More important? Ship or itinerary?

[Cruise a holic]

For those who only care about the beaches I agree one island is the same as the others. I know the beaches can be different, I grew up in Va Beach and it's an ugly beach, rough sand, and very ugly grey/green/brown water and from the ages of 5 to 19 I probably went to the beach maybe 15 times and usually because other people visiting wanted to go. My experiences with Southern Florida beaches and Caribbean beaches is that they are pretty much the same. I'm not a beach person so Florida, Grand Turk, HMC...etc are pretty much the same, only HMC has less to do and therefor boring in my opinion and all have too many people for me to find them relaxing. Besides, if I wanted to see a beach there are plenty much closer to me (though admittedly much uglier), I want to see and experience the things not around me.

 

Though we all have different ideas of what is interesting about the destination I think we can all agree that we like the journey. When we do arrive at the destination we can all be grateful that I (and other non-beach avoid the baking sun if possible people like me) am not taking up someones space at the beach and they aren't in my way while I'm trying to explore what I think are the more interesting parts of the islands.

I also avoid the sun. Having a clinical backgroud including many physicians in the family including derm and plastic sugery, i am well aware of the dangers of the sun. We sit under an umbrella, use Spf 75 and up. We love watching the water and going in the calm (mostly) caribbean sea.

[sleepless]

DH and I cruise for the ship first, and the island second.

 

Neither of us are much interested in going to the beach. As we usually start our cruises from Ft. Lauderdale, (and fly in the day before) we visit the beach and have our barefoot walk in the sand. As we only cruise RCL, and if we visit one of their islands, we happily enjoy the island; a walking tour of the island, a lounger under the trees, a walk in the sand, a cooling off in the ocean, and the BBQ lunch offered. We head back to the ship shortly after lunch. That is enough beach time to last us until our next cruise.

 

We are not into spending much time shopping, but do enjoy walking through the stone streets and alley ways, and checking out the old warehouses turned into shops in St. Thomas.

 

We find that most of the stores/shops are the same on all of the islands. Very little difference. And, well, a beach is a beach - sand, sun water.

 

We may check out some local history/culture - but that is limited to what is close by. Depending on the island, we may or may not eat lunch in port. Frequently, we are back on the ship in time for lunch. We really prefer to spend the time on the ship, watching the ocean, and just relaxing.

[poppadevan]

Congratulations on your big day! Hope this will be the first of many Cruises that the two of you will enjoy together. Personally, I have always been an itinerary person. Mostly to minimize the time at sea and maximize the number of islands I visit. My favorite would be to sail out of San Juan and visit 6 islands on a 7-day cruise. But, if you are visiting three islands on either of the itinerary you are considering, then I would take the Epic. I was on the Epic this past December. It was one of the best of my 23 cruises. This ship is amazing. The entertainment is phenominal. St Thomas and St Martin are two of the best ports to visit in the Caribbean with plenty to do for all interests. I plan to do this same trip again this December. That having been said, I have never had a bad cruise, so you can't go wrong whatever you decide. So, stop sweating this decision and have a wonderful honeymoon!!!!!

[Diane&Duffy]

When it comes down to it, your interested in the Port of Calls being offered. Why would you settle for a newer vessel and be disappointed and your expectations not met. It's not about the ship for you, it's the itinerary :)

 

With the savings of choosing an older ship, you may be able to use the savings to upgrade your accommodations on board which will also enhance your experiences for your celebration!

[Cruise a holic]

Congratulations on your big day! Hope this will be the first of many Cruises that the two of you will enjoy together. Personally, I have always been an itinerary person. Mostly to minimize the time at sea and maximize the number of islands I visit. My favorite would be to sail out of San Juan and visit 6 islands on a 7-day cruise. But, if you are visiting three islands on either of the itinerary you are considering, then I would take the Epic. I was on the Epic this past December. It was one of the best of my 23 cruises. This ship is amazing. The entertainment is phenominal. St Thomas and St Martin are two of the best ports to visit in the Caribbean with plenty to do for all interests. I plan to do this same trip again this December. That having been said, I have never had a bad cruise, so you can't go wrong whatever you decide. So, stop sweating this decision and have a wonderful honeymoon!!!!!

