PaattMaann Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 long story short, my fiance's company won a cruise for two, and her and myself have the opportunity to go if we want it (free, expenses paid)... Neither of us has ever done a cruise, and honestly ive never even considered one since im more of a "go to the beach, get drunk, eat" type of guy when it comes to vacation, but since its going to be free (aside from us having to take vacation time/me take "sick days" since im a teacher) we are considering it So any of you guys big on cruises? What should I expect? It is a "Western Mediterrenean" cruise for 4 nights I believe, going to Cannes, Monte Carlo, maybe Rome and somewhere else in Italy I think - we dont have all the details yet. I know it sounds crazy to some to even think about NOT going since its free, but its in May (I will have to miss some work and I coach lacrosse during the spring so some practices/games), the idea of a cruise doesnt thrill me and the 8 hour flight from NY to Barcelona doesnt thrill me either...am I just being crazy/stupid and is a Cruise really "all that" Looking forward to some good info and opionions hopefully! Thanks all in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 I'll go with your fiance to show her the ropes. Seriously though, do you know what cruise line? Different lines have different ships, and different ammenities. And please don't be the "Ugly American". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 Send Fezmid a PM. He knows a lot about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaattMaann Posted November 18, 2011 Author Share Posted November 18, 2011 just got a bit more info...its Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Sea, 6 day 5 night cruise...port of call Barcelona, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Rome and Florence (although I dont get how considering it is 30 min. inland) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 ... and Florence (although I dont get how considering it is 30 min. inland) This looks like your cruise... http://www.cruiseroyalcaribbean.com/sc.do?d=05/01/2012&d2=05/31/2012&i=869880&c=44&v=561&IncludeAlumniRates=false&IncludeSeniorRates=false&zipcode=ZipCode&statecode=&dsc=y When I did Australia/New Zealand, if you chose one of their excursions, they would bus you into the city, for example, we docked in Lyttelton, but took buses into Christchurch, I think it was about a 20 minute ride. Being your first cruise, I would recommend doing the ship sponsered shore excursions. Later cruises you can try doing things on your own. Also I recommend afternoon excursions if you have a choice between morning/afternoon. We did morning once and it sucked. Have to make sure you get up early to get breakfast along with hundreds of other people in order to get off in time to meet your bus. Afternoon excursions we could get up when we wanted, and wander around on our own before heading back to the ship for lunch, then getting on the bus. See what kind of room you're getting "free". If it's an interior room, find out if you can pay some extra for an exterior view room, or even a balcony. Some people don't care, but I like to have a window at least. Remember there is a workout room to burn off those late night buffet calories you will injest. Send Fezmid a PM. He knows a lot about them. He just needs to add "do cruises have DirecTV" to his original post and Fez will come running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 He just needs to add "do cruises have DirecTV" to his original post and Fez will come running. LOL, without question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodBye Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Oh, that kind of Cruiser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 just got a bit more info...its Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Sea, 6 day 5 night cruise...port of call Barcelona, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Rome and Florence (although I dont get how considering it is 30 min. inland) Definitely go! I've been on three cruises and have enjoyed them all. The first one we did was to Alaska. My wife wanted to do a cruise, I wasn't so sure it would be fun - images of old people playing shuffleboard filled my head. We compromised on Alaska because I really wanted to see the sites there, and she wanted a cruise. It was fantastic. Here's a video I made from the trip: Next we decided to do a two week Hawaii cruise - across the Pacific! That was wonderfully relaxing as we had four days on the way there and four days on the way back to just sleep in, relax, sit by the pool, watch the ocean, see shows, etc, etc. A great time. The last cruise we did was a Med cruise -- although ours was two weeks, so had more ports than you're going to. Barcelona is an AMAZING city -- spend a few days there before the cruise (and maybe after!) and just enjoy the city. There's SO much to do there! Just beware of pickpockets - it's one of the worst cities for that.... We didn't have any problems, but we were also very well prepared. As for what to expect -- it's whatever you want it to be. Do you want to rock cilmb? Play mini golf? Fine. Want to play cards or slots? Ok. Want to hang out by the pool and drink? No problem. There's a ton of stuff to do and you'll never get bored. You'll also meet a lot of cool people, especially if you go to dinner in the main dining hall. It's assigned seating, and you get to know the people you eat with. On our Med cruise, it was cool because we were with a couple from Rochester, NY - so had a lot in common to talk about. I agree with most of what Jack said - except we always wanted to get off the ship and see as much of the port as possible, so we booked early excursions. I do highly recommend going through the ship though - they're a little more expensive, but they guarantee they won't leave without you. You have no such guarantee if you go off on your own, although our experience in Hawaii is that they will wait regardless... We didn't leave one of the islands because a lot of people were at WalMart buying supplies... (much cheaper than buying them on the ship -- we went to stock up too since it was going to be a four day trip back ). I'm not sure if you have any specific questions -- but I can highly recommend a cruise. It lets you see a lot of cool areas in a short amount of time. Here's some pictures from our trip: Let me know if you have any questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 This time of year, your 8 hour flight going E could turn into 10+ on the return W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 (edited) My 2 cents. As mentioned, pay whatever you need to to get a balcony room. If you are like me, you will need to get away from the knuckleheads on the boat, great to a have a drink on your balcony for happy hour,(and yes bring your booze) or breakfast away from the maddening crowds. The ports of call sound wonderful..but they will eat your money like a ravenous wolverine. So while I am not normally a guided tour kind of guy with large groups, buses etc, maybe the way to go there. For example, in Monte Carlo one has to go to Eze http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%88ze Problem is its like 8 miles from the center of Monte Carlo, and a $50 cab ride. We didn't figure that out till it was to late. Took a public bus back..but Rome, Florence..all those places are just vacuums for cash unless you know what you are doing. Just as a heads up..whenever going to Europe i highly recommend the Rick Steves books. If you want to bag the guided stuff, his walking tours and best one day itineraries etc would be invaluable. You can go to amazon and get 1 year old books for like $5...well worth every penny even if you will only be a few hours in each city. http://www.ricksteves.com/ Edited November 19, 2011 by plenzmd1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWVaBeach Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Wife and I are going on our 5th cruise next week on RCCLs Enchantment of the Seas out of Baltimore. RCCL is our favorite cruise line with NCL being our 2nd favorite. RCCL seems to be tailored towards our age group 45 & 50. Have a blast! