I am going on a cruise in December?

Question

I am looking at the 7 day cruises from Tampa to Cozamel and back to Tampa. Most of these cruises have about the same price range. I would like to know if you have been on a cruise and which cruise line did you like?

Answer 1

I have been on about 15 cruises mostly on NCL and Royal Caribbean, but also a few on Princess and Celebrity.  These four are my favorites and I like Royal Caribbean best of these, followed by Celebrity and Princess.

In my opinion RC and Celebrity are very close, with Celebrity having slightly better service.  But I loved the food cabins and service on both.  Princess I like also and would have gone on them more but seemed to find better deals on RC.  The princess chips I have been on were elegantly decorated with lots of wood trim and pleasant colors.  The food is excellent and so are the staff.  They offer what they call "personal choice cruising" which basically mean that instead of selecting a dinner seating time of 6:00 PM or 8:00 PM you can do that or just go to dinner whenever you want.  

NCL was the line that I did my first 4 cruises on but after they started their "freestyle" cruising I decided that I preferred the more traditional cruise.  The freestyle is only different in that it allows you to go to dinner any time you want without selecting a dinner time as is done on other cruise lines.  But on one of our NCL cruises we had a problem with this of having to stand in line to wait for a table.  I prefer to have MY table, MY waiter and get ti know the other people who are at my table.

So my recommendation to you is Royal Caribbean, Celebrity or Princess.

Answer 2

I've been on five cruises and all have been on Carnival. I went last December on an Eastern Caribbean cruise and in June I took a Western Caribbean cruise that included Cozumel. People say that Carnival tends to have a younger crowd but I did not find this to be true. There appeared to be a fairly even mix of people on board. I will tell you they are correct that they are "party" boats as they have activities going non stop. Bands play out on the Lido deck and the entertainment staff direct contest and activities that are designed to get people involved. They have Vegas styled shows every day as well as gambling and bars, lots of bars designed for every type of person. If you like Karaoke they have it as well as disco, piano bar, wine bar, live bands, cigar rooms and pretty much any thing else you might want to do. However if your idea of a cruise is to sit in quite seclusion on deck and not be bothered by anyone or anything then this cruise line will not be for you. Oh, by the way I am 50 years old and took my entire family on the June cruise. The children range from 18-23 ( eight in all) and all had a great time.

Answer 3

December is a great time to go, that is when we took our first cruise, to the Bahamas. we have also been to Cozumel and it is very nice with a lot ot do from there. We use Carnival and they are wonderful, we were spoiled rotten by the staff and the food is top quality. there is always something to do or a place where there is nothing to do. The shows are great. Tampa is a wonderful port to go through very easy and organized with the parking garage across the street, (almost as good as Port Canaveral)

Answer 4

I think that Celebrity, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and maybe NCL would be your best bet. I was thinking Royal Caribbean, Carnival, or Celebrity as they are the best, but it depends on how new the ship is, and what the destinations are what places you want to go to. I mean I wouldnt want to go back to Jamaica after all the recent events that have happened there and I had a bad experience there anyhow, and that was numerous years ago. That's just my opinion. I think that no matter what cruise line you take you'll have a great time.

Answer 5

I've been on Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Disney. I liked all three, but they are for different demographic groups. Carnival ships are party boats with lots of younger people. During the day everybody sunbathes and hangs out by the pools and at night they party, dance, drink and do the casino. Royal C. is a more family or activity oriented line. They have more entertainment options on board and are not as party-oriented as Carnival, but still fun. They also have the best food. Disney is for families with kids, obviously. They have the nicest ships and the best rooms, but don't offer many activities just for adults. You can't get rowdy on a Disney ship.

You'll like your cruise. I've been to Cozumel and December is a good time to go. It's after hurricane season as well, so the seas will be calm and the weather will be great.

Answer 6

I went on the Disney Wonder when I was 13 years old in 2006...it was the land and sea package....it was the end of august when we went so it was hurricane season....the ship is amazing...it was my 3rd cruise and so far, my favorite...there is so much to do for any age...people think that Disney is too babyish for teens but no way!!! it was so much fun....there are tons of great shows, amazing food...both kid friendly and grownup friendly...the cabins are bigger than a normal size of a cabin that u would find on another cruise....the staff are so helpful and friendly you feel like you have ur own personal butler....the pools are great...there are 3: kids with a water slide(mickey), family pool(goofy) and then an adult pool...the bars aren't expensive as you may think...and you get free icecream and drinks 24/7...about the shows....throughout ur cruise there will be a number of shows....after dinner each night, there will be a show in the theatre...one night they will have a show about one of the disney movies...the one that i saw was hercules...it was AMAZING! the show was like you were watching a broadway play...the music the cast everything was so real...you forget that u r on a ship....then they will have a comic and then maybe another performance for the night shows...as for the bars and lounges, there are also shows in them....one day there is a talent show, which is fun...there is usually a band that is onboard and they will perform every night....there is what's called late night fun which is like a club for teens....there is dancing and music and food...also on the ship is a midnight buffet, actually at 11, where you can get food, obviously....and there are some amazing ice scupltures...i strongly reccomend it....one night there is a small mexican buffet with excellent food, also reccomend it.....as for the staterooms, there is an animal made out of a towel every night along with chocolates on ur pillow....its amazing how they make the animals out of towels....if you ever see ur maid, i would ask them how they make the animals... thats what i did, and she showed me how to make a monkey..it was really cool!!! the rooms are always very clean and fresh....ok, now for nassau, i assume u mean the private island castaway cay....we never ended up going there...remember how i told u that it was hurricane season? well of course we got stuck it in....the hurricane was headed right for castaway cay, so we couldn't go there...instead we went to cosumel mexico...it was a lot of fun there!!! and the port that we were supposed to dock into was damaged by the hurricane, i think it was frances, we had to find another port to dock into...since the one that we were going to go to was full, we had to wait until there was room for us to dock....it was ft lauderdale....we had to wait 3 days at sea until the port had an empty spot for us....so we ended up getting 3 free days at sea, and $300 per cabin to spend onboard because they felt bad for us....so this was my absolute favorite cruise ever and i will never forget it....during spring break of last year, april 2007 i went on Celebrity Century and we went to Key West and the Cayman Islands...this ship was amazing, we left from miami, fl...during spring break of next year- March- April 2008 we are going on Royal Carribean's Explorer of the Seas...i have never been on rccl before, but im really excited...we're leaving from bayonne, nj...around an hour from where i live, and we're going to the virgin islands, haiti, and the domincan republic....hope this helps! = ]