Rank Your Top 5 Itineraries

[stickey_mouse]

Since we cannot cruise right now, let's have some fun and think back on the good ol' days. 🙂 I consider the contributors on this HAL board to be very well traveled, and I really value your feedback.

What are the "Top 5" itineraries on which you have sailed?

Please rank them in order (#1 being the best/winner). Please only include itineraries that are 21-days or less (world tours would obviously be the best, so please refrain, or at least tell us the best "leg" of it). Likewise, for B2B cruises, please break them up and rate separately. 

[Cruising-along]

1 hour ago, stickey_mouse said:

Since we cannot cruise right now, let's have some fun and think back on the good ol' days. 🙂 I consider the contributors on this HAL board to be very well traveled, and I really value your feedback.

What are the "Top 5" itineraries on which you have sailed?

Please rank them in order (#1 being the best/winner). Please only include itineraries that are 21-days or less (world tours would obviously be the best, so please refrain, or at least tell us the best "leg" of it). Likewise, for B2B cruises, please break them up and rate separately. 

1. Eastern Med

2. Western Med

3. Voyage of the Vikings (I know the round trip is more than 21 days, but with this cruise you can take the first or second half *if* we must stick to 21 days or less). 😉  

4. Baltics

5. Holy Land

 

I still have a few more on my bucket list (Australia/NZ and Antarctica) so obviously my list may change!

[iancal]

South America

Eastern Med

Australia New Zealand

Western Med

 

[richwmn]

I agree with @Cruising-alongabout Western Med and VoV (either direction). I would add the 14 Day Alaska, Reposition from Vancouver to Ft Lauderdale and Australia New Zealand.

[Lady Arwen]

Baltics

British Isles

western Med

VOV

Hawaii

[CJcruzer]

1- Viking passage

2- Japan

3- Eastern Med/Adriatic

4- South America

5- Australia/New Zealand

 

Carol

[RuthC]

So. America w/Antarctica 
Voyage of the Vikings---first trip (went as far east as St. Petersburg) 
New Zealand
Hong Kong to Japan 
Viking Passage 

[travelholics]

South America and Antarctica

The Baltic 

Singapore to Hong Kong

Norway to the North Cape

Eastern Med, including Malta

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, stickey_mouse said:

What are the "Top 5" itineraries on which you have sailed?

Please rank them in order (#1 being the best/winner). Please only include itineraries that are 21-days or less

 

Very restrictive, OP, but, an interesting question nonetheless.  

 

#1:  1970, Rotterdam V, an 11 day Caribbean cruise from New York--my first

 

#2:  1971, Rotterdam V, a 9 day Caribbean cruise from New York with my Mother and Brother  We were celebrating my Brother's graduation from college and my Mother's feelings (though she never said as much, but must have felt):  all of the "baby birds" have left the nest!

 

#3:  1977, S. S. Monterey, a 3 week cruise Los Angeles-Honolulu-Honolulu-Los Angeles cruise with my Mother.  A visit to Hawaii had been a bucket list dream of hers.  Financially, I was able to provide that for her.  It included First Class flights to/from Los Angeles.  (These were her first flights.)  The experience included an overnight at Hotel Queen Mary.  

 

#4:  2017, Nieuw Amsterdam, a 7 day New Year's cruise to the Western Caribbean with three very good friends, one of who was a former colleague and whose two sons I taught.  We had cruised on others, including VOV, but, that cruise proved to be her last.  

 

#5: June, 1980, Royal Viking Sky:  the initial 10 day segment of a trans-Atlantic crossing with a North Cape Cruise that followed from New York to Copenhagen.  Aboard a ship built for 500 guests, there were only 250.  Service, cuisine, and sailing through fog areas in the North Atlantic, particularly in the area of the Grand Banks, are special memories for me.  This cruise was special for me because it was my first to Europe.  

[d9704011]

1. South America - Santiago to Rio

2. Singapore to Beijing

3. Baltic

4. Venice to Rome with Eastern Med

5. Fort Lauderdale to LA - Panama Canal transit

[ozcruizer]

So difficult to pick five cruises because I have enjoyed them all.

 

1.  Whole Mediterranean

2.  Alaska

3.  Honolulu to Sydney

4.  Sydney to NZ and Southern Australia 

5.  SE Asia

[kazu]

Boy that's a tough one especially with the limitation of 21 days and really we've had so many fabulous itineraries, it's a toughie.  But in no particular order:

Black Sea on the Prinsendam

 

Celtic Explorer on the Prinsendam

 

River Explorer on the P'dam

 

South America on the Rotterdam

 

Australia & New Zealand on Princess

 

An extra and always wonderful - Panama Canal (especially with our roll call) and if you don't have time for a full Panama - the Sunfarer cruise which gives you a taste and some nice ports.

 

 

[wesport]

South America/Antarctica 

Hawaii

Northern Europe/Iceland

Greek Islands

Holy Land/Egypt

 

 

[stickey_mouse]

I see so much love for South America. Tell me, is the Chile to Argentina route worth it, even without the extended trip down to Antarctica? Or is the part to Antarctica what makes it? 

[tuolumne couple]

1. Panama Canal (west to east).

2. Hawaii (round trip from San Diego more than 14 days (18 days).

3. Caribbean, round trip 14-15 days  (not a back to back).

4.Panama Canal (east to west) yes I know, it seems the same but , honestly, it's not...

