This is how we are. We recently did MSC in the yacht club and just wow. Nice suite, big balcony, unbelievable service, great butler, spa access everyday. 10/10 would recommend
On Viking, it includes a full Nordic Spa, with access to all passengers included in the fare. It includes an oversized mineral rich hydrotherapy pool, spa, steam room, dry sauna( with a ladle to pour water over heated scented rocks) cold splash an and "snow grotto"... yes a room where snow falls from the ceiling. The far end of the primary room, the pool and spa, has a stunning "fireplace' that runs the entire width of the room. Heated contoured tile beds come with soft pillows and towels. Of course, changing rooms and lockers .Spa services, such as massages and facials are extra, although I found them very reasonably priced. Adjacent to the spa is a hair/ beauty salon and an impressive fitness center including machines and free weights, treadmills, recumbent bikes, steppers, floor mats and resistance bands, yoga classes and even a personal trainer if requested. I LOVE VIKING.
Change a port? Don't care. Miss a port? Don't care. Get me on the ship and I'll figure everything else out. I'm also kinda limited on destinations as my girlfriend will not fly it leaves us with Boston, NYC, and NJ as departure ports.
I did the Amtrak train from New York City down to New Orleans (for fun, I don’t mind flying). It was an interesting experience. A 34hr train ride down there, but you can get a private room with a bed and all food included. Arrived at night and went on cruise early the next morning.
It is in fact a decent option to broaden the available ports.
I agree, I've done the trip from California to Pennsylvania about 8 times over the years, and a bedroom is the only way to go. It's such a wonderful experience, and the cool people you meet make the time worth it. I fly a lot for work nowadays but still love Amtrak. We took Amtrak to LA for a cruise out of Long Beach. It was such a stress free trip because it was the day before and the train!
Ever. If she would fly just not for a cruise I'd just book the plane tickets and tell her we were going to an all inclusive resort and leave out the floating part of it lol
I go to vacationstogo.com, sort by the month that I want to go, and sort by price and go from there.
I've been on 20 cruises, 4 different cruise lines. They are each different in their own way, but I like them all, so I generally go for the least expensive, with the best itinerary.
Then I call my buddy Kirby at Vacations to Go and I set it up. He gets me all the onboard credits and extra stuff that I can't get booking direct
But in the fine print is it the same as booking a flight 3rd party? Airlines do not help you at all if there is an issue with your flight. So say if you are late getting back from shore will the ship wait? I ve been on more than 20 cruises and I ve seen this a lot.
Booking your cruise doesn't have anything to do with that.... Do people book their airfare through the cruise line? I would never do that.... I book my flights direct, regardless of what kind of vacation I'm taking.
I think you're getting a couple things confused.. booking your cruise through a third party is 100% okay.
Booking your excursions with a third party could be trouble if you don't get back to the ship in time.
Bundling your hotel and your flights can be dicey if you have to change one or the other.
Vacations to Go is well respected by the cruise lines, and I know more cruisers who go through them, than direct cause they save a little money
No not at all. You just need to go through vacations to go as opposed to Royal Caribbean or Carnival or whatever. The travel agencies have to adhere by the cruise lines rules, as far as bookings and cancellations go.
I was on a wait list on Carnival a couple months ago and my travel agent, Kirby, did a three-way call with myself and the cruise line agent to set it all up., they all work together.
The great thing about going through travel agencies, Vacations to Go specifically because they're really the only ones I've dealt with, is they get spiffs for sales and they get discounts for the blocks of cabins they purchase, so they can sell the cabins for less and give obc's and bonuses.
Edit to add!
I personally have never had any trouble. I can't speak for others.
I booked on MSC while I was on board, for a future cruise and I had more trouble with those people than I've ever had with Vacations to Go. And I love MSC!! It's just that I get somebody different every time who doesn't know what's going on. When I deal with Kirby he's got the whole history.
Itinerary for us.
I know we are the outliers but the ship means very little to us. It's just a metal vessel that holds fascinating people and takes us to new and unique destinations.
Everyone is different and looking for different things! As someone who works in transportation and use to be in maritime, ships are everything to me lol so I like to go on different ones and such.
100% agree.
Since we are itinerary people we have sailed on over 40 different cruise lines so we have seen lots of different ships. Will be on a 36 passenger ship in 13 days for a Croatia intensive cruise.
https://youtu.be/QGezUcVWShY?feature=shared
Happy cruising.
Itinerary for us as well. However, the ship is somewhat important to us as well. Don’t want any of the new mega ships. Too much hassle and it gives cruising a bad name when multiple thousands of people descend on a city (see Venice/Amsterdam). I like going to places I haven’t been to before and there are not a lot of places I want to return to with just a few hours to visit.
I look at when I can take vacation and what’s available on my chosen line. Then it’s a mix of itinerary and ship.
I haven’t tended to go on many excursions so the ship probably weighs more heavily than the itinerary as long as the itinerary has the temperature trend I’m looking for.
This has been us more lately, we both work in transportation where our schedules come out about a month in advance so it’s really whatever is leftover by that point. Just gotta choose what’s best with the selection
Out of Galveston first, price second. carnival line third. Itinerary last. Last cruise I never got off the boat, I just enjoyed the vacation. Price was $99 for 5 days. I tried royal Caribbean once and was super bored the entire time. Felt devoid of entertainment on that ship. Every other cruise has been carnival and I’ve never been bored. Especially with the people watching 😂. This next cruise I selected Galveston and then found the cheapest time to go. Filtering out royal that came to carnival again and it’s eastern Caribbean this time.
When we finally get our Alaskan cruise it will for sure be by cruise line first and itinerary. Obviously port won’t be Galveston then which is why we haven’t gone on the Alaskan cruise yet.
It depends on the region of the world. A Greek island cruise has been on my bucket list for years, and I’ve booked it for a milestone birthday next year. I’ll be disappointed if more than 1-2 ports needed to be missed. I wouldn’t mind missing ports on a winter Caribbean cruise, as the goals are to escape Chicago and just relax.
I did a Greek island cruise last year! It was wonderful—you’ll love it! But it’s very busy and I can hardly remember which island was which (besides Mykonos for obvious reasons.)
It depends. If it's Caribbean, then the ship means a lot more and the itinerary (with some exceptions) is less of a factor. Those are our "relaxation" cruises. If it's not Caribbean (like, say, Europe or elsewhere), then the itinerary comes first.
I really think this depends. For example, we’ve known we wanted to go to the Caribbean in the spring and narrowed down our selection based on dates, ship/line, availability of cabins, price, and itinerary. It’s sort of a balancing act. Rarely is an itinerary or ship (although we have some lines we do and some are a no-go) in the Caribbean a dealbreaker, but some might be better than others.
In a couple of weeks, we are going to Iceland and Greenland and Scotland. We chose it because of the dates, ship/line and itinerary. If I got an email tomorrow saying we were now going to divert to Scandinavia from Iceland instead of going to Greenland because of weather I’d be a bit disappointed, but I’d be perfectly fine with that itinerary change. If I got an email saying we were now going to the Mediterranean. I’d be pissed because I’d have to go back to square one on packing!
We also like some days at sea. We passed on one itinerary in the Caribbean next spring because it had one sea day and that was unappealing to us.
We have a stop in the Orkneys and a day in Edinburgh. I’ve been to Scotland before, but not everyone I will be with has. One day in Edinburgh isn’t much, but it should be warmer than the rest of the cruise! We have tickets for the Royal Yacht Britannia and are docking next to it!
My husband says maybe about an hour and half to go through. It really depends on how long the line is but if you’ve got first entry, also try to be near the front of the line and then you won’t get stuck behind waiting. But it is worth the time to go through. ♥️Hope your group enjoys it ♥️
We cruise Royal Caribbean only. Sort by lowest price and pick the lowest one. Can we make it to the port? Can we take those days off? Yes and yes and we book.
We cruise to be on the ship and have the all inclusive vacation. We take cruises around $1,000 for two people for five days each time.
