Are you loyal to one particular cruise line? How do you decide your next cruise?

[cruisin07family]

We've only taken two cruises. The first was NCL Dawn out of NYC and the second was Carnival Miracle also out of NYC. We're planning another cruise in summer 2011 as 1st son graduates from college and 2nd son graduates from HS so it seems like a good reason to celebrate. Apparently, this is too early to begin looking as most cruiselines haven't published their summer 2011 itineraries so I've been looking at July 2010 just for ideas. Ideally, we would like to cruise from Baltimore, Norfolk, Phila, or NYC as we want to avoid the flight necessity. Friends are all saying we need to try RCI but I loved both NCL and Carnival already and don't know if I'm missing something by not trying RCI.

 

When narrowing your selections, do you begin with itinerary, cruise lines, prices, what? For those who have perhaps cruised more than one line, do you like one more than the other? Yes, I realize I'm posting on the Carnival board but Carnival was our most recent cruise so I guess old habits, lol.

[gecko2gecko]

For me, I've never had a bad experience on Carnival so I always look there first. There are still ports/ships I haven't experienced so I don't really feel the need to look elsewhere yet.

 

I will say that the appeal of rock climbing walls and ice skating rinks is pretty tempting, but each time I've looked, the price just wasn't worth it. If I look at Carnival first and find what I'm confident will be a good trip for a good price, I usually don't bother looking elsewhere.

 

Does that count as loyalty? ;)

[MamaParrotHead]

I'm of the "it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of thought. Carnival offers everything we need, and then some, so I'm not looking to pay more on other lines. Plus, as infrequently as we cruise, I'd like for it all to add up for *something*, as far as loyalty programs/Platinum status.

 

I look first at ports I haven't been to, then ships and price. I'm flexible as to when I can go and like to have atleast half the ports be new to us (and I won't sail less than a 7 day and no more than 4 port days).

[redlef]

I choose by itinerary first, then by price. My only loyalty is to a balcony - I wouldn't choose a cabin without it, unless I was going someplace exotic where only one ship did the trip and balconies weren't available.

[Janan]

Well If I ever find the cruiseline that has all I want in a cruiseline (my mesuring stick is the now defunct Dolphin cruiseline) I will be....most cruiseline (except for one) will get considered depending on ports, price, and time of year!:cool:

 

Carnival so far is my fave!:D

 

Andy

[gargoyle999]

I booked a Princess cruise back in Nov 2008 because I wanted to try the Anytime dining. And I just wanted to try another cruise line. Had only been on one Carnival cruise before that but had another Carnival cruise booked for FEb 2009. So it was a good chance to compare the two lines within a few months of each other.

 

Now that Carnival has added Your Time and I like the cabin size and price Carnival offers it's hard to not choose them. I've decided to get DW to platinum on Carnival (she is 2 ahead of me) then I'd like to try HAL and NCL.

 

I don't want to pay more for a similar cabin/itinerary then I would on Carnival however. There are a few things I would tweak about Carnival but nothing major I would want to pay more for (and probably not use).

 

So right now I choose my Carnival cruises based on price (booked a cheap PT cabin on Splendor in Feb '11 for DW 9th cruise to ports we've already been) and itinerary (Magic 12 day in Europe next Sept).

 

Once I'm ready to try HAL and NCL I'll decide on where we want to go, see what ships are sailing and research those ships and then compare prices. If they cost more I'll have to decide if the extra cost seems "worth" it.

[gtalum]

I look for the best deal within an acceptable time frame. Every time I've looked, Carnival offers the best deal. I'm not exactly brand-loyal, but since Carnival generally offers us the best deal they generally get our business.

[A&Jfamily]

I choose by itinerary first, then by price. My only loyalty is to a balcony - I wouldn't choose a cabin without it, unless I was going someplace exotic where only one ship did the trip and balconies weren't available.

 

I completely agree.

 

I will say that I have learned from cruising what I like and what I don't; I prefer a smaller ship with a more intimate feel like the Sprit and Fantasy class. So, the RCI mega ship really doesn't hold much appeal for me, especially in light of the price.

 

I tried RCI for my first cruise in 2000 and was so unimpressed I thought cruising wasn't for me. The food was blah and the service equally unimpressive. My first cruise with Carnival, 7 years later, turned me into a huge fan of cruising.

 

So for now, I remain loyal to CCL. When I need to broaden my horizons for different ports, I will probably keep it in the family. I am a big fan of good customer service and I have found it here.

[hazeleyez3]

Our order is usually...

 

The time of year to sail

The general itinerary

The ports

The price (includes airfare and hotel)

The embarkation port

 

Lines aren't a consideration Unless there are 2 that basically mirror each other on multiple lines

[rbird]

We choose a cruise first and foremost with what works in our work/school schedules. Then we go by port and itinerary. Unfortunately Baltimore doesn't offer that many choices for itineraries but ease, convenience and price made our decision this time because it was to good to pass up. Never been a repeat on any cruise line yet. To many choices out there. Looking forward to trying CCL this time. Hoping all our snow here doesn't scare them off and they leave our port because it's great to live so close to a cruise ship.

