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Does A Bad Cruise Experience Deter You From Booking Again?


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Obviously not all cruise vacations are satisfactory to some people or some may have had a bad experience from a cruise they've recently taken. Read the reviews here and you'll know many people can't be satisfied at all.

 

Would you book again on another cruise hoping that fortune and luck are on your side?

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after 60+ cruises, clearly the answer is no... we book again. What we do is recognize what we did not enjoy and work around it next time...there are lots of options on ships, we go for what we enjoy and skip the rest.

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I consider myself lucky, our first couple of cruises were with a line we lived, our firs5 cruise with a different line was a shocker, had that been our first experience we may never have sailed again, but as it was we knew we could go back to that first line.

 

Since we have become happy to cruise with, almost anyone, knowing that we now have four or five lines we are more than happy with and thus if we are unhappy with a new line, “Well who cares, back to one of the lines we love”.

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I really think a lot of your vacation experience depends on your outlook. My bf and I have fun on our vacations - regardless of what may happen. Have been on ships where the queues were very long and the ship was crowded; have been on cruises where the food wasn’t very good; have been on cruises where the weather was bad. We spend a lot of time and money on our vacations so we don’t sweat the small stuff. Now, we have not ever been on a cruise completely changed due to weather or ship malfunctions; not sure how that would go. But short of that I really can’t think of anything that could happen to make a vacation bad.

 

 

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We have cruised 100+ times and have only had one bad cruise. If it was our first one not sure what we would have done but thankfully that was not the case. That bad cruise was on a cruise line we sailed for the first time and as a result have not sailed that cruise line again.

 

Keith

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We have cruised 100+ times and have only had one bad cruise. If it was our first one not sure what we would have done but thankfully that was not the case. That bad cruise was on a cruise line we sailed for the first time and as a result have not sailed that cruise line again.

 

Keith

 

Haven't been on as many cruises as Keith, but, like him our only really bad experience (no way to work around it) was on a cruise line we sailed for the first time. We haven't sailed on that line again and while I have learned to "never say never" I doubt we will return to that cruise line.

 

For me, it's not just that the cruise was a poor experience, but how the onboard staff deal with it and how the home office deals with it on your return home.

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The negative comments/reviews (some of them my own) here on CC do play a part in how we choose future cruises. As a frequent cruiser, who sails on many lines and itineraries, I recognize that its impossible to be on every ship...every year...and keep up to date with the changes, ship condition, etc. So, to some degree, we rely on others to help fill in our knowledge gaps. For example, we recently booked a future cruise on a line upon which we have never cruised.....based on the reviews and comments here on CC. But the other part of that booking is we have been underwhelmed by many other lines (that we routinely cruise) so were looking for a better option.

 

Do not underestimate the power of Cruise Critic...when it comes to how many of us make decisions. Even if only 10% of cruisers rely on this web site....that makes it a huge player in the industry. Negative and positive comments here....do have an impact on the bottom line. When a cruise line does something bad, a passenger can complain to the line which may or may not have any impact. But post a negative comment here (especially one backed up with real facts) and it can have a huge impact. The cruise lines do monitor CC...and they respond to some of the posts (positive and negative). We actually know, first hand, of one case where CC actually caused a major cruise line policy change and you can be sure there are many other changes in the industry that have resulted from what is posted here.

 

Hank

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Having only been on one cruise, where out experience was less than wonderful (mainly customer service issues, DH very disappointed in food) I can say it wouldn't deter me from cruising again. However, when I booked our 2nd cruise, there were lines that had similar itineraries and I purposely chose a different line based on the experiences on the 1st one.

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Obviously not all cruise vacations are satisfactory to some people or some may have had a bad experience from a cruise they've recently taken. Read the reviews here and you'll know many people can't be satisfied at all.

 

Would you book again on another cruise hoping that fortune and luck are on your side?

 

What about you?

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I think it would depend on what happened and when. We've only been on two cruises. The first was okay with some very nice aspects. The second--well, not so much. Different lines. There certainly were similar things about both that we didn't like both times. This has made us wonder whether cruising is really for us. I know for sure I won't ever go again with the second cruise line, even though some aspects of that trip were fine. IF I were ever to try a cruise again, I think I know better now what to look for and what to avoid--based on both experiences. The couple we went with on our second (and most recent) cruise had never been before. Based on their experience, I don't think they will choose cruising again. So, I think that if you like cruising as a form of vacation to begin with, even with a bad experience, you will probably choose a cruise again, albeit with a different line. If you are testing the waters, and have a negative experience, it is more likely to turn you off this form of vacationing.