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewPort71 Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Good to hear props to RCCL. I'd like to try Royal Caribbean next time. Mrs. Lew and I just got back from a NCL cruise to the Western Caribbean area. Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya. We did not go to Cozumel due to the hurricane. Like others have said, book the excursions through the cruise line. We did and had a great time. Also, pay the extra $$ for a balcony room. Bring extra $$ for 'adult beverages' as they can get pricey. Have a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Good to hear props to RCCL. I'd like to try Royal Caribbean next time. Mrs. Lew and I just got back from a NCL cruise to the Western Caribbean area. Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya. We did not go to Cozumel due to the hurricane. Like others have said, book the excursions through the cruise line. We did and had a great time. Also, pay the extra $ for a balcony room. Bring extra $ for 'adult beverages' as they can get pricey. Have a great time. The balcony is nice, but I don't think it's a must-have and depends a lot on the itinerary. With this cruise, I don't know if I'd pay the extra... Days 2, 3, and 4 they probably won't have any time to use the balcony because they're in port early and by the time they get back, it's time for dinner and a show. Days 1 and 5 are the only two they might use -- and I'd say day 1 will be used exploring the ship, so do they want to pay extra for one real day of use? We had an outside stateroom (no balcony) for Alaska and it was fine -- we could still see outside, but just couldn't sit out there. There weren't many sea days, so that wasn't a big deal. For the Hawaii and Med trip we took, we definitely wanted a balcony because of all of the sea days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewPort71 Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 I desire to do the Hawaiian cruise next time. In 2005 we went to the eastern Caribbean during Hurricane Wilma. That was on the Princess Line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaattMaann Posted November 19, 2011 Author Share Posted November 19, 2011 thanks for all the advice guys, its looking more and more like we might actually be doing this! also Fez, thanks for the video/links and info, very cool stuff! I think some excursions are booked/paid for us b/c of this prize, but we will know more in January! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWVaBeach Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Be sure to check out http://www.cruisecritic.com/ lots of good info for first time cruisers. BTW I would second the recommendation for the balcony cabin. It's well worth the extra $$$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 I second cruise critic as a great site. We don't do ship excursions; instead, we'll research the various port of call and get tips on privately arranged excursions cruise critic. It's saved us a ton of money. I'm always nervous about missing the ship for some reason, but I think you're probably doing the right thing... We did a private tour when we were in Cairo and it was AWESOME. It was just me and my wife with our driver and tour guide. We could go wherever we wanted, stay as long as we wanted at attractions, and it was very cool. We talked to others who were in Cairo and they complained that they were herded around like sheep. To top it off, it was about $250 cheaper too! The downside was that they didn't take credit card... So we had to have all of that money (about $1k or so) in cash while we were in Barcelona and then on the ship. They let us go on the ship to get the money so we didn't have to carry it around Cairo with us at least (no payment due until the trip was over - satisfaction guaranteed ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWVaBeach Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 I second cruise critic as a great site. We don't do ship excursions; instead, we'll research the various port of call and get tips on privately arranged excursions cruise critic. It's saved us a ton of money. We always use the cruise line's excursions unless we know exactly what/where we want to go. If you miss the ship because of a private excursion then it's on you to get to the next port, and you're really screwed if it's not a US territory and you didn't bring your passport credit cards etc ashore with you. On next week's cruise I'm taking my wife on an excursion to the 1st place I ever snorkelled way back in 1981. Christmas Cove off St Thomas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tux of Borg Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 just got a bit more info...its Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Sea, 6 day 5 night cruise...port of call Barcelona, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Rome and Florence (although I dont get how considering it is 30 min. inland) We did Liberty of the Sea last January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBob2232 Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Couple tips...Sorry if you know these already. 1) Bring an alarm clock of some sort (or some way to tell time), your room may not have one, and your cell phone may not work. 2) Bring Dress Clothes, or at least a Suit Jacket for a Guy. There will likely be a "Formal" night. Different cruise lines have different rules, but you may not be able to eat in the dining hall on formal night if you dont have a jacket. 3) Try to not over-pack. Easier said than done. No need to bring Beach Towels. 4) Know the Cruise Lines rules on bringing on Alcohol. Most will not allow it. If you buy it in port, they will store it until the last day on-board. 5) Most lines are "cashless". You wont need ANY cash on-board, but you will need some if you plan on buying things ashore. If you are in Europe, try to find an ATM machine affiliated with your Bank to take out cash. 6) Drinks are EXPENSIVE. Plan for $6-7 each. 7) Dont even think of skipping the safety drill! Cruises are a TON of fun...even though I just made it sound like there are 1,000 rules to abide by. If you are a "sit on the beach and drink" kind of guy, you will clearly be a "sit on the balcony and drink" kind of guy. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts