Rank Your Top 5 Itineraries

[Vict0riann]

I would have to say No. 1 would be any and all Mediterranean cruises.  We do them over and over.

 

No. 2 would be Antarctica, as an expedition, but I only need to do it once (and we've done it)!  I would be happy to do a real cruise, but just for the cruising.

 

No. 3 is definitely the 14-day Alaska cruise, I'll do that one over and over (already done it twice, just hoping it comes back).

 

No.4 would probably be the Amazon, but there again, I only want to do it the once.  Very memorable, but also very hot....

 

No. 5,  gee, I think that might be any cruise with lots of sea days, with friends.  I'm ready to go...

[oaktreerb]

New Zealand (Aukland to Sydney on Azamara)

Alaska both 14 day and 21 day on HAL

Panama Canal east to west including Half Moon Cay and the ABC islands on Westerdam

Northern Europe collectors voyage on Eurodam

 

[Vict0riann]

15 hours ago, stickey_mouse said:

I see so much love for South America. Tell me, is the Chile to Argentina route worth it, even without the extended trip down to Antarctica? Or is the part to Antarctica what makes it? 

 

We've done that one, and really enjoyed it, circumnavigating Cape Horn was exciting, and something we didn't do on our Antarctic expedition.  (As we had "done" Antarctica previously, we didn't miss it.)

[tuolumne couple]

Panama Canal west to east vs. east to west. From the east perhaps one or two port stops then the canal then on to five or six ports. From the west just in reverse, but the relaxing, unwinding, getting into that cruise mode has really set in and that anticipation of WE ARE GOING THROUGH THE CANAL TOMARROW happens. Perhaps it's just me, or the kid in me, or it's something that's contagious on board going eastbound.

[cruisemom42]

26 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

I would have to say No. 1 would be any and all Mediterranean cruises.  We do them over and over.

 

I am so with you on that!  

 

A lot of my earlier Med cruises focuses on the Eastern Med -- which is a good thing as that area is now a lot more "iffy" in terms of ports that are considered safe.

 

I've also done several with a focus on the Southern Med that have included Tunisia, Morocco and of course Egypt. 

 

And then there are the Greek isles itineraries, and the "Italy and the Adriatic" itineraries...

 

One area of focus for my next couple of Med cruises will be the Western Med -- more of France, Spain, and the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Palma de Mallorca, etc.

 

[lazey1]

My #1cruise is a tie and neither cruise counts as they were both longer that 21 days but I have to list them anyway.

 

#1 Voyage of the Vikings with the Baltic included  (26 days); tied with  the Hawaii, Tahiti, Marquesas (30 days)

#3 Transcanal round trip 11 days

#4 Alaska S/B 10 days

#5 Mexico/Sea of Cortez 11 days.

Edited January 22, 2021 by lazey1

[JeffElizabeth]

1) Small British and Irish towns. 2) Arctic Circle and Norway 3) The Kiel Canal and the Baltics 4) The Vistula and the Rhine 5) North Atlantic,  Amsterdam to the British Isles to Iceland, Greenland,  and Canada. Try to take this one in the Fall so you can finish up with the leaves. 

[VermeulT]

I'm not as worldly as y'all.  I only have 11 cruises under my belt.

 

1. 14 day Alaska

2. Panama partial transit (10 day)

3. Southern Caribbean 7 day (HMC, Aruba, Curacao).

4. Eastern Caribbean 8 day

5. Bermuda

[Loreto]

!.  Rio to Valparaiso with Antarctica Zaandam holiday cruise...best cruise ever!

2.  Amazon Explorer 2 times

3. Greek Isles with Istanbul and Black Sea on the Rotterdam

4. Baltic on the old Noordam

5 14 Day Alaska loved Homer, Kodiak and visiting old friends in Anchorage!

 

I have found beauty and something to love on every cruise and feel humbled to have experienced so much.  When I was growing up my parents subscribed to National Geographic.  I would take the maps included with every issue and tack them on my bedroom wall.  Dreams do come true!

Karen

[1ANGELCAT]

1 Alaska. 2 Transatlantic 3 Panama Canal 4 Southern Caribbean 5 Bermuda sailing from NYC .

[cruisin'teach]

1.Antarctica - have done it 3 times!

2. Norway and the North Cape 

3. Baltics and Scandinavia

4. South Pacific and WW2 sites

5. New Zealand and Australia

[Sharon in AZ]

1.  12 Day Med, Barcelona to Venice with a surprise visit to Potmos as a sub for Athens

2.  14 Day Panama Canal, Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego

3.  10 Day Canada/New England, New York to Quebec City

4.  Alaska

5. 10 Day Southern Carribean

 

The last two might get booted off in the next few years though, I'm hoping HAL brings back the Canada/New England/Greenland itinerary and any itinerary sailing out of or into New York.

[stickey_mouse]

1 hour ago, cruisin'teach said:

1.Antarctica - have done it 3 times!

2. Norway and the North Cape 

3. Baltics and Scandinavia

4. South Pacific and WW2 sites

5. New Zealand and Australia

 

Just curious, how would you compare the fjords in Chile, Norway, New Zealand, and Alaska? Which are the best?

[cruisin'teach]

All are beautiful! Norway's that often have narrower and steeper entrances are my favorites with their many amazing waterfalls!

[whogo]

1. 21 days San Antonio Chile to Buenos Aires with landings in Antarctica.

2. Galapagos Islands on a 12(?) passenger boat.

3. Danube River from Wachau to the Black Sea.

4. Eastern Mediterranean.

5. Baltic.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, cruisin'teach said:

All are beautiful! Norway's that often have narrower and steeper entrances are my favorites with their many amazing waterfalls!

That's the cruise we had booked for last summer, which of course never happened.