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What about you?

 

Yes, 5 years ago on a Azamara cruise in Europe. My GF disliked the entire onboard experience including the condition of the ship.

 

It took me over 5 years to get her to go on another cruise with me, '15 X Silhouette around the BI and that experience was much better.

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I've had 3 cruises that were disappointing in one way or another and a World Cruise that did not fully meet my expectations.

 

The first disappointing one was a trans-Atlantic on QE2. Indifferent service (with the exception of a Deck Steward whose service was in the Cunard tradition), mediocre food, tea service in the Queen's Lounge with cracked dishes and no (!) spoons, only one wash cloth provided for two people and could not be replaced, etc. I learned that there were labor/union issues during our sailing and I attributed my disappointments to that. When I was considering to book a cruise on QM2, this first Cunard experience was in the back of my mind and I'll admit I embarked the cruise with my fingers crossed. (The QM2 cruise turned out well.)

 

The 2nd and 3rd cruises that were disappointments were HAL cruises and had too many omissions of events and recognition of Mariner status during the cruise that I expected being a 4 Star Mariner, at that time. Neither the Master nor the Hotel Director were very visible during the cruise and the Master had very poor PR skills when there was any interaction with the guests, i.e. Voice from the Bridge, the Mariner Society Reception. To this day, I blame the ship's Senior Management for my poor experiences and surely hope that I don't sail with that Captain or Hotel Director again!

 

My experiences on one World Cruise has made me very leery of booking such a cruise again of that length. I have, and would, book other long cruises since, but not sure that I'll ever do another World Cruise or even segments of such.

Edited by rkacruiser
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We had one poor cruise some years ago, and felt we didn't want to use that line again...as OH said- beautiful ship, shame about the cruise. A few years later we needed a cruise on particular dates, and reluctantly used another ship of that line- it was brilliant!

We have sailed on the "beautiful" ship again, because of dates, and this time everything ran like clockwork.

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I have had just one cruise that was far from perfect. Although there were several variables ( travel companion, time of year etc) I have not wanted to cruise with that particular line again. If the perfect itinerary and price come along one day, I might give them another try. Meanwhile, I have plenty of choice without having to consider them.

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As others have said, my FIRST cruise experience, while not my BEST, still let me know that this was a form of travel I wanted to experience again...and again...and...

 

I do know people who had a negative experience (storms or simply choosing the wrong cruise line for their personality) who have sworn off cruising. Maybe they will ultimately change their mind; who knows?

 

It's like anything else. If you've had good experiences with a restaurant, hotel chain, auto mechanic, etc., one bad experience won't undo all the good ones.

 

Additionally, there are a lot of different facets to cruising and an unsatisfying experience may be easy to identify as something that can be easily avoided on future cruises. (Hurricane season? Incompatible travel companion? Itinerary not to your liking?)

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Obviously not all cruise vacations are satisfactory to some people or some may have had a bad experience from a cruise they've recently taken. Read the reviews here and you'll know many people can't be satisfied at all.

 

Would you book again on another cruise hoping that fortune and luck are on your side?

 

IMO everyone, including cruise lines, deserves a second chance. So YES.

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My DH's first cruise was an amazing experience for him.. Then again... this was a Disney cruise over Christmas so yeah.

 

Our 2nd family cruise was in both mine and DH's thoughts a disaster! Even at the time I understand why it was. It was when the line announced who was going to one of those first Mega ships built, and the Cruise Director was one of them. It was 7 days of him doing nothing but talking about how amazing it was going to be and how lucky he was, it left a sour taste in the crew who wasn't getting on the new more expensive ship, with bigger tips I am sure, mouth and it REALLY showed. Like.. first night MDR 4 HOURS with 2 kids under 5. We had 3 rooms side by side with extended family, same room steward for all 3. Each day, 2 would get cleaned 1 wouldn't get touched....

 

We have cruised many many times since then! What is funny, is when looking to book I still look at that line every time, see the prices, and can not justify paying more after our experience. If it was a unique sailing that I was willing to pay for? I would book in a second! But for general trips? Nah I would rather actually give in and plan a land vacation..

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