Are you Loyal?

[briehon]

I have sailed 3 lines...Carnival, Royal and Disney. Currently looking at a cruise on Norweigian. Every time I cruise I run into people who ONLY cruise that line. As far as I’m concerned, the perks for continued cruising on a specific line aren’t that enticing. Am I missing something? Are you loyal to a certain line and if so why? I honestly have had a great time on all of my cruises and find pros and cons to all of them.

[M&JfromSDL]

I'm a bit of a creature of habit once I find something I like.  All of my cruising short of a NCL cruise have been on RCCL.  There's just something about the overall vibe on a Royal cruise that works for us.  We enjoyed our Getaway cruise a few years back.  As a matter of fact we came this * * close to booking another NCL cruise this fall but they seem to be playing games with the drink and dinner package promo.  

[ONECRUISER]

Been Cruising Royal 30+ yrs, done Norwegian and Carnival and they aren't for me. Royal is right Vibe. Plus I always sail single being C&A above 340points I save $1000s every year....

[Mikew0805]

Nah... I like CCL just as much as RCI. I just ended up on RCI so many times due to price and timing. The loyalty program really does not benefit me that much.

[K32682]

Absolutely not.  What decides which cruise line is the itinerary and the price.  The logo on the doorway is of no relevance. 

[sparks1093]

I'm loyal to my wallet and will generally pick the cruise line offering the lowest price for the itinerary we want, although if a new line is close to the lowest then we'd strongly consider sailing with them. This time around Royal was lowest so that's who we're sailing with.

[paul929207]

We cruised on several lines when we started cruising. Found we much preferred one and have stuck with them since.

[sirenitas]

7 hours ago, briehon said:

I have sailed 3 lines...Carnival, Royal and Disney. Currently looking at a cruise on Norweigian. Every time I cruise I run into people who ONLY cruise that line. As far as I’m concerned, the perks for continued cruising on a specific line aren’t that enticing. Am I missing something? Are you loyal to a certain line and if so why? I honestly have had a great time on all of my cruises and find pros and cons to all of them.

Just like you we have sailed Disney, Carnival and RCCL. We are currently booked on Norwegian for our next cruise only because a member of our party requested either RCCL or Norwegian,  NCL had the best price.  Nothing to do with the line, itinerary and price are what I look at when booking.  

[evandbob]

I'm Diamond on Carnival, but sail MSC, Celebrity, and NCL as well.  I've also done cruises on RCCL , Princess and Disney.  An interesting itinerary, length of cruise, price and variety are what I look for now in any new booking.

Edited January 29, 2019 by evandbob

[Extra Kim]

Did my first cruise with NCL, liked it and wouldn't mind going back.

Second cruise was on Royal, liked it. Cruise 3 - 6 was with Royal, since NCL never could match the price. 

Cruise 7 was with Celebrity.

8 - 9 Royal.

10 MSC.

11 Celebrity.

12 MSC.

13 Royal.

14 Will be on Royal in September.

 

I guess that nr 15 will be on Royal to get our 💎-status. But I can't say that the perks are what makes us book a specific line.

 

[lamchops]

2 hours ago, K32682 said:

Absolutely not.  What decides which cruise line is the itinerary and the price.  The logo on the doorway is of no relevance. 

 

2 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

I'm loyal to my wallet and will generally pick the cruise line offering the lowest price for the itinerary we want, although if a new line is close to the lowest then we'd strongly consider sailing with them. This time around Royal was lowest so that's who we're sailing with.

I am the same and have tried most of the major lines except Carnival and HAL. It seems that I have been focusing on NCL recently. I find their prices have been climbing compared to similar cruises in the past because of the “free perks”.

[calliopecruiser]

I'm loyal because it's a great product and great value, not because of the perqs I get from being loyal.  I don't believe I can get as good of a value anywhere else -- that might change in the future, but that's how I feel now. 

[NantahalaCruiser]

10 hours ago, briehon said:

I have sailed 3 lines...Carnival, Royal and Disney. Currently looking at a cruise on Norweigian. Every time I cruise I run into people who ONLY cruise that line. As far as I’m concerned, the perks for continued cruising on a specific line aren’t that enticing. Am I missing something? Are you loyal to a certain line and if so why? I honestly have had a great time on all of my cruises and find pros and cons to all of them.

Perhaps "loyal" is a misnomer; I believe most cruisers that use one primary cruise line do so because they prefer the attributes of that line. But that does not mean that they would automatically continue sailing on their preferred line if that line significantly changed their attributes or price point.

 

I prefer Celebrity and closely follow the postings on the Celebrity Forum. In recent times, I have seen more and more "loyal" Celebrity cruisers that are now trying other lines due to disappointments in perceived quality decreases and price increases. In other words, they are following their preferences rather than being loyal!

[h_blond2]

I guess I'm loyal to Carnival, but not because of any perks. Carnival is the only cruise line that has three ports within driving distance of me (NOLA, Mobile, and Galveston). I wouldn't be able to cruise once a year if I had to add air fare to the price of the cruise.

[sverigecruiser]

11 hours ago, briehon said:

I have sailed 3 lines...Carnival, Royal and Disney. Currently looking at a cruise on Norweigian. Every time I cruise I run into people who ONLY cruise that line. As far as I’m concerned, the perks for continued cruising on a specific line aren’t that enticing. Am I missing something? Are you loyal to a certain line and if so why? I honestly have had a great time on all of my cruises and find pros and cons to all of them.