 

While I truly love the Celebrity Solstice Class Ships, to have everything you could imagine- especially for a young couple, the Oasis Class RC ships would knock your socks off! The many entertainment and dining venues alone are worth the trip! The ship is so fabulous that a Central Park View Cabin on the 9th deck is a great bargain as well as a good sized cabin.

 

However it is what each person enjoys and we all seem to have varied opinions- That is why all of the cruise lines do so well!

[poppadevan]

While I truly love the Celebrity Solstice Class Ships, to have everything you could imagine- especially for a young couple, the Oasis Class RC ships would knock your socks off! The many entertainment and dining venues alone are worth the trip! The ship is so fabulous that a Central Park View Cabin on the 9th deck is a great bargain as well as a good sized cabin.

 

However it is what each person enjoys and we all seem to have varied opinions- That is why all of the cruise lines do so well!

 

The Oasis and Allure are on my Bucket List for the future. My last Cruise on the Epic was my first Solo one and their Studio Cabins with the Studio Lounge was wonderful. I am sure that the RC ships have many, many unique venues that I will enjoy but I am not sure about Solo availability.

[Cruise a holic]

The Oasis and Allure are on my Bucket List for the future. My last Cruise on the Epic was my first Solo one and their Studio Cabins with the Studio Lounge was wonderful. I am sure that the RC ships have many, many unique venues that I will enjoy but I am not sure about Solo availability.

 

I do not believe they have solo cabins. However, if you don't mind a promenade cabin- which isn't outside, but facing the promenade, so you get light and an interesting view the price is reasonable even if you pay for a double. I have heard the Epic studio rooms are very small. If you don't mind the size good for a solo.

[Friend100]

For me, itinerary. For my DW, the ship.

 

We always try to find the right balance between these 2, sometimes with some compromise ... but it has to be at the right price.

[put me on a ship]

Wow! How great to come here and get all of this awesome feedback! Thanks guys!

 

Ok, so maybe all of you experienced cruisers can tell me if you think any of these itineraries are really more exotic/exciting than the others? I like the idea of sailing out of New Orleans, b/c we just love New Orleans. And Jamaica sounds like fun (although I'm torn about some human rights issues there, but anyway). The Western Caribbean trip on the Dawn is the one that sounds the most exotic to me - Central America with monkeys and rain forests ... or am I terribly wrong? Are these places all virtually the same with minor differences in cultures? I swear I'm making this into the biggest decision of my life. ;)

 

Each port is different, yet the same in ways. The shops are pretty much the same everywhere, unless you get away from the cruise ship terminal. Culture is different in each port, but I wouldn't say drastically so. The geography of the ports is different too. Some areas are relatively flat, others very rugged and mountainous.

 

We prefer the Western Caribbean, and have done that itinerary 3 times, mainly because we love to snorkel, and Belize and Roatan have some of the best snorkeling in the Caribbean! Cozumel, it was cool to see the Mayan ruins (very hot, though!), if you go to Tulum, there is a nice beach to cool off in!

 

We've been to Jamaica once, and are getting ready to go again in April. I highly recommend Dunn's River Falls there, and you can often combine that excursion with something else (at least, Carnival does).

[RikkuCat]

We're the same age as you guys, also with no kids. We took our first cruise with NCL and loved it. That said, we purposely chose dates when school is in session, so that there would be fewer kids on board - in fact, there were very few kids on our Oct cruise. We're planning another cruise now and picked our date range based on the same thing. I don't mind kids, but a ship packed with them is not what we're looking for in a vacation at this stage of life! In any case, we thought NCL was a great fit for us and I'd definitely recommend it to others in our age range. That said, we will try other cruise lines as well - but price is a factor and we felt that NCL was a good value for our money.

 

On the original question, we chose our first cruise based on date, departure port, cruise line and itinerary. We liked the idea of freestyle, so we figured we'd start with NCL. As I mentioned, we chose to travel at a time when school is in session. We had never been to Bermuda and wanted to go, and it was an extra bonus that we did not need to fly to the departure port. I don't think we looked at the ship at all until after we booked it.

