Best ship and itinerary you have cruised

[smd8z]

I'm curious what everyone's favorite ship and itinerary has been and why. We have only cruised twice (one Disney and one NCL) and would love to hear everyone's opinions! 

[MicCanberra]

IMO, the best ship was the QM2, it is actually a ocean Liner and has many awesome features that cruise ships do not.

My favourite ship is the Celebrity Solstice, best cruise was Antarctica on the Celebrity Infinity.

[iancal]

Crystal Symphony.  Med cruise.   Absolutely fabulous in every possible way.  

 

Second place....Celebrity Solstice class-Equinox and Solstice in the Med.

[slidergirl]

My absolute favorite was the Nile Adventurer in 2009 (I think) for my trip down the Nile with Adventure Women.  There were only 14 of us plus another group of 20 from Great Britain.  The ship was just out of a multi-million dollar refurb.  It only has capacity for 65 anyway.  Pool and open-air cabanas on the top deck. If I wasn't out and about, you could always find me laying on one the cabana daybeds!   Great sun patio deck on another level.  The chef had just won the "best on the Nile" competition and his food was excellent.  He have us a cooking class one night.  Good wine list and good bartender.  One crewmember for every 5 guests.   We had a private dock at each stop, so we didn't have to tether to other boats and walk through them like the rest of the boats.  They met us back at the dock each afternoon with cold towels and a different tasty beverage.  

 

Spoiled me forever. 

[SRQbeachgirl]

Best ship was Carnival Magic, because we like that size ship and the ample outdoor space. 

 

Best itinerary was out of San Juan to Guadeloupe, Grenada, Aruba, Curacao, and Caracas (back in the 90's when cruise ships still visited Venezuela).

[navybankerteacher]

Unlikely for the two to coincide.  My favorite ship was Prinsendam and my favorite itinerary was a TA coming home from family visit in England - on Celebrity (I  forget the ship) from Harwich - with stops in France, Spain, mainland Portugal, Madeira - to Miami - followed by sleeper train north to New York.

[taglovestocruise]

Favorite ships hands down Oasis Class. Best itinerary was Valparaiso Chile to Los Angeles with stops in Chile, Peru, Columbia, Costa Rica and Mexico on Mariner of the Seas.. 

[TNcruising02]

My favorite ship for the layout is RCL Liberty of the Seas.   I don't have a favorite itinerary, but my favorite port was St Thomas. I remember looking out at the ocean from a high point on land and it was so beautiful that I thought it was like a glimpse of heaven.  It was just one of those moments I will always remember.  I've had a lot of fun at many different ports and love the variety, but St Thomas stands out.  Someday I really want to do a Mediterranean cruise. 

[lenquixote66]

Celebrity Silhouette to anywhere

[Bizmark'sMom]

Favorite ship -- Sea Cloud II.  She is simply gorgeous, and the service aboard is unbeatable.

 

Favorite itinerary so far -- Western Greenland and Arctic Canada with Lindblad. It started and ended in Iceland (chartered flights), which gave us opportunities for more exploring.  Walking up a rise and almost running into Muskoxen.  Watching polar bears play on the sea ice (from the safety of the ship). The captain actually beached us at one point so we could really watch a mamma polar bear with 2 Cubs. Talking with Inuit in Canada and Greenland...  It was an absolutely awe-inspiring trip. 

[mom says]

Favourite ship is definitely QM2. She is one classy lady. 

Favorite itinerary was our last one, a B2B on Celebrity Constellation that took us from Abu Dhabi all the way to Shanghai, with stops in the UAE, Oman, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand,  Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong. We're already planning a couple of land trips based on what we saw on that cruise. It was fascinating.

Edited April 2, 2019 by mom says

[MicCanberra]

Nice one.

[marco]

We pretty much enjoy ANY cruise we're on.  Favorite ship is HAL Noordam.  Favorite itinerary is pretty much any European river cruise (we've been on 7).

[ontheweb]

Favorite itinerary was a Baltic cruise we did for our 30th anniversary, Copenhagen to Copenhagen with the ports of Stockholm, Oslo, Gdynia for Gdansk, Talinn, Estonia (a real gem), St. Petersburg, and Helsinki. 

 

Not sure what to say for favorite ship---maybe the former Ocean Princess on which we did a British Isles cruise, a wonderful small ship.

[Hlitner]

That is a tough question since we have been on an awful lot of cruises all over the world.  But one of our favorites would be the Grand Mediterranean cruise on HAL's Prinsendam (soon to be history) which was a 62 day round trip voyage from Ft Lauderdale.  Having been to 6 continents (we have not set foot on Antarctica) we think that the Med is the best region of the world for cruise ships.  And when you couple that with two "crossings" which avoid the need for International air, it is hard to beat.  2nd Place would be all of our cruises in Asia.

 

Hank 

[George C]

Hard question after over 60 cruises, but we loved our 12 day brilliance cruise from Barcelona with 5 stops in Italy and also the amazing ports of kotor and Dubrovnik. We love rccl navigator great size not to big or to small. 

