Cruises?

aweilba · January 2011

So DH and I have been trying to figure out where we can go on our honeymoon, which we will hopefully be taking for our year anniversary. We've looked into some resorts like Sandals or a few other all inclusive places, but I have a feeling that after airfare they're a bit out of our price range. I've spent some time researching cruises today, and that seems like a much more possible option for us.

Have any of you ladies been on a cruise before? Would you recommend a certain cruise line or ship? We're probably going to go visit a travel agent to help us out, but knowing a place to start would make me feel a little less lost. Any suggestions?

pearl2006 · January 2011

I would say that it really depends on what you are looking for! We recently took our Carnival cruise lately and we talked to a lot of experience cruisers who told us some interesting things. One couple told us that Carnival is the best line for the"mix" of people that you will occur - with that in mind they are more family oriented so there will be more kids around however when we went that wasn't a problem. Carnival also has been more budget friendly in all of my comparison shopping. I guess it also depends on where you want to go - a lot of the cruise lines offer vary similar like Caribbean cruises but they don't all have identical ports of call so it would also depend on if there was anywhere that you really wanted to see that only a few offer.

aweilba · January 2011

Well DH and I prefer going to the Caribbean or the Bahamas. I know that a few cruises I looked at hit up some Mexican ports as well as Caribbean, which sounds pretty appealing. We would prefer a cruise that has some couples related things; although we don't mind going on a cruise where there are kids, we would still like to be able to experience some couples oriented experiences.

e_jakiela · January 2011

DH and I went on a Royal Carribean cruise in the Mediterrean sea. Everyone I knew told me they would be absolutely the best, and thanks to the CC points, we got a pretty good price. There were A LOT of old people, like seriously A LOT, and a lot of kids - two types of people who were not supposed to be there, based on my friends' comments. If people recommend Carnival, go with it. I did like cruising, just not the crowd.

mrsstiles0810 · January 2011

We went on a Carnival cruise for our Honeymoon and I loved it. This was my first cruise so I did get the patch (the one that goes behind your ear) before we left. If you get sick easily, which sometimes I do, I did best when we were in our room (level 7, midship). I felt sick most in the dining room (at the end of the ship on level 3), empty stomach probably did not help either. If you always feel sick there, you can just eat at the buffets instead. I never threw up or anything, just quezy to my stomach.

Almost all ships will have adult areas. If you are trying to avoid lots of kids, going anytime they are in school will help. We got married August 20th so most kids had already gone back to school by then.

My DH and FIL (who goes on a cruise at least once a year) check vacationstogo.com alot for pricing. We are looking for a cruise for December 2011 and my DH found a deal on priceline, I think, that offers a deal price with a few hotel rooms. For our next cruise, we are thinking about booking our excursions outside of the cruiseline. We are going to ports that my FIL has been to many times and are thinking about booking through travelocity since we feel comfortable with these ports. FIL 99% of the time cruises on Carnival or Royal Caribbean.

We flew in the day before we boarded which was nice because we did not have to rush around the day of and hope our flight was on time. Be ready to stand in line the day you are going to board, we went a few hours after they opened and were in line a bit over an hour.

My DH did alot alot of research for our HM and is doing alot this time as well so it is all fresh on my mind since we just talked about it. If you have any other questions, you can PM...please page me though on this board since I don't ever get PM

jessNlane52804 · January 2011

Check out cruise critic to get a feel for each of the cruise lines. My perception is that Carnival and Royal Caribbean are more fun and family oriented. Carnival has a reputation for a drunk frat party atmosphere - not saying that your cruise would portray that, it's just the reputation. Royal Caribbean is rated higher in terms of food and service. I've been on a Carnival cruise, and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't a 5 star experience either. Princess and Celebrity are an older crowd, but less kid-friendly. From what I've read, the itinerary determines the crowd on the cruise. The Caribbean cruises tend to attract a younger, more energetic crowd. DH and I just took a Celebrity cruise for our HM last week and loved everything about it. We got a deal on an AquaClass cabin, which is their spa category. We had a balcony room with a shower that has the full body sprayers and access to a coed sauna. It was really nice and the service was excellent. The ship we were on is very couples oriented with plenty of loungers for two and lots of quiet nooks. While there were a few kids on the ship, they were not overwhelming. We were trying to avoid kids as much as possible (sandals was out of our budget too) so we avoided all cruise ships with water slides and kids activities.

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