Booking By Ship or Itinerary

[Firepath]

I see a lot of people say to choose an itinerary first, then cruise line and ship secondary. I wonder, does anyone love a particular ship so much that they always start there? Such as look to see where she's sailing, then choose from those options? If so, which ship and what makes it stand out for you?

Edited December 23, 2019 by Firepath

[Toofarfromthesea]

21 minutes ago, Firepath said:

I see a lot of people say to choose an itinerary first, then cruise line and ship secondary. I wonder, does anyone love a particular ship so much that they always start there? Such as look to see where she's sailing, then choose from those options? If so, which ship and what makes it stand out for you?

 

I don't look for a specific ship, but I do look for a specific experience - the MSC Yacht Club.

Edited December 23, 2019 by Toofarfromthesea

[lenquixote66]

I look only to itinerary.However,there are only 4 cruise lines that I will cruise on .

[mom says]

Unless it's a winter getaway to the Caribbean, we are itinerary driven. Cruise line and ship  as well as cost come next. Even with our winter getaways, where I don't really care about the itinerary, the cruise line usually is more important than a specific ship.

[Heidi13]

First choice is cruise line, which for us is Viking Ocean. All ships are identical, so next choice is itinerary, which for us would be a longer cruise anywhere except the Caribbean.

 

We prefer Viking for what they don't have - no casino, no kids, no nickle & diming, no photogs, no art auctions, no shopping host, no shopping tables blocking alleyways and no crowds, etc.

[Hlitner]

I will disagree with Heidi which might be a first (for me).  Perhaps it is because we have been blessed to have cruised on 16 different cruise lines (more then 65 different ships) and loved every cruise :).  I will admit that for a cruise novice (or even somebody who has limited cruise/travel experience) trying to choose a cruise and itinerary can be a daunting challenge.  But I think it makes a lot of sense to start out with your personal "bucket list" of where you want to go.  Cruise ships operate on all 7 continents and hundreds of ports so you have a lot of choices.  You  also need to have some idea of your budget since you can cruise for $100 per person/day or $1000 per person/day.  Both will be on cruise ships but there are lots of variations on what you get for your money.

 

Once you have an idea where you want to go then look at all the options for that part of the world including cruises and land trips.  At this point you should also factor in the cost keeping in mind that few cruises include what it will cost you ashore (Viking is a possible exception with some included tour options as is Regent).  

 

I will go against many here on CC (this is a cruise web site) in that there is much to say for land trips in many parts of the world.  As a simple example, try going to Prague on a cruise ship.  Or you can get a few hours in Paris if you go on a cruise that stops in Le Havre, but those of us who love Paris understand that a few hours (or even a few days) is not nearly enough time in that city.  

 

One other thing for those who have only taken short (7 days or less) cruises in the Caribbean and now want to expand their horizons.  When we cruise in the Caribbean we do pay attention to the cruise line and ship.  So, for example, we will no longer cruise on HAL in the Caribbean!  But we have no problem booking a long HAL cruise across the Pacific or in Asia and would also be happy with them in most of Europe.  While we might be happy on a huge mega ship in the Caribbean there is no way we would want to be on that type of ship in Europe.   Keep in mind that most European cruises are very port intensive with many long port days.  On those cruises the ship matters less then it might in the Caribbean or on a long transpacific voyage.  Many European cruisers are off the ship during most days and return for dinner and sleep.

 

But getting  back to the basic question of the OP....start out with "where do you want to go" and work from that point.

 

Hank

[cruznjan]

We decide where we want to go, then we shop around.

[dogs4fun]

We book for a specific itinerary as the vast majority of our cruises are European cruises & these cruises are very port intensive so very little time is spent on the ship (exception being the occasional sea day). We then look to compare prices and ships. When we get a tad older and want a more relaxing experience, we may begin to choose specific ships for the amenities (we did particularly enjoy Oceania's Marina). We also love river cruising and all of our river cruises have been driven by the itineraries.

[MCC retired]

Price & Promo , before ship then itinerary for us .

Edited December 24, 2019 by MCC retired

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, cruznjan said:

We decide where we want to go, then we shop around.

That is also what we do.

[bonsai3s]

16 hours ago, cruznjan said:

We decide where we want to go, then we shop around.

 

Exactly this.

[ducklite]

We look for itinerary and are only interested in cruising on a few lines (including river cruises).  The individual ship doesn't matter.  The cost is secondary to getting the experience we are looking for.

