going on a cruise..(Advice, destinations, ect)

[stevieo]

so my parents are planning on going on a cruise and asked me if i wanted to come. so of coruse i said yes.

we were trying to get some ideas down and i don't really know much about cruises.

so i was wondering for those who have went on acruise, where did you go? how was your experience there? who did you travel with? how much was it? and how much did you need to bring?

i'd really like some input to this as i wanna have a great vacation with my parents. we'd all like to have a good time and not really run into major troubles, ect. (wish for a really great, relaxing time :D)

thank you all in advance for helping me out.

stevieo.

[pints]

I went on a cruise through some of the Greek Islands and to Kusadasi, Turkey with my High School way back when. It was really good, you get to see alot of history if your interested and even if your not some of the archaeological sites are very impressive. The food on board wasn't the best but the stuff on the islands was awesome and really cheap(this was before the Euro came about). It was about $3000.00 for ten days including airfare and a bunch of days in Athens and some touristy stuff to places around Athens.

['93 SR-V]

BYOB! Your room key is also a credit card on the ship... and drinks are expensive!

[RC-Cola]

A cruise is a good way to go if you have a big group with lots of age difference. If the ship is big enough it will give something for all age groups to do, you can party at the clubs at night, while your folks are ballroom dancing or watching a stageshow.

SR-V is correct that if you let it, you can spend crazy amount of money as they give your room key that acts like your passport, your credit card, your cash and everything! Bring booze in your packed luggage and a big Tim Hortons thermos. Ask the bar to put your mix in it then run back to your room to top it up with some love!

The excurisions can be really good, but they can also be a little sketchy as well. Just make sure that the tour operator is approved by the cruise line.

[rinny]

Hawaiian islands, theres a bunch of different cruises to hit 4+ islands in 7 days. There are also longer 14 day ones too.

[vincent-h]

I would recommend the hawaii cruise one its acually through norwegian cruise lines. Its the cruise I'm waiting to take but waiting for my agent incentive to roll around to hop a free trip :P :poosie:

other than that try the usually either mexican/barribean cruises they'll hit you a much better price range and a lot of people love those. Also depending on the seasonality/when you go the prices can differ greatly. anotehr huge diciding factor on price would be the cruise line you end up taking. this is based on your own personal preference/ pickyness.

All in all a crusie is a very relaxing experience, more relaxing in some front than a resort even in my opinion.

[rinny]

The NCL is the one I was talking about too...

[stevieo]

k i think my parents made up their mind.

carnival cruise
western caribbean.

can't wait :D

[three.eighteen.]

i did the same cruise...made $1000 in their casino...its fun if you're 21, otherwise youll be hiding 40s in your room

[stevieo]

turning 21 before cruise date :D

[badMotoFinga]

I just got back from the same trip in January. We went there for new years. It was fun. Our ship was the Carnival Liberty. Its the biggest one of the Carnival fleet. AWESOME ship .. you'll love it. Our original itenary was changed to goto Freeport (Bahamas), Georgetown (Grand Cayman), and Montego Bay (Jamaica). Out of all of them Jamaica was the best.

Freeport is BORING! I'll warn you now that if you end up going to Freeport, DO NOT GO ON THE TOUR! There is nothing to see except for Burger King's, KFC's, Insurance buildings, and lots of reverend's homes. Reverends in Bahamas are rich for some odd reason. If you goto Freeport, go snorkeling or hit up the beach. The TOUR was HORRIBLE. But if you must, just get a cab and have him do a private tour. It'll save you alot and you can skip the tourist traps.

Grand Caymans is all just shopping. nice place tho. We went on the stingray tour. Was alrite.

Jamaica was the best. We went on the ATV tour and later went seadooing on the beach. They only know seadoos as JetSki's there for some reason.

Here are some pics from my trip if you want a preview of what you'll get http://spaces.msn.com/badMotoFinga/

Drinks are pretty pricey. I recommend that during the shore excursions you goto the duty free liquor stores and stock up and smuggle it aboard. They dont care as long as its not too excessive. They dont let have the duty free booze bought from the store on the ship, instead they give it to you after the trip. Its like 50% cheaper when you buy on-shore. In Jamaica we went to the grocery store to pick up some Red Stripe beer. Came to $1 USD per bottle compared to $5.75 USD per bottle on the ship.

If you're looking to go on shore excursions, like tours, or any packages, book them early, cuz they fill up fast. However, you may be able to book them from the scalper-like locals and save some money or potentially get ripped off. I just booked mine on the ship but they were a little pricey.

All in all .. it was a great trip .. I hope you enjoy yours

[stevieo]

thanks man, i think me and my parents have come to conclusion that we are going on carnival tours, just that I haven't asked them which boat we are going on. I'll ask them tonight :D

thanks for all the help you guys have given me.

