How do you decide which cruise?

[LilBlackDress]

Do you start with destination or departure or ports?

 

Do you prefer a certain ship/class regardless of destination or like the newest?

 

If you repeat a ship does it matter if it is the same itinerary or prefered to have the same itinerary?

 

Do you like the port intensive, or split @sea & ports, or More @sea less ports?

 

or ???

[ryano]

Do you start with destination or departure or ports?

 

Do you prefer a certain ship/class regardless of destination or like the newest?

 

If you repeat a ship does it matter if it is the same itinerary or prefered to have the same itinerary?

 

Do you like the port intensive, or split @sea & ports, or More @sea less ports?

 

or ???

 

May sound stupid to some but I decide based on what departure port I can drive to within 8-9 hours. Ports are not important to me at all. Neither is the class of ship. I just want to be on one :) It WILL be nice to have 4 Ports on my upcoming cruise as that means I can stay onboard for much of them and enjoy the empty ship :)

 

Thankfully, Tampa and Port Canaveral have kept me pretty happy. And now, Port Canaveral will have Oasis late next year. Win! :)

Edited March 24, 2015 by ryano

[drhall]

For me...

 

1. Availability - Which ships are sailing in the time frame that I want to sail?

2. Price - Do I need to make a withdrawl or rob the bank to afford this sailing?

3. Ship Age / Last Refurbishment - Am I going on a floating fossil? What activities interest me?

4. Ports - Can I afford to get to this port to sail? What other ports are they going to? I won't go to Jamaica. They're not LGBT friendly, and I happen to be affected by that. I also don't like to repeat itineraries...so what makes this port interesting to me?

5. Options - Any other lines running similar sailings? Similar ships? Similar prices? Promotions? Are they better or worse?

 

Then I use all that information to weigh out options and pick which one is best for me!

[LilBlackDress]

My DH is very loyal to royal. Not that I have a problem with that but I am more of the type that likes to try a lil of everything before I decide which I like the best.

 

We have had an on going debate with my DS/BiL and some friends as to vacation/cruise options. And I thought it would be interesting to see why others repeat itineraries, ships or not...

[Cruisingthesuitelife]

Do you start with destination or departure or ports?

 

Do you prefer a certain ship/class regardless of destination or like the newest?

 

If you repeat a ship does it matter if it is the same itinerary or prefered to have the same itinerary?

 

Do you like the port intensive, or split @sea & ports, or More @sea less ports?

 

or ???

 

For me, I start with a list of where in the world I want to go, cruise or otherwise. Then I see if a cruise goes there and work from that. Departure ports aren't important to me.

 

I have no real preference on the ship doing the itinerary, although at the moment I only cruise with RCI and I know which ships I don't want to go on. However, if I was desperate to go to a certain place, I would possibly reconsider.

 

I have repeated ships and itineraries. I have no problem with going to places a couple of times, as there is always more to see than in one visit but beyond that I think there is so much to see, I would rather see new places but if it is on a ship I have been on before, that doesn't concern me.

 

If I am on Oasis class, for example, a balance between port and sea days is nice as I can also make the most of the ship. If I was on a smaller ship or one with less facilities, it is nice to go to more ports. I have done TA's and for me, that works well as I have ports and then relaxing or the other way round :)

[Desert Cruizers]

I start with the Itinerary and look over the ports mixed with Sea Days. I then look at the ship doing that particular sailing, decide which one to go with then look over Cabin location. for that ship. We have sailed Princess but lately they have priced us out from sailing with them. We have had enjoyable cruises but in comparing itineraries, RCCL wins out and prefer the cabin sizes on RCCL. We haven't sailed the Oasis Class yet so stay with Radiance up to Freedom Class for now.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Desert Cruizers

[George C]

Do you start with destination or departure or ports?

 

Do you prefer a certain ship/class regardless of destination or like the newest?

 

If you repeat a ship does it matter if it is the same itinerary or prefered to have the same itinerary?

