What is more important, the itinerary or the ship?

[CruisingSince2012]

While looking at Western Mediterranean cruises for next year, I wished Princess scheduled Naples and Sicily in cruises on the Royal that embark in Civitavecchia and include Livorno. HAL ships do, but unlike the Royal Princess, the Ossterdam is just another ship. Knowing I will go to the WM more than once in my life, is it more important to visit the places I want to go or sail on a more exciting ship? I have wanted to sail on the Royal since she was under construction and visit the Amalfi Coast area longer than that.

[CruiserBruce]

You will get a couple dozen different answers...none is wrong.

 

Med cruises are very port intensive. Some will say the ship doesn't matter in the Med, the ports do.

[sacnaillady]

For me it was the ports. I would have like to have gone Celebrity but Royal had better ports for me. So I went with Royal. If I was doing the Caribbean again it would probably be the ship.

[t_car]

Yes med cruises are very port intensive.

The answer is - "It depends"

It's all about your preferences. You'll probably only have one sea day on a 7 night cruise. Most of your days will be in port and on land, unless you stay on board ship.

Choose what is important to you.

Good Luck.

[Markanddonna]

I think the itinerary is the first thing to consider and then the ship but neither should be out of balance. For some on a transatlantic, the cruise is just a way of getting across the Atlantic cheaply. For others (me included), it is a chance to experience new ports that aren't usually on my top ten. I've been pleasantly surprised with some of the ports. We had the perfect balance on RCCL going from Rome and then the next year outstanding port experiences and a few negatives on the NCL Star. The staff was great but the ship had some "mechanical" issues and its most recent drydock took away the lovely Spinnaker lounge to make more suites and there was no Great Outdoors. The ship was crowded on sea days because of this. As a cruiser, you learn to be more discerning and to look for things like that in reviews and descriptions. BTW- the Star had to cancel its entire Panama Canal cruise at the last minute and go for a week to the Bahamas to repair mechanical issues so that it would be ready for a transatlantic crossing and the Baltics.

 

Only you can decide about Europe after doing a lot of research. For example, some people don't realize that Rome is not that close to the port.

 

Use other resources such as tripadvisor and Rick Steves when you are planning Europe. One of the best resources for me was a city forum group on tripadvisor. I had many questions before the cruise and some people there are the designated experts on their city. You find that also in places like Copenhagen with "the Danish Viking" on cruise critic. When in those embark/debark cities, I sometimes have questions at the hotels: Where is the best place to get a certain type of pottery? Where is the best restaurant for a certain dish, etc. I often get a reply within an hour. It is like having a good friend there to answer last minute questions that come up. Sometimes you have to leave cruise critic for a more specific answer esp in cities that are not big port cities.

[NMLady]

For us, the itinerary and price are far more imortant than the ship.

 

Our priority order is

1) itinerary

2) price

3) cruise line

4) ship

Edited May 19, 2015 by NMLady

[Warm Breezes]

Sometimes we sail for the ship and sometimes we sail for the itinerary. It all depends on what we want for that particular vacation and what fits into our open timeframe best. You need to decide what you want out of this vacation and choose your ship accordingly.

[navybankerteacher]

Generally itinerary is primary, then ship (which, of course, includes line), then price. I have no interest in sailing Western Caribbean again - on any ship or at any price. I am willing to pay more for a more desirable itinerary or ship. There are, of course, also some ships (jumbo size), and at least one line, which I will most likely avoid - and pay a premium to do so.

[lamchops]

For us, the itinerary and price are far more imortant than the ship.

 

Our priority order is

1) itinerary

2) price

3) cruise line

4) ship

 

+1

The only time it changes for us is if there are multiple sea days and then ship ranks ahead of the cruise line. You can see by my signature the different lines that I've tried and all of them were less than $100 a day.

[paul929207]

In the med, most cruises have few sea days, so the itinerary is most important

[Azulann]

Number one for me when cruising in Europe is the ports and the time the ship is in port. I want at least 8-10 hours or even better an overnight.

I will be doing my fourth cruise in Europe with Celebrity in 2016.

For my fifth cruise, I wan to find a smaller ship under 1,000 guest.

I will be saving my money to sail on a Viking Ocean ship in 2017.:)

[hubofhockey]

While looking at Western Mediterranean cruises for next year, I wished Princess scheduled Naples and Sicily in cruises on the Royal that embark in Civitavecchia and include Livorno. HAL ships do, but unlike the Royal Princess, the Ossterdam is just another ship. Knowing I will go to the WM more than once in my life, is it more important to visit the places I want to go or sail on a more exciting ship? I have wanted to sail on the Royal since she was under construction and visit the Amalfi Coast area longer than that.

