Cruise Preferences

[Sky Sweet]

Have your cruise preferences changed or have they been consistent?

[chessbriar]

What do you mean. Preferences for what? Ship? Cruise Line? Cabin? Itinerary? What I do? It's a very vague question.

[leoandhugh]

Cruise preferences? To what are you referring? Cruise line? Itinerary? Cabin type? Length of Cruise? What particular ship? When you ask this kind of question, it helps the people replying if you are more specific.:) :)

[Petert]

We probably have basic priorities in selecting a cruise, and will make trade-offs depending upon what is currently the best fit with what we are most interested in.

 

We first look for interesting itineraries, and length of cruise. Price, including air, is a major factor in our selection. We will then sort by cruise line (Celebrity, RCI, HAL, Carnival in that order of preference). We will then pick a cruise from the top two or three options. Since we wouldn't want to repeat itineraries, and pricing may vary, by season or available berths, we will actually change the importance of our preferences from cruise to cruise.

 

The most important factor is that we will be on a cruise, and be enjoying time at sea, the ambiance of a cruise vacation and interesting ports of call.

 

Petert

[denb]

As our cruising experience has increased along with our incomes, our cruise preferences have naturally changed. Increases have been in the areas of more days (depending), and higher cabin category. Decreases have been in the area of excursions or time off of the ship, and ship-board activities. Our first few cruises we thought we had to do everything. Now we spend more time relaxing and enjoying being on vacation..... on the ship. Having only cruised 3 different lines, we still prefer Celebrity over RCI or CCL, but that's not our primary reason for picking a cruise. They each have their particular plusses and minuses.

[Sky Sweet]

Cruise preferences? To what are you referring? Cruise line? Itinerary? Cabin type? Length of Cruise? What particular ship? When you ask this kind of question, it helps the people replying if you are more specific.:) :)

 

I was referring to whatever you consider to be important when you book a cruise, which can be any of the factors that you mentioned. For example, during the nineties I thought a private balcony was a waste of money because we don't spend that much time in our cabin. Now I would never book a cruise without one. In fact, that is one of the reasons why we turned down a free cruise on the Zenith last year.

 

When we started to take longer cruises in Europe that were more port intensive, I began to feel differently about formal nights than I did when we took just seven days cruises in the Caribbean and Alaska. In light of the weight restrictions for luggage imposed by the airlines and the amount of clothes you need for a longer cruise, I would prefer to have just one formal night instead of three formal nights, in addition to four informal ones.

[Lois R]

Oh my.....a free cruise on Zenith? I would have jumped

on her in a heartbeat;) :)

 

I guess my prioriites haven't changed much in the 4 years

I have been cruising. I only scan balcony pricing because

it shows up on the website but I never look at it for my

cruises because it is totally out of my range.

Insides are my usual, unless there is a Happy Hour showing

me something different.

I can't do lots of itineraries but that is ok~I do those that

are within my budget and I always end up having a good time.

Maybe one day I will be able to branch out. But until that

time, I do what I am able and enjoy every cruise I take:)

Though I am going on my first 10 night cruise next year~

So maybe my priorities have changed a little bit! I will be

50 and figured I deserved to give myself something special:D

 

As for packing, I still love the formal nights and have been

able to take the same 2 pieces of luggage every time.

[DeepWaterMariner]

We've been cruising for nearly 40 years so you bet out preferences have changed. So have the cruise lines and options available. We cruise 3 or 4 times a year so we don't treat every cruise like it has to meet all our desires. As always price and itinerary and strong drivers of our cruise selections. We aren't married to any particular cruise line but would only book certain lines for what we consider our "big" trips of the year. For a short cruise, which we consider to be 7 days or less, any cruise line will do. We cruised for years with inside cabins. It's been several cruises since we booked one of those so I guess we've move up to at least an outside cabin. For a Caribbean cruise we also consider a balcony which would have been way outside our preferences about 10 years ago. We don't consider a balcony for any itinerary that might have cool/cold weather like Alaska or transatlantic. With our long cruise history and spending over a month a year afloat we have had more than our fill of formal nights. Lines that still have informal nights tick us off even more. Unfortunately they are some of the best to cruise so we'll book them and test the limits of the dress code, something I would have never done a few years ago.

[Karynanne]

Our preferences stay pretty consistant. We prefer aft cabins...we usually cruise on sailing that are 10 days or longer...and we pick times that are not during school vacation periods.

