Does the itinerary not matter?

[aikensbest]

I have read post after post comparing ships, cabins, food, entertainment, etc. , but seldom see any reference to itinerary. We have been on 17 cruises and the itinerary is what determines our cruise line.

[spookwife]

itinerary is very low on our priority list. it's just not all that important to us.

[cynbar]

The itinerary matters quite a bit to us, it's probably the #1 factor guiding our choice of a particular cruise. That's not to say that we would travel on any cruise line, but we tend to check the itineraries of lines we enjoy and go from there. We love Celebrity but don't feel we can't travel on any other company's ship --- as a matter of fact, we like to mix it up a bit as too many cruises on the same line start to seem practically the same. We're back on Celebrity in May because they offer just the 10 day Med itinerary we were looking for. We also look at price, departure city, available cabins and so on, but only after we like the itinerary.

[dodger1964]

Itinerary is why we chose our first X cruise (Harwich , circled around Great Britain back to Harwich)

 

Only cruised X since then. Have found itineraries we like. I think most of the cruise companies have very similar itineraries now.

 

We try to do one southern or eastern caribean trip each year. We seen to have same ships in port many of the days.

[BosoxI]

The itinerary is extremely important unless we are merely doing a cruise to "get away". In fact cost and cabin choice become secondary considerations if the itinerary is really great. But for a "get away" cost is the driver and where we go is of much lesser concern. Princess continues to have the best itineraries for our tastes but Solstice class is hard to beat

[redjetz]

For us, if it's a 1-week winter getaway to Carribbean, itinerary is a low priority. For a longer cruise, itinerary is important, along with price, airfare costs, etc.

[shipshape sam]

I have read post after post comparing ships, cabins, food, entertainment, etc. , but seldom see any reference to itinerary. We have been on 17 cruises and the itinerary is what determines our cruise line.

 

For sure itinerary is important to us. We just want to sail with Celebrity if possible. We do sail other cruise lines when we want an itinerary that Celebrity does not have or if the price difference is beyond what we can justify with our value proposition comparison.

 

We also sail other cruise lines for the demographics and/or atmosphere. For example we sail Royal at times when we are with a younger group and looking for more active activities.

 

So......for us, we come up with what we want to do, and check to see if Celebrity can deliver, Plan A. if not we go to Plan B. :)

[cruisetrail]

I have read post after post comparing ships, cabins, food, entertainment, etc. , but seldom see any reference to itinerary. We have been on 17 cruises and the itinerary is what determines our cruise line.

 

Ships, cabins , food and entertainment are designed/organized in certain way, to certain standards and sold at certain price.

They are measurable and comparable.

 

Itineraries (ports of calls and related regions) are not "designed" to any standards. They are Mother Nature products, unique and hardly "measurable" or comparable in terms of "better - worse" (unless one compares Cambodia with Monte Carlo).

[fredflint]

unfortunately many of the islands are very commercialized so if you wet on a tour on Barbados you might not know if it was that island or Jamaica, there are certain ports, that I do look for but once you have done the 3 caribbeans and Alaska, you pretty much are done. For Europe that is a whole new playground.

All that being said most of the cruise lines do all go to the same places with minor variations.

 

I would pick my cruise line first then look and see if it went where I felt like going bs picking a cruise line.

 

This year I am doing a TA and did not even look at another cruise line.

[Kamloops50]

For us it's the number of sea days and the itinerary ( warm weather cruise).

[Happy2cruise]

itinerary is very low on our priority list. it's just not all that important to us.

Us either:D...just love being on the ship!

[baggal]

It really depends on what part of the world you are discussing. In the Caribbean the ship is the destination. In Europe, its absolutely the itinerary that's most important. Which ports, how long you'll be there, and how many sea days?

[Azulann]

the intinerary is first, second and third for my vacation cruise plans.

The ship is nothing more than a floating hotel.

Celebrity is the first line I have ever sailed and will contiue as long as they have interesting itinerary.

[sheffield]

The smoking policy onboard is what determines who we cruise with and none of the other cruise lines come close to Celebrity.

[C 2 C]

It's our Seaside Condo with changing scenery as a bonus.

