Considering a more luxurious cruise line but not when I read the reviews.

[navybankerteacher]

31 minutes ago, mnocket said:

Sorry, I should have noted that price is for 2 pax in a balcony.

So that is about $500 per person per day for superior accommodations on a ship providing a superior experience. 

 

We we are looking forward to a QM2 sailing  costing about $250 per person/day - not up to Crystal standards, perhaps, but dates, itinerary, convenient embarkation port combine to make it a bargain.   Fasnkly, we have largely given up on anything in the $100-$200 per person per day range - too close to a Staten Island ferry sort of experience.

[getting older slowly]

Also another thing to consider... is the feel of the cruise line...... some are formal .. others relaxed...

 

Some your feel right a home...... others not...

 

Luxury is different things to different people.... Have been a  luxury resort ( 20 rooms ) and it was very laid back.... service and food amazing..... even had our own chef for one night cooking us a special dinner... yes it felt like we were royalty..

 

But we are happy cruising with Princess at the moment...... we may try an up market line.... we will see

 

Cheers Don    

[cruisemom42]

9 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

The more you pay for something the higher your expectations .

 

There is definitely something in this. I think negative reviews for the more upscale lines tend to loosely cluster into two groups:

 

-- One group have been cruising the line (or other luxury lines) for a while and are unhappy with what they perceive as diminutions in value/cutbacks that make the experience less enjoyable than it was initially.

 

-- However, another group are those that have cruised mass market lines and go "upscale" on a higher-priced line expecting that they will be in a sort of Nirvana that is close to their wildest dreams. With those sort of expectations, the line almost inevitably falls short and this group is left wondering what they paid "all that extra" for.

 

One thing I know for sure from talking to officers and staff over years of cruising is that traveling on smaller ships costs more per person. Even if the food, cabin size, bedding, crew to passenger ratio, and everything else is just the same as on a large ship, it will cost a fair amount more to sail on a small one --- economies of scale. Also,  some of the differences are a matter of degrees -- such as a higher spend per passenger per day on food that is not distinguishable to everyone. 

 

[Heidi13]

13 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

One thing I know for sure from talking to officers and staff over years of cruising is that traveling on smaller ships costs more per person. Even if the food, cabin size, bedding, crew to passenger ratio, and everything else is just the same as on a large ship, it will cost a fair amount more to sail on a small one --- economies of scale. Also,  some of the differences are a matter of degrees -- such as a higher spend per passenger per day on food that is not distinguishable to everyone. 

 

Exactly, as on most modern cruise ships, the basic watchkeeping manning levels are the same regardless of the ship size. Most ships have double watchkeepers on the Bridge & E/R, plus Captain, Staffy, Ch/Eng & Staff Engineer. These are fixed costs which on small ships are paid by 500 - 1,000 pax, whereas on mega ships they are paid by 5,000+ pax.

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 10/20/2019 at 3:32 AM, LHT28 said:

Not sure what feeling in heaven means  when cruising ??

We are trying Crystal   this year

We are not high maintenance   we do not need  a top suite or balcony

so sailing in an Ocean view  & no where near $1000 a day

 

We did our first luxury cruise last year on Crystal and loved it. We did have a balcony but it was well under $1000 a day. In fact just over $600 per day for the two of us, plus we ended up with enough OBC to pay for all of our excursions and a few other minor onboard costs. We enjoyed it so much we have another Crystal cruise booked for next year.

[clo]

On 10/19/2019 at 7:40 PM, ldubs said:

 

Very good advice, IMO.   I read something similar a long time ago and thought it made a lot of sense.  Who knows, maybe it was you saying it back then too.   Haha

Well, not on ONE person's advice but definitely on some.