Cruises
 

So, my husband and I are seriously thinking about taking a cruise during Thanksgiving week. We haven't taken a vacation in quite awhile and would like to enjoy some travel before we start a family. We have narrowed it down to some week-long cruises to the Caribbean or Bahamas. All departure ports are located in Florida. We are looking at Carnival or Norwegian. However, we can't decide and would like some feedback from those who have cruised with either of these lines. There is an itinerary we really like on Carnival and it is about $400 cheaper than Norwegian. But when I look online for reviews, Carnival has really mixed results. A friend also posted on my Facebook that Carnvial isn't really awesome (food wasn't that great, fellow travelers are "rowdy Nascar fans"). If we are going to spend the money, we would like a nice experience. Not snooty or terribly fancy, but a memorable, relaxing vacation. So any suggestions or reviews?

Both NCL and Carnival are going to be about the same - mass market, not the greatest food, but good enough rooms, standard ports of call, good price, etc. NCL has some great upgraded rooms if you're looking for a suite or other special category room. I'm not a huge fan of Carnival, but you'll be fine if you go with them too. HOWEVER, if you can make the price jump (should be a small difference, and possibly the same) to Princess or Celebrity you're going to have a nicer experience.

Disney
 

I can only speak to Disney Cruises - which are AWESOME. If you are afraid that it will be too child-oriented, let me assure you they go out of their way to make sure adults have their own spaces. They also don't overdo the Disney stuff, imho. Pluses for Disney - you can bring your own booze on board. Food is great - shows are Disney quality - their private island doesn't require you to tender - you just walk off the ship. The adults only beach at Castaway Cay is amazing. Only possible minus (not one for me) - no casino gaming on board. Check it out! http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/sp...CL.AM.K3503.01

We once went on a Disney cruise and then spent Thanksgiving at Disney's Vero Beach resort.

Disney is a great cruise line and SWTXBelle explained it really well. The one thing is the price point for Disney is going to be higher than the ones XiDelt mentioned. I just wish Disney would get back into the Mediterranean market! I have clients who are itching to go on one but don't want to go to the Americas to get it done.

Oh, and for just a little bit more a Southern Caribbean cruise is great. The cruise itself won't cost more, but the flights to San Juan can be more. But I love sailing out of San Juan!

I did Carnival in 1998 and again in 2005. Both experiences were okay at best. Neither sold me on the idea of cruising, and yes, I did feel that there was a "Ugly American" element that just heaped food 14" high on the buffet plates and trash talked all the lovely islands that we went to. Carnival sells a "party" cruise, which is fine if that is what you want. Just know that many of the fellow passengers are drawn to this concept so the crowd is different than on other boats.

This past February we did the Disney cruise. I echo what those above me stated. First, I found my fellow travelers to be much more respectful of other passengers as well as the islands that we visited. The service was extraordinary, as one would expect with Disney. Finally, I didn't feel that the boat was covered in mouse-ear vomit all over the place. The decorations were very tasteful and surprisingly non-Disney. As Belle mentioned, they do go out of their way to cater to adults traveling without children. There is adult only dining (though this cost extra per meal), adult only pool area, adult only beach area, and many clubs/bars that are open late into the night.

There are tons of little rug-rats running around, but at least on my cruise I found them to be VERY well behaved. Even better? So were their parents.

I am not a Disney person by any stretch of the imagination, yet I would get back on that Disney boat tomorrow.

ETA: all three cruises were out of Florida and to the Eastern Caribbean.

We love to cruise. Here is my advice:

Disney (twice): expensive, but loved it. We did go with kids. Everything is top of the line. But, I would wait and splurge on this once you have children, because the kids' areas are worth the cost. Without kids, you're not able to take advantage of the fabulous "check them in and have fun on your own without feeling guilty" kids' areas, so I'd definitely wait. Plus, our kids kept begging to go again, so save your money for now.

