What Cruise Line Do You Want to Try Next and Why?

[Cruzaholic41]

On 12/5/2020 at 8:24 AM, docruth said:

 

I’ve posted about the X Galapagos / Machu Picchu cruise tour from last year, just prior to Flora and Xpedition getting approval from Ecuador. It was a bucket list item for my DH, and he continues to marvel at how wonderful it was, more than a year later. Lima and Hacienda visits were way cool.

I was lucky to cruise Celebrity Flora prior to COVID. I rank it as my #1 cruise of all time. Not only was the cruise great, but the service and food were better than the luxury lines I’ve sailed. Plus, the ship was beautiful. Everything about it was a perfect 10. 
 

I would love for Celebrity to build more ships like Flora and do more expeditionary cruises around the world. 

[navybankerteacher]

6 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Probably Celebrity or Princess if the price is right. We always look at who is sailing the itinerary we want to sail and price the best cruise. If either of those two had fares close to the others we'd give them a try to try something new. COVID won't be impacting our decision too much but it could limit which ports we are willing to sail out of (i.e. sailing out of the northeast, which is limiting in many ways versus flying to Florida or other location for a cruise).

They both have sailings from NY area - Celebrity to Bermuda and Princess to Canada (you've probably seen enough of Canada - but their coastal itineraries are good.  Celebrity strikes me as offering  a better on-board experience than most other mass market lines - certainly beating Carnival and NCL.

[gottagoacruzn]

I'll stick to Rcl, thanks.

[clo]

35 minutes ago, gottagoacruzn said:

I'll stick to Rcl, thanks.

Why please?

[sparks1093]

8 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

They both have sailings from NY area - Celebrity to Bermuda and Princess to Canada (you've probably seen enough of Canada - but their coastal itineraries are good.  Celebrity strikes me as offering  a better on-board experience than most other mass market lines - certainly beating Carnival and NCL.

Good to know, thank you. We're hoping to do a Bermuda itinerary and COVID actually cancelled one that we had booked so I'll have to keep an eye on Celebrity. You are right about NE/Canada cruises, although we are talking about a weekend trip to Quebec City once things settle down. 

[iancal]

Interesting to read through this. Not much mention of the old standby mass market cruise lines like Princess, HAL, Carnival, RCI, NCL, etc.

 

Makes one wonder how much change there will be in the cruise market over the next few years post covid. Both market demand and cruise line offerings.

[Aquahound]

54 minutes ago, iancal said:

Interesting to read through this. Not much mention of the old standby mass market cruise lines like Princess, HAL, Carnival, RCI, NCL, etc.

 

 

Speaking only for myself, my pick of Viking was only a wish.  In reality, those mass market lines are what I'll cruise most.  I still enjoy them.  🙂

[ontheweb]

13 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

Speaking only for myself, my pick of Viking was only a wish.  In reality, those mass market lines are what I'll cruise most.  I still enjoy them.  🙂

Plus the thread title implies what will you try that you have not tried yet.

[sparks1093]

19 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

Speaking only for myself, my pick of Viking was only a wish.  In reality, those mass market lines are what I'll cruise most.  I still enjoy them.  🙂

 

5 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Plus the thread title implies what will you try that you have not tried yet.

Exactly, I'm more than happy with Carnival but will cruise on Royal if the price is right for the same itinerary. NCL has priced themselves out of my range but if I found a cruise that was comparable in price with the others I would give them at least one more shot (but the last time I looked I could have booked Celebrity for about what NCL was asking and if I wanted to spend that much money I would go with the one I haven't tried, at least in this instance).

[Hlitner]

We have cruised on 15 lines (the first was NCL back in the mid 70s).  But now we have booked our 16th line which is Oceania.  Why?  DW and I have always preferred smaller ships (we think 600 it too big) and O has reasonably sized vessels (still bigger then we prefer).  O also has a terrific reputation for cuisine and DW and I are true foodies.  The food on all the mass market lines (including Celebrity who used to have the best mass market food) went through a terrible decline in the few years leading up to COVID.  This has driven us towards the more upscale (and expensive lines) like Seabourn.  But O is a good compromise and we liked the itinerary we booked (Miami to Lima).

 

Hank

[clo]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We have cruised on 15 lines (the first was NCL back in the mid 70s).  But now we have booked our 16th line which is Oceania.  Why?  DW and I have always preferred smaller ships (we think 600 it too big) and O has reasonably sized vessels (still bigger then we prefer).  O also has a terrific reputation for cuisine and DW and I are true foodies.  The food on all the mass market lines (including Celebrity who used to have the best mass market food) went through a terrible decline in the few years leading up to COVID.  This has driven us towards the more upscale (and expensive lines) like Seabourn.  But O is a good compromise and we liked the itinerary we booked (Miami to Lima).

 

Hank

Hank, so far we've only done one O cruise (two canceled and one booked for '22) and I agree with you. The way I have described  the "mass market lines" food is LCD, lowest common denominator, feeding the masses. I was discouraged pre-O not to be overly optimistic but we're weren't one bit.

