Ship or Itinerary ?

[curiouscat]

For seasoned cruisers.... do you pick cruises for the Ship or the Itinerary?

 

CC

 

PS... for me this time I picked the Sosltice for the ship experience... the ports are not attractive to me at all

[Janet524]

After 70+ cruises, we've been to most of the ports (especially in the Caribbean) that ships call on, so we're inclined to make our selection based on the ship and/or the "deal."

[shipshape sam]

For me, it is cruise line/itinerary/ship. I like sailing Celebrity and RCL ships. I have enjoyed our cruises on Princess and HAL, but not on Carnival. We have friends that love Carnival and I have drawn the line in the sand.....I will not sail Carnival (won't say ever though) I may have to sometime in the future.

 

We are sailing Celebrity Eclipse in January. For that cruise, it was cruise line/ship/itinerary. We are excited about our first cruise on an S class ship and the itinerary was second to ship.

[Druke I]

For us, it is usually itinerary first, then ship/line.

[caripoo]

Since we still have more to explore, it's itinerary-line-ship. Hopefully they all add up to a cruise we LOVE!!!:p:p

[Lsimon]

Both ship and itinerary are part of it but after many Celebrity cruises another major decision factor for us is the ship some of the cruise friends we've met on past cruises will be sailing on..

[shipshape sam]

Both ship and itinerary are part of it but after many Celebrity cruises another major decision factor for us is the ship some of the cruise friends we've met on past cruises will be sailing on..

 

 

We have done that once! It was great.

[curiouscat]

Both ship and itinerary are part of it but after many Celebrity cruises another major decision factor for us is the ship some of the cruise friends we've met on past cruises will be sailing on..

 

 

I would love to cruise with friends we have here on land too but most of our friends don't care for cruising...and it's so hard to coordinate schedules for us working folks

 

It would be interesting if we sailed on the same ship as we have the same initial and last name..(of course not same first name).and my hubby(his last name) is from Chicago too.:p

 

CC

[benatty]

Like others we have visited almost all of the ports in the Caribbean over the years and while we have our favorites and our "less than" favorite ports, we find that they are all very much alike. As a result, we pick the ship, then the price then the itinerary, in that order. We have cruised on Holland, Princess and Celebrity. We have enjoyed all three lines, but think Celebrity has the best food and ship (Solstice class).

[Esprit]

For our next cruise it's neither.

 

We just want to see our daughter after 3 months away working on the "Connie".

Peter

[ghstudio]

I call us "opportunistic cruisers". We have a few lines that we just won't sail on, but generally Celebrity, Princess, perhaps Holland American or above all work for us. Our minimum cruise length is 7 days, but as we get older, we look for longer cruises. We will never again get on a ship that has more than 3000 passengers (thanks to our experience on RCL). Other than that, we shop the deals. I can't stress that enough...you will be amazed at the different benefits that the on-line cruise companies offer. There is no reason that I've found to actually purchase a cruise on a company web site....the on-line agencies almost always have a far better deal. Look for cabin credits, not "special coupon books" or discount shore excursions.

 

 

We have been to Grand Cayman so many times that when the ship arrives, the sting rays spell out "welcome back GH" on the bottom :)

 

To us, all the Carribean ports pretty much the same and to a large extent the stores are identical :) We generally find one caribbean cruise to take with friends....and to some extent, we are their excursion guides.

 

My recommendation:

 

Cruise line and size of ship is very important....e.g if you have young kids you might consider Disney, if you are only young at heart, then Holland America might be a better choice.

 

Try to go to new ports, but always remember that if you really want to see a place, then don't take a cruise...just go there. The cruise is an important part of the trip, not just a vehicle to get you there. You won't see Rome in a day really applies to cruises.

 

I've rambled...but there really isn't one thing that's most important to us, other than size of the ship and avoiding just a few cruise lines that are more oriented to kids than we like for a vacation.

[Grandma Gilly]

If sailing the Caribbean it's definitely the cruise line as all the ports are very similar. Elsewhere I take the itinerary into some consideration but there are some cruise lines that I would never even look at.

[Winedown2]

I start with the ship. becuase ports of call are never guaranteed...

Bad weather, whatever could change the ports... so if I think I will like the ship, I should never be disappointed!

