Why do you recommend one boat or crusie line over another?
If you are booking for a client what do you base your recommendationson on?
We used a local TA, but the first suggestion out of her mouth was Carnival. Nothing against Carnvival but I had been reading message boards and visiting cruiseline web sites and we felt Princess would be better for us. TA did not ask us any questions about what we were looking for or our interests, so is this common? Do TA's just have their favorites, or is it a bigger commisssion on one line verses another?
I know all cruiselines are good, but people will have a bad experience occasionally.
Here is what I have gleaned from message boards that made us choose to book Princess.
Price: It seams that the price for Canival, R.C. and Proncess were close to the same. Our budget dictates the use of the above verses luxury lines.
Decor: I think it depends on what the person is looking for when it comes to style and mood. A vacation for us is relaxation, although we enjoy Vegas, 7 days of loud colors and loud music would not leave me feeling relaxed. This led to looking more towards R.C and Princess rather then Carnival.
The age group of the fellow cruisers. I realize all age groups are likely to be on board, but a lot of kids playing noisily at the pool does not excite me. Many posts have made comments on lots of different boards about kids not minding the adult only pools and nothing being done about it.
Entertainment; We enjoy music that is from 70's and older rather than contemporary. We like to Foxtrot and Waltz with maybe a little swing dancing thrown in. Maybe I have the wrong idea of Carnival, many say it is shedding it's party image but I still think the music is more likely to be contemporary on Carnival. Less dancable for us.
What other things do you look at when you make suggestions to your clients? Have we perceived wrong about the different cruise lines?
How often in your experience does the size or age of the boat come into play?
If you are booking for a client what do you base your recommendationson on?
We used a local TA, but the first suggestion out of her mouth was Carnival. Nothing against Carnvival but I had been reading message boards and visiting cruiseline web sites and we felt Princess would be better for us. TA did not ask us any questions about what we were looking for or our interests, so is this common? Do TA's just have their favorites, or is it a bigger commisssion on one line verses another?
I aske clients a bunch of questions, about their like and dislikes, ages, activities they like to participate in...budget. I am not loyal to one line. I ask where they would like to go and give at least three options on different lines, comparing prices on similar staterooms.
I know all cruiselines are good, but people will have a bad experience occasionally.
Here is what I have gleaned from message boards that made us choose to book Princess.
Price: It seams that the price for Canival, R.C. and Proncess were close to the same. Our budget dictates the use of the above verses luxury lines.
Decor: I think it depends on what the person is looking for when it comes to style and mood. A vacation for us is relaxation, although we enjoy Vegas, 7 days of loud colors and loud music would not leave me feeling relaxed. This led to looking more towards R.C and Princess rather then Carnival.
I toured the Miracle last week and the colors were very subdued...different for Carnival. Princess is very plain as far as color schemes go.
The age group of the fellow cruisers. I realize all age groups are likely to be on board, but a lot of kids playing noisily at the pool does not excite me. Many posts have made comments on lots of different boards about kids not minding the adult only pools and nothing being done about it.
Entertainment; We enjoy music that is from 70's and older rather than contemporary. We like to Foxtrot and Waltz with maybe a little swing dancing thrown in. Maybe I have the wrong idea of Carnival, many say it is shedding it's party image but I still think the music is more likely to be contemporary on Carnival. Less dancable for us.
What other things do you look at when you make suggestions to your clients? Have we perceived wrong about the different cruise lines?
How often in your experience does the size or age of the boat come into play?
When I travel, I am picky...quite nit picky about different things. I tore Disney apart last week...does that mean I wouldn't send a client there for a family vacation...NO! But, I look at my trips and my reviews and try to help fit clients to the right vacation.
I would be happy to help you and discuss the pros and cons of the three lines you mentioned. Don't necessarily exclude the luxury lines...they run fabulous specials!
I don't put my clients onto ships because I liked the ship...that is wrong. It is about the client...not me.
I reread your post...and have a few more comments.
The age of the ship and size comes into play depending upon the client and what they are actually looking for.
If it is an older ship but the itinerary is great....go for it...the ships are kept up and refurbed.
We all have perceptions of different lines...I didn't think that I would like Princess...and it was great...a little mellow perhaps...older crowd on the sailing we were on...but fabulous nonetheless.
This will only be our second cruise (22 days ) so my percieved views are shaped by what I read not by personal experience. I would like to know more so we can look at what crusie to do next. We are considering visiting the future cruise salews office while on our upcoming Princess cruise. It will probably be 2-4 years before we can afford to do the cruises we want to look at. We are interested in Alaska and Hawaii. Although I keep telling DH it would be good to do a little 3-5 cruise before the next big one.
We loved the 1st cruise we went on but the bed was really bad for my back. We did not know we could have asked for egg crate or a board. So I suffered through it. I wish I would have known about cruise message boards 2 years ago!
I love Princess and have sailed her 3 times, but have also sailed NCL, carinval and RC. I only sail the Caribbean and we drive to the port!! I really don't care about the itinerary, and always sail in October except this year, so prices are awesome. We sail for the ship. Our lives are really hectic at home so our one cruise a year is very mellow. If it is on the wild side we are not happy, but we MAKE every cruise a good experience regardless, by ignoring and moving away from the bad part. First thing you pack is a good attitude and patience!!
I love Princess and have sailed her 3 times, but have also sailed NCL, carinval and RC. I only sail the Caribbean and we drive to the port!! I really don't care about the itinerary, and always sail in October except this year, so prices are awesome. We sail for the ship. Our lives are really hectic at home so our one cruise a year is very mellow. If it is on the wild side we are not happy, but we MAKE every cruise a good experience regardless, by ignoring and moving away from the bad part. First thing you pack is a good attitude and patience!!
Well said, Sue
We have not sailed Princess..yet, but hope to next year.
We have sailed RCI and Carnival. Of those 2, my recommendation would be RCI. In our experience the service and overall quality of the cruise has been better on the Royal Caribbean ships. We just got back 2 weeks ago from our 2nd Carnival cruise and the redeeming factor for that cruise was the food. It was very good, but service........
Time of year can also dictate the makeup of the passengers. Summer will have lots of kids...spring break will have the college kids and some younger ones. Holiday sailings are usually full of kids. Any time school is out you will find families on vacation.
It's good to try different lines to see for yourself how the experience fits your expectations for cruising.
If you are booking for a client what do you base your recommendationson on?
We used a local TA, but the first suggestion out of her mouth was Carnival. Nothing against Carnvival ....
We had exactly the OPPOSITE problem with our long time TA. She, bless her heart, did her best to talk us out of taking a B2B cruise on Carnival Glory!
It was important to me to take a Carnival Cruise to see for myself. We had some wonderful PortsOfCall. So... probably our TA was right ... Carnival is not the best "fit" for us. Still, don't have any regrets. We kept a positive attitude and had an enjoyable time. How do we really know unless we try!
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Why do you recommend one boat or crusie line over another?
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) so my percieved views are shaped by what I read not by personal experience. I would like to know more so we can look at what crusie to do next. We are considering visiting the future cruise salews office while on our upcoming Princess cruise. It will probably be 2-4 years before we can afford to do the cruises we want to look at. We are interested in Alaska and Hawaii. Although I keep telling DH it would be good to do a little 3-5 cruise before the next big one. 
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We had exactly the OPPOSITE problem with our long time TA. She, bless her heart, did her best to talk us out of taking a B2B cruise on Carnival Glory! 
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