[bigboom]

Originally posted by badMotoFinga
I just got back from the same trip in January. We went there for new years. It was fun. Our ship was the Carnival Liberty. Its the biggest one of the Carnival fleet. AWESOME ship .. you'll love it. Our original itenary was changed to goto Freeport (Bahamas), Georgetown (Grand Cayman), and Montego Bay (Jamaica). Out of all of them Jamaica was the best.

Freeport is BORING! I'll warn you now that if you end up going to Freeport, DO NOT GO ON THE TOUR! There is nothing to see except for Burger King's, KFC's, Insurance buildings, and lots of reverend's homes. Reverends in Bahamas are rich for some odd reason. If you goto Freeport, go snorkeling or hit up the beach. The TOUR was HORRIBLE. But if you must, just get a cab and have him do a private tour. It'll save you alot and you can skip the tourist traps.

Grand Caymans is all just shopping. nice place tho. We went on the stingray tour. Was alrite.

Jamaica was the best. We went on the ATV tour and later went seadooing on the beach. They only know seadoos as JetSki's there for some reason.

Here are some pics from my trip if you want a preview of what you'll get http://spaces.msn.com/badMotoFinga/

Drinks are pretty pricey. I recommend that during the shore excursions you goto the duty free liquor stores and stock up and smuggle it aboard. They dont care as long as its not too excessive. They dont let have the duty free booze bought from the store on the ship, instead they give it to you after the trip. Its like 50% cheaper when you buy on-shore. In Jamaica we went to the grocery store to pick up some Red Stripe beer. Came to $1 USD per bottle compared to $5.75 USD per bottle on the ship.

If you're looking to go on shore excursions, like tours, or any packages, book them early, cuz they fill up fast. However, you may be able to book them from the scalper-like locals and save some money or potentially get ripped off. I just booked mine on the ship but they were a little pricey.

All in all .. it was a great trip .. I hope you enjoy yours


apparently my brother and i were on the exact same cruise you were...it was a good time but i didnt like all the time spent on the boat, i wish we were also at the ports a bit longer, you only really get to stay at the different ports for a max of like 7 hours which was way to short. but i did gain 4 pounds on it...

[War]

Bring a couple of 40's for on the cruise, sneek them on in your lugage. Alcohol is stupid expensive on cuises, the cheapest thing on our cruise (western caribian (cozemel mexico, grand caymans, jamaca), with carnaval) was 3 corona's for $19 usd. Your room key is also your credit card (and attached to your credit card which they pre-authorise) on the ship, anything you buy you put on there. Some people we met on the cruise had $2,000 to $3,000 bills just for drinks. On carnaval the key cards are car "Sign and Sail" but they have the nick name of "drink and sink" because it's so expensive and you don't realise how much $$ you go threw.

Trust me bring what you want to drink with you, and bring a back pack on your day trips to the islands so you can buy some more and sneek it on. They say your not allowed and you have to surrender any alcohol when you board the ship, but they never check bags. Any fountain drinks/water/pop/juice is free on the cruise of mix is there, the easiest thing to do is get a bottle of water and fill it full of vodka. That way you can add it into you coke or oj on the sun deck without anyone bitching.

[Das_Amaretto]

hmmm... maybe things have changed, but years ago, we wet on Carnival and it wasn't good. It was like a 'kiddie' cruise line.

Then we tried Royal Carribbean, and it was great. good all-around, and good prices too, and the food was actually real good.

Finally, we went on Princess cruise lines, and they are THE BEST! soo high-end, it's amazing. I say stay away from Carnival and try Princess, you won't regret it.

Haven't tried Norweigan yet, I guess they're next on the list...

[teggypimp95]

I have been on about 5 cruises, and by far the best cruise line is royal caribean. and the best ships they have are the voyager or the explorer. (sisterships) I have done the mexico one, thats pretty neat, but the eastern and western caribean ones are awesome too. Highly recamend any of those. If you have any questions on tours or stuff to do or rent, let me know. i can help ya out.

[badMotoFinga]

Originally posted by bigboom



apparently my brother and i were on the exact same cruise you were...it was a good time but i didnt like all the time spent on the boat, i wish we were also at the ports a bit longer, you only really get to stay at the different ports for a max of like 7 hours which was way to short. but i did gain 4 pounds on it...


Thats cool. Yeah this cruise was a first for me, so everything was new and exciting. Even waking up at 7am to explore the island. I dont think i had a good night's sleep the entire trip cuz there was always something we had planned to do or go. I guess it was a bit different for me cuz we had like 10 families who all knew each other on the ship. So I actually looked forward to being able to just relax on the ship for the whole day and chill with ppl.

[colinderksen]

I went on a Princess Boat. The Golden Princess. We went down to Puerto Rico to board and did a 1 week tour of the Carribean. Stops were: St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Barbados, and Antigua. I really enjoyed it because our boat was huge (3000+ people) and you are in a new port every morning.
One very shitty thing is paying for booze. $3.50 usd gets expensive if you want to have some fun. But if you go make sure to pay extra and get a room with a balcony.