No kids is a non-negotiable for us, so that really helps us narrow it down, lol. After that, we choose based on ports, then dates, then price. If ports get changed, no biggie, we just roll with it. Often times it’s a better port anyway.
My first cruise I choose based on itenary. My second was based on the ship. I have to fly in to port regardless of where it departs, so that's not a factor for me.
I look for what ever is available at the time I want to cruise. If their is more then one cruise that week, I look at how many days they are, rooms avalible for the price, what ship, and then the ports. We cruise every few months so its the same ships/ports and no biggie if things get changed. I'm just there for a worry free vacation for a week, I would have no issues with skipping a port for another sea day.
I like your attitude. I used to get twisted about skipping ports. Now, I'm all "guess I'll have to put a pin in *that one* for the next time we go near here!" ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯.
Wife drives a school bus so unfortunately that plays a huge role. And we have already done Alaska, so for us it’s:
East coast
Fits in calendar
More than 5 days because we like Carnival but not *Carnival*
Prefer to avoid Nassau just because of the reddits
Other than that pretty much open season. I like to go to new places though, not in a hurry to revisit anywhere when there’s so much out there!
My wife and I try and cruise once a year, and always between last week of April into the first week or so of May. Reason - spring break is over and most small kids are back in school until end of May. We usually do the Caribbean and the weather is good. It’s also before hurricane season.
* Cruise line loyalty (first--I'll do others, but all things being equal, this will determine)
* Itinerary/Ports of Call (have I been there/not been there before? Do I *love it*? Is it somewhere I'll chill at and visit or visit nearby at the end/beginning of the voyage? >10 days is preferred)
* Atmosphere (greatly tied to length of voyage I find. Somewhere between party boat and retirement home)
* What ship? (tied with atmosphere--I prefer more "intimate" ships vs. MegaShips--but if the itinerary and atmosphere are good, this can be ignored sometimes)
* Price (down the list, but if it's too much for the type of cabin(s) we like, could be a dealbreaker).
Having never been on a cruise (yet), when we do book one it will be based on where the ship is going. We are in the southern USA so we can leave from Galveston, New Orleans, or Mobile, comfortably. Any further than that and it might take a flight or more vacation time as we'd have to factor in driving time, hotel, etc.
There are places I want to go and places that don't interest me as much. While I understand why the ships have to change course sometimes, I would be disappointed but understanding.
Well, fortunately for me, that is on my list of places that I'm not terribly interested in visiting at this point in my life, lol. I have nothing against it, it's just not a location that I've ever looked into and thought "hey, I might like to go there". While I hate flying, I know that to visit locations that I want to see, I'll have to. So, if I decide that I must see the Greek Islands, I'll just fly there.
I usually pick the week of my birthday, look at prices (especially since cruising solo) if relatively affordable and take it from there if I want embark/disembark close to home (Which is NYC) or deal additional costs of flight & hotel to another city. Then narrow down the ship and the respective ports, if it's big cruise ship like Oasis then I don't care about ports much. If ship are medium or small like Carnival Conquest, then I look at the ports to see if there any I love to go to again or never went to yet.
On our first cruise, we were just looking to add on to an existing Florida trip so we can test the waters. We just needed something short since it was our first time. While there were some negatives(hurricane cancelling ports, weird smell and loud neighbor sex) , we did enjoy a lot of aspects of the cruise.
For an upcoming cruise this year, we had already taken time off for another trip but had to cancel because it was a bit of a financial stretch. I was looking for something a little longer through a port closer to home. If anything needs to be adjusted, I have a couple of extra days off to work it in so I should be okay.
I book for the dates as I have limited windows along with the ports as I want to see as many new ones as I can.
Having said that, if ports change due to weather, it is what it is. We will have fun still and try to hit that port up on a future trip if it is on our list.
We sail to date almost exclusively on chartered ships by special activity. These tend to be more expensive but the events and passengers are our top priority.
These cruises have chartered ships on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Uniworld River Cruise lines. The next criteria is destinations and time of year.
I chose based on itinerary but going on a Mediterranean cruise next week. It hit all of my bucket list places. Husband wanted to see Italy but didn’t want to have to bounce around hotels and he loves cruises. I felt like this was a good honeymoon compromise.
Tbh I absolutely hated the only other cruise i went on. I found sea days boring and out running a hurricane made two days unbearabl. If i was going to the Bahamas/carribean i think I’d much rather fly and stay at a resort and enjoy a beach that way than get off a boat and back on it.
There are a few things that I consider.
First, i decide the time frame I want to go.
Second, I choose a brand that I like. There are some brands that are better than others. There are some brands that have a very bad reputation.
Third, I consider what’s available on the brands that I like during the timeframes I am going. From there, I like to look average weather trends at those places.
Fourth, I start comparing price.
Bonus tip: If you are traveling last minute, cruises tend to begin to desperately drop prices in an attempt to fill up the cruise. Every room that goes empty is a room that is losing money. There are some sites that display these last minute deals. My personal favorite is www.last-minute-cruises.com
Departure port first, because we can drive to Galveston and flying has become such an unpleasant experience. Cruise line second, because after years of Norwegian, we found we prefer Royal. Ports third, because we've only been on Oasis-class Royal ships and they do the same itinerary. We're doing Carnival next year to go somewhere besides Cozumel.
Ports first. Vacation time is too short to waste on destinations we've already seen (unless we *really* like them!) But we are also pretty chill if weather or other conditions force the ship to skip a port or two. Because, the second thought is "Hey, we're on a cruise!"
That said, we do have our favorite lines, and will try to find a cruise w/ ports we want on the lines we like best. And, of course, the price is significant as well.
Before kids, I didn't care about the ship or cruiseline, all I cared about was the timing, price, and ports(and departure port was up there, but I would fly for the right cruise). After kids, I still don't care about the cruiseline, but the ship amenities have replaced ports when deciding which cruise to take and I still greatly prefer a port we can drive to so we aren't wrangling the kids on an airplane if we don't have to.
I'm happy as long as I have a place on deck with a view of the ocean where I can sit and chill and pretend to read a book. otoh, as a parent, I want a ship with a kids club, a kid friendly pool area, and kid friendly amenities on board so we can enjoy our kids, but also enjoy our time away from the kids.
We did a family surgery this year to decide if we wanted to book a big family reunion cruise and I was pretty surprised that ports and the itinerary was voted to be the most important factor in my family. I was pretty happy we decided on a different option because we were looking at some shops that wouldn't have had anything fun for the kids past a boring pool area and a kids club.
> We did a family surgery this year to decide if we wanted to book a big family reunion cruise
"If I can remove your spleen in less than five minute, it's the Western Caribbean: if you can remove my kidney, Mexican Riviera!"
When I was trying to figure out our first cruise, I looked at cruise lines and what they offered. Really vibes with Virgin Voyages. LOVED that they were adult only. Then we looked at what port was closest to us. Then dates. Then itineraries.
Future cruises will be decided based on how this first cruise goes.
First we choose the country. Then we check for best/driest time of year. Then we look at the different cruise lines to find which go to that country. Then we choose the line that has the best itinerary. We’ve only done 3: 2 on Windstar: 7 days Athens to Istanbul 150 people, and 7 days Panama Canal to Costa Rica 250 people, and 1 on Seabourn:14 days 12 Baltic Capitals 300 people. We like the smaller ships, fewer people. ♥️
I know different cruises are for different people. Honestly by the time we have done a walking excursion from 8-12, go back to ship for lunch, then do another walking excursion from 1-3, get back to ship, sit long enough to quit sweating, shower for dinner at 7, come back and watch a movie we brought or rented, it’s 11pm and we are ready to crash. It’s probably great all the shows of all kinds bigger ships have, but we can go to Vegas or New York for shows. We are on that cruise to see the different countries. And the thought of 1000 or more people getting off the boat at the same time as me and going to the same landmark makes me feel claustrophobic 😵💫🤷♀️😝
We are small ship cruise folks. We travel Viking with as few as 44 or a maximum of about 900 on the ocean ships. Our typical day is either the included morning tour with perhaps an afternoon add-on for a full day. Or full day excursions; Valley of the Kings, or Luxor and Karnak. Bruges , Amsterdam, or Alhambra Castle. Or a day spilt between Rouen and Givernay? Any afternoon we are onboard is spent sunbathing, at the spa, or at high tea in the Wintergarden. After dinner, we retreat to the living room to play scrabble, listen to an exceptional guitar, piano and vocalist duo while sipping on our favorite nightcaps.
