Why do you cruise to the same places?

I'm asking this question seriously and in no way am trying to be rude. Just curious as to why some folks continue to sail the same cruise or go to the same places so many times? (We do have some friends who have sailed at least 30 times on the same cruise line to the Caribbean but they refuse to do anything "different")

I think of the lyrics to MoonRiver "Two drifters, off to see the world There's such a lot of world to see" and no that there are just so many places to see... so little time!

Some people just go to cruise and do not get off the ship.

Nice weather, all your meals, shows etc., near home if American.

We stick to Europe as DH won't fly.

We are even worse than the other folk - not only do we stay aboard, we don't go to any of the shows, casino etc. Just a complete rest.

Love it:D

I will draw the analogy to those who go to Disney World every year, or to the same beach or mountain lake every year, ski the same slopes with season passes every year, go to Vegas every year, go camping at the same parks every year, etc. It might be as simple as that is what different people enjoy.

It could just be - as in our case - the love of cruising where the experience of being on a ship on the ocean is as much the pleasure as the islands you visit. And visiting many of the same islands repeat times simply means seeing more (or the same if you enjoyed it before) of what that island has to offer each time you visit.

Using the Caribbean as example, while there are a lot of different islands, there are basically only three typical itineraries - Eastern, Western, and Southern. If your budget or practicality for where you can cruise from limits you to the US - and in this case Florida - there are only so many alternatives to choose from. Over say 12 cruises, you would essentially repeat each one 4 times. But even with 4 visits at each one that is a lot of island variety.

Lastly - and again just to our experience - how we cruise has changed dramatically over the years. Initially we would have to do everything offered on board, see all there is to see at every port of call, basically not missing a thing. Now we cruise for the relaxation and experience of the ship. We eat mostly at the specialty restaurants, enjoy the private lounges that our loyalty tier provides, go to certain places we enjoy on some ports of call and remain on board a very quiet and private ship at others, see only the shows we want, and relax on board doing only what we want when we want to.

But most of all we enjoy the company of fellow like minded cruisers that we meet on board, and enjoy cruising with some of these friends who we have met on board and cruise with frequently.

Hope that helps with at least one cruisers experience. It's as much about attitude as experience. As my screen name says, when we cruise we leave it all behind......

I'm asking this question seriously and in no way am trying to be rude. Just curious as to why some folks continue to sail the same cruise or go to the same places so many times? (We do have some friends who have sailed at least 30 times on the same cruise line to the Caribbean but they refuse to do anything "different")

 

I think of the lyrics to MoonRiver "Two drifters, off to see the world There's such a lot of world to see" and no that there are just so many places to see... so little time!

I usually cruise for the ship. NOT the destination.

I will draw the analogy to those who go to Disney World every year, or to the same beach or mountain lake every year, ski the same slopes with season passes every year, go to Vegas every year, go camping at the same parks every year, etc. It might be as simple as that is what different people enjoy.

 

It could just be - as in our case - the love of cruising where the experience of being on a ship on the ocean is as much the pleasure as the islands you visit. And visiting many of the same islands repeat times simply means seeing more (or the same if you enjoyed it before) of what that island has to offer each time you visit.

 

Using the Caribbean as example, while there are a lot of different islands, there are basically only three typical itineraries - Eastern, Western, and Southern. If your budget or practicality for where you can cruise from limits you to the US - and in this case Florida - there are only so many alternatives to choose from. Over say 12 cruises, you would essentially repeat each one 4 times. But even with 4 visits at each one that is a lot of island variety.

 

Lastly - and again just to our experience - how we cruise has changed dramatically over the years. Initially we would have to do everything offered on board, see all there is to see at every port of call, basically not missing a thing. Now we cruise for the relaxation and experience of the ship. We eat mostly at the specialty restaurants, enjoy the private lounges that our loyalty tier provides, go to certain places we enjoy on some ports of call and remain on board a very quiet and private ship at others, see only the shows we want, and relax on board doing only what we want when we want to.

 

But most of all we enjoy the company of fellow like minded cruisers that we meet on board, and enjoy cruising with some of these friends who we have met on board and cruise with frequently.

 

Hope that helps with at least one cruisers experience. It's as much about attitude as experience. As my screen name says, when we cruise we leave it all behind......

Excellent reply...thanks! CC needs a like button!

There are some places that we want to return to from time to time. This includes:

Mediterranean

Alaska

Asia

Australia/New Zealand.

