What tips do you have for taking a cruise?

Question

I am planning on taking a cruise in November for 7 nights. What suggestions does everyone have for the best cruise? Location? Ship? What tips do you have for taking a cruise in general?

Answer 1

I have taken 23 cruises & enjoyed each one. I have sailed with Holland America, Norwegian & Princess. All have their good points and afew things that could be better. Keeping in mind everyones tastes are different a cruise no matter where or when depends alot on the other people & what you are looking for. Such as is the cruise more important than the ports of call ? Do you prefer to dress up or would you be more comfortable in jeans. Are you willing to try new foods & eat at the buffet or do you want to sit at a table all dressed up with strangers. Do you want to join in with the activities on the ship. The biggest thing I could say is take your common sense. If you would not do it where you live then do not do it on the cruise. A cruise is a great way to get away & see new sights, try new foods, meet people from all over the world from all walks of life. Bottom line is a cruise is what you make of it. Go relax & enjoy. Most people have good & afew bad but, you will be going on this cruise, so make the best of it.

ENJOY.

Answer 2

Southern Carribbean in Nov because you need to get south for warm swimming water.

Try to book a cabin in the middle of the boat. It's more stable if there is rough weather.

Spring for a balconey if you can possibly afford it. Opening that door for the air at night while you are moving is the living end.

Bring elastic waist pants and skirts. Everyone eats too much.

Stay off Carnival. It's filled with kids and well, for a little more you can do better.

Call the cruise line directly. They give the best deals and usually upgrade you on the phone. Then two weeks before the cruise call them and ask if they are giving good deals on upgrades. I once got upgraded from an outside cabin to a suite just for asking and $100 each of us.

Have fun.

Answer 3

defiantly carnival Cruises.

I've took two already with carnival and my third with carnival will be in 9 days.

I do recommend going on Carnival Miracle [8 day cruise]

Or Carnival Glory [7 day]

Glory has a 7 day cruise leaving out of Port Canaveral for November 22, 2008.

It's going to:

St.Maarten

St.Thomas,USVI

& Nassu, Bahamas

It's a Eastern Caribean.

Glory is probally about 5 years old at my best guess so it's not outdated.

& It has Internet Service thats accessable on any laptop for free [wifi] and they have cellphone service, though it's 2.67 a minute on the boat so i do recommend that you use  your cellphone on the islands.

Nassu,bahamas=67 Cents a Minute

St.Maarten=1.67 Cents a Minute

St.Thomas=1.67 Cents a Minute.

So my BEST guess would be to use it the most on Nassu and use it moderately on the other islands but dont use it on the boat at all unless it's a complete emergency.

Tips:

Get to the pier by adleast by 1:00 so that you'd be one of the first to board, and the pier's building where you go through massive lines you'd end out waiting about 1:30 minutes to get on, so that'd put you on the boat by about 2:30 which means...... you wont be denied boarding.

REMINDER: YOU WILL BE DENIED BOARDING IF YOU DONT HAVE A BIRTHCERTIFICATE OR PASSPORT, AND IF YOU GET TO THE PIER 90 MINUTES OR LESS BEFORE THE SHIP IS DESTINED TO SAIL!

BUT passports could be required as early as June of 2008.

So check in about wether passports will be required in november, if they are and you dont have one than you better

get one or you'd be denied boarding.

Bring Motion Sickness Pills, b/c even if you think you wont you could because the first couple night are always rocky.

Also, try not to get a Room on the rivera deck because it's the lowest deck and you will  feel the full force of the ocean.

Bring lots of  Sunscreen & Bring your own Tolietries just in case.

www.Carnival.com

or

1800-CAR-NIVAL

[1800-227-64825]

I really Hope i Helped!

Have a Fun Cruise!

Answer 4

I have been on 3 cruises and we are going on our 4th one on July 6. I would probably recommend going to the Caribbean that time of year. I have been on two to Canada/New England and 1 to the Eastern Caribbean and soon one to the Western Caribbean. They are both probably really nice. For the cruise line, I would recommend Royal Caribbean. They have the biggest ships with the most ammenties. I love that cruise line. We will be taking our third cruise with them shortly. I have also cruised with Holland America, but I didn't really like them as well because the average age is 70 and I will be tuning 14 over our next cruise. For one thing, you don't have to eat everything they offer. It is just too much. What I figured out was to take a little of the things I thought looked good at the beginning of the cruise and find out which ones I liked best and then eat more of the things I liked best though. That only has to do with the buffet, not the main dining room. Also, just have fun and relax. That is the most important thing to do on vacation.

Answer 5

During the time you choose of November, there should not be many kids on that cruise as they should be in school unless you pick thanksgiving week, then watch out. Carnival is a party ship and is OK if you are into that. I prefer Princess and the eastern Caribbean. If it goes to St Thomas, even better as the snorkeling there is some of the best in the world. One tip is to fly to Florida the day before in case of flight delays, especially in November when you never know what the weather may do.

Answer 6

I have been on about 20 cruises with four different cruise lines and I can give you advice based on my experiences.

First, if you are planning  a cruise you will get the best price if you book early and early means a year or more in advance.  So its good that you are looking now.  You will also likely get a good price if you are very flexibly with your date.  For example, look at cruises late October through the end of January to see which date has the best price.  Cruise prices do change by date and you can save hundreds of dollars on identical cruises by going when the price is the lowest.

Cruise lines do have specials or deals on certain dates. So do look for and at those to see if one of the specials will suit you. For example, take a look at these:

Carnival's page leading to their specials:

http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/cms/f...

http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/cms/f...

Royal Caribbean's page leading to their "Hot Deals":

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/dealsandmo...