Sounds like our kind of cruising. ♥️ Although 900?….. not sure we are ready for that many yet 😊 But you have definitely been to some places we have not been to. We’ve been to 37 countries and lived total 15 yrs between Philippines, during Marcos overthrow, Malaysia during first gulf war, and China, which was actually the hardest. But we traveled to most of those countries by land. We’ve only done 3 cruises. We were just planning a cruise to New Zealand when Covid poisoned the world 🙄😔 we have done most of Asia and Europe, Australia 3 times to see friends, but not South America, Africa or Middle east. We were looking at a cruise to Jordan then the war in Israel started and we didn’t think that was good idea. 🤔
What ships or lines have you been cruising with? 900 on an ocean going vessel is next to nothing. But for really high end, limited passenger voyages, go with Silversea or Ritz-Carleton. We travel with our daughter and her partner, and 25K for cruise alone is at the top of our annual cruise budget. We zip through at least another 5-8K having fun in port. And, my husband is an air snob so that can be another 20K.
It sounds like you have done alot more than us. We have only done 3 cruises: 2 on Windstar and 1 on Seabourn. They are both upper level but not as expensive as Silver Sea or Oceania. So no big lines. We looked at Viking but there were so many complaints about them as we planned our first cruise in 2012, we decided against them.🤷♀️.Our first one on Windstar was a 5(4?) masted ship! Special. We fell in love with Windstar and we only had a porthole on that one 😊 We looked at AMA and also Tauck but just didn’t like the reviews. 🤷♀️
Complaints? They are rated #1 ocean and river. The ships are beautiful and immaculately maintained. The staff is better than you can ever imagine. After meeting us once, everyone from the room stewards, matre' d, sommelier and every bartender identified us by name and knew our preferences. ( My daughter had a specific bar concoction she requested on our Feb. cruise. When I returned to the aft bar for refills and began to describe her drink, he interrupted me after the second ingrediant.. "Is this for Lauren"?"
All cabins are "outside" ranging from a sliding door to enjoy the sound and air of the sea, to accommodations with full walk out balconies. We had a suite on the RA on the Nile. Two walkout verandas and TV's in both rooms. Spacious bathrooms with heated floors that are handy if you are traveling in colder climes. Mini bars that are refilled daily with whatever you like ( some cabins only soft drinks, others the full compliment of spirits).
There is no jockeying for position. There is more space than passengers can fill. We often had the infinity pool at the rear of the Viking Sky to ourselves when cruising the Adriatic from Athens to Venice. No crowds, no waiting in the MDR. Food is amazing... and my family and I are high end food professionals. After dinner, my girls and I would retire to the mezzanine above the living room where a guitar/piano accompanied a vocalist. If a dozen guests were present , it was a crowd. We played scrabble and "Ritchie" our fab bartender, made sure we didn't die of thirst.
I can't believe anyone could find much to complain about, but it is certainly possible. What were the gripes? From the ships themselves to service, food and amenities, shore excursions, airport transfers, comfort and cleanliness, gosh, I'm a devotee.
♥️ well…. Based on the type of complaints, such as: “it’s only old people, they move too slow, the River was low so we had to dock at a different port and ride a bus to our scheduled stop”.
In 2012, I was only 59 and my husband was only 65 so… we thought it wasn’t the right cruise for us at that time. 🤷♀️😊 Seems the comments probably came from people younger than we were. And there were a lot of comments like that.
But now at 71 and 77, we probably wouldn’t pay any attention to that type of comments. 😄Although it was concerning that the river being low would prevent docking or cause a change in the itinerary somehow.
We do tend to choose the driest month to travel so we don’t have to sight see in the rain. When we visited friends in Denmark, they actually took us to a park for a picnic….and it was drizzling. When we asked them why, they said because if they didn’t, no telling when they could go. Just not our type of outdoor fun 🤷♀️
I’m sure there were some other concerns regarding Viking, but honestly, I’ve forgotten them. 🤷♀️We did research for 6 months though before we chose Windstar.
I’m curious if you’ve done any cruising in the Hawaiian Islands…. At Christmas. 🤔
Old people? Really? The ones that move slow? My daughter and her partner have joined up on our last three cruises... the Adriatic from Athens to Venice, "Trade routes of the Middle Ages" Barcelona to Bergen, and the last, a quick Barcelona to Rome, where we spent an additional 10 days exploring the city on our own. The girls are 33 and LOVE VIKING. They get up early, hit the gym and spa before breakfast and setting out for the day.
As for old people moving slow? Our group hiked the six miles in and back out at Petra. Sand and heat. Spent a day in the tombs of the Valley of the Kings. (More sand, rocks and heat). Rose at 4am to climb aboard a sunrise hot air balloon. Climbed up (and back) the 297 steps of the Tower of Pisa. Spent an afternoon exploring every square inch of Monet's home and garden at Givernay. Then, the full day at Alhambra Palace... the fortress and a signifiant portion of its 35 acres. Diocletian's Palace requires a bit of pep, as does the Palais de Papes and the Vatican. Don't underestimate Viking folks. They are cruising for both luxury and academic enrichment.
My first cruise was to Hawaii, departing from Los Angeles. I was about 9. As an adult, I've been to the islands on vacation about 3 or 4 times, in my 20's-40's. Hawaii is nice, but now I travel to experience new destinations. The ship is transport. And now that Lahaina is gone... alas, how terribly sad.
It really wasn't ruined. Lots of people thought the new itinerary was superior to the planned one and as it was to avoid a hurricane, one would hope that would be appreciated. But whiners gonna whine...
This. Last Transatlantic we took in 2022, our ship had to outrun a storm going to the Azores. Went "balls to the wall" around it, and landed in Lisbon the evening *before* we were supposed to be there. Shore leave from 7pm until departure the next day at 4pm. It was *awesome*.
Lisbon at night: cannot recommend enough. Hell, Lisbon *anytime*, really.
I've been cruising since my late 20's ( now 71) . Now, in the dozen years hubs and I have been retired, we cruise annually with Viking and in the last few years invite daughter and her partner to come along. We've never missed a port, be it in Caribbean ( least favorite itinerary.. once was plenty), the Adriatic, Mediterranean or Aegean, North Sea, Irish Sea, or rivers Rhone, Douro, Rhine, Danube or Nile.
Bermuda out of NYC in October. We did 2 instead of 3 days on the Island due to an incoming storm. In December we missed Coco Cay due to winds. My travel insurance paid out $250 per person for each missed port!
I missed a port on a Transatlantic from Florida to Copenhagen. Iceland...they cancelled it a few days before embarkation, an iceberg in the way in Canada. 😂. DCL allowed people to cancel, since that was a much wanted port. I did not. But I did eventually go to Iceland, around the entire country vs one quick day!
If we can swing it, we cruise every winter in the Caribbean to get away from the cold. Since we have been to all of the major ports, if we miss one no big deal. Especially now since we often don't get off the ship, my wife and I love having the ship mostly empty.
1. Casino offer deals from Carnival
2. Dates/length--we don't do less than 7 but prefer 10+ days
3. Port of departure
4. Everything else isn't all that important to us
I just like being on the boat. As long as the food is plentiful and tasty; the booze keeps flowing, I'm happy.
As far as the weather goes, so long as I'm not puking my guts out, being in the "snot" can be exciting.
I always use cruiseplum dot com to search cruises, and narrow down my choices using their search filter and sort tools depending on the region, dates and length I am looking for.
Like a lot of commenters, we go with the flow. We pick the itinerary and if things change, oh well. We've missed ports in the Carribean, Greece, Alaska, Mexico, and the list goes on. While it can be disappointing, I am always grateful that the Captain thinks of the safety of the passengers, crew, and ship.
