I've been on the Mariner. I'm sorry but it's not fair calling it an older, smaller ship. Even within the Royal family, there are 8 ships in two smaller classes. Even within it's own class, it's the newest of the 5 Voyager ships. And the 4 oldest Vision class ships are a bit over half the size. And remember that Royal is one of the lines that builds it's own ships. There are smaller companies that buy the older ships and then uses them as their own so to talk of the Mariner as an older, smaller ship only makes sense if you're directly comparing it to something like an Oasis class. Unless you're doing that, you don't notice the age and on it's own, it seems huge.
I actually enjoy the older ships because they are smaller. I liked Mariner of the Seas and have cruised on Carnival's fantasy class ships which are nice too. I have never cruised on Norweigian. I also like the newer ships even though they huge. I enjoy cruising so as long as the ship leaves the port, let's cruise.
I thought the Vision class of ships are the oldest. Wish you would have done your comparison with the Vision of Seas or other ship in that class. The voyager class isn’t really a fair comparison in my opinion. Otherwise good video.
Am subscribed and hit the like button. I like older cruise ships too. Of the three I would only sail on Carnival. Carnival Estacy is a classic ship. We were on that class of RCCL ship. Not again. Sailed with NCL once. Not again. Carnival has very good food. NCL and RCCL doesn't have very good food., RCCL also misses delivery times on room service. The only time I saw someone so drunk they could not sit in their seat in the dining room was on RCCL. We sailed on the Carnival Triumph when it first came out in 1999. We sailed on it again in 2001. It was still a really nice ship. Then we sailed on it again after it got refurbished and had a name change. It was terrible. They took away many lounges and added more staterooms. It was so crowded on the ship. Took longer to serve all the dinners in the MDR. :Try having lunch on the Lido Deck. Longer lines at the food stations.
Me I love the new big ships. Even though I am in my 60’s I love the slides and zip lines and coasters etc. I do prefer RC we sailed Carnival Celebration in April and felt the same about Carnival as we did several years ago, we will stay with Royal. The smaller ships go into some of the ports that the larger ones can’t get into but even being smaller I expect them to be clean, good food and service. Happy Cruising everyone!
Your comparison is a bit unfair. Voyager class, while begun in 1999, really fall into RCI’s larger ships. A true head to head competition would include a Vision class ship,Such as Granduer or Enchantment. Each ship though reflects a point in history for the line. Fantasy class ships were innovative at the time. A very bold move, building 8 ships, which at the time were among the largest in the world. They were upgraded Holiday class ships, and each one had a different theme and decor. Fantasy and Ecstasy were both built with the 3/4 day Bahamas market in mind. Sensation was Eastern and Imagination was Western. Fascination was ported in San Juan. Inspiration did exotic then they Finished with Elation and Paradise. They were hugely successful. Entering service between 1990 and 1998. Royal Caribbeans answer to these were the Vision class. 6 ships that had a good speed, loads of glass and 2 decks of Balconies. Built between 95 and 97, the ships of light were spacious, elegant and well planned. Cabins were bigger like Carnivals. RCI had a terrible rep for having very compact cabins and baths. All 6 of these ships still exist, two oldest units sail for Marella and the other 4 are in RCI service. As for NCL. They were having difficulty getting their footing at that time. The Norwegian Wind and Dream were built in 1992/93 and weren’t exactly the saviors the company expected. They had a hodgepodge of ships: Original white fleet Starward, Skyward, Southward, Sunward (formerly Royal Viking Sky) Westward (Royal Viking Star) the 1988 built Seaward and the venerable Norway. They were acquiring ships like the N Majesty and Dynasty, as well as the Crown. They acquired N Sky from costa after they refused delivery. N Sun was a one off, slightly larger and improved version. Following their construction,the merged with Star Cruises and in the new millennium started their Free Style concept with N Dawn and Star and then regained their footing. So each company had different things going on early in the cruise boom. It was an incubation period. For my money, I’d go on the “older smaller ship” every time. As a native NYer, there is only one Central park. I don’t want to be away from the sea. I want to know I’m on a ship. See the waves feel the motion, smell the salty air. A gym, a great promenade deck and a relaxing spa are necessities. Each lines food has its pluses and minuses. I’ve sailed most of the lines still around today and can’t complain about their food. The larger the ship, however, the more possibilities for problems. 2000 Pax is enough to travel with. I want to enjoy the ports of call, not be in a tropical rush hour, like NYC with sand and palm trees. Glad you at least took the time on the old timers. They’re rapidly being lost to time. Calling the ships from the 90s classics kinda makes my back go up, but they’re the closest we can get nowadays. 🙏🏼
My thoughts exactly: a Vision class ship would be much more appropriate in this comparison. Great summary and breakdown of the ships and classes, I picked up some new and interesting facts. Thanks for sharing!