 

For our next cruise, we're traveling with friends - two other couples. Again, we chose our travel dates based on school schedules, to try to avoid large crowds of kids. We decided it would be easiest to cruise out of Baltimore (very close for us!) and looked at what cruises sailed out of Baltimore at the time we wanted to go. We have four options, so now we're debating on which one we like best. For most of us, the itinerary is a bigger factor than the ship, but since the available itineraries are all similar, the ship may be the deciding factor. Like I said, we're debating it at present.

 

Next cruise after this one, we want to sail on the NCL Epic or Breakaway - so that decision will be more about the ship. If they are sailing itineraries that we don't like at the time we want to go, however, we may change our mind and book something else.

 

What do you think you'll want to do on the ship during a sea day? If you just want to relax and read or sunbathe, you can do that on any ship. For us, sea days were spent sleeping late, a trip to the gym, eating, having some drinks, relaxing on deck or balcony with a book, maybe a nap, and more relaxing on deck. We like to be outside - either in the sun or the shade. If the weather is great, we're happy as clams. If the weather was bad (which it was about half the time on sea days during our last cruise), we were bored out of our minds on the ship during the day. Literally NONE of the planned activities appealed to us, and we were on an older ship that didn't have a lot of bells and whistles. On a day like that, a game of bowling or something would have been nice - but if we had a cruise with only nice weather during sea days, we'd probably never use those features. Evening was different - we always enjoyed our evenings on the ship. Live music and good drinks almost everywhere - what's not to love? I'll say that the shows generally didn't interest us enough to specifically plan around them - and if we didn't specifically plan on attending it, we usually ended up doing something else and missing it.

[bamelin]

This is an interesting topic! Enough so that I got off the couch from my "lounge around" iPad and booted up my "work" PC so I could type up a response comfortably. :p

 

Everybody is going to have a different opinion on this. I want to give you mine, from the perspective of somebody who has only done two cruises with a third one booked for next week and therefore can give you a "fairly new" cruisers perspective.

 

First off let me say that my wife and I are HUGE beach people. All our vacations before cruising were All Inclusives resorts. With that said, in my opinion and not knocking anyone else's, the islands are not all the same and have very distinct beaches. Likewise the vibe on different islands is very different ... for example Dominica is an unspoiled island paradise with massive rainforests, whereas Aruba is super commercial yet offers a great mix of shopping, beaches, snorkelling etc, compared to St Thomas which you could say is a mix between the two offering Dominica's island paradise while also offering Aruba's commercial shopping opportunities. My point is that the islands are very different, especially when you are first starting out cruising. I suspect the more cruises I go on the more alike they will seem, but right now they all feel differently to me.

 

So with that said ports are definately important to me. Despite this so is the ship. lol

 

My first cruise was on Explorer of the Seas (RCCL) out of New York, sailing to Bermuda and then the Bahamas. Explorer was a beautiful ship, and many of those cruising were around the same age as me and my wife (late 20's/early 30's). While the itinerary was kind of meh (it was actually not "bad" per say but it was a sea day heavy cruise), the people around us made the cruise so much fun. We made new friends, ended up having a tonne of fun in the evenings with our new friends dancing the nights away, and the ship itself helped shape the experience.

 

On our second cruise we went with the Star Princess on a southern Caribbean adventure. The ports were very exotic (to me), compared to Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries. Star Princess was a nice ship but felt a little tired, especially compared to the Explorer of the Seas. Despite this the food and service was much better than our previous cruise. I won 25000 dollars in the casino the first night on a slot machine which really made the trip really stress free as well ... We found our Princess cruise we were the youngest of those cruising and many of the passengers were 60 years old +. There was no disco to speak of at night (it was completetly dead) the ship basically shut down after 11. Despite this we still had a blast. exploring the islands, and getting lots of rest at night.

 

 

My third cruise is coming up next week. The interesting thing when booking this cruise is that I really had to stop and think ... what do I want?

 

Do I want a super laid back cruise of idle luxury, with early nights and action packed excursion filled days at ports?

Do I want a cruise with a heavy night life scene, where we might be up until 2 AM every night partying with a crowd looking to let loose?

Do I want people around my age, or does that matter?

