Why Would You Book Another Cruise?

[sail7seas]

I'm serious about this question so please bear with me.....

 

If you felt a number of things were lacking on your cruise and had a list of 'wish it had been done differently' things, would you book another cruise with the same cruise line?

 

Why would someone come home from a cruise, complain about a lot of things and then cruise with them again?

 

I wouldn't so I don't understand. why someone would cruise again with the same ship or even the same company if they had complaints about their cruise.

[Crusing Bob]

I would agree with you yet we see these complaints and then a re-booking on the same ship or at least with HAL.

[takemewithyou]

If a had a "not-so-good" cruise on one ship , but I have two good experiences prior to that,then yes, I would cruise again with that line assuming that the previous cruise was an exception. Not back to the same ship that I had a problem with, though!

[Lurker1]

I think it depends on the nature of the problem(s), your prior experience with the cruise line and/or ship, itinerary, port of departure and cost.

[CowPrincess]

If it had been one "bad" cruise out of many "good" cruises, I'd book with them again -- everyone/everything has a "bad day", y'know? Even my favorite restaurant once in a while. If it was another bad cruise after a couple of other bad cruises, I'd look for a different line.

 

But then, for some people, being hyper-critical is just part of who they are. Part of their enjoyment in life is complaining. So when you are listening to their complaints, they are actually having as good at time as they can.

 

Or possibly they are looking for compensation from the cruise line to "entice" them to continue cruising with that particular line.

 

To re-state my original point, though, if I'd had several good experiences in the past, I would overlook one bad experience and use that company again. If they failed the next time, that'd be it.... I'd be gone as a customer.

[sail7seas]

That seems a reasonable way of thinking.

 

[u4ea]

Attitudes can change too.

On my first HAL cruise, gray water came out of my bath floor drain and into the cabin. They wouldn’t/couldn’t move me, and gray water soaked carpet for days while they repaired and cleaned. I complained and had a bad attitude about it, thinking “I paid good money for this?”:mad: But as you live and learn, you realize you can not complain and be happy. They can’t coexist. ;)

Anyway, I booked another cruise based on price and best value, and also came to realize that ‘ship happens’ So make the best of it. I book HAL based on price and best value first.:cool:

Interesting topic.

Mark…

[mikefang]

I'm not sure there is a 'good answer' for the question. In our 130 or so days with HAL we had had some things go awry but they were all addressed by HAL in a prompt and courteous manner. Had they not we would have probably thought twice:

On two Caribbean cruises our a/c failed totally. Unpleasant but things break on ships and the staff tried their best-IMHO.

Worst was entering our cabin upon embarkation and discovering it had just been vacated by a cigar smoker. DW's asthma immediately kicked in and the staff immediately moved us to another room.

Had they not addressed the cigar issue I would not have taken the chance again with HAL but they did.

Things that break like a/c or a plumbing problem addressed as best they can at the time would not turn us away from the overall HAL experience. An unaddressed threat to DW's health would.

On one trip (Maasdam out of Norfolk) the San Juan port visit was early morning and very short, nothing was open, stop was wasted-though I did find some rum! I would definitely look twice at a similiar situation.

Mike

[Krazy Kruizers]

We choose for Itinerary!!

[sail7seas]

But if you had lots of complaints, KK, would you still sail the ship about which you were complaining? I know you book for itinerary but what if the itinerary was on a ship you had a lot of complaints about?

[Krazy Kruizers]

As I mentioned in my thread. We did book another 21 day repositioning cruise on the Westerdam because we like the itinerary and the fact that we have 3 new ports. The ship is just something to get us to those ports. We can live with some of the changes.

 

Just as long they don't do away with the laundry bags!!

[sail7seas]

Okay...... surprised to hear it, though.

 

I never, in all your posts over all these years, realized that to you the ships are just transportation. Nothing wrong with that. I'm just surprised I never got that impression before.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Notice that we try to do different itineraries as often as we can. Right now the Westerdam is offering better repositioning cruises in 2009 than the Zuiderdam and Veendam. Even before we got on the Westerdam we had already booked the fall 2009 Westerdam because of her great schedule. JMO - I know that others may like the other ship's itineraries better.

