Picking New Cruises???

[deep1]

Curious, what goes in to your choosing a cruise?

Ex wife chose cruises based on partying. Both the ship and the destinations were picked that way. 

Early on, I picked cruises  kind of last minute based on an overly stuffed work schedule... Frequently short they were "getaways" . 

More recently a combo of bigger ship and cruise length coming into play. 

Now: As I near  pseudo retirement lots of factors playing. Itineraries  that either my Fiance' or myself haven't done. Eastern , Western, Southern Caribbean need another round. I've done Alaska but she hasn't and thats high on the list. Trans Atlantic  to Rome and maybe a b2b med adventure from there? Trans Pacific Tahitti on the bucket list. (If any way to sneak in side run to Bora Bora  thats in play as well) .  All if these I'm doing for Itinerary first but also selecting larger ships... So ..... Im kinda all over the place on what goes into my decisions... You? 

[mamie]

We are new to cruising so we base it off ship and ports.  

[deep1]

I'm curious as to some of the more "creative" ways... Flipping a coin, drawing lots, throwing darts at a list.... C'mon we have some colorful people in this group, I'd like to hear ideas off the beaten path... 

 

[dcr50usa]

if its a group of folks together, just everybody puts a cruise in the hat then draw and go the point being is the fellowship doing something together that everybody loves doing.

[deep1]

1 hour ago, dcr50usa said:

if its a group of folks together, just everybody puts a cruise in the hat then draw and go the point being is the fellowship doing something together that everybody loves doing.

Thats kind of how my friends from South Africa used to do it. Draw for the winner... They decided asa group what length trip, what time of year and what departure port then put all the ones that fit that criteria in a hat or bucket and drew... They then fashioned a sight seeing trup around the dates of the cruise. Almost always they started in New York then Florida where they would leave foor the cruise then come back and tour somewhere else. A couple times they even did two cruises...

 

 

[JennaRCB]

Because I'm filming ship tours for the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube channel we tend to pick the most in-demand ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet.

However, when I am searching for a cruise myself or picking an itinerary, I tend to look for the one that visits the most unique destinations! I'm super excited to visit Greece & the Adriatic this summer because every port stop will be somewhere I have never been before, which is more exciting to me than visiting the same place multiple times.

[teddy]

We like to do a “bucket list” cruise every year….for 2023 it’s Italy/Adriatic and for 2024 the ABC Islands. 
 

After that, we like to book an additional cruise to get away in the middle of winter. For these, our goal is to go to warmer temps and enjoy doing absolutely nothing, so the destination isn’t important.

A couple times we’ve found it cheaper to book a 3N/4N back to back even if they just do Nassau/CocoCay.   This is what we’re doing in Feb 2023. 
 

[bobroo]

Helpful tip: Don't chase points, chase experiences

 

You'll be grateful to have become a better human being way, way more than having achieved a tier of the Crown and Anchor Society.

[silenttuba]

We're going on our first cruise in a few weeks, and we picked it because it coincided with my work schedule (I'm a teacher, so my vacation time is pre-determined), and it leaves from Bayonne so I can take a cab to the cruise port and not have to fly anywhere. That was a HUGE selling point, honestly.

[deep1]

4 hours ago, bobroo said:

Helpful tip: Don't chase points, chase experiences

 

You'll be grateful to have become a better human being way, way more than having achieved a tier of the Crown and Anchor Society.

Funny you mention points... C+A managed to lose 14 years and about 40 points on me when I got divorced (friendly divorce) a few years ago. They looked for them and they are just gone  (My ex had same thing). No receipts or collected sea passes so we went from Emerald back to Gold. I do care a little that I had earned something I didn't get but in the end really doesn't matter. I don't drink so really only advantage I'd get as Diamond is being able to go to the cool kids lounge... 

[deep1]

Wow... I figured my Fiance's hot button. A TV show had an episode filmed in Alaska. I mentioned thats just what it looked like on a cruise....  Took about ten seconds to say "book it now"

[Moby Dick]

I/we have very little protocol to pick a cruise. We only:

1. Cruise on Quantum or Oasis class ships, only
2. Book well in advance, up to 2 years out
3. Ask ourselves, does the price seem like a good value and do we think the price will go down, from time to time, so we can use the price guarantee.
4. Our next cruise is to Alaska, but that's going to be the first time and last time.  So, we like the Caribbean, except Coz.  Been there too many times.
5. The northeast and Canada is on the table, but I don't remember seeing #1 above on those cruises.  

Other than that, everything is up to evaluate.  Once we do or eliminate 1 - 5, might as well put the cruises up on a dart board, blind fold us and toss the dart and see what sticks.  