What ports do I want to visit and what is my main goal of visiting those ports (ie. beaches, culture, shopping, snorklling, etc?)

How much can I afford and is the type of cabin I have a priority?

 

 

So after thinking about that for a long time, I'll be sailing on Carnival Magic on February 17th, sailing out of Galveston Texas heading to Montego Bay, Gran Cayman Islands and Cozumel, all of which are new ports to me. While I really enjoyed my Princess cruise (food was incredible as was the itinerary) I liked the night life of RCCL much better as well as the ship itself. Carnival despite it's reputation I have no doubt there will be lots of people around me and my wife's age which I felt was important this time around, with a night life more in sync with what we are looking for. The Carnival Magic itself is a very new ship built in 2011 so I am also hoping that it won't feel "tired" the way Star Princess did. Basically I'm hoping to strike a balance between RCCL and Princess .... only time will tell!

 

One other thing I should mention, is that my wife and I place a huge priority on booking balcony cabins. On the off chance we find this Carnival cruise to be terrible (I doubt very much that will happen) or even if the cruise is great, having the balcony to escape to is a big deal to us. On both our previous cruises we spent many hours on our balcony in the evenings drinking wine, smoking cigarretes (I've quit since then =P) and just enjoying each other's company. We got our balcony cabin on Carnival for 520 dollars per person on a casino rate, including an "unlimited" drink card (for drinks in the casino), some sort of complimentary bon voyage package in our room, and 150 in casino money. We also managed to find air to Galveston Texas at a cutthroat rate compared to what we would have spent to get to Flordia. All of this is a big reason as well why we chose Carnival over other lines. If not for the extra "bonuses" we might have looked at Celebrity or the flag ships of NCL (Epic) and RCCL (Oasis or Allure).

 

With that in mind if money is a priority I would look at booking the cheapest balcony I can find to ports I haven't gone to (or one's I really enjoyed in the past), with a crowd on board with the same mindset as us at the cheapest airfare rate I can find. The ship's activities (while helpful) don't make the cruise, it's the people you are cruising with that do. That includes the staff. On RCCL it was the other cruisers that made the cruise. On Princess it was the amazing staff, service and itinerary that made the cruise.

 

Cruising is what you make of it. I personally feel that no cruise could ever possibly be "horrible". With that said, think about what you want versus what you can afford and book your vacation accordingly.

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

Disclaimer: The above represents soley my opinions and is not meant to offend anyone else lol.

[bamelin]

edit: One other thing to think about

 

Longer cruises (more than 7 days) are amazing and really help you to relax. On a normal 7 day vacation by day 4 you are just barely starting to relax and then it's like "oh crap it's almost over". On a 10 day cruise on day 4 you are like "OMG we're not even half way done, yessss"

 

My last two cruises were 9 and 10 day cruises respectively. Those extra days DO make a big difference but will also effect the crowd you are travelling with (longer cruises = older crowd). Typically air is a big component of a cruise cost, but you can often find 9 or 10 day cruises that cost the same or almost the same as a 7 day. Your going to have to pay the air cost regardless of how long the cruise is so this is something to consider.

[Cruise a holic]

edit: One other thing to think about

 

Longer cruises (more than 7 days) are amazing and really help you to relax. On a normal 7 day vacation by day 4 you are just barely starting to relax and then it's like "oh crap it's almost over". On a 10 day cruise on day 4 you are like "OMG we're not even half way done, yessss"

 

My last two cruises were 9 and 10 day cruises respectively. Those extra days DO make a big difference but will also effect the crowd you are travelling with (longer cruises = older crowd). Typically air is a big component of a cruise cost, but you can often find 9 or 10 day cruises that cost the same or almost the same as a 7 day. Your going to have to pay the air cost regardless of how long the cruise is so this is something to consider.

 

Took our first 14 day cruise on the Eclipse. If you have the time and money what a great relaxing time! Trying anothet adventure next January one week on Celebrity Silhouette the following week on Allure of he Seas Royal Caribbean. The best of both worlds

[bamelin]

Took our first 14 day cruise on the Eclipse. If you have the time and money what a great relaxing time! Trying anothet adventure next January one week on Celebrity Silhouette the following week on Allure of he Seas Royal Caribbean. The best of both worlds

 

I'd love so much a 14 day but have limited vacation time. I mention the 9 and 10 day itineraries specifically mainly because for younger folks still working a 7 day versus a 9 or 10 day will only cost an extra couple days of vacation time if you can manage to book it so that one of your days away falls on a long weekend.

