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Best cruise criteria


Bob_KY

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Seems strange, best rc cruise is not in the caribbean.  Out of our 7 RC cruises (5 caribbean & 1 New England), Alaska cruise with the land tour combo has been the best.   The land tour guide and accommodations were superior, the Radiance was average (really no complaints, just showing age), Radiance crew superior, ports of call - great,  and 2 special sights (full breach whales and Alyeska Resort Summit ).  What criteria do you use to evalate your best cruise?  Lets remove the "personal events" as a criteria (honeymoon, anniversary, b-day).  Thoughts?

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This is a tough question.   I have been on 3 cruises now and each one was "best" in dinner way.   My first on vision was the best in that the first sea day was the most relaxed i have ever been in my entire life!   The 2nd on freedom was the best in that i loved the promenade.   The 3rd was the best on adventure because  i loved the southern ports and being on my husbands first cruise!  If i had to pick one,  id say the first one was the most magical because everything was new and i had no expectations!   Jane

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Sounds like; a measuring of a "new discovery/experience" and the associated feeling.  Excellent - thanks.  Refining criteria.

1.  Itinerary (ports of call)

2. Ship

3. Crew

4.  New discovery/experience 

5.  Relaxing

6.  Activities on board 

I've seen many posts about embarkation & disembarkation process and it takes over the vacation's overall cruise experience.   Hmmm??

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Just now, Bob_KY said:

I've seen many posts about embarkation & disembarkation process and it takes over the vacation's overall cruise experience.   Hmmm??

Embarkation/disembarkation can be likened to a road trip. They have to be endured in order to get to where you want to be. But the trip there is a LOT more fun than the trip home.

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Up to now itinerary is my main criterion.That's why our 14 nights Baltic Cruise (with TUI Cruises) ranks highest for me. All ports were different but each in their own a magnificent experience. And cruising in the archipelago of Stockholm at sunrise is an item for any bucket list - that was absolutely amazing. For our first RC cruise we're trying a completely different approach, making the ship the destination. We're on Symphony's transatlantic cruise to enjoy its amenities to the fullest - might change my perspective completely.

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I sort of did the same thing last year, I wanted to go on the Harmony, I couldn't get on her inaugural cruise but I was on her 4th cruise out of Barcelona, so far out of my 12 cruises that Mediterranean cruise on Harmony last year ranks as my best, Harmony is a beautiful ship and definitely had plenty of things to do and see, I', sure Symphony will be the same. 

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6 hours ago, Bob_KY said:

Sounds like; a measuring of a "new discovery/experience" and the associated feeling.  Excellent - thanks.  Refining criteria.

1.  Itinerary (ports of call)

2. Ship

3. Crew

4.  New discovery/experience 

5.  Relaxing

6.  Activities on board 

I've seen many posts about embarkation & disembarkation process and it takes over the vacation's overall cruise experience.   Hmmm??

You forgot cruise companions. They can make or break a cruise I would imagine. As I have yet go on my first cruise, I can't be sure. But I am positive I won't have any issues as I am cruising with my beautiful wife of 27yrs.

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I have a difficult time ranking them against each other.  

 

Some have been great because its a new ship for me or a port or two I've never been to.

Some are great because its a different region (Alaska vs Caribbean).

Some are great simply because its nothing new: its a familiar ship, familiar ports, and I don't feel the need to "not waste a second" and can just enjoy "being there".

 

knock on wood I've never had a bad one, and hope i never do!

 

 

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Fmanke, I agree, good companionship is a must, unfortunately our best friends don't like to cruise, the wife went on a Carnival cruise on one of the smaller ships a long time ago and was sick the whole time, I've told her that the newer bigger ships you hardly feel moving at all, but I still cannot convince her to go on a cruise. On 3 of our last 4 cruises we elected to go on the late dinner seating and role the dice that we would get good table mates, that only happened on one of the 4, the other 3 cruises we were stuck with very rude and inconsiderate people, we ended up not going to the MDR and eating in the specialty restaurants, I know I could have asked to be moved but I was just lazy and didn't worry about it.

Fortunately, last year we meet 2 different couples through a roll call from a different cruise web site (I've seen it referenced as the dark side), we linked our reservations and were able to sit together at dinner and we went on most of our excursions together. 

This year we selected MTD and will just ask for a table for 2, as I mentioned above we have the 3 night dinning package for the rest, so we should be good to go. My wife and I have been married for 37 years, so it's like going to dinner with my best friend.

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PRC, I agree, at worst a bad cruise is still better to being land locked on any day.

I read these bad reviews from people and I'm wondering sometimes what their expectations were, were they expecting the Ritz and felt like they got the Holiday Inn? I don't know, there is just to much information out on the web right now that you can read and review, if you manage your expectations and know what you want going in I don't see how a cruise can be a bad thing.