I would never go on any of these ships! I only do Virgin and Seabourn. It’s great to see what these older ships are like. They look pretty beaten up, but there’s definitely a certain charm with them. As others have said, the RCL comparison is not fair. Cool vid, though.
I sailed on ecstasy way back in 2007, from what I remember it was a great ship and had a good time, they did not have the water slides back then just an empty deck with deck chairs. You want to talk about small ships I went twice on the Carnival Celebration in 2002 wow talk about crampt and small ship, I have been on the Alure and its amazing how these ships have changed in size and amenities!
I really like most of your videos but as soon as you started comparing Ecstasy to Mariner you lost me. It's not even close to an apples to apples comparison. I'm a Royal guy but give poor Carnival a break.😂
I've been on the Mariner. I'm sorry but it's not fair calling it an older, smaller ship. Even within the Royal family, there are 8 ships in two smaller classes. Even within it's own class, it's the newest of the 5 Voyager ships. And the 4 oldest Vision class ships are a bit over half the size. And remember that Royal is one of the lines that builds it's own ships. There are smaller companies that buy the older ships and then uses them as their own so to talk of the Mariner as an older, smaller ship only makes sense if you're directly comparing it to something like an Oasis class. Unless you're doing that, you don't notice the age and on it's own, it seems huge.
Isn't Grandeur of the Seas the oldest in Royal Caribbeans line?
My first cruise back in the day was on Voyager of the Seas. I feel like The Voyager class was the start of cruise ships having crazy things on them.
I've sailed on the Mariner, and liked it very much. I also love the newer RCCL ships. I've never had a bad RCCL cruise!
I actually enjoy the older ships because they are smaller. I liked Mariner of the Seas and have cruised on Carnival's fantasy class ships which are nice too. I have never cruised on Norweigian. I also like the newer ships even though they huge. I enjoy cruising so as long as the ship leaves the port, let's cruise.
I remember when I went on Mariner in like 05 or 06 it was the biggest ship in the world, now the newer ships are double the size!
I thought the Vision class of ships are the oldest. Wish you would have done your comparison with the Vision of Seas or other ship in that class. The voyager class isn’t really a fair comparison in my opinion. Otherwise good video.
Am subscribed and hit the like button. I like older cruise ships too. Of the three I would only sail on Carnival. Carnival Estacy is a classic ship. We were on that class of RCCL ship. Not again. Sailed with NCL once. Not again. Carnival has very good food. NCL and RCCL doesn't have very good food., RCCL also misses delivery times on room service. The only time I saw someone so drunk they could not sit in their seat in the dining room was on RCCL. We sailed on the Carnival Triumph when it first came out in 1999. We sailed on it again in 2001. It was still a really nice ship. Then we sailed on it again after it got refurbished and had a name change. It was terrible. They took away many lounges and added more staterooms. It was so crowded on the ship. Took longer to serve all the dinners in the MDR. :Try having lunch on the Lido Deck. Longer lines at the food stations.
Mariner is my favorite of the three.
Perhaps if Grandeur of the Seas was compared with the Ecstasy and Sun, they may have had a chance.
