, and that's what I like - I do NOT want to dress up and I didn't. Jeans were okay in ALL restaurants. To me dressing up is NOT wearing jeans, forget a cocktail dress. I like not being put on someone else's table (like Disney did, even though they were nice people, I didn't want to have to make polite conversation every night) We loved it.

So, take a look at NCL's Pride of America itinerary - if you want more information I'm happy to bore you. We did only one of their excursions, but I've done others on previous trips. There were 6 of us and we knew our way around so we rented minivans at each stop and it was fabulous. Saved us a lot too.

We loved Norwegian so much, we are just back from a Norwegian Alaska cruise on the Jewel, only 6 months after Hawaii. While similar it's not quite the same, but we still loved the freestyle nature of the dining and the casual air onboard. Norwegian is now our go-to cruise line. My mom has done MSC and Fred Olsen and they were both "posher" in the expectation of dressing up. She, as I, loved Disney, and if money was no object things might be different but for the Hawaii itinerary Pride of America can't be beaten. You are only at sea overnight, no days at sea (boring!) and not long distances anyway. A bad sailor's dream cruise!

If you want more information about Pride of America don't hesitate to ask. Sadly, I'm not on commission. My friend who came with us is booked to go on the same cruise again with their son (20) next year.
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Old 15 Oct 18, 06:59 AM  
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Omega1
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We haven’t sailed Disney but have sailed on Celebrity and NCL Pride of America {Hawaii) as well as four other cruise lines. The reviews above are excellent and very balanced. The NCL cruise for us was all about the itinerary - it’s not the best ship we’ve sailed on but we talk about the places visited some 11 years on.
It’s so difficult choosing a cruise line that suits you and even ships within the same line vary. For us, Princess has the edge over Celebrity but it’s close.
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Old 15 Oct 18, 10:25 AM  
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Thanks everyone very helpful. TGT I especially appreciate your in depth post. I will defo take a look 👍
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Old 16 Oct 18, 02:12 PM  
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Scaramouche
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Originally Posted by TGT View Post
I did a Hawaiian cruise in February. My criteria was to see as many islands as possible, with as little 'at sea' time as possible as I'm not great on the water. We'd done a 3 night Disney cruise a couple of years before and loved it.

There are a lot of Hawaiian cruises but my favoured itinerary was Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America. This is a 7-day cruise every week of the year. It leaves from Oahu, does 2 nights in Maui and Kaui and 1 night in Hilo and Kona. We'd been to Hawaii before including a 4-island bus tour and a 2-island 8-day visit, so knew what we were getting into. The other itineraries I looked at all had 4 days+ at sea from Vancouver or California and I knew that wasn't for me when I could fly to Oahu. We did add a couple of days in Oahu prior to the cruise, then returned on the day we left the cruise.

Norwegian is not for everyone. They have 'freestyle dining' - you go eat where you want to go eat when you want to (it's not early and late sitting). You can prebook restaurants - including the free sit-down ones, and some fares include 'speciality' restaurants - or you can just pay up to them. A UK fare includes all alcohol (to $15) 24/7 and fancy coffees with dinners, also gratuities and 1l bottle of water per day. Suite fares come with more. You don't (generally) get the same waiters every night, you sit with who you want to. If you do a Dibb search on Hawaii you'll see me going into more detail. You can't take liquids on board (can take sealed wine for a $15 corkage fee, nothing else, not even water).

But, while you CAN dress up, it's not a dressy cruise, it's casual, and that's what I like - I do NOT want to dress up and I didn't. Jeans were okay in ALL restaurants. To me dressing up is NOT wearing jeans, forget a cocktail dress. I like not being put on someone else's table (like Disney did, even though they were nice people, I didn't want to have to make polite conversation every night) We loved it.

So, take a look at NCL's Pride of America itinerary - if you want more information I'm happy to bore you. We did only one of their excursions, but I've done others on previous trips. There were 6 of us and we knew our way around so we rented minivans at each stop and it was fabulous. Saved us a lot too.

We loved Norwegian so much, we are just back from a Norwegian Alaska cruise on the Jewel, only 6 months after Hawaii. While similar it's not quite the same, but we still loved the freestyle nature of the dining and the casual air onboard. Norwegian is now our go-to cruise line. My mom has done MSC and Fred Olsen and they were both "posher" in the expectation of dressing up. She, as I, loved Disney, and if money was no object things might be different but for the Hawaii itinerary Pride of America can't be beaten. You are only at sea overnight, no days at sea (boring!) and not long distances anyway. A bad sailor's dream cruise!

If you want more information about Pride of America don't hesitate to ask. Sadly, I'm not on commission. My friend who came with us is booked to go on the same cruise again with their son (20) next year.
We are looking at this cruise as it turns out I am not so good on water and this has the least sea days. But I a desperate to do the DCL one.

The itinerary looks great for this one though.
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Old 16 Oct 18, 03:11 PM  
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We are looking at this cruise as it turns out I am not so good on water and this has the least sea days. But I a desperate to do the DCL one.

The itinerary looks great for this one though.
Disney is great but generally significantly more expensive, I've found, so we do NCL. More money to spend!

Be aware if you have a few days in Oahu you COULD stay at Disney's Aulani resort, though when I've looked it's been $400/night...still, you can use the facilities from when you arrive to when you leave so most of 2 days if you chose one night. It's about 35-40 mins from Waikiki (you can get transport buy renting a car is easy) - we've just been for a couple of hours each time. I think it would bore us to tears for much longer but the shop is cool and it's fabulous to walk around the pool area and look out to sea if you don't want/can't afford to stay overnight.
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Old 16 Oct 18, 06:11 PM  
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Scaramouche
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Originally Posted by TGT View Post
Disney is great but generally significantly more expensive, I've found, so we do NCL. More money to spend!

Be aware if you have a few days in Oahu you COULD stay at Disney's Aulani resort, though when I've looked it's been $400/night...still, you can use the facilities from when you arrive to when you leave so most of 2 days if you chose one night. It's about 35-40 mins from Waikiki (you can get transport buy renting a car is easy) - we've just been for a couple of hours each time. I think it would bore us to tears for much longer but the shop is cool and it's fabulous to walk around the pool area and look out to sea if you don't want/can't afford to stay overnight.
That’s exactly where we would be staying :P relaxing part of the honeymoon prior to island hopping and somewhere else we can’t decide yet. I can plan Florida holidays, but sorting out a honeymoon where there isn’t anywhere off limits? (Unless FCO day so!) nightmare! Aulani was always the plan prior to the cruise idea...

I agree disney is so much more expensive. I think we would prefer something a bit more formal to NCL though... potentially RCI.
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