First time cruiser needs guidance:)

"newbie" wrote in message
...
Tom K wrote:
"newbie" wrote in message
...
Tom K wrote:
Here's an interesting 4 question test to help pick a cruise line.

Let us know what comes up as an answer.

http://www.02cruise.com/LineSearch/index.asp

It will be interesting to validate what the Travel Agent tells you vs.
what the test give you.

--Tom

I played with the 4 questions but never able to have it select Royal
Caribbean.

What came up?
Princess came up most often.

That actually says quite a bit. Cruises are generally grouped into 3
categories. Mass Market. Premium. And Luxury. Not that different from
cars.

The luxury lines are Silversea, Seabourn, Radisson, Crystal. Big bucks.
Ultra levels of pampering. Top end everything. Ships tend to be rather
small and understated, focusing on great food and service. This is the
crowd that is willing to pay lots of money to keep away the people that
can't afford to be there.

Mass Market lines are Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian. These tend
to be very dramatic looking ships, some way over the top. Glitzy. Lots of
brass, glass, lights. Most ships are HUGE. Rock climbing walls and things
like that are signatures to attract passengers. Food and service are
generally at the bottom end though some will vehemently disagree - we all
have our own individual tastes. Ships feature a constant barrage of
announcements to meet on pool deck for belly flop contests, bingo in the
theater, art auctions, gold by the inch... This is the biggest block of
ships and where most passengers go. This is the Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Honda
block of ships. Ships have 3000+ passengers on them. High density ships.
Also some of the most gorgeous ships out there - like Royal Caribbean's
Voyager Class - which are probably the most popular class of ships out
there.

In between are the Premium lines. These include Celebrity, Holland America
and Princess (though Princess may overlap into the Mass Market group). It's
in the middle of the pack. Ships tend to be like a gorgeous Hyatt or Hilton
hotel in terms of style. Ships are mid size to large. Food and service
good, but not in the luxury league... but you're not paying big money
either. Actually pricing isn't any higher than the mass market group, and
may in fact be less. It's more style oriented, rather than price oriented.
A more chic type experience. HAL has a reputation for catering to the more
elderly clientele. Think Volvo, Acura, Saab, 3 Series BMW for the Premium
category.

So given the groupings and your answer... it would make sense to look at the
Celebrity, Princess, HAL grouping as a good place to start. All will tend
to be rather similar in overall style. Similar food. Similar service.
Similar passenger profile.

--Tom

"Tom K" wrote:
"newbie" wrote in message
...
Tom K wrote:
"newbie" wrote in message
...
Tom K wrote:
Here's an interesting 4 question test to help pick a cruise line.

Let us know what comes up as an answer.
http://www.02cruise.com/LineSearch/index.asp

It will be interesting to validate what the Travel Agent tells you vs.
what the test give you.

I played with the 4 questions but never able to have it select Royal
Caribbean.

That actually says quite a bit. Cruises are generally grouped into 3
categories. Mass Market. Premium. And Luxury. Not that different from
cars.

The luxury lines are Silversea, Seabourn, Radisson, Crystal. Big bucks.
Ultra levels of pampering. Top end everything. Ships tend to be rather
small and understated, focusing on great food and service. This is the
crowd that is willing to pay lots of money to keep away the people that
can't afford to be there.

Mass Market lines are Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian. These tend
to be very dramatic looking ships, some way over the top. Glitzy. Lots of
brass, glass, lights. Most ships are HUGE. Rock climbing walls and things
like that are signatures to attract passengers. Food and service are
generally at the bottom end though some will vehemently disagree - we all
have our own individual tastes. Ships feature a constant barrage of
announcements to meet on pool deck for belly flop contests, bingo in the
theater, art auctions, gold by the inch... This is the biggest block of
ships and where most passengers go. This is the Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Honda
block of ships. Ships have 3000+ passengers on them. High density ships.
Also some of the most gorgeous ships out there - like Royal Caribbean's
Voyager Class - which are probably the most popular class of ships out
there.

In between are the Premium lines. These include Celebrity, Holland America
and Princess (though Princess may overlap into the Mass Market group). It's
in the middle of the pack. Ships tend to be like a gorgeous Hyatt or Hilton
hotel in terms of style. Ships are mid size to large. Food and service
good, but not in the luxury league... but you're not paying big money
either. Actually pricing isn't any higher than the mass market group, and
may in fact be less. It's more style oriented, rather than price oriented.
A more chic type experience. HAL has a reputation for catering to the more
elderly clientele. Think Volvo, Acura, Saab, 3 Series BMW for the Premium
category.

So given the groupings and your answer... it would make sense to look at the
Celebrity, Princess, HAL grouping as a good place to start. All will tend
to be rather similar in overall style. Similar food. Similar service.
Similar passenger profile.

What about people that don't want big ships, but still want
inexpensive?

Once I stopped saying a small ship of 300 or less (which gave me
Windstar and some other small expensive ships), I got NCL as the only
option. That's OK with me but the expense of it is kind of a given -
no opportunity to say that expense is more important that whether
there are children on the ship and/or whether you have to dress up or
not.


grandma Rosalie

"Rosalie B." wrote in message
...


What about people that don't want big ships, but still want
inexpensive?