[whogo]

Tough choice, but our 2016 Mediterranean/transatlantic cruise on Prinsendam would at least tie for first, great itinerary, lovely ship, fine fellow cruisers. Shame that Holland America dropped the Turkish ports, we still have not made it to Istanbul or Ephesus.

 

DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART

Thu Oct 20 Athens (Piraeus), Greece 7:00pm

Fri Oct 21 At Sea

Sat Oct 22 Larnaca, Cyprus 8:00am 4:00pm

Sun Oct 23 Jerusalem / Tel Aviv (Ashdod), Israel 7:00am 9:00pm

Mon Oct 24 Haifa, Israel 8:00am 8:00pm

Tue Oct 25 At Sea

Wed Oct 26 Rhodes, Greece (original port Marmaris, Turkey) 8:00am 6:00pm

Thu Oct 27 Santorini, Greece (original port Ephesus / Kusadasi, Turkey) 8:00am 6:00pm

Fri Oct 28 Crete (Heraklion), Greece 10:00am 6:00pm

Sat Oct 29 At Sea

Sun Oct 30 Valletta, Malta 8:00am

Mon Oct 31 Valletta, Malta 8:00am

Mon Oct 31 Mgarr (Victoria), Malta 10:00am 6:00pm

Tue Nov 1 Messina, Sicily, Italy 8:00am 5:00pm

Wed Nov 2 Naples (Capri), Italy 8:00am 6:00pm

Thu Nov 3 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 7:00am 4:00pm

Fri Nov 4 At Sea

Sat Nov 5 Barcelona, Spain 7:00am 5:00pm

Sun Nov 6 Cartagena, Spain Noon 6:00pm

Mon Nov 7 Malaga, Spain 8:00am 6:00pm

Tue Nov 8 Seville, Spain 7:00am 5:00pm

Wed Nov 9 Lisbon, Portugal 10:00am 8:00pm

Thu Nov 10 At Sea

Fri Nov 11 Funchal, Madeira, Portugal 7:00am 4:00pm

Sat Nov 12 At Sea

Sun Nov 13 At Sea

Mon Nov 14 At Sea

Tue Nov 15 At Sea

Wed Nov 16 At Sea

Thu Nov 17 At Sea

Fri Nov 18 At Sea

Sat Nov 19 Fort Lauderdale, FL 7:00am

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

Best "ship" was a 60 foot Lagoon Cat charter. 

 

Seriously though, we like the overall ambiance of the small Oceania "R" ships (<700 passengers), all of which are currently in rotation for total makeovers. But, the "larger" (<1100 passenger) "O" ships offer more options (e.g., Cooking School, Jacques, etc). And, we're looking forward to the launch of Oceania's two new Allura class ships.

As for itinerary: TransPacific 38 days. Sydney to L.A. incl. NZ, S. Pacific, Polynesia, Hawaii and 18 great sea days.

[Texas Tillie]

Crystal Symphony 18 days Santiago (Valparaiso) to Buenos Aires including 3 days sailing off Antarctica and walking among the penguins on the Falklands.

[calliopecruiser]

My favourite ship is Crystal Symphony, and my favourite itinerary was San Diego to Auckland, with a single stop in Hawaii.  Over 15 days at sea, and it allowed me to spend an additional 10 days in New Zealand afterwards. 

[FredT]

Best ship was the Star Clippers Royal Clipper. (DESIGNED as a cruise ship... Built as an honest sailing vessel.) 

Best trip was a HAL trip on the Veendam to Antarctica.  (EVERYTHING went perfectly, even when it did not, extra days cruising Antarctica, extra time in Port Stanley, etc etc...)  

[Heidi13]

Favourite ship was SS Oriana, doing South Pacific cruising out of Sydney. 

 

2nd favourite ship was MV Sun Princess (Spirit of London) doing trans-canal every 2 weeks.

[jocap]

Favourite itinerary was one we'd searched for, for a long time- just Iceland, with no side trips to Norway, Shetlands etc. I saw much of what I'd always desired, and will probably return on a land trip. The ship, Fred Olsen's Balmoral, was old and comfortable, but you wouldn't go on her for the items found on vast ships. 

Favourite ship is P&O's Ventura, which is the same build as any of Princess Grand Class ships. We probably like her because we spend a lot of time on her, as she does long trips from the UK to the Caribbean, USA and back again... but she fulfils all our needs better than any other ship which we've tried.

[Aquahound]

Favorite itinerary - Embark in Venice (overnight), cruise Croatia, Greek Islands, Sicily, Rome, Naples, Livorno, disembark in Barcelona.  

 

Favorite ship - Celebrity Solstice and Eclipse (Solstice Class)

[Velvetwater]

 

Best itinerary was a full Panama transit Florida to California (Stopping n the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Columbia, Mexico and Panama).The best ship was the Celebrity Equinox.

 

My Husband's favourite itinerary was our recent Singapore to Brisbane cruise (Stopping in Indonesia and Timor Leste) and his favourite ship was the refurbed Norwegian Jade.

Edited April 3, 2019 by Velvetwater