What drives you to choose when you get on a boat?

[Sakura1017]

It depends on what you're interested. My family likes longer cruises and will go based on the itinerary since we don't live near ports that can do 3 to 4nights frequently. In addition, based on time off from work that I can get. In addition, if it's a special cruise ie something new we will try to get. We tried the wish and that's expensive with pricing because it's a newer ship.

 

[holula]

For me it comes down to:

Does Disney sail the itinerary I want at a cost that I find reasonable? If the answer is yes, I will sail Disney.

Reasons why I have sailed non DCL over the years: wanted to try Royal, had a friend that wanted to sail Oasis, wanted to try NCL, wanted a cruise over New Years but didn’t want to pay DCL pricing, Princess were offering a $400 OBC on a $600 5 night cruise, NCL’s Baltic itinerary was better and 1/3 of the cost of DCL, Royal had a better Norwegian Fjords itinerary for 1/2 the cost.

If all things are equal or at least similar, I’ll pick Disney every time.

 

[Flossbolna]

We are booked for a river cruise on the Danube over this Christmas as well with AMA

If by any chance you start or end in Nuremberg and want some info from a local, send me a PM, I live in Nuremberg.

 

[Travel60]

DH and I - itinerary. Plus seldom DCL unless new longer trip. We've learned to love small ships.

Kids/grands - DCL, itinerary, dates. Won't do 3 or 4 day s - too short.

 

[mousefan73]

with school kids it was WHEN, embarkation port and itinerary, then price. I honestly don't focus on the ship. With DCL there aren't so many options with ships that play a role like with other cruise lines.

Right now I am more focus on deals.. and how easy it is to get to port. I would say port plays a bigger role now. How far to fly to get to the ship, if I specifically want disney.

I guess it depends on the mood we are in.. We booked Hawaii now for second time as we just love Vancouver, DCL and hawaii mix. The for winter I look what specials and we might do a short trip to Miami etc... IF the price is right. we wont fly that far last minute unless its a super deal.

 

[mousefan73]

If by any chance you start or end in Nuremberg and want some info from a local, send me a PM, I live in Nuremberg.

too funny I live near Bad Kissingen guess I could help with Würzburg lol

 

[sponica]

So we looked at other cruise lines and honestly, with kids who will be 3 and 7 on our cruise, they weren't knocking me over. We did look at a Virgin cruise for just us next year for our 10th, but the itineraries I was interested in are too long for us to leave the kids at home with grandparents, so if the Dream is doing NY to Bermuda next fall, we'll hop on a 4 night since we can leave the morning of embarkation if need be.

We're really on the Wish next year because I got theme parked out. We had 2 week long trips in 10 months, and I just hated the variable priced genie+, the lightning lanes, the park reservations, the lack of real park hopping....I know parks trips aren't relaxing but they're also not supposed to be so much work. I just wanted to be on a floating pool with drink service and characters.

My friend had just come back from an 8 night cruise on Royal and said that was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long for her kids, she recommended 4 or 5 night to start. So we went with a 4 night wish that was perfectly timed for our February break. Yes it's the exact same itinerary as the 4 night Dream cruise we took on our honeymoon in 2014, but I didn't care. If the kids do well on that one, then we'll do a 7 night in 2025.

 

[imbelle]

My first two cruises (Royal Caribbean and Holland America) were chosen/booked by another person who was doing the planning for the trips. Once I did my first Disney cruise, all my subsequent cruises have been on DCL. As a Disney fan I like having the bonus of a Disney experience added to my cruise, but I also prefer the decor, the room layout, rotational dining, etc.
This year when we picked Greece for our main vacation together, I looked at DCL first. As we couldn't get the itinerary that we wanted, we ended up going with NCL. We're also doing a Viking Christmas Market cruise next December.
So I guess for me I prefer to go DCL if a new ship comes out, if I want a vacation with my sister and her kids who live in Florida, or if I can make the itinerary work for the destination that I want.

 

[Flossbolna]

too funny I live near Bad Kissingen guess I could help with Würzburg lol

Hello neighbor!! I know you were one of the few posters on here located in Germany as well, but had no idea we were so close!

 

[Flossbolna]

Since I already posted twice off topic in this thread already, I better add something on topic! For us it is definitely driven by price and itinerary. We think DCL is borderline to expensive for what we are willing to spend per night for a vacation. So when new itineraries are released we usually poke around as to which ones are in an acceptable range of dollars per night per person and then go from there. But we also have found out that we are not people to cruise just for cruising. We want to go new places (but don't mind lots of sea days either). And we like longer cruises.