On my last cruise, Harmony-Mediterranean-2016, Our cabin flooded on the last day of the cruise, which my wife and i were really looking forward to because it was a sea day, the cruise had been a full itinerary, we hit a port on every day, we woke to water squishing between our toes when we walked on the carpet, RC did everything in their power to make everything all right, they eventually moved us to a different suit and compensated us for our trouble, but our expectations for the day, were to lay by the pool and read a good book, so we didn't let a little water in our room ruin that, we still had a great day.

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Update 2.  Starting this out, I thought of a decision matrix or decision tree.  Wrong.  Like the March  Madness NCAA Tournament,  the  best 5 basketball players (criteria) on one team don't always lead to a national championship.  Each player could be the Cinderella that leads to being the best.  So, below, each criteria, based on its own intensity, novelty, and cruise personal goals drive to being "the best cruise."

Refining criteria.

1.  Cruise Expectation, goals. (Mom2mybugs)

2.  Companionship (fmanke and tiny260)

3.  Itinerary (ports of call) (prc)(neaxan)

4.  Ship (tiny260)(neaxan)

5.  Crew.  

6.  New discovery/experience 

7.   Ability to Relax (mom2mybugs)

8.  Activities on board 

Some overlap with the over-arching of cruise expectation,  goals.  Good words of perspective that eliminated a criteria - (KWofPerth),

"Embarkation/disembarkation can be likened to a road trip. They have to be endured in order to get to where you want to be. But the trip there is a LOT more fun than the trip home."

For my wife and I,  5 days til "set sail" and new memories.

Bob

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Best Cruise Ever?

That's easy .... last September on Grandeur to Bermuda ...

My criteria is very simple ..... the ability to decompress from the world ....

September of 2016 was a tough one because of how hateful the world was leading into the election .... The ability to remove Clinton, Trump, ISIS, Black Lives Matter and all the other hate filling the airwaves was more valuable than I ever would have expected .... It wasn't until we got back that I realized how amazing it was to take a break from it all ....

DECOMPRESSING FROM THE WORLD is my #1 Priority.

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3 minutes ago, coneyraven said:

Best Cruise Ever?

That's easy .... last September on Grandeur to Bermuda ...

My criteria is very simple ..... the ability to decompress from the world ....

September of 2016 was a tough one because of how hateful the world was leading into the election .... The ability to remove Clinton, Trump, ISIS, Black Lives Matter and all the other hate filling the airwaves was more valuable than I ever would have expected .... It wasn't until we got back that I realized how amazing it was to take a break from it all ....

DECOMPRESSING FROM THE WORLD is my #1 Priority.

Amen to that!

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I mainly cruise from Southampton so can be quite limiting - but I usually cruise for the itinerary and usually manage to vary where I go.  My favourite itinerary - I must confess was a cruise not with Royal Caribbean but with P&O - in search of the Northern Lights to Norway.  Stunning Norwegian scenery and we saw the lights! 

I usually look at where the ship is going - and have only strayed once from Royal!

I like the set up of the Royal ships and what they offer cruisers - I'm in my 40s and I'm always entertained when I want to be - so the ship and what it offers is also a big factor

Can't wait until next month when my cruise will take in Denmark - somewhere new for me

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3 hours ago, Sarah said:

I mainly cruise from Southampton so can be quite limiting - but I usually cruise for the itinerary and usually manage to vary where I go.  My favourite itinerary - I must confess was a cruise not with Royal Caribbean but with P&O - in search of the Northern Lights to Norway.  Stunning Norwegian scenery and we saw the lights! 

I usually look at where the ship is going - and have only strayed once from Royal!

I like the set up of the Royal ships and what they offer cruisers - I'm in my 40s and I'm always entertained when I want to be - so the ship and what it offers is also a big factor

Can't wait until next month when my cruise will take in Denmark - somewhere new for me

That's one of the benefits of living in Europe. Many available countries to cruise to and from in a relatively short time. Here in the US, except for Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean, it's a long ride to get anywhere.

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16 hours ago, fmanke said:

That's one of the benefits of living in Europe. Many available countries to cruise to and from in a relatively short time. Here in the US, except for Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean, it's a long ride to get anywhere.

But I would love to try a cruise in the Caribbean and experience an Oasis class ship

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21 hours ago, Matt said:

Most times, I consider these three factors:

  1. Ship
  2. Itinerary
  3. Price

I go back and forth between ship and itinerary.

Generally good advice and used to be my strategy. Over the years, itinerary as moved to the top with the ship usually second and price third. 

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8 hours ago, DocLC said:

Over the years, itinerary has moved to the top with the ship usually second and price third. 

Brand new to cruising, but this has been my strategy so far in booking my first two cruises. Choose where I want to go (general region), then see which cruise lines and ships go there and which offer the longest itineraries with the best port options. Then I look at what the different ships offer for all the family members who will be going. Finally, I look at the price and figure out whether it works with the rough budget idea I had.