Carnival (3 times): I will NEVER go on another Carnival cruise again. I'm just too old for the drunken pool games and blah food. We went right before we had kids and it was the best trip we ever took...we had a big table of 5 couples and we all hit it off and had the BEST time. I've been waiting for another trip like that! We did another one out of San Diego about 5 years ago, but it was only 4 days and there were a lot of singles and bachelor party types. We thought that was due to the length, so we tried again 2 summers ago on a week long out of Florida and we were not impressed. There were smokers on the balcony below us causing a "stink" and throwing their butts onto the lifeboats (security came to our cabin twice to try to catch them in the act, because there were several reports about their frequent smoking, which was against the rules). Definitely a low-brow crowd, which I don't remember from 20 years ago.

Princess (once) Last summer we went on a 12 day Norwegian cruise. It was very nice. Definitely an older British crowd, with food to match. Mmmmm...tongue sandwiches on the lunch buffet! Soggy vegetables! The ship was very nice, though. My parents love Princess, and they're picky and pretty hip. The mattress and pillows were like rocks, though.

Holland America (once) Our favorite. I loved the ship, the food...very classy and elegant. They have those old-fashioned padded steamer chairs and you can sit on the promenade deck and watch the world go by. Or try an Eames chair in the vast library and watch the world go by from inside. No plastic. They won't be going out of Florida, though, at this time of the year. We did Alaska for 2 weeks and loved it. They do have a very good price on summer Bermuda cruises. That would be my vote.

Here's an edit: summer too far south in the Caribbean/Mexico will be really hot and humid. We're not hot weather people, so we didn't like it...you might, but it is something to consider. I couldn't stand being out on our balcony for too long before it just got too sticky.

Holland America is actually owned by Carnival Cruises.
I've had a tour of one of their ships, It was gorgeous! Never sailed with them though.

I can only speak for Royal Caribbean, which my DH and I have gone on twice (the last time was last year for our honeymoon). While it is a little bit more expensive, it it soooooo worth it! They have so much planned to do on board that you just can't get bored! The food is fantastic! Both times we talked with people who had done cruises on the other cruise lines, including Carnival, and multiple people have said, hands down Royal Caribbean is the best! We have definitely become cruisers!!

I have only traveled on Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Out of the two I preferred Carnival. Mainly because Carnival plans TONS of activities on sea days and even port days. The one Royal Caribbean I was on did absolutely NOTHING on port day. Our port of call was Catalina Island, which unless you get a golf cart and drive around is pretty boring. We got back to the ship at around 12, but we didn't leave port until like 8. There was nothing planned all day. It was so incredibly boring. Now, I don't need to be entertained 24/7 but I like how Carnival will have little "games" (like name that tune or name that star). Heck, there wasn't even music playing at the pools. I went to the pool and I was seriously that youngest person sitting in the hot tub (and I was 30 at the time).

I love cruising. I would love to go on a Disney cruise, I've heard they are amazing!

Be sure to search the tripadvisor.com forums as well. :)

Carnival owns Carnival, Holland America, Cunard, Princess, Costa, and about 3 other lines, but they're run separately and each line has its own niche/feel. I think a lot depends on age and what you like to do. I liked Carnival when I was younger, but it's not the right fit for us now.

and www.cruisecritic.com. Princess, Holland and Celebrity are all about the same caliber, and in my opinion, WAY better than Carnival and Royal Caribbean. That being said, if what you're after on a cruise is lots and lots of activity (see ASUADPi) either Carnival or Royal Caribbean should work. I'm surprised about the comments about no on-board activity on a port day, but the short duration (3/4 days) LA departure cruises are weird at best and to be avoided if you're not there for heavy duty partying. Royal Caribbean has recently repositioned themselves as the market leader in family cruising, so you can plans on lots of kids and lots of activity poolside. NCL is considered lower tier than Carnival, but I must admit the most fun I've ever had on a cruise was on NCL. I personally won't cruise on Carnival again (twice was 2 times too much). I prefer Princess, but I'm here to tell you that it's worth sailing on Holland if ONLY for the bread pudding. Yes, it's that good. Everything else about their cruises is good too. But the bread pudding...

eta/oh, I just did a quick check of cruises for Thanksgiving and there are still some great rates available out of New York, Baltimore, Florida, San Juan, Galveston, New Orleans... lots of choices!