[Thorhillcruiser]

We first determine the date we can sail, decide the departure port, (usually Miami, Evergldes or San Juan) then consider the ship and deals. The Caribbean ports have very little influence on the decision.

[tally10]

Actually, we look at the itinerary first and then what RCI or X ships go there. We tend to like the newer ships and all things being equal, would go with that. Of course, price is a factor, too, but sometimes X is less expensive than RCI.

[curiouscat]

We first determine the date we can sail, decide the departure port, (usually Miami, Evergldes or San Juan) then consider the ship and deals. The Caribbean ports have very little influence on the decision.

 

 

That's about what we do...except I do all the research...present a few options to hubby and we decide from there....last year he picked and this year it was my pick... he's just happy to get away from the office and still happy cell phone is too expensive for him to be available for calls...:eek:

 

CC

[portofrome]

Both ship and itinerary are part of it but after many Celebrity cruises another major decision factor for us is the ship some of the cruise friends we've met on past cruises will be sailing on..

 

I totally agree with you!

[ellbon]

For mist cruises it is ports first- Alaska or Europe ports are first.. warm waters is ther ship new or in a couple cases new cruise lines and ship for me. Trying that on another line and got new ports only smaller ships can go to.

[jackdiamond]

We are experienced cruisers; and, from our standpoint most of the islands are alike. As a result, we choose the ship; and, our favorite is the Equinox, in AQ on ten day cruises out of Lauderdale. As a matter of fact, we now have four cruises booked on this ship in the same category, and with the same itinerary.

On the other hand, I can understand the attitude of those from the northern climes, who seldom cruise; and, whom might give some preference to itinerary as opposed to the ship.

[chessbriar]

yes

[4774Papa]

For seasoned cruisers.... do you pick cruises for the Ship or the Itinerary?

 

CC

 

PS... for me this time I picked the Sosltice for the ship experience... the ports are not attractive to me at all

 

 

We are not seasoned cruisers, but far more interested in the Itinerary than the ship. The ship must meet basic standards. Also, cost is a factor.

[hcat]

We are experienced cruisers; and, from our standpoint most of the islands are alike. As a result, we choose the ship; and, our favorite is the Equinox, in AQ on ten day cruises out of Lauderdale. As a matter of fact, we now have four cruises booked on this ship in the same category, and with the same itinerary.

On the other hand, I can understand the attitude of those from the northern climes, who seldom cruise; and, whom might give some preference to itinerary as opposed to the ship.

 

Just curious..which Equinox itin is your favorite?.. We are going on Equinox in Jan--the one that includes Dominica & Barbados..

 

The ship is the main element right now...

 

We are tired of the W Carib ports, have been lucky with great cruises to Hawaii, Pacific NW, Mex Riv, Canada (both sides), Eastern & Western Medit .. & have decided to cruise closer to "home" once we complete our Crown Princess cruise around the British Isles this summer

 

We are also becoming wary of older ships (even if refreshed) , so it looks like there will be more "S" class cruising to the E Carib. in our future.... this works out fine b/c the ships are beautiful.

 

We are looking forward to Blu & AQ class on our next two " S " Class cruises.(Equinox & Silhouette), and hoping to find something on Navigator of the Seas on Royal C.--which we also enjoy!

[jackdiamond]

hcat, that is our itinerary for our Christmas cruise, and also for our cruises in April and December of 2011, and March of 2012. We love AQ.

The other 11 night itinerary looks interesting except for the fact that it contains three ports which we understand are somewhat crime ridden, which mitigates against folks pursuing their port endeavors by themselves.

[hcat]

It's a great itin-- & we have never been to Dominica--looking forward to it-- we booked the Pools & Falls Excursion...

 

Let us know how you fare in December...

[BroncosFan2010]

Itinerary first, but we will not pick it if we don't think we will like the ship. For example, our previous cruising experiences have been on RCCL. We don't like the monster ships. So even if the Freedom or Oasis class ships had a great itinerary (which they don't), we would not book because we don't want to spend our vacation with 5000+ other people.

 

If a small ship had a lousy itinerary, even if we liked the ship, we would not book it.

 

So, I guess they go hand in hand.