Cruise - Who has been on one and recommendations.

[BringBackFergy]

I tried, the bear failed to show. Sick of me whooping his behind, I guess.

 

Typical Griz

 

Depends on your definition of a cruise.... If a cruise means crowds, meals, water slides, pick an established cruise line. If cruise means a leisurely trip on a ship with no crowds and very attentive personal service, go freighter cruising!

"Freighter Cruising"??? Please expand. You mean like hop on board a barge full of cargo as a stowaway??

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

My significant other dragged me kicking and screaming on our first cruise - - but I had some serious misconceptions and wound up enjoying it. Christmas carols on steel drums - - who knew? I have been on several other cruises since then.

 

One of the best things about cruises, especially if you like seeing new places, is that you only have to unpack once - - your "hotel room" then does the traveling.

 

One thing I have not seen mentioned yet in this thread is ship size. Think about whether you would prefer a slightly smaller ship over one of the floating cities they have more recently been building. Even the smaller ships generally have lots of dining and entertainment options.

 

You also may have an option to either have meals "freestyle" (i.e., come and go whenever you want), or seated at a table at an assigned time with the same people at each dinner. There are pros and cons to each approach, depending on the personalities of any assigned table-mates.

 

It's an oversimplification, but my impression is that Carnival ships encourage more of a young party atmosphere, RC focuses on outdoor activities, and Holland America draws an older, more "dignified" crowd [yuck!]. I have not cruised on Carnival, but enjoyed myself on the other two. Given a choice, I would pick a mid-sized RC ship.

 

Carnival ships have been in the news a lot in the last couple years with mechanical problems, but I suspect some of that is just increased media scrutiny after one of their Italian subsidiary's ships struck rocks and capsized off the coast of Italy a couple years ago.

 

Cruise ships sometimes have outbreaks of the norovirus - - I've never been on a ship with a problem, but it would be a good idea to use the hand sanitizers that all ships make available in their dining halls. It's not a very serious illness, but it's highly contagious, and it could ruin your trip.

 

One last thing - - if you wind up on a really big ship, consider packing lightly enough so that you can cart your own bags on and off the ship. At the end of the cruise, the big ships assign you a disembark (?) time, and I'm pretty sure the high rollers get priority. If you're willing to lug your own bags, some cruise lines let you depart immediately. That may give you time to see or do more things in your final port city, or time to catch an earlier or cheaper flight home that day.

 

Have a great time - - it's hard not to on a cruise!

[Just Jack]

One last thing - - if you wind up on a really big ship, consider packing lightly enough so that you can cart your own bags on and off the ship. At the end of the cruise, the big ships assign you a disembark (?) time, and I'm pretty sure the high rollers get priority. If you're willing to lug your own bags, some cruise lines let you depart immediately. That may give you time to see or do more things in your final port city, or time to catch an earlier or cheaper flight home that day.

 

When I did Australia/New Zealand, our time to get off at Auckland was an hour later than listed. We were doing a city tour, and my belief is that our bus was late arriving to the terminal. It was painful though sitting there listening to all the other groups being called, and just sitting there waiting.

[PromoTheRobot]

I don't know what you are looking for on a cruise. I'm pretty easy to please. Good food, decent entertainment, clean cabin, no unpleasant surprises. I've been on two Carnival cruises (W. Caribbean & Bahamas) and both were fine. When you consider what a cruise costs you it's a good value. Like an all-inclusive resort for around $100 a day.

 

But now that I've been on cruises I'm not in a hurry to do it again. First time it was all shiny and new. Second time it was less impressive because we knew what to expect. You can just look at the Royal Caribbean mega-ships and know it's a whole 'nuther level. I've heard good things about NCL cruises too.

 

If I do another cruise it will be Boston/Bermuda on NCL. Just an hour from me so no need to spend on airfare.

 

PTR

[Keukasmallies]

Many cargo lines have several staterooms on each ship that are designed to carry passengers. If you Google cruising on a freighter, you'll find there are travel agencies that specialize in arranging trips on working ships--good food, tons of leisure time, few "cruise line" amenities, destinations are often changed as the demands of cargo determine ports of call. More jeans and dockers than cummerbunds and shined shoes, but an excellent time for the right kind of passenger.

[mead107]

Wife and I head out in June (15) with daughter and family Boston to Nova Scotia end in Quebec . Than drive back to Boston.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Look into what companies let you BYOB (alcohol)... I was just reading that some won't let you take alcohol on board, like wine or whatever. I think Disney is pretty fair... Which surprised me. I thought they would be tighter on it being family orientated.

[ExiledInIllinois]

 

 

This is insane! I didn't know you can hop on a cargo liner. I would be tempted to try it for the experience.

 

But I can't imagine it would be much cheaper than a regular cruise. I spent less than 500 bucks for a 7-day western carribean once.

 

There was a write up about this... I forget which paper... Maybe the Chicago Tribune? Google it, pretty interesting... You are @ the discretion the shipping company's schedule... You may even be expected to put in some work?

Edited May 21, 2013 by ExiledInIllinois

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

Wife and I head out in June (15) with daughter and family Boston to Nova Scotia end in Quebec . Than drive back to Boston.

Nova Scotia is awesome. Lived there 6 years.

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

You couldn't pay me enough to take a cruise

[Doc]

Look into what companies let you BYOB (alcohol)... I was just reading that some won't let you take alcohol on board, like wine or whatever. I think Disney is pretty fair... Which surprised me. I thought they would be tighter on it being family orientated.

