What's more important to you, a better ship or a better itinerary?

[Stockjock]

I've been looking at a few interesting itineraries, but on MSC's oldest ships.  I've also seen some not quite as interesting, but on a newer ship.

Even though I like to explore new places, I'm hesitant to do so on their older ships.

Thus the question, what is more important to you, a better, newer ship or a superior itinerary on an older ship?

[Best Cat Mom]

We enjoy new itineraries, but we would not settle for MSC's oldest ships, since they do not have a Yacht Club. As long as there is a YC, we'll sail an interesting itinerary. We don't even mind the ships with the YC restaurant "disconnected" from the rest of the YC area (the Fantasia-class ships).

[RD64]

My vote - the interesting itinerary would be the deciding factor.

[JT1962]

Interesting itinerary over newer ship every time. 

[peder]

We only book at the intersection of both newer ship + interesting itinerary

Edited March 6, 2023 by peder

[Stockjock]

4 minutes ago, peder said:

We only book at the intersection of both newer ship + interesting itinerary

I prefer that, when I ca find it.

[peder]

6 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

I prefer that, when I ca find it.

We're limited in total number of vacation days and timeframes that we can take per year, so we wouldn't prioritize an "average" cruise (and I hate to use that term) over other vacation types/destinations. But it's a great time for us to get into cruises when there's a million new ships coming online at the same time, and not all of them solely fill cookie-cutter itineraries.

 

Also, I'd say that "interesting" itinerary is really subjective and based on a lot of factors. For instance, we chose a cruise itinerary based on an embarkation location that would allow us to do a "sea to sky" type of sea+land vacation. So for us, that's really interesting, even if it's not optimal in terms of each port stop.

Edited March 6, 2023 by peder

[ready2cruzagain]

That is a hard question!  We usually don't get off of the ship because we have been to all the ports in the Caribbean and we only sail the Caribbean. Last month our cruise was 11 days and we only got off of the ship at Ocean Cay.

 

We won't sail on anything older than the Divina and that is getting iffy. I prefer the ships with the newer spas.  Wish Divina had one but nope.  The only reason we are sailing on her next time is because of a better itinerary.  

 

We are getting tired of the same ole ports that MSC has for the Caribbean.  After our next cruise not sure what we will do. Might have to do a land vacation. MSC really needs to get some better itineraries.

[LiquidWu]

I try to take advantage of each cruise line depending on my reason for travelling.
For recreational cruises in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, the ship is more important to me and so the MSC YC is the first choice.
If a destination is important to me, then I prefer Celebrity's shore immersion cruises, for example. In my opinion, the AquaClass offers a good price/performance ratio.
If I'm in the mood for partying, both are unsuitable and I'd rather book a short trip with Carnival or AIDA.

I could go on and on, my reasons for choosing a cruise are so different and my tastes have also changed over time.

[sverigecruiser]

 

The ship is more important than the itinerary if the lenght of the cruise is the same.

 

In the Caribbean we prefer a longer cruise even if it's on an older ship but YC is a must on MSC. 10 days on for example Divina is better than 7 days on for example Meraviglia.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Easy i think to answer for my family.

Ship: newer and more fun if our daughter 9yr comes along.

 

Itinerary if its just myself and wife. 

 

As we always cruise with our daughter for now its the ships. 

[perakcruiser]

For Non-YC travellers the absence of the YC on the Musica- and Lirica-Class is a huge advantage. But I love all ship classes from MSC, in the end it is only Itinerary and price. But I also want to sail the World Europa, if the price is right, I don´t care about the (probably very boring Med) itinerary here.

[Gatordad1967]

5 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

That is a hard question!  We usually don't get off of the ship because we have been to all the ports in the Caribbean and we only sail the Caribbean. Last month our cruise was 11 days and we only got off of the ship at Ocean Cay.

 

We won't sail on anything older than the Divina and that is getting iffy. I prefer the ships with the newer spas.  Wish Divina had one but nope.  The only reason we are sailing on her next time is because of a better itinerary.  

 

We are getting tired of the same ole ports that MSC has for the Caribbean.  After our next cruise not sure what we will do. Might have to do a land vacation. MSC really needs to get some better itineraries.

agreed.  Not a big fan of their western caribbean itiniaries, and eatern skips st. thomas and maarten.  hope they get some better eastern ones.  

