Why Would You Book Another Cruise?

[sail7seas]

Thanks, ginagirl. I thought you could have been referring to an island....as in land surrounded by water and I was trying to figure out which one. :D

 

[hammybee]

I am closing in on about half the number of your sails, Sail. I have never had a bad cruise. In fact, unless the ship goes down, I do not expect to have a bad cruise.

 

Ship happens everywhere. I deal with it and move on.

 

As it relates to others, people vent and move on and many of them realize, in retrospect, it was not all bad and they return, again and again and vent some more.

[Copper10-8]

I am closing in on about half the number of your sails, Sail. I have never had a bad cruise. In fact, unless the ship goes down, I do not expect to have a bad cruise.

 

Ship happens everywhere. I deal with it and move on.

As it relates to others, people vent and move on and many of them realize, in retrospect, it was not all bad and they return, again and again and vent some more.

 

You and I seem to share the same philosphy!;)

[Jade13]

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.

 

Yes, Princess has a 10 night full transit from Acapulco to Ft Lauderdale. The schedule does not work for me in 2010. The week I want is in reverse order, Ft Lauderdale to Acapulco. I really wish HAL had this itinerary.

[PathfinderEss]

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.

You know sail7seas, some people just like to complain, they are not happy if they can't, but in actuality, they really do have a good time, and that is why they do it again, and again...cruise and complain.......it's just in their nature to do that.

[kryos]

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

It would honestly depend on how serious the deficiencies were. If "non-negotiables" were not up to par, then no ... I would probably not book with the same cruise line again, but would rather begin a search for a new one.

 

But if the problems were with things that all cruise lines were struggling with ... such as food quality, nickle and diming, etc. ... then I might just ignore the problems because chances are I'm gonna find them on just about every mass market line I'm likely to sail.

 

Blue skies ....

 

--rita

[jannandjohn]

I had a horrible manicure -- 3 fingers bled-- scabs for a week!Pat

 

 

why didn't you ask her to stop after the first finger started to bleed???:eek: :eek: :eek:

[jzygail]

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

 

I did a Maasdam cruise out of Norfolk, too (Nov 2006), and also thought the San Juan stop was much too brief. Since that was the last port before 2 and a half days at sea return to Norfolk, I decided if I ever had a similar situation, I'd arrange to leave the ship at San Juan and spend part of the at sea days in Puerto Rico and then fly home.

 

Although I enjoyed the cruise greatly and even those 2 days at sea back, by the time we left San Juan I hit that mental place where you know you're going home and I was ready to just BE home, so a longer stop at San Juan and then flying and actually being home would be preferable for a "what to do differently".

 

We spent that morning touring el Morro and San Cristobal, which was nice and the hike up the hill to the forts made the ice cream we treated ourselves to afterwards seem deserved instead of decadent ;)

[GmaPajama]

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

 

Interesting thread, Sail. IMO, there are a lot of people who simply "make lemonade" when something doesn't measure up. For others, every little thing seems to make or break their cruise. And for a very few, it seems the only reason they cruise is to come back here and complain about it - but perhaps they have nothing else to do. I've noticed that if a poster is looking for a big response to a thread, it needs to be a complaint. I rarely respond to those kinds of threads - no need to encourage someone who is obviously just looking to raise a fuss. :) An honest, open discussion is so much more fruitful.

 

As for us, we did have a cruise we didn't care for. It was our first one and it was on one of those floating resort lines. We nearly gave up the idea of cruising, but decided to try a different line instead. SO glad we did, as HAL is a great fit for us. If we weren't happy, we'd move on again.

