How many cruises do you do a year?

[Aquahound]

14 minutes ago, clo said:

So you don't fly to other ports?  We're in Reno and will fly RNO/SFO/IAH/GIG (Rio) to cruise to Buenos Aires.  

 

You obviously did not understand the context of my post.  I cruised 7 times in 1 year because I lived in South Florida. 

 

Yes, I fly to cruises, but not 7 in a year.  

 

[clo]

12 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

You obviously did not understand the context of my post.  I cruised 7 times in 1 year because I lived in South Florida. 

 

Yes, I fly to cruises, but not 7 in a year.  

 

On our only cruise to Alaska, we met a man who lives in Seattle.  He takes last minute cruises also.

[Aquahound]

[SRF]

One cruise per year.

 

But also do a few land vacations each year.

 

But limited by mainly time off, and somewhat by available fun funds.

[Hlitner]

We no longer think in terms of cruises but rather in "cruise days."  Most years, DW and I cruise 70-100 days.  We have met others that cruise around 300 days a year.  But one memorable lady is why we stopped thinking in terms of cruise numbers.  The lady was a Senior (so am I) who joined us on a long (62 day) HAL cruise.  She mentioned that "this is only my 5th cruise" but later explained that her first 4 cruises were all full length World Cruises (each over 100 days).

HAL has so many cruisers with "big numbers" that the cruise line does not even count #s of cruises when determining one's status in their Mariner's Club.   Everything is about days.  So a 4 Star Mariner has at least 200 days and a 5 Star Mariner 500 days.   On one of our longer cruises about 2/3 of those on the ship were either 4 or 5 Star Mariners.  Those with 1000 days would not have even made the top 50 in terms of most days.  The Captain on that cruise decided to have all the 4-5 Star Mariners to his cabin for cocktails.  It took him nearly 2 months (and dozens of parties) to accomplish that goal....but he did keep his word.

Hank

[Cruzaholic41]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

HAL has so many cruisers with "big numbers" that the cruise line does not even count #s of cruises when determining one's status in their Mariner's Club.   Everything is about days.  So a 4 Star Mariner has at least 200 days and a 5 Star Mariner 500 days.   On one of our longer cruises about 2/3 of those on the ship were either 4 or 5 Star Mariners.  Those with 1000 days would not have even made the top 50 in terms of most days.  

 

That’s how most cruise lines do it now. Thing is, some people can’t differentiate between days and points. With all the extra points awarded for suites, on board spending, etc, you’ll hear people claim to have spent 1000 days at sea when it’s only around 500. 

[Hlitner]

4 minutes ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

 

That’s how most cruise lines do it now. Thing is, some people can’t differentiate between days and points. With all the extra points awarded for suites, on board spending, etc, you’ll hear people claim to have spent 1000 days at sea when it’s only around 500. 

True.  HAL does maintain something akin to a two tiered system.  For their Mariners Club points they do add bonus days for onboard expenditures and some suites.  But they also have kept their Medallion Program where they give out medallions based on actual cruise days.   The funny thing about all these frequent cruiser clubs is that, like most cruisers, we used to look forward to reaching the higher tiers.  When we were younger we actually attended most of the parties, luncheons, etc.  Now that we have achieved high levels (on many different lines) we generally skip all the related functions (we find them boring and have no desire to stand in a line to rub elbows with the "hired help" and get a lousy drink).  But some of the perks are very nice (especially free laundry, 50% off wine packages on HAL, lots of free Internet minutes on HAL, etc.

 

But one classic moment happened to us while checking in for a long HAL cruise.  When we arrived at the Port we were shunted to a "priority line" for 4-5* Mariners.  DW quickly noticed that the priority line was quite long and moving at a snails pace.  A few feet away was the regular (non-priority) line which was near-empty and moving quickly.  So we ducked under the rope and got in the regular line and were immediately processed.  As we were passing the priority line on our way to the ship we heard a lady mumble, "I worked hard to get into this line and will not get in the regular line."  I suppose she had to wait in that priority line at least another 30 minutes :).

 

Hank

[Aquahound]

27 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

But one classic moment happened to us while checking in for a long HAL cruise.  When we arrived at the Port we were shunted to a "priority line" for 4-5* Mariners.  DW quickly noticed that the priority line was quite long and moving at a snails pace.  A few feet away was the regular (non-priority) line which was near-empty and moving quickly.  So we ducked under the rope and got in the regular line and were immediately processed.  As we were passing the priority line on our way to the ship we heard a lady mumble, "I worked hard to get into this line and will not get in the regular line."  I suppose she had to wait in that priority line at least another 30 minutes :).

 

Ha!  Great story.  I heard a great line years ago that can be applied directly to high ranking loyalty club members.  "When everyone is special, no one is special."  

 

I'm all over the place with my cruises lately.  The lines on which I have the highest status are the lines I've cruised the least in the past few years, and it does not bother me one bit.  I've found I prefer new experiences over loyalty perks.  I'm really hoping to try a line like Oceania or Viking Ocean in the near future.  

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, Aquahound said:

 

 I've found I prefer new experiences over loyalty perks.  

 

Same here. I like new experiences, new destinations, etc. 

 

But I guess there's room for all of us -- those who like knowing where everything onboard is and have already picked our their dinner items for each evening because they know the menu inside out; those who want to feel special (and most lines do a pretty good job of that) because of how many times they've sailed with the line in the past; and those who aren't particularly emotionally tied to any particular line.

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, Aquahound said:

 

Ha!  Great story.  I heard a great line years ago that can be applied directly to high ranking loyalty club members.  "When everyone is special, no one is special."  

