What's Best In Cruises

[Steve Williams]

It's my wife's mother's birthday coming up and the entire family wants to take her on a 7-10 day cruise in September. Notwithstanding the potential for hurricane season we are looking into various cruise lines and destinations in the Caribbean and possibly through the Panama Canal.

I am looking for recommendations from members as to where they have been, and what cruise lines they recommend to make for a "What's Best Cruise".

 

[amirm]

I am not into cruising but will pass on my experience having gone on Home Theater cruises.

First, don't go on one to Caribbean in September. I did that on HTC and I think about 80% of the passengers were sick the next day due to rolling action that even the world's largest cruise ship at the time (1100 feet) with stabilizers could not tame. You would trip over your own feet walking! Thankfully, being a boating person I managed to get through it but never again. Second, not all the islands are created equally. There is sharp difference in beauty, and culture. I personally didn't care for Dutch+French island but loved the beauty of St. John. Jamaica was an absolute best with some of the funnies most relaxed people I have ever run into (don't wonder into the unsafe parts of the island though).

If you have to go then, be prepared for being seasick. I brought the FDA approved wrist-band which sends mild electric jolts in addition to ear plugs. The latter was super useful in blocking the creaking sounds all night as the ship flexed! It would have been impossible to sleep without them. BTW, we went in September twice and both times it was rough although one was much worse than the other.

Second, go on a newer ship. I went on a slightly older ship on Carnival and it was a dump compared to Royal Caribbean boat above. The former was nearly as large of a ship but was way, way less fun with far less activities on-board.

Also, do NOT go for the free dinners. Instead, as soon as you get on-board, run to each restaurant and make reservations for dinner for every night you are on the ship. These are 4/5-star restaurants that are subsidized since you won't be eating at the free restaurant. You get a multi-course mean which sans drinks, only costs $35/person. In comparison, the meal in the main dining room is half a step above Denny's, requires sitting with others at a table you may not like, and a choice of only 2-3 meals, some of which I could not even eat (you can send them back to get the other meals). And frankly, I didn't care for them forcing me to put on a suit for the "formal" night to eat cafeteria food. The restaurant dress code is semi formal so you need to bring a jacket but tie, etc. is not required. Again, .make sure you reserve right away. A lot of people know this trick and the space fills up fast. Be sure to know which days you are at port and want to eat there rather than on the ship

So there, advice from a newbie to cruising but hopefully useful nevertheless .

 

[Steve Williams]

Going in September has always been a concern of mine

BTW I bring with TransDerm Scop for behind the ear which is most effective vs sea sickness. We have ruled out Carnival and have been looking at Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruis Lines

I also agree about dinner recommendations

 

[mullard88]

It's been a long time since I was on a cruise. Instead of the Carribean, a nice cruise to take in September would be the Saint Lawrence River cruise from either Boston or New York to Quebec. Either Cunard or Seaborne will give an excellent experience.

 

[Steve Williams]

I am not a big fan of cruises either but I thought I would ad an update of the cruise from which my wife and I returned yesterday which was actually pretty darn good. We decided on a Princess Cruise of the south Caribbean aboard the Caribbean Princess and I must admit we had a terrific time aboard this vessel which is also reasonably new (2004) and extremely large.

http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/cb/index.html

we had a 650 sq ft suite with a double balcony, shower, jacuzzi bath, king size bed and every amenity imaginable.

Food wasn't bad and we did also eat in the private restaurants a few nights. There were two formal nights and even though Amir wasn't impressed with these aboard his cruise we were actually thoroughly pleased.

The ship had 3400 people on board and there was absolutely no problem with rocking and rolling.

Ports of Calls included
Puerto Rico
US Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands
Antigua
St Lucia
Barbados

As Amir stated every island is truly different and unique even though they are so closely located. Barbados demonstrated wealth and opulence whereas St Lucia was a very poverty stricken island.

Snorkeling was amazing at every island with Barbados the best. We snorkeled off the beaches where all of the stars and professional athletes have private homes. We were directly off the beach of the hotel where Tiger Woods was married and is the most expensive hotel on the island with minimum nightly room rate of $2500 but most go for $25K per night.
Next to that hotel was a beach front home that recently sold at auction for $54M. Close to that is a condominium complex recently purchased and renovated bin Antiguay the Russian billionaire who owns the worlds largest and most expensive yacht. He made it into 5 large condos each from 9000-10,000 sq ft and are selling each for $20M.

Day tours were wonderful. Memorable events was actually swimming with dolphins at Tortola on British VI, swimming with sting rays on Antigua and snorkeling with turtles in Barbados.