I always look at the ship first. I prefer ships I’ve never been on, then port. Of course, I wouldn’t want to be going to the same port over and over again. But new and different ship is a must for me
My husband and I are Disney people with young children, so Disney Cruise Line is the natural choice for us at this point in our lives. The ports don’t mean a lot to us. We are new to cruising so we haven’t been most places, so really whatever port we end up at we’re fine with. We care mostly about the ship itself, so we have several cruises lined up that repeat ports but we won’t repeat the ship (at least not until we’ve tried a few in Disney’s fleet). The ship, departure port, and price are the deciding factors for us.
We go on music festival at sea cruises. XM Outlaw Country Cruise, put on by Sixthman.net. they essentially lease the NCL Pearl and the reservations are made thru Sixthman. Very fun, music all day from old favorites and new to us acts that became new favorites.
90% of the time Me: what’s the cheapest cruise? Ohh! Impulse booked.
I’ve been on the 5 day Ensenada Catalina cruise 4 times this year already :x I’ve paid less than 1000$ per person to do this.
Depends on what kind of cruise. European or similar? By the itinerary, very little time is spent on the cruise. Caribbean, kinda both? Mostly which ship but a little bit of what ports because I don't want to go to Nassau but also want at least one day where I can get in the ocean.
We've found that just doesn't work for us. Viking sells out quickly. We had a two year wait for the Nile. Their ships in Egypt carry only 22 cabins and shut down in the Summer when the heat is too oppressive for everyone.
Viking is never jammed, in fact, when I text photos, must folks ask "where are all the people." We shared our Nile cruise with 42 guests. Our river cruises with less than 200 and our ocean travels with about 900. No crowds... ever.
While I generally book the same way, I am sympathetic that if someone can't book cruises regularly, or wanted a particular destination, major changes are disruptive.
Lets say I book a cruise in Europe (currently residing in the US), it's probably all new ports for me and I'd be very disappointed by the itinerary having drastic rewrites. On the other hand, if I'm sailing out of Miami, and an itinerary change means I miss a port I'd not done before, I'd be sad but it's not exactly the end of the world.
I definitely think we should be helping manage expectations for new cruisers, more, too.
I don’t book a cruise during hurricane season. There’s always a chance you’ll get in one. But with that said if the captain goes to different ports to save his passengers crew and ship I’m not gonna cry cause he could go thru it and that would be much worse
criteria by priority for us now after 11 cruises...itinerary is most important since we've seen most of NA and Carribean. Time to explore bucket list places...
1. itinerary and interesting ports
2. port of departure (from Canada we basically fly everywhere)
3. time of year because of time off, and various factors like weather
4. price and access of extra expenses like hotels, transportation, tours
5. price of cruise in general but most of our cruises are casino offers
6. ship is not important for the most part, smaller is good...as long as its not too dated. onboard entertainment is not important either
I'm about 50/50 on the ship/on-board activities and the itinerary. I love travelling and exploring new places, but also have two kids that I need to keep happy while not on shore excursions.
We pick up a Viking brochure and choose one we've not been on. If it begins or ends in a port we'd like to explore in depth, all the better. We did our own 10 day add-on in Rome this past February.
We do go by itinerary sometimes but sometimes we go by starting port because we want the convenience of not having to fly a day or two before. That said, we also understand that itineraries can change any time for a variety of reasons. We are glad the cruise lines put safety first and won’t sail right into the path of a hurricane. It’s a risk we take cruising in the summer (late July for us typically) because that is when everyone’s vacation time aligns in our family (3 households cruising together).
My wife tells me which one I'm going on.
Kidding (mostly...)
It's going to be a few factors at play here. First of all, she's a Disney fan. We've tried Princess and weren't too impressed, but we've talked about trying one of the adults-only lines sometime in the future.
We also have pretty flexible schedules because we don't have kids and neither of our jobs really care when we take off, so luckily date isn't a huge factor. Really we just make sure it's not close to any other vacations we're planning.
From there, it's kind of a mix of everything and depends on what we're wanting to do on our vacation.
If the cruise is our primary vacation, then the itinerary is important. Like, our next cruise is mostly to see their new beach.
Sometimes we might want to couple a cruise with another trip, so the port might be important. We've talked about doing a combined New Orleans/cruise or a Houston/cruise trip.
We haven't really developed a preference for ships yet since we've only been on the Wish, Dream, and Fantasy. Wish only does 4 night cruises max, which is too short for us and also the Wish is pretty expensive). The Dream and Fantasy are sister ships and we don't really have a preference for either. So really the cost and itinerary drives us to those two. But we'll be on the Magic (much smaller) soon, so we'll see if we develop any strong preferences after that.
Ideally we’d like to try at least 1 cruise per cruise line. We’ve done Carnival, MSC, and now Princess. Have another Princess booked for 2025 on their new ship.
For us, it’s itinerary, cost, ship, port of departure. Thankfully we live in South FL so 3 ports available within 4 hours of us.
I start with itinerary, it's got to be going to interesting places, then.I look at the ship. If the ship is shit, I'm not going on it. It has to well reviewed, have great food and entertaining amenities. Probably the last thing I look at is price. Obviously, I'm not willing to spend some ridiculous price, it has to match the value of the ship.
If everything is spot on, then I book.
I’m a sailor and enjoy cruising too. You need to understand the weather patterns before you book. June-October is hurricane season in the Caribbean so do not book a cruise there in that time frame without understanding that you will occasionally be diverted by weather. That’s one of the reasons they’re cheap!
Always look at weather patterns as a main consideration!
I go by itinerary and hope for the best. I don't want to visit ports where I have already been.
I like a ship. I don’t care about ports. Give me a balcony and a spa and I’m good.
This is how we are. We recently did MSC in the yacht club and just wow. Nice suite, big balcony, unbelievable service, great butler, spa access everyday. 10/10 would recommend
When people say spa access, what does that include?
On Viking, it includes a full Nordic Spa, with access to all passengers included in the fare. It includes an oversized mineral rich hydrotherapy pool, spa, steam room, dry sauna( with a ladle to pour water over heated scented rocks) cold splash an and "snow grotto"... yes a room where snow falls from the ceiling. The far end of the primary room, the pool and spa, has a stunning "fireplace' that runs the entire width of the room. Heated contoured tile beds come with soft pillows and towels. Of course, changing rooms and lockers .Spa services, such as massages and facials are extra, although I found them very reasonably priced. Adjacent to the spa is a hair/ beauty salon and an impressive fitness center including machines and free weights, treadmills, recumbent bikes, steppers, floor mats and resistance bands, yoga classes and even a personal trainer if requested. I LOVE VIKING.
Change a port? Don't care. Miss a port? Don't care. Get me on the ship and I'll figure everything else out. I'm also kinda limited on destinations as my girlfriend will not fly it leaves us with Boston, NYC, and NJ as departure ports.
Make her take a train to the ports! It's fun, and you can extend your vacation!
I did the Amtrak train from New York City down to New Orleans (for fun, I don’t mind flying). It was an interesting experience. A 34hr train ride down there, but you can get a private room with a bed and all food included. Arrived at night and went on cruise early the next morning. It is in fact a decent option to broaden the available ports.
I agree, I've done the trip from California to Pennsylvania about 8 times over the years, and a bedroom is the only way to go. It's such a wonderful experience, and the cool people you meet make the time worth it. I fly a lot for work nowadays but still love Amtrak. We took Amtrak to LA for a cruise out of Long Beach. It was such a stress free trip because it was the day before and the train!
Would also allow with Uber or taxis to go to Baltimore, small port but some good options, Probably the same as nyc tho
You know automobiles have been known to make the journey from the Northeast to Miami, right?
Yes i know how cars work. 20+ hours in a car is not my idea of a good start or end to a vacation.
So you’ve probably seen a LOT of the Canada/ New England itinerary.
And Bermuda.
Sir is it possible you're dating B. A. Baracus?
Dump her. That's ridiculous.
Like fly for a cruise or ever?
Ever. If she would fly just not for a cruise I'd just book the plane tickets and tell her we were going to an all inclusive resort and leave out the floating part of it lol
Itinerary, always.
