How to Pick a Cruise Ship

The number one marketing challenge in the world is how to motivate someone to take their first cruise.   There are almost 332,000.000 U.S. citizens and only 20,000,000 have ever take a cruise.   The excuses are a mile long.  “ I am afraid I will get seasick, maybe I will not like the food, maybe I will not like my cabin” and the list goes on and on.

To be honest, my wife and I were absolutely opposed to cruising at one time.   I felt coerced by my brother to take a cruise with he and his wife, and we did.  After the first day we were hooked.  Now we have cruised 64 times.   We have met people that have cruised well over 200 times.

Since March of 2020, Covid-10 has basically shut down the cruise industry.  The cruise companies are desperately trying to stay in business while the pandemic rages on.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued guidelines on how cruise ships can initiate cruising again and there are signs of life.   Some ships have sailed out of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Miami, Florida.  Notwithstanding this limited activity, the startup is painfully slow. 

Like all pandemics, this one will pass, and the cruise industry will return to normal.   So, how do you pick a cruise ship?

 

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This is somewhat arbitrary, but I put cruise ships into three categories:

Category 1:  Way to Expensive

·        Crystal Cruises

·        Queen Mary

·        Queen Mary II

·        Oceana Cruises

·        Viking Ocean Cruises

·        Windstar

These ships are gorgeous, but the price tends to be so high it is hard to explain.  If you are a person where money is no object, these may well be a good selection for you.

 

Category 2:  Cheap and Risky

·        Carnival Cruise Line and a dozen more not worth mentioning.

Some years ago, I made the mistake of booking a cruise for my son and I on a Carnival Ship, and I still have not recovered.  Ironically, some of the Carnival Cruise Ships are gorgeous but the price point attracts a different kind of crowd.  As an example, my son and I were in the bar of a Carnival Ship and a passenger, uninvited, chose to get up on the stage to sing.  He was so drunk he selected a vacuum cleaner as his microphone and made a complete ass of himself.   If you like being around drunks, Carnival Cruise Line may be for you.   There are a dozen or so unnamed rusted out cruise ships even worse I would not recommend.

 

 

 

 

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Category 3:  Value Cruising

 

·        Royal Caribbean Cruise Line

·        Celebrity Cruise Line

·        Costa Cruises

·        Disney Cruises

·        Holland America

·        MSC Cruises

·        Norwegian Cruises

·        Princess Cruises

 

This list of cruise lines offers ships of extraordinary beauty at affordable prices.   There are differences within this list.   Holland America caters to an older crowd and, as you might expect, Disney caters to a younger crowd. 

Even within this list you must be careful.  Some of these ships are relatively new and some are growing “whiskers”.   There are multiple online resources available to determine the age and condition of these ships.   I would recommend:   www.cruisecritic.com .

Not mentioned here are a dozen or so European river cruise lines.  These tend to be smaller ships and tad on the pricey side.   Notwithstanding, people who have taken the river cruises rave about the experience. 

So, there you have it.  This may not be the best advice, but it is the best I have to offer.

 

Jan Ricks Jennings                                                   August 2021

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