Thread: Same itinerary/different ship: Any differences?

Have you repeated an itinerary, but on a different ship or cruiseline? Were there major differences?

I sailed from NY to Canaveral, Nassau, Freeport, Private Island on NCL and from Baltimore to Canaveral, Nassau and Freeport on Carnival. While they were different cruiselines the differences were minor, I could not say no major differences or very different as while sailing to the same ports the activities on board are different as Carnival had more trivia games, NCL had more sports contests (foul shooting, pingpong and shuffleboard tournaments), Carnival had their new comedy club everynight and NCL only had comedians do an extra show a couple of nights. There was probably more the same then different but both were good cruises and very enjoyable (as all cruises are). As we selected anytime dining on carnival the meals were similar in seating as NCL is all anytime dining. Each had different best dishes, but both had good food.

Every cruise is different but the itinerary made these similar.

Even with the same itinerary on the same ship, I've found each sailing to be different.

Lots of this has to do with the pax base which is different each time. Also, the staff and crew do not remain the same.

We have done the same itinerary on HAL and on different ships.

Yes -- there was a difference -- captains and hotel managers and CD's do make a difference on how the ship is run and what that cruise experience is like.

Our last two cruises have been with the same cruiseline, almost the same itinerary (one less port, and the ports were in a slightly different order), but on different ships. Other than the passengers (the first time had a much younger average age) and a different size ship, there were a major difference in the activities offered. Princess had hired a husband-wife musical duo who have strong Hawaiian ties. They helped the CD develop a better set of Hawaiian activites that went beyond my previous cruise. On the first cruise there were uke lessons, hula lessons, even lei-making lessons (that had a fee for supplies). But there were more of these offered and even a passenger show the last night for those taking hula and uke lessons (I was one of the dancers). I think the husband played Hawaiian music every day (sometimes joined by his Hawaiian born wife). It was so cool.

The other itineraries we have repeated were the Mexican Riviera, on different cruiselines, but no difference to me. Also we've been on two three-day Baja and one four-day Baja cruises, which was nothing special to me, just convenient for us.

havn't repeated the same itinerary net so can't comment

I've done the same intineraries both on different ships of the same line as well as different lines. Krazy Kruisers and LuLu hit the nail on the head!

I've also sailed in the same ship a couple of times. The itineraries were slightly different, but not significantly so!

Each sailing is different. 99.9% of the time, the Captain, CD (and his/her staff) and bartenders are different from the last time. That in and of itself means a different experience!

Another reason why I continue to cruise, paying less and less attention to where I'm going!

SWR

It has been said and I will say it again, every cruise is different. It does not matter if it is the same cruise line or a different one. As an example, I think we have been to Mexico about 20 times on 10 different ships and 6 different lines. Sometimes we even had the same waiters but with so many variables each time is different.

While the ports of call remained basically the same...The differences for us came from the ambiance on board.. the crew, the decor, the food all makes for a unique experience.