Does anybody NOT care about the ship?

[genegri]

It depends.

 

When the destination is truly far away and exotic, I prefer smaller ships. They bring out the feel of a traveling community and the romance of old days' ocean voyage. I have a Tahiti cruise coming up and have hardly done any research about the PG ship. :p

 

Then for a Caribbean cruise the ship matters more. I have already been to most Caribbean islands so nothing about the destination is terribly new and exciting anymore. The ship is the resort, the entertainment and the destination. I like to cruise during holidays on new ships full of bells and whistles, condusive to the festive atmosphere. But then again, if it's just a 3 or 4 night "quickie" party cruise, any ship will do! ;)

[Shooraq]

Totally depends on the situation, but for me, it's destination first and foremost. Going on the Oasis was the rare time I chose my cruise based on the ship. Normally I try for something on Royal Caribbean first, then Celebrity, because of the service and perks. But if another cruise line has the better option, I will try it out.

 

For instance, I am going to Hawaii next year and NCL is the only cruise line cruises out of Honolulu for a week. Despite mixed reviews on Pride of America, I am going on it because it is the best price for a floating hotel of the islands, without burning thru sea days that my DH hates. I will have realisitc expectations and my trip will be awesome!

 

Same thing with hopefully the British isles in 2013... if Royal or Celebrity doesn't have the itinerary I wamt, off to Princess I go! :D

[ryano]

I like being on the ship! No matter what size ship it is! If the ship didnt matter to me, I would just fly to a destination and stay at an AI all week.

 

The ports of call are secondary. I really dont care where we are going :) I wouldnt care if the ship just went out in the Atlantic and done big circles for 7 days! Im usually not off the ship long enough in the ports anyway.

[SingingPixie]

I absolutely used to feel that way- now I'm somewhere in the middle. Cruising will never be my top kind of vacation. I prefer to be able to spend more time getting to know a location than a port stop allows. What I've learned in my limited cruising experience is that for me, it works better to cruise for what cruising does well, and take a land trip for that kind of vacation's strengths. I make the most of the port stops- in this case, picking our Belize excursion based on what was least-convenient to squeeze into the eventual land trip we have planned- but I know I can't get the full experience that visiting a country for more than 8 hours would bring.

 

The reason we chose to cruise for our upcoming trip is the "cruise experience"- the chance to be by the water, have all of our meal costs included, have all the activities we could ask for at our fingertips with minimal effort to iron out logistics, and to be able to drink all of the tropical drinks we want without worrying about one of us driving.

 

Looking at it from that perspective, the ship started to matter more. Why limit yourself to only 8-ish hours in each port, if you don't enjoy the place you spend all of your evenings, and usually an extra couple days as well? At this point, if the ports are more important to me, I'll spend all of my time there (obviously, cost can be an issue depending on where you're talking about!)

[BBT]

My last cruise the choices came down to ship (Epic) or itinerary (Western). I chose the itinerary because it crossed off more 'bucket list' items for me.

 

The Epic was on my list for the entertainment options it had. Someday.

 

Price is also a deciding factor to me. Cruise might be well-priced but the air fare can be ridiculous at times.

 

This was my first RCI cruise and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

For my next cruise I am looking at Southern out of SJ. The cruise line rather than ship might be the deciding factor for me in this case.

 

Happy sailings to all.

[FreshOffTheBoat]

I cruise for the ports, but I do enjoy royal caribbean so I probably wouldn't try another cruise line until I couldn't find an itinerary that I liked with Royal Caribbean.

[karena1]

For us - it depends. If we are going out of San Juan it is for sure about the ports. We love the Souther Itinerary and don't really care which Royal ship we are on when we do that route.

 

But other times, it is about the ship. We are doing Oasis for the ship, not the itinerary. We love Freedom and Liberty - again for the ships, not where we are going.

 

So just depends what we want to do. This year, we want to experience Oasis, so we are going for that. Where we go, is truly unimportant this time, although we did pick Eastern as we like STT and SMX way better than Jamaica.

[Desertbelle]

It's apparent that the ship isn't the most important thing for us because we were Diamond members before we were ever on a ship larger than the Radiance class, and this past November we finally did a large ship (Freedom) and loved it, but still the itinerary is most important to us. To us the ship is part of the destination, but certainly not THE destination....and we aren't that picky. If the ship is clean, the service is good, the staff friendly, we are happy.

 

We have never been disappointed in a Royal Caribbean or Celebrity ship (can't say that for other cruise lines), so if it's on one of their ships and we like the itinerary, we know we are going to have a wonderful time.

[Pichu21]

Ship and itinerary are both equal factors for me. I find a balance between the two. I don't book a cruise if I don't like the ship and I won't book a ship if I don't like the itinerary! :)

[yarlenna]

I am the opposite. The ship is the destination and the ports are just interludes. To be honest, I think the time in port is simply too short to get much more than a basic glimpse of somewhere. Everything is just too whistlestop. It is nice to have a great room in a floating resort where the world just arrives outside your window each morning, but if I wanted to really visit a destination, I would definitely fly and stay.

