Help me understand

I am confused, I have been on 7 cruises all but one with Carnival and always have a great time and see no reason to switch lines. However to satisfy my curiosity I was checking some other things out which made me have this question:

Why would other people cruise elsewhere? I do understand that different ships may be newer or have different activities etc but look at this comparison:

Leaving FTL on either 8/2or 8/3 this is what I found

Carnival Freedom 8 day $479 inside room

Royal Carrib. Allure 7 day $1099 inside room

Disney Dream 7 day $2143 inside room

To me that money can be spent on other things or additional cruises, yes different strokes for different folks but am I missing something?

Loyalty, customer service, amenities, quality of care, perks, desire for live music vice DJ to name a few plus to try something to see if you like it. I just sailed on NCL. All was good plus a different line to try to see if I like it better. For the price difference, I did. For the perks, I did. Don't know till you try...:cool:

The cost is not the deciding factor to some people. ;)

LuLu

The cost is not the deciding factor to some people. ;)

LuLu

I get that but all things being equal why would someone spend 2x-4x more, I guess things between those lines and ships are just not equal. Just wondering what is that much better

Oh we'll. thanks

That is the thing. Not all cruise lines are equal. Look at Disney. Their prices are three times higher. But parents cruise that line for their children to enjoy a vacation. Disney has a lot of different items on their ship which are unique.

The cost is not the deciding factor to some people. ;)

LuLu

The cost is the deciding factor for most people.

If one could cruise for $499 a week on RC or NCL Carnival would be bankrupt in a few years.Its a budget line and most of us are fine with the value that we get for our money

I love Carnival but plan to try royal and norwegian one day. Disney - not gonna happen. It would have to be a sweepstakes win or a gift for me to cruise with them. Their prices are too high for me to even entertain the thought. I did at one point and then came back to my senses. I don't care how superior they are. Price is very important but not the ONLY important thing. I have to use good judgment based on my family finances and get the most out of what we spend.

I love Carnival but plan to try royal and norwegian one day. Disney - not gonna happen. It would have to be a sweepstakes win or a gift for me to cruise with them. Their prices are too high for me to even entertain the thought. I did at one point and then came back to my senses. I don't care how superior they are. Price is very important but not the ONLY important thing. I have to use good judgment based on my family finances and get the most out of what we spend.

Thinking about taking the grand kids on disney, with no casino the money I would save would more than pay the difference. but thats just me.

I get deal emails all the time for Princess, Holland America, and Celebrity with great prices. They don't sail Caribbean in the summer though, only in the winter months. Even RCL has a buy one, get the 2nd person 1/2 off deal right now - so I suspect if you clicked through their rate the final price would be cheaper than what you indicated.

You can find good deals for all the lines if you're looking regularly.

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I get that but all things being equal why would someone spend 2x-4x more, I guess things between those lines and ships are just not equal. Just wondering what is that much better

 

Oh we'll. thanks

I guess i could cherry pick a date a cruise ships to make an argument in the other direction.

You picked the price of a 1A room on a Carnival ship against Disney, and RCI's biggest and best ship.

Bill

Thinking about taking the grand kids on disney, with no casino the money I would save would more than pay the difference. but thats just me.

I understand that, but all ships could be casino free from my perspective. Don't really visit them.

I get that but all things being equal why would someone spend 2x-4x more, I guess things between those lines and ships are just not equal. Just wondering what is that much better

 

Oh we'll. thanks

But they aren't equal. It's like buying an outfit at Target vs. one at Macys.

Sure they both sell pants, shirts, shoes and socks...but no one would say they are equal.

The state fair has rides, entertainment and junk food. But is it equal to Disneyland?

We have sailed lines all over the spectrum and always feel we get what we pay for. If we paid Silversea prices for Carnival we would have felt VERY ripped off. Had we paid Carnival prices for Silversea, we would've felt like we were stealing.