[surfcitygirl]

Great way to think back on the wonderful cruises I have experienced, but very hard to choose, so here goes:

 

1. Antarctica, including South Georgia

2. Norwegian coast and fjords to North Cape

3. Western Med

4. Eastern Med

5. French Polynesia

 

Have only done a partial Panama Canal to date, but have one booked for January 2022, so am hoping to add this one next time.

[puppycanducruise]

I'm not as well travelled as many of you, I've only done 7 HAL cruises.

But my top 5 are:

Norway

Gems of the Baltic

Norway and Iceland

Western Mediterranean

Eastern Mediterranean

Edited January 23, 2021 by puppycanducruise

[jlnprt]

We only have a few cruises under our belt, so I am really enjoying reading these responses. Thanks to the OP for posting the question. Can't wait to get back to cruising!

[lcand1923]

If I limit this to cruises on HAL:

1.  South America with Antarctic

2.  Full Panama Canal Transit — Atlantic to Pacific

3.  Full Panama Canal Transit — Pacific to Atlantic

4.  14 Day Alaska out of Seattle

5.  Transatlantic from Civitavecchia

 

If I add in other lines:

1.  Circumnavigation of Japan

2.  Nile River Cruise

3.  Iberian Coast

4.  Eastern Med

5.  Western Med

 

Notice, I am WAY over 5.  Also, I am quite certain several of these were over 14 days.  I just can’t remember which.  I would repeat all of these cruises again — over and over again.

[Hlitner]

What a tough question and the ez answer is "whatever itinerary I am on."  But it did get me thinking and probably #1 was a 62 day Grand Med cruise we did on the Prinsendam which was a perfect blend of ports and many sea days.  The very popular Voyage of the Vikings also ranks high on our list as does a long Oosterdam cruise that involved  Transpacific, Australia and NZ.  DW and I once joked that our favorite cruise would be a 100 day around the world cruise with no ports :).  But that would have had to be on the Prinsendam with Captain "Halle" who is now retired.   And I am sure some real mariners would quickly point out that the Prinsendam would  have needed to make multiple stops for refueling and replenishing supplies.

 

Hank

[tuolumne couple]

On 1/21/2021 at 9:23 PM, stickey_mouse said:

 

Ok, I have to ask, why is west to east better?

In my opinion, from the east there are about one or two port stops, then you reach the canal before going on to five or six ports. From the west it is just in reverse, and the relaxing, unwinding, getting into that cruise mode has really set in and that anticipation of WE ARE GOING THROUGH THE CANAL TOMARROW happens. It is exciting. Perhaps it's just me, or the kid in me, or it's something that's contagious on board going eastbound. 

[GeorgeCharlie]

As others have noted - it's difficult, but if I had to decide these are the ones which would most likely make the cut.

 

1.       Westbound Transatlantic: 20 -day visiting Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada. We did this cruise in the fall (Aug/Sept) of 2018 and found it to be an excellent itinerary, with a nice break between sea days and ports. I thought it was such a great trip I ended up doing a review of it Review of Visits to Norway/Iceland/Greenland on Fall 2018 Cruise. - Holland America Line - Cruise Critic Community 

 

2.       Shanghai to Tokyo, with a couple of stops in South Korea. Did it in the spring (cherry blossom time!) of 2018. Spent a few days in Shanghai before and Tokyo after the cruise. Tried to see as much as we could - as we’ll likely not be back – other interesting places to see still on our bucket list.

 

3.       Arabian Sea & India: 14-night 2016 Christmas cruise from Abu Dhabi to India. Initially we thought this would be a rather typical trip as far as sightseeing went, but fortunately we were able to make contact with some of our fellow cruisers through the Cruise Critic roll call and it ended up being an outstanding trip. We were able to make a side trip to the Taj Mahal while the ship was sailing back to UAE. Made it back to Dubai a few hours after the ship, just in time to see Dubai’s famous New Years Eve fireworks display!

 

4.       British Highlands (14-days) and Baltic (12-days) B2B in 2019. We found the first segment covering portions the British Isles and Northern Europe more interesting than the Baltic cruise (but certainly nothing wrong with the Baltic cruise, as it’s definitely worth doing). One of the highlights of the cruise was being able to visit the Normandy beaches during the 75^th D-Day anniversary. I started doing a review of this trip but got sidetracked and didn’t finish it. With nothing happening on the cruise planning front right now - I should likely consider finishing it.

 

5.       South East Asia B2B Christmas cruise out of Singapore in 2015. This consisted of two 14-day round trip cruises out of Singapore. The first went to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei. We had previously cruised to some of these places (albeit some 20 years previously), so we found the second segment which went up the west side of the Thailand/Malaysia peninsula to Myanmar (Burma) to be more interesting – especially the overnight side trip to Inle Lake.

 

Our 35-night circumnavigation cruise of Australia/New Zealand/Bali definitely deserves an honorable mention, but it exceeds your time parameters.

In addition, I’m sure our fall cruise to South America would have made the list – if it had only went ahead as planned - *%#$* COVID. Well, maybe it will come available next year!!

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by GeorgeCharlie

[Jolokia]

1. New Zealand/ Australia

2. Panama Canal

3. Central America

4. Eastern Caribbean with Dominica as a port

5. Caribbean out of San Juan

6. Alaska pending, 4 cruises cancelled because of covid restrictions and sale of ships.

[Sir PMP]

On 1/21/2021 at 7:21 PM, stickey_mouse said:

I see so much love for South America. Tell me, is the Chile to Argentina route worth it, even without the extended trip down to Antarctica? Or is the part to Antarctica what makes it? 

Oh, yes, you don't want to miss, Robinson Crusoe island, and the main attraction: Glacier Alley, with the

Franzia, Italia, Romanche, Germania and Hollandia glacier all lined up in half an hour..