Did You Stick With Your First Cruise Line Or Try Others?

Since we live in FL, our first consideration is flying from a FL port since it is so convenient and less expensive than paying airfare.

We usually choose a flight for the ship or for the itinerary with price as a consideration:

-Windsurf from St. Maarten - Chose for our 25th anniversary. Loved the food, BVI small ports and service, but they have no balconies. Really missed the privacy of sitting on our own balcony and didn't like having to fly to St. Maarten and back on connecting flights.

-Celebrity - For the excellent service, food and ports. Really dislike the production shows. Love the martini bar.

-Royal Caribbean's larger ships - Love all the things to do onboard, but wouldn't want to cruise on these often since many things would be too repetitive.

-NCL - Long time since we sailed NCL, but read that their drink packages are now outrageous. Remember having a wonderful time on the Dawn, but didn't like the food on the other NCL ships we sailed on.

-Princess - Usually pass on Princess since prices seem higher for the same ports.

-MSC Divina - best entertainment and most beautiful ship to us. Food quality very sporadic.

-Carnival - DH will not sail Carnival again since our awful experience on our first Carnival cruise years ago.

My first couple of cruise lines are out of business, maybe the Romanian Danube cruise line is too, don't know what the line was. We decided not to cruise Norwegian again after a 1997 cruise. Don't remember what we didn't like about Norwegian and I know they have changed a lot, but a decision is a decision. We like Royal Caribbean and Holland America, would be happy to move over to Princess (the itinerary we want is overpriced) or Celebrity and would be happy to try Oceania or the luxury lines if money were no object.

We do not have expensive tastes, not sure the luxury lines are right for us. Service has been good on the mainstream lines and I definitely don't want any fawning attention.

We have cruised eight different lines. Here is our take on them:

Azamara and Oceania are wonderful, but expensive as they are more premium lines.

For mass market lines (rated) --

#1 Celebrity is our go to cruise line. We've cruised with them 29 times. Best "bang for the buck" in the cruise industry. Excellent food and consistently great service.

#2 Cunard is excellent, but very formal (which is fine with us). We have a 87 day World cruise coming up with them in early 2019. Avoid their buffet -- one of the worst at sea.

#3 NCL can be a great cruise, however, we will only cruise them with the UDP (ultimate dining package) + their drink package. We eat every evening meal in one of their great alternative restaurants. MDR for breakfast and lunch, and avoid the buffet except on their larger/newer ships. You have to pay to upgrade the experience on NCL. Their new and large ships are very crowded and they have a smoking problem mid-ship.

#4 Royal Caribbean is a fine cruise line, but their food can be so so. Love the Q-class ships.

#5 Holland America used to be one of our favorites; seems like a Carnival step child as of late. The Pinnacle Grill has improved and the MDR is very good. "I see old people";p Smoking policy is finally getting better.

#6 Princess -- we don't get it. People speak highly of their cruises on Princess, but we think ours have been very mediocre. We will give them another try soon.

Future look -- we have a MSC cruise coming up in March in the Yacht Club of the Seaside. Regent, Crystal, Seabourn, Silversea some day.

Enjoy!

Kel:D

We have one or two lines we prefer, but have tried others as well.

The lines aren’t terribly loyal to you, why should you be loyal to them.

We don't have a "line". We cruise whichever ship best fits our wants/needs at a price we are willing to pay. Currently 17 cruises on 4 cruise lines.

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Done three cruises all with Carnival the first two was due to kids and the last one from Hawaii to Sydney was adults only however staying loyal as we enjoy what they have to offer. Also all three have been on Carnival Legend and had the same Captain, Cruise Director Maitradé and also other senior staff on all three so feels like home every time, 4th will be on the Legend for sure!

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We've cruised with RCI four times, with a fifth in December. However, we plan to cruise NCL for our Alaska and Hawaii trips, so we're not blindly loyal.

First Cruise was on the Celebrity Century in Europe. Stayed with Celebrity and sailed on the S and M class ships. Still sailing itineraries in Europe. Celebrity has gotten in a rut with the same ports of call.

