Would you repeat a DCL itinerary?

[Chirple]

Funny you started this thread as my husband and I were discussing this the other day. We are about to take our 11th and 12th Disney cruises. Number 12 will be a repeat of last year but will be a Merrytime cruise with Marvel Day at Sea; last year was Halloween on the High Seas with a changeover to Merrytime mid-cruise.

The Fantasy does itineraries we've already done, but she's the only ship on which we have not cruised yet. We said that if we did a repeat itinerary on the Fantasy that we would most likely just stay on the ship while in port.

 

[laceltris3]

I used to say no, but we are cruising over Christmas this year again and it's pretty much what we did 2 years ago. Technically 2 years ago was a 6 night with Key West and CC, and this year is a 7 night that adds Nassau. I'm the only one in the family that's ever been to Nassau, but I don't think that itinerary change is driving the cruise nearly so much as the fact that we have CC on Christmas Day this year.

We'd do Alaska again for sure. But we are Gold and have never repeated an itinerary before.

 

[mathgeek]

Yes. I just did two 5-night double dips back to back. Same exact itinerary so I could have a 10 night cruise with 4 stops at Castaway Cay.

I have also done the 4-night Bahamas itinerary 3 times over the course of 9 years.

It all depends on what you want out of it. I love Castaway Cay and have gone there on 9 out of my 10 DCL cruises. But I also like visiting the same beaches every year and going to WDW every year. That's not to say I'm not willing to try something new - I have 2 cruises booked for next year with itineraries I haven't done yet.

 

[BartmanLA]

Of the 4 DCL cruises we've done, I think we would absolutely repeat the Panama Canal repo cruise, we did the WBPC this year (got to be the first cruise ship to transit the NEW Panama Canal) and we had a wonderful time. Enough days to really get lost in the trip, enjoying so many new and exciting ports and sights, as well as spending time with the over 400 friends we "made" on social media even before we set sail. Hands down our best cruise experience ever and we are already planning on doing the trip again in the future.

 

[cruiser21]

In the past I have. I probably won't in the future. I don't want to pay double for the same cruise I did 3 years ago. I'll only do itinerary's on DCL I haven't done unless it's a really great price.

 

[hanscarlet]

I was going back and forth on this one but we booked the eastern again but this time on the fantasy, we loved our eastern on the magic and have never been on the fantasy so hoping for an exciting cruise!

 

[kaseyC]

I've repeated a number of itineraries on DCL because for years that's all they offered (Western, Eastern and Bahamas). I've done 3 TA cruises with DCL and will definitely do those itineraries again.

 

[mhconley]

No. Life is too short and resources too valuable to repeat itineraries. We've sailed one western, one eastern and have a southern scheduled. I'd like to try a Panama Canal and possibly a transatlantic. I'm not interested in an Alaska cruise as I've already been there. A Baltic or Mediterranean would be nice but if we ever booked it would likely be a longer cruise on another cruise line. But that's simply my opinion...

 

[christianweecare]

We have done the same itinerary multiple times. Frankly, I don't care where they take me. I enjoy the journey and being on the ship!

 

[Queenofthecastle]

We don't mind repeating ports at all. We always find a variety of different things to do each time through shore excursions or on our own. Plus there is always the option to stay on the ship, which I love as well.

 

[mevelandry]

Yes. I just did two 5-night double dips back to back. Same exact itinerary so I could have a 10 night cruise with 4 stops at Castaway Cay.

I like that idea!

 

[AmyAmy]

What great feedback thus far. Thank you!

 

[DizMagic]

I am not a huge fan of repeating itineraries as I cruise primarily for the ports. That being said, I have done them occasionally, when due to schedules, etc it was necessary. We are booked for another Western Jan 2018 and I am not super excited as we have done the Western before (but not with Jamaica.) I am trying to keep an open mind though, and do plan on doing different excursions.

 

[Sytrace]

We took our first ever Disney cruise in November 2013...itinerary was Cozumel, Costa Maya and Cayman Islands and it was great. I would love to see Costa Maya again at some point.
We went to Cozumel, Cayman Islands and Jamaica in September 2014, September 2015, February 2017 and April 2017 (SWDAS cruise and an Easter/ SWDAS cruise)
Our Eastern itineraries have been in January 2016, September 2016 and coming soon...September 2017.
We threw in a San Juan, St. Maarten in April 2015 for kicks and giggles. San Juan was not my favorite, but loved St. Maarten and would love to make it back there again.

So to answer your question...yes indeed we would and have gone back multiple times to the same ports And we try to do different things in each port than before whenever possible.
We are not driven to beaches as we live in Central Florida and are close to both the East coast Atlantic and the West coast Gulf of Mexico waters. We lean toward historical and somewhat educational experiences (2 home schooled teens so I like to incorporate some knowledge into their visits) Sometimes we don't leave the ship in port and sometimes we just check out the port shops for some souvies and cuisine and then head back to the pretty quiet ship.

 

[Quellman]

We have repeated itineraries in short succession. if you want to mix it up, particularly in the caribbean, see if you can get on the magic or wonder. It is a different experience.

 

[Tractortom]

You know, it's a good question. We live in South Florida and have four cruise ports within less than three hours from the house. We have done Southern on a 10 day and Western to learn that we didn't much care for stops in Mexico. So, we tend to go to the Eastern Caribbean on MOST cruises. We have seen St. Thomas over and over and always find a way to have fun there. But this next cruise stops at Tortola, on of the few islands in the Eastern Caribbean and we have not been on, so we may book a cab and take a ride around, or maybe just walk over to Pussers and have a couple Painkillers and call it a day? But, YES we do the same trip over and over (more or less)

Tom in Okeechobee, FL

 

[Steph1992]

I'm about to repeat the 5 Night Bahamian itinerary on the Magic in December of this year. We are going around the same time and honestly everything else about our cruise is exactly the same. We're flying with the same airline, staying at the same hotel before the cruise, and even staying in the same stateroom. We don't have any worries about repeating the same itinerary, but I can definitely see why other people would. There's always so many things that we want to do again or do differently so that's why we decided to do the same itinerary.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Same itinerary... different excursions. Maybe do those things on the ship that were missed the first time. I also go see movies twice that I love.

 

[IrishEye]

People all have different travel preferences, some will not repeat visiting sites, others like me enjoy returning for various reasons. We have visited 2184 US Counties, many several times over, and plan to hit the rest. As we travel around seeking new things we sure enjoy visiting places we had previously been and rediscover, remember or compare; it is such a rich and exciting world.

We have found some DCL itineraries we enjoyed so much we have repeated just to try and do some of the things we did not get to do on our previous visit or get back to places we really enjoyed. We have sailed 7 different cruise lines and although DCL Caribbean cruises are basically the same year after year, enjoy everything about the cruise. That said, we also try to hit any new itineraries DCL posts and have done most, except the Hawaii which just didn't interest us. I know, don't beat me up, been to Hawaii so many times just not a must do right now, although we enjoy the outer islands and will be back.

If you enjoy cruising, go for it.

 

[mmouse37]

Yep, have and will repeat itineraries. Many times our cruises are for the ship and just relaxing and not so much for the ports.

MJ