Deciding What Cruise to Take

[Sky Sweet]

Which factors do you consider when deciding what cruise to take?

 

Check all that apply.

[GSPLover]

For ourselves (and others that I help) it is Itinerary, first and foremost. One you narrow that down you can start to decide which cruise line to take and other trip factors. For next summer, the overnight in Stockholm and the stop for Berlin were the deciding factors.

[irishgirl]

Since I only do group cruises, I first look at what the group is as all our group cruises have a theme.

 

Second I look at the itinerary and third the ship.

 

I cancelled the Halloween group to cruise on the Solstice in February.

 

Judy

[d&a Delaware]

The dates we can sail are significantly impacted by the public schools academic calendar. Within that constraint, we look at cruise lines, classes of ships available, itineraries, and price. And we have also begun to factor in what cruiseports we can get to without flying. It's a mix of all those things when choosing a cruise.

 

David

[Karynanne]

The past few years, we have have cruised with friends. The itinerary is important...but knowing that we'll be with our cruising friends, from all over the U.S. and U.K. is usually the deciding factor.

[DC2OC]

Its how it all comes together,difficult to weigh.We want to see new places at a good price.We avoid spring breaks and summer cruises when the ships are more crowded.The ship is also important because we like sea days,also.Celebrity pampers you,but RCCL has more fun stuff.We also own RCI stock and purchase next cruise while on board which is also a factor.Princess has a 14 day Alaska cruise that is a must do.I know I'm rambling but basically I look for cruises online and out of the blue say to my wife "Want to go on this cruise" and She saids "Sure".........................Frank

 

........BTW,I voted Other

[librarycin]

For me, I would say price and itinerary. I didn't select any of the price options in the poll, because they seemed to place price above itinerary, but for me, it's the combination of the two. :)

[WELSH WIZARDS]

We live in Europe, and there are only so many times you can sail around the Med. We now choose Transatlantics....so that is where we start looking... at all the sea days. :)

[junglejane]

The dates we can sail are significantly impacted by the public schools academic calendar. Within that constraint, we look at cruise lines, classes of ships available, itineraries, and price. And we have also begun to factor in what cruiseports we can get to without flying. It's a mix of all those things when choosing a cruise.

 

David

 

Same for us! First factor we consider is the school calendar. Of course, we have kids so we have to cruise during school vacations. Others are no doubt looking at the same calendar and trying to avoid cruises with lots of kids.:)

 

But after that it gets complicated. We've gone to the Mexican Riviera twice for Spring Break because the price is attractive and we can drive to the port. The itinerary was not that important to us on those cruises. This summer, however, we're going to the Mediterranean. The choice of that cruise was based on price and itinerary. Same for next summer's British Isles cruise.

 

--Junglejane

[Beach Nut]

Itinerary - Does the cruise take me to several-to-many places that I've been wanting to visit, with a minimum of sea days, and long port days?

 

Price - Is it an affordable price for us?

 

Value - Will it offer peace and quiet, reasonable comfort, impeccable cleanliness, good food, smoke-free cabins and venues, a relaxed yet upscale ambiance, and be relatively child free? ("Value" is so subjective.)

 

et al - I have recently been taking the size and type of ship into some consideration. One of the reasons I chose Mercury over an Oceania ship for our recent New Zealand to Australia cruise (aside from a difference of saving a little over $1,000) was that I wanted to cross the Tasman Sea in a larger ship. I'm glad to have made that choice, as we had 30 foot swells and DH was sick for 30 hours during the crossing as it was. I don't even want to think about how rough it would have been on the smaller ship.

[DeepWaterMariner]

Itinerary is most important for us. Price is always a consideration but itinerary rules within reason. The optimum for us is finding an itinerary with at least a couple of new ports to experience and some sea days mixed in. The cruise line only comes into the selection process when it becomes an apples to apples comparison on itinerary.

[mtwingcpa]

I probably consider in this order:

 

1) Smoking policy (and this can be a deal killer)

 

2) Dress code

 

3) Itinerary/destination

 

4) Dining options

[NorthernLite]

I chose ''other'' also. The DH is mainly a sea days guy. I like new ports. Leaving from a nearby port is so nice that we'll switch brands if the ship is still in decent shape and has somewhat similiar amenities. And after no lift for the crossing the Equator ceremony to a pool.....those amenities being accessible are becoming more and more important. I must admit planning outwards is difficult when the "special needs" people haven't a clue if the Solstice and the Equinox will have lifts to the spa pool, pool or a hot tub.

[Kathie44]

Our TA chose the first one for us since we had no clue about anything. DH picked out the last two itineraries, based on conversations overheard on another cruise. Twice we sailed with friends and followed their lead. The rest of the itineraries (3) and the two coming up next year I chose with some input from DH.

