One important aspect of going on a cruise is choosing a cruise line and a ship. Each cruise line is unique, and many of the ships within each cruise line are very different from each other as well. For example, the Norwegian Epic is a vastly different ship from the Norwegian Wind.
Cruise lines earn different reputations and have different target customers. Here are a few summaries:
Carnival:
Carnival tends to be geared toward a younger crowd and they have a reputation as more of a party ship.
Celebrity:
Celebrity tries to be set apart as a higher class ship and you'll probably see an older crowd and fewer kids on these ships.
Disney:
As you might imagine, Disney cruises are great for kids and families.
Norwegian:
Norwegian focuses on their "Freestyle Cruising" theme by doing things like having no assigned dining room or dinner times. I have found that you can often get great deals on Norwegian cruises but I wouldn't call them a discount cruise.
Princess:
Princess is more of a higher class.
Royal Caribbean:
Royal Caribbean has many of the largest ships and they have a lot of activities on board.
We'll go into more detail on each cruise line and the individual ships in future articles. Depending on how you cruise (focused on the ship rather than on the ports), the ship can make a big difference.