Should I work for a higher VIFP tier or try other cruise lines?

I took my first cruise this year on Carnival. I absolutely loved it. Have my second coming up this week. There was tons to do, enjoyed the food, great price, just an overall great vacation. I definitely want to try RCI. The others, I don't think sound like they're for me.

So I guess this is more of a personal preference question. What have others done? The benefits of platinum look pretty cool. Do you care about your loyalty program? Is it more refreshing to try other lines? Any other thoughts?

As a new cruiser, I think you should try out other lines to truly find what you like. We have taken many, many cruises, and often end up with the line that has the "best deal". As a result, we've sailed Disney, Carnival, Royal, NCL, Celebrity, MSC, Costa, and Princess. They all have their good and bad points. Lately, we've been sailing Carnival alot because they are affordable, and offer some neat itineraries. As a result, we are now Platinum. There are many great Platinum perks, the best of which includes priority embarkation/debarkation.

To each his own...and happy sailing!

CeleBrat

explore other lines

I have sailed plenty of Carnival ships before I tried RCCL and NCL. And my preference is with both RCCL and NCL. My last was on NCL Getaway, and we fell in love with Freestyle Cruising. It fit us perfect! More casual, no formal nights (do no dragging all that extra clothing), fine when and where ever you want in MDRs more like individual restaurants, not big banquet halls. The 24 hour offerings were 100 times better than even RCCL! We have another on NCL Getaway this coming January.

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That should have read dine whenever and wherever you want.

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I agree as a new cruiser you should try other lines and see which fits your needs best. I first tried Carnival and am platinum as well. I want to try RC but I get such good deals (Players Club, Casino) with Carnival, I have yet to do so. I have no complaints with Carnival. All my cruises were enjoyable. I consider cruising the most economical way to vacation and see the beautiful islands. Enjoy which ever sailing you choose.

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maybe if you were already close to Platinum, I would stick to CCL. Being a new cruiser, explore

It's fun to sleep around

Cruise with a line because you enjoy the product and experience. “Loyalty Perks” are icing on the cake.

Trying other lines is the only way to know what the differences are and what you enjoy most. Many seasoned cruisers sail a variety of lines and have reasons to sail on each one.

We just got off the Carnival Miracle to Mexico and it was not a great week. The food was just okay, the steward was missing most of the time , they only service the room once now so our room was dirty till late afternoon, and the dinning room seemed to have half the workers of last cruise. The toilets weren’t working very well throughout the ship and smelled. There was a pool party each night till after midnight and it was loud enough that it kept lots of people awake. The Legend to Alaska last year was a completely different experience.

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Try other lines to see which is your favorite. Also if you want to see the world cannot really do it on Carnival as they go to limited places

I would try others before you get " to far down the road" .:)

We just got off the Carnival Miracle to Mexico and it was not a great week. The food was just okay, the steward was missing most of the time , they only service the room once now so our room was dirty till late afternoon, and the dinning room seemed to have half the workers of last cruise. The toilets weren’t working very well throughout the ship and smelled. There was a pool party each night till after midnight and it was loud enough that it kept lots of people awake. The Legend to Alaska last year was a completely different experience.

 

 

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You could have chosen early service or both. Could have changed times of service. We always leave notes when we have Ninja Stewards

Explore....the status perks simply aren't that important.

I say try different lines and see what you like. I have no "real" perks with any line because we sleep around as someone said :)

I usually look at ports, then deals to figure out where we're going next. I'm really interested in trying Horizon from NYC next summer

I just got off of my first Carnival Cruise on the Dream on 10/9. I normally cruise RCCL. I will likely be sticking with RCCL from now on. I am not opposed to Carnival but he best way to describe the difference between the two is that Carnival has no WOW factor. (Pun intended)

I had a great time because I will always have a great time. But Carnival is clearly behind the times.

I plan on doing a review soon. But after getting back from vacation, needed a vacation from the vacation and getting back to work I needed some time. lol

How often do you plan on cruising? If you only cruise every other year like we do, we stay with a line that we like (Carnival). We tried RCI and didn't like it. That meant that we had to wait two more years before we could cruise back on Carnival again.

We just finished a five day cruise that put us at 68 points. Our next cruise booked for 2019 we will become Platinum. We normally fly in a day or two before the cruise, then stay a day after. We have been getting FTTF since it's beginning and using the laundry service because of being gone for a while. Now becoming platinum, we will get priority boarding/debarkation, free laundry and a few other perks.

We found that we are happy staying with Carnival. Fellow passengers seem more friendly on Carnival. We met probably a dozen people on Carnival on this trip alone that sat and had drinks with us, coffee in the morning, waved from a distance, etc. Never had anything like that on RCI. Most people wouldn't even look at you let alone smile and say "HI".

Try different lines. Go to the cruise line websites and sign up for their email specials. We are platinum on Carnival, Princess, Elite on Celebrity, three star on HAL, Gold on Cunard, status matched to black on MSC. We are bargain hunters. There are some great bargains in the Caribbean right now, particularly on Celebrity. 'Sleep aroumd' as suggested, before you get to the point of thinking every line should be the same, just different decor. EM

We just got off the Carnival Miracle to Mexico and it was not a great week. The food was just okay, the steward was missing most of the time , they only service the room once now so our room was dirty till late afternoon, and the dinning room seemed to have half the workers of last cruise. The toilets weren’t working very well throughout the ship and smelled. There was a pool party each night till after midnight and it was loud enough that it kept lots of people awake. The Legend to Alaska last year was a completely different experience.

 

 

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Hi there

Just curious.(nosey) How "dirty" can you get a cabin overnight. Guess you don't stay in hotels more than a night either. :)

I hope you will find a product more to your taste in the future.

I say try other lines. I go between Carnival, RCI, and NCL depending on the best price, and the sales going on. They are similar, but each line has something different. The loyalty perks are good, but to me not worth sticking with one line. Besides, it is really fun climbing the ladders, it is a good reason to cruise more.

It’s fun to explore all the cruise lines and what they offer. I did 3 Carnival cruises and then found a really good RC deal and tried them a couple of years ago. Last cruise we went back to Carnival. I dream of doing a Disney Cruise but they are usually so expensive that it would probably take a few years of saving up to do one of those! I think Celebrity is one that I’m definitely interested in trying in the next few years.

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Not into loyalty, Freedom of the Seas up next. We have been on 5 cruise lines.

How often do you plan on cruising? If you only cruise every other year like we do, we stay with a line that we like (Carnival). We tried RCI and didn't like it. That meant that we had to wait two more years before we could cruise back on Carnival again.

 

We just finished a five day cruise that put us at 68 points. Our next cruise booked for 2019 we will become Platinum. We normally fly in a day or two before the cruise, then stay a day after. We have been getting FTTF since it's beginning and using the laundry service because of being gone for a while. Now becoming platinum, we will get priority boarding/debarkation, free laundry and a few other perks.

 

We found that we are happy staying with Carnival. Fellow passengers seem more friendly on Carnival. We met probably a dozen people on Carnival on this trip alone that sat and had drinks with us, coffee in the morning, waved from a distance, etc. Never had anything like that on RCI. Most people wouldn't even look at you let alone smile and say "HI".

I'm all up for doing 2-3 cruises a year, but that doesn't mean the other parties will.

I guess it does make sense to give the others a try. From there, I will likely find my favorite line and build up loyalty. Food, price, and comedy attract me the most. Carnival did very well with those things.

We have over 60 cruises and have lost count of number if cruise lines. Big world out there, go enjoy it. You'll quickly discover your preferences. Safe journeys