The best cruise for the time frame that you are looking at is a cruise to the Caribbean or Mexico.  There are no Alaska cruises during the winter and few cruises if any to the Baltic and Mediterranean.   In the Caribbean there are really three basic types of itineraries.

- Western Caribbean cruises typically go to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and a private cruise line island.  These cruises offer the opportunity for great beaches and scuba and snorkel.  Plus they offer the opportunity to go on tours to Mayan ruins.

-Eastern Caribbean typically go to St Thomas, St Maarten, a private cruise line island and maybe another island like Tortola or Puerto Rico. If you want to do a lot of shopping then pick a cruise with St Thomas as one of the port stops. St Maarten is also mainly a beach and shopping stop.

- Southern Caribbean cruise itineraries typically start in Puerto Rico and go either to Aruba, Curacao, and St Thomas and St Maarten, OR they go to the southern Caribbean islands like Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, St Lucia and maybe St Thomas and/or St Maarten. The main difference between these two itineraries, aside from the different islands, is the Aruba cruise has 2 "at sea" days with no port stops, while the other has a port stop about each day.

Regardless of which cruise line you select, the things that are included are pretty much the same. The price of your cruise includes your cabin, all meals (including breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks and free room service)(you do pay to eat in the specialty restaurants), all shows and entertainment, and free use of all facilities on ship. The things that you will have to pay for are gratuities, photos, alcoholic and soft drinks, souvenirs, internet service, and spa treatments.

You also need to know that all cruise cabins are sold based on double occupancy and the prices listed will be per person and based on at least two people going on the cruise.   The price you pay will depend mostly on the type cabin accommodations that you choose. There are 4 basic types of cabins on ships;

- inside (no window),

- outside (a window or porthole),

- balcony/veranda, and

- suites.

Royal Caribbean has some inside cabins on its Freedom and Voyager Class of ships that have a window overlooking an inside promenade mall.

The "FROM" prices you see will always be for an inside cabin. There are also some subcategories within each category with cabins on a higher deck, and/or a better location on ship (like midship), and/or that are slightly larger costing more. So as you browse, pay attention to the square footage of the cabins. You may not want to pay more for the same sized cabin on a higher floor; or vice versa do pay less for the same cabin on a lower deck.

You can reserve a cruise:

- on line on the cruise line's web site,

- by calling the cruise line's cruise consultant to book, or

- through a travel agent

You must pay the minimum deposit which will be between $250 and $350 per person for a 7 day cruise, depending upon the cruise line. The balance will be due approximately 60 days before the cruise departure date. But you can make periodic payment on line or with the cruise line. I have reserved on line and made payments many times.

You DO NOT have to book the air fare to the cruise port city through the cruise line. You can book that or your own, OR if you want drive to the cruise port. All of the cruise ports have parking available right at the port. I do that all of the time for cruises leaving from Florida ports. If you book your own air you can, if you want pay for transfers between the airport and the pier, or just take a taxi.

The lines that I have listed below will have cruises starting in the range of $800 to $1,000 per person for a 7 day cruise, again depending upon the date and type cabin you select.

CELEBRITY:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/home .

ROYAL CARIBBEAN:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/gohome.d.....

NORWEGIAN:

http://www.ncl.com/

PRINCESS:

http://www.princess.com/index.html

CARNIVAL:

http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/

I have been on Princess, Celebrity, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean ships and can vouch that they are good cruise lines. However, there are some differences.

- Princess, Celebrity and Holland America have great ships are more classy and reserved. Holland America has more senior citizens cruising on its ships.

-Carnival has more first time cruiser and young people who want to party, party, party. If that is what you are looking for then Carnival is the cruise line for you.  Carnival also caters to family cruisers.

-Norwegian cruise line is good and I have been on many of their cruises. Its the line that you want to go on if you want to be informal for pretty much your whole cruise. They have formal nights like other cruise lines but they do not stress dressing up; the call it "dress up if you want to" night.

-Royal Caribbean caters most to families and has the most and best on-board activities. Many Royal Caribbean ships have things like ice skating, roller blade track, rock climbing wall, surfing on ship on the "Flowrider", mini-golf course, pool tables. full sized basketball courts, and adults only pool and hot tub area called 'Solarium".

All of the cruise lines do have programs for kids ages 2/3 through 17.  There are in many cases special places on the ship where kids can hang out and/or have their own pool and/or water slide.  In addition, most ships also have "adults only (age 18 and above) areas.  These are typically a solarium area which has a pool and hot tubs, maybe a bar and some light snack area.  The solarium is an area with a retractable room and its open in good weather but closed if its raining or cool/bad weather.

My recommendation is  a cruise out of one of the Florida ports on a Princess, Celebrity or Royal Caribbean ship.  Those are the better cruise lines in terms of their ships, service and on-board activities on Royal Caribbean.

Answer 7

Well, first where do you want to go?  How much does it cost and how much is the airfare to get there?  Do you have children?  If so does the ship have a good children's program?  If you do not have children and do not like them be sure you are going an a cruise that does not attract a lot of families?

What is the average age of the cruiser?  Some cruise lines attract older seniors than others.  Be sure to pick one that has individuals with your same activity level.

Do you like cold or hot weather?

After you answer these questions.  Select a booking and have fun.

Answer 8

think about what a great time going to have. there be more than things to do on broad the ship to do things.

Answer 9

if u were going in the caribeen i would go on the carnival legend. its out of tampa which is a great city. the ship is beautiful. it goes to belize grand caymen cozmel mexico and roatan island. the islands a sooooooo pretty. cruises are so fun! have fun! and good luck! ncl is a good cruise line too