 

[Hutch&Pat]

why didn't you ask her to stop after the first finger started to bleed???:eek: :eek: :eek:

I agree ..... It was during an acrylic nail refill ....I complained to her several times about how rough she was and told her it was the first time I've ever had a painful manicure .... it turned out that some of the pain was her repeated dabbing of the skin she roughed up with alcohol in a manner than I didn't see any blood until I left. I admit that she was very clever. The nail refills are a multi-step process and I'm not sure what I could have done to make them presentable had I left mid-process -- but all I realized at the time was that she was very rough and it hurt but I did not see any blood or I would have immediately shown the manager. Luckily they did not get infected. I went back later, showed the manager the scabs and she apologized, also reported to the main desk who said they have nothing to do with the salon, and wrote it in detail in my comments at the end of the cruise. There was no follow up or refund for the manicure. I did not post it here when I returned because the manicurist was leaving the ship soon and, IMHO it is not a reason for me not to book a cruise in the future .... just a reason to stay out of or be wary of the nail salon. If she was not leaving the ship (she was going to Carnival) I would have posted it to warn others to be careful.

Pat

[cruz chic]

Yes, Princess has a 10 night full transit from Acapulco to Ft Lauderdale. The schedule does not work for me in 2010. The week I want is in reverse order, Ft Lauderdale to Acapulco. I really wish HAL had this itinerary.

 

I had no idea it was possible to do that. This is something that for sure is of interest to me. I like Princess equally....sometimes more then HAL. Truth be told I haven't had many cruises with Princess so maybe that will change. I've got a lot of days under my belt with HAL. Thank you for responding to my question and for giving me some valuable information:) .

[localady]

You know sail7seas, some people just like to complain, they are not happy if they can't, but in actuality, they really do have a good time, and that is why they do it again, and again...cruise and complain.......it's just in their nature to do that.

 

I think you have hit the nail on the head. ;)

Never had a bad cruise personally.

[May4]

In thinking about the question posed by Sail, and trying to be introspective, I suspect that two disappointing cruises in a row would do the trick for me. I would chalk up the first troublesome cruise to bad luck. The second would indicate a trend. I'd have only myself to blame if I wasn't happy after that.:cool:

 

I've got to say, though, so far so very good!

[ldog]

When thinking about this I think I'm getting less critical as we cruise more.

 

Maybe it's an age thing but if I were to look objectively at all of our cruises the first ones had things that bothered me a lot more than they do now. Our later cruises have had more "issues" and little things breaking and less than stellar service but we have come to understand that "ship happens" and it's not worth sweating the stuff that can't be changed.

 

We cruise mainly for itinerary as well.

[Northshorecruisers]

Our first cruise was on HAL and our second on Princess. Princess wasn't a bad cruise, just didn't live up to the expectations we had after we cruised HAL. So, we're back with HAL and don't see us booking with Princess again.

[Lurker1]

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.

 

There is a significant price difference on the Vista class vs. the S&R classes if you want a balcony. Vista class has balconies that are not in the suite categories and are therefore cheaper, and if a balcony is important to you and you don't want to spend the $$ on a suite, then Vista class can be a good way to go.

We've been a 5 cruises (4 on HAL), and we chose an outside for cold weather cruises, and a balcony for hot weather cruises.

[Sea King]

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.

 

S7S, that's the million dollar question;)

 

here's my "guess"

 

first and foremost: you don't complain while you're on board .. heaven forbid the staff has the chance to make things better:eek:

 

instead, you make sure you post on CC .. the worse the report, the better

for you when you return to the "scene of he crime"

 

return?

 

of course:eek:

 

you return to let everyone know what you've already posted .. more importantly, you let it be known what you will post if "certain amenities" are not provided;)

 

amenities come in the form of such things as having the Hotman set aside a separate area for smoking even though prior to that, the area was non-smoking .. another amenity, dinner in Pinnacle or at least an invitation to a cocktail party .. better yet, drinks in the Ocean Bar so everyone can see that "you" are really "somebody"

 

sound sick?

