How do you choose?

[dakrewser]

How do you choose your cruises - by boat, by itinerary, by port, by price or by accident?

[ekerr19]

1st by date of sailing...

2nd by length of cruise...

3rd by price...

4th by ship...

[RevNeal]

Region first. I decide WHERE in the world I want to cruise, then I choose the precise itinerary and ship which I wish to cruise on based upon any number of factors: have I visited the ports before, have I cruised on the ship before, what are the dates of embarkation and disembarkation, etc. Money ranks down the list quite a way, though it can always veto a choice by simply making it impossible for me to make a certain trip.

[DFD1]

Time of year.....itinerary....the particular ship.....length of cruise.....price.

[jhannah]

Itinerary generally drives our choice of cruises. Where have we not been, or where would we like to go again. Dates of sailing are also important as my DW teaches in a year-round school and has just a few breaks per year that are condusive to cruising.

[superstein61]

You need a combo - of price and itinerary

[tomc]

(1) Must be HAL or I don't go.
(2) Must be reached by ground trans (bus or train) as I am tired and fed up with the hassle connected with airports -- before and after the attack. Especially after. I also despise the ground from airport to midtown Manhattan at the end of the cruise; it's always clogged.
(3) The window of opportunity for me is rather small. There are many factors that enter into when I can cruise, so 17 NE/C cruises quickly reduce themselves to maybe 2 availabilities.

Price is incidental; I book early and steerage, plus my TA keeps an eye on promotions to get discounts along the way. Itinerary is incidental, although I like NE/C cuz it's quiet.

[dougnewmanatsea]

It's a combination of the above factors.

First thing we consider is date - what times we can go.

Then destination - what area(s) we want to go to at that particular time.

Then search the actual cruises, and come up with a short list of possibilities that fit that date and destination.

After that, the deciding factor can be anything. Cruise line, ship, the particular itinerary, and of course price are all factors once it's been narrowed down to a short list.

[bombero]

We are lucky in that we can go pretty much anytime we'd like, providing we have enough extra money. So, our preferences would be:

1. Pricing :(

2. Itinerary (like to visit at least one new port if possible) :cool:

3. Cruise line, (we prefer Carnival, HAL, Princess) but would try others. :rolleyes:

4. Time of year (we avoid peak travel seasons, ie. Summer & Winter) :eek:

[jazzsea]

We almost always look at itinerary first. Then find a ship and sailing date that works.
However, sometimes we just want to be able to drive to a port and sail away.

Those of us that live in FLorida are spoiled with the number of embarkation ports available.

Our next cruise leaves from and returns to New York, NY. We hope to see leaves changing colors. We moved to FLorida 15 years ago and have not seen fall colors since we left Illinois. The added bonus is that we are sailing on our "Rotterdam".

Thank goodness we have so many choices with Holland America.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Itinerary plays a big part. We try to select cruises that are doing something a little different.

In between we take cruises that we have done many times before - like the Caribbean.

[RuthC]

First off I sail HAL. I don't look at other possible cruises as sailing HAL is like coming home.

Second, length of cruise. It's gotta be long enough to make it worth packing and traveling to the embarkation/disembarkation port.

Third, it's gotta tickle my fancy. Haven't a clue what makes one cruise do that, either. Somehow, I just know it's a cruise I want to take.

[Randyk47]

Itinerary coupled with timing. We cruised for our honeymoon and now take our "winter" vacation at the same time to celebrate our anniversary. Knowing basically the time, somewhere around the middle to end of March, we look for an itinerary we're interested in. For the longest time we'd only consider HAL but now we've expanded, at least for this next cruise, to Celebrity and may look at other HAL/Celebrity-like lines in the future.

[sail7seas]

First off, I know it will be HAL.

Then, by which ship is sailing from what port? For the most part, these days I will only fly non-stop. There are very few places that are worth it to me to get to that I will put up with changing planes. For me, the airlines/airports have made travel so unpleasant that I now only travel on my terms. If it is not available in a way I wish to put up with, I don't go.

[Roz]

For me, it's varied from cruise to cruise. For my upcoming December cruise, it was a combination of a fare too good to pass up, plus a time of the year that's not busy at work.

