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We are planning a 10 Day carribean cruise for our anniversary--has anyone been on a cruise? this will be our first and we are between the Royal Caribbean Nordic Empress and Carnival's Paradise( a non smoking ship which is a plus for me and NOT one of their typical party ships!!)
any feedback would be great
Laura
Ive been on Carnival twice and was impressed with the overall experience. Never been on RCL so I can't compare.
That makes me feel better!! any cruising advice? since it is our first?
Laura
Definitely do some research about your ship and itinerary. I would recommend stopping by Barnes and Noble and picking up a book about execursions - you can usually get these for much, much cheaper if you know where to look.
Be careful of your tab. Because you can charge everything to your room, the bill at the end of the week is often a huge surprise. Just try to keep an approximate total in your head as the week progresses.
If you still haven't decided on a ship yet, go to www.epinions.com - this site has lots of personal experiences (good and bad) listed for each ship.
Thanks-- I love to research-- so I have a book already and have been doing tons online--but i didnt think of epinions--thanks for that--
as for the tab-- we tend to always go overboard--on our honeymoon our cheapest meal was $72 (dinner) and most ranged between $100-120... so even with drinking on the cruise it cant be that bad--although everyone says how expensive drinks are !!!
Laura
Laura - I have cruised on Carnival several times and the last cruise hubby and I took was on the Grand Princess. It was spectacular. Carnival is nice too, although I have not been on that ship you mentioned or on RCL. In my opinion, you can't beat a cruise vacation. If you can get an outside cabin, especially one with a porch, I highly recommend it.
I have to TOTALLY AGREE with Lee that there is NO BETTER vacation than a cruise. Laura, you will fall in love with the experience, I promise ! THat`s why as you meet people on a cruise, the topic of the conversation (first question asked) is 'ever cruised before' and you will get into discussions with people who are on their first cruise and people who are on their 35th cruise. It`s amazing how it is chosen as a lifestyle for vacations by SOOO MANNNYYY people !
An excellent website that someone here had posted a while back is
http://www.cruisecritic.com
Its a great website. You can look up BY CRUISELINE, by exact sailing date, etc etc. There are cruise gurus on that site that will answer every single possible question you might have.
We have been on Royal Carribean, Sovereign of the Seas on a 5 Carribean day cruise, about 3 years ago. We LOVED IT. The food was great, the ship was gorgeous, with lots to do.
On our honeymoon we went on a cruise with HOLLAND AMERICA for 10days to the Western Carribean. We got a great deal on this cruise and didnt know at time of booking that its an older crowd. Mostly retired couples. Our initial reaction was the same one you probably just had...'yikes' 'boring'..etc. Much to our surprise we met some incredible people, and had a better time than we did on RC. The service, food and entertainment was a few notches above. and we figured this might be because the cruisers on HA cruise VERY OFTEN and I guess since there are retirement age, they have the money to spend, and if you dont treat them VERYwell, they will go elsewhere :)
We met several other honeymooning couples, none of which were much fun to be around. We met a couple in their 70`s that were more fun than some of my friends!!. Energetic, sharp, hilarious, VERY computer savvy (i was floored hearing her talk about things she knew about computers with my hubby)...(I had to throw that story in, because we still keep in touch with them, one year later...and for it to be a lesson to everyone, dont let it fool you if you hear something but your gut says to go for it. The first day all we heard was 'this is a floating nursing home'-not very nice!!...and the last day we were hugging and kissing and exchanging email addresses with our new family in Arizona :) (thanks for listening to me blabber)
In 4 weeks we are going on a Celebrity ZENITH cruise for 8 days to Bermuda. I cant wait!!
Some cruising advice :
-Go over your itinerary and note how many FORMAL nites there are. (Youre not required to attend formal night, but it would be nice to be prepared...) We werent prepared for as many formal nites on our last cruise, and we just didnt have the formal attire to feel comfortable going. (I`m talking formal...evening gowns and tuxes - and you get a chance to take a photo with the Captain of the ship!) The last thing i wanted to bring on a cruise was a formal gown ! We winded up having dinner on the outdoor deck. There are so many options of where to have dinner that you wont have to worry. Ladies can definately get away with something like a black skirt, black top, but any man not in a suit sticks out like a sore thumb !
Bring your sneakers and some hang-out clothes, like somethign you would go to the gym in. There are several activities on the ship while your at sea, aerobic activities, jogging, pictionary and group type things that everyone just goes in dressed comfy.
ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY !!!!
:)
anna
Anna
thanks so much for the info-- I have now become addicted to 2 cruise boards-- as if my addiction to here is not enough!!!
we have decided on a 10 day southern carribean cruise-- and got it at a great price through auction-- we are saving over $500 --psyched about that
another vacation to look forward to!!
Laura
HI Laura,
youre welcome !
One more thing you HAVE to do on a cruise (my husband just bought a huge telescope so he's getting me into watching the stars, lol) But anyway, when youre on the ship, late at night, go to the very top deck, usually its where you can play basketball or where they do aerobics or people just go to elax and read, its just a big open space, nothing going on there, usually not a single person up there. We went up there around midnite maybe, there were big beach chairs, we laid down on them and just stared at the sky..it was breathtaking seeing such a clear sky and the stars were SOOOO bright and beautiful, i guesss just the amount of sky you can see with no trees in the way and no light pollution, is overwhelming..try it !!
:)
anna
That sounds great--Jeremy is into all of that so he will love it--
funny thing is last night he found out that we have to sit with the same people at the same table every night of the cruise--- I was waiting to tell him that--but he took it ok-- he wont even go to japanes places for that reason!!
Laura
You don`t have to sit with the same people all week on cruises anymore. If you
want, you can sit at a table for 2 or if you meet another couple, you can later
have your table changed to a table for 4. Or on most cruises there are many
other dining options as well. When we were on our cruise, I totally had PMS
the first night because I grumbled for awhile about being 'forced to socialize
with a table full of strangers' and guess what happened...the other table
members showed up and it was a family of 5, only one of whom spoke English.
We thought it was funny (my husband especially that night), kind of a 'be careful
what you wish for' irony to it. BUT...we had met a couple on the land portion of
our trip (before the cruise) and they had 2 seats available at their table. We ended up
switching and they were with a group of 9 couples from Allentown who were all
really nice. We ended up enjoying the dinners very much. But definitely ask
about all the options. I didn`t know I`d like cruising as much as I did, we both
loved it. Have fun!
Elizabeth
Thanks for that-- I have heard that some cruise lines have tables for 2-- maybe we will be lucky-- I think he will be okay-- he is very sociable but doesnt think he is!!!
Laura
what cruise did you go on / where / how long? was it your first? would you do it again?
I can identify with your comment about your hubby-but for myself, I can get like that too. But it was suggested we do the larger table to meet people and as I mentioned, it all worked out nicely in the end.
We went to Alaska in the beginning of June (our second honeymoon trip in 3 months :o)) and we were on land for 5 days and on the cruise for 7. It was Princess cruiseline and was really nice. It was our first and I`d definitely do it again. The dinners were great. You husband cooks right? He will probably appreciate the formal dinners, cruises are noted for their culinary expertise. There was plenty to do while at sea and the ability to not have to pack and unpack and still end up seeing so many different places was the #1 reason we loved it.
Your last line is exactly why I want him to love cruising-- to not hve to unpack and travel to see amazing places-- alaska-- that sounds fabuluous-- i have heard such amazing things--
crazy what is going on here today--
Laura