 

it is:mad:

 

but S7S, you asked the question:)

 

of course, this is just my humble opinion

[JimVrhovac]

Several reasons why:

 

1. To pacify my wife and shut her up.

 

2. If I did not I would be in the garage or on the back porch with the cats.

 

3. So no new welts appear on my body.

 

4. I like living.

 

I always get the last word in on booking cruises: YES DEAR

 

Jim (without Ruth)

[mamaofami]

I haven't had a bad cruise, so I have no reason not to book again. We did have a really bad experience with a cabin steward once and it made things very awkward. He just wasn't nice. I actually saw him on board the Noordam this year and he was working in the dining room.

[caviargal]

If I have had generally positive experiences with a line and then have a bad experience (not including weather, ports, etc.) then I would try once more on the same line, different ship. This happened to me on X in 2005 but another disappointing experience on X in 2006 means no more. When it comes to maintenance, food and service, I expect a certain standard.

 

I am fast running out of cruise lines, though. I used to enjoy RCI but now they are too family centric and the standards have slipped. Loved Costa in the old days, per carnival, but no more. Several of the lines I really enjoyed are no longer in business (Sitmar, Home Lines).

 

HAL is about the last of the mass market lines we will cruise. I am troubled by the lowered dress code standards and some other changes that I am not fond of but we shall see. One or two more and we may decide to stop cruising altogether, except when the budget permits a luxury cruise.

[localady]

S7S, that's the million dollar question

 

here's my "guess"

 

first and foremost: you don't complain while you're on board .. heaven forbid the staff has the chance to make things better:eek:

 

instead, you make sure you post on CC .. the worse the report, the better

for you when you return to the "scene of he crime"

 

return?

 

of course

 

you return to let everyone know what you've already posted .. more importantly, you let it be known what you will post if "certain amenities" are not provided;)

 

amenities come in the form of such things as having the Hotman set aside a separate area for smoking even though prior to that, the area was non-smoking .. another amenity, dinner in Pinnacle or at least an invitation to a cocktail party .. better yet, drinks in the Ocean Bar so everyone can see that "you" are really "somebody"

 

sound sick?

 

it is

 

but S7S, you asked the question

 

of course, this is just my humble opinion

 

Not sure I am jaded enough for that theory. :eek:

But then again, I do have 'Gullible' written across my forehead, just ask Jim V. and other CC buddies!;) :D

[ginagirl]

Please explain the difference between Vista ships and S & R ships. I thank my fellow cruisers for taking the time to explain this.:)

[cruz chic]

Please explain the difference between Vista ships and S & R ships. I thank my fellow cruisers for taking the time to explain this.:)

 

I think this link to this thread will answer your questions. I hope it works:o .

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=350993

[ginagirl]

Thank you so very much. You have helped answer my inquiry. You are a sweetie!! BTW, I was in Calgary way back during the winter Olympics; and I loved your town. They had wonderful Steak Restaurants and Western Dance Clubs.:)

[lookin4beaches]

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

I think it's like when you bite into a bad apple; if you like apples, you don't stop eating them. If you like cruising, you rationalize the experience as a random occurance, and move on to the next cruise. Besides, a bad experience becomes part of the lore of the cruise.

 

I would have to say that, of the 11 or so cruises DW and I have taken, the only bad experiences have involved fellow passengers. One of the reasons I like cruising is because of the diversity of people you meet; except:

 

On a 4 day Norwegian cruise, there were 700 newly graduated high schoolers. Never again will we cruise in early June on a short "cheap" cruise. It also turned us off Norwegian as a cruise line.

 

On a 11 day Galaxy cruise, we were at a table for 10; two couples were very nice, the other two couples were less than cordial to us. We tried get to dinner early so we could sit at the opposite end of the table. It set the tone for the whole cruise. I remember those people more than the anything else on the cruise; I don't even remember the ports-of-call. It was our problem and we didn't take control of the situation so we suffered. We don't hold that experience against Celebrity. Thank goodness they now have anytime dining.

 

BTW: I am trying to talk DW into a 10 day on the new Equinox.

 

Thanks for allowing me my two cents...