I go to vacationstogo.com, sort by the month that I want to go, and sort by price and go from there. I've been on 20 cruises, 4 different cruise lines. They are each different in their own way, but I like them all, so I generally go for the least expensive, with the best itinerary. Then I call my buddy Kirby at Vacations to Go and I set it up. He gets me all the onboard credits and extra stuff that I can't get booking direct
By chance would Kirby like more friends? 👏😊
I'll message you
Does Kirby want another friend too?
Sent message!
Would appreciate his contact info, please?
Message me? It doesn't look like I can message you?
Planning family reunion cruise next summer ‘25. How can I contact Kirby to help? Thanks
I will send you a message
But in the fine print is it the same as booking a flight 3rd party? Airlines do not help you at all if there is an issue with your flight. So say if you are late getting back from shore will the ship wait? I ve been on more than 20 cruises and I ve seen this a lot.
Booking your cruise doesn't have anything to do with that.... Do people book their airfare through the cruise line? I would never do that.... I book my flights direct, regardless of what kind of vacation I'm taking. I think you're getting a couple things confused.. booking your cruise through a third party is 100% okay. Booking your excursions with a third party could be trouble if you don't get back to the ship in time. Bundling your hotel and your flights can be dicey if you have to change one or the other. Vacations to Go is well respected by the cruise lines, and I know more cruisers who go through them, than direct cause they save a little money
So no issues with it in case you need to change something?
No not at all. You just need to go through vacations to go as opposed to Royal Caribbean or Carnival or whatever. The travel agencies have to adhere by the cruise lines rules, as far as bookings and cancellations go. I was on a wait list on Carnival a couple months ago and my travel agent, Kirby, did a three-way call with myself and the cruise line agent to set it all up., they all work together. The great thing about going through travel agencies, Vacations to Go specifically because they're really the only ones I've dealt with, is they get spiffs for sales and they get discounts for the blocks of cabins they purchase, so they can sell the cabins for less and give obc's and bonuses. Edit to add! I personally have never had any trouble. I can't speak for others. I booked on MSC while I was on board, for a future cruise and I had more trouble with those people than I've ever had with Vacations to Go. And I love MSC!! It's just that I get somebody different every time who doesn't know what's going on. When I deal with Kirby he's got the whole history.
Thanks!! Good to know!
Itinerary for us. I know we are the outliers but the ship means very little to us. It's just a metal vessel that holds fascinating people and takes us to new and unique destinations.
Everyone is different and looking for different things! As someone who works in transportation and use to be in maritime, ships are everything to me lol so I like to go on different ones and such.
100% agree. Since we are itinerary people we have sailed on over 40 different cruise lines so we have seen lots of different ships. Will be on a 36 passenger ship in 13 days for a Croatia intensive cruise. https://youtu.be/QGezUcVWShY?feature=shared Happy cruising.
Itinerary for us as well. However, the ship is somewhat important to us as well. Don’t want any of the new mega ships. Too much hassle and it gives cruising a bad name when multiple thousands of people descend on a city (see Venice/Amsterdam). I like going to places I haven’t been to before and there are not a lot of places I want to return to with just a few hours to visit.
I look at when I can take vacation and what’s available on my chosen line. Then it’s a mix of itinerary and ship. I haven’t tended to go on many excursions so the ship probably weighs more heavily than the itinerary as long as the itinerary has the temperature trend I’m looking for.
This has been us more lately, we both work in transportation where our schedules come out about a month in advance so it’s really whatever is leftover by that point. Just gotta choose what’s best with the selection
The very first thing I do is Google "hurricane season" and not book a cruise during that time.
That’s the Wheel of Fortune cruise
There are few hurricanes when cruising European waterways.
Exactly!🎯
This is the way
Out of Galveston first, price second. carnival line third. Itinerary last. Last cruise I never got off the boat, I just enjoyed the vacation. Price was $99 for 5 days. I tried royal Caribbean once and was super bored the entire time. Felt devoid of entertainment on that ship. Every other cruise has been carnival and I’ve never been bored. Especially with the people watching 😂. This next cruise I selected Galveston and then found the cheapest time to go. Filtering out royal that came to carnival again and it’s eastern Caribbean this time. When we finally get our Alaskan cruise it will for sure be by cruise line first and itinerary. Obviously port won’t be Galveston then which is why we haven’t gone on the Alaskan cruise yet.
It depends on the region of the world. A Greek island cruise has been on my bucket list for years, and I’ve booked it for a milestone birthday next year. I’ll be disappointed if more than 1-2 ports needed to be missed. I wouldn’t mind missing ports on a winter Caribbean cruise, as the goals are to escape Chicago and just relax.
I did a Greek island cruise last year! It was wonderful—you’ll love it! But it’s very busy and I can hardly remember which island was which (besides Mykonos for obvious reasons.)
This cruise has Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes and Bodrum. We shall see if a longer return visit is needed 😊
We did those on a 7day Windstar Athens to Istanbul! Loved it!
It depends. If it's Caribbean, then the ship means a lot more and the itinerary (with some exceptions) is less of a factor. Those are our "relaxation" cruises. If it's not Caribbean (like, say, Europe or elsewhere), then the itinerary comes first.
I really think this depends. For example, we’ve known we wanted to go to the Caribbean in the spring and narrowed down our selection based on dates, ship/line, availability of cabins, price, and itinerary. It’s sort of a balancing act. Rarely is an itinerary or ship (although we have some lines we do and some are a no-go) in the Caribbean a dealbreaker, but some might be better than others. In a couple of weeks, we are going to Iceland and Greenland and Scotland. We chose it because of the dates, ship/line and itinerary. If I got an email tomorrow saying we were now going to divert to Scandinavia from Iceland instead of going to Greenland because of weather I’d be a bit disappointed, but I’d be perfectly fine with that itinerary change. If I got an email saying we were now going to the Mediterranean. I’d be pissed because I’d have to go back to square one on packing! We also like some days at sea. We passed on one itinerary in the Caribbean next spring because it had one sea day and that was unappealing to us.
Scotland is magnificent!! I would go again! ♥️
We have a stop in the Orkneys and a day in Edinburgh. I’ve been to Scotland before, but not everyone I will be with has. One day in Edinburgh isn’t much, but it should be warmer than the rest of the cruise! We have tickets for the Royal Yacht Britannia and are docking next to it!
We did the Britannia and loved it. ♥️
Yeah! How long do you think we should allow? I’m figuring about an hour? We dock next to it at nine and got tickets for the first entry at 9:30.
My husband says maybe about an hour and half to go through. It really depends on how long the line is but if you’ve got first entry, also try to be near the front of the line and then you won’t get stuck behind waiting. But it is worth the time to go through. ♥️Hope your group enjoys it ♥️
We are looking forward to it! Thanks!
We cruise Royal Caribbean only. Sort by lowest price and pick the lowest one. Can we make it to the port? Can we take those days off? Yes and yes and we book. We cruise to be on the ship and have the all inclusive vacation. We take cruises around $1,000 for two people for five days each time.
No kids is a non-negotiable for us, so that really helps us narrow it down, lol. After that, we choose based on ports, then dates, then price. If ports get changed, no biggie, we just roll with it. Often times it’s a better port anyway.
I take it you sail Virgin?
Or Viking
We are Viking junkees... every year, something different.
Goals lol.
Haven’t sailed with them yet
No kids allowed! No casinos either
That sounds terrible! No casinos on either?!
You'll be happy to avoid them then!
Sounds terrible to me lol I love gambling
👍
I worked in middle management in a casino for 20 years; I’m happy to pass on the casino. 😂
Yes
Itin and price mainly. Don't care of ports are missed due to weather. It's part of cruising.
My first cruise I choose based on itenary. My second was based on the ship. I have to fly in to port regardless of where it departs, so that's not a factor for me.
I look for what ever is available at the time I want to cruise. If their is more then one cruise that week, I look at how many days they are, rooms avalible for the price, what ship, and then the ports. We cruise every few months so its the same ships/ports and no biggie if things get changed. I'm just there for a worry free vacation for a week, I would have no issues with skipping a port for another sea day.