We ended up with two cruises this year: the Med in May and Alaska in August (ok, total coincidence on the MM/AA thing there). Big point for us was that it is easy to get to Barcelona from Germany and that we have friends in Vancouver.

So the question which ship we choose is totally secondary to all the other considerations. We love all the four "old" ships. And the Wish neither qualifies for the price per night nor the itinerary. I do think once the Treasure comes out we will see how much the "new ship we want to explore" factor will outweigh the price and the lack of new ports for us.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We have only done 3 cruises, all on DCL. We will definitely do more, but it's not the only type of vacation I like, so cruises are interspersed with other kinds of travel. Number one consideration is times the kids are off school. I won't pull them out for more than a day or two for vacation purposes. (I am looking forward to when they are in college and we can go in May!) Number two is itinerary. I like going new places, not a big fan of repeats. Right there this is kind of limiting because DCL itineraries don't seem to change that much/often. Third is length - I am not really interested in the 3/4 night cruises. Really I think 7 is kind of the minimum for me, but we did do a 5 night for our most recent. It's just too much work getting packed, getting to port, getting through check-in for just 3-4 nights. And, the ship feels more crowded because everyone's trying to experience as much of the ship as they can into their short cruise. The longer ones are just more laid back I think. We like the DCL experience because we know what we're getting. But, I'm not opposed to try other lines as well ... if we ever do an Alaskan cruise I think we would choose Princess.

 

[gatorlisa]

I have never cruised before, on any cruise line, but will be embarking on my first ever in just under 3 weeks. The decision to get on a boat was driven by one thing: the desire to see places along Alaska's Inside Passage. It seems as though a cruise is the easiest way to do it, so we've decided to give it a try. Went with Disney partly because I have food allergies and I have read really good things about DCL's handling of food allergies in the dining rooms that lessens my anxiety around dining a little bit. We also both enjoy Disney in general. Like another poster mentioned, if we generally enjoy the cruise experience, we'll probably want to give another cruise line a try with another Alaska cruise in the future in order to be able to visit Glacier Bay National Park. Any future cruises would be chosen based on where the cruise sails and ports visited. Caribbean and Bahamian cruises don't interest either of us. But something like Greek Islands/Mediterranean or fjords of Norway does interest us.

 

[msmama]

For me I think the question is always are you a Disney person or are you a Cruise person?

I agree with this. I don't like cruising, I like Disney cruising.

And itinerary is important to me. I like being able to visit multiple places without unpacking and changing staterooms. I can't say I'll never do a Caribbean cruise, but it is very low on my list of things to do...I'm suited for more northern climate. And I definitely prefer longer cruises.

A neighbor of mine is a cruise person. She rarely does Disney, even with 3 small children, because she likes the casinos on other ships - and the drinks packages, and the more adult themed stuff.

Neither is wrong, just people looking for different things. I'm willing to pay the premium for what I like, she chooses to gamble with enough money to earn a "free" cruise which is what she likes.

 

[kiford]

For us, there are so many different factors starting with what are we intending to get out of, or do on our vacation.

Our friends talked us into a 4-night Wish cruise in January at the last minute because they were going and we wanted to see them and they, and we, wanted to check the new ship out. They chose that particular date because it was the least expensive time, plus some scheduling issues.

I'm planning a short 4-day trip this September because I just want to get away and my schedule is limited. We'll probably do the Wish again, just DH and I, as we missed a few things and though we love sailing with our friends, when we do cruises on our own, we do them differently, and we'd like to try that on the Wish and see how we feel about it. We didn't get off the ship on the January cruise, and we don't intend to get off this time. So ports are irrelevant.

Sometimes we want to cruise new ports, so we look into what's available (we are considering a couple of other cruise lines for this but haven't made a final decision on that yet - still pondering it) and when. So that would be bounded by what's on offer (port-wise), then schedule. Then we'll decide if we like the ports enough that we'd jump to another cruise line if necessary. We like to see the world and had been routinely doing that every 18 months or so with a longer trip - cruise or land vacation. Covid has obviously interrupted that, but we're trying to resurrect that pattern. It's also possible that, if DCL doesn't go somewhere that we're interested in that we might default to a land vacation in Europe instead rather than changing cruise lines. No decision as yet, just collecting options.

Sometimes we just want warmth. I'm gonna go DCL on this for sure because I know what I'm getting, I know what I like and the ports are nice but not necessary and I don't really care which ones they are. It's a much less stressful vacation for me because if I miss something in the port, can't get an excursion I like or don't get an experience on the ship, no biggie. That will usually be selected for timing/schedule/need to get away from the cold. Sometimes it might be the schedule of our friends, so when can they get away. With that, the particular ports are even less relevant for us.

