How do you choose: ship or itinerary?

So my husband and I haven't gone on our first cruise yet, but I'm already thinking about future cruises! :D For our upcoming cruise, we didn't pick the itinerary or the ship. Or even the dates or the specific cruiseline. We are sailing with a group, so it had to be that specific cruise. Although I do think that as long as we have a good experience, we will most likely stick with Carnival for future cruises in order to get the rewards.

But I'm wondering: for those of you that go on many cruises, what criteria do you have when picking one? Do you look for a specific cruise ship because of what it offers, or do you pick a specific itinerary because of places you want to see?

I would think that for most it would be the latter, but honestly, now that I have seen the pictures of the sky bikes that they are going to have on the Vista, I would honestly consider booking a cruise on that ship no matter where it's going. They look like so much fun!!!

Also, does anyone have a specific favorite Carnival ship? I'm wondering which one is most popular.

So my husband and I haven't gone on our first cruise yet, but I'm already thinking about future cruises! :D For our upcoming cruise, we didn't pick the itinerary or the ship. Or even the dates or the specific cruiseline. We are sailing with a group, so it had to be that specific cruise. Although I do think that as long as we have a good experience, we will most likely stick with Carnival for future cruises in order to get the rewards.

 

But I'm wondering: for those of you that go on many cruises, what criteria do you have when picking one? Do you look for a specific cruise ship because of what it offers, or do you pick a specific itinerary because of places you want to see?

 

I would think that for most it would be the latter, but honestly, now that I have seen the pictures of the sky bikes that they are going to have on the Vista, I would honestly consider booking a cruise on that ship no matter where it's going. They look like so much fun!!!

 

Also, does anyone have a specific favorite Carnival ship? I'm wondering which one is most popular.

We usually choose a cruise by itinerary. But there are definitely ships that I won't sail, even if the itinerary is incredible. I won't tell you which because I won't say anything that could affect your perceptions. Your first cruise should be magical and momentous. I will say that Miracle is my favorite ship and Breeze is my husband's.

After many cruises, I now book the Caribbean cruises based on ship. As a new cruiser, go with ports, figure out your favorites. For me, they are all very similar, just give me a chair in the shade and a warm, gentle breeze! Ships are easy--newer ships have more amenities. In the winter, I only cruise new ships, and like I said, ports don't matter, mostly. For the Mediterranean, I'd book ports and departure city. Carnival is the line many people start with...I only used Carnival for my first cruise, so can't help there....

We choose our cruise first by how long we want to cruise then we pick an itinerary then the cruise ship. For us we like to cruise longer periods of time so many times we wind up doing back to backs. If in the Caribbean this can work out by doing back to back on ships that are doing east and west Caribbean making a 14 day nice hitting different areas.

Our first cruise had to be out of pt canaveral as we had a wedding in orlando to attend. It happened to be eastern for the week we could go. (Just wanted to say at this point we did a snorkel/beach break in Nassau that took us to the most fabulous beach I have ever been. Still haven't found the white powdery sand and blue water since - and I've been to half moon cay).

Second cruise had to be out of pt canaveral again, so picked the eastern on the Dream.

Since we have cruised once, but now have 3 :D more planned. All of them are based on itinerary. To me the ships really aren't that different. Yeah, some have guys, more bells and whistles, better shows, but overall I don't really care. I want to go to the ports and visit them all.

For us its really not itinerary because most of your time is on the ship and in ports your only there for a handful of hours and not everyday your at a port anyways.

I take more than one cruise per year plus I do take land vacations too...

My main cruise must be all about the ship. I want big, variety and better food. I want it all a combination of entertainment, casino, activities, and better dining/food. Usually my main cruise is on RC, Oasis/Allure of the Seas because these ships are the best overall...but I have taken Carnival as my main cruise and the Dream, Magic and Breeze are the only ones I would consider. I do cruise on Carnivals older ships but it has to be my second/third cruise for the year.