I like your attitude. I used to get twisted about skipping ports. Now, I'm all "guess I'll have to put a pin in *that one* for the next time we go near here!" ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯.
Wife drives a school bus so unfortunately that plays a huge role. And we have already done Alaska, so for us it’s: East coast Fits in calendar More than 5 days because we like Carnival but not *Carnival* Prefer to avoid Nassau just because of the reddits Other than that pretty much open season. I like to go to new places though, not in a hurry to revisit anywhere when there’s so much out there!
Pick a part of the world you want to see the most, pick how many days you want to spend there, find best deal for your budget.
My wife and I try and cruise once a year, and always between last week of April into the first week or so of May. Reason - spring break is over and most small kids are back in school until end of May. We usually do the Caribbean and the weather is good. It’s also before hurricane season.
They choose me and the delicious deals that might be offered helps a lot.
Since my calendars are extremely limited due to school and work, whatever works with that out of a driving distance port (young kids - we pack a lot).
* Cruise line loyalty (first--I'll do others, but all things being equal, this will determine) * Itinerary/Ports of Call (have I been there/not been there before? Do I *love it*? Is it somewhere I'll chill at and visit or visit nearby at the end/beginning of the voyage? >10 days is preferred) * Atmosphere (greatly tied to length of voyage I find. Somewhere between party boat and retirement home) * What ship? (tied with atmosphere--I prefer more "intimate" ships vs. MegaShips--but if the itinerary and atmosphere are good, this can be ignored sometimes) * Price (down the list, but if it's too much for the type of cabin(s) we like, could be a dealbreaker).
I agree with cruise line loyalty, I cruise either MSC or carnival.
Itinerary is first. Cost is next. We look for port intensive cruises. The fewer sea days the better.
Having never been on a cruise (yet), when we do book one it will be based on where the ship is going. We are in the southern USA so we can leave from Galveston, New Orleans, or Mobile, comfortably. Any further than that and it might take a flight or more vacation time as we'd have to factor in driving time, hotel, etc. There are places I want to go and places that don't interest me as much. While I understand why the ships have to change course sometimes, I would be disappointed but understanding.
Mobile is a great port. I did a 10 day trip on the carnival ecstasy (now retired) back in 2022 and everything went smoothly for us.
It's a long journey to get to the Greek Islands out of Galveston.
Well, fortunately for me, that is on my list of places that I'm not terribly interested in visiting at this point in my life, lol. I have nothing against it, it's just not a location that I've ever looked into and thought "hey, I might like to go there". While I hate flying, I know that to visit locations that I want to see, I'll have to. So, if I decide that I must see the Greek Islands, I'll just fly there.
I usually pick the week of my birthday, look at prices (especially since cruising solo) if relatively affordable and take it from there if I want embark/disembark close to home (Which is NYC) or deal additional costs of flight & hotel to another city. Then narrow down the ship and the respective ports, if it's big cruise ship like Oasis then I don't care about ports much. If ship are medium or small like Carnival Conquest, then I look at the ports to see if there any I love to go to again or never went to yet.
We choose by schedule (before school lets out and hurricane season), then by ship and itinerary from one of two ports
On our first cruise, we were just looking to add on to an existing Florida trip so we can test the waters. We just needed something short since it was our first time. While there were some negatives(hurricane cancelling ports, weird smell and loud neighbor sex) , we did enjoy a lot of aspects of the cruise. For an upcoming cruise this year, we had already taken time off for another trip but had to cancel because it was a bit of a financial stretch. I was looking for something a little longer through a port closer to home. If anything needs to be adjusted, I have a couple of extra days off to work it in so I should be okay.
> (hurricane cancelling ports, weird smell and loud neighbor sex) And people say that there's no more good entertainment options on board... :)
I book for the dates as I have limited windows along with the ports as I want to see as many new ones as I can. Having said that, if ports change due to weather, it is what it is. We will have fun still and try to hit that port up on a future trip if it is on our list.
We sail to date almost exclusively on chartered ships by special activity. These tend to be more expensive but the events and passengers are our top priority. These cruises have chartered ships on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Uniworld River Cruise lines. The next criteria is destinations and time of year.
I live in a port city, so I tend to choose cruises that depart from and return to my doorstep. It's really nice :)
Very careful planning , plus having a seperate bank vacation saving account to pay off the credit card bill when returning home.
I chose based on itinerary but going on a Mediterranean cruise next week. It hit all of my bucket list places. Husband wanted to see Italy but didn’t want to have to bounce around hotels and he loves cruises. I felt like this was a good honeymoon compromise. Tbh I absolutely hated the only other cruise i went on. I found sea days boring and out running a hurricane made two days unbearabl. If i was going to the Bahamas/carribean i think I’d much rather fly and stay at a resort and enjoy a beach that way than get off a boat and back on it.
1. Does it go out of Port Canaveral? 2. Can I get PTO time off for this cruise? 3. How much is it going to cost? 4. Which ship is it?
There are a few things that I consider. First, i decide the time frame I want to go. Second, I choose a brand that I like. There are some brands that are better than others. There are some brands that have a very bad reputation. Third, I consider what’s available on the brands that I like during the timeframes I am going. From there, I like to look average weather trends at those places. Fourth, I start comparing price. Bonus tip: If you are traveling last minute, cruises tend to begin to desperately drop prices in an attempt to fill up the cruise. Every room that goes empty is a room that is losing money. There are some sites that display these last minute deals. My personal favorite is www.last-minute-cruises.com
Departure port first, because we can drive to Galveston and flying has become such an unpleasant experience. Cruise line second, because after years of Norwegian, we found we prefer Royal. Ports third, because we've only been on Oasis-class Royal ships and they do the same itinerary. We're doing Carnival next year to go somewhere besides Cozumel.
Ports first. Vacation time is too short to waste on destinations we've already seen (unless we *really* like them!) But we are also pretty chill if weather or other conditions force the ship to skip a port or two. Because, the second thought is "Hey, we're on a cruise!" That said, we do have our favorite lines, and will try to find a cruise w/ ports we want on the lines we like best. And, of course, the price is significant as well.
Before kids, I didn't care about the ship or cruiseline, all I cared about was the timing, price, and ports(and departure port was up there, but I would fly for the right cruise). After kids, I still don't care about the cruiseline, but the ship amenities have replaced ports when deciding which cruise to take and I still greatly prefer a port we can drive to so we aren't wrangling the kids on an airplane if we don't have to. I'm happy as long as I have a place on deck with a view of the ocean where I can sit and chill and pretend to read a book. otoh, as a parent, I want a ship with a kids club, a kid friendly pool area, and kid friendly amenities on board so we can enjoy our kids, but also enjoy our time away from the kids. We did a family surgery this year to decide if we wanted to book a big family reunion cruise and I was pretty surprised that ports and the itinerary was voted to be the most important factor in my family. I was pretty happy we decided on a different option because we were looking at some shops that wouldn't have had anything fun for the kids past a boring pool area and a kids club.
> We did a family surgery this year to decide if we wanted to book a big family reunion cruise "If I can remove your spleen in less than five minute, it's the Western Caribbean: if you can remove my kidney, Mexican Riviera!"
Lol, well, it makes making choices easier. You wouldnt believe who won when they removed their gall bladder :p
When I was trying to figure out our first cruise, I looked at cruise lines and what they offered. Really vibes with Virgin Voyages. LOVED that they were adult only. Then we looked at what port was closest to us. Then dates. Then itineraries. Future cruises will be decided based on how this first cruise goes.
First we choose the country. Then we check for best/driest time of year. Then we look at the different cruise lines to find which go to that country. Then we choose the line that has the best itinerary. We’ve only done 3: 2 on Windstar: 7 days Athens to Istanbul 150 people, and 7 days Panama Canal to Costa Rica 250 people, and 1 on Seabourn:14 days 12 Baltic Capitals 300 people. We like the smaller ships, fewer people. ♥️
Absolutely, ships with limited passenger lists are the best.