That wasn't our experience with Royal Caribbean last month but we had a 7 day cruise with three ports of call and several days at sea. I went on a Carnival cruise back in '89 (first honeymoon) so it probably isn't fair to compare because I think most of the changes that surprised me are probably across the board, not just Royal Caribbean vs. Carnival. Everybody used to rave about food on cruises and I found the food to be incredible in '89, but just 'pretty good' now. The tradition on Carnival at that time was that there was a flaming dessert every night in the main dining room and the waiters danced with it on their heads in a conga line each night! There was also a midnight buffet that people would wait up for with incredible ice sculptures, animals made of fruits.. very cool! I was sad that didn't happen on this cruise. Back in the day, all the restaurants were included and now, on RC, some of them cost extra. Those restaurants had the caliber of food I remembered from my first cruise... but they were way too pricey. I was also shocked.. really shocked... that soft drinks were not free. Soda fountain drinks are so cheap yet they charged an arm & a leg for them. I bought the week long unlimited soda package for both hypo and I (at $42 each) and I only ended up drinking two sodas because they were Coke products and I really like Diet Pepsi. You could get iced tea, water and lemonade for free at any time so why bother with the soda package? Rip off!

I don't know if I was just less aware last time, but every time we turned around it seemed like they wanted more money for something. I think cruises have gone down in price, but not as much is included. I'd rather have everything included and pay a little more up front.

The other disappointment was the main dining room dinners. Not just the quality of the food, but the quality of the service. I don't know if our assistant waiter was new, lazy or if they just assigned our waiters too many tables, but our service was painfully slow. Painfully. Slow. I didn't want dinner to take two hours. I wanted to go do other things, especially since we had an 8 pm seating.

Overall though, I thought the service was great and there was a lot to do all the time on our ship. I'm not really sure about the days at port because we were only in port from 8 am - 5 pm and we stayed off the ship until around 3 or 4 each of those days. We left out of Galveston with the ship leaving around 4:30 pm on Sunday. We had gotten on board at 1 pm so we had a lot of time on Sunday onboard. Monday and Tuesday were days at sea. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all ports of call and then Saturday we were at sea again. Sunday we reached port early and got off the ship early. Getting off the ship was a NIGHTMARE of the nth degree. We stood in line for 3 hours between getting off the ship, getting our luggage and going through customs. I don't know what the problem was. We did discover that if we had used a porter for our luggage, we would not have had to wait in the two hour line to get through customs. They had a special line for those people using porters. I will use a porter next time. There was also a problem with our transfer to the airport. Hypo and I weren't on the list of people who had paid, but I had paid a few weeks prior. I was frantically going through my phone trying to find the confirmation email and couldn't find it. One of the workers said "That's happened with a lot of people today, just get on the bus". So, bring paper confirmation of everything, just in case.

There were a lot of things that were wonderful and I'd do a Royal Caribbean cruise again. I did like that there was a mix of ages on the ship.. families, elderly, etc. My dad prefers Princess but says himself that it is mostly senior citizens. I have heard that Carnival is the party line these days. RC had some major partying available, but it also had things for other age groups too.

I can't wait for my next cruise :) My expectations will be a little different and there were some lessons learned, but it was the best vacation I've had .. possibly ever.

A lot of cruises are now nickel-and-diming every last thing on the ship, so be sure you look at that when you are comparing prices.

I was on NCL a few times in the early aughts, right when they switched over to "Freestyle Cruising", which was nice, because you could eat in the main dining room or eat in any of the specialty restaurants. I'm pretty sure that these days, you have to pay for all of the specialty restaurants. We liked NCL a lot, but my family drank/gambled enough to be VIP's, and the second year we were upgraded to a ridiculous suite, courtesy of the Casino Manager. I also wouldn't comment on quality from ten years ago, because things change.

There are other good ways to watch your budget. A big one is shore excursions. I dive, and I always book with local shops for FAR less than what the cruise line wants to charge me. If you want to snorkel or go river tubing or whatever, always see if you can work with local operators.

The other big one is obviously alcohol. Some ships offer packages, but these are rarely a good deal unless you are a heavy drinker or always want top shelf stuff.

Don't eat ashore. Every tourist place in the tourist stops is exactly the same.

Don't cheap out on tipping, though. NCL has (had?) a system where you don't tip each time you get a drink, which is fine, but then be sure you are paying the recommended service charge at the end of the trip. Heck, tip on the individual drinks sometimes, too, if you get exceptional service. For most of the cruise staff, a dollar here or there means more to you than to them.

