Cruise Vactions...

[mooglekit]

Alright, so my wife has been asking to go on a cruise, but I have never been on a cruise and have no idea where to look for the best deals ( I'm a numbers guy...also known as cheap ).

Anyone have suggestions beyond the ordinary travel sites ( Priceline, Travelocity, Expedia, etc. ) where you've found deals in the past and had good experiences???

Edit for further info:

Wife and I are both foodies, don't mind the age (we're mid-20s) of the others on the cruise so much, and have the distinct pleasure of living just south of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. We're both looking to have a chance to relax...

 

[FoBoT]

paging Dr. LolaWiz

 

[Lola]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
paging Dr. LolaWiz

Thanks!

OP, i have had THE best luck with prices on Best Price Cruises. If you want the lady i am working with PM me and i will give you her name and extention.

Eventhough it is a web based travel agency, i love working with someone because i am getting the best of both worlds... cheap prices and personal service.

For a "beginner" I would suggest taking a cruise (7 days) to the eastern caribbean. I would also suggest either RCCL or Princess to start with for lines.

However, what do you and your wife enjoy doing? do you like to party? are you foodies? do you want to cruise to just relax or do you want to focus on ports? Do you like the idea of older people with you or similar ages?

EDIT TO ASK: where are you in the country? east, west, midwest, south?

 

[SoulAssassin]

http://www.cruisecritic.com is a good place to start to find out the "inside info" on alot of cruises.

Personally, I would rather go to Sandals or something like that than a cruise. I've had much more fun at all-inclusive resorts than cruises. I could go on and on why but short version of the story it seems to me like every single aspect of the cruise is designed to get you to spend more money. Want this? More money. You have to tip this guy. You have to tip that guy. You should rent a tux for dinner tonight for $XXX from us. Granted there is stuff to do for free but anything beyond the minimum is more money. You have to be at dinner at a certain time. When I go on vacation I take my watch off when I get there and I don't want to work off a schedule until I have to be at the airport to go home. Some days I want to take an excursion and go here and get back at 9pm and have dinner then, some days I want to eat dinner early and then get grub drunk at 1am. When you cruise you have to be at dinner at 7:15 or whenever your scheduled time is. At Sandals everything is included, tipping is forbidden (although I've thrown some $$ to people who really took care of us during the week) and everything is geared towards you have the best time you possibly can.

I'll probably take a cruise again at somepoint in my life but not anytime soon.

 

[mooglekit]

Responses to LolaWiz: (Added to OP)

Wife and I are both foodies, don't mind the age (we're mid-20s) of the others on the cruise so much, and have the distinct pleasure of living just south of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. We're both looking to have a chance to relax...we didn't have the chance to take a honeymoon after we got married in '05 because of her schedule at the time.

Thanks for the tip, I'll take a look at the linky.

 

[richardycc]

vacationstogo.com has some pretty good last min to within 90days deals. I've never used them thou. I book all my cruises from cruisequick.com, they still have the best prices even thou everyone is supposed to 'advertise' the same price for the few major cruise lines now. its internet-based only agent, it might not be for you or first timer.

 

[dirtboy]

Discount Cruises

They are not Internet only. You can call them and talk to a live person.

 

[Lola]

Originally posted by: mooglekit
Responses to LolaWiz: (Added to OP)

Wife and I are both foodies, don't mind the age (we're mid-20s) of the others on the cruise so much, and have the distinct pleasure of living just south of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. We're both looking to have a chance to relax...we didn't have the chance to take a honeymoon after we got married in '05 because of her schedule at the time.

Thanks for the tip, I'll take a look at the linky.

I would suggest either Princess, Celebrity or Holland America (our favorite line).
All those lines will make you happy with the quality and variety of food.
Celebrity and HAL are going to have a bit of an older vibe depending on when you want to sail.
Keep in mind that some of the lines do not sail to the caribbean in the summer time but rather go to Alaska and Europe.
Carnival stays sailing the caribbean the whole summer though. You should be able to get some good deals on airfare to FLA (if that is where you end up sailing from)
Yes, the drinks are not included, but i feel the price on booze and wine is VERY reasonable on cruise ships.

The one thing i will say about HAL is that their private island has constantly been rated the best in the industry many years in a row.

 

[boomerang]

LolaWiz,

We usually go to Hawaii every other year for two weeks, but this year my wife would like to do something different and we're thinking of a cruise.

I'm thinking Alaska as it sounds good to both of us. I'm wondering if it's too late to start planning this.

We're foodies, not party people at all. We like to relax and see the sites. (Everyone says Alaska is spectacular). Age of fellow travelers does not matter and we're in the Midwest.

I too am confused about all the options out there.

mooglekit I don't intend to hijack your thread.

 

[Jeeebus]

The time of year for your Alaskan cruise is hugely important. Don't want to be up there after the salmon spawning season when thousands of em are rotting in the rivers.

 

[mooglekit]

Originally posted by: boomerang
LolaWiz,

We usually go to Hawaii every other year for two weeks, but this year my wife would like to do something different and we're thinking of a cruise.

I'm thinking Alaska as it sounds good to both of us. I'm wondering if it's too late to start planning this.

We're foodies, not party people at all. We like to relax and see the sites. (Everyone says Alaska is spectacular). Age of fellow travelers does not matter and we're in the Midwest.

I too am confused about all the options out there.

mooglekit I don't intend to hijack your thread.

No worries, hopefully we can get a bit of good info together...this question has come up before...LolaWiz, time for you to start that Cruise planner/guide business...

 

[mykol1010]

I just got back from a cruise through Hawaii with NCL. It was with their newest U.S. flagged ship and was a 7 day cruise that went to 4 islands (kauai, hawaii, oahu, and maui). My wife is a big time cruiser as is her family but it was my first time. The food was decent but not great. A lot of the times I felt like I was rushing to make a deadline, get off the ship by this time, be back on by this time, reservations at this time, excursions at this time...etc etc. Good way to see as many site as possible and bang them out in quick succession, but it just felt like since we were rushing around to see as much as possible I couldn't just enjoy it as much as I should have. I probably would have had a better time at a resort and just spent my days snorkeling or scuba diving.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: mykol1010
A lot of the times I felt like I was rushing to make a deadline, get off the ship by this time, be back on by this time, reservations at this time, excursions at this time...etc etc. Good way to see as many site as possible and bang them out in quick succession, but it just felt like since we were rushing around to see as much as possible I couldn't just enjoy it as much as I should have. I probably would have had a better time at a resort and just spent my days snorkeling or scuba diving.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Furyline]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin

Originally posted by: mykol1010
A lot of the times I felt like I was rushing to make a deadline, get off the ship by this time, be back on by this time, reservations at this time, excursions at this time...etc etc. Good way to see as many site as possible and bang them out in quick succession, but it just felt like since we were rushing around to see as much as possible I couldn't just enjoy it as much as I should have. I probably would have had a better time at a resort and just spent my days snorkeling or scuba diving.

My thoughts exactly.

I went on a cruise to the Bahamas a few years ago, and also didn't like all the scheduling. But, there were a few occasions where we could do things at our leisure, like once we went to a beach and we could relax and swim and snorkel for several hours; that was actually quite enjoyable.

 

[maddogchen]

damn i want to go on a cruise...and pig out