Choosing cruise for the itinerary vs the ship

[Canadianmama3]

When picking a cruise what is more important to people.   The ship or the itinerary you are on.  
 

I’m researching Europe cruises and I’m torn between one for the ship, on Allure, and one that has a more appealing itinerary, on Vision. 

[firefly333]

If I was doing europe, I would go for the iterary since you have to fly there.

 

If I was going out of Galveston I'd take whatever was there.

 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

12 minutes ago, Canadianmama3 said:

When picking a cruise what is more important to people.   The ship or the itinerary you are on.  
 

I’m researching Europe cruises and I’m torn between one for the ship, on Allure, and one that has a more appealing itinerary, on Vision. 

If I 2as taking my kids (teens) I would go wit( Allure, if it was just DW and I then I would consider Vision but it would have to be a fantastic itinerary. 

[Another_Critic]

Itinerary.

 

Some itineraries are unique and/or can only be done on a certain class of ship.  A ship doesn't change.

 

Vision for a unique itinerary.

Allure for a cheap Caribbean cruise.

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Another_Critic

[Canadianmama3]

The itinerary on Vision are much more interesting.  There are actually 2 different ones I’m looking at.  One that stops in Monte Carlo, Corsica, Portofino, Sicily etc.  And there is another that also stops at Corsica, and Sete, Sardinia, Cartagena and Valencia etc.   
 

The Allure one stops at normal western med stops, Rome (the one vision cruise also stops there), Florence, Naples etc.  
 

We would have our son with us.  He’s been on Brilliance and liked it.  And has fun just hanging out at the kids club.  Ugh I’m so torn.  

[Hogbay]

That's  what B2b or S2S are for 🙂

[Canadianmama3]

Just now, Hogbay said:

That's  what B2b or S2S are for 🙂

Lol I wish.   I can only pick one.  

[Tree_skier]

Like others have said it depends on what you want.  Sometime I choose based on ship other times I choose based on itinerary. With Europe I'd choose itinerary. 

[firefly333]

8 minutes ago, Canadianmama3 said:

The itinerary on Vision are much more interesting.  There are actually 2 different ones I’m looking at.  One that stops in Monte Carlo, Corsica, Portofino, Sicily etc.  And there is another that also stops at Corsica, and Sete, Sardinia, Cartagena and Valencia etc.   
 

The Allure one stops at normal western med stops, Rome (the one vision cruise also stops there), Florence, Naples etc.  
 

We would have our son with us.  He’s been on Brilliance and liked it.  And has fun just hanging out at the kids club.  Ugh I’m so torn.  

With so many stops, idk if you would have as much time to enjoy allure, which has more upscale food and things to do, better shows, the diving show, what kid wouldnt like the diving show. 

 

Depends on if you have been to the normal ports you say allure goes to, if so I'd still pick vision. For the more unusual ports, assuming you want to do a excursion at every port to fully see it.

[lovemylab]

For Europe, I'd choose itinerary.  

[NancyIL]

For Europe cruises, I definitely choose by itinerary. 

[smokeybandit]

It really depends. Itinerary (try to go somewhere in the Caribbean we haven't been to or haven't been to in a while, also try to avoid places we were just at on the last cruise), ship (not too big, not too small - though the smallest in the fleet keeps getting bigger), and of course price.

[mek]

I care about the ship if it's in the Caribbean but like most people have already mentioned, the itinerary is most important anywhere else.

[CruiseBride926]

One of the things I love about cruising is we can hop on a ship within driving distance so if it means taking a vacation without having to take my kids to the airport then I’ll gladly get on any ship going anywhere. That being said we’ve done Bahamas so many times that at this point I’d probably pick itinerary unless it was a really great ship.

[sandebeach]

For Europe, since we have to fly there, itinerary is the big concern. 

[CntPAcruiser]

For Europe, I'd also definitely go with itinerary. You won't be spending as much time on the ship, generally. On the other hand, if you're not actually interested in visiting some of the cities associated with the ports (given that some European ports are quite far from the city they are associated with), you might just want to stay on the ship and enjoy the relative quiet on certain port days, in which case Allure might be more alluring. 

 

I enjoyed Vision very much for the size and connectedness with the water. Allure has many beautiful features and incredible entertainment, especially the aqua theatre. 

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, Canadianmama3 said:

The itinerary on Vision are much more interesting.  There are actually 2 different ones I’m looking at.  One that stops in Monte Carlo, Corsica, Portofino, Sicily etc.  And there is another that also stops at Corsica, and Sete, Sardinia, Cartagena and Valencia etc.   
 

The Allure one stops at normal western med stops, Rome (the one vision cruise also stops there), Florence, Naples etc.  
 

We would have our son with us.  He’s been on Brilliance and liked it.  And has fun just hanging out at the kids club.  Ugh I’m so torn.  

 

I'd take whichever is going to Naples 😇

[Ourusualbeach]

4 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

I‘m so confused by the logic, why is a flight to Europe so much different than a flight to Florida? For me, it’s both ship and itinerary that make the cruise. I always try to go for new ports but do enjoy coming back to nice amenities in the evenings and on sea days. 

I’m guessing cost and length of the flight. 

[Canadianmama3]

2 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

I‘m so confused by the logic, why is a flight to Europe so much different than a flight to Florida? For me, it’s both ship and itinerary that make the cruise. I always try to go for new ports but do enjoy coming back to nice amenities in the evenings and on sea days. 

I think many cruisers in the US are just used to driving to a port.  For us flying to Europe is really not that much more of a big deal then flying to Florida.  It’s a few extra hours on the plane.  So the flight has nothing to do with our decision.  
 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

5 minutes ago, Canadianmama3 said:

I think many cruisers in the US are just used to driving to a port.  For us flying to Europe is really not that much more of a big deal then flying to Florida.  It’s a few extra hours on the plane.  So the flight has nothing to do with our decision.  
 

 

Not sure If you fly out of Toronto like I do but I can tell you that we are spoiled with how many places in Europe that we can fly direct to.  Some of the flights that my US clients have to Europe are minimum 1 and in a lot of cases 2 stops and nearly a full day of travel by the time  layovers are factored in. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Ourusualbeach

[Canadianmama3]

3 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Not sure If you fly out of Toronto like I do but I can tell you that we are spoiled with how many places in Europe that we can fly direct to.  Some of the flights that my US clients have to Europe are minimum 1 and in a lot of cases 2 stops and nearly a full day of travel by the time  layovers are factored in. 

Yeah we would fly out of Toronto.   And yes we are spoiled with the places we can go direct 😁.  
 

Get on the plan in the evening and arrive at our destination when it’s morning there.  

Edited February 15, 2021 by Canadianmama3

[Canadianmama3]

So my husband just found there is an ice rink on Allure.  That may push that one in the lead in his eyes.  My son plays hockey (like almost all Canadian kids lol) and apparently it would be great for him to get some skating practice in 🙄

[ReneeFLL]

For us it would be the itinerary if it was something other than the Caribbean. 

[Missusdubbya]

I have a bit further to fly to Europe from Australia 😀, and I would definitely choose Vision for the better itinerary (if it was a Caribbean cruise I would choose Allure because it is more fun).

 

Whatever you choose will still be excellent though

[MaryZ]

We pick itinerary first.  Then we look to see what ships/lines are fitting what we want to do.
So, we do sail all different lines.