Royal Caribbean added a gratuity for drinks automatically. One of the other women I was traveling with didn't realize that until the third night. She'd been giving them a full tip on top of the automatic gratuity every time!

I have cruised twice, both times on Royal Caribbean. Once was an eastern Caribbean in 2001 with a large group of extended family (11 adults and 5 children) in the summer. My second cruise was in 2009 on a New England and Canada trip. We sailed out of Boston in October. The Caribbean cruise was much more of a party atmosphere and the average age of the passengers seemed much younger than the New England cruise. It was during the school year so there were hardly any children. Many Baby Boomers and older on this cruise. Also the activities on board seemed to be more geared for the less active. These were both 7 night cruises. The food quality seems to have slipped a bit but the service is still nice better than if you go stay at most resort hotels.

I also just had the opportunity to tour the Disney Dream while it was in port at Port Canaveral this week. I have a good friend who is a manager on board and she was kind enough to spend about 2 hours of her free time showing me around the ship. The ship is only about a year old and everything is sooooooo wonderfully themed. Attention is paid to even the smallest of details. And the entire crew is focused on anticipating and serving the guests' every possible need. You can tell they are always prepared to serve. About halfway though out tour I was ready to put down a deposit for a cruise with Disney!

I went on a Carnival cruise for my senior trip. We had a blast--we thought the food was great, the activities (which I can't remember now) were fun, the staff were friendly, and the ports were awesome.

I say this in full recognition that, as college students, we were willing to eat anything, could make the most of boring activities, and weren't used to being waited on at all. :) I am not sure how much of this was attributed to the awesomeness of Carnival or just the fact we were a week away from graduation and no one could bring down that high. But honestly, the other people on the ship were all fun and friendly (probably because they were drunk most of the trip) and the boat had a mini golf course, water slides, and other fun things to do. We were also quite a large group and they accommodated us very well during our special activities together. I would definitely use them again but I've been dying to try a Disney cruise.

It has been a while. The first (and so far only because money is an issue right now :D) RC I went on was in 2008. It has been almost 4 years. I'm sure it also had to do with the duration. We left LA and had a port of call in San Diego (which I was pleased as I love San Diego) we then went to Catalina Island, then Mexico (totally blanking on the city right now) and back to LA.

When I went on the RC one I had already been on 3 Carnival's so I was just expecting the same sort of atmosphere. :D

At this point I look at cost. If RC happens to be the cheapest on a trip I want to take, I'll take RC. If it's Carnival or Princess so be it. But right now I have no money for a cruise, as much as I would love to go on one.

I didn't mention that one thing I'll look at next time I book a cruise (the girls picked this itinerary) is that I would have liked the days at sea and the days in port to be spaced out better. Having essentially three days on the boat, then three at port then one at sea was an odd mix. The first days were so leisurely then it was "run, run, run" for three days. My ideal would be to alternate days at sea with days in port. We were really tired after the three days in port in a row.

I've been on three Carnival cruises with my family and have enjoyed them all. I have heard a lot of the criticisms for Carnival, and though I don't disagree with them I feel that they are often exaggerated. The type of crowd is going to be younger and perhaps a bit rowdier because of the price, but if you don't allow that to bother you it won't. What I mean by that is if you're going to have a bad time on a cruise ship with everything you could ever want available to you, it's probably your attitude and not the fellow cruisegoers that's a problem.

Figure out if you mind sitting in a group or at a table by yourselves, and reserve early if you want to be alone! We were at a table by ourselves twice and with other groups once, and both were good experiences. When we were at a large table it was with one couple and four friends in their late twenties, we ended up hitting it off and having a great time. I will say that my parents, sister, and I all tend to be of the social butterfly variety, so we didn't mind being with other people, but some people might. I might even say we had more fun when it wasn't just a "family dinner."

I thought the food was very good, but not incredible. Some dishes were incredible, but in general I would call the food significantly better than your average catering hall, but not necessarily as good fine dining restaurant - probably just because of the sheer quantity they had to turn out. The ships we were on did not have any smaller dinner only places (I don't know if any Carnival ships do), so I would recommend the main dinning room for dinner. If you eat elsewhere for diner (and their are certainly many other options) it's going to be standard buffet fare - it's worth getting dressed up and going to dinner. I wished they had been more strict about enforcing their dinner dress code on all three occasions, but that's just because I'm a snob who likes getting dressed for dinner lol.

