What governs your time to cruise?

[Mattnvick]

Just as the title says, what governs your time to cruise.

 

Everyday someone is boarding a ship. What are the factors that determine the particular time.

 

School holidays? no schools on holiday? :) the itinerary? the ship? the time of year/weather? the price?

 

Just interested to see how many variants there are.

[Clarea]

Mostly price for us.

[sparks1093]

Mostly price for us.

 

Mostly this for us. We determine what general time of the year we want to cruise and then look for an interesting itinerary. We alternate cruising with trips to Germany to see DW's family so next year we'll go to Germany in the spring/early summer and cruise in November, then probably switch it up and cruise the following spring with the trip to Germany in the late summer/early fall (wouldn't mind returning for Oktoberfest, that was a blast!). That will likely be our routine until grandbabies start arriving (but only if we have to travel a ways to see them, if the are close the pattern remains:)).

[Lionesss]

It used to be around DD school schedule ......so summer.

 

This year its our 25th. anniversary, so we will be at sea on that date.

 

Next year:rolleyes:

 

Also, elderly parents and commitments and work schedules.

 

But, still make time to cruise.

 

Enjoy, we do.

[MCManders99]

Price is a big factor and school schedules play into it for us. Having 2 special needs kids , even though they are young, we do not want them to miss school for vacation. So we vacation less since we have to save more money to go during summer/spring break

[sjb317]

Usually, it's price and/or itinerary. I will look for itineraries that I like and then search for a good deal. My husband is retired so he can go anytime but I am still working so I also have to take my job into consideration.

 

Thinking about retiring next year and that will open up more time for cruising possibilities.:D

 

Sherri:)

[hapster85]

My wife being a teacher, the school calendar dictates when we take vacations, cruise or otherwise, and will until she retires, in about 15 years.

[toxicfairy]

I work at a school. NO vacation days for 10 month employees. So It's summer only. Really stinks too because we miss out on good prices , other itineraries and cruises with less kids on board... But in 10 more years...:D

[mirp]

School holidays.

[leahlefler]

School holidays for us (our first cruise is coming up), though we picked the school holiday in the middle of February since we want to get away from winter!

[dani negreanu]

Itinerary --

 

Norwegian fjords & Alaska - summer.

 

Caribbean - February, March.

 

Galapagos, Hawaii - May, April - best months from our POV.

 

Etc.

 

Allure - The only time the ship was "The ITINERARY" :).

[SthrnCruiser]

All the cruises in my signature (except the honeymoon) were incentive trips. So I didn't have say in those.

 

Our upcoming one on FOS was determined by several things. First was timing. We are taking the kids and since my son plays football, he has summer workouts. We only had two one week windows we could go. Once we determined which week we were going to go, I looked for itineraries for that week. Since dh wanted to drive, that left one port. Only one ship leaving out that week from that port. So there you go.

[molly361]

Price!!

[impatientlywaiting]

Mostly itineraries for us (trans-Atlantic; repositionings in the South Pacific).

[IndyColts84]

After reading your question, I quickly assumed that it was price that decides it for us. Upon further review, it would seem the decision is much more involved than that. Firstly, we must consider our jobs. No vacations during the two weeks of the year inventory is done, typically February and August. As we don't know when the exact week is until a month or so out, we basically write off those two months. On top of that, no vacation is allowed from Thanksgiving through the end of the year which scratches off part of November and all of December. 9 months of the year left! I'll be completely honest, my wife and I do no have children and as such we strongly avoid spring break and summer altogether. That leaves us a little less than 6 months of the year to cruise. Thirdly, we prefer longer cruises for their better itineraries, great value, and yes...lack of children. Norwegian has been our cruise line of choice so we typically search for repo cruises which are usually only during the spring or fall. Then and only then if a cruise meets our requirements then we will consider the price! So suffice to say, price...while still a factor...is definitely not the only factor.

[killtheump]

Usually, it's price and/or itinerary. I will look for itineraries that I like and then search for a good deal. My husband is retired so he can go anytime but I am still working so I also have to take my job into consideration.

 

Thinking about retiring next year and that will open up more time for cruising possibilities.:D

 

Sherri:)

 

Haha your husband like me is living The American Dream! Husbands retired wife's working.:D My wife is retiring in December so we will spend more time together.:eek:

We like to cruise in October or November and we have picked our cruises based on Ship, Itineraries and of course price. Our next cruise in October was picked for itinerary on The Adventure and our scheduled November 2017 was picked for ship The Harmony.

[George C]

We like to avoid times when there will be a lot of children, which is also normally lower prices, so now we have been doing end of April, then the week after Thanksgiving, or a adults only during Thanksgiving, we like suites but look for bargains, so have not done the newer ships

[SC_Floaters]

January 4

February 3

March 9

April 4

May 4

June 2

July 2

August 3

September 6

October 5

November 6

December 7

 

Dennis

[OCruisers]

We're big football fans so we don't cruise in the fall.

[Baowen]

Price but also my work schedule (Audit time- I'm an accountant). If I want to cruise with my husband then we have to consider the school schedule(He's a teacher). Finally, my two daughters university schedules if I cruise with them.

[Buccaneergirl]

The Bucs home schedule during football season. We have season tickets and dh says we can't cruise if we are going to miss more than one home game.:)

 

After that, it is price, although our next two cruises are out of Port Canaveral, just because I love the 45 minute drive instead of the 2 1/2 hour drive down to Ft. Lauderdale.

[spookwife]

Just as the title says, what governs your time to cruise.

 

Everyday someone is boarding a ship. What are the factors that determine the particular time.

 

School holidays? no schools on holiday? :) the itinerary? the ship? the time of year/weather? the price?

 

Just interested to see how many variants there are.

 

before it was deployment schedules. now, its teachings schedules. Mr Spook now is a civilian instructor on a military installation and can only take off during certain weeks in a 5 week rotation pattern. however our first test of that will be trip to Universal in Orlando, and not a cruise.

[mek]

First consideration for me is time. Jan, Feb, and most of June are out because of my job. Then I usually go to the Caribbean the end of February, but that sometimes doesn't work out like this year when we went much later.

 

After that, I'm totally open to where I go and on what ship. I have a lot of vacation, but it's difficult for me to take more than 2 consecutive weeks, so most of the 14 day+ itineraries aren't possible.

 

I primarily look for price and interesting itineraries.

Edited April 23, 2016 by mek

[Wanderista]

I don't get paid vacation leave but I can take leave pretty much whenever I want. This means that I tend to avoid long vacations where I can't work at all. I can work remotely and have more extended vacations when I want, but for a cruise, obviously, that isn't the case.

 

I have a lot of flexibility as far as the time when I can cruise or travel so I can generally pick the price and itinerary that I want. I'm just not likely to choose a long trip. I think that missing more than about a week of work would be something I would hesitate about.

 

Scheduling flexibility is one definite plus of my situation though. If I really want to go somewhere then I can. I think I would avoid typical "spring break" season if possible or the Caribbean in high summer. I would consider hurricane season cautiously. I like various types of weather though which also makes me somewhat flexible.

[Hypbmxgurl]

Price and weather.