If the price was exactly the same,who would you choose?

[navybankerteacher]

32 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

If price really wasn't a factor I wouldn't be caught dead on any Mass Market or Luxury cruise line. 

I'd be sailing on a private yacht with just enough room for my family , friends, and enough crew to pamper to our every whim. There won't even be enough cabins for the in-laws 😁. 

Exactly - if price were equal across the board, it is difficult to see why anyone would still select one of the bargain lines.  

 

NCL or Carnival in preference to Crystal, Seaborne,, Viking, Regent or Oceania? Really ?

 

I suppose the risk of going somewhere other than the Bahamas or Caribbean might be a concern.

[evandbob]

Celebrity would be my top pick.  Trying them for the 3rd time in Oct for an 11 night southern Caribbean sailing.

 

I'm getting to like NCL a lot, trying my 1st modern RCCL in January on the Symphony and I'd like to do MSC again.

[cruisemom42]

34 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

 

Hi Darren,

What's so bad about a business trying to maximize the profits for it's owners, the shareholders? 

If I could invest the same in two companies, one making 200 million pounds, and the other 400 million pounds I'd invest in the latter, so would most people.

 

Ah, but that's not the whole story, is it?  If the first company made 200 million pounds, up from 100 million the previous year, and the other one made 400 million pounds, down from 500 million the year before, which would you choose?

 

And to Darren's point, the supermarket chain had said it would reach a certain goal, and it did not. Markets don't like that. Had they said they would make 200 million and then performed to that level, it likely would be a different story....

[DirtyDawg]

24 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Ah, but that's not the whole story, is it?  If the first company made 200 million pounds, up from 100 million the previous year, and the other one made 400 million pounds, down from 500 million the year before, which would you choose?

 

And to Darren's point, the supermarket chain had said it would reach a certain goal, and it did not. Markets don't like that. Had they said they would make 200 million and then performed to that level, it likely would be a different story....

Ah, but that's not the entire story. If that 200 million pound represents an ROE of 17% and the other one, who made 400 million pound generated an ROE of 25% with a less levered balance sheet ..........

 

As to Darren's point, I failed mind reading 101 so I asked him. 

 

[Warm Breezes]

It depends on the ships that are being priced the same.  If the ships were apples to apples in terms of size and age I would probably pick Royal since we haven't tried them yet and I would like to if the price was right for a sailing I wanted.  A few years ago we compared NCL Epic and Royal Oasis of the Seas.  Both were newer bigger ships at the time.  Both had the same itinerary in reverse of each other for the same week.  NCL Epic was $1000 less for the same type of rooms (needed 2).  Just couldn't justify spending $1000 more for Royal.  These are the mass cruise lines we have yet to sail HAL, Cunard, Celebrity, Royal, and MSC.  We have sailed Disney, Carnival, NCL, and Princess.  If prices and ships were comparable between all these lines right now my order of preferences would be as follows:

 

1) Royal-want to try since it would be new to us and looks like we may like it

2) Celebrity-want to try since it would be new to us and looks like we may like it

3) NCL-My current favorite line

4) CCL-DH's current favorite line 

5) Disney-Our current favorite line with small kids - would love to go again when I have Grand kids to enjoy it with

6) MSC-although this would be new to us this line has not sparked our interest as others have for some reason

7) Princess-a line I don't wish to go back to until well into our retirement.  I can only take so much of "My Way" on a ship-heard it way too much on our Ruby Princess sailing.  

'8) Hal and Cunard tied for last....again 2 more lines that will probably be higher up the list once we have been retired for a few years.  Right now they just don't interest us.

 

 

 

[Heidi13]

7 hours ago, crystalspin said:

This sounds interesting! If itinerary was right, we would try this. But the Gala Nights on HAL are not burdensome anymore, and we don't miss most of the things that have been cut... we do think they are short-sighted for a company that wants to be in the business in future years. I've booked Princess a few times, but something always caused us to cancel. They too are making cuts that make no sense.