In general, I'm a fan of Carnival. I'd like to try other lines, but based just on my experience I think you could have a great trip with them.

I wondered about that from your first post. I wouldn't like that, either. If there's a "private island" stop, it's also nice to have that toward the end, I think. Those are very relaxing.

That reminds me of another caveat about the Disney cruises. Their private island, Castaway Cay, is wonderful...great amenities, great theming. And, our family LOVES Disney...we go every year, and my kids own stock, so I'm not bashing the Mouse. However, a somewhat little known fact is that the currents are very tricky and there are frequent problems with docking and water restrictions. On our first Disney cruise, we docked but we were not allowed in the water at all due to issues with the currents. Second cruise, after numerous docking attempts, the Captain gave up and we circled around for a day at sea. They said they'd try again the next day. Next day comes, he managed to dock us after several tries (finally going right over a huge buoy...hello Titanic!), but we could only wade and tube right by shore...no snorkeling or going in the deeper areas of the cove. I have since read that this is a common issue, but Disney tries to keep it quiet.

Has anyone else who's sailed on Disney had this problem? I'm still sad that I haven't been able to snorkel through the underwater Little Mermaid grotto. :(

I've been on 3 Disney cruises at different times of the year and never had a problem docking. I hadn't even heard of the problem - although I will admit I don't follow the Disney cruise lines in my Disney boards since we lost everything in 2008 and a Disney cruise is not very likely for the time being . . . :(

I should also note the Disney rooms are apparently larger than other lines - I always had an interior room and while hardly spacious it was not too crowded.

UNLIMITED MICKEY BARS AVAILABLE THROUGH ROOM SERVICE. :D

Gusteau mentioned something important. When you pay more you get a VERY different cruise experience. When you're ready to make a real leap, try SilverSea. They are 100% all inclusive on board. If you're big drinkers, their more expensive initial cost can end up being a bargain. There are other cruise lines (generally river cruises) where all of your shore exclusions are included. It's hard to calculate the value of that if you haven't cruised before but once you know your traveler style you can judge if that's a good deal for you.

Starting with a Carnival or Royal Caribbean is fine - they're a nice vacation. But after a couple or you've added a couple years to your driver's license, you might upgrade your line. Then if you really want a great experience, look at Seabourn or Windstar cruises. They're not anywhere near the most expensive cruise lines at sea but their on-board experience and access to much smaller ports make them a hot ticket for 40 somethings who are financially comfortable.

The nickel and diming thing is definitely new since I started cruising and it bugs the hell out of me. But the specialty restaurants are generally $20 per person, so it's not the worst ever. You DEFINITELY want to know about your ship's tipping procedure. A lot of them have gone to pre-set tipping. You can change that at the purser's desk to increase or decrease your tip, even down to zero if you're so inclined, although I don't think you can eliminate your drinks tips. If you're angry enough at the service, however, I'd go and bitch.

Regarding the days at sea versus days in port, the cruise lines don't have a whole lot of control over that because the ports are where they are and the ship can only go so fast. However, if you're going on a really intensive tour (my cruise going from Rome to Alexandria/Cairo, Kos, Athens, Ephesus, Istanbul and Naples for example), you definitely have to pace yourself. And yes, it would have been nice to have a break between Ephesus and Istanbul, but you're never going to get that. They're just too close together to justify. But more experienced cruisers want fewer days in port, so once you look a step up, you will have more days at sea, particularly in the Caribbean.

I'm really enjoying this thread as we've always wanted to take a cruise and never been able to yet. We definitely wouldn't want the party atmosphere but with two in college and one almost there certainly aren't able to consider something such as SilverSea. I actually would love to go on a Disney cruise, even if we have to wait to be empty-nesters to do so!

DubaiSis and the other experienced cruisers, what are your thoughts on an Alaskan cruise? I'm not really interested in ports as much, would just love to see the coastline as we float on by. What would you tell a cruise newbie about planning such a cruise, knowing we don't want a party boat?