[dan40]

First we decide on where we want to go.

 

And approximately when we want to go there.

 

Then we look for the LONGEST cruises that go there. [7 days OR MORE]

 

Then we look to see which line has the best deal to meet our needs.

 

If that is close, then we pick the line we like best.

 

So even though ITINERARY is our prime concern, after 50 cruises we know that the sea or weather can change the itinerary completely. IF that happens we just enjoy that cruise for a cruise, and rebook the itinerary we want at another time.

[howard6933]

I am definitely NOT dedicated to one cruise line. Since 1978, I have gone with 17 different cruise lines and 44 different ships (several of them more than once). Many things go into deciding which cruise line and which ship and you must do your homework thoroughly before making a booking. The things I consider are the itinerary, departure port, cost of the accomodations, ship's amenities, etc. etc. I also read many of the reviews on these boards and take them into consideration also. Let's face it......we're spending a lot of money on a cruise and we want to make sure that we have a good time. Not only that,

I believe that "variety is the spice of life", so to stick with one cruise line is not in my

vocabulary. I will say one thing.....I have NEVER has a BAD cruise. Some are better than others, but I always enjoy myself. A cruise vacation is IMHO the best bang for the buck.

[linda_22003]

Itinerary is #1. We took our first cruise to the Baltic, and after deciding on the itinerary, we chose the line for the things that were important to us: no tipping and other charges "a la carte" but all included; a manageable size on the ship (700 passengers), etc. We had a very good experience, so we have stayed with that line, but it's still all about itinerary; next year is our 25th anniversary, so we are thinking of cruising around the Italian "boot" on a smaller ship, probably Seabourn or Silversea.

[Cheeseland Cruisers]

Not loyal to any brand. Have sailed Carnival, Royal, and Princess. Want to try Disney, would be fine with Norweigin. The crowd on Princess was kinda old for me, and since Celebrity and Holland Am seem to trend older than Princess, I likely wouldn't sail them.

 

Price is a huge one for us, and in 5-10 years ago it seemed they were all closer in price, while now Carnival seems to have an edge much of the time.

 

Itinerary choice and price first, line after that. And maybe as much individual ships as lines.

[danacline]

By limiting your cruises to those that sail from NYC, you're seriously limiting the destinations you can visit.

 

I start generally by timeframe (i.e., next fall, or holiday sailing, or summer, etc) and region (i.e, Med, or Southern Caribbean). That narrows it down somewhat. I then look at itinerary, then price, finally the line and/or ship. As you can tell by my sig, I have a few lines and locations under my belt and am not afraid to try something new. I do operate with a few guidelines...

 

If I pick the region, sometimes the timeframe is dictated automatically, so I wouldn't bother looking for the Med for late July or August, or the Caribbean in hurricane season (although I've done Caribbean in hurricane season for other reasons). I try to avoid the first voyage after a ship returns from a different home port as boarding may be delayed due to customs or other reasons. I avoid many ships/lines because of price...for the weekly price of a WindStar ship, for instance, I can buy 3 weeks on a Carnival ship (and would rather do that despite really wanting to sail on WindStar's ships).

 

Air links are one deciding factor too. I don't mind flying, enjoy it actually, but the price goes up when we take the kids with us, so we drive a lot. But that means I'll probably never sail roundtrip from Barbados just due to the hassle of getting there. If you're in NYC, you have a lot more options than I do, including direct to any Florida port on several airlines as well as direct to San Juan for the Southern Caribbean itineraries.

 

Thinking as a 22 or 18-yr old (I normally do that, despite inhabiting a much older body), I'd rather fly to a warmer home port (FL, or San Juan) because I would think cruises from NYC are just too limiting and this is more of a once-in-a-lifetime event. My wife took our daughter on a 30-day transPacific cruise for her high school graduation, and I'm sure they're remember that forever...

[serene56]

For me--its not about being loyal to one cruiselines. We have 15 cruises since 2000 and after a few cruises on carnival they all started to seem the same. I have yet to make it to platinum on just one cruise.

We like to vacation in February and September. Price is a factor.

 

We tried Royal Caribbean- Voyager of the seas- found it to be the same as carnival in terms of service and food. But the price difference between the two lines is sometimes considerable-= plus the fact that royal nickles and dimes for a lot of stuff that is free on carnival. So, although we only cruised once on royal we couldnt find a deal to sway us in that direction again.

[frankhouse]

I look for the best deal within an acceptable time frame. Every time I've looked, Carnival offers the best deal. I'm not exactly brand-loyal, but since Carnival generally offers us the best deal they generally get our business.