On my first cruise, my girlfriend "made me do it", and I'm forever grateful to her.

Roz

[Tatka]

1) Itinerary (I am not sure we want cruise the same itinerary more than once yet)
2) Cruise Line
3) Dates (school vacations mostly for now)
4) Price of cruise/ Price of airfare( if I see a good airfare I can be more flex with a price)

[dst]

I must say I pull out hte map and decide where in the world do we want to go now. The best part is that DH goes whereever I want; he really leaves it up to me. Then I would say a comparison of ships and price.

I must start working on our next trip....thanks for the reminder :)

[lknick]

My main criteria for rejecting a cruise is point of departure. Automatically, I reject anything requiring a round trip flight of over 8 hours. A cruise has to be very appealing to attract me to a west coast departure.

Criteria for acceptance is very mushy and can include any of the items on the poll, with the order varying.

Value [not price] also comes into it. Sometimes I am notified of a trip to a place or time I had not previously considered and if it meets a cost per day criteria, I will then further explore the option.

[divinggirl]

This is the kind of question that makes me think too hard...when I booked our Z sailing I looked for something not too expensive to fly to, and it had to be end of Aug. because of work/school issues. I saw the NCL Sun out of TX going to Roatan, Belize and Coz, which was perfect for diving. Got all excited, and then looked at the ship and it's age, etc. which was OLD. Looked for similar itineraries and found the Z out of FLL, which was actually cheaper to fly to than TX, and direct, too! Newer, nicer ship, better line, although I had second thoughts after reading about vibrations and odors, but I figured that soooo many people mentioned it that they HAD to have fixed it by then.

No stop in Roatan, which bummed me out, but I'll get there, and HMC will probably make up for it!! :rolleyes: No stop in Belize, but I've been there.

[TedC]

Itinerary, value.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

well, for us it has to be Date first. I am limited to what time of the month I can go on vacation and for how long as well as the season if we are busy in the car business or not. Next is for us right now it will be HAL, then ship and itinerary are tied, then price. Although if a miracle price appears like our October 2005 cruise then it jumps to primary reason. I am a true bargain shopper how can I pass up a Deal like that:eek:

[Lefty Bob]

WE like reposition cruises (10 days +). WE look at all repo cruises and go with best price for value. So I guess itinerary and price would be equal.
Lefty Bob

[Tatka]

This is the kind of question that makes me think too hard...when I booked our Z sailing I looked for something not too expensive to fly to, and it had to be end of Aug. because of work/school issues. I saw the NCL Sun out of TX going to Roatan, Belize and Coz, which was perfect for diving. Got all excited, and then looked at the ship and it's age, etc. which was OLD. Hi divinggirl,
I am not questioning your knowledge. and very glad you pick "our" cruise but..

just out of curiosity I checked info on NCL Sun:

Year Built / Last Refurbished: 2001/ 2001
Length / Tonnage: 853 / 77,104
Number of Cabins / Passengers: 1,001 / 2,002

Doesn't look to OLD to me ;)

[Giorgi-one]

We always cruise 2nd or 3rd week in January and one week in summer which is very flexible. After that, we just pick the best value which is a combination of cruise line, ship, price with itinerary being the least important. After 14 cruises, we have been to most ports more than once, and except for the beaches (which are gorgeous) usually stay on the ship.

[Druke I]

Choices perhaps too limited - but "by itinerary" comes closest.

Actually, it is a combination of all the factors, with itinerary being the primary.

Michael

[lknick]

Hi divinggirl,
I am not questioning your knowledge. and very glad you pick "our" cruise but..
just out of curiosity I checked info on NCL Sun:
Doesn't look to OLD to me ;)Until you've been on the Gorky, you don't know what old is.

[bobpatj]

HAL has so many interesting itineraries, it's what we always look for first. Listening to the Future Cruise Consultant always sets us up for booking onboard!

[dougnewmanatsea]

Doesn't look to OLD to meI think she is referring to the SEA. Built 1988, so not new, but I wouldn't call her "old" either. Certainly not ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV old ;) ! (I'm still blown away that you were actually on that ship, I've always been fascinated by her.)