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Ship over itinerary - at least in the Caribbean. Ask me again when we start branching out closer to/after retirement, as I'd need to be away for at least 2-3 weeks to enjoy interesting (more distant) itineraries.

 

Tom

[styles27]

Itinerary and we prefer the older ships on every cruise line

[Two Wheels Only]

Ship (or ship class) first then the better of the (usually) 2 itineraries. 

 

Sometimes I just have to take what I can get as far as itinerary because of school schedules but there's also the factor of port of departure. For example, if I can choose between Sea**** leaving from Miami or Sea**** leaving from Port Canaveral, I'll leave from Port Canaveral since it's a much shorter drive for me. 

 

I no longer do older ships....I tend to book ships when they're under construction or even earlier when possible. 🤪 

[Stockjock]

4 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

For Non-YC travellers the absence of the YC on the Musica- and Lirica-Class is a huge advantage. But I love all ship classes from MSC, in the end it is only Itinerary and price. But I also want to sail the World Europa, if the price is right, I don´t care about the (probably very boring Med) itinerary here.

Why do you feel the absence of YC on the older ships is a huge advantage for non-YC passengers?

BTW, we have a good sized 1 bedroom suite (not YC) on World Europa later this year and I'm looking forward to checking out their new ship.  It looks pretty interesting to me.  I'm also interested in the new specialty dining venues.

[Morgsmom]

We are squarely in the camp of "please expand your Caribbean itineraries!" as we don't bother getting off (unless it's Ocean Cay) anymore.  I actually prefer the Divina - don't need the waterslides and bells and whistles of the larger ships.  

[Newleno]

Interesting thread, Recently took Splendida due to itinerary, was unaware there was virtually no sport activities, it would be hard to take that ship again with a bad itinerary cause not much else to do.  We took a cruise on an old Holland America ship with 2 nights in downtown Tokyo, a newer ship would have never made it under the bridge.  We also took one of the brand new ships of NCL from RIO to Florida with no stops after the Brazilian Olympics, a lot of fun because there was plenty to do on board.

[Stockjock]

30 minutes ago, Newleno said:

Interesting thread, Recently took Splendida due to itinerary, was unaware there was virtually no sport activities, it would be hard to take that ship again with a bad itinerary cause not much else to do.  We took a cruise on an old Holland America ship with 2 nights in downtown Tokyo, a newer ship would have never made it under the bridge.  We also took one of the brand new ships of NCL from RIO to Florida with no stops after the Brazilian Olympics, a lot of fun because there was plenty to do on board.

We did Japan out of Shanghai maybe 4-5 years ago.  It was probably the most interesting, and surprising, cruise/trip I have been on.  I still have at least 5 years left on my 10 year China Visa, but not sure I'll use it within that time span.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Stockjock

[perakcruiser]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

Why do you feel the absence of YC on the older ships is a huge advantage for non-YC passengers?

Your movement is not limited to 2/3 of the ship. You can sit down on a deck chair and look forward, something the modern ships do not allow 90% of their guests anymore. More and more I feel that the older ships have more character and give me a better cruise "feeling". 

[Newleno]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

We did Japan out of Shanghai maybe 4-5 years ago.  It was probably the most interesting, and surprising, cruise/trip I have been on.  I still have at least 5 years left on my 10 year China Visa, but not sure I'll use it within that time span.

Yes the same Holland cruise we had 2 nights in Shanghai, the first day we were the first off the ship, went straight to the airport to fly (2 1/2 hours flight) to Xian to see the terracotta warriors and flew back the same day, and still had one day left for Shanghai, hmm now where is my old passport with the Chinese Visa I think I still have a few years left.  The older ships seem to have bigger rooms, more older ships have a full promenade deck.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Newleno

[rikitikitavii]

21 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I've been looking at a few interesting itineraries, but on MSC's oldest ships.  I've also seen some not quite as interesting, but on a newer ship.

Even though I like to explore new places, I'm hesitant to do so on their older ships.

Thus the question, what is more important to you, a better, newer ship or a superior itinerary on an older ship?

We were on MSC Sinfonia for an April 2019 Mediterranean cruise. We really enjoyed the smaller ship, even though it didn’t have all the bells and whistles as the newer ships.  

[Ryan82]

I think its a bit of both. I like the newer ships and from photos anything before the Fantasia class looks a bit dated. That said if the itinerary was right I wouldn't care.