What's important? Itinerary or ship if itself??

Do you have the option to slide your vacation a week? Then you can go on Oasis to the Eastern Caribbean... the best of both worlds!

Unfortunately our dates are not flexible. I wish Oasis didnt have too many sea days. This is only our second cruise so I know we will have fun since our last one was a short cruise.

Itinerary is the most important for us but I have certainly crossed some cruises off the list when I saw the name of the ship. There are a few I wouldn't consider cruising on.

Unfortunately our dates are not flexible. I wish Oasis didnt have too many sea days. This is only our second cruise so I know we will have fun since our last one was a short cruise.

And that's the important part. :)

I think a Vision cruise is in our plans, too.

The ship....I'll go wherever the ship takes me. We don't fly, so we drive to the nearest port. I just love sailing on the ocean. Don't care where I go. There is always something new to see, even if I've been to a port several times.

Some people go to the shore every summer, to the same place year after year. No difference in my opinion.

Gwen :)

Itinerary is the most important for us but I have certainly crossed some cruises off the list when I saw the name of the ship. There are a few I wouldn't consider cruising on.

Pretty much this. I'm not super picky but I do try to stay away from ships that are older and haven't been refurbished in a while. I also try to stick to about 2-3 cruise lines that I found I like (but that part may be negotiable, depending on the itinerary).

I don't have any cruise experience yet as my first cruise is coming up, but these are my thoughts from just traveling in general which I have done.

Two hundred dollars isn't that much price difference. If you have never been to the eastern Caribbean, then book the big, beautiful ship and explore that region. Chances are you can see the western Caribbean at a later date on another ship. We've visited many places and they ALL have something to offer, whether they are far away or in our own area of the USA. It's really oftentimes what you make it. I once went parasailing at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. No, it wasn't the ocean. But it remains one of the most beautiful experiences I had in my life.

Unfortunately our dates are not flexible. I wish Oasis didnt have too many sea days. This is only our second cruise so I know we will have fun since our last one was a short cruise.

In the case of Oasis & Allure.... the ship IS the destination! You sail on those two ships strictly for the ship imho. Many cruisers on these two ladies don;t even bother setting foot on land when they're in port.

If you wish to see places and other cultures as this is only your second cruise, and I see from your post your 1st was a short cruise (likely a smaller ship), you'll love Vision and also get plenty of port stops to enjoy ... I'm guessing Roatan or Grand Cayman, Belize, Coata Maya & Cozumel? Superb itinerary, great looking ship, great staff, great Capt!

Click on my signature below for plenty of pics of Vision, and also on the Navigator review full port reviews of Roatan, Coast Maya and Cozumel that may help you.

Whichever you choose, have a great cruise! :D

Looking to book a 7 day cruise to the caribbean in November this year. We are debating between Vision of the seas western caribbean or Oasis of seas to eastern caribbean. We like the itinerary on vision of the seas and it is about $200 cheaper than Oasis of the seas. It looks like oasis of the seas has better entertainment and is a nicer ship. We are looking to relax a little but love shore excursions and learning about other cultures. What's more important to you?

When we did our last cruise, Allure, we chose it for the ship -- we had been to the Western Caribbean before. I was looking forward to a specific excursion (snorkeling with turtles in Cozumel), but other than that the ship was the destination. It was the first time, we made our choice for that reason.

Overall, we make our choice because of convenience of schedule (when we can cruise), what ships are available and the specific itineraries and overall cost.

But a small differential in price, would not cause me to choose a cruise based on price. There would be other factors to consider, especially if I had not been on a particular class of ship and that was the higher priced, I would take it.

Having said that....for now we can say we have cruised on a ship in every class that Royal has....although that won't be the truth when Quantum comes out in the fall.

We are now booked on our second Freedom class ship, when we sail in February 2015 on Independence. We loved Liberty and expect to really enjoy Indy.