Why?

Because you can't possibly see all there is to see on one or even a couple of visits.

There are sites at these places to revisit and others to see for the first time.

And other factors come into play including the weather.

Keith

In our case, we do 2 kinds of cruising:

1. To go to different ports and experience the ports - in this case the ship is just a floating hotel. We do this type of cruising in the Med, Alaska and southern Caribbean. We do completely different tours each time so even though it is the same port, we are having completely different experiences.

2. To experience the ship - usually this is for Mega Ships and usually Mega Ships do the same ports but the entire point of these cruises is to enjoy the ship, not the ports, so we don't care what ports these ships are going to.

ANYWHERE In the Caribbean is great for us--we want warm weather & lots of beaches!

Some places we have found beaches we LOVE & will go there every time.

Some places we are still checking things out.

Sometimes we stay on the nearly deserted ship & feel like celebrities with all the attention.

We rarely choose a cruise based on specific ports. I am always just looking for the best value for our desires.

Not so much any more. We are tired of certain destinations like the Caribbean and to a certain extent Europe.

Retirement has made a difference. When we were working a Caribbean cruise was a great escape from cold winters. Now that we are retired not so much. We prefer longer vacations to other winter locations such as Asia or Australia. We did 2 Australia/NZ cruises last year combined with a land trip. We have no desire to do another Oz/NZ cruise but we will be going back in the near future for land based trips.

Same for Europe. We have had six or seven cruises and we are cruised out. Now we prefer to do land trips and use a cruise as an add on at the end of our trip to wind down. We have the time to see more. One day in port is not usually sufficient for us.

We have seen some changes in cruising over the past number of years. Food is certainly not what it was. Some cruise lines arrive late and leave early. Plus, we have been to a number of cruise stops that take on a much different atmosphere after the crush of numerous cruise ships ends at 4PM. And we prefer this.

For us the attraction and value of cruising also changes with exchange rates and supply/demand. When our currency was high and demand was low we did numerous cruises in Europe. Not so much any more as the price to us, compared to two or three year ago, has increased substantially. Land is now a better travel value for us.

While we mostly cruise in the Caribbean and do try to find new ports there we have not been to, we are also happy to go back to places we have previously visited. Its not like you can see and do everything a place has to offer in one 6-9 hour stop. Some islands like St Thomas, St Maarten, Cozumel and Grand Cayman we have been to many, many times, but with a bit of research we always find something new to do.

Great question. DW and I have been to around 100 countries and cruised to and around 6 Continents. However, every year we still take a 14 day Caribbean cruise to places we have been many times. On one of those cruises we did not even bother getting off the ship in 8 out of 9 ports. But we love that particular itinerary (even if we stay on the ship) and our primary reason is the good weather, ship, etc. My point is that there are many reasons that folks cruise. Sometimes we go for the ports, other times it might be for the ship.

Hank

For us, it's more about the disconnect than the ports.

I love new ports but we usually sail with Carnival. And since we dislike many of the ports on the Western Carribean, we usually do Eastern. And since Carnival seems to go to the usual ports, we tend to go to many of the same ports over and overl

We did stop at Tortola a year or two ago (loved it) but Carnival since ceased to stop there

We did stop at Amber Cove recently but to me, it's pretty much the same thing as Grand Turk and Costa Maya.

I have been on four cruises, three of them to Alaska. Alaska cruise four is planned for this summer. Here's why:

Alaska cruise 1 was a "once in a lifetime" trip I made in my 30s. I had wanted to go on an Alaska cruise since seeing the Love Boat Alaska episode when I was a girl. All my life I had believed in God as the Creator, but that trip really brought home to me His awesome power and the majesty of His creation. I loved everything I saw, but knew I had not seen enough. In particular when my table mates described their whale-watching trip, I knew I wanted to do that. So two years later I took . . .

Alaska cruise 2, which was about wildlife. I saw whales and eagles. Seeing the enormous whale roll out of the water and slip back in so gracefully, soundlessly, was an extraordinary moment.

I wanted to bring my parents, who taught me about God, to Alaska to see what I consider His master opus. But there was never enough time or money or both. Dad went on to glory but Mom's still here and last year we took

Alaska cruise 3. She found the landscape and creatures as inspiring as I do. We went in August. She wondered aloud how different it looks when there's still snow on the mountains. So for Christmas I gave her

Alaska cruise 4. We're going early this summer to see the snowier landscape, take some different tours, and marvel at the Creation again.