Going on my first Viking Ocean in March and I am looking froward to making this my new cruise line for interesting ports of call in Europe.

We choose our cruises for the itinerary and timing and then price, only then do cruise line and subsequently ship comes into it. If things are looking fairly even, we have a coupe of preferred lines.

X, then RCI and Princess.

How many responders to this thread buy a different make of vehicle every time or do you stick to the same manufacture???

I’m the type of purchaser that sticks to the one that brought me to the dance. If the fit my needs I stick with them until they don’t.

We’ve had some minor issues with some things on some cruises but never any experience that left us wanting to try a different line.

If we sampled some cuisine and we didn’t like it we don’t say all their food is bad. If we took an excursion and it was not to our satisfaction we don’t blame the cruise line, it was a 3rd party they hired out to not the cruise line.

While cruising, we are on vacation, not looking to find things that bug us and make it a bad experience. No worries be happy as they say.

If you find something you like stick with it and HAPPY CRUISING

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How many responders to this thread buy a different make of vehicle every time or do you stick to the same manufacture???

I’m the type of purchaser that sticks to the one that brought me to the dance. If the fit my needs I stick with them until they don’t.

We’ve had some minor issues with some things on some cruises but never any experience that left us wanting to try a different line.

If we sampled some cuisine and we didn’t like it we don’t say all their food is bad. If we took an excursion and it was not to our satisfaction we don’t blame the cruise line, it was a 3rd party they hired out to not the cruise line.

While cruising, we are on vacation, not looking to find things that bug us and make it a bad experience. No worries be happy as they say.

If you find something you like stick with it and HAPPY CRUISING

 

 

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I’m not sure about others but out of about 15 vehicles over my time as a car owner I’ve had at least ten different makes.

Two car manufacturers, Holden and Mitsubishi.

Timing, itinerary, itinerary and cost. I won’t sail NCL as they cancelled a cruise 4 months after I booked it for a charter (I do realize this practice is not limited to NCL).

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I’m not sure about others but out of about 15 vehicles over my time as a car owner I’ve had at least ten different makes.

Mindlessly sticking with one brand, be it cruise lines or cars, is mindless. When I was single- with a reasonable disposable income - I had a two seat MG. When I had four children to haul around it was big Chevy and Dodge wagons (depending on the best deal at the time of purchase) . Now I'm driving a 2007 VW Rabbit - and am starting to think about replace it - with no pre-conceived notions.

When I want to cruise - timing comes first - then itinerary- then port of embarkation - then, if there happens to be two lines I'm inclined to like, I will finally pick the line.

I cannot imagine waking up one morning with the urge to sail either HAL, or Cunard, or Celebrity or whatever line and then accept whatever timing , pricing Orr itinerary my chosen line might have --- that would be mindless.

Sorry to hear that. So by your statement you don’t cruise with any other line that has cancelled a cruise.

I can relate to your story, because it happened to us. It was named a displacement cruise in their letter. Instead of getting upset, I found another itinerary I wanted and called the line. I immediately ask for someone in management and negotiated what I thought to be fair. I had my list of things I would like in return for being displaced. I wound up being upgraded to an aft facing balcony, on board credits and some other perks.

If they wouldn’t have accommodated my request I probably would not be with them either.

Hope you have better sailing in your future

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My first cruise was eons ago on the Greek Line, Olympia. I didn’t cruise again for many years, for many reasons, then my sister kept nagging me to go on a Carnival cruise with her. She finally resorted to buying me a Cruise to Nowhere out of NYC for a combined Christmas/birthday gift. I had fun but I couldn’t convince my husband that cruising was a very nice way to vacation [emoji849]

I finally got him on a Cruise to Nowhere (Carnival) and then we were off!

Most of my/our cruises have been on Carnival. My sister likes that line and it was fine with us. We prefer to drive to the port, so we are limited to NY/NJ, Baltimore and Boston - though we have never done a cruise from Boston.

We did one Royal Caribbean and I wasn’t impressed with the experience. I’m not wild about their inward emphasis. For me, cruising is all about the connection with the sea, not entertainment. I also wasn’t wild about the Cape Liberty port. I prefer Manhattan.