I've cruised twice on Holland America, both times leaving the day after Christmas. I honestly love them, definitely higher end (so more senior citizens...) but there were more kids and younger couples on the second than the first. We've eaten in all the specialty restaurants on there, and if you could manage to snag the private chef's dinner, do it. It's amazing. 14 courses wine paired...*died again*

I've had friends who have done Carnival and only do it for the party atmosphere, and friends who have done RCL and liked that. It really depends what atmosphere you're looking for.

AOII Alum, I (sadly) haven't done an Alaska cruise yet, but to a person, they ALWAYS love it. However, it is not a cruise I would suggest if you're trying to penny pinch because I really think you should do the train tour in conjunction with the cruise. It's an additional 5+ days and worth every penny. It is also ALWAYS surprising to people how cold it is, even in the height of summer. You need winter coat, gloves, hat, etc. If you're not prepared you will spend a fortune getting yourself warm. I even know travel agents (the worst travelers EVER) who have had to pay the big bucks for the sweat shirts and coats in port.

But that being said, you can save a lot if you go right at the beginning and end of the season. It will be colder, but as I said, there won't be any point that you're working on your tan even if you go in August. To me it's worth the trade. But then I never travel in high season.

Oh, and here's another little secret. If you have a group (even as low as 5 cabins, double occupancy) you can get 1 berth (1 person) free. It doesn't take too much work to get 5 or 6 couples together and you can either take the freebie for yourself as a reward for the work you did or you can spread the savings out over everyone.

But really, if you're not big drinkers and won't drop a mortgage payment in the casino, a cruise can be substantially cheaper than a hotel-based vacation. You just have to compare apples to apples and be flexible with your travel dates. Oh, the best deal out there? Repositioning cruises. That's when the ships move from the Caribbean to Europe (or back), Asia to Alaska (or back) etc. It works best if you have some frequent flyer miles to spend because one way airline tickets can (not always) be more expensive, but you can do a 2 week cruise for even as low as $1000 per person. Seriously.

@DubaiSis When we cruised HAL this year, we befriended the sommelier for the ship and he told us about the awesome repositioning cruises they do...ports they otherwise never visit! I wish I could do some of those. My boyfriend's family did Alaska once and I wish I could've done that.


If you're doing the Caribbean, Honduras is my favorite port (if you go there). If you leave the cruise ship area and head into the actual island, it's gorgeous. I did snorkeling off site at a local resort and could live there, it's so pretty.

Thanks for all of the great feedback so far! Lots of great ideas and things to consider.

Yes, I know they don't have much control over that because of where the ports are. I would probably reconsider which ports I'd visit based on that though, in the future. So far, when I've cruised, it wasn't because my heart was set on seeing any one particular place.

I haven't been on an Alaskan cruise but one of the couples who went on the spring break cruise with us are frequent cruisers (2-3 a year!) and they did Alaska with Royal Caribbean. They absolutely loved it. They saw a whale jump out of the water right in front of them while they were eating breakfast one morning. They said it was beautiful.

What I think is great about cruises is that you can do as little or as much as you feel like doing on any given day. Lay at the pool all day? No problem. Shop, go to shows, gamble, rock wall climb, ice skate, work out, play mini-golf.. no problem. It's totally up to you!

How sunburned did y 'all get? ;)

I'd hate to get burned the first couple of days and miserable the rest of the time.

I've been on Carnival, NCL, RCL and Holland so far. We'd like to do a Disney once the girls are older (currently a 2 year old and a 17 day old- so we have a few years).

Carnival is the lowest price point. I went with some friends during spring break in law school. It is a party atmosphere, and does tend to attract the "rowdy NASCAR fans" types. I also found it annoying because they were constantly trying to sell extra stuff all of the time, including making a ton of announcements over the loudspeaker. The food was decent, but this was about 7 or 8 years ago and I think the quality has decreased since.

I went on NCL with my husband when we were engaged. I was not a fan of the freestyle dining. The flexibility was fine, but I prefer to sit at the same table every night and get to know our waitstaff. I thought it was classier than Carnival. I am ehhh on NCL. The food was pretty good.

We did a Royal Caribbean cruise to Alaska. This was my favorite. The food and service were excellent. Ships were in better shape and just overall better experience. If we don't do Disney we will do Royal Caribbean again.