 

Do you like the port intensive, or split @sea & ports, or More @sea less ports?

 

or ???

 

Where the ship leaves from is big last cruise and next couple leaving from Texas, where we live but my favorite port is NYC

Price is a big factor, I loved GS we had on last cruise and that was in my budget on Navigator but wouldn't we on the Oasis

Prefer larger ships I think there are more entertainment options, love the ice shows

I like 3 ports for a 7 day cruise, we like sea days

[griffy116]

Depends on what we are looking for on a particular year. We knew we wanted to see Rome and Greece. We knew when we could go, checked which ships would make the ports of call we were interested in. On our upcoming cruise, we knew we wanted a cruise to the Caribbean that wasn't priced outrageously. Both times, we were pleased with the cruise ship that was making the route we chose. On one cruise, we wanted to drive to the port and that helped us make up our mind.

[Susie51]

Split itinerary. Prices, ship

[susancruzs]

Being retired, I choose by itinerary. I'm getting to Venice this year, I haven't wanted to cruise starting or ending there. The Vision from Barcelona will overnight in Venice then head back. I've driven around Italy for a two week trip, never again. I've done a Med cruise but it didn't include Venice.

 

Next year, I'm finally doing the Baltic itinerary. I've booked and cancelled it several times so hopefully 2016 is the year. I think 2017 might be Australia/New Zealand.

Edited March 24, 2015 by susancruzs

[LuCruise]

It's a combo of a few things.

- we decide what month to cruise

- we selected Caribbean since that would be one of the closer ports by airline

 

Then from there, the ship is important to us. We are coming with our kids so wanted one with DreamWorks and preferred one of the newer ones (Oasis or Quantum class).

 

Last we look at itinerary. We had been to most Western ports so we picked the ship traveling Eastern for the week we wanted...which was Allure (vs Oasis)

Edited March 24, 2015 by LuCruise

[Summerknight]

We like to fly into Tampa or Fort Lauderdale. We don't mind the same itinerary at all, just want to get out of the cold!!!! Then it goes by price, excluding Bahamas cruises. Did quite a few of those done with that.

[sweetlove13]

I look at itinerary first then ship. I care most about where I would be visiting. I don't care where I have to fly as long as I can see places I want to see. I view it as I have a limited amount of time on earth and I want to see as much as possible in that time so I will fly anywhere to take a cruise where I can get to the ports I want to visit. Example, a cruise next October goes to several ports I want to visit, on a ship I like, so I will likely book soon & fly next year to Southampton even though I have zero desire to go to Southampton, its a means to an end. I could easily drive to Los Angeles & sail frequently but why keep visiting the same ports when there's a big beautiful world to see?

[jndsilver31]

Do you start with destination or departure or ports?

 

Do you prefer a certain ship/class regardless of destination or like the newest?

 

If you repeat a ship does it matter if it is the same itinerary or prefered to have the same itinerary?

 

Do you like the port intensive, or split @sea & ports, or More @sea less ports?

 

or ???

 

First, my DW and I pick the ship. Since our Allure cruise, with so much to do and not enough time, we will probably only cruise on Oasis class ships. I know there are people who would never cruise on an Oasis class ship, I understand that, but for me and my wife, we like everything that those ships have to offer.

[JuliaMS]

For us it is different every time. Because we are both working it usually starts with a time frame then we look to see what is available. Then it depends what kind of vacation we are looking for. I am not completely brand loyal (as you can see from my upcoming cruises) but I do prefer Celebrity and Royal, they just don't always have the right trip. Specific ship is not very important.

[katrina915]

I pick the ports that I want to go to and somewhere I haven't been before. The cruise is typically port intensive, so the ship is secondary.

 

I went to Carribean a few times since I can easily drive to port, but I find the beaches to be better in Florida so probably won't go back.

 

But I love Alaska and Europe and history. Going on baltic cruise in May.

I haven't been to Hawaii or Australia yet, so that may be next.

