Your Favorite Cruise Itinerary??

[Cruise2End]

DH and I will be cruising again on our 7th cruise in a couple of months, but as most do, we are looking at next year's itineraries. Our cruises started at 7 days but have climbed to 14-day length. We now are looking for something different, possibly a repositioning but not limited to that either. We have cruised with NCL and Celebrity in addition to Princess so we don't look at necessarily just one line - usually itinerary and then price are the determining factors.

 

What was your favorite itinerary you've ever cruised and why? It would be great to get feedback from some of you who have had so many cruise experiences. Thanks in advance!!

[cunarder]

Hi Cruise2End,

 

Boy, you asked a hard question. But, my pick is the New England/Canada cruise. I like history and this itinerary has lot of it. Also, because of the fall colors. Autumn is the best time of year for me.

 

Halifax - Connection to Titanic, the SS Atlantic, and the Halifax Explosion.

St. John - the fire/explosion.

Bar Harbor - Acadia and its connection to the Rockefellers.

Boston - History galore including Concord, Lexington, Plymouth, etc.

Newport, RI - The historic mansions - I love it everytime I go through them and the Tennis Hall of Fame.

New York City - what is there not to like. Especially when coming into port where so many of our ancestors arrived.

 

I know some of this history is very tragic but, life is not always rosey. We hopefully learn from the past.

 

6 of us are doing this itinerary on October 7th. This will be the 3rd time for the wife and myself.

 

Ed

[Crowsie]

Hmmm...tough one!

 

Maybe, it was because it was my first...or because we were upgraded to a full suite, or because the scenery was amazing and the weather perfect, or because the "locals" were the friendliest anywhere...but Aukland to Sydney would have to get my vote.

 

All of my cruises have reasons to call them "favorites":

The wildlife of the Amazon

The Peking Duck in China

The shopping in Vietnam

The Amalfi Coast in Italy

The Guiness Brewery Tour in Dublin

 

My recommendation...any exotic cruise that fits your schedule!

 

Happy Sailing

[barbarah33]

For relaxation I loved the 16-day Panama Canal cruise I took. Literally every other day was a 'day at sea' so there was plenty of time to read a book, relax, etc. As far as my overall favorite: Australia/New Zealand. I had never been to that part of the world so each stop was something new and different. There were no language barriers to deal with or worry about and every place we went was clean and full of friendly people who just wanted to share their country with you.

[paul929207]

Although I have loved them all, my best was the Black Sea cruise on the old Island Princess 10 years ago.

 

Athens, thru Istanbul to the Black Sea with stops in Varna, Bulgaria, Yalta and Odessa, Ukraine, back to Istanbul (overnight there), Kusadasi, Rhodes, Santorini, Naples and ending in Rome.

 

Paul

[Spikesgirl]

We're tied - my favorite cruise was the Beijing to Bangkok - 16 days on the Pacific Princess. My DH's is the Tahiti/Cook island cruise - 14 days on the Tahitian. Any intinerary that offers the smaller ship is okay by either of us, but those two really stood out (far more rest on the Tahiti cruise though)

 

Charlie

[Toto2Kansas]

All time favorite was the LA to Sydney,AU cruise. It is a lot longer, something like 30 days now. It has the best of everything itineary wise. Lots of different ports from Hawaii to Tahiti to New Zealand to Samoa and Figi. Not to mention a wonderful end in Sydney to a spectacular voyage.

[jbrambach]

For us it was the 15-day Panamal Canal Ft Lauderdale to San Diego. Awesome scenery and what I especially liked about it was that first we got to do the Carribbean and then the Mexican Riviera. Also, the transit through the Panamal Canal was awesome.

[Tina G]

Greek Islands from Venice to Rome! We took the last sailing of the season, and many passengers booked onboard to continue on the transatlantic repositioning for less than their airfare might have been! There were many cabins available for the 2nd cruise. Unfortunately, DH had to get back to work, so we couldn't do the transatlantic. We'll always reget that! New Zealand/Australia would be our 2nd choice! Enjoy!

[spongerob]

Our favorite itineraries so far have been Canada/New England (10 day) and British Isles (10 day also). One cruise I would LOVE to take is the repositioning cruise from Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale. It is very port intensive and I think could be made better by including an overnight stay in New York. You get all the ports mentioned above, plus a couple others on the east coast that are rarely visited.

 

British Isles is now a 12-day cruise and includes Normandy. There are some 14-day Med cruises from Southampton that start and end with 2 sea days, so you can get a little relaxation in.

[Druke I]

Tough question - Princess has some great itineraries.

 

Among our favorities - 14 nights Australia/New Zealand.

