how many cruises have you gone on where everything was great

[hammybee]

[quote name='Hawaiidan']

So has anyone else ever gone through their cruises and actulay ever enjoyed themselves and left the ship happy and wanting to return?:D

Or is it just me.[/quote]

>35 cruises on [U]all[/U] the mass market lines and we have never had a bad cruise.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I've been thinking about this since this thread was started. Out of all of our cruises, three stand out as having disappointments.

One short QE2 cruise was woefully mismanaged by Cunard (missed a port, sent us to a port where there was no berth for us, leaving us to circle as if we were looking for a parking spot at the mall--all shoreside screwups). But we made the best of it and enjoyed the parts that went right.

I didn't like Princess, and am not likely to sail with them again. There were a lot of little annoyances, but we found ways to work around most of them. And in between the moments of exasperation, we had good food and very pleasant dinner companions, so not all bad.

I was disappointed in Norway the first time. So many people said if I liked QE2, I'd like Norway. Actually, it was the way NCL managed her that I didn't like. That was my fault for inflated expectations. (although I blame the Norway fans who praised her too much :D) I adjusted my expectations, and we sailed her a second time, so how bad could it have been????

Were the rest perfect? I don't know. There may have been problems along the way, but the good parts are what stick in my memory. There are so many good memories that I don't think I could choose a "best" cruise. Each cruise is "best" in its own way.

[RM]

With more then 70 behind me I can say that only 2 were awful. Only reason it was 2 was because we wanted to give the line the benefit of the doubt. We don't sail with them anymore. LOL.

Each cruise is a new adventure and they are all memorable. Can't wait for our next memories.

[Boytjie]

What exactly is a "perfect cruise"?

All our cruises have been great, even on a so-so ship (Pride of America). All but one have been charters so it may skew things a bit (everyone on board has some common connection; lots of repeat passengers so one gets to know a lot of regulars; special entertainment etc).

[Hawaiidan]

Consider judging a cruise by the same yardstick that many pilots use in judging the quality of a flight/landing.
[B]Any landing you can walk away from as a good landing[/B].

So, any cruise where you are alive at the end was pretty good in reality !

As for complaints. It matters not how good the ship is ; it is all the passengers mindset. I have been on ships that I paid $39 a day for and also on ones I paid $1000 a day for.

What was most interesting was that , if you listened closely, you heard the exact same sorts of people complaining about the exact same things. Princess and the Pea syndrome at sea.:rolleyes:

[gb2dmax]

We have enjoyed with every cruise we have taken

[Happybeb]

At our stagge of life and with all of the sadness in others lives we feel we are so fortunate to be on a cruise. You make of it what you can and enjoy the cruise.

[jaybird from SC]

Proud to say we have never had a bad cruise. Then again, we don't go looking for things to complain about. We love cruising and we always have a great time.

[lcand1923]

... that's why we keep cruising. It's all about the hunt/the search/the quest. All cruises are good. Some are better than others. Once we go on the perfect cruise, we have no reason for cruising again and again and ... :)

[CRUZBUDS]

Proud to say we have never had a bad cruise. Then again, we don't go looking for things to complain about. We love cruising and we always have a great time.

 

We couldn't have said it better ourselves :)

[3rdGenCunarder]

... that's why we keep cruising. It's all about the hunt/the search/the quest. All cruises are good. Some are better than others. Once we go on the perfect cruise, we have no reason for cruising again and again and ... :)

 

Nah, you'll just have to think of a new reason to cruise. :D

[StartrainDD]

PERFECT? Four cruises come to mind.

 

Our cruise on Westerdam was pretty darn close to perfect. Outstanding servers in the dining room at a table for 4, at which the other two passengers never showed. Wonderful room stewards, a terrific time enjoyng the Hydro-Pool and loungers.

 

Our cruise on Infinity was also real close to perfect. Only "Downer" was that I picked up a bug while on shore in Costa Rica and ended up ill in my cabin almost the entire day through the Panama Canal. So another Panama Canal transit is on the wish list...

 

Amsterdam was very close to perfect, but it was our first cruise in over 20 years. If we had known then what we now know thanks to cruise critic, perhaps it could have been perfect.

 

Eurodam would have been perfect except for weather in Grand Turk (HAL couldn't control that) and the fact that we tendered in St Thomas - which was not stated when we booked - and we would have booked a different week or ship if we had known.

 

As an honorable mention, our last cruise on Ryndam was superb in many ways. The MDR wait staff we were fortunate to have were outstanding, and the MDR room food actually seemed to be "Better." (Food is so subjective and personal...)

[mllewis48]

When you take the time to think about the alternative they were all great and many more to come. Have there been little issues, sure let's be real what cruise is totally perfect?

[3rdGenCunarder]

Consider judging a cruise by the same yardstick that many pilots use in judging the quality of a flight/landing.

Any landing you can walk away from as a good landing.

 

So, any cruise where you are alive at the end was pretty good in reality !

 

As for complaints. It matters not how good the ship is ; it is all the passengers mindset. I have been on ships that I paid $39 a day for and also on ones I paid $1000 a day for.

 

What was most interesting was that , if you listened closely, you heard the exact same sorts of people complaining about the exact same things. Princess and the Pea syndrome at sea.:rolleyes:

 

I think most of us want to do more than survive. (And I am not making light of the Concordia disaster here) A vacation needs to be better than staying home, or why go? It has the inherent plusses of no cooking and no cleaning and somewhere interesting to go. But I think I want more than basic survival for my money.

[kazu]

I think most of us want to do more than survive. (And I am not making light of the Concordia disaster here) A vacation needs to be better than staying home, or why go? It has the inherent plusses of no cooking and no cleaning and somewhere interesting to go. But I think I want more than basic survival for my money.

 

Me too Kathy:D

[FrankNJ]

Enjoyed all the cruises , but that wasn't the question was it .

My answer to the original question : 2 . And both on the Noordam.

[Randyk47]

After a couple dozen cruises on four different lines I can't say we've ever had a bad cruise. We did have one OK cruise on the Veendam a few years ago and were glad it wasn't our first or only cruise on HAL as it might have made us think HAL wasn't for us. As it was we took a couple year break from cruising but when we came back it was on the Maasdam and was right up there as one of our favorites.