We took a Holland cruise with my parents and our older daughter when she was 1. Holland caters to a much older clientele. There were only 12 kids on board the entire ship. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but that indicates the average age. My parents, who at the time were in their late 50's, were some of the younger people on the ship. We did not see many people in their 20-30-40's. The food was okay. I thought it was pretty bland. The service in the dining rooms was excellent. My parents had some big issues with their room (flooding, having to move rooms to a different floor when the point was to be a cabin near us). All of the staff treated our daughter like gold.

Cruising is something that people either like or don't - there's not too many people that are middling. Have fun!

I had about 1/4" strip near the strap of my bathing suit that burned because I clearly missed that spot with the sunscreen. I don't generally burn easily in Michigan sun but I know Southern/Caribbean sun will burn me so I made sure I used at least an 8 SPF to avoid any ouchies.

We wondered about ages on Holland America, but we found the crowd on our Norwegian Fjords Princess cruise to be waaaayyy older...I believe I am now acquainted with every possible mobility assistance device. But, I swim laps and I had the pools all to myself no matter which one I went in! :) When we were disembarking, a young guy in front of us quietly said, "Bye, old people!" I think it can depend on your destination and port city, not just the line.

There were a lot of 3 generation families on our Alaska Holland America trip, so there was actually quite a mix of ages. Most people seemed to be pretty active, no matter what the age, and most of the excursions are more active/nature-oriented. We went on a whale-watching excursion in Juneau that was absolutely one of the highlights of my life...we saw the bubble-net feeding pod, which I've since seen twice the PBS Nature show; we watched them feeding for about a half hour and they kept getting closer and closer, and then they came up RIGHT NEXT TO THE BOAT...that's when the Coast Guard told our Captain he had to get out of there NOW! Sciencewoman loved that trip!!!

Both of these trips were on my "bucket list", and I do have to say that I thought Alaska was prettier than most of Norway. The inland passage through British Columbia is very pretty, with all the trees.

Husband and I went on an 11-night Southern Caribbean NCL cruise over this past Christmas. We chose that cruise for a couple reasons:

- Ports of call (Dominican Republic; Tortola, BVI; St. Maarten/St. Martin; Antigua; Dominica; Barbados; St. Kitts, W.I.)
- NCL's Freestyle Cruising

This cruise was a great way for us to see several parts of the Caribbean, plus we had a few At Sea days to just relax on the ship. It was the first cruise for both of us, and though we wouldn't be the type to go on many cruises, for places like the Caribbean (where it is expensive to fly in/out of, hotels can be pricey, and I'd likely get bored on one island for a whole week) it made a lot of sense for us.

We really liked the Freestyle Cruising. We both work hard at stressful jobs, and the last thing I wanted to stress about on vacation was packing a formal gown for every night in addition to all of the other clothes I knew I would need. As it was I had two suitcases. NCL still has one formal night (optional), and we found that many people dressed up to go to dinner, anyway. Maybe not as many people in tuxes and evening gowns as on other lines, but we saw many suits and cocktail dresses. We liked the flexibility of being able to go to dinner anytime we wanted, in whichever restaurant we wanted (main dining room or one of the specialty restaurants - I recommend the French restaurant...we ate there twice). The food in the main dining rooms were fine, even really good on a couple of occasions. For some people, the food on the cruise is the thing they care most about; for us, it wasn't a big deal. We have great restaurants at home, and I'm not expecting anyplace that makes 2,500-5,000 meals a night to be amazing. We were able to have some meals just the two of us (which was nice and romantic), and we had some meals with others we met on the ship and during excursions.

I will tell you our observations of cruise passengers while we were in ports with various cruise lines: We could always tell which people in port were with Carnival...they just stuck out a little more, a little louder and rowdier, and maybe a little rude; the NCL and Celebrity passengers blended in together; the Costa passengers were very rude when we ran into them; and the P&O european cruisers dressed and acted a little more sophisticated than the rest.

That's an interesting review PeppyGPhiB. Costa is also a Carnival Company line, but is down-line from Carnival. So your review is cheaper cruise = ruder travelers. NCL is about the same category as Carnival, but their ships are becoming more and more specialized and spa-focused, so over time they may be earning a higher place on the food chain.