 

Another great one - World War II Battlegrounds (Pacific). We did it on last voyage of Sky Princess as a Princess ship, 9-00, San Francisco to Sydney, with stops at many WWII battle sites.

[Druke I]

Duplicate post - Board repeating itself again (stuttering!).

[Druke I]

Duplicate post - board acting up again!

[MaryPoppinz]

I love the Panama Canal.

 

I want to make Islands of the Pacific Theater my favorite, but it's going to have to wait until our Little Person is a Much Bigger Person. My parents take good care of him, but I have too much separation anxiety for a lonnnnggg trip. :)

[vickie_bernie]

no bad itinerary -- you're on a cruise.

 

but my favorite has been the Mexican Riviera not as busy as the Caribbean ports.

[KLLund]

I am guessing my Next cruise in the Orient (in 3 weeks ) may be pretty interesting .. and I loved the Baltic cruise oh HAL .. but I think the Mediterranean is always going to be my first love !!!!!!!!

[cruiseapril]

Although sailing to Europe was a majestic experience, our favorite itinerary continues to be the Southern Caribbean- we enjoy the climate, the beaches, and the mix of cultures. We like the music and dancing- the Caribbean rhythms. The best itinerary was the Princess Southern Caribbean Medley: Curacao, Isla Margarita, Barbados, Dominica, St. Thomas, and Princess Cays. A good cultural mix- and Dominica was especially beautiful.

[willysgrandma]

Our favorite was Hawaii! We did an NCL for 7 days and it was the best way to see four islands without having to continually pack and unpack. And seeing the volcano flowing at night was the best!

[tispwisp]

We are devoted Princess fans and love all of the Princess itineraries, but believe it or not our favorite itinerary was our 10 day Brilliance cruise:

 

Cayman Islands

Costa Rica

Panama

Aruba (extended stay we left at 1 a.m.)

 

It was an absolutely perfect blend of sea and port days.

[DougH]

Loved my 16 day Sydney to Auckland on the HAL Prinsendam, and really liked a 14 day Norwegian cruise on the NCL Norway (not thrilled with the ship though)

 

Alaska is a favorite, I really liked a 10 day Princess used to have from Anchorage (actually sailed from Anchorage) to Homer, Kodiak Island, Seward and then the tradional ports down to Vancouver.

 

Doug

[PescadoAmarillo]

This is a fun question! I like (in this order) long cruises, variable climates (going from hot to cold climes or vice versa), sea days, beautiful scenery, scuba diving, ports with historic relevance and beautiful beaches. So here are my favorite cruises (so far):

-transpacifics (to/from the West Coast and Sydney)

-B2B South America around Cape Horn and Carnival in Rio

-Panama Canal (I will never get tired of this one)

-Hawaii

-Alaska

-transatlantics (esp with northern Africa ports)

-Caribbean (my favorite Caribbean cruise was on the Serenade of the Seas-Eastern Caribbean)

 

Still on my to-see list:

-Antarctica (with landings)

-Scandinavia/Russia

-Norwergian fiords

-Greek Isles

[Tatka]

#1 Barcelona - Marseilles - Monaco (Monte Carlo) - Livorno (Florence) - Civitavecchia (Rome) - Naples - Barcelona

 

#2 San Francisco - Monterey - LA - Catalina Island - Ensenada - San Diego - San Francisco (for us who never been to West Coast it was great way to see Cali)

 

#3 Eastern Caribbean (for now St Maarten and St Thomas are the best)

 

Never been to South Caribbean , but from the look at it hilly, picturesque ports I think I will LOVE it.

[palolake]

Our favorite so far has been our 14 day cruise to Hawaii. Lots of sea days before and after Hawaii and we also really enjoyed Hawaii. It was like the Caribbean only easier to do things because it was the states. We have snorkeled in many different places and Hawaii had the best snorkeling that we've done. It was just perfect.

[Cruise2End]

Thanks for all the wonderful ideas!

 

Isn't it incredible the different sites and cultures you can experience from a cruise ship?! So far we have experienced the Mexican Riviera a couple of times, Hawaii, and the Caribbean numerous times and DH has done a Transatlantic as well as the Greek Islands but there are always fantastic new itineraries coming out.

 

One of our sons is living in Japan and the other is making plans to possibly move to China for work so the Orient cruises are looking like some great future destinations.

[stoneharborlady]

From my vast store of past cruises (Count them. One only. On the Caribbean Princess) I think I will choose the one on the Caribbean Princess to the eastern Caribbean. I loved everything about it. After next summer I will have a second. Please ask this question again then.

 

Karen :D