Cruise advice?

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KnickNut3

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Oct 1, 2001
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Hi. I have some different questions than the other cruise threads I found--hope you can help. The cruise would be my friend and me, two 24-year-old single guys. We're not looking for a get-wasted-24-7-off-of-Busch-Light-dirt-cheap-spring-break cruise, but we definitely would prefer a younger crowd (with young ladies, ldo).

1) Location: Eastern Caribbean vs. Central America vs. other Caribbean cruises... suggestions?
2) Cruise line: Are all the major cheaper cruise lines the same? Any preference between them, or for specific boats?
3) Deals: We'd be leaving 3 weeks from today, so we could probably try to get some last-minute deals. Any particular sites that are reputable and will give you better rates than the cruise's website? I checked Priceline and a couple others, but they look comparable to the website prices so far.

Thank you!
 
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Me Llamo Hefe

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Jan 23, 2007
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Once you know where and which cruise line you can use Cruise Compete to look for a good price. They will have 8-10 travel agents submit their best price for that particular cruise. I saved quite a bit in comparison to the cruise line's website.

I would say that most of the big cruise lines are pretty similar. Royal Caribbean and Holland America might draw a little bit of an older crowd. Carnival is known for the young, partying crowd. I would definitely try to get on one of the newer ships since they have nicer amenities.

Cruise Critic has a message board with areas dedicated to each cruise line as well as each destination so some of the members over there might be able to help you decide where to go and which boat to go on.
 
L

Lola

Originally posted by: Me Llamo Hefe
Once you know where and which cruise line you can use Cruise Compete to look for a good price. They will have 8-10 travel agents submit their best price for that particular cruise. I saved quite a bit in comparison to the cruise line's website.

I would say that most of the big cruise lines are pretty similar. Royal Caribbean and Holland America might draw a little bit of an older crowd. Carnival is known for the young, partying crowd. I would definitely try to get on one of the newer ships since they have nicer amenities.

Cruise Critic has a message board with areas dedicated to each cruise line as well as each destination so some of the members over there might be able to help you decide where to go and which boat to go on.
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Ok, first off... WRONG... Royal Caribbean and Carnival will have THE youngest crowds.
Stay away from HAL, Princess and even Celebrity. All will have older crowds, even on the caribbean iteneraries.
There are a TON of last minute deals to be had.
OP, PM me and I can give you the website i have used for many cruises that I have found has the cheapest prices and some last minute deals as well.
The main stream cruise lines are very different. The shorter the cruise length, in general, the older the ship.
I have been on ~ 8 cruises over the past few years, and have done much research.
 
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TheNinja

Lifer
Jan 22, 2003
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Carnival or Royal Carribbean are the way to go, as Lola mentioned. Also from what I understand, the shorter and more weekend oriented trips are usually filled with a younger, single crowd. The longer trips (for example a 14 day Alaskan cruise) are likely to be filled with older folk. I was on a 4 day Mexican cruise out of LA area...it was packed with partying single people.
 
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racolvin

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Jul 26, 2004
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The wife and I did the Royal Caribbean cruise and we loved it ... gonna do another one next year. Sadly we're not in your demographic any more so I have no recommendations on that score :)
 
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pravi333

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May 25, 2005
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I have a question about travel visa. Does all this Caribbean and other locations require any kind of travel visa? if they do require visa does the cruise company handle all that or is it the responsibility of the person booking the tickets? Reason i am asking is, my wife doesnt hold US passport.

P.S. OP sorry, my intention was not to side track your thread.
 
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KnickNut3

Platinum Member
Oct 1, 2001
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Thanks for the responses, I've got a much better sense of the lines and how to approach it.

Any advice as to the sites? I'm intrigued by the tours that include Central American countries for the allure of visiting new sovereign nations (and maybe they'll be less touristy than the islands?), but others have advised me that Eastern/Southern Caribbean is my best bet. Suggestions?
 
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KnickNut3

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Oct 1, 2001
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Is it safe to go to port without an excursion and arrange one from a local operator? They have to be much less expensive (as the boat-coordinated ones must have a 200% markup). If I had to guess from my travels to other third-world tourist spots, I'd say there's a hundred locals harassing you to try to get you to do their activity as you're exiting the boat.

Any suggestions in regards to this? My friend and I want to do the treks/excursions/snorkeling/etc., but don't want to pay $200 every time we go to port for one of them.

If it makes a difference, we're probably doing a Western Caribbean one (Cozumel, Belize, Honduras, Cayman).

Thanks!
 
D

Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
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Originally posted by: KnickNut3
Is it safe to go to port without an excursion and arrange one from a local operator?
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We've done it and never had any problems. Sites like Port Promotions are often cheaper as well.

They have to be much less expensive (as the boat-coordinated ones must have a 200% markup). If I had to guess from my travels to other third-world tourist spots, I'd say there's a hundred locals harassing you to try to get you to do their activity as you're exiting the boat.
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200%? I've seen 25%, at most. The markups aren't that huge in my experience.

Any suggestions in regards to this? My friend and I want to do the treks/excursions/snorkeling/etc., but don't want to pay $200 every time we go to port for one of them.
Click to expand...

Who is paying $200? I think the only time I paid $200 was a lengthy parasailing for two. The general boat trips, scuba, snorkel, etc. are around $50.

 
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Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
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Originally posted by: KnickNut3
Thanks for the responses, I've got a much better sense of the lines and how to approach it.

Any advice as to the sites? I'm intrigued by the tours that include Central American countries for the allure of visiting new sovereign nations (and maybe they'll be less touristy than the islands?), but others have advised me that Eastern/Southern Caribbean is my best bet. Suggestions?
Click to expand...

I've been eastern/southern Caribbean and Mexico, on separate trips. IMO, the southern Caribbean is by far the best.

Mexico is fine, but it's a country much better explored on land I feel. You can fly into Cancun, take trips all over the Yucatan, see the Mayan ruins, etc. much more readily than you can from a cruise ship. Caribbean cruises are great if you want to hit the different islands, because you're not likely to do all that on your own; you get a sense of what islands you like and where you'd like to return.
 
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KnickNut3

Platinum Member
Oct 1, 2001
2,382
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Originally posted by: Descartes

Who is paying $200? I think the only time I paid $200 was a lengthy parasailing for two. The general boat trips, scuba, snorkel, etc. are around $50.
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Thanks for the response and interesting info.

On the website, all the things you described are $79 to $99 or more. The only things at $50 are things like "day of shopping" where it sounds like someone walks/shuttles you to the shopping area and drops you off for 4 hours.
 
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