Who has switched their primary cruise line?

[reustmd]

Lots of things can cause someone to switch to a new cruise line (sure you may vary lines, but we all have our primary goto line). Sometimes your tastes/priorities change. Sometimes the line your prefer makes cutbacks or other changes.

 

I've done 5+ RCCL cruises at this point and starting to consider trying out other lines because I feel as though service and food quality has declined. The newer ships are neat, and the entertainment is still solid, but I'm getting a smidge older and looking for a more consistent level of service on a quieter ship at this point.

 

I'm not asking what line I should choose, rather, I'm curious what has caused other folks to make the switch from one cruise line to another? What was falling short on your previously favorite line, and what line have you found to better meet your needs?

[LHT28]

we  went to smaller ships &  premium line

we do not want all the bells & whistles  & the noise that comes with them

prefer less people, few children, no formal nights  quiet ambiance

 

we like Oceania  it suits our needs 

 

Hope you find  a line  that works for you

 

[wwcruisers]

46 minutes ago, reustmd said:

 

I've done 5+ RCCL cruises at this point and starting to consider trying out other lines because I feel as though service and food quality has declined. The newer ships are neat, and the entertainment is still solid, but I'm getting a smidge older and looking for a more consistent level of service on a quieter ship at this point.

 

You sound just like myself and my DH, eight years ago. After seven years of exclusively sailing with RC, we decided that it was time for a change. The ships were getting bigger and bigger -- with more bells & whistles. At the same time, things that were important to us, like food and entertainment, were slipping. It was also clear to us that the line was going more for a 'family crowd', with lots of space devoted to things that didn't interest us. So, we made the move to Celebrity. It was a more elegant and mature experience -- with the focus on the little things that attracted to us about cruising, to begin with.

One post-script: We are in the process of contemplating our first 'family' cruise (with a 3-year-old) -- so, it will definitely be 'Back to Royal' for that one!

 

[sverigecruiser]

 

We cruised on NCL but now their suites are not worth the price.

 

MSCs Yacht Club offer a much better value for our money.

[Capt_BJ]

 but we all have our primary goto line

 

no "we" don't

[zqvol]

5 hours ago, reustmd said:

Lots of things can cause someone to switch to a new cruise line (sure you may vary lines, but we all have our primary goto line). . . .

 

Primary go to line? I don't think so. Most of us cruise on whatever lines offers us the best value for our money at any given time.

[sparks1093]

3 minutes ago, zqvol said:

 

Primary go to line? I don't think so. Most of us cruise on whatever lines offers us the best value for our money at any given time.

This. I am loyal to my wallet. 

[Hlitner]

In my cruise world (with over 45 years of extensive cruise experience) there is no such thing as a "primary" cruise line.  To us, any cruise line is only as good as its current product.  I say this because those of us who have cruised for a long time, with many different cruise lines, are well aware that cruise lines are constantly reinventing themselves.  I will give you a very good example.  When we first started cruising in the 70s, we did many cruises on RCCL (now RCI).  Our favorite ship, at the time, was the Sun Viking which was an 18,500 ton ship that carried over 800 passengers!   In the dining room the waiters would often wear white gloves and serve sides from silver serving bowls/trays.  Our favorite waiter (Gary Branch) would cut open our baked potato and spoon-in all the toppings.  Sitmar lines (later bought-out by Princess) would cook pasta, tableside, every evening!  Midnight buffets were huge and happened every night of the cruise with even larger gala buffets once a cruise.  Drink prices were much cheaper then on land, excursions were priced to sell, and port experts/lecturers were honest brokers and not just shills for the onboard excursion offices.

 

The cruise lines today are just a shadow of what they were even a decade ago.  In fact, one of our favorite cruise lines, Celebrity, has cut-back so many things (both big and small) that they have managed to move from the top of our personal list to near bottom!  Princess, a line which we enjoyed for many years, once lost favor with us for several years.  But  they apparently realized the error of their ways, made some changes, and is again high on our list.  Probably the most exciting development for us is the recent appearance of new cruise lines such as Viking and Virgin and the tremendous expansion of MSC which may soon be the largest brand (they are expected to have about 29 ships within the next 6 years).

