Are you loyal?

[janetz]

Am I loyal?

No, cruise them all. :)

[Tatka]

Same here.. almost. Costa and some other European lines aren't on my list yet. :) One of our massmarket is now off my list.

[Hlitner]

At the risk of pushing this blog to a HAL blog...we feel compelled to respond to another post. There are two HAL's. There are those, who generally book their HAL cruises very far in advance and/or through their PCC (direct with the cruise line) that pay top dollar for their cruise. But there are others who book last minute (inside the final payment period) or a few months prior to a cruise, who often pay a bargain basement price (obtained through various cruise agencies). For example, last August we cruised for 24 days in the Baltic and to Iceland on the Zuiderdam in a nice verandah cabin...and our total cost per passenger day (including taxes and frees) was well under $200 per passenger day. On top of this, we also received some generous OBCs. We have an upcoming cruise with HAL on their most popular itinerary (according to many) and our total cost is less then when we booked (and later cancelled) the similar cruise several years ago. Even their "famed" Voyage of the Vikings cruise (normally sold out many months in advance) has plenty of availability (in many categories) for this August's voyage. And this voyage is on a relatively small vessel...and it still is not sold out!

 

We can now book some upcoming HAL Alaska cruises for about $114 per passenger day in an outside cabin...and far less if we wanted an inside cabin. There are many available cabins on numerous upcoming HAL cruises...all being sold at a huge discount. So please do not tell me that HAL is selling out their cruises at high prices. We cruise multiple cruise lines and find that our HAL cruises are usually the lowest cost per passenger day! Some upcoming HAL Baltic cruises are being discounted as much as 90% from the brochure price (we are talking about less then $100 per passenger day (total cost) for outside cabins). So those that think that HAL is doing fine....might be a bit delusional. HAL suffers from many older ships (with few balcony cabins) without the amenities found on newer vessels. And if you read some of the recent HAL reviews (on various ships) you will read about all kinds of maintenance issues...including comments like mopping the ceiling in the Lido (because of leaks), A/C that does not function, toilet issues, etc.

 

We still like HAL...but have drastically lowered our expectations when we cruise on any of their older vessels. What brings us back to HAL (again and again) are their fabulous itineraries and good prices.

 

Hank

[MicCanberra]

To me the loyalty perks are nice but only to a point. The value of most perks do not equate to a significant saving on another line offering similar itinerary, timing, service, etc.

[iancal]

With the exception our our recent SA cruise, just about all of our cruises are booked inside the final payment window.

 

We cherry pick. So we typically have two or more itineraries that interest us, and we watch three or four ships. When our target price hits on an itinerary/ship we book. Absolutely no loyalty whatsoever. Sure, we have preferred cruise lines and ships but the former is easily overlooked if the ship, itenerary, and price are all ticking the boxes.

 

Our experience is that very few of the mass market cruise lines sail full, prior to final payment. Even during the busy Caribbean Christmas season we have taken advantage of several good offers. Alaska appears busier this year. Late booking 7 day insides are priced at $399, up from previous lows of $249.

 

Most mass market cruise ships sail full. It is fairly easy to do so. Just drop prices. The ones that don't probably waited too long to blow out their cabins. Seven day Alaska cruises have been at rock bottom prices at HAL, Princess, and NCL for the past few years. We live in the area and watch prices. The ships might be sailing full but don't confuse that with sailing full at full retail so to speak. It is not happening. We have experienced and taken advantage of this in the Caribbean (numerous times), Alaska, Europe (numerous times), and Australia NZ on most cruise lines. The only area we have no has been Asia where we have preferred to do land tours rather than cruise.

 

Why be loyal to any cruise line when there are so many opportunities out there to take advantage of? Why would we pay 30 percent more for a Celebrity trip when we could get the same Princess or HAL trip on an acceptable (to us) ship for thirty percent less? We do the same with hotels and air. This approach enables us to travel much more frequently.

Edited May 12, 2017 by iancal

[Hlitner]

When reading Lancal"s last post I had a thought (very rare). None of the mass market cruise lines are anything special...these days. All have cut back, nickel and dime, etc. We no longer look to cruise a particular cruise line and are OK with any of the mass market lines. So, like Lancal, we keep an eye open for those last minute great deals. But we also book some cruises further in advance when there is an itinerary of great interest. Between HAL, Celebrity and Princess with are pretty ambivalent and its about itinerary and price. RCI has dropped off our radar for many reasons, but we would consider them for a longer repo cruise. If we decide to go to a luxury line then we do get more choosy..as we expect a lot more for the extra money. We have a real problem booking expensive suites on the mass market lines because we just do not think they are worth all the extra money. If we want to spend those big bucks we prefer a luxury line where its more then just paying for a nicer cabin. The new concept of a ship within a ship is interesting, but you are still on a mass market ship where you are paying many times the price of others (in smaller cabins) for only a few extra amenities. NCLs Haven suites do interest us...but they are truly offering a ship within a ship since they provide a special sun deck, dining room, services, etc. Celebrity is now trying to duplicate some of that....but you are still going to have to fight the masses for a decent deck chair, seat at a bar, etc. We have tried some suites on the mass market lines and they were nice....but not worth the extra bucks. Especially when we consider that for a few more dollars we could be on Regent, Crystal, etc.

 

Hank

[cruzeluver]

We are loyal only to ourselves. We love bouncing between various lines. It keeps our cruising life interesting by getting to explore new lines, new ships, new itineraries, new cruise styles.

 

Put it this way, we have some very dear friends who are fiercely loyal to one line, won't even discuss sailing with someone else. They are fortunate to be able to take many cruises every year. Because of their loyalty they have sailed the same ships over and over and over again, repeating an itinerary over and over as well. They like the predictability of knowing what the ship will look and feel like. They enjoy seeing crew members they had met previously. They like knowing night one means prime rib will be on the menu and night four means lobster. In short, their line feels like "home" and that is how they want it. And I say, more power to them. But I would hate the predictability.

[Tatka]

I still see some points that distinguish lines from others. Main is ambiance, service, quality of food. They are not the same among massmarket lines. We would gladly have more cruises with Princess and Celebrity. Unfortunately they don't sail from places we sail the most, so we pick what is convenient.

We don't care much about prices as we book insides (we go on cruises not to be in our room) and there is no huge difference between inside pricing.

[MicCanberra]

I do like a particular line and ship as it does feel like coming home but it is a cruise ship after all. There is no cleaning, cooking, stress, there is served drinks and meals as I please. Nothing at all like home.:)