Planning a cruise

[Mashed Potato]

About 15 of my friends are planning a getaway cruise. We have all come to an agreement on where to go. We are paradise seekers so we want the gulf of mexico. The real question is what cruise line should we go on. Are there any outstanding cruiseliners? More importantly, are there any that we should stray away from? I know I could just read about the critics' opinions but I was hoping someone with some first hand knowledge could help me out.

Thanks,

Cocktails and Dreams

 

[T3C]

I am also interested in this. We want to take a cruise in the next year or so.

 

[iamwiz82]

Sounds like you want Carnival.

 

[blackdogdeek]

young and single: carnival
couples: royal caribbean

this is just from my own experience, mind you.

 

[aphex]

I have absolutely LOVED every Royal Carribbean cruise i've ever been on (4 as of now). Excellent foot, excellent service, very nice rooms...

Hated Carnival and Princess was good, but the food was lacking... Royal Carribbean all the way...

 

[Mashed Potato]

 

[Scarpozzi]

Royal Carribbean is who most of my friends usually use.

You could always do the big red boat and make it a disney cruise.

 

[Lola]

ok,
The thing is... what kind of people are you? do you like to party? have stuff to do ALL the time?
or do you like to have gourmet food, nice surroundings and quiet elegance?
There are the main cruise lines RCCL, Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, HAL.

I dont know how old you are (HOW old are you guys?) but my FI and i went on a few cruises and we have found we are the latter of the two groups. We like good food, nice surroundings and not a lot of craziness. We go on vacation to relax and bond so we liked Holland America more than Royal Caribbean.

however, if you are going with a group, i would say find RC's newest and biggest ship you can afford and have a blast!!! Royal Caribbean has a nice mix of lots to do with some "fun" elegance!

check out our two most recent cruises:
Cruise 2005 is on the first page, Cruise 2004 is on the 2nd. Both were to the Eastern Carib. 05 was with HAL, 04 was with RCCL
I did a TON of research so if you have any questions, feel free to ask

 

[Mashed Potato]

I have heard that carnival is much better for young and single (which is what most of my fortunate friends are). The general response to my question is that, forgive me for saying, the older crowd goes on royal. aphex, any particular reason why you hated carnival??

 

[Mashed Potato]

Lola, we are 24. And we have been known to throw down a few pilsners on our vacations.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Mashed Potato
I have heard that carnival is much better for young and single (which is what most of my fortunate friends are). The general response to my question is that, forgive me for saying, the older crowd goes on royal. aphex, any particular reason why you hated carnival??

Well, Carnival is ghetto.

 

[rh71]

A couple years back, the rankings were similar to the following:

|
Disney
Royal Caribbean
Princess
|
|
Carnival

I've only been on Princess and had a great experience. We are planning on going with Royal Caribbean next.

 

[Mashed Potato]

Ghetto?? Please elaborate.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Mashed Potato
I have heard that carnival is much better for young and single (which is what most of my fortunate friends are). The general response to my question is that, forgive me for saying, the older crowd goes on royal. aphex, any particular reason why you hated carnival??

We went on a carnival cruise once about 7-8 years ago...

Not only was the boat completely tacky (for instance, the main dining room was black, with bright pink, yellow, and green neon accents, made me want to puke), but the food wasnt good and the people were annoying.

Royal Carribbean is truely a touch of class. Its not as "old-fartish" as Holland, decorated beautifully, and the food is SUPERB.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: Mashed Potato
I have heard that carnival is much better for young and single (which is what most of my fortunate friends are). The general response to my question is that, forgive me for saying, the older crowd goes on royal. aphex, any particular reason why you hated carnival??

The word on Carnival is just the little things that add up. Supposedly bad service, things on the ship not working right... but of course not everyone will experience this. It's just that it happens with them more than the other liners. That's what the rankings are about. But if you're just a bunch of party people looking to enjoy time away on a cruise ship... Carnival may still be fine for you.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: Mashed Potato
I have heard that carnival is much better for young and single (which is what most of my fortunate friends are). The general response to my question is that, forgive me for saying, the older crowd goes on royal. aphex, any particular reason why you hated carnival??

We went on a carnival cruise once about 7-8 years ago...

Not only was the boat completely tacky (for instance, the main dining room was black, with bright pink, yellow, and green neon accents, made me want to puke), but the food wasnt good and the people were annoying.

Royal Carribbean is truely a touch of class. Its not as "old-fartish" as Holland, decorated beautifully, and the food is SUPERB.

i've been on 2 carnival cruises and 1 royal caribbean cruise.

the 1st carnival cruise was pretty ghetto-ish in the vein you describe above as it was one of their older ships.

however, the 2nd carnival cruise was on one of their newest ships and i have to say it was almost as nice as the royal caribbean cruise we went on.

EDIT: and the 2nd carnival cruise had a topless deck.

 

[Mashed Potato]

Would we be disturbing people by having drinks by the pool and having fun on Royal Carribbean? We aren't animals, but we do like to have fun. Is it so "classy" that we would not be able to (for a lack of a better word) party? By party I don't mean starting fights and wet t-shirt contests, but like I said before we like to have fun.

 

[Toasthead]

Ive been on Carnival twice and would reccomend them. Cruising is AWESOME

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Mashed Potato
Would we be disturbing people by having drinks by the pool and having fun on Royal Carribbean? We aren't animals, but we do like to have fun. Is it so "classy" that we would not be able to (for a lack of a better word) party? By party I don't mean starting fights and wet t-shirt contests, but like I said before we like to have fun.

Most of people the people around the pools both times we have gone have been relaxing.

I stand by my suggestion of Carnival for you.

 

[Banana]

X!

Go with Celebrity Cruises. Best food! (I've cruised Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Disney). 2nd choice is RC--those megaships are awesome!

Celebrity is definitely the 'classiest' of the mainstream cruiselines. I agree that Carnival is ghetto.

 

[aphex]

Last Royal Carribbean Cruise - http://www.aphexii.com/gallery/Carribbean

Sorry for the poor pic quality, it was with my old digicam... I absolutely loved that boat....

 

[Mashed Potato]

Thank you very much everyone! I will take all of your suggestions into consideration. I think we will probably go with Carnival. While we having fun we actually do respect the people who are winding down on vacation and would not want to disturb them. Thanks again!! I will look into one of their newer ships.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: Mashed Potato
Would we be disturbing people by having drinks by the pool and having fun on Royal Carribbean? We aren't animals, but we do like to have fun. Is it so "classy" that we would not be able to (for a lack of a better word) party? By party I don't mean starting fights and wet t-shirt contests, but like I said before we like to have fun.

Depends what you mean by "have fun." Everybody sitting around the pool is drinking, but if you're being loud and obnoxious, you're going to be disturbing people on almost any cruise.

FWIW, there was a family on my cruise that literally everyone on the ship knew by name. We bumped into them on a water taxi with more booze than they could carry and they were explaining that they had bribed porter to "confiscate" it at the gangway and then take it up to their rooms. They were drunk every second they were there, but they weren't obnoxious about it. They were having a good time, but they weren't being loud and annoying, and honestly if they showed up at an activity, it made the activity that much more amusing.

 

[richardycc]

I've just came back from a Carnival cruise 3 weeks ago, and went on a RCL the year before...looks like Carnival might be better choice for you guys, my suggestion is to find a newer carnival ship that is at least 100,000 tonnage.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
EDIT: and the 2nd carnival cruise had a topless deck.

LOL, which 25-year old executive came up with that decision ?