[ginagirl]

I am so happy this thread is running now. For the past 2 days I have been contemplating booking a 15 day Zaandam to Hawaii. The reason for our indecision? After always having pleasant and satisfying cruises on HAL, we sailed the Oosterdam this past December and were totally dissatisfied with cuisine, lack of enough activities that didn't cost some fee or other, horrible dance bands in horrible venues, and a noticeable decline in the level of service. It also seemed that the Phillipine and Indonesian staff, who were always so pleasant in the past, were now unhappy in their jobs. This was also explained and confirmed in confidence to us by our servers in the DR. As such, we are debating whether the high cost of the Zaandam would be worth it.

Now, we are well-seasoned cruisers for many years. Just this year alone we have sailed the Diamond Princess and loved everything about it, and then we sailed the Island Princess last month and were no where near as pleased. So I'm aware that not all ships in any cruise line are created equal and conditions are ever-changing even on the same ships. So I guess I'm hoping that someone may have some recent pertinent input with regard to the Zaandam versus the Oosterdam. I truly appreciate any feedback my fellow-cruisers may be able to provide.:o

[Charliesmom]

Booking a ship again when you have had a bad experience is really an act of faith. I find it interesting that a Princess cruiser had a wonderful experience on the Diamond Princess, but a not so great one on the Island Princess. Perhaps it was the Hawaii itinerary that made for such a great cruise. We were on the Island Princess for a Hawaii cruise and it was lovely - so lovely, in fact, we booked her sister ship, the Coral Princess for our cruise last February and it was fabulous.

 

This year we are booked on the Eurodam for December and on the Noordam for February. We were so spoiled by our wonderful experiences last fall (HAL Maasdam) and winter (Coral Princess) that we hope we are not disappointed.

 

A bad experience on the old Royal Princess (the ship was filthy and the dining room staff non-caring) in 2000 didn't keep us from booking again on Princess, but I would be leery of sailing on her again (I think she is now the Artemis, a P&O ship).

 

A lot of times the tone of the ship comes from the top down. If you have great senior staff who truly care about their employees you have a great ship. If you have an indifferent senior staff you have an indifferent ship. How the crew is treated is reflected on how the passengers are treated.

 

Just my two cents.

 

Roberta

 

 

Most of our cruises have been at least very good - even the bad Royal trip.

[Hutch&Pat]

A bad experience could be for a 'minor' thing. On our 25 day Statendam LA to NZ I had a horrible manicure -- 3 fingers bled-- scabs for a week! I complained to the salon and the main desk (who told me that they have nothing to do with the salon) and not even a refund on the manicure! I did not post it here. But it didn't ruin my cruise ... it was lovely. We're doing a 17 day one this Sept on the Zaandam but I will just stay out of the nail salon! I'm already concerned about the new dining and the new show times (we enjoy 8 PM dinners with shows afterwards).

But our 'overall' experience was wonderful, so we booked again..... even though it's only HI and most of the same ports as last year, but we LOVE sea days! It seemed to be a good value, and we won't have to suffer though a horrible trans-ocean flight again. Lots of reasons but there was a 'comfort level' of booking with HA.

Pat

[kakalina]

I'm hoping that someone may have some recent pertinent input with regard to the Zaandam versus the Oosterdam. I truly appreciate any feedback my fellow-cruisers may be able to provide.:o

 

We have had such an unpleasant experience on Vista class that we won't sail them at all now. However, we have always had a great experience on the S&R class ships. Perhaps you will find as we did that the Zaandam offers a much classier and elegant cruise than the Oosterdam in my opinion.

[Jade13]

I'm serious about this question so please bear with me.....

 

If you felt a number of things were lacking on your cruise and had a list of 'wish it had been done differently' things, would you book another cruise with the same cruise line?

 

Why would someone come home from a cruise, complain about a lot of things and then cruise with them again?

 

I wouldn't so I don't understand. why someone would cruise again with the same ship or even the same company if they had complaints about their cruise.

 

Interesting question. I just posted my Celebrity Century Review (and copied it the HAL board since some comments were on how HAL does it different). I ended up with a "Maybe/Maybe Not" as to cruising with Celebrity again. On the Celebrity board someone posted why I would ever cruise with them again after my experience. It comes down to the following. The cruise was a good value (Staterooms reasonable including Concierge Class) and HAL generally does not offer 4 and 5 night cruises from the East Coast (makes a nice weekend getaway or an extra vacation). FYI, the Inside Cabins went down to $349.00pp and Celebrity refunds money after final payment. It was an extra vacation where I could afford to bring both my daughter and her friend and put them in their own cabin. Btw, my daughter did not like cruising. So, I'm still "Maybe/Maybe Not".

 

I was surprised I did not get many responses.

