Honest Question on Not Liking the Ships

[tidefan]

Ever since our DD turned 18, we've pretty much moved on to Virgin Voyages. Absolutely love cruising with them. The food is much better than say HAL or Princess (have not done Celebrity) and so much better than RCCL. Strangely enough, I actually find that the best non-VV (or non-DCL) food is Carnival...

That said, we are big relaxation, food, and itinerary people, so the entertainment isn't as big of a factor for us, though we definitely enjoy the DCL shows. Problem is, after you do a number of sailings, since they don't change them, it loses the luster a bit. I mean, there are only so many times one can see Dreams or Believe...

Another weird thing for us is laundry. We have status with VV, so we each get a free bag sent out (we have this on Princess too), but I could not imagine going on say a 10 night Med cruise and not having laundry on the ship. I do appreciate the DCL and Princess ships that have laundry. That's another thing I don't like about RCCL...

 

[AquaDame]

Hi DCL Fanatics. Looking for feedback on when people say they dislike, hate or won’t gone on X ship ever again. I guess I am asking this as i am in the planning phase of taking our first non DCL cruise ( 5 x DCL cruises ). I love all the DCL ships I’ve been on Dream, Wish, Fantasy, Magic. Have there been some some not so stellar service experiences, sure there have been. But there has also been some amazing service experiences. My question I guess is really more the ship itself that you dislike. It’s hard for me to understand someone actually disking or hating a ship to the point they won’t go again.

It might help to reframe - WHY would I sail the Wish again when I did not like sailing on her? She doesn't have anything unique that would bring me back onboard (personal opinion for sure), and she goes places other cruises go. In my case it is enough that the layout and amenities just weren't as nice as I find them on the other ships. I don't "hate" the Wish, but I have no plans on sailing her again. It would take an extra push from something - a unique itinerary, or unmoveable dates - to overwrite my conviction. I also have no intention to sail on Radiance or Jewel of the Seas either - we only chose them for the itinerary and timing; we did not enjoy our time aboard enough for me to seek them out in the future.

 

[asgur5]

To each their own. What you call “enhanced” used to be the expectation of what’s included and still is on the more premium lines. There’s a word for what Royal has been doing since Covid, en-bleep-ification. Giving you less and less for your base fare and up charging for everything. I don’t want to have to spend on top of my cruise fare to have a decent experience regardless of how much cheaper the total ends up compared to other lines, and increasingly you’re forced to. The MDR menu changes are a prime example of that. On DCL I don’t feel forced to eat at Palo, it’s just a treat. Rotational is pretty solid to good. Royal MDR is dog food now outside of the Indian dishes. And if I’m going to be forced to do specialty dining to have a decent meal then I’m just going to do Virgin.

Gonna be honest, none of the mass market cruise lines do truly interesting itineraries to me. I would rather do those on newer, smaller ships on the premium lines or get into river cruising.

So you want to pay more money for the same experience as long as you pay it all up front. Thats completely irrational.

 

[DCLMP]

Maybe once I reach Pearl, I will agree with your assessment. Right now, I don’t want to jump ship from DCL. In the future, we want to try the Haven on NCL and the Retreat on Celebrity. (Think I got the names right!). Along with Viking for a river cruise.

Maybe you will get lucky and they will add some benefits.

 

[DCLMP]

So you want to pay more money for the same experience as long as you pay it all up front. Thats completely irrational.

Strawman argument.