 

On our first cruise, our taxi driver told us that at night the ship circles the island, in the morning they change the sign.

 

However, you have to visit the Norwegian Fjords, the history of the Eastern Mediterranean, the wonderful cities of Western Europe and come back to the warm Caribbean to escape northern winters.

 

Long flights will keep us away from exotic ports but I can see a World Cruise in our future when HAL changes it's smoking policy (unless Celebrity assigns Century that task)

[CathyCruises]

We love to travel in Europe, and after several Med cruises spending only one day in great ports, we have discovered the beauty of TAs. This allows us to combine a great cruise vacation, which is total relaxation, with an extended land vacation in Europe, best of both worlds.

 

On our first TA, we disembarked in Le Havre and spent a week touring the D-Day sites, followed by two weeks renting an apartment in Paris, and a few days with a relative in London before returning home.

 

This year, we disembarked in Rome, spent a few days there, then trained to France, rented a car, and spent 10 days before flying home from Paris. We have figured out how to do this very economically, and the ship serves as our transport--and very low cost at that. Not much more than a plane ticket to Europe for a two week cruise.

 

We don't really care where the TA goes as long as we end up someplace we want to be when we land!

[hansolosmom]

The itinerary is extremely important unless we are merely doing a cruise to "get away".

 

So funny we were talking about this over the weekend.

 

The cruise we did this summer to the Med was totally based on itinerary as was our Baltic cruise. If/when we do Alaska it'll be the same thing.

 

But for the Caribbean/Bahamas/Bermuda the ship is more important.

[tispwisp]

Well as DH doesn't fly, we are boxed into the Caribbean - for now - due to time constraints. So for now, it is based on the ship as we have been nearly everywhere in the Caribbean multiple times. I love trying different ships and love the Caribbean so it's all good! :)

[NoobCruise]

Itinerary is #1 priority for us. Once we settle on that, then we narrow down cruise line and ship. Then I look at the ship reviews. Smoking policy is a big factor for me in selecting cruise lines though because I'm asthmatic.

[alcpa1]

Any itinerary other than Alaska or the Caribbean are totally itinerary and port times driven. The only caveat for the Caribbean is a must do stop in Barbados to replenish an after dinner drink that is only available there. We've actually taken a couple of southern Caribbean cruises cause the bar was dry!!!! I think that is a terribly reasonable thing to do.

[Gig103]

I have read post after post comparing ships, cabins, food, entertainment, etc. , but seldom see any reference to itinerary. We have been on 17 cruises and the itinerary is what determines our cruise line.

 

I think that instead of comparing itineraries, folks talk about specific ports along the itinerary. In those cases, the Ports of Call subforum would have a lot of discussion.

[orchestrapal]

The smoking policy onboard is what determines who we cruise with and none of the other cruise lines come close to Celebrity.

 

Nonsense, Oceania and Azamara only have one outdoor very confined area

For smokers and O has one glass-enclosed (as of this summer) indoors.

None of these areas affect the cabins like the port side smoking on celebrity can.

[Gordoncruickshank]

We are getting to the stage were the itinerary doesn't matter as much as the likely weather. We have done Alaska which we probably won't do again too much travelling for a short cruise. We gave done Panama which we will do again.

 

As far as the Caribbean and Europe we have now been seen and done most ports. Some like Barcelona and Venice keep calling us back but once you have seen some of the Caribbean Islands there isn't much new there.

 

There are some good walk available though particularly in Aruba and St Thomas

[Allis154]

For us, it is itinerary first. Followed by cruiseline, and then ship.

 

Our first 2 cruises were on Cunard...all since then have been on X...with little interest in the Med or Asia (at this point), and already been to Alaska, Hawaii, Australia and French Polynesia, Panama Canal and, of course, the carribean, we will have to start looking at other lines to find itineraries that interest us.

[celle]

Itinerary matters greatly to us.

 

We decide where we would like to go and then search for cruises going there, If several cruises have similar itineraries, then we start looking at which cruise line and which ship - that's why we've sailed with 3 cruise lines so far.

 

Living "downunder", we have good beaches, either close or within a 3-hour flight. So. if we just want a warm, lazy beach holiday, we choose one on land.