5. Caribbean back to back but longer than 14 days (16-18 days).

 

of course, my wife does not like the B2B, and she always says that her favorite itinerary is the one she hasn't sailed on yet...

 

[bcummin]

1 hour ago, stickey_mouse said:

I see so much love for South America. Tell me, is the Chile to Argentina route worth it, even without the extended trip down to Antarctica? Or is the part to Antarctica what makes it? 

 

Antarctica transforms it.

Barbara

[stickey_mouse]

56 minutes ago, tuolumne couple said:

1. Panama Canal (west to east).

2. Hawaii (round trip from San Diego more than 14 days (18 days).

3. Caribbean, round trip 14-15 days  (not a back to back).

4.Panama Canal (east to west) yes I know, it seems the same but , honestly, it's not...

5. Caribbean back to back but longer than 14 days (16-18 days).

 

of course, my wife does not like the B2B, and she always says that her favorite itinerary is the one she hasn't sailed on yet...

 

 

Ok, I have to ask, why is west to east better?

[Crew News]

1.  14-day Alaska

2.  12-day Alaska/Denali

3.  14-day Alaska B2B

4.  Panama Canal

5.  Caribbean - Pinnacle Class

[rodndonna]

Haven't made it through our bucket list yet and not that many cruises under our belt - but here is where we stand based on where we have been 

 

1) Egypt Nile River (was not stated if we are including River cruises )

2) West Med 

3) Holy Land 

  

As much as we have enjoyed other cruises we have done, I don't 'anticipate' them to be on the top 5 of our list. I expect the last 2 to be something like ....

 

4) Antartica or Galapagos?

5) Alaska or Norway Fjords?

 

Order of 4 and 5 may bump up when we get around to to them. or something else may surprise me 😀

 

[ontheweb]

1. Definitely Baltic

 

2. Western Mediterranean---did twice, 25th and 35th anniversary

 

3. Eastern Mediterranean

 

4. British Isles

 

5. Alaska

[travelingbums]

1. Australia/New Zealand

2.Copenhagen/Boston Norwegion Fjords

3.Panama Canal

4.Alaska

5.Valpariso to Aukland

[nw gardener]

With work and personal constraints,  I am definitely not as well traveled as many on this board, but here are my top three with two bucket list.

1. 14 day Alaska

2. Cuba

3. Southern Caribbean

Wish list - Iceland and British Isles,  Holy land.  Anxiously waiting to cruise safely again!

[bennybear]

Great question! 
 

Circumnavigation of Japan during cherry blossom time

 

Mediterranean as long as possible!  with Istanbul,  we have done several back to backs,  so 20/23/24 days 

 

Baltic with Oslo or within Berlin

 

Norwegian fjords on the Rotterdam out of Rotterdam

 

Partial transit of Panama Canal

I am sure that French Polynesia would have been on the list had it not been cancelled! 
 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by bennybear

[cruisemom42]

 

This one is tough and I warn you in advance that only one is a HAL itinerary (though they offer some similar ones):

 

• 14-day Alaska, R/T San Francisco on Sitmar Fairsea (1977) -- an itinerary that can never be duplicated today because the ports were so much less commercial and less crowded. 
• 14-day Ancient Southern Med Empires on Voyages to Antiquity (2010) -- another that cannot be duplicated today, with pre-cruise days in Cairo, embarkation at Safaga (after a day in Luxor), Sharm el-Sheikh, Suez canal transit, Beirut, Syria (Tartus and Aleppo, with a land-stay overnight in Palmyra), Limassol, Cyprus; Antalya, Turkey and ended in Athens.
• 12-day HAL Westerdam (2010) -- Eastern Med (R/T from Athens):  Istanbul, Antalya, Iskenderun, Haifa, Ashdod, Alexandria, Kusadasi
• 14-day SE Asia on Voyages to Antiquity, Bangkok to Singapore with pre-cruise visit to Angkor Wat (Siem Reap) from Bangkok and stops in Koh Samui, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuantan, Malacca and 3-days in Singapore after.
• 12-day Baltic on Star Princess, R/T Copenhagen:  Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg (overnight), Talinn, Warnemunde, Copenhagen

 

If I'm being honest, I'd rate other Mediterranean itineraries over the Baltic cruise, because that is where my heart and interests lie, but in the efforts of some variety.....

 

I also have two "bucket list" HAL cruises that I'm sure would be on the list if I had been able to take them:

 

• 14-day Japan "cherry blossom" circumnavigation mentioned above (canceled in 2020 due to COVID)
• 22-day South America/Antarctica cruising -- I should be on that one right now, but also canceled due to COVID.  I have rebooked it for January 2022 however.

[tjcox9]

Antarctica - 2 Princess, 2 HAL plus one does not qualify under the 21 day limit - Seabourn South Georgia/Antarctica 24 day

 

Galapagos - Celebrity and Silverseas

 

Norway, especially the ones including Svalbard and/or Longyearbyen on HAL, Princess and Cunard

 

Japan, this was three 9 day B2B's for a total of 27, so perhaps it qualifies - Princess

 

Black Sea - Both Princess and HAL

 

😷  

Edited January 22, 2021 by tjcox9
mini corrections