Do you cruise for the ports?

[PittsburghGirlee]

My favorite is Cozumel, we love the Western..... However, we were re-routed to the Eastern during the Swine Flu fiasco 2 years ago on the Glory and we still had a ball......:D:D

 

When life gives you lemons......order Tequilla:cool::cool:.

[In2why]

Cruising is a combination of ports and ship, but I choose a cruise based on ports. I know they aren't guaranteed....but there should be a darn good reason why they are skipped and I would be bummed to miss any that I expected to visit.

[G'ma]

I don't care where it's going....and the more sea days, the better.

 

My main decision making is always price.......

[CanWeGoYet?]

It depends for me, sometimes the ports will matter a lot - like on the cruise to Europe I took - and any time I am on a cruise with an itinerary I've never been on before. But the ship matters just as much, and I've found that I do want the sea days as well. The Eastern Caribbean I took with 4 ports in 7 days felt too busy. For me 3 ports in 7 days is plenty.

[velotaco]

We definately cruise for the ports. However, we do enjoy the whole cruise experiance, but, for the most part, the ship is merely transport to the ports.

 

In eleven cruises, we have only been to the same port twice (Hong Kong).

[MrPete]

Under normal cicumstances, the ship is my destination.

 

This thinking is overridden on specialty cruises, like those to Bermuda and Hawaii.

[trvlqueen]

For me, it's the whole experience - but I do start by looking at 2 things - price and ports. I set my budget, my 'timing', and then look to see what's available that meets those criterea. The next step is to look at ports.

 

That said, however, we've only missed a port once - Grand Turk in October - went to Nassau instead. There were a lot of p.o.'d people on board the ship, but we've learned to go with the flow and try to enjoy each day for what it brings - and we had a wonderful day at Cable Beach. I think the cruise lines need to do a little better job setting expecatations and sometimes explaining what's happening when they pass by a port. Our captain on Liberty did a great job explaining his reasons for not stopping in G.T. - and it WAS a very rough week at sea - lots of barf bags in use, so I was not at all surprised that we lost a port. Sometimes, I don't think people understand what they are buying - when you buy an airplane ticket, you're flying in a straight line from one place to another. If there's a storm, they go around it or cancel the flight. At 600 mph it's pretty easy to make course corrections and get you to your destination. At sea, it's a very different story - and I think a lot of cruisers (esp first timers) fail to understand the difference.

 

I'm not of the opinion that if you want to go to St. Thomas you need to fly there - but you need to understand that the captain has to use his best judgement to keep pax and the ship safe - just think if the captain of the Titanic had chosen to sail further south in order to avoid icebergs - you may have had some passengers complaining about landing in Norfolk instead of New York - or arriving a day or two later, but they would have arrived!

[BlueJacketsFan1]

Anything can happen during a cruise, but we always hope that we get to visit all of the ports.

[notme1955]

I love being on a ship and being on the water. It's the most relaxing vacation ever!

 

I consider the ports a bonus. I could stay onboard the ship the entire cruise and it wouldn't bother me in the least! My husband, on the other hand, enjoys visiting the ports, He'd be disappointed if we missed one, but it wouldn't ruin his vacation.

[hubofhockey]

Under normal cicumstances, the ship is my destination.

 

This thinking is overridden on specialty cruises, like those to Bermuda and Hawaii.

 

or Europe, etc.

 

But we still like to go on nice ships in both Europe and the Caribbean. Ports are a bit less important in the Caribbean. We still try to match best ship with best itinerary and lean to Eastern Caribbean over Western.

[ib4cruzn]

Ports-ports-PORTS!

 

Especially given the declining level of service nowaday.

 

It would seem I am not alone in this thinking. But, then again, what does the majority know?

 

YMMV

[cathyoo]

Really cruise for the onboard experience. But I like seeing new places and being able to say "my foot touched that place". I REALLY want to go to HMC and rent a cabana so I would be disappointed if I finally got on a ship with HMC as a port and it got canceled. Of course with my luck I know that I would have already predicated that would happen.

[LHP]

We have "been there" done that....so I don't care where we go....

 

But with so many new cruisers (and even a lot of folks who have cruised a few times but never realized the ports are not guaranteed)....

 

it is VITAL that Travel Agents and PVPs emphasize that ports are not guaranteed.

 

As with any form of travel...there are things that any mode of transportation are contractually obligated to deliver.

 

Airlines: They must get you from Point A to Point B.

Buses: They must get you from Point A to Point B.

Trains: They must get you from Point A to Point B.

 

Cruises Lines are different in that they are NOT modes of transportation. Their contractual obligation is like a restaurant and hotel. They are obligated to feed, house and entertain you. period.

 

Things like "getting from Point A to Point B" in the timeframe on your ticket is an "expectation". The Airlines, Buses and Trains arrival times are NOT guaranteed.

 

Ships docking at a port is an "expectation"....not a guarantee.

 

I guess what astonishes me the most is that some people act like this happens all the time.

 

In our 40+ cruises, I can remember 3 port interruptions. THREE....

Two for weather and one because RCCL built a statue that blocked them and us in San Juan.