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I always picked itinerary first, until the Oasis class ships came out, then I cruised on each one of them (So far), now I'm back to itinerary first. Sometimes the date plays a key role because my wife works in education, but so far it hasn't been an issue, her working in education has probably saved me money, otherwise I would probably book a cruise a quarter...

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Itinerary, ship, weather and onboard activities top my list of how I rank my vacation experience.  We chose our last cruise based on the ship, but that's the first time we've done that.  Alaska has by far been our favorite cruise only because Alaska's beauty is astounding.  It's the only one I've ever wanted to do again.  We've done the Northeast, the Southern Caribbean and now Bermuda.  Our next cruise is the Mediterranean on Symphony.  The itinerary has been my dream vacation for the last 5 years.  The fact that it's on Symphony was just an added bonus.

We are not fans of the Caribbean islands.  They all look the same, and aside from Bermuda, have been depressing seeing all the poverty.  We love RCL and will remain loyal, but our next sailings will be around Europe and Asia.

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21 minutes ago, Stephanie said:

We've done the Northeast, the Southern Caribbean and now Bermuda.  Our next cruise is the Mediterranean on Symphony.  The itinerary has been my dream vacation for the last 5 years.  The fact that it's on Symphony was just an added bonus.

Which Northeast cruise did you do? I'm keeping an eye on a fall foliage open jaw from Cape Liberty to Quebec on Adventure (or whichever smaller ship is homed in CL at the time) as a possibility for 2019 or 2020. Lot of good stops on that itinerary and I'll have a chance to see Maine again (lived there while in college). Looking at a similar itinerary on Celebrity that's on an even smaller ship, so it has more stops and more days, but that would have to a trip without the kids unless they're cool with going on a ship that doesn't have all the activity / recreational bells and whistles of a Royal ship. They'd be 19 and 16 in 2019, so might not be a problem for them.

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It was 14 years ago - our

5 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Which Northeast cruise did you do? I'm keeping an eye on a fall foliage open jaw from Cape Liberty to Quebec on Adventure (or whichever smaller ship is homed in CL at the time) as a possibility for 2019 or 2020. Lot of good stops on that itinerary and I'll have a chance to see Maine again (lived there while in college). Looking at a similar itinerary on Celebrity that's on an even smaller ship, so it has more stops and more days, but that would have to a trip without the kids unless they're cool with going on a ship that doesn't have all the activity / recreational bells and whistles of a Royal ship. They'd be 19 and 16 in 2019, so might not be a problem for them.

It was 14 years ago - our very first cruise.  Sailed out of NYC to St Johns, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Now they stop in Maine, which would have been a nice addition to the itinerary.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎4‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 6:24 AM, KWofPerth said:

Embarkation/disembarkation can be likened to a road trip. They have to be endured in order to get to where you want to be. But the trip there is a LOT more fun than the trip home.

KWofPeth - well it happened.  A wonderful cruise just completed, the Radiance OTS Hawaiian 12 night (repositioning to their Alaskan itineraries) - disembarkation put a damper on the overall experience.  Mistakes happen, but this is followed by RCCL customer support's lack of urgency, inadequate information,   We purchased "ship to Vancouver Airport" transfers - this includes luggage delivery to airport.  RCCL lost two pieces of my luggage.  I waited for 2hrs for an update at the airport from the RCCL Airport Representatives.  No updates.  The RCCL Airport Reps said they were waiting on an update from their "supervisor."  I completed the paperwork and left just in time to get through customs and get back to the USA.  At my first opportunity, I called RCCL Customer Service (had to send them a copy of my copy of the paperwork I completed in Vancouver) and they logged in my "lost luggage."  After more than 72hrs and daily inquiries, all I have been told (very politely) is that a case worker has been assigned and he will communicate with me once he has an update.  This predicament happened to over 10 other people on my cruise - which indicates to me that there is a bigger issue here deserving of a priority effort to resolve.  My simplistic view: 1 -  luggage still on ship (heading for Seward, AK), 2 - luggage at pier, or 3- luggage stolen.  #1 & #2 should be accomplished quickly (prompting an update from RCCL?).  My expectation was concrete case work progress updates, next steps if luggage not found, overall timeline, and subsequent claims action.  After all this, should I have to pay for a service that wasn't fully rendered?

Embarkation/disembarkation Experience was added to my criteria in determining my "best cruise."