[AshleyDillo]

12 minutes ago, jay1021 said:

The northeast and Canada is on the table, but I don't remember seeing #1 above on those cruises.

You may get lucky..we did a 9 night on Anthem to Canada/New England!

[Moby Dick]

8 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

You may get lucky..we did a 9 night on Anthem to Canada/New England!

We did the Anthem to Bermuda a few years ago.  Really like that ship.  I guess we will have to wait and see.  When was that?

 

[AshleyDillo]

6 minutes ago, jay1021 said:

We did the Anthem to Bermuda a few years ago.  Really like that ship.  I guess we will have to wait and see.  When was that?

August/September 2017..they alternated sailings with the Bermuda runs out of Bayonnne.

[Moby Dick]

6 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

August/September 2017..they alternated sailings with the Bermuda runs out of Bayonnne.

Yep, that's what we did.  One of the Port(s) of call on the Bermuda run was Boston.  Man, I like the history of that city, we did an all day tour of the city and surrounding historical sites.  I want to do it again.  Bermuda was great too.  Cheers!  <every pun intended

[KJ777]

We've based our cruise choice on where we haven't been yet.  We don't have a lot of cruises under our belt, only 3.  First time on Carnival (probably never again, not great) and the last 2 on RC.  Carnival was only Bahamas, and the last 2 RC cruises were Western Caribbean.  The last cruise we had a slightly different itinerary but due to weather issues ended up doing the exact same cruise as before.  Last time we cruised was 2016!  We're finally doing a longer cruise and ended to Eastern Caribbean on a 7 day (Harmony - May 15th).  But I like the idea of picking some place totally different next time and even pushing the cruise out (pay over time) to really get what we want.

[BrianB]

For me it's the embarkation port. I'm a short distance from Bayonne so it's an easy drive and park in the garage. I usually sail solo and I love the Anthem from NJ in the winter. So many enclosed spaces to escape the first and last days. Then, the Oasis in spring and fall. Even Adventure sailing from Bayonne in May. When I have family and friends sailing, we may do an Alaska...but most love the convenience of driving to and from Bayonne. I'm flying to Fort Lauderdale to try the Wonder next month...but I really like FLL and the convenience to the port. 

[barbeyg]

‘Everyday’ cruises, we look at ships sailing from all the ports we prefer, then look at itineraries and ship, and price JS and above. We then select based on a combination of ship, itinerary and price, with ship and price having the edge over itinerary. So for these, embarkation port, then ship, and itinerary/price, in that order.

For special sailings, like the retirement cruise we will be planning for 2024, we want to sail one way back from Europe, after spending a week to 10 days on land first.  We will only consider Quantum class, Oasis class, Icon class, and Celebrity Edge class.  Since we have whittled the choices down to those classes, we will choose the sailing based on itinerary first, then price for a JS or larger cabin.  For special longer sailings, class of ship, then itinerary, then price. 

 

[deep1]

2 hours ago, BrianB said:

For me it's the embarkation port. I'm a short distance from Bayonne so it's an easy drive and park in the garage. I usually sail solo and I love the Anthem from NJ in the winter. So many enclosed spaces to escape the first and last days. Then, the Oasis in spring and fall. Even Adventure sailing from Bayonne in May. When I have family and friends sailing, we may do an Alaska...but most love the convenience of driving to and from Bayonne. I'm flying to Fort Lauderdale to try the Wonder next month...but I really like FLL and the convenience to the port. 

We are doing Bayonne for that very reason this season. My main home is in Palm Beach Gardens so FLL ,MIA and Canaveral are all in easy range... 

 

[RWDW1204]

13 hours ago, jay1021 said:

I/we have very little protocol to pick a cruise. We only:

1. Cruise on Quantum or Oasis class ships, only.

Why only the big ships? What is it with the mid-, smaller ships that keeps you away? We've done 4 Oasis Class cruises already and we're doing our next few on Vision and Granduer for the iteneraries and hope we're not disappointed. 

[Ray]

Simple one for me! As many different countries as possible that i have not visited.

[barbeyg]

1 hour ago, RWDW1204 said:

Why only the big ships? What is it with the mid-, smaller ships that keeps you away? We've done 4 Oasis Class cruises already and we're doing our next few on Vision and Granduer for the iteneraries and hope we're not disappointed. 

I personally think every ship has something to offer. We’ve sailed Grandeur, Rhapsody, Jewel, Radiance, and a few other smaller ships.  We sailed Sovereign within the first year of her sailing, and I remember thinking she was the biggest ship I’d ever see!