[Jade13]

Booking a ship again when you have had a bad experience is really an act of faith. I find it interesting that a Princess cruiser had a wonderful experience on the Diamond Princess, but a not so great one on the Island Princess. Perhaps it was the Hawaii itinerary that made for such a great cruise. We were on the Island Princess for a Hawaii cruise and it was lovely - so lovely, in fact, we booked her sister ship, the Coral Princess for our cruise last February and it was fabulous.

 

I have heard that the Island Princess and Coral Princess are the top rated Princess ships. I had been waiting for Feb 2010 Panama Canal schedules and really disappointed that these two ships are not offering the itinerary I really really want on the dates I want. They offer the 10 night full transit, but very limited offerings in 2010 :(

 

I guess the Canal can wait because I just can't find an itinerary that I want....

[cruz chic]

They offer the 10 night full transit, but very limited offerings in 2010 :(

 

I guess the Canal can wait because I just can't find an itinerary that I want....

 

Are you sure they are a full transit in 10 days. I don't know how that would be possible. Usually the 10 day cruises are partial transits. I love the Panama Canal. It's truly amazing to me.

[usha]

I cruised on Golden Princess when it was only about 6 months old. It was a beautiful ship, but the service was so-so/to/surly, and the ship itself was the most crowded place I'd ever been on vacation. Personal choice dining was just being introduced, and believe me, by the third day, we were calling it "p*ss-poor choice" dining. Our bathroom smelled strongly of urine the first day, and it still smelled that way on disembarkation morning.

 

I was used to Celebrity, and all I had ever experienced on Celebrity were wonderful cruises with outstanding service from a very polished and cordial staff, and nice-smelling cabin (including bathroom:o ) and gracious dining, and plenty of elbow room. I decided that was IT for me & Princess.

 

Fast-forward 6 years, and I was looking for a last-minute quickie cruise in the Caribbean to celebrate our 35th anniversary earlier this month, and what did I book? Caribbean Princess 3 day carib sampler:o . Yeah, I know...I wasn't GOING on Princess again.... Anyway, the cruise was practically FREE, and it fit our available timeframe perfectly, so I booked it, and we went and...

It was nice! The ship was beautiful, our bathroom smelled good, we had good service at anytime dining, the weather was perfect, and it was VERY, VERY crowded :(. Oh, well, 4 out of 5 ain't bad. Would I try Princess again? Maybe, if it's REALLY cheap, and I can't find what I'm looking for on =X= or HAL.:D

[Taxguy77]

Celebrity Century Review (and copied it the HAL board since some comments were on how HAL does it different). I ended up with a "Maybe/Maybe Not" as to cruising with Celebrity again.

 

We cruised Celeb once, and would book again in an instant. We did in fact, but they changed the ship to AZ and we'll not go there again even though the beds were 100 times more comfortable. :mad:

We are booked on HAL for the 1st time on a TA with some of the same ports as we visited on Celeb, so we can compare in late Nov. :confused:

[ginagirl]

We, too, were surprised that the Island Princess was such a disappointing sailing, especially since it was 19 days long. As for the poster who suggested the Hawaii destination on the Diamond may have been the reason we enjoyed that sailing better, I can only say we have sailed to Hawaii many times and also spent a 3 week land vacation there, so no biggie about the destination. The Diamond just excelled in eveything. In fact, we truly loved the Panama Canal itinerary of the Island Princess. What I will say, is we spoke to many people on the sailing who had sailed the Island Princess previously. They all repeated the same story - the cuisine and service had deteriorated considerably. Having sailed many lines over many, many years, I can definitely see that management on the Island seemed lax. I am definitely in agreement with the poster who stated that everything originates from the top on down.

I do appreciate the poster who stated her opinion and was in agreement that the Oosterdam was certainly not impressive nor up to standards We'll probably try the Zaandam, hoping for a pleasant cruise. In all our years of sailing, I can only remember one other ship that came close to the disappointment we experienced on the Island and the Oosterdam--and that was a 15 day sailing of the Radiance of the Seas which we sailed in April, 2007. All 3 sailings were in the last 14 months. I hope this is not becoming a trend.:cool: Thanx to all the respondents to my post.

[sail7seas]

Please forgive me but what is the "Island"? I can't figure out which/where/what you are referring to. Thanks.

 

[ginagirl]

I made an earlier posting on Page 1 of this thread discussing the Island Princess, and I was responding to the kind posters that were exchanging ideas with me on the topic. Sorry for the confusion.;)