 

Those that are into this "loyalty" thing to a particular cruise line are simply limiting their options.  DW and I have spent more then 1000 days on cruise ships (this is really nothing compared to many others we have met on cruises) and are as excited about cruising today as we were forty years ago!  For those that find they are growing bored with cruising (we see posts like that on CC and have heard the complaints on cruises) we simply say, that the cruise industry is anything but boring, but there are some cruisers who are simply boring people :).  Doing the same thing over and over again and being bored reflects on that person, not the cruise lines.

 

Hank

[navybankerteacher]

It’s not so much a matter of switching from a favorite line (which used to be HAL) - rather it’s one of largely switching away from cruising as a preferred activity.  Yes, we still occasionally cruise - but now more for the transportation than the on-board experience, which has been kind of trashed by the growth of ships to absurd sizes and the erosion of service and food.

 

 

[MCC retired]

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

 

Primary go to line? I don't think so. Most of us cruise on whatever lines offers us the best value for our money at any given time.

 100% agree . Never had a Primary Cruise Line . Enjoy the different experiences of each and book by itinerary and value .

[reustmd]

2 hours ago, Capt_BJ said:

 but we all have our primary goto line

 

no "we" don't

 

Haha, OK. Got me! Tis sorta funny how many folks went out of their way to clarify that my question doesn't apply to them 🙂

 

I hear you folks that don't have a primary line. There's a ton of options these days, and I've always found cruise loyalty programs to be fairly mediocre.

 

Anywho, I'd love to keep hearing from folks that have traditionally leaned towards one line and then shifted towards another.

[mo&fran]

When we started cruising on a regular basis, we cruised Celebrity.  I cruised once a year (Trans Atlantic) while DW also did a winter cruise on Royal. Then, just when i retired, we did a TA on Navigator and loved the bigger ship. We were Elite on X so we were D on Royal right from that first cruise. Now we cruise multiple times a year, mostly B2B,  I looked back at X occasionally,   but there are so many more ships to choose from with Royal, I see no reason to switch.  We now cruise just to cruise,  rarely get off in ports, we just enjoy being on the ships. And , the D+ benefits suit us just fine, it is kind of like icing on the cake.

 The TA's gave us a wonderful way to see a lot of places around the Med, but I was a lot more mobile back then, and really enjoyed seeing places like London, Paris, Rome and a lot more.

 I enjoy the bigger ships because they seem a lot less crowded , yes there are a lot more people, but there is even more space. I get a kick out of people calling the Royal Promenade a mall at see, i say so what, do I really care.; No.  

 I will stick with Royal, it works for me.

Edited November 27, 2018 by mo&fran

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

It’s not so much a matter of switching from a favorite line (which used to be HAL) - rather it’s one of largely switching away from cruising as a preferred activity.  Yes, we still occasionally cruise - but now more for the transportation than the on-board experience, which has been kind of trashed by the growth of ships to absurd sizes and the erosion of service and food.

 

 

We do agree with some of what you say when it comes to the erosion of service and food on the mass market lines (including HAL).  But there are plenty of smaller ship cruise lines with both great service and food.  But one has to be willing to pay for the price.  Our first European cruise was in the early 80s and we paid about $100 per person/day for a tiny outside cabin with no balcony.  Now, over thirty years later we can find cruises for not much more money where we get a larger cabin and balcony.  In terms of real dollars $100 in the early 80s is worth about  $250 today.   We recently took a 10 day cruise on the gorgeous Regal Princess from NYC to Ft Lauderale which cost us about $1800 (total including fees and taxes) for 2.  We also got $450 in OBC  putting the cost of that cruise at about $70 a passenger day...and this in a deluxe balcony cabin on a beautiful new vessel.  If we want small ships (we also prefer small ships) we can book Seabourn, Oceania, Azamara, etc etc.  

 

The industry has expanded in a major way and there is a ship and quality to suit almost any taste.  But on HAL we have met many cruisers who are very set in their ways with HAL (they do not want to even try other lines) but yet complain that HAL has dropped their standards (true).  But there is a big world beyond HAL...in fact there are about 300 other cruise ships that do not belong to HAL 🙂

 

Hank

[CanobieFan]

All my sailings have been on the same line.. But I'm for sure open to trying other lines if the price was good or the itinerary was what I wanted. So for now I've only done Royal.. But I've looked into both Disney and NCL.