 

Sorta reminds me of my former corporate employer, which cut and cut and sold off anything that made money, and then closed our facility. Hmm... 

Spent almost 40 years with Princess, including working for them and the cuts started when the P&O Group was purchased by Carnival in 2003. Watched the cuts get progressively worse. Our 2015 World Cruise was the last, will never again sail with Princess.

[chipmaster]

These hypothetical are almost useless as pricing always is different to drive ship/amenities that need be paid for and a profit made.

 

If price was the same but only the theme of the cruise was different ( IE ports, cabins, amenities )  then I'd likely pick RCCL, but sadly they aren't the same, LOL

[Bizmark'sMom]

Viking Ocean, Windstar, Oceania, and Lindblad/Nat Geo.

 

If pricing was truly the same across the board, why bother with the mass market lines at all?

[Thad409]

1 hour ago, fyree39 said:

I thought about this last night and I decided if the price was all the same, I'd avoid the AI cruise companies.  That's where all the drunks would flock to. I'd probably just sail Carnival.  All their ships would be about empty and I could feel like I had the place to myself.

Now that's thinking. Make since to me , I'm easy to please . Water slide all to myself!!!

[Cruiser_1977]

Cunard, Viking Ocean, or Regent

[ShawninFL]

This will change as your life changes and you get older.  We are a married couple with no children.  When we first started cruising in our 20s we started with Carnival and the moved on to Royal Caribbean where we stayed for the most part for a decade.  As we got in to our mid 30s and later, we don't need the constant party and late night options every night of our trip so over the last 5 or so years we've found Celebrity to be our go to line.  So at this point in our lives (we are 47 and 51) if pricing was equal across the board we go in the following order:

 

1. Celebrity

2. Oceania

3. Azamara

4. Royal Caribbean

5. Princess

6. Norwegian

 

I'm sure this order will continue to change as we age.

 

 

[tip]

Of the cruise lines on which we have sailed, this is my order of preference if money was no object:

 

1) Celebrity

2) Princess

3) Royal Caribbean

4) Holland America

5) Norwegian

6) Carnival

 

I have no desire to sail on Costa.  My name is not Hyacinnth Bucket, thus Cunard is out of the question.  I would love to try Viking.

[Heidi13]

4 minutes ago, tip said:

I have no desire to sail on Costa.  My name is not Hyacinnth Bucket, thus Cunard is out of the question.  I would love to try Viking.

While the initial cost is higher with Viking than you mass market mega ships, the actual total cruise cost may turn out to be almost comparable, unless you don't spend much on the ship.

 

Comparing our 2015 WC with Princess to our WC next year with Viking, the net daily cost is virtually identical. Although we still have to take the Viking cruise, it is almost all-inclusive, has a complimentary excursion in each port and we have a large OBC for any spend on board.

[George C]

Here is my list on favorite 

rccl- mostly for entertainment 

celebrity - for suite perks

holland America 

costa

princess

least favorite 

Ncl for many reasons 

celebrity

 

 

 

 

[mom says]

16 minutes ago, George C said:

Here is my list on favorite 

rccl- mostly for entertainment 

celebrity - for suite perks

holland America 

costa

princess

least favorite 

Ncl for many reasons 

celebrity

 

 

 

 

You listed celebrity in both  groups.  Did you mean Carnival in the least favorite?

[George C]

1 hour ago, mom says said:

You listed celebrity in both  groups.  Did you mean Carnival in the least favorite?

Sorry wanted to say carnival for second least favorite.

[Thad409]

This has me actually going do a few mock bookings, some of these cruise lines are actually pretty close to the samcost, which I didn't realize before, for similar itineraries and similar ships, thanks.

[sverigecruiser]

5 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Exactly - if price were equal across the board, it is difficult to see why anyone would still select one of the bargain lines.  

 

NCL or Carnival in preference to Crystal, Seaborne,, Viking, Regent or Oceania? Really ?

