Cruise?

[redd]

I am considering taking a cruise, I've never been on one, if you've ever been on one, did you like it? What were the good and bad parts?

I don't drink or gamble, is there much to do other than eat or swim?

 

[Andy Neill]

We took one two years ago January out of New Orleans to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.

I booked an aft starboard balcony cabin with a LOT of railing space on Carnival. Of course the food was plentiful and I ate my share (and still lost weight during the cruise because I hit the gym daily).

Recommendations:
Book your shore excursions directly instead of through the cruise line
Drink the free juices instead of carbonated soft drinks due to expense
They will charge extra (at high rates) for anything beyond the agreed items. For instance, I asked our room porter to get us some water for an excursion we were taking and found it on our room bill at $6/bottle.
Find a message board for the particular cruise line/ship ports of call that you will be seeing to see what people are saying good/bad. I learned A LOT from those sites.

In Jamaica we played in the waterfalls and fed hummingbirds.
In Grand Cayman, we snorkled and held/petted/fed sting rays.
A bus ride from Cozumel, we toured Mayan ruins.

On board, we toured the ship's galley, took a line dancing lesson, took in a show, did some things you don't do, and generally relaxed.

Research the web sites to learn the different personalities of the cruise lines and the particular ships - some are no smoking - that would have been nice.
Look at the agencies that cater to interline discounts. I purposely booked away from when school kids would be out to have a saner trip but you may want that for family reasons.

Bon Voyage!

 

[Kikuchiyo]

try www.cruisecritic.com. I found it very helpful when booking our last cruise (AK out of Vancouver) and our next (Caribbean over Xmas). And, yes, Xmas is a big time for kids on cruises, but mostly older kids & teens who've figured out about Santa, like mine.

 

[hoop]

Went on my first cruise to Alaska this past summer. Went on Princess Cruise lines. Here's some of my pro's and cons:

Pro's:

Hotel room goes everywhere with you. No packing and unpacking constantly!

Great Food

Excellent service

Good entertainment

Cons:

As said before, book your shore excursions before hand, not on the ship.

I wish I had done a "freestyle" cruise. I don't like being told when to eat and what I got to wear.

Would like to have spent more time in the different ports. Seems as soon as the shore excursion was over, it was time to head straight back to the ship. Always seemed rushed....

Be prepared to pay for EVERYTHING extra....... bottled water, cokes, etc...




If I had to do it all over again, I would have gone with Norweigan (sp?) cruise lines.... My folks went with them on their last cruise, and didn't have a bad thing to say at all...... Good luck, and enjoy!