So that's how I became an itinerary repeater. I notice for many Alaska cruisers, a once in a lifetime trip becomes the first of many.

Vicki

Alaska is a place that keeps inviting us back. We have been there four times. Once on Royal Caribbean, cruise/land tour to Denali Park, and three times on Princess.

Looking forward to going back because we see different things each cruise.

Bob

My sister and her family rent the same house for the same two weeks each summer at the New Jersey Shore.

My wife and I have sailed all over the world.

Some people cruise to travel, but others just cruise because they enjoy cruising.

I'm in the former group. Cruising is a nice way to get to see new places, but I also take a lot of land trips. I would never just keep repeating Caribbean cruises over and over.

On the other hand I've taken quite a few Mediterranean cruises -- but on those cruises I've visited more than 50 different ports. And on my next Med cruise in October I'll be adding five more new ones.

We have mostly done different itineraries, but we did sail the Western Mediterranean twice with very similar ports.

The first was is 2002 for out 25th anniversary, and was our very first cruise. And I screwed up royally. In the port for Florence, I managed to get us on a train going in the wrong direction. We did manage to get a train back in time to at least see Pisa, but not Florence. DW is an art teacher, and seeing Florence was definitely on her bucket list.

So 10 years later for our 35th anniversary, we did another Western Mediterranean making sure this time to take a ship sponsored Florence on Your Own excursion.

We did have a few different ports, and in the repeat ports like Rome and Nice, we were able to see different attractions. We also stayed over in Barcelona on the latter cruise.

We have also done 2 Western Caribbean cruises, but other than starting in Fort Lauderdale and having Key West as a port, the other ports were different.

Some places we have been to multiple times just seem to appear in the itinerary on cruises we have booked to go visit other ports. That is why we have been to Nassau 7 times, Freeport 5 times, Half Moon Cay 5 times. Grand Turk 5 times and soon will be in Aruba twice.

Now some of these visits have been account weather related cancellations at other ports and others have just been things that happen to be involved in getting to where we want to go.

So I guess the answer is: because that is where the ship goes!:p:p

Doc

I just started cruising last year, and already have a pattern. About to go on my second Bahamas trip (and have the third booked for next year)- just an excuse to get out of the cold and enjoy some sun and relaxation without the hassle of flying from NY in February. The whole purpose is to enjoy the ship. Greece, Canada, and upcoming on Alaska and Norway are more about the ports, which maybe I wouldn't go to again and again. (Or maybe reading above, I will start an Alaska obsession....)

There are "been there , done that " cruisers and those that enjoy the ship experience over and over again (that's me).

In our case, we do 2 kinds of cruising:

 

1. To go to different ports and experience the ports - in this case the ship is just a floating hotel. We do this type of cruising in the Med, Alaska and southern Caribbean. We do completely different tours each time so even though it is the same port, we are having completely different experiences.

 

2. To experience the ship - usually this is for Mega Ships and usually Mega Ships do the same ports but the entire point of these cruises is to enjoy the ship, not the ports, so we don't care what ports these ships are going to.

Almost agree. We seek new ports as sampler for possible later return on land trip. We also consider the ship but prefer to cruise on the smaller ones of Oceania because of the more cosmopolitan atmosphere, excellent food and stellar service.

If I could only travel once a year, I would shoot for different itineraries. But as we are fortunate enough to be able to do several trips a year - at least one to Europe - and one of our imperatives is to escape the New England winter (usually three escapes per winter), one of them is always a Caribbean cruise - not for the particular islands - all of which we've seen - but because the ship happens to go to them.

Some of our neighbors elect to play snowbird, going to somewhere in Florida for several months each winter; but I would not want to pin myself down to one location - or to be that much away from friends and family.

We'll just pick a date that works, a ship we like, and a price in our range -- then we go where the ship takes us.

For us, it's more about the disconnect than the ports.

Well put! With me at least, AKA "leave it all behind".....:D

If it is the Caribbean I think places are more alike than different so we book based on ship/departure date/price and don't care so much about where it goes. We are heading to Bermuda for the third time this Summer for 2 reasons. We love Bermuda and are looking forward to going back, and it leaves from a port we can drive to same day, so although the cruise itself isn't the cheapest one, total price is pretty low since we don't need flights/hotel/expensive excursions there.

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