I've never priced Disney (no desire) but the rate for the Allure inside seems odd to me. All but one of my cruises were on Carnival - my last cruise was on the Oasis of the Seas, and it was just as much for a balcony room on that ship as it was on Carnival (or maybe only slightly more) - if memory serves it was in the neighborhood of $800 (mid-September, hurricane season when cruise rates are typically at their lowest).

As for 'why switch'? Our first cruise was a Carnival Eastern itinerary and we loved it. Then we went Western route and didn't like the ports as much. Then back to Eastern, same ports.. "hmm ok this was nice but it was exactly like the first cruise - same shows, activities, and everything".. So we decided to try Oasis. Loved the ship, some of the things they offered were great, lots of dining choices, the shows in the theater were incredible. It's hard to describe though - there seems to be a certain 'buzz in the air' we feel on the Carnival ships that we didn't pick up on with Oasis. On Carnival it seems like there's a little more "camaraderie" amongst everyone, if that makes sense? On Oasis it just felt like everyone was off doing their own thing and minding their own business. I once said it felt like being on a floating resort, and that's kind of true. The experience, while fun, wasn't much different than being at a hotel. Again, maybe it's because there's so many people, or so many venues that there's no common experience that everyone shares.

So I guess to answer OP's question, another reason people may switch is because they just want to test the waters and see what cruising is like on another ship. We did, and we may try another line in the future, but we think Carnival is where we like to be best, even if we know we've already seen the shows, ice carvings and hairy man competitions. :)

OP were your Carnival rates based on your past guest status? I get better rates on Carnival all the time. I cruise Carnival for many reasons but mostly because I like Carnival. I do find people to be friendly on their ships, both passengers and staff. I cruised the other lines and like them too but Carnival is my favorite. Unless Carnival cannot meet my needs for a specific date, embarkation port, or destination (Bermuda), you will find me on Carnival.

Like any thing else in life, you get what you pay for. There is a huge different in the quality of food, entertainment and amenities between Carnival and some other cruiselines.

It depends on what you are satisfied with on your vacation: eating a burger at McDonalds or having a steak (or ground sirloin burger) at a high quality steakhouse.

I get that but all things being equal why would someone spend 2x-4x more, I guess things between those lines and ships are just not equal. Just wondering what is that much better

 

Oh we'll. thanks

That's a very extreme example of price differential that you are showing.....it is NOT always that extreme...sometimes there is barely a price differential at all....and that is why we have tried other lines.

Also, other than price.....there are other reasons....like itinerary. To see more exotic ports/islands/locations one must leave CCL which is just basic itins for the most part. To see other places (Grenada, Bonaire, Martinique, Asia, Middle East, Mediterannean right now etc) one must choose a competing cruise lines as CCL does not offer this at all.

Every once in a while CCL will have an itin (normally a repositing cruise) which will include some different places....but like the one in Nov on the Splendor.....but it is ONE or TWO sailings, and it has to be at a time when one wants to go.....thus, trying new cruise lines is the only option....and may I say, a very good option too.

I guess i could cherry pick a date a cruise ships to make an argument in the other direction.

 

You picked the price of a 1A room on a Carnival ship against Disney, and RCI's biggest and best ship.

 

Bill

I wouldn't be so fast to discount the Freedom, it is the most recently upgraded ship from carnival and currently the best to compete with Disney in Florida with Suess at Sea.

If they were going to cherry pick a Carnival rate there are many other ships to find a better rate on.

I am confused, I have been on 7 cruises all but one with Carnival and always have a great time and see no reason to switch lines. However to satisfy my curiosity I was checking some other things out which made me have this question:

 

Why would other people cruise elsewhere? I do understand that different ships may be newer or have different activities etc but look at this comparison:

 

Leaving FTL on either 8/2or 8/3 this is what I found

Carnival Freedom 8 day $479 inside room

Royal Carrib. Allure 7 day $1099 inside room

Disney Dream 7 day $2143 inside room

 

To me that money can be spent on other things or additional cruises, yes different strokes for different folks but am I missing something?