Edited December 24, 2019 by ducklite

[jocap]

Itinerary, so these days we mainly use old, small ships which are doing something different.

But for a January cruise across the Atlantic and back, it's all about the ship.

[George C]

If we are doing Europe it’s more about itinerary In Caribbean it’s more about the ship and suite perks.

[clo]

22 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

We prefer Viking for what they don't have - no casino, no kids, no nickle & diming, no photogs, no art auctions, no shopping host, no shopping tables blocking alleyways and no crowds, etc.

Sounds quite a bit like Oceania.

[Heidi13]

8 hours ago, clo said:

Sounds quite a bit like Oceania.

They are fairly similar, as we short-listed to Viking & Oceania. However Oceania does have small casinos and will accept kids. The meals on Oceania are reportedly a little better than Viking.

[ducklite]

On 12/23/2019 at 6:29 PM, Heidi13 said:

We prefer Viking for what they don't have - no casino, no kids, no nickle & diming, no photogs, no art auctions, no shopping host, no shopping tables blocking alleyways and no crowds, etc.

You should consider Windstar.  None of the above and smaller ships.

[Bizmark'sMom]

I am purely itinerary driven.  There's a whole lot of this world that I want to see. And, I'll often combine a cruisd with a land trip, so I get the best of both worlds. I'll spend a week in a rented apartment in Paris, then make my way to Le Havre to embark a cruise, for example.

 

Once I narrow down where I want to go, I start shopping. I prefer smaller ships, because they can get into more ports. Price is a consideration. The ship itself doesn't even enter my consideration until it comes time to choose an actual cabin.

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, ducklite said:

You should consider Windstar.  None of the above and smaller ships.

We did check them out. While we prefer smaller ships, the Windstar tonnage was just too small for our preference, as we prefer 750 to 1,000.

[Aquahound]

On 12/23/2019 at 1:51 PM, Firepath said:

I wonder, does anyone love a particular ship so much that they always start there? Such as look to see where she's sailing, then choose from those options? If so, which ship and what makes it stand out for you?

 

Most of my cruises are itinerary driven but I have done this a couple times.  Both were because I really wanted to experience the new ship.  One was Oasis of the Seas and the other was Celebrity Solstice, and I did not regret it one bit.  Both were awesome and far exceeded my expectations.  

[iancal]

If a Celebrity Solstice class ship is in the mix it will typically be at the top of our list.....ever since our first trip on Equinox.  

[Joebucks]

Everyone wants to be an expert on everything. Where we HAVE to take black and white stances on things to show we mean business.

 

Sometimes it's the ship. Sometimes it's the itinerary. Sometimes it's the experience. Sometimes it's the price. Sometimes it's the location. Sometimes it's a combination of these things. It depends what you are looking for. Some people may very well chose solely on certain things.

 

I've chose cruises because it had places I wanted to go, even though I didn't care for the ship. I've chose cruises because it was a decent-sized ship. I've chose cruises because it offered the exact dates we wanted. There are tons of reasons.

[pacruise804]

On 12/23/2019 at 4:51 PM, Firepath said:

I see a lot of people say to choose an itinerary first, then cruise line and ship secondary. I wonder, does anyone love a particular ship so much that they always start there? Such as look to see where she's sailing, then choose from those options? If so, which ship and what makes it stand out for you?

 

We enjoyed our Carnival Pride cruise enough to re-book it later in the year, but a different itinerary.  We haven't sailed her since but will take a Journey cruise on the Legend (replacing Pride in Baltimore) this May.  The size of ship and general atmosphere on board were large factors for us, although atmosphere can change with passengers and crew changes.

 

At this point in our life port location is the biggest deciding factor (Baltimore/NY/NJ), although we have flown too and will for our November Viking trip.  After retirement and no kids in school to return home to then we will (health permitting) do more international/different hemisphere travel.

[Essiesmom]

I book for all three reasons:  itinerary, ship, and price.  I have taken cruises because I wanted to go and it was a bargain.  I have sailed on a cruise to experience the ship.  Examples for that were QE2 in her last year, MSC Armonia and most recently booked on Celebrity Edge.  Our first few cruises were for itinerary - Amazon, Baltic, TransPacific.  I'm booked on Carnival for a musical event, and tacked a 2 day on another line on the front.  Makes things interesting.  EM