[BillOh]

I'll answer mine in red and the go read your other replies. My cruise history may give some idea of where my answers come from.

 

 

 

Do you start with destination or departure or ports? Our primary is date, we like to be on a cruise on our anniversary, on 3 occasions someone else's plans picked the date for us.

 

 

 

Do you prefer a certain ship/class regardless of destination or like the newest? Part of my upcoming cruise is to refresh my memory of which I might like better the Oasis or Freedom class. Right now I didn't rush to book a Quantum class like I did with Freedom and Allure, but I might in the future.

 

If you repeat a ship does it matter if it is the same itinerary or prefered to have the same itinerary? I've done Jewel in the Western and southern Caribbean. I repeated Allure on the same itinerary and I'm about to repeat Freedom on almost the same itinerary.

 

Do you like the port intensive, or split @sea & ports, or More @sea less ports? Both for us, I did love the 5 ports on our Southern cruise. I did take Freedom over Oasis because of the 4th port. I can handle 3 ports in 7 days on the Oasis class, but I wouldn't do that on Majesty , or anything else that small.

 

or ???

[cruiseapril]

We choose a mid-sized ship with an interesting itinerary, including a new port or two. We like more port days.

[nimbex1970]

1. ports

2. travel costs to said sailing to get to them

3. ship

4. when cheaping out with research, see #1

5. See #2

 

 

I can have fun on any ship... so I have a personal hate to the same itinerary. St. Marteen, St. Thomas, San Juan... but this was the Alllure, and it's close for a drive, the ship looks grand.... I can suck up the bad ports for the ship.

 

But, if my vacationing behind wants something new, or multiple ports... I'll hit the southern caribbean, even without RCL. But the cost of getting there with airfare, breaks a want and a whim. So I give up a balcony to do what I"m itching for in an itinerary.

 

We sailed the Allure, with junk ports, to have the ship as the destination. Now I'm going on the Adventure again, because I want the ports.

 

Just pick what you want to do with the most of your time for the least amount of money you are comfortable with (inside/balcony) and you can''t go wrong.

[framboesa]

Class (prefer the big ones), price and ports;lately we are interested in departure ports in USA because we stay more days after or before cruise to justify the 10+ hours fly and have the oportunity to know new places farway from home. In europe is easier for us to have a short (2, 3 hours) flight to any european city :)

Edited March 26, 2015 by framboesa

[Big_G]

Being from the northeast, climate is our first criteria. Class of ship would be next preferring Freedom Class on Royal and Solstice Class on Celebrity. We're never in a hurry to try the newest class ship until they work out the bugs. For that reason, we never felt the need to sail Quantum but may try out Anthem. The Issue with Anthem is it will sail out of the northeast. Call me crazy but I'd rather get on a plane, fly south, have the heat hit in the face as I get off the plane and jump on the ship. No down time on the ship because of cold weather.

[bigque]

Do you start with destination or departure or ports? Destination is important as we like to go to places we have not been yet on each cruise. The only exception was our 3 day Bahama cruise we just did this month. We been there before but just did it this time for a short weekend getaway in between our next cruise. Besides that we have never been to the same places twice. After our upcoming cruise we are looking at the Western Med because we will have been to just about every place in the Caribbean that Royal goes.

 

Do you prefer a certain ship/class regardless of destination or like the newest? Nope, don't care. Every cruise we have been on has been a different class of ship including our upcoming cruise. We want to do Oasis or Allure one day but the prices always seem to be higher than we want to pay for the type of cabin we like.

 

If you repeat a ship does it matter if it is the same itinerary or prefered to have the same itinerary? Have not repeated a same ship yet.

 

Do you like the port intensive, or split @sea & ports, or More @sea less ports?

 

or ??? We like the ports. We are not really big time beach people but we like to take tours of the islands, however we have been on two sea days and one sea day, so it really does not matter as long as we sail to somplace different each time. [/

 

:cool:

Edited March 26, 2015 by bigque