cruise-bunny

My friend and I did alot of research a year ago before booking our 2019 RTW cruise. We checked out all the lines that do world cruises and compared them for itinerary, direction of sailing, ships and types of cabins, ship culture, cost, included amenities, and ratio of port days to sea days.

 

Itinerary is most important to us, including which ports, direction (we wanted a westerly cruise) and more port days than sea days. 1 or 2 overnights in ports was a plus too.

 

Cost was also a big factor because we're just middle income retired nurses - not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. We wanted a balcony (we enjoy spending time there), so we compared similar cabins on the different cruiselines. Along with this comparison, we noted which amenities were offered on each line and what services/amenities we would need for a long cruise. We found that most of the cheapest prices naturally came with fewer amenities (and usually more sea days than port days). So, we came up with an estimated cost of the amenities that we needed and added that on to the price of cruises that didn't include them.

 

Size of the ship really didn't make a difference to us, but it is nice that small ships can go to more ports. One thing we've grown tired of is formal nights and a formal ship culture. We were able to eliminate several lines based on a desire for a more casual experience. Since we are taking this cruise to see the world, we wanted port days to be at least 50% or more of the total days.

 

So.....after collecting all this data we chose Oceania. The cost was higher than others, but included amenities that were valuable to us: first class roundtrip airfare, 1-night precruise hotel stay, roundtrip transfers, 36 excursions per person, prepaid gratuities, onboard medical care, unlimited internet, unlimited laundry service, shoreside events in 5 ports, visa package, 8 daily complimentary fitness classes, art studio, all non-alcoholic beverages around the ship and in cabin refrigerator, no charge for specialty restaurants and luggage delivery service. None of these depends on what type of cabin you get. We will travel westerly and have a ratio of 60% port days to 40% sea days. 12 ports have 1 or 2 overnights. Will be gone for 161 days.

 

We will get quite a bit of OBC too - $3,000 each from our TA, $250pp from Oceania, $230pp spa credit, and I get $250 from owning NCL stock.

 

Hope that helps others who are also trying to choose a world cruise. No matter what, I'm sure we'll all come home with memories to last a lifetime! :hearteyes:

You did EXCELLENT research and it sounds like you had a good TA. May I ask for the TAs contact information? Thanks

For those of you who are interested, I finally published my review of my cruise on the Serenade of the Seas. Here is a link ...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=41668

Thanks, great review. I am considering this cruise for next winter.

sandy

You don't want Leo, you had to probe him to talk.

I am sorry that you had a quiet Leo. We had him and found him very enjoyable. Maybe he had an off day.

Sandy

Can anyone post a picture of there cameo?

You can also look on the website of the Cameo factory www.stonecastlecameos.com

I am thinking of stopping there on our cruise.

Sandy