I was on SEA in 1996 when she was SEAWARD. Had a very enjoyable cruise, but I am not fond of the ship. She is leaving the NCL fleet next year to go to Star Cruises in Asia.

Until you've been on the Gorky, you don't know what old is.I assume you don't mean MAXIM GORKIY (built 1969)?

[Giorgi-one]

NCL Sun is about three years old. Very nice ship, I have been on her twice. Some people don't like NCL, but we have had several good cruises on NCL. Food may not be as good as Celebrity, but entertainment is top notch and they have about 5 very good alternative restaurants.

[Tatka]

Until you've been on the Gorky, you don't know what old is.
Huh!!! Admiral Nakhimov was originally built in 1925!

http://www.feldgrau.com/hs-berlin.html

Beat that! :D

Even better...I was 14! (1986 :) )

[lknick]

This ship seemed to have a predisposition to sink. Yep, that's old.

Gorky is still in service running around the Med.

[Tatka]

This ship seemed to have a predisposition to sink. Yep, that's old.

Gorky is still in service running around the Med.
The "interesting" part of story...it sunk 4 month after my cruise. So it could be me :eek: . If you noticed it sunk after collision with M/S Pjotr Wassjew . It happened around 2:00 AM :eek: (my mother's coworkers were on her and survived)

[waterlovers]

our first cruise DH and I won on skyauction on the century... Boy what a deal!! Doubt we will ever get that lucky again:p Then we won a cruise on rccl ... turned out not to be that great of a bargain:( Now our next cruise in September is on the Zuiderdam through an internet TA and got another great deal bought a balconly for the price of an outside and then they upgraded us to a S suite!!:D I will keep looking for the deals!

[dougnewmanatsea]

Beat that!Try DOULOS (http://www.mvdoulos.org), built 1914 and still in active service... Albiet no longer as a passenger ship (though she's still classed as a passenger/general cargo ship by RINA). More on her history here (http://maritime.crosswinds.net/doulos0.htm).

This ship seemed to have a predisposition to sink.If you mean ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV... Her problem was that she had no watertight compartments.

Gorky is still in service running around the Med.If you mean MAXIM GORKIY she's running all over the world, not just the Med. In fact she comes to NYC a couple of times a year.

Anyhow she was built in 1969, not really that old at all.

[Vicar]

Price and itinerary are the big factors.

Haven't tried all the lines yet, so if any line offers a good value and the ports interest me, I will give them a try.

[CaptData]

Price is first since I'm a single. I hate the double payments. :D

where it is going since I choose to go different places

Cruise line, Princess is looked at first then others. I also look to see if I have a newer ship as I'm disabled and the newer the better for me. :p

[ANSalberg]

First itinerary -then length of cruise -then price -then cruiseline. We LOVE Europe and Asia; WHAT adventures in learning those exotic ports are! WE live in Colorado- Ol' LANDlocked Colorado- so LONGer the cruise the better. WE chose cabin/deal within a budget we can afford - and MOSTLY cruise HAL or Cunard. Our next adventure in Cunard's "QMary2" in October -a crossing with a WHOLE week in London JUST in time for Christmas shopping! After that its 62 day Pacific Rim cruise on HAL's "Amsterdam" in fall 2005 going around the Rim from Seattle to San Diego. Someone mentioned the hassle of airports -and I TOTALLY agree; Airports are just to get you TO the greatest way to travel in the world; The comfort, ease.....and adventure -of a cruise!
Anne

[benjamins]

This is a very revealing trend. And this is exactly why HAL isn't what it once was. Most people seem to go by itinerary or price, not cruise line or ship. This is a big reason why ships, lines, cruise products in the mainstream are so much the same these days and not as distinguished as they once were.

I'd like to see the same question asked on Crystal or Radisson boards. I think that more would choose by line and ship than by itinerary.

I chose by ship. Sometimes I'll choose itinerary but it must be a line that I'm interested in as well.

[SHayesShip]

I voted "By Ship" however pricing comes into play a very close second. I have been very lucky to cruise on many ships over the years to many locations so the ship is the main priority now.


How do you choose your cruises - by boat, by itinerary, by port, by price or by accident?