Have you ever been on a Perfect cruise ?

[lenquixote66]

A Perfect cruise to me is one where everything is great ,so great that you want to book the same exact cruise again .

 

My perfect cruise was on the Grandeur of The Seas in December 2015.

 

Everything was wonderful.

[sparks1093]

I cruise to spend time with my family, the cruise is only a backdrop to that. So in my mind they've all been great.

[wcook]

I try to have a positive attitude and not sweat the small stuff, but I can’t help but find something (usually minor) negative on every cruise. 

[ClaireyBear]

Our first cruise was perfect. Celebrity Solstice Alaska May 2014. Our second cruise is coming up in June 2023, Celebrity Eclipse, same exact room, almost same itinerary (with one port change that I’m actually looking forward to). Can’t wait!! 

[Aquahound]

I’d say the vast majority of my cruises have been perfect.

[KreinKrunker]

Never perfect, but always GREAT!

[mom says]

Have never had a perfect cruise; but some have come close.

[JDincalif]

Azamara Quest, August 2016, from Amsterdam up the Norwegian fjords to Honnigsvag/North Cape, concluding in Bergen. Fourteen days of warm sunny weather, calm seas and spectacular scenery. 

[Hlitner]

Not sure "perfect" is the proper term, but having been on far more than 100 cruises, there are two that came close to perfection in our minds.  One was many years ago on the old Marco Polo (when it was part of Orient Lines) in Asia,  The other was a 62 day Grand Med cruise on HAL's Prinsendam.  Both those cruises were about as good as it can get.

 

Hank

[wowzz]

Your first cruise is always perfect, because you have no point of reference.

[DarrenM]

Not sure how you define perfect, but my last cruise on Celebrity reflection last year was so good, it took me about 3 months to get over the fact that I was no longer on the ship.

 

Loved it that much.

 

If i was forced to do a groundhog 10 days forever it would be those 10 days.

 

And I am sure there were things I could have moaned about had a chosen to look closely, but why would I do that?

[JDincalif]

5 hours ago, JDincalif said:

Azamara Quest, August 2016, from Amsterdam up the Norwegian fjords to Honnigsvag/North Cape, concluding in Bergen. Fourteen days of warm sunny weather, calm seas and spectacular scenery. 

Edit: strike "concluding in Bergen" - cruise was perfect but text input was less so 🙄

[Cruisercl]

Lots of my cruises were perfect.😁

[Honolulu Blue]

17 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

A Perfect cruise to me is one where everything is great ,so great that you want to book the same exact cruise again .

 

My perfect cruise was on the Grandeur of The Seas in December 2015.

 

Everything was wonderful.

I'm glad you had a perfect cruise.  I don't think I've ever had a cruise with no flaws, but most had flaws so small it would take a loupe to see them.

 

That said, there were three times that I DID book the same exact cruise (more or less).  Those stories are worth looking at:

 

1) My first cruise was on the Carnival Valor back in 2014.  This was an eye opener, and I was so impressed that I got home and booked the same exact cruise - same home port, same itinerary, same ship - for 3 months later.  I wanted to see if I could get the same wonderful experience again.  Despite the fact that they switched CDs on me, I pretty much did have the same experience.  I've done that basic cruise, with some variations, three other times over the years.  I guess I picked a winner the first time.

 

2) My first music charter cruise last year was also a revelation.  So much good music all around and just enough other stuff to keep me engaged.  And next year's cruise promised more of the same.  By day 3 I had had enough.  I walked into the charter company's future cruise office, credit card in hand, and said, "Let's do it again next year!"  I had a great time both last year and this.  There probably won't be a threepeat, but that's a story for another thread.

 

3) My second music charter cruise, also last year, was also terrific.  More great concerts, more activities, more friendly people.  The problem was that the initial lineup for the next year looked weak.  I agonized over rebooking the whole week.  Finally, the coin flipped heads one too many times and I went down to their future cruise office and booked for next year.  Once I did that, there were no regrets, and I had a great time on this year's edition.  I would've booked for next year's cruise this year (the lineup next year is really good) on the ship, but I had already booked. 

[MJC]

I think you need to know what is "perfect for you" when travelling in order to have a perfect cruise. We only had one cruise that wasn't for us, but we were experimenting outside of our usual preferences, so we dealt with it and still had an ok vacation.

 

[Heidi13]

22 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

A Perfect cruise to me is one where everything is great ,so great that you want to book the same exact cruise again .

 

My perfect cruise was on the Grandeur of The Seas in December 2015.

 

Everything was wonderful.

