Best place to find deals on a December cruise to the Caribbean?

[MrsBugi]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Ideally the newest ships are going to be sailing on the 7+ day cruises and at the time you are looking at going in the caribbean. Most of their ships will be sailing from FLA.

A lot of times,you can find some amazing deals for 7 day cruises for just a few dollars more than a 4 or 5 night cruise.

If you are going on this cruise for the first time, you would be ok going on a ship that was not the newest of vessels. All the mega ships now are doing the 7 day iteneraries.

Look at Costa, NCL, RCCL and CCL. DO NOT book them through the cruise lines website. It is always more expensive. also, the major vacation websites usually do not have that great of a price either.

Do a google search for "deep discount cruise vacation" or any variation there of and you will find a lot of great sites.

Also, the time you are chosing will be cheaper anyways since it is durring hurricane season (but don't let that worry you at all, ships just go around any incliment weather).

Please let me know if you need any help finding cruises or any questions to eb answered.

We are going on our 2nd cruise this year in december.

I would like to go on a longer cruise someday, especially since it sounds like you can find such a sweet deal for a 7-day one. Unfortunately due to everyone's schedules, we have only managed to free up 7 days total (including travel time from Dallas to Galveston) for our family trip.

Yes it will be our very first cruise, and because of that I will be less wary of the 3/5-ranked cruises. I will also check out cruisecritic.

Are Costa, NCL, RCCL, and CCL better than Carnival?

There is still plenty of time to find one, but I am hoping to do it early so that we do not have to rush to do it last minute.

Yikes about hurricane season! :Q

Some questions (sorry about the simplicity, thank you for the offer to ask them):

1. Is everything buffet-style?
2. Any tips on what to definitely pack/not pack? (2-3 essential items)
3. What do you think would be fun things/activities to do on the ship for 17, 20, 23, 26, 49, and 58-year-olds?

Thank you! I will PM you if I think of any additional ones.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
You should try a Windjammer cruise... I went last December, and had a blast.

that looks fun, but i do belive i would be sick as a dog on that ship.

 

[Lola]

no, those lines are not any better or worse than carnival. just different. Costa is an Italian based line so there will be more euopeans on it. RCCL and Carnival are geared towards active all the time folks. On our first cruise, we went on the Mariner of the seas (at that time, the largest ship anywhere) and it was crazy! so many things to see always things to do.

NCL is very nice as well although i do not know all the indepth info about them, although you could ask MSDawn for more info on that!
Actually, you are going at the end of hurricane season, so you will be FINE!!! we are sailing on Dec 9th and i am not worried at all.

No, not everything is buffett style. There is a food area that is buffet, ususally called the Lido. They will most likely be open 24 hours and have a variety of foods.

The main dining room is sit down and is usually very formal on some nights of the cruise.
Depending on the line, you can either eat at a certain time every night or eat whenever you choose for dinner.

I over pack and i am happy about it. I take at least 3 bathing suits, a hat and flip flops. other than that, around the ship on sea-days, things are very casual. bring a cover up as well.

If you are looking for a good range of things for everyone to do... go on Royal Caribbean or NCL.
I promise you will have an amazing time!

As iamwiz said, cruisecritic is a wonderful source of info and help. their message boards are wonderful.

Research WHERE you want to go on your cruise to. Persoanlly, i love the eastern caribbean much better than the western. All the virgin islands are beautiful.
Man... i could go on and on and on. I love cruising.

 

[iamwiz82]

Just looked up that itenerary and the only two ships I pulled were Carnival Ecstasy and Splendour of the Seas. Both fairly old, but Ecstasy sounds like it's in better condition and has been remodelled more recently than Splendour.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Ideally the newest ships are going to be sailing on the 7+ day cruises and at the time you are looking at going in the caribbean. Most of their ships will be sailing from FLA.

A lot of times,you can find some amazing deals for 7 day cruises for just a few dollars more than a 4 or 5 night cruise.

If you are going on this cruise for the first time, you would be ok going on a ship that was not the newest of vessels. All the mega ships now are doing the 7 day iteneraries.

Look at Costa, NCL, RCCL and CCL. DO NOT book them through the cruise lines website. It is always more expensive. also, the major vacation websites usually do not have that great of a price either.

Do a google search for "deep discount cruise vacation" or any variation there of and you will find a lot of great sites.

Also, the time you are chosing will be cheaper anyways since it is durring hurricane season (but don't let that worry you at all, ships just go around any incliment weather).

Please let me know if you need any help finding cruises or any questions to eb answered.

We are going on our 2nd cruise this year in december.

I did that google search and had a lot of hits. How do you know what company to pick so one doesnt have to worry about getting ripped off?

 

[Lola]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Ideally the newest ships are going to be sailing on the 7+ day cruises and at the time you are looking at going in the caribbean. Most of their ships will be sailing from FLA.

A lot of times,you can find some amazing deals for 7 day cruises for just a few dollars more than a 4 or 5 night cruise.

If you are going on this cruise for the first time, you would be ok going on a ship that was not the newest of vessels. All the mega ships now are doing the 7 day iteneraries.

Look at Costa, NCL, RCCL and CCL. DO NOT book them through the cruise lines website. It is always more expensive. also, the major vacation websites usually do not have that great of a price either.

Do a google search for "deep discount cruise vacation" or any variation there of and you will find a lot of great sites.

Also, the time you are chosing will be cheaper anyways since it is durring hurricane season (but don't let that worry you at all, ships just go around any incliment weather).

Please let me know if you need any help finding cruises or any questions to eb answered.

We are going on our 2nd cruise this year in december.

I did that google search and had a lot of hits. How do you know what company to pick so one doesnt have to worry about getting ripped off?

Most all of the travel sites are legit (just use common sense really) but there are so many cruise wholesale places wanting your business, they are all the same. Many of them even use the same quote system!