 

The other advantage of a 9 or 10 day cruise is that typically the ship arrives back in port (or leaves) on a "off day" in the middle of the week when there are few ships arriving in port. That off day can offer hundreds of dollars of savings in terms of air fair compared to 7 and 14 day cruises that leave on Saturday or Sunday's. That savings will usually cover the cost difference of a longer cruise versus shorter (assuming you have to fly)

 

With that said, if I was retired or had longer vacation time I'd do a 14 day in a heart beat. =)

[CA Winediva]

Wow! How great to come here and get all of this awesome feedback! Thanks guys!

 

Ok, so maybe all of you experienced cruisers can tell me if you think any of these itineraries are really more exotic/exciting than the others? I like the idea of sailing out of New Orleans, b/c we just love New Orleans. And Jamaica sounds like fun (although I'm torn about some human rights issues there, but anyway). The Western Caribbean trip on the Dawn is the one that sounds the most exotic to me - Central America with monkeys and rain forests ... or am I terribly wrong? Are these places all virtually the same with minor differences in cultures? I swear I'm making this into the biggest decision of my life. ;)

 

Don't expect to see monkeys in the rain forests. Just think about it, 2-3 thousand people all going on rain forest excursions at the same time. We were very disappointed in some of our side trips in Panama, we got lucky and saw a stray lemur. You can hear the monkeys, but you won't see one.

 

Pick the itinerary first. Were going Bangkok to Beijing on Princess, not our favorite line. We love the smaller Oceania for Europe, no sea days. The bigger the itinerary the more sea days. Then the ship becomes important.

 

And really, forget Jamaica, unless you want your hair braided. Aruba was way more interesting and safe. And people are right when they say if you're going where the weather's warm spend a little more and get a balcony.

[bamelin]

And really, forget Jamaica, unless you want your hair braided. Aruba was way more interesting and safe.

 

Jamaica seems to get a bad rap with the cruising crowd (my parents included who "stayed on the ship" at "that" stop :rolleyes:). Typically the reasons range but it usually boils down to percieved issues of safety, and overbearing merchants trying to sell all manner of products (legal and otherwise).

 

Despite this I'm really looking forward to Montego Bay. Wife and I love Jamaican food and music. We're going to Doctor's Cave Beach which I've heard is fantastic, and I can't wait to get myself some authentic jerk chicken and Jamaican patty's.

[kingoftheicedragons]

Personally, we make our decision based on itinerary and where we want to go.

[bribuzz83]

I say itinerary the ship is just a hotel to get you to the places you want to see. We went on a 7 day Caribbean cruise with Princess and it was the best only 1 sea day 6 ports best ever so the ship didn't matter that much. On our South American cruise with Princess we had 7 or 8 sea days out of 16 but again the ports we went to were worth it and Princess always does us right. On our Mediterrianian cruise we only had one sea day out of 11 with Princess and again it was good. We pick ports not ships because that's kinda the point of a cruise we feel.

[Cruise a holic]

I say itinerary the ship is just a hotel to get you to the places you want to see. We went on a 7 day Caribbean cruise with Princess and it was the best only 1 sea day 6 ports best ever so the ship didn't matter that much. On our South American cruise with Princess we had 7 or 8 sea days out of 16 but again the ports we went to were worth it and Princess always does us right. On our Mediterrianian cruise we only had one sea day out of 11 with Princess and again it was good. We pick ports not ships because that's kinda the point of a cruise we feel.

I see the ship as an all inclusive (mostly) resort. It is very important to enjoy both, but to me and my husband the ship is the most important part of the experience. If it was a choice for example Aruba v. Curacao we would choose the best ship.

