First time cruising...?

Question

I am trying to plan my honeymoon for October. Is there some kind of "season" that Crusies are in? Anybody have any suggenstions on crusing at all... particular ships, cruise lines, places to go, land excursions... anything will help! THANKS!

Answer 1

This is a very wide open question.  First off, you would have to decide what type of cruise you want and where you are located.  The most popular cruises are to the carribean. Those cruises generally leave out of Fla or the gulf coast. There are 4 main types of carribean cruises. 1 Western which is good for relaxing on the beach, Mayan ruins, scuba and more adventerous activities such as jungle tours, zip lining etc.  Eastern Carribean is known for beaches and shopping.  Bahamas (which also may leave out of NY or other east coast cities) is known more for beaches and cruise line private islands.  Southern cruises offer alot of different islands / cultures and are very port intensive. (They tend to leave out of PR unless you take a longer one, then they may leave out of Fla.  California based cruises tend to go up and down the Baja.  You have Alaska cruises.  Oct may or may not be too late in the season for that.  New York / NJ have cruises that go up the New England and Canadian coast.  Those cruises offer scenery and history.  Oct should be peak leaf color season up there.  Next we have cruise lines.  The mass market lines are RCCL, Carnival, NCL, Princess, Celeberty, HAL. Most of the lines offer a pretty similar product, however there are some differences and they may cater a bit to different demographics.  RCCL and CCL are the 2 largest and cater to familes and couples.  Both are about the same in quality.  NCL scales more towards middle aged / older couples and offers 'freestyle' which means you don't have assigned dining times / dining seating.  Celeb and Princess are perhaps a tab more upscale than the others.  HAL, is skewed towards senior citizens.  So you need to ask yourself if you are more interested in a hairy chest contest by the pool or a lecture on art?  Finally you have timing.  Hurricane season (which includes OCT) usually has very good prices for cruises.  Occassionally a cruise will have to be cancelled or rerouted due to weather.  Oct does offer some benefits though,  as I said prices are good during the 'off season', weather on the islands will not be miserable and there will be far few children on board. As far as ships go,  as a general rule,  the newer ships tend to take the longer pricier trips and the older ships usually do the shorter 4-5 day trips.  That is pretty consistant accross all lines.  You should go to www.cruisecritic.com  and check out the forums.

Answer 2

Royal Caribbean all the way .........

Answer 3

Congrats!!  I went on my honeymoon in October 2005 on a Royal Caribbean cruise (Majesty of the Seas) and it was WONDERFUL.  The service was great and there was a ton to do.  It was a good vacation to go on, too, because of the season (its an off season) so it was cheaper.  

We sailed to Nassau, CocoCay, and Key West.  We did parasailing, snorkeling, you-name-it.  If you do decide on Royal Caribbean, make sure you book your land excursions ahead of time, because if you wait until you are on the cruise, there may not be any slots available.

My husband and I also worked with a travel agent (so she could do the work for us at such a hectic time!) and she also booked our flight to get to the cruise (it was one package).  That works out great because if your flight is delayed, and you miss boarding the cruise, the cruiseline is responsible for getting you on that ship somehow.  That's my biggest recommendation!

I hoped I helped some - best of luck to you!!

Answer 4

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS!

Okay, there's a lot to cover for a first cruise, so I'll recommend a couple of links, and then go over some highlights.

"Introduction to Cruises": explains what a cruise is like, what costs are included vs. extra, FAQs: http://www.cruisesavvy.com/savvyguide/in...

"Choosing a Cruise": talks about how to pick the cruise that's right based on what YOU like (level of formality, importance of nightlife, etc.).  It covers destinations as well:

http://www.cruisesavvy.com/savvyguide/ch...

You can get a "real" perspective on what different cruise lines are like from other people's Cruise Journals, which have pictures of cabins and the person's journal of whatever she/he wanted to write about:

http://www.cruisesavvy.com/journals

In general, I think cruises are great for Honeymoons because you don't have to worry about anything.  It's what I did.  =)

October is a great time for a cruise, especially in the Caribbean or Mexico, because the weather is nice and prices will be relatively good (in the summer and school vacations all the families drive up the prices).  It's also a relatively inexpensive time to go to the Mediterranean, but it's kinda cold there after September.  But if you're into sightseeing more than swimming, it's fine.

Hope you have an awesome wedding and cruise.  Feel free to contact me through my Yahoo profile if you have any questions!

Answer 5

Season can also apply to pricing.

Spring break, summer and holidays are peak pricing seasons since the kids are out of school.  Lines such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean are packed with kids during these times.

October it towards the end of hurricane season.  

Check out www.vacationstogo.com to compare cruises.  They have detailed info on the ships and itineraries and weather in each port in October.

Book sooner rather than later!