 

Pretty much ditto for us too. Couldn't have said it better myself. We will cruise other lines but when I'm searching itineraries for my time frame the price always brings me back to Carnival. I haven't had a bad one yet. :D

[CruiserVette]

We are within driving distance of three ports: Galveston, New Orleans and Mobile. By eliminating airfare we are able to cruise more often and really don't care where the ship takes us as long as we're cruising! We also aren't particularly loyal to one cruise line and if we found a better deal than Carnival offered from these ports, we'd go for it. So I guess you could say our priorities are, in order, Port...Price...and Date. We have yet to be disappointed and probably never will be!

[hypercafe]

We have taken all of the mass market lines and found them all to be good, most are more the same than different so I go with the price and the and the ports. Also the ship can make a big difference so check it out.

[RambleRocket]

Itinerary is usually the deciding factor for me, then cabin location (I really love those aft balconies:D) then price.

[caribbound]

I've enjoyed 2 RCI cruises and was very unimpressed, mostly with food and ship layout, of my recent Carnival Fantasy cruise. I loved the RCI food and other than the pizza and soft serve on Fantasy, there wasn't anything, including desserts, that I ever wanted to finish!

Now we're looking at booking another family cruise for next spring, but as much as I said I wouldn't travel Carnival again (bc of food), I'm having a hard time swallowing the minimum $4000 price tag (2 inside rooms, 5 ppl)for RCI Liberty's 8 nighter. Chances are good the price could go down a thousand in a year, where as it's unlikely Carnival's $399 pp (western vs eastern I know adds a hundred too) Early saver rate will go down until maybe the last week if it's not sold out. Maybe could find a cheaper RCI cruise to Western itinerary on a smaller ship, but we really wanted the flowrider and rock wall, and they're still ave. of a hundred $ more that CCL.

 

The odd thing is while 5 yrs ago everyone was saying how Royal Caribbean had better food/desserts, lately I keep reading ppl thinking RCI is bland and Carnival's food much better. So I'm left wondering, was the Fantasy pitched as a low cost cruise from the start and thus cut costs in the food dept to begin with? I really wasn't even impressed with their choices, especially for appetizers.

 

So basing my next cruise on cruiseline and itinerary alone is difficult for me, especially when paying for 5. The kids would be happy with pizza and burgers and ice cream 3x/day all week so maybe a newer Carnival ship is all we need to be a happy family, saving better dining for another year when I go alone with friends...

[sassy0930]

I would say we're loyal to carnival. We've been on two so far and we've enjoyed them thouroughly. We only cruise every other year or so, so I don't think we'll get bored any time soon. When considering the cruise we're going to take in April I didn't even look at any other lines. If, for some reason, I was going to get a free cruise on another likne, I would take it. But when it's our money we trust Carnival to give us all we pay for and more.

[lakelorain]

Royal Caribbean is tops on our list. Missed the ship on our Alaska cruise because of a United Air Lines work slow down. RCI handled everything and kept checking with us until we caught up with the ship to make sure we got there along with our luggage and that we didn't need anything. Representatives met us at each airport and provided ground transportation everywhere we needed it. They went above and beyond including some on board goodies to make up for it and it wasn't ever their fault. We met others in the airport who were cruising on other lines and most couldn't even get their phone calls returned.

Customer service is important to us. The Jewel of the Seas is the best. We look to see where the Jewel is going whenever we plan a cruise.

[cruisin07family]

Royal Caribbean is tops on our list. Missed the ship on our Alaska cruise because of a United Air Lines work slow down. RCI handled everything and kept checking with us until we caught up with the ship to make sure we got there along with our luggage and that we didn't need anything. Representatives met us at each airport and provided ground transportation everywhere we needed it. They went above and beyond including some on board goodies to make up for it and it wasn't ever their fault. We met others in the airport who were cruising on other lines and most couldn't even get their phone calls returned.

Customer service is important to us. The Jewel of the Seas is the best. We look to see where the Jewel is going whenever we plan a cruise.

 

The RCI Explorer Bermuda/Caribbean or Bermuda/Bahamas is the one I'm currently leaning toward. I will have to check back with you in May and see how it went.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies so far. As I said we really enjoyed the Dawn and the Miracle and thought the food, service, entertainment on both Carnival and Norwegian were really good. My boys are really all about the ship, the "stuff" so I think they'd enjoy the extras onboard RCI although they first started looking at NCL Epic and the Blue Man group and bowling alley. It's so hard to decide!!!!!!!!

[danacline]

Instead of the Liberty, take a look at Freedom of the Seas. It sails from Port Canaveral, a 3-hour less drive than Miami, and alternates east and west itineraries. We drove from Kansas City and it was only about 19 hours total, most of that at night with very little traffic. It is cheaper, too, as the ship is a year older, but still stunningly beautiful.