There was never a lack of things to do on board and at the end of it all I would definitely give it a big thumb's up

 

[Dimfer]

Me and my wife will be going next month to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. The plan is to land in Orlando, visit her sister in Titusville and board in Cape Canaveral. We are eyeing the Mar 18 schedule of Royal Caribbean. I was told by somebody that has done a few cruises that Royal Caribbean is better fit than Carnival because we are not party animals and prefer a laid back/quiet type vacation.

Port Canaveral, Florida - At Sea - Labadee, Haiti - Falmouth, Jamaica - Georgetown, Grand Cayman- Cozumel, Mexico - At Sea - Port Canaveral, Florida

we've been advised to get midship for least movement and stay away from the front of the ship. Consultant at AAA highly recommend to take balcony suite at the very back of the ship - it is usully more quiet there, away from elevators and pedestrian traffic. As it is also Spring Break season - we could possibly be dealing with a rowdier crowd... so we might actually go for the aft suite... unless somebody here has a really bad experience in this part of the ship and tell me to pick a spot somewhere else. will finalize plan tomorrow (12 hrs from now). We have suite 7710 of Freedom of the Seas on hold for us until tomorrow

first cruise for both of us. looking forward to book inland adventures as well.

 

[amirm]

The RC cruise we took was on then newest ship which was the largest cruise ship in the world and it was quite nice. Next year we took another cruise on an older ship on another company's and even though it was a large ship (90% of the size of the other), it felt so old and clunky. And not fun at all. So see which ship they are using.

We had the best time ever in Jamaica going tubing with a local tour. These guys were so funny, play Bob Marley music all along as a bonus. But be careful and not wonder around there on your own. The place can be quite dangerous (not sure about the port you are going though).

I had a friend take the huge suite in the back. It was magnificent. So if you are getting that, then you are good to go! It was indeed very quiet. The advice you have gotten is right on the money as far as being in the middle height wise as to minimize motion sickness. Regardless, be prepared with medication, acupuncture, etc. whatever helps you with it. I am worried that you are leaving early enough that the sea may be confused still.

Expect the group dinners to be average to below average. Spend the $20/$25 per person for the 5 course meal at the main restaurants. If you want to save money, you can do it every other night. If you are opting for that, go and make your reservations as soon as you check in.

The RC cruise was my first one too and it was a blast. We were there with other colleagues on a conference on the boat (Home Theater Cruise) and it was lots and lots of fun.

 

[NorthStar]

Mom's going on a Caribbean cruise (10 nights), leaving from Fort Lauderdale, Miami,
on April 6th, and going to Philipsburg, St. Maarten.

Celebrity Cruises (company), and the Equinox (cruise ship's name, and built in 2009).

Couple grands (with all the taxes; in CDN dollars), and no balcony (she ain't needing that); Oceanview though. ...That includes the flight from Montreal to Miami, and back.

Very nice rooms, and should be quite an elegant trip.
Way to go Mom! :b ... And Best Mom I ever have in my life! :b

-> http://www.cruises.com/sc.do?d=07/1...es=&IncludeSeniorRates=&state=&zipcode=&dsc=y

 

[LL21]

Hi Steve,

We just did a cruise as a a family (3 generations) for Thanksgiving in the Caribbean...on the same cruise i bet as Amir. There are two RC boats...Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas...the two largest ships in the world. 16-17 stories tall, 46 restaurants, ice skating rink, movie theater, merry go round, rock climbing walls, forgot how many pools, game rooms. Here is what was GREAT about Oasis (and no one in the family had ever done a cruise before)....Oasis is so big (and new) that:

1. You never feel crowded at all...ever. Feels like you're walking thru a hotel mid-week in the lobby. Every restaurant has space, every venue is open without lines. A few exceptions...but we can talk about that off-line. no big deal.

2. Because the boat is huge, the entire family with extended generations is free to do their own thing during the day...but then quickly reconvene (on time!) for lunch or coffee in 15 minutes. Because even though there are 17- stories worth of stuff, it takes 5 minutes to get from one end of the ship to the other. So we basically had all dinners together, and a number of lunches...but also found great moments of 'bumping into each other' or 'staying after lunch but before dessert to talk'...while the little ones went with my brother or sister-in-law to the merry-go-round one level up. And then the rest of of us would finish dessert and go upstars and join them.

3. The newness, size, variety was enough that for 7 days (including options for daily excursions in the Caribbean)...you felt really good throughout the trip without repeats, boredom. (and when i was a kid, we spent 20 minutes in the Louvre and Dad said "seen it!...now lets go"...to be fair, he has slowed down a bit since we were kids!