[GUT2407]

Well, we mainly sail Princess for a few reasons, but if Celebrity offered more option to and from Sydney they could well take over.

[robtruman]

FYI, Learned recently that HAL, Princess, and Carnival are all owned by the same corporation (company). I primarily book on princess because they offer veterans the best onboard cash incentive. Not to mention I have always been pretty satisfied with my experience on Princess.  

[GUT2407]

4 minutes ago, robtruman said:

FYI, Learned recently that HAL, Princess, and Carnival are all owned by the same corporation (company). I primarily book on princess because they offer veterans the best onboard cash incentive. Not to mention I have always been pretty satisfied with my experience on Princess.  

As are Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Azamara and a few more owned by another company.

 

add Cunard to your Carnival Corp list too.

 

they do it to be able to offer different styles of cruising to different demographics.

[rkacruiser]

Looking at my signature, it is easy to tell which cruise line is my favorite.  One can obviously see as well that I enjoy trying other cruise lines.  Why do I sail with others?  I do so for a different experience than what I find on HAL.  An old cliche, but one that I think is quite true:  "Variety is the spice of life."

 

When I first booked a Carnival cruise, a 6 day sailing from Fort Lauderdale on Carnival Freedom during Spring Break time, my friends thought I had lost my mind.  (A previous travel agent with whom I had worked for several years actually refused to book me on a Carnival cruise.  "You will not like it!")  I loved it!  I enjoyed it so much that I booked another Carnival cruise soon after my return home.

 

"Variety is the spice of life."

[robtruman]

1 minute ago, GUT2407 said:

As are Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Azamara and a few more owned by another company.

 

add Cunard to your Carnival Corp list too.

 

they do it to be able to offer different styles of cruising to different demographics.

Thanks, and I couldn't agree more, they are just trying to cover all of the demographics. Sounds like a sound business plan.

[OCruisers]

Sitmar was our favorite.  Only changed because Princess bought Sitmar and changed the names of the ships to Princess names.

While we still "sleep around" from time to time on other cruise lines, Princess is the best fit for us so is our "go to" cruise line.  

[jocap]

We sailed with three different lines in our first year of cruising, solely for the itinerary. There are ships we prefer, but not lines, as the similarities are more than the differences.

Now we sail for the itinerary and ease of transport to the dock.

[Capt_BJ]

20 years ago cruise lines sought out 'repeat cruisers' ... if you had 5 cruises on the same line you were a god. At this time Disney would boast about their high number of repeat cruisers .....

 

Today I suspect 75%+ of the average cruise is repeat customers.  Look at RCL or Disney and see how many cruises you need to receive a significant perk .....

Edited November 27, 2018 by Capt_BJ

[iancal]

Like others we do not have a primary cruise line.  We have a few cruise lines that we prefer.  And in each of those cruise line fleets there are ships-some we prefer, others not.

 

Cannot imagine being married to one cruise line.  There are so many great ships out there in various cruise lines.  We do not want to limit our experiences.  We shop the the best overall value based on our preferences.

[Capt_BJ]

Anywho, I'd love to keep hearing from folks that have traditionally leaned towards one line and then shifted towards another.

 

Over the years I've gravitated to a different type of cruising ... an evolution

 

in the beginning I did what I could afford - Costa, Commodore and NCL

 

as time went on what I could afford changed - Windstar Princess

 

Introduce kids to the equation - Disney

 

older kids family cruising - RCCL

 

kids gone - Viking and Cunard

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, OCruisers said:

Sitmar was our favorite.  Only changed because Princess bought Sitmar and changed the names of the ships to Princess names.

While we still "sleep around" from time to time on other cruise lines, Princess is the best fit for us so is our "go to" cruise line.  

 

I was aboard Sitmar Fairwind at the time that Princess acquired the Line.  We sailed from Port Everglades as a Sitmar ship and returned as a Princess ship.

 

Princess changed the ships' names and their exterior paint decor.  Princess also "learned" some of the "best practices of Sitmar's".  I think such benefits the Princess cruise experience today.