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how to pick a cruise line for destinations


marilla chris
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hi, everyone, we have done 14 cruises all with Royal Caribbean , love the ships but seem to think there are other cruise lines that offer more international destinations like Europe, Norway, Ireland, etc. What is your advice for people like us looking to travel to places other than the Caribbean, mediterranean. Do you try to stay with the same cruise line or do you base your choice of cruise line on your destination? thank you

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Once I started branching out from the Caribbean, I looked close at other lines. I too had numerous RCI cruises under my belt. RCI is wonderful in the Caribbean. The high energy activities and first class entertainment just seem to go well with the feel-good Caribbean atmosphere.

 

However, my first Med cruise was on RCI and it didn't feel right to me. I have since learned that the non-family orientated lines are better for cultural cruises, like Alaska or Europe. I found Holland America and Celebrity to be much better for these destinations.

 

So while it might be nice to receive the great perks that come with having so many cruises on RCI, I've found the new experiences to be much more rewarding. :)

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hi, everyone, we have done 14 cruises all with Royal Caribbean , love the ships but seem to think there are other cruise lines that offer more international destinations like Europe, Norway, Ireland, etc. What is your advice for people like us looking to travel to places other than the Caribbean, mediterranean. Do you try to stay with the same cruise line or do you base your choice of cruise line on your destination? thank you

Generally, we look for itinerary first (regardless of cruise line). Price & dates come next into consideration. What cruise line it's on is the last thing we look at.

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Generally, we look for itinerary first (regardless of cruise line). Price & dates come next into consideration. What cruise line it's on is the last thing we look at.

 

 

 

Agree. This is how we do it.

 

My favorite cruise search allows you to search by departure port and ports to visit along with date ranges and cruise lines. So we start with where and when we want to go. Then decide which cruise line based on total itinerary and price.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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One thing for us is that after a number of cruises and years with the same company, you build up a loyalty with their loyalty program. This can come in handy for balcony discounts and perks such as free drinks, photos, laundry, internet and so on. We start with our preferred line and go from there. Since you mention Royal, Celebrity offers status reciprocity so do look into that.

 

Have fun researching. :)

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Once I started branching out from the Caribbean, I looked close at other lines. I too had numerous RCI cruises under my belt. RCI is wonderful in the Caribbean. The high energy activities and first class entertainment just seem to go well with the feel-good Caribbean atmosphere.

 

However, my first Med cruise was on RCI and it didn't feel right to me. I have since learned that the non-family orientated lines are better for cultural cruises, like Alaska or Europe. I found Holland America and Celebrity to be much better for these destinations.

 

So while it might be nice to receive the great perks that come with having so many cruises on RCI, I've found the new experiences to be much more rewarding. :)

Thank you, we feel the same way. Although we love RCI and we are Diamond members, we're looking to expand our winter getaway to not just the caribbean and I found so much more variety on the other lines., like the Panama canal, South America, etc. Next cruise I'm going to start with the destination and not the cruise line!

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Royal seem to be nailing the Asian market right now...possibly go there? I think they do some middle east bits during repos too?

 

Also NCL's Iceland and Norway cruises went down a storm (we were on one...it rocked) so they may be a good plan to look at as they are similar and do different places.

 

I would also suggest Celebrity as Royal's posher cousin. They have some great alternative routes in areas that you are used to as well as very exotic voyages all over the world. We thought their product was very well polished.

 

They would be my top 3 for you.

 

If it helps any, we love Royal too but in order to get the cruise we want we are sailing with P&O Australia this year as they are doing Singapore to Brisbane. We desperately wanted an Asian/Oz cruise after missing Carnival's offering in 2015.

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There are three cruise lines that we enjoy and thus our consideration in priority order (and thus in screening order) are:

-destination region

-nights per cruise (min 12, max 14 unless we decide to do a TA)

-ports of interest

-price (adjusted for comparable perks and loyalty benefits & upgrades)

-cabin availability by location

-hours in the ports of interest

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And to give you an idea on where we place our priorities regarding ports, once we were booked on an RCI Norway - Iceland cruise that also stopped in the Shetland Islands. We had already joined several roll-call friends for an independent shore excursion in the Shetlands when RCI with no explanation changed one Norwegian port for another and dropped the Shetlands in exchange for an at sea day. So we quickly looked at similar alternative cruises with stops in the Shetlands, decided to cancel RCI and switch to Celebrity, quickly booked the same Shetland shore excursion for the different date and listed it on the new roll call - it was sold out 6 hours after our posting.

 

There are many good alternative choices out there!

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