What cruiselines have similar service as ABD?

[abdmom]

I have cruised 3 times with Royal Caribbean. I love the cruising concept, but I have been extremely disappointed with their customer service. My first cruise, they lost my luggage and didn't find it the entire cruise. It never left Miami. My third cruise, I found the customer service lacking and the passengers quite rude.

Our ABD tour on the other hand, was fabulous. I found all our fellow travelers very pleasant, there were no hitches, no lost luggage etc etc.

For those of you who have cruised, is there a cruiseline that you would recommend that gives similar customer service on board as the ABD tours do?

TIA

 

[bonnielynn]

Have you tried Disney Cruise line?

 

[PatriciaH]

Celebrity, Crystal Cruises, Seaborn

 

[abdmom]

Nope, haven't tried Disney yet. I'm thinking of it though. Would you say that their treatment of customers is equal to ABD?

 

[bonnielynn]

Nope, haven't tried Disney yet. I'm thinking of it though. Would you say that their treatment of customers is equal to ABD?

I haven't been on an ABD trip (soon if I am lucky), but I have done 2 disney cruises (one being the 15 nighter). I love Disney and how you are treated. They are attentive, but not intrusive.

You have to know though that with a Disney Cruise come lots of children and families.. you can find alone time and adult only area... but just putting that out there.

 

[TewEpcot]

I haven't been on my ABD trip yet... and I've only been on one cruise. But that cruise was with CruiseWest, and it was fantastic. If you don't mind a smaller boat, the service was outstanding.

 

[Turtlemom]

I have cruised with Carnival, Royal Carribean, Norwegian, and Disney. Disney was by far my favorite. The extra touches and the friendliness of the staff are wonderful. Your fellow passengers will primarily be families with children--but having my own children along, I was happy that this was the case. The entertainment on board was superb, the kids club was excellent, and I felt very comfortable leaving my kids in the care of the Disney kids club staff--which actually resulted in more "alone time" for me and DH.

That being said, the difference between a cruise and an ABD trip is size. On the cruise, you are treated well, but you will probably not develop the types of relationships you would with your adventure guides on an ABD. The guides are truly outstanding and do their very best to make sure everyone in the group has a great time.

Both experiences are worthwhile.
If you try a Disney Cruise--I hope your trip is as wonderful as ours was.
Best of luck!

Turtlemom --

 

[sayhello]

I agree that if you're looking for the level of service & attentiveness you get with ABD, you're really going to need to go with one of the small ship cruise lines, like CruiseWest, Silversea or Seabourn.

That said, of the "medium range" priced, large-ship cruiselines, I found the best service on Princess (although I have not cruised Disney yet). But it also depends on where the cruise goes, and for how long. I found I got *much* better customer service on my Alaskan cruise than I did in the Caribbean. And I also found the service on the 8 day Caribbean cruise much better than on the 4-day.

Sayhello

 

[Phil1019]

Hi, I have cruised with Carnival and Disney. Disney is by far the better cruiseline in my opinion. They were very attentive to my every need . As a matter of fact I had booked an inside cabin and felt very enclosed. I spoke with the conceirage and even though they had a sign out that stated no balony or ocean views were available they did find me a balcony and i was able to negotiate the price down by $200.oo. I do not have small children and even though there were many children on the ship I never even heard them in the adult only sections and the crew does keep all the children very involved in activities.

 

[Kris10luvsDisney]

I have been on 2 cruises and both were on Princess. They both were fabulous. I was very impressed on both cruises, and even though they are one of the mid-range cruise lines as far as prices go, I found their staff very attentive and polite.

Keep in mind of the sheer volume of passengers you will encounter on a typical cruise. That isn't to say you won't get good service, but it's difficult to give as attentive and personalized service to everyone when you have 3,000 other people on the boat with you.

Good luck and happy sailing!

 

[awatt]

Regent is a high level of service and like ABD it was seamless.

 

[KLondon]

We've done 2 ABD tours and 2 Disney Cruises. The great Customer Service is consistent across both types of vacations. I'd do either vacation again in a heartbeat. What I don't know is how Disney stacks up with other cruise lines. However, it seems like people in this thread feel Disney is pretty good in comparison!

 

[abdmom]

Thanks for all the responses! I guess we'll have to try Disney next time we want to take a cruise. If their customer service is as good as ABD, fantastic! I just wish they had more variety in their cruises. The small ship "higher end" lines sound great too, but my traveling companions are ages 3 and up and I don't think they'd fit in too well with the other passengers.

In the past, I've monitored the cruise critic boards. There is a lot of enthusiasm there for Royal Caribbean, which I can't quite understand, based on my experiences. Since my own ABD tour 2 months ago, my expectations have certainly been raised!

 

[bonnielynn]

are you taking the newer ships on Royal Caribbean or the older ones? Just curious.

 

[abdmom]

I've taken two cruises on the Voyager class and one cruise on the Radiance class. The ships are beautiful, but it's the customer service that was sorely lacking.