 

Karyn

[alfiemom]

I agree, Karyn. Although we did have an inside cabin on QM2 last year (middle of the ship and it was great for sleeping!), I do NOW prefer some daylight. We often find the difference between a balcony and an outside cabin to be very little and I always check the location of the cabin. We prefer to be mid-ship, but I don't want to be under the public spaces or above the orchestra.

 

There are preferences in lines...CCL is out, been there, done that! Cruised HAL, the old Ren and X. I'd rather be "country club casual" but that's not a determiner. We like sea days, don't want a cruise to be "only" ports. Often we stay on board...and I've learned that it's OK. At first, I felt guilty...not visiting everything I could.

 

I like to be comfortable...would love to be able to afford a suite, but that's probably not going to be. So, I'll stay with outside or balcony and hope to be able to upgrade to CC or better with price reductions.

 

Hope this helps.

[63galaxie]

We've cruised four times in six years and we are booked on two more for next year. We are a family of six (50, 38, 11, 10, 9, 8) plus we often take the in-laws!

 

Our "first" was an OV on Century w/in-laws but no kids. By far, this was my fav. cruise. The ship was incredible! We did the Western Carib.

 

Next was a cruise with just the two of us on Grand Princess going to the Eastern Carib. It was okay (the ship was too big for our tastes) but we discovered the joy of the balcony.

 

Our third was a five day on Zenith (5 day Western Carib) with the in-laws (now disabled) and all four children. Yikes. No balcony, four kids, five days, and a horrible soaked carpet in the cabin. We were moved to a suite half-way through the cruise. It wasn't so great with the four of us. What was I thinking? We learned we won't go on 5 day cruises, and we'll wait to take all of the kids when they are older and more independent.

 

Our fourth was just the two of us again on Carnival Destiny (So. Carib). in a balcony. We chose it for the Southern Carib. itinerary, the price, and the dates (coordinated with our school fall break). LOVED the itin., the ship was so different than Celebrity, but still, I'd do it again.

 

Our fifth will be on Millie with just the two of us, but this time, we're booking an aft balcony! I think this will be my favorite cruise (alone with husband, Exotic Eastern Carib., seven days, no children, no in-laws).

 

Our sixth will be on Carnival Liberty with our in-laws (we're taking them for their 40th wedding anniversary) and our oldest child (11). We've also invited everyone else we know (friends and family) in the hopes of getting together a group to take advantage of savings. Also, we're getting the corner wrap-around aft balcony! The price was too good to pass up.

 

Yes, we've changed. We've learned that an oceanview isn't for us and that a balcony is worth the money. That said, we'd like to take the kids on a Disney cruise and we may go with inside cabins so that we can afford to take everyone.

 

We also learned that we LOVE the Southern Carib. but the flight to San Juan is really a long way to fly.

 

As we get older, we'll probably cruise more. When we retire, we'll be able to afford the time and money it takes to go on 9+ days to more Southern ports.

 

I'll never stop cruising. And, I'll probably try every cruise line I can before I die. However, if I had all the money and time in the world, I would probably sail on Celebrity ships because it's a perfect fit for me.

[Kathie44]

Turn down a free cruise??? On Celebrity, no less?? :EEK: Balcony, Schmalcony--I'd even take a free cruise on Carnival if it were offered.

We've been cruising only since Jan. '02. Our 3rd cruise was on Summit--different line and smaller ship and I hoped I would like it. Loved it!

Now we stick to RCCL and X and have sailed 6 different ships in our 7 cruises, with a repeat of Mercury coming up next Jan. We don't repeat itineraries, although some ports have overlapped. We really want to see the world and have gotten hooked on longer cruises. Life's too short (especially when we're already in our 60s) to do the same cruises over and over like some people do.

Cruises in my dreams? Galaxy to the Med; Splendour or Infinity to SA. Hope to find an RCI or X ship that some day goes to the S. Carib, excluding Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten, St. Thom--been there, done that!

Then there's always Asia, Africa the Galapagos and maybe more N. Europe. So many cruises, so little time! Who knows, maybe some day we will be able to bring ourselves to spring for a balcony. :D

 

1/02 Explorer E. Carib.

1/03 Explorer W. Carib.

8/03 Summit Alaska cruise/tour

2/04 Adventure S. Carib.

2/05 Galaxy Panama Canal

6/06 Jewel Brit. Isles/Nor. Fjords + 3 days in London

1/07 Mercury Mexican Riviera

1/08 Mercury Aust/NZ +1 extra day in Syd and 2 extra days in Auk.