While there isn’t as much to do on the smaller ships, they have their appeal, especially with sailing to ports that the larger ships don’t.  I hope you aren’t disappointed either. We never have been.

That said, for the transAtlantic we will be booking, we definitely want a larger ship because of the number of sea days onboard.  Lots more to do on all those days at sea. 

[jbrinkm]

Our process is not very exciting...

• We still have kids in school, so we first look at Royal cruises sailing during one of their breaks. We like Royal with kids, although we cruised Princess, Celebrity and Carnival before we had them.
• Then we try to price the whole thing out to start comparing - including flights. We like to go from Ft. Lauderdale and Miami because of (usually) lower cost flights and more options, but we'll also check out alternate ports, just in case. We're within easy driving distance of the NY/NJ/Baltimore ports but tend to not like those because we want to spend more time in warm sun when we've on vacation.
• If we find more than one that fits our date & price criteria, we think about the itinerary and what we want to do during the vacation, and choose between them. Et voila!

For our upcoming cruise, we first booked on a Radiance Class ship because the Oasis class ship we were eyeing was just too expensive. I had some small concern about the level of activities on the ship but it was a port-heavy cruise and I thought we wouldn't be on the ship enough for the kids to get bored if there weren't many other teens to hang out with or activities to do onboard. But then I started seeing all of the problems with island ports - this was back in January - and got really nervous that we'd be stuck on a ship that the kids would hate and took another look at our first option. I guess I got really lucky because the price on that one had come WAY down and we were able to get two connecting balcony rooms for the same price on the Oasis class as we paid for the two connecting balcony rooms on the Radiance Class (although the Radiance Class would have been for two additional days of cruising) and the ports on that one were not cancelling/changing at all. So it was an easy switch to make and I'm sure my teens will be very happy on our first Oasis class cruise!

We also alternate vacations - we usually only cruise every 3-4 years, when we want to go to the Caribbean, and take other vacations . We've done Disney/Universal and other places in the U.S., as well as land-based Europe trips, so the Caribbean cruise stops haven't gotten overdone for us and we're pretty much open to most cruises that fit the timing/pricing criteria.

[Moby Dick]

3 hours ago, RWDW1204 said:

Why only the big ships? What is it with the mid-, smaller ships that keeps you away? We've done 4 Oasis Class cruises already and we're doing our next few on Vision and Granduer for the iteneraries and hope we're not disappointed. 

I have vertigo and I get very dizzy easily.  There larger ships are much more stable in moderate to heavy seas.  Not perfect but better.  I almost always got a little to a lot sea sick on Brand X cruise line ships.  I've never even had a little sea sickness on a Quantum (to be totally honest, I don't think I've experienced heavy seas on a Quantum Class ship) or Oasis class ship and I've experienced some moderate seas on, at least Oasis Class ships.  No, I don't know for sure if vertigo has anything to do with my sea sickness.  But, I do know I don't get sick on Quantum and Oasis Class ships, YET/SO FAR!

Edited in:  BTW, I've tried almost all sea sickness meds, Ginger, patch, pressure point devices, and a few others.  No help.  Also, I go on a cruise to have fun, not sleep which is what most/many meds that work cause when you take them. 

[ckruetze]

The next Royal Caribbean cruise I have picked based on the cabin availability (ultimate family suite l) during school holidays. There wasn't much choice.

The one after that similar: cabin, school holidays and region (we wanted to include a perfect day)

[Cakemeister]

I pick by cost. 

[Moby Dick]

7 hours ago, BrianB said:

For me it's the embarkation port. I'm a short distance from Bayonne so it's an easy drive and park in the garage. I usually sail solo and I love the Anthem from NJ in the winter. So many enclosed spaces to escape the first and last days. Then, the Oasis in spring and fall. Even Adventure sailing from Bayonne in May. When I have family and friends sailing, we may do an Alaska...but most love the convenience of driving to and from Bayonne. I'm flying to Fort Lauderdale to try the Wonder next month...but I really like FLL and the convenience to the port. 

Yep, FLL and Port Everglades are very convenient to each other, Their property lines latterly touch each other's.  

[Jill]

I’ve been off Wonder for about 36 hours. Just booked her for May 2023. Same eastern Caribbean itinerary we’ve done a dozen times but we loved the ship and the port is only 2 hours away. 

[smokeybandit]

It really depends on a lot. We start with location (no repeats from the previous cruise) but then ship and cost quickly come into play

[Moby Dick]

14 hours ago, Jill said:

I’ve been off Wonder for about 36 hours. Just booked her for May 2023. Same eastern Caribbean itinerary we’ve done a dozen times but we loved the ship and the port is only 2 hours away. 