Me I love the new big ships. Even though I am in my 60’s I love the slides and zip lines and coasters etc. I do prefer RC we sailed Carnival Celebration in April and felt the same about Carnival as we did several years ago, we will stay with Royal. The smaller ships go into some of the ports that the larger ones can’t get into but even being smaller I expect them to be clean, good food and service.
Happy Cruising everyone!
Your comparison is a bit unfair. Voyager class, while begun in 1999, really fall into RCI’s larger ships. A true head to head competition would include a Vision class ship,Such as Granduer or Enchantment. Each ship though reflects a point in history for the line. Fantasy class ships were innovative at the time. A very bold move, building 8 ships, which at the time were among the largest in the world. They were upgraded Holiday class ships, and each one had a different theme and decor. Fantasy and Ecstasy were both built with the 3/4 day Bahamas market in mind. Sensation was Eastern and Imagination was Western. Fascination was ported in San Juan. Inspiration did exotic then they Finished with Elation and Paradise. They were hugely successful. Entering service between 1990 and 1998. Royal Caribbeans answer to these were the Vision class. 6 ships that had a good speed, loads of glass and 2 decks of Balconies. Built between 95 and 97, the ships of light were spacious, elegant and well planned. Cabins were bigger like Carnivals. RCI had a terrible rep for having very compact cabins and baths. All 6 of these ships still exist, two oldest units sail for Marella and the other 4 are in RCI service. As for NCL. They were having difficulty getting their footing at that time. The Norwegian Wind and Dream were built in 1992/93 and weren’t exactly the saviors the company expected. They had a hodgepodge of ships: Original white fleet Starward, Skyward, Southward, Sunward (formerly Royal Viking Sky) Westward (Royal Viking Star) the 1988 built Seaward and the venerable Norway. They were acquiring ships like the N Majesty and Dynasty, as well as the Crown. They acquired N Sky from costa after they refused delivery. N Sun was a one off, slightly larger and improved version. Following their construction,the merged with Star Cruises and in the new millennium started their Free Style concept with N Dawn and Star and then regained their footing.
So each company had different things going on early in the cruise boom. It was an incubation period. For my money, I’d go on the “older smaller ship” every time. As a native NYer, there is only one Central park. I don’t want to be away from the sea. I want to know I’m on a ship. See the waves feel the motion, smell the salty air. A gym, a great promenade deck and a relaxing spa are necessities. Each lines food has its pluses and minuses. I’ve sailed most of the lines still around today and can’t complain about their food. The larger the ship, however, the more possibilities for problems. 2000 Pax is enough to travel with. I want to enjoy the ports of call, not be in a tropical rush hour, like NYC with sand and palm trees.
Glad you at least took the time on the old timers. They’re rapidly being lost to time. Calling the ships from the 90s classics kinda makes my back go up, but they’re the closest we can get nowadays. 🙏🏼
My thoughts exactly: a Vision class ship would be much more appropriate in this comparison. Great summary and breakdown of the ships and classes, I picked up some new and interesting facts. Thanks for sharing!
I would never go on any of these ships! I only do Virgin and Seabourn. It’s great to see what these older ships are like. They look pretty beaten up, but there’s definitely a certain charm with them. As others have said, the RCL comparison is not fair. Cool vid, though.
I sailed on ecstasy way back in 2007, from what I remember it was a great ship and had a good time, they did not have the water slides back then just an empty deck with deck chairs. You want to talk about small ships I went twice on the Carnival Celebration in 2002 wow talk about crampt and small ship, I have been on the Alure and its amazing how these ships have changed in size and amenities!
Gross registered tons or GRTs is not a measure of how much a ship weighs but rather its enclosed volume.
I prefer the older ships. I don't need the slides, go karts, etc. or the noise that they cause.
Love Carnivals Fantasy class ships, and NCL Sun is outstanding. Never cruisedvRCL. Now ncl Dawn needs to be retired.
I really like most of your videos but as soon as you started comparing Ecstasy to Mariner you lost me. It's not even close to an apples to apples comparison. I'm a Royal guy but give poor Carnival a break.😂