 

I suppose the risk of going somewhere other than the Bahamas or Caribbean might be a concern.

 

I personally agree with you and should defenitely choose one of the luxury lines if the price was the same.

 

But if water slides, big theatres, many restaurants and many bars are important, does it make any sense to book a luxury line even if the price is the same?

[DirtyDawg]

Wrong thread

Edited August 12, 2019 by DirtyDawg

[Hlitner]

If the price were the same we would certainly choose one of the ultra-luxury lines such as Seabourn, Silver Seas, Crystal or Sea Dream.  But the reality is that the price is not the same :).  We have cruised on many different lines from budget to ultra-luxury.  The thing about the ultra luxury is that there are few to no queues and very good food.  Some lines such as Seabourn also provide unlimited French Champagne and caviar (I love caviar).    As to the mass market lines it is difficult to make a selection since they all seem to be racing each other to see who can "cut back" the most.  But currently we favor Princess with HAL being another favorite option because of their fabulous itineraries.  Celebrity has recently fallen our of favor (with us) because we cannot even keep up with their cut-backs.  Our most recent Celebrity cruise (May-June) gave us some hope that the quality decline has finally stabilized but only time will tell.

 

Hank

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I personally agree with you and should defenitely choose one of the luxury lines if the price was the same.

 

But if water slides, big theatres, many restaurants and many bars are important, does it make any sense to book a luxury line even if the price is the same?

Of course, money being no object, it would make sense to cruise on a luxury line, spend a week in New York or London for theatre, Paris for restaurants, and go to some water park for the rides.  The mega-ship does give a bit of everything, but certainly not the best of anything.

[sverigecruiser]

52 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Of course, money being no object, it would make sense to cruise on a luxury line, spend a week in New York or London for theatre, Paris for restaurants, and go to some water park for the rides.  The mega-ship does give a bit of everything, but certainly not the best of anything.

 

Agree with you if money being no object  but the thread is only about if the price for the cruise is the same. Then it should make sense for some to book the mega ships.

 

 

[DirtyDawg]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

Of course, money being no object, it would make sense to cruise on a luxury line, spend a week in New York or London for theatre, Paris for restaurants, and go to some water park for the rides.  The mega-ship does give a bit of everything, but certainly not the best of anything.

 

57 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Agree with you if money being no object  but the thread is only about if the price for the cruise is the same. Then it should make sense for some to book the mega ships.

 

 

 

Guys, it's a frigging fairy tale question.

If it was a question about what car you would you pick if they all were the same price, some would pick a Rolls Royce, some would pick a Maclaren, some would pick only a Porsche, and some hockey mom (or Dad) from up north would only pick a really nice Mini Van because you can't fit 5 hockey bags on the boot of a Maclaren!

 

Pick the fairy tale that floats your own boat. 

 

Edited August 12, 2019 by DirtyDawg

[jocap]

It's all about itinerary now for us, so we'd be looking at Viking cruises around Norway, Iceland etc. Failing that, it would be Saga's new ship, which includes transport from home and insurance, or a long trip with Hurtigruten.

But we're more than happy with P&O and Fred Olsen .

[Cruise Raider]

59 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Agree with you if money being no object  but the thread is only about if the price for the cruise is the same. Then it should make sense for some to book the mega ships.

 

 

 

Precisely!  

I am planning a big birthday cruise for next year and wracking my brain with so many choices of sailings that are similarly priced.  Celebrity, which is always my first choice requires a long flight.  I would say Royal and Princess are probably tied for second place but of those two Princess has the better itineraries.  I am considering HAL, Carnival and NCL as well but it’s hard not to get any of the loyalty status perks, even though we’ve sailed on all three of these lines a few times each in the past. 

I find is surprising that some on here have ranked Carnival higher than NCL ... even though we’ve had greta fun on each of our Carnival cruises in the past.  

Ahhhh ... isn’t it greta to have such a variety of choices?