How many not so good cruises till you stop using a cruise line ?

We have only had two cruises that could be considered as bad, and that was really because the style of the ship didn't suit us. One was Thomson in the Mediterranean and the other Norwegian Jewel out of New York. I wouldn't cruise on either of these lines again although there was no one specific problem. We just felt that the experience didn't fit with what we expect from a cruise. Celebrity, Princess, RCI and HAL are the lines we prefer, and having done several cruises with each we would forgive difficulties on a single cruise, but if they were repeated we might reconsider.

The last cruise we took was on Freedom, a 14 day cruise...not so good for us. Really boring except for Halloween. It was an "old folks" cruise and you trip over many more wheel chairs and walkers(my heels are still hurtin). The entertainment was boring, the only hilight was the cruise director. They really did injustice to a chicken fried steak(a thin slice of roast beef with milk on it....ugh) Even tho this was a "busted" trip, we are still staying with Carnival. Next cruise we booked is on Vista for 7 days. We hear an Oasis class ship is coming to Galveston, we may try that one.

We cruised on NCL Star twice and really liked that ship. They had Red Lion Pub back then and that is where our favorite entertainment was. Now it is O'Sheehan's and we will find out how good they are next Feb.

That last was well said...I think I mentioned awhile back in here that like life, "stuff" happens. The crew deals with it or not, YOU deal with it (or not)...either way, mostly, you learn and move on. Most people anyway. If the handful of things that have happened over the years would have soured us on the experience, we would've missed the other 98% that we enjoy immensely.

We have had a few cruises that were totally bad and if they had been our first we would never have cruised again. Fortunately by the time we had the first disaster, we knew enough to know that was not normal and move on. In all of our Carnival experiences we have had 3 that we would like to erase, yet we learned a lot about ourselves, the industry and how to deal with the situation. One was mostly being disappointed in services and not getting some promised (and I do mean promised) things. Another was just obnoxious fellow passengers that the crew wouldn't or couldn't do anything about and he ship was in pitiful condition to start with. The first was one of those cruises that everything from boarding, shows, service, lost luggage, delays, curt crew, poor food and mismanaged debarkation (all on one cruise) went off t he tracks. At least we didn't sink (just for your amusement, it was our 13th cruise). We are willing to try most any cruise, but at least we have a baseline and know what should happen. In life, things happen and a cruise ship is really just a small city floating on the water.

1 - Zero tolerance

For me it would depend on the nature of the problem and how the cruise line dealt with it. For example, being on the "poop cruise" on Carnival Triumph would turn me off the line for good. A bad room steward or a bad meal or two? Not so much.

That said, I've decided to stay away from Carnival. Not that any single thing was wrong. It's that I've sailed with them 3 times. Each time, I enjoyed it less. By the last one, I actually found myself bored. Everyone in my family agrees that RCI is a better line, and we stick with it unless there is a compelling reason to go with someone else.

Just got back from one on BREAKAWAY...going again feb 7, same ship, same cabin. Then 2 more on GETAWAY. I was one of those who wondered if it was possible for ship to be "too big". Was perfectly willing to cancel as necessary, depending.. Unwarranted fear I can tell you. One of the best cruises we have been on. And we were successful in crowd avoidance, for the most part. Hung around with a few other couples we met on the ship who were doing the same thing. We spent most days up in a private retreat on deck 17..no not HAVEN...I can't speak to crowds at the pool, because we had our own "facility". But nevertheless, we never felt crowded, or the ubiquitous "well what do we do next?"...many many places all over to sit, drink, munch, people watch, etc etc...BTW, we did the STAR, and its was just fine thankyou...but the MEGAS blow the other classes away.

Wow...that's a tough one. We have cruised NCL, CARNY, RCL. I have repeatedly said that having a "bad" experience on one cruise out of someones entire fleet and then deciding that the entire line is bad is probably unfair, but its a totally human reaction. We have had ONE "poor" cruise on NCL, but that was limited to a poor steward, and one bad experience in a specialty dining room. The weather wasn't the best either as I remember..So we keep going back to them, and that hasn't repeated itself. Can it happen again? of course. Would we stop cruising with them in favor of another line? I don't think so. The decision to "try" another line would be more out of curiousity, assuming it was convenient and the price was right. That's how we wound up "trying" others anyway. The only "ratings" I pay any attention to are my (our) own observations. The trip home is just long enough to have that whole conversation. Fortunately we've NEVER had one with anybody where we couldn't wait to get off, or swore we'd "never cruise with them again.."

BTW, as an aside, its a pleasant enough problem, isn't it? I mean, being able to pick and choose cruises, cruise lines, and so on?

Like others have said, I guess it would depend on the types of issues I had on the first one. But if they are minor or things that I might hear got better over the years, I would try a cruise line again even if I wasn't thrilled with them the first time around. If I went on several cruises on different ships and still saw the same issues every time, maybe I'd start to avoid them.

As a side note, I loved my one cruise (so far) on NCL! It was on the Star and it really made me fall in love with that cruise line. It's funny how different people's experiences can be. I'm curious as to how their newer/larger ships are.