Cruises

[DubaiSis]

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.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

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.

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.