This coming May I was booked on the Oasis of the Seas but Carnival offered us a premier casino offer which meant it would be half the cost of the Oasis and is still a balcony cabin on the Valor plus we get $900 cash back in the casino..... we don't need to purchase airfare we can drive to Pt. Canaveral and it goes to the southern caribbean and is a 8 night cruise, an extra night, plus we are getting 4 1/2 sea days which we love. If we didn't get this promotion we wouldn't been going on the Valor in May. With the extra money we just saved we decided to go to Aruba for 8 nights in July lol.

Go for the ship if its your main cruise but you mention you haven't cruised yet so it really doesn't matter which ship you go on because its nice to work your way up as you take cruises so figure out where you want to leave from then which ships depart from that port and then you can consider the itinerary.

In order this is how I decide.

Price

Itinerary

Where the ship leaves from

Ship

I have to go out of Tampa or Port Canaveral so Port is #1. #2 is itinerary - next year it us based on Port beside I want to go to Aruba

For us its really not itinerary because most of your time is on the ship and in ports your only there for a handful of hours and not everyday your at a port anyways.

 

I take more than one cruise per year plus I do take land vacations too...

 

My main cruise must be all about the ship. I want big, variety and better food. I want it all a combination of entertainment, casino, activities, and better dining/food. Usually my main cruise is on RC, Oasis/Allure of the Seas because these ships are the best overall...but I have taken Carnival as my main cruise and the Dream, Magic and Breeze are the only ones I would consider. I do cruise on Carnivals older ships but it has to be my second/third cruise for the year.

 

This coming May I was booked on the Oasis of the Seas but Carnival offered us a premier casino offer which meant it would be half the cost of the Oasis and is still a balcony cabin on the Valor plus we get $900 cash back in the casino..... we don't need to purchase airfare we can drive to Pt. Canaveral and it goes to the southern caribbean and is a 8 night cruise, an extra night, plus we are getting 4 1/2 sea days which we love. If we didn't get this promotion we wouldn't been going on the Valor in May. With the extra money we just saved we decided to go to Aruba for 8 nights in July lol.

 

Go for the ship if its your main cruise but you mention you haven't cruised yet so it really doesn't matter which ship you go on because its nice to work your way up as you take cruises so figure out where you want to leave from then which ships depart from that port and then you can consider the itinerary.

I have to go out of Tampa or Port Canaveral so Port is #1. #2 is itinerary next year because i want to go to Aruba. Then any ship ad long as I don't have assigned dining seating. We are stuck with Sunshine because its the only one that fits all requirements. I'm not thrilled with that ship, but that's it for next year. We sail twice a year and the only ship I have ever hated was Triump out of NO in 2009.

I typically start the search with a date (at least the month, usually the week) in mind.

Then I look at the prices and itineraries for that time period, including the departure port. We fly to every departure port and I usually have an island or two that I want to visit on that trip and narrow it down based on the itinerary.

The ship is the last thing that comes into play for me, but can be the deciding factor. Especially if you are departing from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. There are multiple options available. If you want the Southern route from San Juan, there is no ship choice unless you look at other cruise lines.

We choose primarily by ship and then by itinerary. DH has decided he only wants to do ships with steakhouses, which are mostly the newer/larger ships with longer itineraries. From there, we try to choose an itinerary that works for us. There are only a few ports that are our favorites and the rest seem to be pretty similar in one way or another.

We are sailing the Breeze this next time, but we have enjoyed the Legend quite a bit in the past.

Favorite ports so far are Roatan, Half Moon Cay, and Grand Turk. We are really looking forward to Aruba and Curacao on this next trip, though!

I am not that seasoned of a cruiser yet, so I choose itinerary over ship.

For us, the ship outweighs the itinerary, just by a smidge.:D:D

In all reality, you spend more time on the ship than you do on the islands.

We LOVE the Breeze!!!!

But, then again, she has GREAT itineraries.

To each their own.......

For us I would say after cruising a bit and been to most all of the ports it is first the ship then the itinerary.

