A Perfect cruise

[lenquixote66]

Have you ever been on a cruise where everything was perfect ? Great food,wonderful shore excursions,great activities ,very nice passengers ?

 

 

[taglovestocruise]

20 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Have you ever been on a cruise where everything was perfect ? Great food,wonderful shore excursions,great activities ,very nice passengers ?

 

 

2009 Mariner of the seas Valparaiso Chile to Los Angeles 16 nights . Ship was at 70% capacity , weather was perfect every day, made friends with people from England that we still email regularly. That was the longest cruise we had been on and still remember it as a favorite. 

[mom says]

Is anything ever perfect? I think not. However our 2019 Celebrity Constellation cruise from Abu Dhabi to Singapore came very close. We expected the same on the second half of the B2B from Singapore  to Shanghai, but were disappointed. 

[ontheweb]

As was previously stated, nothing is perfect. And maybe you would not want it to be as you could never hope for anything better.

 

But, our best was a Baltic cruise in 2007 for our 30th anniversary.

 

Just to get them out of the way, the imperfect things. The laundry rooms were far, far from perfect, not enough after over the half way point and after St. Petersburg where they were closed for water restrictions they were overcrowded with long waits, not hot dryers, and water on the floor. We really could have used more time in Stockholm. And, not that it is their fault, but our actual anniversary day could have come in a better port than Gdynia for Gdansk in Poland. And when we landed in Copenhagen (we did stay a day after), we were put in a room waiting to board, unlike our first cruise 5 years prior where we were given a free tour of Barcelona (probably because the travel industry wasstill recovering from 9/11.

 

But there was so much good stuff that it more than made up for those imperfections. As much good stuff as I read about Talinn, Estonia, nothing could have prepared us for how wonderful it was. The group formed from our roll call for the 2 day Alla tour in St. Petersburg got along tremendously well. The guide and driver were also both wonderful. We all truly enjoyed each others' company.(And the one couple that did not join the tour lived on Long Island near DW's mother. We got to meet them precruise as well as on the cruise.) And it was the only Baltic cruise we found (except for very many days) that included Oslo, a city we really, really enjoyed. (Our cruise actually alternated weeks between Oslo and the port for Berlin. As I said we could have used more time in Stockholm, but the time we did have there was wonderful.

[evandbob]

Perfect cruise?  No, not at all.  

 

 I've never had a real bad cruise,.  I've had a few so so or mediocre sailings,  But I would rank the majority of my 50+ cruises as enjoyable or memorable, some even great.  But none from start to finish were ever  "100% perfect".

[Cruzaholic41]

Yes. Absolutely. I can think of several but my most recent was on Celebrity Flora. 

[getting older slowly]

Thinking thought  The perfect cruise ?   It really depends on one's expectations  and if you are glass half empty or half full person...

Some will find fault with everything....

Other delighted having everything done for them....

 

To us... we go with the flow and have enjoyed all our cruises....

maybe not perfect, but damn good

 

Don 

[GUT2407]

Not perfect, but have enjoyed them all, even the ones that things went wrong, or I ended up I so much pain I thought I was going to die.

[cruisemom42]

For me hindsight is not 20/20. I tend to forget the things that were annoying, and the good parts grow more pronounced in my memory. I guess that's a good thing...?

 

Only two cruises I can think of had significant flaws: a cruise on NCL in 1987 (that just happened to be my honeymoon) where pretty much everything went wrong. And our NYE cruise on Regal Princess in 2016/17 was much too crowded, which impacted everything from dining times to show seats to getting on/off the ship in a negative way. Also we just did not like the new class of ship.

 

Similarly, if I were to think which cruise or cruises I have the best memories of, I'd have to say:

• 14 day cruise to Alaska on Sitmar's Fairsea, R/T from San Francisco in August 1977. Perfect weather, first time to Alaska (and it was very different then with regard to the infant cruise industry). Sitka was so unspoilt. Great group of teens who all hung out together, we kept in touch for years afterwards (not as easy then in days before Facebook!) We also spent time in San Francisco after. The whole package was wonderful.
• First cruise on Aegean Odyssey in Nov 2010 -- 14 days with a stunning itinerary that included pre-cruise days in Cairo, then Luxor, boarding at Safaga then Sharm el-Sheikh, ayn Sokhna, through the Suez Canal, then calls on two ports in Syria -- one with an included "expedition" and overnight hotel stay at Palmyra, Beirut, one to Aleppo, then Antalya and ending in Limassol Cyprus. Everything was fantastic on this little ship carrying about 300 passengers, but especially the itineraries and the guest lecturers. Loved it and never looked back; for the next decade this odd little ship was my cruise line of choice.

 

 

 

 

[navybankerteacher]

It's hard to pinpoint - because there are distinctly different elements.

 

If we are talking itinerary, I would say Orient's Marco Polo - a few days in Istanbul, then Kannakalle for the ruins of Troy, Kusadasi for Ephesus, Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes for the Palace of the Grand Masters, Knossos in Crete, then a few days in Athens.