Price is usually the last thing to consider and the question is: do we think the experience is worth the price? So sometimes, if we have some flexibility in scheduling, we may shift the dates for what we think is a better-priced cruise if it still works with other factors.

 

[Warblade]

Our Disney Cruise will be our first DCL Cruise (wife and I went on NCL for our Honeymoon). Many of our friends have been on a Disney Cruise before, and we got talked into going along with two other families for our cruise (let's be honest, it didn't take much to convince me, but my wife on the other hand...).

I've really wanted to go on a Disney Cruise for a couple of years, but then the pandemic happened, and we were a bit weary of cruises since then. Castaway Cay is definitely a big selling point, and I really want to go out to visit it, so I'm still a bit bummed that our first Disney Cruise is just a 5-Night cruise that doesn't stop there (since it leaves from Galveston). Ah well, next time...

 

[AquaDame]

If by any chance you start or end in Nuremberg and want some info from a local, send me a PM, I live in Nuremberg.

too funny I live near Bad Kissingen guess I could help with Würzburg lol

Thank you both, that is an offer I definitely wish I could take you up on, but sadly we do not. It leaves from Passau and ends in Budapest. We are spending just one night in Munich before we depart. The closest I have gotten to you two would be Regensberg or Bamberg - that is such a beautiful area, you are very lucky! 20/30 years on my favorite coworker still pines for her time living in Dresden... her son missed it so much he snapped at the opportunity to migrate and work in Berlin about 5 years ago and never looked back. I can't wait for my trip - little snips are all I get!

For us, sailing in Europe just wasn't as enjoyable as I had hoped. Purely our opinion but it got annoying having to get back to the ship by a certain time rather than enjoy the long summer hours on shore, and have nice local dinners on land. What sealed the deal was turning around on the Troll road in Norway. We could have pressed on all the way to Geiranger - we were within spitting distance - but decided there was no point as we were calling there the next day. Then it got cancelled. I am still slightly bitter (at the weather, not DCL). This is my very roundabout way of adding on to my previous response that even port stops may not be a good indicator of what we look for. I guess step 1 for us truly is, would this location make sense to visit on a cruise? Then the rest comes into play... Greece or Italy might be good options as bopping around islands in the med is like bopping around the Caribbean.

 

[KVH]

For us Disney is usually the least expensive, so if a cruise is made available and we feel like going, we go. Nothing else much matters. We do two, sometimes three a year.

I was going to say "wow" but I've been doing some research and can easily see DCL isn't necessarily that expensive compared to what some others are charging. Of course, that gets into the whole itinerary thing.

But I will say, for equivalent service/experience/options, DCL can be expensive (for even a 4-day cruise at times) compared to their direct competitors.

 

[KVH]

I didn't do a poll, but it seems, non-scientifically speaking, beyond considering cost (don't we all) ports of call seem to be the major selection driver. I find that interesting from my viewpoint 'cause that's definitely secondary in my book. Maybe even third on the list. Not saying it's bad, just interesting.

 

[phinz]

Last time we were on a boat was the EBPC '19, right before COVID. Even then we started noticing the pricing was climbing, especially compared to just a few years prior. Sure enough, by 2022, someone at DCL obviously lost their mind when posting prices for new sailings. We've come to realize price is more important to us than the ship itself (still love the Wonder) and are tempering our cruising choices.

But I'm curious now about everyone else. What is the main driver for you when it comes to selecting a sailing? Is it price? Must it be Disney regardless of cost? Or is it the ports and experiences? What makes you pick where you spend your hard-earned money? Would love to see what others go through when it comes to this selection process.

I cruise for the ships and experience. I cruise Disney when I want the Disney experience. I cruise Celebrity when I want to be pampered and want good food/drink. I cruise Royal Caribbean when I want more things to do than what Disney offers, want real choice in the food I'm going to eat/bars I'm going to frequent or actually care about a loyalty club that isn't garbage. I cruise Princess when I want to go to Alaska. I'm kind of a cruising omnivore.

 

[bakerworld]

Length: We love cruising but we have a short attention span. Familiarity: DH feels comfortable on DCL. Whether it's an inherent trust or a safe issue but not sure I'll ever get him on another cruise line. Actually I was surprised to get him on DCL but I think that's because he didn't want to squirm when the DVC guide pushed the incentive back in '09.