I have only been on the smallest class of ships for carnival and royal and then only thing I can say is until you try it it is hard to explain. after sailing carnival twice and becoming a cruise addict I thought how can royal or any other line be better than this. Is it worth the gamble to try and hope that it is. When we switched and tried the monarch we were glad that we did. to me it was so much better than the two carnival cruise we took. the ship had this wow factor that wasn't there with carnival. To me for the same money or a little more I would sail royal. for $500 more I would not. you really can't compare the allue with the freedom and you can't compare Disney to either. its like comparing your local theme park to Disney world. you really cant. as for the thought is it worth the difference? It must be since the royal allure and Disney dream sail each cruise being full just as the carnival freedom is so many out there must think it is.

I am confused, I have been on 7 cruises all but one with Carnival and always have a great time and see no reason to switch lines. However to satisfy my curiosity I was checking some other things out which made me have this question:

 

Why would other people cruise elsewhere? I do understand that different ships may be newer or have different activities etc but look at this comparison:

 

Leaving FTL on either 8/2or 8/3 this is what I found

Carnival Freedom 8 day $479 inside room

Royal Carrib. Allure 7 day $1099 inside room

Disney Dream 7 day $2143 inside room

 

To me that money can be spent on other things or additional cruises, yes different strokes for different folks but am I missing something?

I feel the same way, it depends on what you want in a cruise I guess. Our last one was with RCCL, hubbys choice, but I did have a hard time spending more for basicly the same cruise. Oh well next cruise with bring the kids and doing a b2b there is no way I could have justified spending more to do RCCL. We have fun either way.

The cost is not the deciding factor to some people. ;)

LuLu

Itinerary is important to us. Cost is relative, anyway. If the cheaper cruise is going somewhere I don't want to go, then the more expensive cruise going to my desired destination is a better value. If cruising for the sake of cruising (and there's nothing wrong with that!) is the only factor, then the cheaper cruise will always make more sense. To each his own.

For us it's itin/cabin availability and price.

We rarely fly for cruises and we are lucky enough to live an hour from Long Beach/San Pedro and 90 minutes from San Diego.

Problem is the itins from these ports are usually almost identical for 3/4/7 day cruises.

This year we were booked on a different Miracle Mexican Riviera cruise- two days in Puerto Vallarta. We were looking forward to overnighting it in PV.

We 'jumped ship' to do a 10day Princess Sea of Cortez cruise leaving around the same time. Before this cruise Princess was offering full fare credit for taking 3 & 4 day cruises. Got a bump up in loyalty and a fun way to pay off the longer cruise.

Itinerary is important to us. Cost is relative, anyway. If the cheaper cruise is going somewhere I don't want to go, then the more expensive cruise going to my desired destination is a better value. If cruising for the sake of cruising (and there's nothing wrong with that!) is the only factor, then the cheaper cruise will always make more sense. To each his own.

I totally agree. For me, the itinerary & perceived value are the most important things. The amount of time in port is also very important.

For us, it's the itinerary. We never pick a cruise based on price alone. Sure, if there are several ships doing the same itinerary (rarely the case), we'd go with the bargain, but really - I haven't seen much difference between the various lines except for decor. And bargains are to be had on most all lines! For instance, our 14 day Panama Canal cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego on HAL a couple of years ago was $749 pp for an ocean view cabin! It was a last minute rate that was emailed to us and we jumped on it. Booked a guarantee and got a great upgrade, too!

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We sailed different lines making the choice based on where the ship was going, which port it was leaving from, booking vouchers we purchased which also gave us great onboard credit offered during a cruise, or there was a sale involved. We sailed NCL more because we purchased vouchers while cruising. We are looking at Princess again because she sails out of San Francisco and we still have a NCL voucher for a cruise. We enjoyed our times on Carnival as well but price was not the factor in choosing.