1.  Cruise Expectation, goals. (Mom2mybugs)

2.  Companionship (sharing memories) (fmanke, tiny260)

3.  Itinerary (ports of call) (prc, tiny260, neaxan, Mworkman, Matt, JLMoran, DocLC)

4.  Ship (tiny260, neaxan, DocLC, Matt)

5.  Crew.  (this was not reinforced with any responses)  Keep it?

6.  New discovery/experience 

7.   Ability to Relax (mom2mybugs, rjac, coneyraven)

8.  Activities on board.  (this was not reinforced with any responses - may be redundant with "ship?")  Keep it? 

9.  Embarkation/disembarkation Experience.

10. Price. (DocLC, Matt) 

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On ‎5‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 3:24 PM, Stephanie said:

It was 14 years ago - our

It was 14 years ago - our very first cruise.  Sailed out of NYC to St Johns, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Now they stop in Maine, which would have been a nice addition to the itinerary.

This too will be our first cruise. Sailing out of Boston this Oct on Serenade OTS. Stops in Halifax, NS, St. Johns, NB, Portland and Bar Harbor, ME.

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2 hours ago, DocLC said:

@Bob_KY Sorry to hear about the damper put on an otherwise great cruise and I truly hope Royal steps up to the plate and offers the level of customer service you're due. 

The only thing worse than no customer service, is crappy customer service. What does Yoda say, "Do or do not. There is no try!"

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I was one of the ten people with lost luggage from ship to airport from Hawaii to Vancouver airport. . I have never encountered such incompetency!!!  Reps at airport were challenged and finally figured out we needed to fill out forms for lost luggage after waiting for over an hour even though all luggage deliveries had been made.  Obviously, thry were not trained - No real empathy offered. And RCCL is looking for it ?(bull) --I'm trying to figure out what I do in the interim, I'm without my large suitcase, chanel makeup, shoes, clothes and some very expensive formal wear.   Yes i can accommodate my needs since i am home but my expensive makeup is not.  I have purchased approx $600 to replace my cosmetics and a new suitcase since I travel this upcoming week.   This was after 4 calls to customer service to be told it may take 2 weeks to  tell me anything - -- ludaacris.  It seems that i am not important as a customer once  the trip was over. Totally opposite of my experience while on the ship.  Now I get the "Tough Luck" as RCCL will not even commit to what options are being explored to track my luggage nor would they accommodate short term needs as they avoided ownership of my  stuff not being available based on them not getting my luggage to the airport.  Mistakes happen but my frustration comes from HOW this whole issue has been handled.  I've even had bettter experience from airlines when luggage has been lost and that is not saying much. Even when the airlines lose luggage, they are more accommodating.

 I think the full experience for vacation begins when what you pay for begins--that includes boarding, ship experience and departure from the ship.  I'm a diamond level cruiser and spent a lot of money with RCCL and this has stressed me enough that i may never cruise RCCL.  Am i valued or not?  Sure doesn't feel like it!

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Bob_KY

I have done over 35 cruises on various lines, but always use Royal more than any other. Since I have taken many cruises, Itinerary is important to me. I love the Caribbean but I am tired of the same old stuff over and over. I have noticed some lines are adding a few different stops which might entice me to book Caribbean again. It is kind of "Been There, Done That". Saying that, I have booked at 13 day Atlantic Coastal on another line that starts in Montreal, stops at Quebec City 2 days, Charlottetown, Halifax, Sydney, Bar Harbor, NYC, Boston, Charleston, Orlando and finally stops at Fort Lauderdale. When I saw the itinerary I immediately booked it and got an incredible deal on it. I have done a Canada/New England that was the worst cruise I have ever done and know this one will be a lot better. It is way in 2018, so I have a long time to wait.

Experience is important to me, I want great, not good shore excursions, either ship generated or private, that I will remember for a life time.

Price is very important, since I am a solo cruiser, I pay 150% of what other passengers pay.

The ship and the cabin are important to me. I always look for odd shaped cabins that have more square footage.

On board activities, sorry not interested in the Not So Newly Wed Game (I wish they would find something else to do besides this game), Bingo, no way, too expensive, Shopping talks, once you have heard one, you have heard them all, Belly Flop contest, etc. Some lines are doing new on board programs, Discoveries at Sea is one, that offer the passenger more than just bingo. It is a learning experience and I like that.

Crew is important and I expect they will all be knowledgeable, considerate and helpful to me.

I have taken 5 Alaskan cruises with my 6th one next week on the Explorer, this will be my last one. I love Alaska but 6 times is enough.

Candie

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fiegal2539.  Alaska remains my favorite.  As a military brat, i was born in Anchorage and for my military career I was able to be stationed at Fort Richardson for 2 years.  Love Alaska.  My wife would say,  too many non-flushing toilets.  :-)  The view from Alyeska - breath taking or being part of the 20% club to see Denali..  i will remove "activites on board." For cruises with numerous sea days - this may become important  (for example, repositioning).

UPDATE.  RCCL notified me today that my luggage was found and will be delivered tomorrow.  Great outcome.  RCCL shipped it International Priority  via FEDEX.  

 

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