 

I'm loyal to the experience I want, not a specific cruiseline. As long as one cruiseline give me what I want I see no reason to try something else.

 

We were loyal to the experience NCL offered until their prices went up too much.

[Essiesmom]

I book by price, itinerary, date.  Sometimes loyalty benefits are relevant, others not.  Having free laundry as a benefit allows us to travel with carry on luggage only, less stress for us.  Some cruises are booked for the convenience of driving to the port.  EM

[gymbomb]

While about 2/3 of my cruises have been on NCL, I have also sailed Royal Caribbean and Princess. I would happily go back on any of those if the itinerary and price were right, and there are several others I would also consider.

[GeezerCouple]

My only loyalty is to DH!   

 

As for traveling, we aren't even "loyal" to "cruising".  Some trips are still land trips.  It all depends upon the location and itinerary.

On both land and sea, we usually travel a bit luxe at this stage in our lives.  (Backpacking and sleeping on the ground - those days are in the past, except for sleeping on mats on the floor in a Japanese Buddhist Monastery...)

But we'll go on a different type of vessel (or hotel) if that's what it takes for where we want to go.

We were thrilled with Hurtigruten last winter, and that was certainly different from our suites on other cruise lines.

 

We care about getting a reasonable value, so the all-inclusives don't make sense for us.  We don't drink a lot of booze, and the really fine wines aren't included on the drinks packages.  Likewise, we tend to prefer private tours, although we are about to try several "ship tours" on Oceania, so we'll see how that works.  (It's a port-intensive cruise, and I'm quite not up to arranging *that* many private tours all at once.)

 

We are eyeing a couple of cruises on totally new cruise lines because of the itinerary... so, nope, no loyalty to a "brand"! 

 

GC

[Joebucks]

I don't see anything wrong with loyalty. Now, I do agree giving reasonable options a chance, instead of sticking to one for 20+ times just because that's where you landed. That's the best way to know which one you like best. Variety is also great to keep things fresh. If you do the exact vacation over and over, it will get stale.

 

I love loyalty programs. Like my most recent hotel stay in New York on NYE. Upgraded 3 levels, bottles of water daily, late checkout, free snack, comped cocktails, and early check-in. It definitely made the stay nicer vs not. I think some cruise programs have some work to do. If you love the cruise line, and you are getting something extra that has value to you, there is nothing wrong with that.

[navybankerteacher]

Itinerary and date come first - there is no point going someplace you do not care about at an inconvenient time. We’ve sailed about 8 lines, one or two of which we will avoid in future - unless, of course, the itinerary is really special.  Loyalty offers some perks, but hardly anything worth ignoring what you really want.

[lukeduke07]

We have mainly sailed Carnival in the past with one RCI back in 2007 mostly because of the pricing.  (I am very cheap).  

Our Carnival cruise seemed to be getting repetitious as we were cruising twice a year.   The Platinum perks while aren't spectacular we do enjoy priority boarding, shorter lines, priority Tendering etc.  

 

This year the price for the Liberty of the Seas out of galveston was too good to pass up.   Really looking forward to the change of pace although we are starting at the bottom with Royal and will have to wait in line with the masses  😱

[Extra Kim]

51 minutes ago, lukeduke07 said:

Really looking forward to the change of pace although we are starting at the bottom with Royal and will have to wait in line with the masses  

The difference is minimal since Royal has millions of members in C & A. 😎

[squick64]

Who I sail with is dependent on the price, itinerary, ship, lots of things. My first cruise that I paid for myself (rather than being taken by someone) was Carnival because it was cheap. They also had a good "first of the season" Itinerary that was better than their normal ones. My first cruise with NCL was because they were a good price, they had solo cabins with a whole solo set-up, and it was a megaship. I've found that NCL has served me fairly well, and I understand how they do things and what their policies are, which is nice; I also have status with them. But I'm not married to them, either. For instance, I'd like to go on Celebrity Edge one day because it looks neat, and I'm booked on 3 RCCL cruises (including Star Trek) (although if I were choosing a cruiseline by its website, RCCL would be at the absolute bottom of my list).

[MCC retired]

We cruise often , all the mass market cruise lines are good .

By choosing itinerary first , price second , we get to experience them all and enjoy the differences .

Past Guest benefits on each accumulate  over time .

[Hlitner]

I am very loyal to my wife and family and even to friends.  But I sure am NOT loyal to a business entity be it an airline, cruise line, travel agency, etc.  These industries are always changing and I take advantage of positive changes and shun negative change.  The RCI of today is but a small shadow of what RCCL was back in the 70s and 80s.   Hard to believe that RCCL waiters used to serve sides out of silver serving bowls.  We can remember our favorite waiter (Gary Branch) on the Sun Viking as he would open up our baked potato and carefully spoon in all the toppings from a large assortment on his tray.  Now, that line is all about Monster ships (DW calls them the Blight of the Seas) and maximizing onboard revenue.  Our most recent cruise was our first in MSC's Yacht Club and it was an excellent experience.   A few years ago we would not have given that line the time of day.  Over our cruising life we have been on 15 lines (a 16th is booked) and enjoyed them all :).  

 

Now, we do get perks on many different lines where we are in the higher repeater categories....but that stuff does not drive our decisions on which line to book.  Most of our decision making is based on itinerary, value (different then cost), and the current quality of the line.

 

Hank