 

I'm all over the place with my cruises lately.  The lines on which I have the highest status are the lines I've cruised the least in the past few years, and it does not bother me one bit.  I've found I prefer new experiences over loyalty perks.  I'm really hoping to try a line like Oceania or Viking Ocean in the near future.  

You sound very much like us.  In the past year we have tried two new cruise lines ((MSC (Yacht Club)  and Seabourn) )

which are 15 and 16 (according to DW who keeps track).  We also are likely to try Viking Ocean and Oceania sometime in the next couple of years.  The Loyalty Perks can be nice (especially free laundry) but hardly a deal maker/breaker for us.  We tend to take longer more expensive cruises and the perks amount to a relatively small value when compared to the total cost.   We were pretty impressed with both new (for us) cruise lines.   Of our three primary lines (Celebrity, Princess and HAL)...only Princess has been close to meeting expectations (although our most recent cruise on the Caribbean Princess was disappointing).

 

Hank

[SRF]

17 hours ago, Hlitner said:

But one classic moment happened to us while checking in for a long HAL cruise.  When we arrived at the Port we were shunted to a "priority line" for 4-5* Mariners.  DW quickly noticed that the priority line was quite long and moving at a snails pace.  A few feet away was the regular (non-priority) line which was near-empty and moving quickly.  So we ducked under the rope and got in the regular line and were immediately processed.  As we were passing the priority line on our way to the ship we heard a lady mumble, "I worked hard to get into this line and will not get in the regular line."  I suppose she had to wait in that priority line at least another 30 minutes :).

 

Hank

 

Hmm, in Baltimore, boarding RCI, they pull from the lines based on priority.  So the priority people get the next available agent.  Not one agent for the priority line.

 

Many airlines also do this now for check in.

[Justaddvodka68]

On 8/11/2019 at 2:58 PM, Heidi13 said:

Next year, only 1 but it is 4 months.

 

I hope you plan to start a thread and blog this! 

[Justaddvodka68]

On 9/15/2019 at 11:30 AM, clo said:

I would think going on cruises requires less physical ability than staying at home.  ?

 

Right!  No cleaning, no grocery shopping or cooking! 

[Justaddvodka68]

On 9/15/2019 at 10:56 PM, Aquahound said:

 

You obviously did not understand the context of my post.  I cruised 7 times in 1 year because I lived in South Florida. 

 

Yes, I fly to cruises, but not 7 in a year.  

 

 

I can't wait to move to Florida and be near the ports.  I totally get you.  We get an itch to go away for a long weekend and drive to NYC or Toronto for a couple nights.  When you're in Florida, it's super easy to decide to hop on a cruise for a few days. 

 

Nice perk of living near several ports. 

 

 

[Aquahound]

9 hours ago, Justaddvodka68 said:

 

I can't wait to move to Florida and be near the ports.  I totally get you.  We get an itch to go away for a long weekend and drive to NYC or Toronto for a couple nights.  When you're in Florida, it's super easy to decide to hop on a cruise for a few days. 

 

Nice perk of living near several ports. 

 

It truly was a luxury.  We used to book last minute...like on Thurs for 3 nighters that started on Fri.  The best deal I ever got was $99 for a balcony.  I didn't care if the ship went to places I've been 100 times.  It was 3 nights of pampering, decent meals, good shows, hitting the bars without designating a DD, and great underway sleep.  

 

Enjoy it when you get down there! 😁

 

[Heidi13]

11 hours ago, Justaddvodka68 said:

 

I hope you plan to start a thread and blog this! 

The entire World Cruise started on Aug 31st, so they already have an active thread on the Viking Ocean Board. When we board for the 2nd half, I will contribute to that thread, but I also complete daily posts on our travel blog - andyandjudi.com

 

Enjoy - some great commentary & photos already posted.

[MicCanberra]

We have been managing around 5 or 6 cruises per year for the last 5 or so years. Generally a few longer ones, a few of 10 days or so and a long weekend cruise. 

[1MoreRedStripe]

2 per year. Usually March - April and again in Nov - Dec. 

[gymbomb]

We probably average one a year, though there have been years with 2 and years without any.

[ducklite]

We only cruise every 3-5 years as most places we want to go are either places we want to stay for more than a few hours, or places that aren't accessible by cruise ship.

 

The thought of cruising to the Caribbean over and over is about as far from my idea of a good time as it gets, so even though I can drive to five cruise ports in four hours or less, the chances of seeing me leave from one of them anytime in the foreseeable future are slim to none.  

[Lois R]

It is such a wonderful thing to be able to do what one wants to do... cruise, land, both--…for those of us

who love to cruise...Bon Voyage and smooth seas.   After all, it is CRUISE CRITIC.

 

Seriously, different strokes for different folks.  Whatever vacation you choose to take, have a great time

 

 

[MicCanberra]

Agreed, I love cruising but it isn't everything I want out of travelling.

[clo]

On 9/19/2019 at 11:10 AM, ducklite said:

We only cruise every 3-5 years as most places we want to go are either places we want to stay for more than a few hours, or places that aren't accessible by cruise ship.

 

The thought of cruising to the Caribbean over and over is about as far from my idea of a good time as it gets, so even though I can drive to five cruise ports in four hours or less, the chances of seeing me leave from one of them anytime in the foreseeable future are slim to none.  

Our first cruise about 20 years ago was a B2B 10 day Caribbean and I was ready to jump.  

 

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, clo said:

Our first cruise about 20 years ago was a B2B 10 day Caribbean and I was ready to jump.  

 

While I have been on a B2B for 30 nights (US to Australia) and didn't want to hope off

[CruiseGal999]

I had a crazy, incredible year from Sept. 2018 - Sept. 2019 ... I sailed on 6 cruises.  2 of them were B2B .... it was fantastic.