When I first started cruising it didn't really matter. A lot of the itineraries were new to us. But now, we've been on quite a few so we choose by itinerary mostly. The ship is secondary.

To be honest, as long as I'm on a cruise it's all good! Lol [emoji1]

I have been on 102 cruises, so for me, it is ALWAYS itinerary first. I also am not loyal to any cruise line. I am able to cruise frequently with no financial limits, but do love those last minute bargains that pop up. :)

I have been on 102 cruises, so for me, it is ALWAYS itinerary first. I also am not loyal to any cruise line. I am able to cruise frequently with no financial limits, but do love those last minute bargains that pop up. :)

Does any ship or itinerary stand out in your mind? IOW if you had to pick just one which one would it be?

When I first started cruising it didn't really matter. A lot of the itineraries were new to us. But now, we've been on quite a few so we choose by itinerary mostly. The ship is secondary.

 

To be honest, as long as I'm on a cruise it's all good! Lol [emoji1]

Totally agree.

At first we chose based on itinerary only and new ports to visit. But now that we have cruised enough we find it hard to find new ports that we have not been to so we look at both the itinerary and the ship. This way if the ports are not new we will at least try a new ship.

We used to book based on our home ports. Long Beach, San Pedro, San Diego. Then we had our first spa balcony cabin on the splendor, and we got spoiled! Since then we started looking at ships that had the up dated cloud nine spa. We now almost exclusively book a ship with the cloud nine spa and a spa balcony cabin. I'm sure there will come a time when we are unable to do that and will go back to our homeports for convenience. But for now it's Spa balcony cabin all the way!:p

Depends on what you enjoy doing on your cruise... Which sometimes takes some time to decide... Prices will vary due to Cruise Line and age of ship. For us we can only cruise once a year, and want to have a great experience, so we don't want to risk a bad experience... We try to stick to specific cruise lines and newer ships.

The way it was explained to me is that the prices are relatively the same some a little more or less... But the lines use their budgets different ways... Some on entertainment (Blue Man Group)... Others outdoor activities like zip lines and wave riders .... For us, we like service and food, and found Celebrity to focus on that (note: there are lines we've not tried yet ... Others we've not been on for awhile.. And to be honest, sometimes it's hit or miss on Celebrity).

The boat is the destination for us, but we are looking to do Aruba soon.

Some enjoy all the activities on the boat... Wine tasting... Health classes etc. Again you have to decide what you want... We get up when we want, grab a bite to eat and lay by the pool ... Or find some place cool (AC)... To read a book.

I would say... Don't get hung up on rewards (loyalty programs).... They don't get you a lot... And by sticking with one line, you may be really missing out on the one that you might love!

Probably 50-50. We cruise for the itinerary and then look at ships. We don't want the large ones or oldest ones. Pretty easy.

Itinerary 99% of the time

When we first started cruising it was more itinerary and less ship. Now it's more ship and less itinerary.

Itinerary, price, then ship

So my husband and I haven't gone on our first cruise yet, but I'm already thinking about future cruises! :D For our upcoming cruise, we didn't pick the itinerary or the ship. Or even the dates or the specific cruiseline. We are sailing with a group, so it had to be that specific cruise. Although I do think that as long as we have a good experience, we will most likely stick with Carnival for future cruises in order to get the rewards.

 

But I'm wondering: for those of you that go on many cruises, what criteria do you have when picking one? Do you look for a specific cruise ship because of what it offers, or do you pick a specific itinerary because of places you want to see?

 

I would think that for most it would be the latter, but honestly, now that I have seen the pictures of the sky bikes that they are going to have on the Vista, I would honestly consider booking a cruise on that ship no matter where it's going. They look like so much fun!!!

 

Also, does anyone have a specific favorite Carnival ship? I'm wondering which one is most popular.

Depending on what means you have and what is your existing travel profile (type, quality, etc. of food, hotel et al), you may not find that Carnival meets your needs. So, I would replace "which ship(s)" with "which line(s)", work on getting that list down pat and then concentrate your itinerary research on those lines' offerings.