 

For shipboard experience, I would say HAL's Prinsendam on a TA from Civita Vecchia - when HAL still had first line food, service, and entertainment and attracted a delightful passenger mix -- plus a great way to come back from a couple of weeks in Italy.

[ldubs]

7 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Have you ever been on a cruise where everything was perfect ? Great food,wonderful shore excursions,great activities ,very nice passengers ?

 

 

 

I'm happy to say that those things you list were wonderful on many of our cruises.  I'm not sure we will ever achieve perfection.  In fact, I'm not sure I will recognize it if it happens!!  Haha.  

[clo]

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

For me hindsight is not 20/20. I tend to forget the things that were annoying, and the good parts grow more pronounced in my memory. I guess that's a good thing...?

 

Only two cruises I can think of had significant flaws: a cruise on NCL in 1987 (that just happened to be my honeymoon) where pretty much everything went wrong. And our NYE cruise on Regal Princess in 2016/17 was much too crowded, which impacted everything from dining times to show seats to getting on/off the ship in a negative way. Also we just did not like the new class of ship.

 

Similarly, if I were to think which cruise or cruises I have the best memories of, I'd have to say:

• 14 day cruise to Alaska on Sitmar's Fairsea, R/T from San Francisco in August 1977. Perfect weather, first time to Alaska (and it was very different then with regard to the infant cruise industry). Sitka was so unspoilt. Great group of teens who all hung out together, we kept in touch for years afterwards (not as easy then in days before Facebook!) We also spent time in San Francisco after. The whole package was wonderful.
• First cruise on Aegean Odyssey in Nov 2010 -- 14 days with a stunning itinerary that included pre-cruise days in Cairo, then Luxor, boarding at Safaga then Sharm el-Sheikh, ayn Sokhna, through the Suez Canal, then calls on two ports in Syria -- one with an included "expedition" and overnight hotel stay at Palmyra, Beirut, one to Aleppo, then Antalya and ending in Limassol Cyprus. Everything was fantastic on this little ship carrying about 300 passengers, but especially the itineraries and the guest lecturers. Loved it and never looked back; for the next decade this odd little ship was my cruise line of choice.

 

 

 

 

I've said that I wish I could have traveled (and dined of course) with Anthony Bourdain. I'll add you to that list. That Aegean sounds divine. Thanks for sharinng.

[pris993]

3 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

For me hindsight is not 20/20. I tend to forget the things that were annoying, and the good parts grow more pronounced in my memory. I guess that's a good thing...?

 

Only two cruises I can think of had significant flaws: a cruise on NCL in 1987 (that just happened to be my honeymoon) where pretty much everything went wrong. And our NYE cruise on Regal Princess in 2016/17 was much too crowded, which impacted everything from dining times to show seats to getting on/off the ship in a negative way. Also we just did not like the new class of ship.

 

Similarly, if I were to think which cruise or cruises I have the best memories of, I'd have to say:

• 14 day cruise to Alaska on Sitmar's Fairsea, R/T from San Francisco in August 1977. Perfect weather, first time to Alaska (and it was very different then with regard to the infant cruise industry). Sitka was so unspoilt. Great group of teens who all hung out together, we kept in touch for years afterwards (not as easy then in days before Facebook!) We also spent time in San Francisco after. The whole package was wonderful.
• First cruise on Aegean Odyssey in Nov 2010 -- 14 days with a stunning itinerary that included pre-cruise days in Cairo, then Luxor, boarding at Safaga then Sharm el-Sheikh, ayn Sokhna, through the Suez Canal, then calls on two ports in Syria -- one with an included "expedition" and overnight hotel stay at Palmyra, Beirut, one to Aleppo, then Antalya and ending in Limassol Cyprus. Everything was fantastic on this little ship carrying about 300 passengers, but especially the itineraries and the guest lecturers. Loved it and never looked back; for the next decade this odd little ship was my cruise line of choice.

 

 

 

 

Your  memory of the Aegean Odyssey, reminds me of a cruise we did on the Crown Odyssey, l989 from Venice to London... first time for us in the Mediterranean, all ports were fantastic, ship and service on board very good, most expensive cruise we had done to that point but spoiled us so much we did many more cruises in the Mediterranean (East and West ).  Many happy memories followed. 

[Ashland]

All of my cruises have been good and bad..the good as we first sail out..the bad as we sailed back in.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, Ashland said:

All of my cruises have been good and bad..the good as we first sail out..the bad as we sailed back in.

We once had a cruise that sailed back in 2 days late as there was a hurricane.

 

The good was the 2 extra days of cruising. Also seeing the good in humanity as no one hogged the internet cafe as we all needed to inform relatives of what was happening. (My late Mother-in-law thought they were going to drop us off in Fort Lauderdale in the middle of a hurricane.)

 

The bad was disembarkation was a horror as basically everyone needed the first disembarkation time to try to get new flights home, and that was combined with too many ships coming in on the same day with not enough immigration officials to clear passengers. And to make that worse it was a holiday weekend, Labor Day when we finally hit port. Also, DW really had to get home so she could get to school the next day to set up her art room. Luckily, we just made (last ones) to get standby flights home on the first available flight. 