 

This is not something that happens all the time with ANY cruise line.

 

Cruise lines want to make those ports. (if for no other reason than to protect their "goodwill".)

 

But a little thing call MONEY....comes into play as well.

Shore Excursions are a huge money maker for cruise lines. (while number 3 behind alcohol and gambling...it is a CLOSE 3rd because of all the new cruisers who are not comfortable doing ports on their own)

 

Unlike alcohol and gambling....ALL AGES buy shore excursions.

 

No way does alcohol and gambling (during that port time window of 8AM-5PM) outproduce shore excursions.

 

Plus, when a ship is at sea, there are additional fuel costs and additional FOOD costs (can you imagine what it costs to feed 2,000 people just lunch who would have been eating in port?)

 

People seem to fail to understand that cruising is a privilege and as such, it comes with some inherent risks. One of those risks is missing a port for any reason:

 

Mechanical, weather, civil unrest (Roatan), Disrupted tender service (Belize), medical emergency of a passenger or crew, Swine Flu.

 

So if someone MUST go to a particular port, they should fly. But most don't because for the price of an airline ticket per person, you can get days and days on a cruise ship where you are housed, fed and entertained.

[hankandteri]

I cruise for the cruise, not the ports. The ports are a bonus.

[westview1]

I cruise for both. I like visiting new ports and I love the sea days. I picked Princess last summer mainly for Bar Harbor. It was a 7 day with only 1 sea day which was a bit much for me. We are doing the Hawaii cruise from L.A. with 4 sea days on each end, I can't wait for that one to get here!

[kerrytens]

I have to say that this poll ended up exactly the way I thought it would - most folks sail for the ports, not the ship.

 

Thanks all.:)

[smallworldtraveller]

for the ports -- want to see if i would like to be there for a weeks vacation later on.. always for the ports

 

disappointed now Belize

[Vanessa L]

We pick an itinerary that seems interesting and know going in that if we make one or all of the stops, great, if not, who cares??? We both have high stress jobs and cruise for the sole purpose of R&R. Just give me a ship (any ship), a book, a chaise, and the sea and I am good to go for weeks (I wish I could spend weeks with an S!). I do truly feel so sorry for the folks who find this or other sites after the fact and literally go into a cruise with no concept that ports are not guaranteed. I am mildly disappointed when I miss ports, I cannot fathom how bad that would be if I thought it was guaranteed :eek::(

[alfthecruiser_1]

We pick an itinerary that seems interesting and know going in that if we make one or all of the stops, great, if not, who cares??? We both have high stress jobs and cruise for the sole purpose of R&R. Just give me a ship (any ship), a book, a chaise, and the sea and I am good to go for weeks (I wish I could spend weeks with an S!). I do truly feel so sorry for the folks who find this or other sites after the fact and literally go into a cruise with no concept that ports are not guaranteed. I am mildly disappointed when I miss ports, I cannot fathom how bad that would be if I thought it was guaranteed :eek::(

We cruise just to have fun meeting people, food on board, let alone sampling on the islands, going to new islands, in otherwords, enjoy what we have today, tomorrow may never come....:D

[mcwebber]

With ships missing ports recently, there has been some discussion about whether or not people cruise for the ports or just the ship. I thought a brief poll would be interesting.

 

Interesting but pretty meaningless, as you only get answers from people who choose to participate in the poll, not a true cross section of cruisers.

[kerrytens]

Interesting but pretty meaningless, as you only get answers from people who choose to participate in the poll, not a true cross section of cruisers.

No worries, my intent was never to get a true feeling of 100% of cruisers. It was to get the feeling of CC members - and it told me what I had been thinking already. No more, no less;)

[cruzecontrol]

I cruise for both. I like visiting new ports and I love the sea days.

 

 

I agree with this comment. It's the whole experience that counts for my wife and I.

[Cardancer4]

But, if the weather is fine, and the ship is fine and there are no medical emergencies, in other words everything is in proper order then I would expect to be taken to the ports listed and the ports advertised and paid for. I pay a lot of airfare to get to Florida for a cruise for my family so yes the ports are important and with all this talk about Half Moon Cay being passed by for "Testing" for what end? I personally would pick a cruise with this port because I like the idea of a self contained island for my family without any worries and abundant excursions and beaches to pick from. So if Half Moon Cay is passed over I would be upset. Carnival can pass by Nassau or another totally commercial island if they want. I like the Fantasy Island type of island experience for day....After all that is why I cruise - to get away from it all.......

[kshees]

We factor both into our decision. I love going to different places especially when they are warm and sandy, but we also look real hard into the ship. We love the ships and want to be on a nice one. I would be bummed if we missed a port but it happens and I'm not going to lose my mind over it as long as I am still able to have fun and relax!!

Karen

[Knights on the Beach]

I cruise for the cruise experience itself. When choosing a cruise, I first look at the ship, then price, then itinerary. Sure, I like to see new ports and we have a few old favorites we like to see as well. I could go to Cozumel on every cruise and be perfectly happy, but it's nice to throw in a new port every now & then too. Lately we've had four port days on our cruises and I really prefer to have only three on a seven night cruise.