Do you cruise for the ship or the ports?

It depends. In 2014 we did the Oasis of the seas for our kids that were along. Last month we did the Adventure of the seas for our 20th anniversary (no kids along) mainly for the islands. We love the southern Caribbean islands and to go there you have to go on a ship without all the bells and whistles that go along with the Oasis class ships.

This is an excellent question, one that my wife and I discuss often.

We've decided that while we love cruising we don't particularly care for sea days. The things we love about cruising are not having to constantly pack and unpack, a nice clean room and bathroom all the time, great meals that you don't have to prepare yourself, fun entertainment in the evenings and interesting ports. What we don't particularly like are the sea-day activities (with a few exceptions).

So when we decided that our next cruise would be the Caribbean we opted to fly to San Juan and cruise from there, rather than leave from Baltimore, our close-by port. The San Juan cruise includes one sea day, the Baltimore cruise six, which would be a plus for some but not us.

It varies. We love sea days and on our last cruise chose not to get off the ship at two ports that we'd been to before. Usually though, even if we're not all that interested in sightseeing at a particular port, we like get off the ship and go to a local restaurant for lunch if we can, just for variety.

Cruising from Australia is not quite so port-intensive as other parts of the world, unless you are cruising around NZ - and that, for us, is hectic as we catch up with friends and family at just about every port.

One trade-off could be accepting a couple of extra sea days if they replace having to fly to a port - with the cost, hassle and wasted days of flights and the necessity of one or more hotel stays.

We do both plus trying a certain cruise line. Some cruises are for the ports of call and others we have picked are to sail on that certain ship. But it also needs to be going somewhere we want to go.

First....usually the itinerary. Then not so much the ship, but the line. We've cruised to Bermuda many times and e are going t next month on the "Veendam" out of Boston. In this instance, the reason we chose this ship is because we dock in Hamilton, not the Dockyard. We docked at the Dockyard last year on the "SUmmit". It and the "Breakaway" were docked there. There were more people than in Times Sq on New Year's Eve!. Long lines and queues for cabs, busses, ferries. So the "port" we're arriving at was the most important reason for choosing this particular sailing.

The ports of call is the attraction now although even if tere was a Prt we wanted to visit and it was on an itinerary of a cruise line we didn't like...we'd probably pass on it.

Sandy in Spain

Greatest number of sea days is our prime consideration. We just love being out at sea. Second is the ship, third is the ports.

Depends on the cruise for us, ship is usually primary, since we have well over 60 cruises. A few times we have cruised on a ship only because we liked the ports on the cruise and the price was right. But generally we picked the ship first, cruise second and whether we do ports depends on how many times we have been there before. Some times we pass especially on tender ports if only a short time in port; generally pass on ports in Mexico too; sometimes we pass on a port on the last day, stay on board and pack.

One trade-off could be accepting a couple of extra sea days if they replace having to fly to a port - with the cost, hassle and wasted days of flights and the necessity of one or more hotel stays.

Excellent point and definitely something to consider.

Love reading member reviews- one of my favorite past times even when I don't have an imminent cruise planned.........Sometimes I can hardly stand it when I read over the cruisers port list and see " stayed on ship" , or "got off for free wifi on the pier".:eek:

Now I don't mean in ports such as Nassau, where folks have been tons of times- but magical places like Dominica and Saint Lucia! It makes me sad 😓

So it made me wonder- how many mainly cruise for the experience of the ship and/or the ports themselves? All our cruises so far have been chosen with ports in mind- next years Oasis cruise will be more about the ship itself. Would love to hear others opinions❤️

When we first started cruising it was for the ports. But now it is mostly for the ship so we choose itinerary with lots of sea days. When it is a port we've visited before, we often stay aboard ship.

We cruise mostly for the ship, and the itinerary is the added bonus.

However, home port also wins. The more sea days, the better

I'm a newbie that hasn't traveled out of the US much, so I definitely travel for the ports. The ship is simply the vehicle getting me to the destinations I want to visit.

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A bit of both.

No matter how great the Ports won't go if the ship doesn't suit.

Will sometimes go to ports that don't interest me just because I want to try that ship

We are only going cruising for the first time next summer, but we chose the cruise based on the ports. We knew it needed to be a certain timeframe in July that suited everyone and the kids' school schedules, so we just searched all possibilities and chose the one with the best combination of ports that we wanted. We had planned on a 7 day cruise length, but the one we really wanted was 9 days but it stood out so much as our favourite that we booked it anyway.

It depends on where we are cruising. If we are doing Canada, Bermuda or the Carib, ports we have been to many times, than it's for the ship. If we are going to Europe than it's most definitely for the ports. Either way we love sea days. Our favorite kind of cruise is a TA where we get both the ports and the sea days all rolled into one cruise!

Love reading member reviews- one of my favorite past times even when I don't have an imminent cruise planned.........Sometimes I can hardly stand it when I read over the cruisers port list and see " stayed on ship" , or "got off for free wifi on the pier".:eek:

Now I don't mean in ports such as Nassau, where folks have been tons of times- but magical places like Dominica and Saint Lucia! It makes me sad 😓

So it made me wonder- how many mainly cruise for the experience of the ship and/or the ports themselves? All our cruises so far have been chosen with ports in mind- next years Oasis cruise will be more about the ship itself. Would love to hear others opinions❤️

A lot of people have been to the "magical places" multiple times, so for them those places are not so magical any longer.

A lot of people have been to the "magical places" multiple times, so for them those places are not so magical any longer.

I agree. I found that although I enjoy revisiting some ports, I am actively looking for new "magical places" to visit in the future. Cruising is a great way to travel.

For us it's a little of both. There may be something on a ship I want like guys burgers lol so I don't mind hitting ports I've seen already even if it includes a port I will on board for. For others it's more for the ports because I want to see something new to us and we go on whatever ship is heading that way out of the Port we want to leave out of.

Other times it may simply be a roll of dice, we have a set of dates and a couple of ports we want to leave from, so whatever ship and itinerary works, that's what we pick. Any cruise is better than sitting at home wishing I was cruising :)