What's important to you when you cruise?

[AlexandNessa]

We all have stuff that's important to us, and what's important to one is not important to anyone else.

So, here are the "rules" of the thread:

1. Say what's important to you. These are things that make or break your cruise or cause you not to book in the first place.

2. No explanations are necessary! It's your cruise!

We will not book a cruise if:

• It's scheduled while most kids are on a school break.
• We don't get one of the staterooms we want.
• Our preferred dining is not available.
• It's prohibitively expensive, which is increasingly becoming a problem for DCL.

These are things that, taken in some combination, would probably break our cruise, once we were on the ship:

• DCL suddenly decides to not enforce the adults-only sections of the ship.
• All the pools are closed for the entire duration of the cruise.
• Prohibition begins to be enforced on the ship.
• The Rockin Bar D plays non-stop Celine Dion all night, every night.
• The gym has been converted to an overflow daycare center.
• The production shows have been replaced with alternating performances of the Wiggles and some form of Burlesque.
• One menu for the entire cruise.
• No room service.
• A faulty alarm system that goes off incessantly for the cruise's duration.
• A really, really bad sewage problem.
• Someone throws me or hubby overboard.
• Pirates overtake the ship and hold us hostage. My parents are way too cheap to pay ransom.
• The ship Titanics.

 

[sftnslky]

What is important to us.....
We would not book a cruise if
1-The goofy pool wasn't open at least 6 days out of the week.
2-They stopped allowing kids to go up to deck 9 and get food/drink by themselves
3-They allowed smoking in any of the cabins/restaurants/theaters
4-If they had tons of 20somethings stumbling all around with alcohol in every hand, and hanging all over each other..aka not family friendly atmosphere (which is why we will no longer cruise Carnival)
5-If you were "forced" to get off the boat at every port.

We would have to consider not booking if they...
1-If they built a casino on the ship
2-If it was mandatory that kids HAD to attend the kids clubs.
3-If they got rid of the Disney productions
4-If they stopped room service
5-If they started charging for every little thing...i.e... pizza, ice cream, chicken strips [we would go broke ]
6-If they charged you the tips ahead of time and would not allow you to adjust them up OR down.

 

[crafty91]

I wouldn't go if DCL didn't have Disney service! I mean when you are on the boat the CM make everything sooo magical! Its the magic that hooked me and will keep us coming back!

Oh and if they stopped serving beer by the pool!

 

[Frankiesmom]

important to us
1. lots of booze
2. my kids have a great time
3. my stateroom is clean
4. the food is good.

a crappy day cruising is better than a good day @ work!

 

[sbell111]

Just a bit of clarification, if you don't mind:

We will not book a cruise if:

• We don't get one of the staterooms we want.

Do you mean the class of cabin or the actual, specific room?

• Our preferred dining is not available.

You wouldn't cruise if you were assigned to the 'other' seating time?

 

[sbell111]

Here's mine:

1. Cathy's happy.
2. Disney service remains.
4. Destinations/excursion opportunities are interesting.

 

[wdwwishes]

Requirements:
Disney service
Disney cleanliness
Plenty of the drink of the day
The current level of activities and fun for the kids

Deal Breakers:
Couldn't get the dates/cruise we want

 

[AlexandNessa]

Just a bit of clarification, if you don't mindo you mean the class of cabin or the actual, specific room?

Probably a class of cabin, with a preference to certain cabins within the category.

You wouldn't cruise if you were assigned to the 'other' seating time?

Nope. This is never a problem on DCL since we prefer late seating. However, on other cruise lines, sometimes they only have open seating left. We prefer traditional dining.

sftnslky, I would not like it either if they made us get off at every port! You can't pay us enough to set foot in Nassau!

 

[mattmommy]

I agree with Crafty91.

I wouldn't go on an NCL cruise if you paid me. Horrible service. So bad it's not worth writing.

Disney spoils you.

 

[ontariomonkey]

Important to us:

Great tasting food with snacky foods available alot of the time.
Clean/safe/healthy ship
Nice ports of call

PRICE we have, and will continue to sail on 'crappier' cruise lines if this is all we can afford even if we have to sacrifice on some things. For instance, it was worth it to me to have less satisfying food in order to do a med cruise last year.

We also prefer to cruise with europeans where topless bathing is acceptable. However they do smoke more so looking forward to seeing what the smokiness is like on dcl.

 

[sftnslky]

However they do smoke more so looking forward to seeing what the smokiness is like on dcl.

Unless you go to the Adult times in the 'bars' then you really won't see any smoking at all on Disney. Your not allowed to smoke in any of the cabins..the only "exception" is If you have a verandah then you can smoke outside on it..as long as your neighbors don't really complain. You also can't smoke in any of the dinning rooms, near any of the pools, any hallways, or theaters. Hope this helps.

 

[Bracy]

We will not book a cruise if:
1. it is more than $100 p/p p/d for an inside cabin (luxury lines excluded)
2. the food is bad
3. I have to work or pay for my meals (I'm thinking of NCL's "free"style dining here)
4. smoking is allowed everywhere
5. the ship only goes to Nassau and Jamaica

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

We would not cruise if:
1) we could not get the category of room we wanted
2) our best friends could not come (we have way too much family time)
3) we only stopped in Nassau
4) more smoking was allowed on board (or in the staterooms)

Our trip might be a huge bummer if:
Castaway Cay was closed (we reeeeally love it there)

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

5. the ship only goes to Nassau and Jamaica

ITA!!! Never been to Nassau but Jamaica was the pits!

Pirates overtake the ship and hold us hostage. My parents are way too cheap to pay ransom.

That is unless it's Jack Sparrow. I'd enjoy it, nasty teeth and all.

 

[beansf]

I am still awaiting my first cruise, so I can't contribute, but I wanted to tell the OP that I thought this was a great idea for a thread. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's responses.

 

[mmackeymouse]

We will not book a cruise if:
1. it is more than $100 p/p p/d for an inside cabin (luxury lines excluded)

Er, that kind of knocks DCL out of the running, right?

 

[Bracy]

Er, that kind of knocks DCL out of the running, right?

We thought it always would, but nope, we're taking the April 25th Magic cruise to Tortola for $93 p/p p/d. If we had gone with one of the FL resident discounted cruises it would have been even less. Very excited about our first DCL cruise.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Need:
1) Can only go if a handicapped stateroom with a verandah is available. DH's scooter can't fit through the regular stateroom doors!! So this also falls under reasons we wouldn't go (not available).
2) Disney service
3) Chocolate chip cookies and ice cream on deck 9

Deal breakers:
1) no available HC stateroom
2) If they stopped permitting smoking on the verandah. DH will abide by all the rules and will only smoke in the designated areas. And on the cruise he smokes very little but to have to go up to deck 9 for every cigarette is ridiculous. And he shut the door every time so smoke would not go back into the stateroom. And when you are on the back of the ship (far aft - deck 6), the smoke goes right out into the ocean (ship is moving forward). Okay, I don't want to turn this into a smoking debate so I will stop.

 

[aan1701]

I would stop cruising DCL If they started to allow smoking in Rockin Bar D or the non bar seating area of Diversions. If the service really started to slip. If they stopped enforcing the 18 and up areas. If they put casinos on board. Things that would make me think twice, well there is only one, If all the cruises were overpriced like the Baltic cruises.