[lissie]

We enjoyed Cunard on our only cruise - and booked the same ship for 2022 - hopefully. Meanwhile we are going to the other extreme with a 8 day trip to Southern NZ Islands on an expedition ship with Heritage Expeditions, with only 50 pax, shared facilities and, I  suspect, no dance floor.  It will be fun and has the advantage of actually happening next month!  I wouldn't normally spend that much money - but we've spent nothing on overseas travel this year - and its still looking like it will be months before we can leave 

[Smokeyham]

I've been on Princes and really enjoyed them, and would go back, but as far as trying new lines I am very drawn to Oceania, which seems to be a step up from Princess.  In addition to the look of the ships, I especially like their "Country Club Casual" dress code, with no formal nights.  I am also drawn to the appeal of the smaller ships.

[bigrednole]

For us it is looking like Carnival. I think our March RCL cruise will be canceled in January. We have Mardi Gras booked for July and I think that will be good to go.

[Hlitner]

This thread reminds me that there are several different cruise worlds.  You have the majority of posters here on CC who likely do one or two 7 day cruises a year to the Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, and/or Alaska.  And then there are those of us who consider 7 day cruises to short and prefer much longer cruises (generally over 21 days) to exotic parts of the world such as Asia, Europe, South America, South Pacific, etc.  Since those of us who do the long cruises generally started with short cruises we do have some understanding of the issues related to this market.  But folks who do not go on long cruises do not have any idea about that part of the industry.  At the moment it does seem that shorter cruises will be the first to rekindle the industry.  The long cruises have lots of "issues" including ports.  We just booked a 28 day Asian cruise that will not be impacted by the CDC, Florida ports, etc.  It will depend on International airlines, the Japanese government, Russia, etc.  

 

I post this hoping to expand the thinking of those that only do shorter cruises (some of you are dreaming of the day when you can do long cruises).  We are not cruise snobs and still try to do one shorter Caribbean cruise every year (although it is usually 14-21 days) but I would add that we could care less about even getting off the ship on those voyages.  We do have a 14 day MSC cruise (Yacht Club) booked for late in 2021.....but that cruise will depend on the CDC's willingness to allow back-to-back bookings by late 2021.  MSC is till accepting bookings for 14+ day cruises but it will take CDC amendments to their Guidelines for any of those cruises to happen.

 

Hank

[FredT]

"Want" to try next?     Viking.   (Everything about them sounds so 'perfect" to our wants and desires.) 

 

 But given their price point, a more realistic "next" new line is Fred Olson.  Far less expensive, still the smaller ships we desire, and they have some of the more "exotic" (read "not 7 days turnarounds" ) that we are always looking for.  

[FredT]

On 12/5/2020 at 12:11 AM, GUT2407 said:

Used to sail a lot when I was younger and some of these Sailing Ships sure do look attractive. But I’m not sure how my back would hold up, same for some of the expedition ships that look great.

 

If the sailing ships look attractive to you look at Star Clippers.  144 (or 230) passengers, REAL sailing ships, and very comfortable.  (Staterooms, common areas, food, and bars equal to or better than most cruise ships.)   Having said that, they are large enough and well appointed enough that I know a couple people with mobility or back issues who sail them with no issues.  

[MJC]

For us it would be Cunard, since we'd like to do a crossing on the QM2 after spending some time in England. We are mostly itinerary-driven so we look at who goes where we want to go and pick from there. We've always had to plan around work but when we retire soon we hope to travel more and explore some new options for adding land travel before/after cruising (for example, in and around Japan).

Edited December 18, 2020 by MJC

[neverbeenhere]

There is a fine gentleman here on cruise critic named Tony. Well, Tony has extended to us an invitation to sail the high seas on his limited capacity rowboat, all drinks included. We plan on embarking soon.  Bon Voyage!

[goldengirl123]

On 12/5/2020 at 12:41 PM, Cruzaholic41 said:

My extreme cruise addiction has taken me on almost everything, so the line I’d like to try next is Virgin. 

Oh yes!  Me too! 

[gerryuk]

Costa have some excellent cruises around Europe, South America and the Far East and it seems to me their prices are better than MSC. Yes, like MSC the majority of their passengers are Italian, but you will always find Brits and English speakers on board and all their staff speak fluent English.   

[Aquahound]

18 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

There is a fine gentleman here on cruise critic named Tony. Well, Tony has extended to us an invitation to sail the high seas on his limited capacity rowboat, all drinks included. We plan on embarking soon.  Bon Voyage!

 

Don't fall for it!  My friend and legendary Key Wester, Captain Tony, died 12 years ago.  Though I'm sure a rowboat or 2 of his still wander the seas.  😃

[Smokeyham]

21 hours ago, MJC said:

For us it would be Cunard, since we'd like to do a crossing on the QM2 after spending some time in England.

A Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic crossing does seem like a wonderful adventure, and very different from a regular cruise.   You would have to be willing to get into the spirit of the adventure, with the dress codes, etc.

[neverbeenhere]

5 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

Don't fall for it!  My friend and legendary Key Wester, Captain Tony, died 12 years ago.  Though I'm sure a rowboat or 2 of his still wander the seas.  😃

 Drank many a beer at his place over the years. 

[GrJ Berkshire]

Think this is a question of which lines and ships survive the covid-19 pandemic.

For us simply going to the coast 45 miles away at present is impossible !!!!

Many of the pre -covid cruises will not get through this IMHO