196 Sailings and Counting: The ‘Cult Cruisers’ Are Back on the Ships

“We actually have been homesick for our second house,” Ms. Muller mentioned, pausing to order her dinner with out glancing on the menu. “It’s Tuesday, proper? I do know Tuesday’s menu.” (She’s been on 115 cruises.)

Frank Shumard, 69, had a giant plan for when he retired from his place as a transportation security director for Waste Company of America six years in the past: He would transfer from his house in Shell Knob, Mo., to a apartment in close by Desk Rock Lake, and he’d spend his winters cruising and his summers on the lake. “I didn’t even care the place I used to be going after I was on the cruise — I used to be comfortable simply to sit down up on the lounge chair and watch the ocean go by.”

When the pandemic crushed his plans, it was the closest Mr. Shumard got here to being clinically depressed, he mentioned. In the course of the pandemic, Mr. Shumard felt completely misplaced.

He cheered himself up by making a “drink of the day,” and posting it to the Holland America Cruise Fb fan web page. Eight hundred drinks later, Mr. Shumard and his companion, Lynn Shriver, climbed again onboard, and instantly noticed his favourite bartender.

“It was so good to see a face that I knew, and to shake palms, and it was such a reduction to see that he was there, that he was properly: It was magical,” Mr. Shumard mentioned.

Loyal to their strains

All the main ship strains, from Royal Caribbean to Princess to Holland America, have their very own loyalty applications that reward frequent sailors with all the things from drink coupons to room upgrades. However whereas the perks are large enterprise — and the cruisers proudly put on their loyalty badges within the types of pins and different jewellery — many cult cruisers say they don’t return to the identical strains due to the rewards.

As an alternative, they pledge fealty to a selected cruise line for the way it syncs with their personalities and needs. The Royal Caribbean cruisers, for instance, say they love the pleasant crew and passengers they constantly meet on the ships. (The cruise line says one in every of its largest followers has spent 9,500 nights onboard.) Viking cruisers level to the road’s luxurious and all-inclusive pricing (Wi-Fi, primary alcohol packages throughout meals and shore excursions are included within the base fare). Holland America followers return for the crew, the meals and the intriguing itineraries, like a 35-night cruise that makes stops alongside England, Scotland, the coast of Norway, Iceland and the Norwegian-controlled Arctic island of Spitsbergen. Many. Many Holland America ships embody outposts of B.B. King’s Blues Membership, and the concentrate on dwell music additionally attracts many repeat guests.