Once I stopped saying a small ship of 300 or less (which gave me
Windstar and some other small expensive ships), I got NCL as the only
option. That's OK with me but the expense of it is kind of a given -
no opportunity to say that expense is more important that whether
there are children on the ship and/or whether you have to dress up or
not.


Not many options there for small and inexpensive. It's large size with high
passenger density that allows costs to be reduced. Very few lines have a
small ship regardless of the price, other than the luxury gang. Nordic
Empress and Zenith are on the small side. So is Norwegian Crown.

There are the Oceania ships... but I don't think they're inexpensive. Most
are 2 week sailing to boot.

Sue and Kevin Mullen wrote:

Then sunday we are off on the Celebrity Infinity, a class of ship we
have wanted to try.

Sue, it will be nice to see you on the Infinity tomorrow. It is fun
cruising with friends, and I am looking forward to trying Celebrity
again. I have changed since I cruised with them in 1998 and I am
guessing Celebrity has changed, too.

http://www.02cruise.com/LineSearch/index.asp

The cruise wizard says I should try Princess and Norwegian. I love
Princess and I enjoy cruising on Norwegian, but NCL has changed. When I
cruised on NCL in December, they had no grapefruit on the breakfast
buffet, they had no carving stations at lunch or dinner, and each day
they featured a new ground beef dish; meatloaf, meatballs, shepard's
pie, lasagna, etc. I think you are getting the picture. LOL They did
serve delicious cookies in their buffet each day. I took a bite of one,
but I was on a diet so I stopped there. At night, we ate in the
restaurants where you pay and the food was the best. I will keep
cruising on NCL because I like Freestyle dining.

We have good restaurants where I live, so cruise food is not why I
cruise. I enjoy being at sea and watching the ocean, relaxing by the
pool without the phone ringing off the wall. I like the entertainment at
night. It is nice to eat 3 meals a day without me having to cook it or
wash the dishes. Come to think of it, maybe that is the best part. LOL

Becca

"Tom K" wrote:


"Rosalie B." wrote in message
.. .


What about people that don't want big ships, but still want
inexpensive?

Once I stopped saying a small ship of 300 or less (which gave me
Windstar and some other small expensive ships), I got NCL as the only
option. That's OK with me but the expense of it is kind of a given -
no opportunity to say that expense is more important that whether
there are children on the ship and/or whether you have to dress up or
not.


Not many options there for small and inexpensive. It's large size with high
passenger density that allows costs to be reduced. Very few lines have a
small ship regardless of the price, other than the luxury gang. Nordic
Empress and Zenith are on the small side. So is Norwegian Crown.

There are the Oceania ships... but I don't think they're inexpensive. Most
are 2 week sailing to boot.

I don't mind a 2 week sailing but there's nothing to indicate that as
a preference either.

I found it an interesting site - it was just that the questions didn't
compute for me. Particularly the size thing - I didn't think of small
as less than 300.



grandma Rosalie

In article , Becca
wrote:

When I cruised on NCL in December, they had no grapefruit on the
breakfast buffet, they had no carving stations at lunch or dinner,
and each day they featured a new ground beef dish; meatloaf,
meatballs, shepard's pie, lasagna, etc. I think you are getting the
picture. LOL

So NCL has spread the same horrible buffet food I experienced last
summer on NCL Dawn throughout the fleet.

At night, we ate in the restaurants where you pay and the food was
the best. I will keep cruising on NCL because I like Freestyle
dining.

I found on NCL you have to pay to get food at dinner that is as good as
the food that is free on Princess and Celebrity. No thanks. NCL is off
my cruising list.

--
Charles

"Tom K" wrote in message
...

Not many options there for small and inexpensive. It's large size with
high passenger density that allows costs to be reduced. Very few lines
have a small ship regardless of the price, other than the luxury gang.
Nordic Empress and Zenith are on the small side. So is Norwegian Crown.

There are the Oceania ships... but I don't think they're inexpensive.
Most are 2 week sailing to boot.

Tom, I seem to recall that you put HAL in a class between the top and the
bottom, and I believe that it where you put Celebrity.

By comparison, Zenith is "huge" next to HAL's Prinsendam, 47K ton against
38K, and 1368 passengers as opposed to 793. I sailed Zenith's sister ship
Horizon twice and loved both cruises and we were supposed to go on
Prinsendam last October when we both got sick and had to cancel.

And Prinsendam has balcony cabins.
--
DG in Cherry Hill, NJ

In article , Dick G.
dickdotgoldhaber@gmaildotcom wrote:

And Prinsendam has balcony cabins.

I saw that ship docked. Everyone coming off of it looked either like
they were eating prunes or looked like prunes.

--
Charles

Did not like the food at all on NCL CROWN repositioning cruise last
oct.,and even tho we do not like carnival all that much,the food at
buffet was not so bad,they had a carving station,and their deli had
really good sandwiches,and we liked the frozen yogurt ,and it was
free.Now if they only had some nice music,not just one musician at a
time.only time they had more than one in the lounges was when they had 2
violin's and a piano playing classical music that if you sat there to
have a rink,you were put to sleep.

(.a cruise lover.)

Flores,

When i took my first cruise last yr i went through the travel agent they
do everything for you.. i was with a group and this being my first
cruise knew nothing about cruising etc... so i would say yes use a
travel agent i plan to for my next cruise which i hope is next yr.. i
went out of miami.. actually today would of been a yr today i took my
first cruise... hope this helps take care and happy cruising... Kathy