 

However, choice is what its all about and we can each decide what makes us happy!:)

[alpal1993]

For us Itinerary is much more important then the ship .All ships are are great some may offer different things,but basically they are your transportation to visit places we have dreamed of.Living in FLL it is very easy to cruise.Since we only get one vacation that we can take together we have to choose carefully.Besides from the Eastern/Western Caribbean that we have been to numerous times,I allow at least cruising to places 2 times.We never do the same tour twice(Except St John Virgin Island my favorite snorkle site).We will be taking our first Med cruise this June and we are getting very excited.

[FlightMedic555]

Three weeks ago our ship skipped Belize City due to civil unrest. If you chose the cruise including this stop andit is important to you I suggest you research it further.

[Holomoku]

Took our first 14 day cruise on the Eclipse. If you have the time and money what a great relaxing time! Trying anothet adventure next January one week on Celebrity Silhouette the following week on Allure of he Seas Royal Caribbean. The best of both worlds

 

We chose our cruise, if we are travelng alone, based on the number of Sea Days. The more the better! Then on the length of the cruise, again the longer the better.:D The Ports and Destination are not that important other than air fare costs. Our next cruise is a 14 day to our home State, so we will probably not even get off the ship except to run home (laundry) in that port. This time we will also be getting on another Cruise Line at the end of the first cruise and trying a different line. May do this more on our future cruises.;) The two cruises together total 22 days with no land stays in between, so once again we will be very sad when they kick us off the ship.:( We are beginning to look more and more at the 28-30+ day cruises.:) I think we are addicted?:confused:

[Melfin1]

Hi there! I'm a first-time cruiser, trying to schedule our December 2013 honeymoon adventure. We've settled on Norwegian as having the most offerings in the style and price range we'd prefer. We're childless 31-year-olds who want some romance, adventure, fun, and good food on our own time table.

 

The problem is, I'm totally stuck on three different cruises. The first is on NCLs newest ship, the Epic. We're inclined towards that one b/c of the myriad options for food and entertainment. However, I'm not that thrilled with the itinerary (St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Nassau). There are two other trips (New Orleans to Montego Bay, George Town, Cozumel on the Jewel and Tampa to Mahogany Bay, Belize City, Costa Maya on the Dawn) that sound so much more interesting to me, but the ships are older and less grandiose.

 

 

So my question is: What's more important about the cruise? The ship b/c that's where you'll spend the most time, or the islands b/c that's where you get to adventure?

 

Itinerary is the most important, we first decide the area we want to go, then look at several lines to see what stops they make, the more, the better for us. We don't care about being on the ship all day sailing. Southern Caribbean, Carnival was one of the best cruises we ever took and would do it again in a heart beat. 5 stops in 7 days. But, the ship leaves from San Juan.................All cruise lines are now offering resturaunts and free time dining. The last couple of cruises, we opted for free time dining, means not having to worry so much to make you dinner seating time. We never eat at the buffetts at all. We almost always something light for breakfast in our room. On the Southern Carribean cruise we did last fall, we only ate in the main dining room twice, it was very good, but the sushi and steak house were amazing. Older/newer ships are the least of our concern. More stops, mid ship balcony rooms only and we are good to go!!!! Don't book your excursions through the ship either. Do it through the people you meet on your cruise using Roll Call here on CC, it is trully the best way to go. Good Luck:D

[Litehouse9]

The answer to the question of "which is more important: itenerary or ship?" depends on what you are looking for. Some people LOVE and ADORE the days at sea.. the more the better. I like maybe one to help me chill and leave my urban cares behind, but I dont like more than that.

 

So my hubby and I choose based on Itenerary. Not that we'd want a "dog" of a boat, but there are so many decent ships now, that even ones that are not the newest, most spectacular, are fine. What really "makes" our trips, and the memories of them, has been the places we been able to visit and our adventures in port-- not our time on the ship (although there are things to enjoy like meals, entertainment, etc.)

 

We choose our destinations first, then decide on a ship, and we've always been happy. But if you would love and enjoy days at sea, you had probably better choose the newer, more luxurious ship. :)

[Schulenburg]

Our vote is itinerary first, room size WITH A BALCONY second and ship third. Once we tried a balcony cabin, we were hooked and have not gone back to a 'view' room...room service breakfast on the balcony, aaaah. Ditto glass of wine with plate of cheese in the evening. We just love our balcony and would rather not cruise than have to do without it!