Yep. Disney will let you take as much alcohol (and bottled water) on-board as you can carry-on.

[Rob's House]

I've cruised Carnival 3 times, NCL once, and Dolphin once. Had a great time on every one (although one of the Carnvial cruises had an engine room fire and we were stuck at sea for 24 hrs, but it was still a lot of fun).

 

Carnival has slightly better food than NCL - both are decent, but neither are anything special. I've never had trouble smuggling liquor onto Carnival; NCL caught 2 of my 3 bottles and held them til the end of the cruise. If you're a light drinker you may do well just to pay for your drinks, but at $5+ for a Miller light, a heavy drinker will want to smuggle some on. If you put plastic pints of your favorite spirits in your pockets you should be fine. You can always re-up at the ports (just remember to bring it on in your pockets rather than your bags).

 

Most of the entertainment is pretty lame, but that's not what I'm there for. I'm always just stoked I'm on a mother !@#$ing boat.

[LabattBlue]

I've never been on a cruise, but have been thinking about finally taking one. Not to sound anti-social, but do they still make you sit with a group for meals? Sorry but I have no interest in paying $$$ to dine with strangers.

[Keukasmallies]

I think I'll skip the packing and travel to a port city and just see if I can't find an engine room fire around here to watch....

[Fezmid]

I've never been on a cruise, but have been thinking about finally taking one. Not to sound anti-social, but do they still make you sit with a group for meals? Sorry but I have no interest in paying $$$ to dine with strangers.

You generally get to pick how big of a table you want to sit at for dinner.

 

We actually like meeting new people, so enjoy having dinner with others. In fact, when we went on our Mediterranean cruise, they sat us at a table with a couple from Rochester, NY - that was pretty cool. They also sat us with four people who spoke Spanish... They were friendly, but communication was difficult (to be fair, one of them was a banker in England, so he spoke English too - but those four pretty much talked with themselves and we hung out with the Rochester couple).

 

On our recent trip to the Bahamas, we were at a table for four, but the other two people never showed up for dinner.

[eball]

I'll chime in. Have been on two cruises -- a 5-day on Celebrity and 7-day on RC; both Caribbean. RC definitely a step up. I was a guy who, before going on my first cruise, thought "why would I want to do this?" I'm a convert -- they are a blast. Someday we'll do a cruise with some desinations we actually want to visit (European river cruise or something like that) but for simply "getting away" and enjoying nice weather the Caribbean cruises are great. Don't care much for the excursions; we would just get off the boat and make our own way around, and seek out local advice. If you're on the right boat you don't even care to get off. We cruised on Oasis of the Seas on RC and that ship is pretty remarkable.

 

If you don't mind spending the extra money, the specialty restaurants generally seemed to be worth it. The Chef's Table dinner on RC was unbelievable -- six or seven courses with wine for a table of 12-14.

 

Going back on Oasis of the Seas in October out of Ft. Lauderdale -- the cruise returns on Saturday, Oct. 19, so we're going to stay down there an extra couple of days and see the Bills/Fish on the 20th!

[Wayne Cubed]

I've never been on a cruise, but have been thinking about finally taking one. Not to sound anti-social, but do they still make you sit with a group for meals? Sorry but I have no interest in paying $$$ to dine with strangers.

 

The cruise I went on, the couple we were going to share a table with didn't show up for any of the evening dinners. So, you could get lucky that way.

[Fezmid]

Have been on two cruises -- a 5-day on Celebrity and 7-day on RC; both Caribbean. RC definitely a step up.

Celebrity is actually a step up over RCL (both owned by the same company). Celebrity is more upscale of a cruise line - better customer service, better food. That said, the Oasis is an amazing ship from what I've seen, far better than Celebrity's ships.

[eball]

Celebrity is actually a step up over RCL (both owned by the same company). Celebrity is more upscale of a cruise line - better customer service, better food. That said, the Oasis is an amazing ship from what I've seen, far better than Celebrity's ships.

 

Ahh, didn't know that. Probably because we were on an older Celebrity ship vs. the brand spanking new Oasis.

[Chilly]

I've cruised Carnival 3 times, NCL once, and Dolphin once. Had a great time on every one (although one of the Carnvial cruises had an engine room fire and we were stuck at sea for 24 hrs, but it was still a lot of fun).

 

Carnival has slightly better food than NCL - both are decent, but neither are anything special. I've never had trouble smuggling liquor onto Carnival; NCL caught 2 of my 3 bottles and held them til the end of the cruise. If you're a light drinker you may do well just to pay for your drinks, but at $5+ for a Miller light, a heavy drinker will want to smuggle some on. If you put plastic pints of your favorite spirits in your pockets you should be fine. You can always re-up at the ports (just remember to bring it on in your pockets rather than your bags).

 

Most of the entertainment is pretty lame, but that's not what I'm there for. I'm always just stoked I'm on a mother !@#$ing boat.

 

Check out the ncl epic for entertainment. Blue man group, cirque du soliel, legends in concert, second city improv.

 

Love that boat.

 

I've never been on a cruise, but have been thinking about finally taking one. Not to sound anti-social, but do they still make you sit with a group for meals? Sorry but I have no interest in paying $$$ to dine with strangers.

 

I agree, it's one of the reasons I love ncl. No set dining times, tables as big as your group.