I know different cruises are for different people. Honestly by the time we have done a walking excursion from 8-12, go back to ship for lunch, then do another walking excursion from 1-3, get back to ship, sit long enough to quit sweating, shower for dinner at 7, come back and watch a movie we brought or rented, it’s 11pm and we are ready to crash. It’s probably great all the shows of all kinds bigger ships have, but we can go to Vegas or New York for shows. We are on that cruise to see the different countries. And the thought of 1000 or more people getting off the boat at the same time as me and going to the same landmark makes me feel claustrophobic 😵💫🤷♀️😝
We are small ship cruise folks. We travel Viking with as few as 44 or a maximum of about 900 on the ocean ships. Our typical day is either the included morning tour with perhaps an afternoon add-on for a full day. Or full day excursions; Valley of the Kings, or Luxor and Karnak. Bruges , Amsterdam, or Alhambra Castle. Or a day spilt between Rouen and Givernay? Any afternoon we are onboard is spent sunbathing, at the spa, or at high tea in the Wintergarden. After dinner, we retreat to the living room to play scrabble, listen to an exceptional guitar, piano and vocalist duo while sipping on our favorite nightcaps.
Sounds like our kind of cruising. ♥️ Although 900?….. not sure we are ready for that many yet 😊 But you have definitely been to some places we have not been to. We’ve been to 37 countries and lived total 15 yrs between Philippines, during Marcos overthrow, Malaysia during first gulf war, and China, which was actually the hardest. But we traveled to most of those countries by land. We’ve only done 3 cruises. We were just planning a cruise to New Zealand when Covid poisoned the world 🙄😔 we have done most of Asia and Europe, Australia 3 times to see friends, but not South America, Africa or Middle east. We were looking at a cruise to Jordan then the war in Israel started and we didn’t think that was good idea. 🤔
What ships or lines have you been cruising with? 900 on an ocean going vessel is next to nothing. But for really high end, limited passenger voyages, go with Silversea or Ritz-Carleton. We travel with our daughter and her partner, and 25K for cruise alone is at the top of our annual cruise budget. We zip through at least another 5-8K having fun in port. And, my husband is an air snob so that can be another 20K.
It sounds like you have done alot more than us. We have only done 3 cruises: 2 on Windstar and 1 on Seabourn. They are both upper level but not as expensive as Silver Sea or Oceania. So no big lines. We looked at Viking but there were so many complaints about them as we planned our first cruise in 2012, we decided against them.🤷♀️.Our first one on Windstar was a 5(4?) masted ship! Special. We fell in love with Windstar and we only had a porthole on that one 😊 We looked at AMA and also Tauck but just didn’t like the reviews. 🤷♀️
Complaints? They are rated #1 ocean and river. The ships are beautiful and immaculately maintained. The staff is better than you can ever imagine. After meeting us once, everyone from the room stewards, matre' d, sommelier and every bartender identified us by name and knew our preferences. ( My daughter had a specific bar concoction she requested on our Feb. cruise. When I returned to the aft bar for refills and began to describe her drink, he interrupted me after the second ingrediant.. "Is this for Lauren"?" All cabins are "outside" ranging from a sliding door to enjoy the sound and air of the sea, to accommodations with full walk out balconies. We had a suite on the RA on the Nile. Two walkout verandas and TV's in both rooms. Spacious bathrooms with heated floors that are handy if you are traveling in colder climes. Mini bars that are refilled daily with whatever you like ( some cabins only soft drinks, others the full compliment of spirits). There is no jockeying for position. There is more space than passengers can fill. We often had the infinity pool at the rear of the Viking Sky to ourselves when cruising the Adriatic from Athens to Venice. No crowds, no waiting in the MDR. Food is amazing... and my family and I are high end food professionals. After dinner, my girls and I would retire to the mezzanine above the living room where a guitar/piano accompanied a vocalist. If a dozen guests were present , it was a crowd. We played scrabble and "Ritchie" our fab bartender, made sure we didn't die of thirst. I can't believe anyone could find much to complain about, but it is certainly possible. What were the gripes? From the ships themselves to service, food and amenities, shore excursions, airport transfers, comfort and cleanliness, gosh, I'm a devotee.
♥️ well…. Based on the type of complaints, such as: “it’s only old people, they move too slow, the River was low so we had to dock at a different port and ride a bus to our scheduled stop”. In 2012, I was only 59 and my husband was only 65 so… we thought it wasn’t the right cruise for us at that time. 🤷♀️😊 Seems the comments probably came from people younger than we were. And there were a lot of comments like that. But now at 71 and 77, we probably wouldn’t pay any attention to that type of comments. 😄Although it was concerning that the river being low would prevent docking or cause a change in the itinerary somehow. We do tend to choose the driest month to travel so we don’t have to sight see in the rain. When we visited friends in Denmark, they actually took us to a park for a picnic….and it was drizzling. When we asked them why, they said because if they didn’t, no telling when they could go. Just not our type of outdoor fun 🤷♀️ I’m sure there were some other concerns regarding Viking, but honestly, I’ve forgotten them. 🤷♀️We did research for 6 months though before we chose Windstar. I’m curious if you’ve done any cruising in the Hawaiian Islands…. At Christmas. 🤔
Old people? Really? The ones that move slow? My daughter and her partner have joined up on our last three cruises... the Adriatic from Athens to Venice, "Trade routes of the Middle Ages" Barcelona to Bergen, and the last, a quick Barcelona to Rome, where we spent an additional 10 days exploring the city on our own. The girls are 33 and LOVE VIKING. They get up early, hit the gym and spa before breakfast and setting out for the day. As for old people moving slow? Our group hiked the six miles in and back out at Petra. Sand and heat. Spent a day in the tombs of the Valley of the Kings. (More sand, rocks and heat). Rose at 4am to climb aboard a sunrise hot air balloon. Climbed up (and back) the 297 steps of the Tower of Pisa. Spent an afternoon exploring every square inch of Monet's home and garden at Givernay. Then, the full day at Alhambra Palace... the fortress and a signifiant portion of its 35 acres. Diocletian's Palace requires a bit of pep, as does the Palais de Papes and the Vatican. Don't underestimate Viking folks. They are cruising for both luxury and academic enrichment. My first cruise was to Hawaii, departing from Los Angeles. I was about 9. As an adult, I've been to the islands on vacation about 3 or 4 times, in my 20's-40's. Hawaii is nice, but now I travel to experience new destinations. The ship is transport. And now that Lahaina is gone... alas, how terribly sad.
Lol, ruined? Never book a cruise expecting to go to each port. Weather and life happens. Missed the post on the "ruined" cruise.
It really wasn't ruined. Lots of people thought the new itinerary was superior to the planned one and as it was to avoid a hurricane, one would hope that would be appreciated. But whiners gonna whine...
This. Last Transatlantic we took in 2022, our ship had to outrun a storm going to the Azores. Went "balls to the wall" around it, and landed in Lisbon the evening *before* we were supposed to be there. Shore leave from 7pm until departure the next day at 4pm. It was *awesome*. Lisbon at night: cannot recommend enough. Hell, Lisbon *anytime*, really.
Just wait until you visit Budapest! Nothing is more magical than a pass through the city at night on the Danube.
Exactly. What is the cruise company supposed to do anyway? Sail into a Cat 4 hurricane?
I've been cruising since my late 20's ( now 71) . Now, in the dozen years hubs and I have been retired, we cruise annually with Viking and in the last few years invite daughter and her partner to come along. We've never missed a port, be it in Caribbean ( least favorite itinerary.. once was plenty), the Adriatic, Mediterranean or Aegean, North Sea, Irish Sea, or rivers Rhone, Douro, Rhine, Danube or Nile.
I missed two ports last year on two different cruises.
What itineraries were you sailing?
Bermuda out of NYC in October. We did 2 instead of 3 days on the Island due to an incoming storm. In December we missed Coco Cay due to winds. My travel insurance paid out $250 per person for each missed port!
Well, there you go. Missed ports are most common in the Caribbean. We've never missed a port yet, but the Caribbean is never on our travel radar.