I am also of the opinion that it doesn't matter which ports you visit in the Caribbean. Except for a few, after you've seen a couple, you've seen them all. Dominica stands out as a special port (not visited very frequently). I would definitely pick a cruise based on the cruise amenities that are important to you (fancy, cheap, big cabins, awesome spa, days at sea, etc.) and less about the ports. The one exception is the shopping at St. Thomas (you can buy the same stuff anywhere, but I love the sheer amount of stores there) and the snorkeling in St. John, which you can do on a port call at St. Thomas. It's just a very short ferry ride over.

But we haven't even been talking about the rest of the world, and ocean cruising alternatives! You can do some really cool cruises (circumnavigate Australia, China/Korea/Vietnam/Japan, circumnavigate the British Isles). I definitely want to do a China cruise with an extension to Xian and the Great Wall and a Norwegian Fjords cruise. Oh, and I'd like to do a cruise to Hawaii. It's obviously very cruise intensive (I think it's 5 or 6 days at sea before the first stop), but still something I want to do.

The other thing the parents who have been cruising a few times a year said is "The bigger the boat, the worse the food" and that makes sense I guess.

All due respect, I totally disagree. You're right that Dominica is special - it was our favorite stop, and very different from any of the other ports in that it's a rainforest island and not beach-oriented. But we were definitely able to see differences between the other islands, though some we wouldn't necessarily visit again. Our second favorite was St. Kitts - loved the laid back feel of the island, you can still feel some of the history, and it's so beautiful. Third fav was St. Maarten/St. Martin...fascinating in part due to two countries splitting the island, and two distinct personalities as a result. The rest of the ports blended together for us, with the exception of Dominican Republic (Samana) because of its extreme poverty. We decided to do our own thing there, but we should have probably done an excursion...only time on the trip we felt unsafe.

As for the on-ship amenities, our ship (Norwegian Dawn) was pretty much completely gutted last year, so everything looked pretty nice and new when we were on board. The staterooms were nice, and the bed was at least softer than most beds in European hotels. We thought the on-board entertainment was good (fantastic musicians throughout the ship, and Second City is a very talented improv company). And I had the best massage of my life in the spa.

This past week was my first time on a cruise. Royal Caribbean -Voyager of the Seas. It was so much fun. I know that cruises aren't for everyone, but I'll never be able to see how. It's like a floating city. There was even a library on the boat. I didn't get motion sickness or anything. I mean, I didn't feel the boat move, at all. I heard some people say they could feel it occasionally, but I couldn't feel it. Honestly, there is so much to do on the boat, that I could do that alone without the excursions, and tours of the islands. :p Oh, and I went rock climbing on the boat, too. I was also still able to get my daily running done on the track that's on deck. It was quite an experience, and I'd love to go again. :)

I did a Carnival (honeymoon) cruise earlier this month, which was also my first cruising experience. It was a great experience, primarily because you could do/not do what you wanted.

Only drawback was the food. I'd been told by in-laws (frequent cruisers) and others that the food, the food, the food was all of that ....well, it wasn't. While it was plentiful, and there was a 24 hour buffet, and they mixed up the offerings a lot, I found myself defaulting to the cheeseburger/hamburger area far too much for my taste.

also the frigging elevators had minds of their own, and seldom seemed want to go to our floor when we wanted to.

If I have to pose for one more picture..actually, that wasn't bad at all and we bought probably more than that we should have, but, hey, it was a cruise.

fun times.

Your food complaints would be diminished (not eliminated) by going on a higher dollar cruise. Especially where food is concerned, you get what you pay for. In the old days, the food on all cruise lines was remarkable, so the people telling you that are likely either cruising a little more deluxe than you, or are going on 5-10 years or older experience.

If you think of an all-inclusive vacation in Mexico or the Caribbean, which you may be more familiar with, you can have a perfectly good week with merely edible institutional food. Or you can stay at a place that costs twice as much, get to eat in sit down restaurants every night, never have problems getting drink orders poolside, etc. Both kinds of vacations are great in their place; the problem arises if you think you're getting the latter but you in fact are getting the former. But in all-inclusive land vacations, the opposite issue often occurs - people are expecting crappy food, buffet lines, etc., so they're expectations are low.