I'm looking for a new love.  I'm going to have to book a cruise on the Wonder and fall in love all over again.  Symphony, there's a new girl in town and I'm very interested in her.  

[Hharris1997]

On 3/23/2022 at 4:29 PM, deep1 said:

Curious, what goes in to your choosing a cruise?

Ex wife chose cruises based on partying. Both the ship and the destinations were picked that way. 

Early on, I picked cruises  kind of last minute based on an overly stuffed work schedule... Frequently short they were "getaways" . 

More recently a combo of bigger ship and cruise length coming into play. 

Now: As I near  pseudo retirement lots of factors playing. Itineraries  that either my Fiance' or myself haven't done. Eastern , Western, Southern Caribbean need another round. I've done Alaska but she hasn't and thats high on the list. Trans Atlantic  to Rome and maybe a b2b med adventure from there? Trans Pacific Tahitti on the bucket list. (If any way to sneak in side run to Bora Bora  thats in play as well) .  All if these I'm doing for Itinerary first but also selecting larger ships... So ..... Im kinda all over the place on what goes into my decisions... You? 

For me, more recently, I chose the Rome 7 day Western Mediterranean. It was more of a bucket list. All are on my list, but Rome was a if I die tomorrow.. which would I have wanted to see the most? Most of Italy is on my bucket list but I chose Rome based on the brand new ship, Wonder of the Seas. You get it all. Romantic city you can explore before and after your cruise. Wonders of the Seas is a brand new ship, great restaurants, lots to do off and on the ship. 

 

In the future, we might be more exciting and choose by picking out of a hat :).. for now if this is my last cruise I get to take

[Jill]

23 hours ago, jay1021 said:

I'm looking for a new love.  I'm going to have to book a cruise on the Wonder and fall in love all over again.  Symphony, there's a new girl in town and I'm very interested in her.  

Symphony who?  Seriously though, Wonder's Solarium blows Symphony's away. The new Vue bar is an awesome addition and I can't say enough good things about Mason Jar. Well except for the food, not exactly real "southern" food. My fried chicken was awful. Publix has much better fried chicken. The bar is awesome with one of the very best bartenders we've ever had (Malcolm). If you like Bourbon, this is your bar! 

[Moby Dick]

1 hour ago, Jill said:

Symphony who?  Seriously though, Wonder's Solarium blows Symphony's away. The new Vue bar is an awesome addition and I can't say enough good things about Mason Jar. Well except for the food, not exactly real "southern" food. My fried chicken was awful. Publix has much better fried chicken. The bar is awesome with one of the very best bartenders we've ever had (Malcolm). If you like Bourbon, this is your bar! 

"Publix has much better fried chicken".  LOL, I hear that.  Love Publix, especially their Ice Cream, Ice Tea (sugar free, sweetened), and Italian Bread.  Bases upon the many cruises on Royal ships and taking a tour of the/a galley each time, I didn't see many cooks/chefs that I would say are experts in "Southern cooking".  But then again, I don't doubt that they do their best, follow recipes, and produce an acceptable product.   BTW, I'm no critic of "fried chicken", I'm not much of a chicken fan, no matter where it comes from. I eat it, just not a must have thing for me.  Oh, I do love KFCs Original Skin/coating.

46 days until cruise day.  Hoping that at midnight tonight I can go into royalcaribbean.com and complete my "check-in" procedure/documents.  

 

Looks like there getting my cabin ready

 

[TracyRevell]

We always base our cruises off the age of ship, destinations and ship class. Nearly every cruise to date has been on ships sub 3 years old, mostly brand new and destinations which are suited to us. Basically we just follow the new ships around the world, lol.

[deep1]

On 3/26/2022 at 4:29 PM, Cakemeister said:

I pick by cost. 

An honest answer. I have done so myself....

 

[WAYNO]

For us, I try to pick a cruise that takes us to locations we've not yet visited.  Cruising the Caribbean on Royal it's very difficult to find such a place.  I've seen enough of Labadee, The Bahamas and US Virgin Islands.  So, the centerpiece of the cruise, is the cruise itself.  Knowing that makes the choice easier.

We also prefer ships that have the conventional full-size Promenade.  Odyssey was a beautiful new ship, but it had an abbreviated Promenade.  I miss the fun atmosphere of mingling in a large Promenade.  If the ships resume parades, it would not be the same on the little Promenades. 

[deep1]

Fiance' was looking over my shoulder at an excursion that would kill a few hours after cruise before flying home. "Book it"!!!! She's easily amused...