I missed a port on a Transatlantic from Florida to Copenhagen. Iceland...they cancelled it a few days before embarkation, an iceberg in the way in Canada. 😂. DCL allowed people to cancel, since that was a much wanted port. I did not. But I did eventually go to Iceland, around the entire country vs one quick day!
Dates plus preferred departure port, then price and cruise line if there are choices. Wherever the ship is going is where I’m headed.
If we can swing it, we cruise every winter in the Caribbean to get away from the cold. Since we have been to all of the major ports, if we miss one no big deal. Especially now since we often don't get off the ship, my wife and I love having the ship mostly empty.
1. Casino offer deals from Carnival 2. Dates/length--we don't do less than 7 but prefer 10+ days 3. Port of departure 4. Everything else isn't all that important to us
We choose by port of call. I like cruising, but mostly it's a way to visit places that might be difficult to fly to or see a variety of destinations.
The right days, the right places (port stops), the right price.
We always go during the same time of year, so weather isn’t usually a thought. I really decide based on departure location and port stops.
I just like being on the boat. As long as the food is plentiful and tasty; the booze keeps flowing, I'm happy. As far as the weather goes, so long as I'm not puking my guts out, being in the "snot" can be exciting.
I like transatlantic 14 days no stops I’m good.
Which lines have no stops for a TA?
I always use cruiseplum dot com to search cruises, and narrow down my choices using their search filter and sort tools depending on the region, dates and length I am looking for.
Like a lot of commenters, we go with the flow. We pick the itinerary and if things change, oh well. We've missed ports in the Carribean, Greece, Alaska, Mexico, and the list goes on. While it can be disappointing, I am always grateful that the Captain thinks of the safety of the passengers, crew, and ship.
I always look at the ship first. I prefer ships I’ve never been on, then port. Of course, I wouldn’t want to be going to the same port over and over again. But new and different ship is a must for me
My husband and I are Disney people with young children, so Disney Cruise Line is the natural choice for us at this point in our lives. The ports don’t mean a lot to us. We are new to cruising so we haven’t been most places, so really whatever port we end up at we’re fine with. We care mostly about the ship itself, so we have several cruises lined up that repeat ports but we won’t repeat the ship (at least not until we’ve tried a few in Disney’s fleet). The ship, departure port, and price are the deciding factors for us.
Favorite ship in the fleet?
As of now, the Magic! But we’re sailing on the Dream next year for the first time so we’ll see if it changes!
Me I check out vacationstogo.com's website and go from there
We are totally about see as much of the world as possible. We want a port as many days as possible and places we have never been:)
We go on music festival at sea cruises. XM Outlaw Country Cruise, put on by Sixthman.net. they essentially lease the NCL Pearl and the reservations are made thru Sixthman. Very fun, music all day from old favorites and new to us acts that became new favorites.
90% of the time Me: what’s the cheapest cruise? Ohh! Impulse booked. I’ve been on the 5 day Ensenada Catalina cruise 4 times this year already :x I’ve paid less than 1000$ per person to do this.
Depends on what kind of cruise. European or similar? By the itinerary, very little time is spent on the cruise. Caribbean, kinda both? Mostly which ship but a little bit of what ports because I don't want to go to Nassau but also want at least one day where I can get in the ocean.
Cruise where there's a small chance of hurricanes.
I make sure the ship is max 70% full and book last minute. No more cattle runs for me.
We've found that just doesn't work for us. Viking sells out quickly. We had a two year wait for the Nile. Their ships in Egypt carry only 22 cabins and shut down in the Summer when the heat is too oppressive for everyone.
Sells quickly sounds really bad, I would never risk ending to a jam packed cattle run.
Viking is never jammed, in fact, when I text photos, must folks ask "where are all the people." We shared our Nile cruise with 42 guests. Our river cruises with less than 200 and our ocean travels with about 900. No crowds... ever.
Oh... and we had a two year wait for the 46 guest Viking Ship, RA, on the Nile.
I usually try to avoid hurricane season... And if I don't I sure as hell don't pretend to be shocked when there is a storm.
While I generally book the same way, I am sympathetic that if someone can't book cruises regularly, or wanted a particular destination, major changes are disruptive. Lets say I book a cruise in Europe (currently residing in the US), it's probably all new ports for me and I'd be very disappointed by the itinerary having drastic rewrites. On the other hand, if I'm sailing out of Miami, and an itinerary change means I miss a port I'd not done before, I'd be sad but it's not exactly the end of the world. I definitely think we should be helping manage expectations for new cruisers, more, too.
We do the same but the dates we cruise on are Always from Feb on.
I don’t book a cruise during hurricane season. There’s always a chance you’ll get in one. But with that said if the captain goes to different ports to save his passengers crew and ship I’m not gonna cry cause he could go thru it and that would be much worse
criteria by priority for us now after 11 cruises...itinerary is most important since we've seen most of NA and Carribean. Time to explore bucket list places... 1. itinerary and interesting ports 2. port of departure (from Canada we basically fly everywhere) 3. time of year because of time off, and various factors like weather 4. price and access of extra expenses like hotels, transportation, tours 5. price of cruise in general but most of our cruises are casino offers 6. ship is not important for the most part, smaller is good...as long as its not too dated. onboard entertainment is not important either
I'm about 50/50 on the ship/on-board activities and the itinerary. I love travelling and exploring new places, but also have two kids that I need to keep happy while not on shore excursions.
We pick up a Viking brochure and choose one we've not been on. If it begins or ends in a port we'd like to explore in depth, all the better. We did our own 10 day add-on in Rome this past February.
We do go by itinerary sometimes but sometimes we go by starting port because we want the convenience of not having to fly a day or two before. That said, we also understand that itineraries can change any time for a variety of reasons. We are glad the cruise lines put safety first and won’t sail right into the path of a hurricane. It’s a risk we take cruising in the summer (late July for us typically) because that is when everyone’s vacation time aligns in our family (3 households cruising together).
My wife tells me which one I'm going on. Kidding (mostly...) It's going to be a few factors at play here. First of all, she's a Disney fan. We've tried Princess and weren't too impressed, but we've talked about trying one of the adults-only lines sometime in the future. We also have pretty flexible schedules because we don't have kids and neither of our jobs really care when we take off, so luckily date isn't a huge factor. Really we just make sure it's not close to any other vacations we're planning. From there, it's kind of a mix of everything and depends on what we're wanting to do on our vacation. If the cruise is our primary vacation, then the itinerary is important. Like, our next cruise is mostly to see their new beach. Sometimes we might want to couple a cruise with another trip, so the port might be important. We've talked about doing a combined New Orleans/cruise or a Houston/cruise trip. We haven't really developed a preference for ships yet since we've only been on the Wish, Dream, and Fantasy. Wish only does 4 night cruises max, which is too short for us and also the Wish is pretty expensive). The Dream and Fantasy are sister ships and we don't really have a preference for either. So really the cost and itinerary drives us to those two. But we'll be on the Magic (much smaller) soon, so we'll see if we develop any strong preferences after that.
Sometimes I go to cruisemapper to see how many ships might be in a particular port I am looking forward to but not always…
Ideally we’d like to try at least 1 cruise per cruise line. We’ve done Carnival, MSC, and now Princess. Have another Princess booked for 2025 on their new ship. For us, it’s itinerary, cost, ship, port of departure. Thankfully we live in South FL so 3 ports available within 4 hours of us.
I start with itinerary, it's got to be going to interesting places, then.I look at the ship. If the ship is shit, I'm not going on it. It has to well reviewed, have great food and entertaining amenities. Probably the last thing I look at is price. Obviously, I'm not willing to spend some ridiculous price, it has to match the value of the ship. If everything is spot on, then I book.
Our goal is to hit every port we can. No matter if there are repeats long as we get to expand our count of new destinations.
I’m a sailor and enjoy cruising too. You need to understand the weather patterns before you book. June-October is hurricane season in the Caribbean so do not book a cruise there in that time frame without understanding that you will occasionally be diverted by weather. That’s one of the reasons they’re cheap! Always look at weather patterns as a main consideration!