Which is more important: Ship or Ports of Call?

[Paulette3028]

3 hours ago, MalteseMama2 said:

Right now we are choosing ships over ports because we have been to most ports in the Caribbean, have limited times when we can cruise (in other words, no TAs or Mediterranean for us yet) and recently discovered how much we love the Oasis class ships. 
That will change when DH retires and we can explore areas new to us. 

We are now in that 'post retirement' stage, because DH has retired and our time is less limited by 'how much vacation time he has due to work'....so itinerary is important, but ship is as well (if there are multiple options).  For example, we have a Transpacific booked and we had a choice of Radiance and Serenade.  We chose Serenade -- we have been on neither ship, and picked Serenade because of its cruise length with Serenade giving us 2 extra days and departure city was better for us.   So lots of things play a role.

[GUT2407]

It can depend, we do a cruise to HOBART nearly every December, haven’t done it on the same ship twice, it is convenient for us and we need. Go there for other reasons. Other cruises are more likely to be chosen by itinerary.

[donaldsc]

2 hours ago, cb at sea said:

For hubby...Ports....for me, I don't really care!  I enjoy port days, but I can entertain myself with a book almost anywhere.  We do enjoy a spacious cabin, so I want a ship that offers a bit of "elbow room".  Every person is different.  I don't feel we're in any port long enough to actually DO what we would do if we were on a land vacation...we do enjoy roaming about. 

 

I'm with Clo....I LOVE the Vegas area....we, too, have done the "death valley" thing...had lunch at a brothel!!!  (didn't know it at the time, but it makes a great story!)...and spent a great day in Death Valley.  Vegas is my "go to" vacation...love it!  Great rooms, great food....fair gambling and not much humidity!

 

Did you get to Valley of Fire?  http://parks.nv.gov/parks/valley-of-fire

[donaldsc]

3 hours ago, donaldsc said:

I regard the ship as just a big bus that stops at places I want to sea.  Ports are 1st through 10th priority.  The ship is down there at priority #20.

 

DON

 

Freudian slip.  "see", not "sea".  LOL!!!

 

DON

[clo]

39 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

Did you get to Valley of Fire?  http://parks.nv.gov/parks/valley-of-fire

Ooh, thanks for this link.  I'll check it out.

[JimnKaren]

Having cruised as much as we have, we care a bit about the ship: but ultimately, it is the itinerary. If the itinerary is something where we might have been, then possibly the ship would be a factor.

 

If you ask folks on the cruise with you, there will be lots and lots of fervent answers. Only you can ultimately decide which is more important.

 

Jim

[Heidi13]

Been to most of the cruise ports throughout the world and on our preferred cruise line all ships are identical, so for us the first choice is cruise line.

[getting older slowly]

Sort of Both, plus price.

 

Did I say PRICE..... would be number one 

 

Destination :  I would not go on Island hopping cruise.....

as not interested in swimming or beaches.... But we like walking along beaches in winter...

 

Ship : Also would not go a ship with load of family things ie water slides, go karts etc  as too many children....

and they dont want an old fart

 

Cheers Don

[DarrenM]

13 hours ago, 90007012 said:

When booking a trip, if you had to pick which weighs more importance for you — would it be the  ship itself or the destinations?

Its both surely in equal measure?

 

I want a third choice.

[ruready]

Depends on the purpose of the vacation.  My DH and I have one scheduled for December.  We want to relax a bit (my DH has been a bit stressed at work), so it was cruise line/ship vs ports.  I did not really even pay that much attention to the ports when I booked it.  I just knew I wanted to be somewhere warm at that time of year and I knew what dates he could go.

[Krazy Kruizers]

For us -- itinerary is important.  We like to visit new ports.

[iancal]

It depends.

 

We would not want to be on a dog of a ship even if the itinerary was great.  Nor would we want to be on the perfect ship on a TA.  We expect the cruise line to deliver what they promised, to meet the expectations that they set.  Great ports and itinerary is not an excuse for a poor performing cruise ship or cruise line.

 

There seems to be no reason why you cannot have both if you do your research.  Granted....there is a certain amount of good fortune even when you do select what you think is the right ship for you.

Edited October 25, 2019 by iancal

[jakeil7]

You know, I think there is one thing that has not been mentioned here: time. Some of us have to worry about when the trip is (dates) as much as where it goes  Do both fall under the category of  itinerary?  I don’t think so given the discussions here

[ldubs]

We book by itinerary but would bypass the best itinerary if we felt we would not enjoy the ship (or cruise line for that matter).  So, I guess ports-of-call are more important but not an overriding consideration. 

[BarbinMich]

As we usually cruise on Princess ships, the ship itself is less important than the itinerary.  We've done over 50 cruises (521 days) since we started in 1994.  Since DH retired in 2001, we've done several/year:  Caribbean (southern itin. is our favorite, western our least favorite) in Jan., TAs in spring and/or fall.  Also have sailed to Alaska 4x, Mexican Riviera once (our least favorite itin.), been thru the Panama Canal twice and into it two other times.

Edited October 25, 2019 by BarbinMich

[iancal]

We have passed on a few very nice, last minute cruise offers specifically because we had no interest in the ship.

 

Both have to be aligned for us to hit the buy button....regardless of cruise line.

[Bizmark'sMom]

Ports

Price

Ship

Unless I'm on an expedition or specialty cruise, the ship is a floating hotel that takes me where I want to go.