 

Having been on the Royal Princess, I can tell you that it is not a destination ship. The balconies are tiny and the elevators are overcrowded. My advice would be take the HAL cruise that includes Naples and Sicily. It sounds like you'd like to see Positano, which I loved and maybe see Taormina in Sicily. Have a great time.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Number one for me when cruising in Europe is the ports and the time the ship is in port. I want at least 8-10 hours or even better an overnight.

 

I will be doing my fourth cruise in Europe with Celebrity in 2016.

 

For my fifth cruise, I wan to find a smaller ship under 1,000 guest.

 

I will be saving my money to sail on a Viking Ocean ship in 2017.:)

 

 

Oceania R ships have under 700 passengers.

[pris993]

Generally both are import to us. After 50+ cruises on 9 different lines over the years, we are pretty fussy.

 

Ref your question, I would go with the itinerary.. because we have done 12 or so Mediterranean cruises, on Princess, HAL, Cunard, Crystal, NCL, plus some lines no longer around. The ship is nice but the ports are what it is all about in the Mediterranean.

 

The new Royal Princess is a large ship, as busy as a Mediterranean cruise is you will not spend that much time on board the ship. We did a 12 night cruise from Istanbul to Barcelona on the Grand Princess , in l998, many years ago when it was brand new, we were on the first cruise. We did not see much more than our cabin and the MDR, oh the disco before we left Istanbul, we crash a press party there because the Grand was the biggest ship afloat at the time. Suspect we went to the theatre a time or two, then they did the repeat passenger party around the pool.

 

Regardless of what you decide you can't go wrong in the Mediterranean, you will enjoy all the ports... and you may get like us and go back many times to see even more.

 

Happy cruising.

[OCruisers]

While the itinerary would be a major factor, would NOT want to do it on a no matter the itinerary on a ship/cruise line we won't like. ;)

 

LuLu

[Jacs]

It depends on why I'm cursing for that particular holiday. When we did the med it was itinerary first, then the ship/line was a deciding factor when there were a few options.

 

We recently booked a cruise where my main focus was wanting to sail on the Celebrity Solstice again, I didn't really care where it went but Hubby overruled and wanted to do a NZ itinerary instead of the pacific one as we had already done that before.

[CruisingSince2012]

Oceania R ships have under 700 passengers.

 

Isn't Oceania pretty expensive? When you factor in airfare, hotels, HOHO tours, rental cars, etc. luxury lines have to be ruled out for financial reasons. But man I would love to sail on a luxury line if it was affordable.

[CruisingSince2012]

Having been on the Royal Princess, I can tell you that it is not a destination ship. The balconies are tiny and the elevators are overcrowded. My advice would be take the HAL cruise that includes Naples and Sicily. It sounds like you'd like to see Positano, which I loved and maybe see Taormina in Sicily. Have a great time.

 

Actually I was thinking of Pompeii.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Itinerary is important to us.

[hubofhockey]

Actually I was thinking of Pompeii.

 

Oh, you had mentioned that you had wanted to see Amalfi Coast for a long time. I guess poor assumption on my part, but there are tours, such as AP Tours, which take you to Pompeii in the morning and Positano and Sorrento in the afternoon. It makes for a long day, especially with the lack of any shade at Pompeii.

[navybankerteacher]

Oh, you had mentioned that you had wanted to see Amalfi Coast for a long time. I guess poor assumption on my part, but there are tours, such as AP Tours, which take you to Pompeii in the morning and Positano and Sorrento in the afternoon. It makes for a long day, especially with the lack of any shade at Pompeii.

 

A long day, yes, but really a wasted one: trying to do too much -- just rushing through Pompei (which really needs at least a full day), followed by just enough time in Positano and Sorrento to hit a couple of souvenir shops so you can say you were there.

[geoherb]

Price is my first priority. There's no point in looking at a cruise that we can't afford. Next comes cruise line. There are certain ones I won't book. Princess is slightly ahead of HAL for us, but not to the point where we rule out taking another HAL cruise. Third is itinerary when it comes down to a choice between certain cruises.

[hubofhockey]

A long day, yes, but really a wasted one: trying to do too much -- just rushing through Pompei (which really needs at least a full day), followed by just enough time in Positano and Sorrento to hit a couple of souvenir shops so you can say you were there.

 

If you are going in the summer, an entire day in Pompeii could be too much. The heat is oppressive and there is no shade. Was my day there a waste? Hardly. We had a great tour in Pompeii and spent the afternoon in the Amalfi coast. The only thing I would do over would be to delete Sorrento and spend more time in Positano. I learned enough to know I will spend more time on a land vacation in Positano. :cool: Each of us wants to get something different out of ports on cruises. What doesn't work for you, might work for someone else.

[SPacificbound]

The itinerary.

[chipmaster]

Destination!!! Between rock climbing walls, waterslides, skating rinks etc. etc. beside the novelty of it being on a ship I find all while amazing on a moving ship really not that much WOW. But to wake up in a different port every day with an exciting and different adventure, priceless and why we cruise every few years.