After choosing the itin. I look at RCCL and X to see which has the one I/we like best. Price is not the final factor. X is not always more expensive.

 

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

1/07 Mercury Mexican Riviera 1/08 Mercury Aust/NZ

1/09 Galaxy S. Carib. 6/09 Summit Classical Med

[Tatka]

Now that we cruised on almost every cruise line most impotant points for us:

 

1) Time of the year (kid is in school)

2) Company and price

 

Itinerary is less important at this moment as almost all of them in Caribbean although we are planning another European cruise.

[forensic]

We are cruisers that definitely consider the ship our destination as much as the itinerary. We want to be sure we are going to love the ship and the venues on it, the food, the service, want to know we will have a choice of nice bars to go to with a choice of nice music or quiet. What an idea of what type of quests will be sailing etc.

 

We have sailed other cruise lines when it was part of my job, or when we had somewhere specific we wanted to go that X did not go.

 

So I suppose the cuise line is #1 for us and that is still Celebrity:

Their food is still the best

Their staterooms are still very nice

Their M ships are beautiful

We love their Martini bar, we really enjoy having a drink before dinner

"Most" of the fellow cruisers understand the rules of cruising and are delightful people, fun to meet and talk with. Don't hog chairs, understand the word "formal" and don't wear their bathrooms out of their rooms. It is an ABSOLUTE DELIGHT to go to a formal night and look around X's beautiful dinning room and see almost all of the men in tux's and women in beautiful dresses and gowns!

The SERVICE on Celebrity has always been outstanding.

 

 

#2 for us is Itinerary:

We have cruised mostly the Caribbean, but we are looking for cruises that are not always the same.

Last November we did the Ultimate Southern Caribbean on the Connie. It was THE best cruise we have ever done!!! For us it was perfect! Ft. Lauderdale/Sea Day/Grand Cayman/Sea Day/Aruba/Sea Day/Cartegna/Panama/Sea Day/Cozumel/Sea Day/Ft. Lauderdale

We loved all of the sea days! The ports we visited were great and we loved every one of them, but they were hot and we stayed ashore the whole time we were allowed. So it was great to have a sea day the next day to recoup and relax aboard the ship!

We would do this cruise again but they have changed it a lot. They took Aruba out of it and changed it so that there are 3 ports in a row without the sea days in between. :(

 

This year and next we have planned 1 two week cruise each year instead of 2 - 1 week cruises. For next year we are planning our first Med cruise, RT Rome so by the time we spend extra time in Rome it will really be 3 weeks.

We have been to Rome and Sicily before and LOVED them both. I will say that the cruise we have chosen does not go to Sicily and it is going to be hard to be that close to Sicily and not go.

 

Our daughter and S-I-L lived there for about 5 years and we loved visiting them! If any of you ever get to visit the island please go, especially the Taormina, Messinia, Catania area. Our daughter use to live in a little town about 1/2 way up Mt. Etna - so beautiful!

[forensic]

I probably consider in this order:

 

1) Smoking policy (and this can be a deal killer)

 

2) Dress code

 

3) Itinerary/destination

 

4) Dining options

 

 

May I ask what you want the smoking policy to be? Yes or No?

What do you mean by dress code? Clothing yes or no?

[Sky Sweet]

When we take a travel oriented cruise in Europe, itinerary is the most important factor to us. Even so, we like to take all of our cruises on nice ships so that is also a consideration.

 

On the other hand, we consider Caribbean Cruises to be a relaxing vacation from the stress and responsibilities of everyday life, as well as a break from cold winters in the Northeast. On this type of cruise, the ship itself is most important to us and we think of the ports as just an extra.

 

A nice ship to us is one that is in good condition, with relatively large cabins, and has a favorable space to passenger ratio.

[Bruin Steve]

I think people have different criteria based on their different situations...

 

When we first started cruising and we had to worry about cruising as a family of four and we didn't make nearly as much money as we do today, price was the number one factor...

 

Now that our kids are grown and we're considerably more "comfortable", price is only a factor in that I still enjoy a bargain and lower fares mean I can cruise more...

 

But, now, itinerary is paramount...We look for new experiences, new places to see...

 

But, we also have two kinds of cruises:

1) Our annual "big cruise"--usually to Europe, looking for interesting ports...we're tied into summer vacation for this one--which limits our choices--because my wife works for a school district...

2) Cruising just for the fun of it...usually a shorter cruise wedged into spring break or a 3-nighter over a weekend...For these, the itinerary matters little...Convenience, price, the ship are more important...Typically looking to sail out of LA to make it quick, cheap and easy...

 

We never cruise for weather or beaches--because we live 10 minutes from the beach in SoCal...I always figured a lot of folks from the frozen north cruise for the weather and beaches...If you live in Buffalo or Calgary or Minneapolis, you just want to get away in January or February to somewhere where it's warm...We Southern Californians couldn't care less...