We have stuck with Carnival up until recently because it’s simple. There’s 1 level or class. There aren’t multiple packages to consider. You pick your cabin (balcony for us always) and decide whether to get the drink package (we don’t) and that’s it.

The mainstream lines are all building ships bigger and bigger, and packing more people and entertainment folderol Info those ships. Not my cup of tea. We recently did a Viking River cruise and absolutely loved it! Small ship. Not a lot of passengers. No crowds. No hard selling push. No casinos. No folderol. No drunks. And no kids!

We have 2 cruises booked with them - 1 river and 1 ocean - and for now they are our line of choice. I have Seaborne and Azamara on the back burner and I might look into Regent. We also travel quite frequently to Bermuda for long fly in stays. We are retired and leaving no inheritances [emoji12]

Oh, and our last 5 cars have been Hondas. If it’s not broke; don’t fix it! We have found them to be very reliable cars. [emoji16][emoji7]

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Cyber Kat

Thanks for summarizing my statement. Stay with something until it no longer suits your needs.

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I’m not sure about others but out of about 15 vehicles over my time as a car owner I’ve had at least ten different makes.

I was loyal to Ford for years only because a friend owned a Dealership. That made buying a car very easy because we always got a great price and great service. When the kids were young we had a series of minivans where he would pick the trim level and other options on the only thing we did was pick the colour and write the cheque. Great way to mindlessly buy a car. :D

After our friend sold his Dealership we've moved on to Korean and Japanese makes because they were the best cars at the right price at the time.

Currently, I'm trying to convince our friend to come out of retirement and buy a McLaren Dealership. :D

How many responders to this thread buy a different make of vehicle every time or do you stick to the same manufacture?

But isn't that a little bit of apples to oranges? I've stuck with the same line for now... But once I've completed all the itineraries they offer that I wanna try, I might seek a different line to go to new places? Not all companies sell to the same ports, countries, continents.

Probably so, bit some of us don’t have that luxury of going to all ports that other lines offer, even though it would be nice.

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Yes, I did have all of the RCI paperwork provided. My name was primary and my Wife as Secondary in the Cabin.

No, no apology. Was finally handed a cruise card and was pointed to the boarding ramp. And, I indicated that cruise card did not work for anything on the ship, it just let me past Security to board the ship.

Bob

Thank you for responding to my questions. It disgusts me the way you were treated at check in and immeidately after boarding but it is even WORSE Imo, no one took ownership of that treatment, took the blame accounted to you how it happened and tried to make 'nice nice.... Says little for that crew, that ship or that Captain. It all flows down from the Captain. Some know all that happens on their ship and care....... some less so. Crew usually reflects that. That is no way to treat a 'guest'............ They seem to forget it is the hospittaltality business and there is much competittion.

Started many years ago on Premier Cruise Lines when it was official cruise line of Disney. Since then, we have cruised on RCCL, Celebrity, Carnival, MSC, and NCL. We have cruises booked on NCL in 2018. My favorites were MSC (Yacht Club) and NCL; also enjoyed Oasis of the Seas. We like the new, larger ships because after so many Caribbean cruises islands start to look the same, so the ship is the attraction for us. Next year is NYC to Bermuda and Boston to New England/Canada; no more Caribbean. We also loved Viking river cruises in Europe before the refugees invasion.

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Igallagh

We also like the larger ships even though the population on board is larger than the town we live near.

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Igallagh

We also like the larger ships even though the population on board is larger than the town we live near.

 

 

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We live right next to Orlando so we have easy access to several cruise ports. The crowds on the big ships can get you sometimes so we always book a balcony or mini-suite. The balcony is a great place for alone time to read a book or enjoy watching the sea go by.

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First Cruise was Carnival Valor out of San Juan, rather enjoyed it. I moved, so Carnival was not a feasible option. Then Pullmantur, 7 day Med in a Royal suite, enjoyed that too. Then I tried Celebrity and NCL, right now I float between those two. Each has things I prefer over the other. I guess I could probably cruise on any line and enjoy it.

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