Hope that helps...we all (11 of us) enjoyed it, and found it a great opportunity as a family, and realized even at Disney World (also baby/children-friendly)...to cross the Magic Kingdom, take the monorail, get to the otherside...meet you at 4pm...kids are tired...one of them needs an early nap...cannot meet at 4pm now, be there by 5:30p...on the cruise, all of that was easier...just go upstairs...be back in 10 minutes. And at Oasis, you didnt get the opposite...boredom, overcrowded.

But to Amir's point, it was nice to be in the newest, biggest ship. We all suspected it made a big difference.

feel free to pm.

 

[Dimfer]

booking finalized earlier today... just have to get rid of the big bulk of paperwork in my desk, then I'll be ready

So see which ship they are using.

The ship is Freedom of the Seas (155k tons), not quite as big as the Oasis ships (200+ k tons) but supposed to be one of the bigger ships even in the RC fleet. We booked the corner suite in the back end of deck 6 of the ship, per my wife's preference. Here, there are only 3 suites in our row. Ours with full view of the back and corner view of the left side, the center suite (which is quite huge) and another suite like us on the right side.

Our cruise advisor is very good and has cruised this ship before. She told me that I can book the restaurants online, even before boarding. I'll do that and print our boarding passes etc tomorrow.

We had the best time ever in Jamaica going tubing with a local tour. These guys were so funny, play Bob Marley music all along as a bonus. But be careful and not wonder around there on your own. The place can be quite dangerous (not sure about the port you are going though).

we love Jamaica as well. our 2 daughters prefer Jamaica over other places we've visited because of the party and easygoing attitude of resort staff. Itenerary say Falmouth, I think we've been there when we stayed in Montego Bay.

even though this is our first cruise, I've been into relatively big inter-island ships in the Phils (Manila-Cebu-Surigao). My longest night ever was on a roll-on roll-off boat (rounded bottom) between Cebu & Surigao just before we migrated to Canada in 1990. All airlines cancelled their flights because of a tropical storm, but my wife was insistent that we visit her grandparents before we leave, so we cancelled our flight and took the boat... as I've mentioned earlier, felt like the longest night ever - cannot sleep because I could hear the non stop squeking of the ship cabin/parts, then from the window the light house disappears once in a while (bottom of the big wave I suppose). I was scared as heck and has check where all the lifeboats are, but too embarrased to show my fear because most other passengers including my in-laws were all fast asleep/snoring

 

[JackD201]

Got them Speedos ready Ding? LOL.

Have a good one!

 

[Dimfer]

Got them Speedos ready Ding? LOL.

Have a good one!

of course Jack. thanks

I hope not to do this again

 

[NorthStar]

Lol. :b

 

[Steve Williams]

I have been thinking of another cruise later this year and in doing many inquiries the cruise line which seems to come up as the overall BEST small cruise line is Seabourn. Has anyone used this cruise line or have any anecdotal stories? Seems each vessel has at most 200 cabins. Drinks are free throughout the ship and tipping is not necessary. Cost is slightly more than the bigger cruise lines but apparently the service on this cruise line is second to none

 

[mep]

My 83 year old mother is getting ready to head out on another cruise in April. She will be leaving from Ft. Lauderdale and will arrive in Barcelona, Spain some two weeks later. I’d stay away from the Italian cruise line that hires coke-head captains who bring their mistresses on the cruise with them.

 

[mullard88]

Hi Steve,

Your post #14 caught my attention. I took a Seabourne cruise from Portugal to the Madeiras Islands and Canary Islands then to Morrocco and Seville many years ago. It was my best cruise experience and if I ever take a cruise again, it will be on Seabourne. My brother who is a very thrifty person has gone on two Seabourne cruises. The first one was to explore the Amazon river and the second one was to explore the fjords of Norway.

Sam

 

[Steve Williams]

everyone that I have talked to raves about the Seabourn cruise line

 

[mullard88]

Hi Steve,

I believe that. There were a lot of repeat cruisers in Seabourne ships. They told me that the ship is more important than the destination(s), and after my experience with Seabourne, I do agree. A couple of years ago, I thought of bringing my daughters on a Seabourne cruise but unfortunately, all Seabourne ships were booked solid. We ended up booking a river cruise from Bern to Amsterdam. And consistent with my rotten luck at that time, the volcano in Iceland erupted, disrupting all travel to Europe.

 

[audioguy]

My wife and I loved our recent cruise but I'm glad I did not see these videos before we left:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etwtyzWssYA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jup-5Xu1OOU

 

[amirm]

My wife and I loved our recent cruise but I'm glad I did not see these videos before we left:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etwtyzWssYA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jup-5Xu1OOU

Amazing. On the second video the shaking becomes so violent that the CCTV camera malfunctions. They must outlaw ships getting registered to these random islands with no safety standards.