 

Me too. I read lots of people who get bummed by missing a port. Heck, port stops get cancelled all the time. If I love a port, I fly to it and stay to enjoy the port. As for me and my DH, the ship is the "floating resort.

[Big_G]

I really try and stay away from all of the mega ships and their mega crowds. If I really needed water slides, rock walls, ice skating, wave runners I would go to a theme park. Give me a medium sized clean ship with a good crew and nice itineraries and I am happy.

 

When will people stop with this mega ship = mega crowds fiction. We've done Vision Class through Oasis Class and Oasis felt the least crowded. If you want to give up a great ship with great dining option and great entertainment because you're not into water sports or rock climbing then go for it.

 

You might want to experience it before you criticize it.:rolleyes:

 

By the way, sorry for the rant. Ship matters almost as much as the itinerary.

[RumRunner01]

My #1 priority is the itinerary. I don't need mega ships, but I want awesome ports. Once I find an itinerary I like then I shop around for which ship based on loyalty, price, timeframe, etc. The ship is definitely not #1 for me but I know for a lot of people that is what matters.

[pjnj40]

I am more of how the itinerary of the week go. I aways try to make to every port I wish to see. Ship is nothing to me. Whatever is on board i am sure i will enjoy the selection.

[Kew Gardens Cruiser]

The Miracle(spirit class) or Radiance class is my favorite size and type of ships.

The larger newer ships are nice if you dont plan on getting off in the ports or dont enjoy hanging on the balcony as the ocean slips by. IMHO

.

 

We booked the Miracle because it was cruising out of NYC going to Bermuda but every night while walking around the ship my wife and I would say to each other "I miss Central Park" " I miss the Boardwalk", "I miss the Solarium" etc

 

One of the favorite things about the last cruise I was on (Liberty of the Seas) was hanging out on my huge corner Aft Balcony but this was also one of the larger ships ( Freedom Class)

[morgan1312]

Don't care about the ship ... don't care about the itinerary ...

 

All we care about is being on the open water. Is the cabin clean? Is the food decent and *NOT* suck? Is the service acceptable? Is the bar stocked with appropriate libations? Are we able to be as busy or as quiet as we want to be? If the answer to these questions are "Yes", than we're happy.

 

Otherwise, all we need is a tall ship and star to sail her by...

 

Michael and Silke

 

My thoughts exactly! As evidenced by my going on the Enchantment for the 4th or 5th year in a row this summer, my biggest thing is I don't want to have to fly to get to the ship. So I'll take anything over 5 nights out of NY, NJ, MD, PA...

[molly361]

Another vote here for the ship being the destination!!! We also enjoy staying onboard on some port days and enjoying the quiet ship!!!

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

First we pick an interest, usually a longer cruise such as a repo. That generates when we can cruise since its a one time sail date.

 

If the above is not what we like, then we will go strictly by ship, itinerary isn't all that important. For instance, the last 3 times we cruised Mexico we only got off and visited one port.

 

***

[Esmerelda]

I agree with others. The ports are just added bonuses to us. We just love getting away, spending quiet quality time together. The ship could take us all in circles and we wouldn't care. We will still have a fabulous time afterall, we are on a cruise ship! We absolutely had a blast on the Oasis and can't wait for the Allure next year. :D

[GXmanDC]

I'm the opposite of the OP. The ship is my destination. The ports are like rest stops.

[kristijens]

I pick the itinerary first which is usually some place warm to escape the cold of winter. Next I pick the ship. Love the big new ships with all the perks, that way everyone in the family is happy doing something so I can relax in the sun and leave the cooking and cleaning to someone else for a week!

[sail2sea]

I totally care about the ship, the larger, the fancier, the better. That's why Royal is quickly becoming my favorite line.

[klingoncruiser]

Yup, that is me. RCI has been keeping me off some of their ships a lot lately with some pitiful runs. Oh well.....:rolleyes:

[linkerbink]

Don't care about the ship ... don't care about the itinerary ...

 

All we care about is being on the open water. Is the cabin clean? Is the food decent and *NOT* suck? Is the service acceptable? Is the bar stocked with appropriate libations? Are we able to be as busy or as quiet as we want to be? If the answer to these questions are "Yes", than we're happy.

 

Otherwise, all we need is a tall ship and star to sail her by...

 

Michael and Silke

 

My thoughts exactly...I couldn't have said it better!!!

[rjrpar]

It depends on the itinerary. In the Med., the ship isn't important, it is all about the ports. On Caribbean cruises with 3 or 4 sea days, the ship becomes more important to us.

[newcruisergal]

This thread title made me laugh...because this trip we didn't care what the ship or where it was going, we wanted an aft balcony and that was all that mattered. Leaving Sunday on Navigator, people keep asking us where we are going and we're looking at each other like "Where are we going again?" Can't wait to be sailing in the Caribbean!