We chose this cruise, because it gave us one extra day cruising (since it is 8 days), a port we have never been to, and it cruises during a week that we only have to take 4 vacation days off from work -- and was the same price as a 7 day cruise on another ship. Worked well for us.

You need to determine your own decision factors, I guess.

Thanks everyone for the replies. So just ended up booking our third choice celebrity silhouette. We still like vision of seas itinerary better but celebrity is $500 cheaper and includes unlimited drink package. Heard that RCCL may offer buy one get second half starting tomorrow. So I will continue to check the prices and the boards here. Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the replies. So just ended up booking our third choice celebrity silhouette. We still like vision of seas itinerary better but celebrity is $500 cheaper and includes unlimited drink package. Heard that RCCL may offer buy one get second half starting tomorrow. So I will continue to check the prices and the boards here. Thanks!

Congratulations :D... no brainer decision... Mercedes Benz for $500 cheaper than the Chevy, plus you get free gas for a year. How can RCL compete with that, even with BOGOHO? Doesn't make sense to me

For us, itinerary comes first. The ship is secondary. So far, we have enjoyed cruising on three different cruise lines and have never had a bad experience.

Just an observation on the differences that we have noticed between Western, Eastern, and Southern Caribbean cruises. The Western Caribbean itineraries offer some great opportunities to visit different Mayan ruins. We have seen several. The Eastern and Southern seem to offer nice beaches and a wider variety of European influence on the culture in those areas. Just my opinion.

Happy sailing wherever you go.

Unfortunately our dates are not flexible. I wish Oasis didnt have too many sea days. This is only our second cruise so I know we will have fun since our last one was a short cruise.

Go for the ports and the best price. Once you have been to some ports several times, then book the big ship as a destination.

When we booked the Allure, it was for the ship since we had been to the ports before.

Enjoy

Itinerary. I cruise to experience multiple locations during one vacation. I want minimal sea days/maximum ports of call. The ship...totally secondary!

Itinerary. I cruise to experience multiple locations during one vacation. I want minimal sea days/maximum ports of call. The ship...totally secondary!

I agree!

Hi Mandy, Hope all is well. I just saw the great little video Bill posted of our excursion in Dominica. How cool! Say hi to David and I hope our paths cross again someday.

Where in the Caribbean really doesn't matter. You are not off the ship long enough to actually differentiate between Islands. Though the USVI & BVI are my favorite.

As such, on a Caribbean cruise I looked for easiest embarkation port and ship. We chose the Grandeur over a Celebrity ship because it's port is 3 hours closer to our house even though my parents are Celebrity enthusiasts, whatever the D+ Celebrity equivalent is that's what they are and think we are foolish for choosing RCI and Grandeur over Celebrity. As the ships get bigger, the ship is the destination. We were on the Navigator when it was the premiere ship of the line and could not have been happier even if we circled the Caribbean with out stopping.

Europe and Asia are different. Not sure if I would want to cruise for sightseeing purposes. Though we did a Seine River cruise, that's the best.

Ship

Port

Cost

Food

Itinerary.

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For us, SHIP! Most ports we don't even get off. I'd cruise on an Aircraft carrier if they would make my bed, and meals, and entertain me. lol

I love ships, of all sizes.

# 1 Itinerary #2 ship ..

Looking to book a 7 day cruise to the caribbean in November this year. We are debating between Vision of the seas western caribbean or Oasis of seas to eastern caribbean. We like the itinerary on vision of the seas and it is about $200 cheaper than Oasis of the seas. It looks like oasis of the seas has better entertainment and is a nicer ship. We are looking to relax a little but love shore excursions and learning about other cultures. What's more important to you?

Itinerary!! (And length of time in the ports.)

This year it was the ship- we wanted to try RCI and their Independence before she left the UK for ever- but it still had to be an interesting itinerary (Norway). Also, it was only for 8 days, so not a big deal if it didn't work out OK.

Usually it's itinerary first.