[lenquixote66]

The best cruise for Mrs.66 and I was in 2017.We met and became very good friends with a couple.I was able to function a lot more than on my last cruise.We had a great CD .This was a 14 night cruise on Grandeur Of the Seas from NY to the Caribbean,We had great weather in every port.

[bonsai3s]

Yes, just about perfect.  Our Tahiti cruise on Renaissance...2001.

We had wonderfully funny and super nice table mates...still friends to this day.

Great food...still can't forget that absolutely perfect rack of lamb.

Great service...not just in the dining room, but all around the ship.

And well, the ports were just simply breathtaking...imagine waking up early in the morning and watching the ship slowly sail into Bora-Bora...Sigh.

Not to mention we had a great trivia team...won just about every game...the leather fanny pack and key chains embossed with name Renaissance is a fond reminder.

Sadly, Renaissance Cruise went bankrupt...another Sigh.

[Joebucks]

For me the perfect cruise only needs to have good weather and/or no cancelled ports. A very rocky day, rainy day, or missed port are the only things I can think of that will really bum me out. It just kills the vibe. Other than that, there's not much that I'm going to let get to me.

 

My favorite would have to be the one out of San Juan, visiting a new port everyday. Even though the ship was smaller, it was nearly perfect. Great weather everyday. A new island every day. So much fun.

[iancal]

We have had lots of them.   I believe it comes down to your outlook on life and your expectations.   The only one that was 'off' was our TA.  Cruise was perfect, TA just not for us.

 

We have been of a few cruises where our tablemates complained about everything and compared everything down to the elevator carpets to their favourite cruise line.   

 

We felt rather sorry for them.  We were not certain why they even bothered to try a different cruise line, different ship, different itinerary.

Edited April 11, 2021 by iancal

[ontheweb]

37 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

For me the perfect cruise only needs to have good weather and/or no cancelled ports. A very rocky day, rainy day, or missed port are the only things I can think of that will really bum me out. It just kills the vibe. Other than that, there's not much that I'm going to let get to me.

 

My favorite would have to be the one out of San Juan, visiting a new port everyday. Even though the ship was smaller, it was nearly perfect. Great weather everyday. A new island every day. So much fun.

Was the smaller ship the Carnival Fascination? That was the ship we sailed on out of San Juan, and that sounds like the cruise we had. I would also add it was a very lively ship with lots of dancing which made us, especially DW, happy.

 

We usually cruise for more cultural stuff and museums, but this was just a real fun cruise.

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Was the smaller ship the Carnival Fascination? That was the ship we sailed on out of San Juan, and that sounds like the cruise we had. I would also add it was a very lively ship with lots of dancing which made us, especially DW, happy.

 

We usually cruise for more cultural stuff and museums, but this was just a real fun cruise.

We cruised on the Fascination out of San Juan in 1994.I dropped my camera in one of the ports. Our Waiter overheard us talking about it and in every port we stopped in afterward he took pictures for us and gave us the camera.He refused to accept payment from me. I gave him a very nice tip at the end of the cruise.

l

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

We cruised on the Fascination out of San Juan in 1994.I dropped my camera in one of the ports. Our Waiter overheard us talking about it and in every port we stopped in afterward he took pictures for us and gave us the camera.He refused to accept payment from me. I gave him a very nice tip at the end of the cruise.

l

DW dropped her camera, actually she had it on a hook in the ladies' room at a restaurant in Edinburgh, and it fell. We ended up with no pictures of the Scottish Military Tattoo. Though in reality, I believe she actually got to see it instead of always trying to get a picture.

 

When we were back on the ship, she took it to the photo people. They determined that the lens was destroyed, but the camera intact. The lenses they had for sale were the same make as her camera, and she bought one. The crew member who sold her the lens was very helpful in explaining all its features. He was always available to help even though he was very busy with picture sales. I gave him one of those write ups you can give crew members who go above and beyond to make your cruise special.

[clo]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

He was always available to help even though he was very busy with picture sales. 

I'm so glad that our last three cruises had no picture sales.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've had so many great cruises--not perfect--but great.  The best ones are usually due to wonderful ports--our eastern Med cruise, the cruise around the horn and the Europe portion of NY to northern Europe. 

 

Although we like TA's, the weather on this one while crossing was awful.  Even though sailing out of Manhattan was spectacular, probably won't do a TA from New York in Spring.

[cruisemom42]

How about if we provide a snapshot of that (hypothetical or real) perfect cruise moment, if there's not a perfect cruise. This would have to come close:

 

Spent a long day ashore in perfect sunny but not too-hot weather along the Aegean coast exploring a new (to me) set of ruins. Arrived back at ship in time to take a cool shower, slip on clean clothes and make my way up to my favorite bar at the top of the ship, aft, the one with comfy seating scattered around but not so much as to obscure the views. Take ownership of a crisp cool glass of New Zealand sauvignon blanc while I read from the descriptions of the ruins I visited earlier written by Freya Stark (a female explorer in the 1930s-1970s). Watch the sun as it descends into the sea while the ship is getting underway, leaving the turquoise waters of the little bay behind.

 

For me it does not get much better than that on a cruise.....