 

The definition for "Perfect" can vary, so rather than considering everything must be flawless, my definition is more that everything is the best possible considering the circumstances.

 

Our last World Cruise in 2020 aboard Viking Sun, definitely met this criteria. We were impacted by COVID, missed half the ports and the cruise was cut short, but onboard we were treated like royalty. We were upgraded to the best cabins on the ship and when flights from Dubai shut down, the remaining 8 pax were retained on board, with 465 crew.

 

Yes, we did book the same cruise again.

[lenquixote66]

5 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I'm glad you had a perfect cruise.  I don't think I've ever had a cruise with no flaws, but most had flaws so small it would take a loupe to see them.

 

That said, there were three times that I DID book the same exact cruise (more or less).  Those stories are worth looking at:

 

1) My first cruise was on the Carnival Valor back in 2014.  This was an eye opener, and I was so impressed that I got home and booked the same exact cruise - same home port, same itinerary, same ship - for 3 months later.  I wanted to see if I could get the same wonderful experience again.  Despite the fact that they switched CDs on me, I pretty much did have the same experience.  I've done that basic cruise, with some variations, three other times over the years.  I guess I picked a winner the first time.

 

2) My first music charter cruise last year was also a revelation.  So much good music all around and just enough other stuff to keep me engaged.  And next year's cruise promised more of the same.  By day 3 I had had enough.  I walked into the charter company's future cruise office, credit card in hand, and said, "Let's do it again next year!"  I had a great time both last year and this.  There probably won't be a threepeat, but that's a story for another thread.

 

3) My second music charter cruise, also last year, was also terrific.  More great concerts, more activities, more friendly people.  The problem was that the initial lineup for the next year looked weak.  I agonized over rebooking the whole week.  Finally, the coin flipped heads one too many times and I went down to their future cruise office and booked for next year.  Once I did that, there were no regrets, and I had a great time on this year's edition.  I would've booked for next year's cruise this year (the lineup next year is really good) on the ship, but I had already booked. 

I booked the exact same cruise 4 years in a row ,same cabin too.I have never been on a music cruise .

 

 

[YourWorldWithBill]

On 3/27/2023 at 11:54 AM, lenquixote66 said:

A Perfect cruise to me is one where everything is great ,so great that you want to book the same exact cruise again .

Every cruise has been great, but the one that meets this definition was our cruise on the Noordam to Alaska, because we would book it again. But, we might choose a different ship, so maybe not perfectly perfect!

[lenquixote66]

54 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Every cruise has been great, but the one that meets this definition was our cruise on the Noordam to Alaska, because we would book it again. But, we might choose a different ship, so maybe not perfectly perfect!

Our Alaska cruise was great but we did a one week land and one week sea on a HAL ship.A HAL tour guide was assigned to go with us on all tours.She was a nice person but this was her first job as a tour guide and she was not helpful at all.

[YourWorldWithBill]

59 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Our Alaska cruise was great but we did a one week land and one week sea on a HAL ship.A HAL tour guide was assigned to go with us on all tours.She was a nice person but this was her first job as a tour guide and she was not helpful at all.

We were land also, but only two days after the cruise. Our issue was the food on Noordam. Some was really excellent, but a lot was just okay.

[lenquixote66]

Just now, YourWorldWithBill said:

We were land also, but only two days after the cruise. Our issue was the food on Noordam. Some was really excellent, but a lot was just okay.

We have had issues with HAL cruises but never with food.We were on the Veendam,Volundam and Zuiderdam.

[sanger727]

I've never had any trip where I turned around and wanted to do it all again with everything the same. The whole point of traveling is to experience new things. Even if I return to a place I've been before I would stay at a different hotel and see different things there. 

[motherof2]

It’s a tossup between the Grand European Cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest with extension to Prague and The Baltic Cruise. Both were perfect, simply spectacular.

[motherof2]

Just now, motherof2 said:

It’s a tossup between the Grand European Cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest with extension to Prague and The Baltic Cruise. Both were perfect, simply spectacular.

Obviously, the first is a River cruise!

[SRQbeachgirl]

15 hours ago, DarrenM said:

Not sure how you define perfect, but my last cruise on Celebrity reflection last year was so good, it took me about 3 months to get over the fact that I was no longer on the ship.

 

Loved it that much.

 

 

We were on the Celebrity Reflection (our first time on Celebrity) in January and loved it so much we immediately booked anther cruise on the same ship. Different itinerary, but we loved being on that ship so much I think we could just spend the whole cruise at sea and be just as happy. The great 8-day itinerary we got for our next sailing on her is just an extra cherry on top.