Planning on going on a cruise

[T_Yamamoto]

gf and i would like to go on a cruise eventually and was wondering if y'all had any tips on getting cheap tickets.

since we don't plan on going to many cruises, I'd like to ball out for a balcony room (because i doubt we'll go on another cruise anytime soon)

 

[Dr. Detroit]

You're much too young for a cruise. Go party at an all inclusive resort in the Caribbean instead.

 

[Exterous]

@RossMAN had a website he pointed me to once upon a time

Otherwise from what I remember the last couple of cruises we booked was that most sites had the same or close to the same pricing but the differences were more in terms of on board credit or other perks. For those I've found Costco to be a good value since it generally matched the best prices and OBC but gives you Costco cash cards on top of that. Plus they'll match price decreases up to the final payment. For our last cruise I had 4 price adjustments

I'd also recommend checking out cruisecritic.com for info about the ship and ports of call. For our Alaska cruise they clued me into a particular deck that had 10 staterooms with 1.5x larger balconies as all the others despite being the same cost and category. I've also gotten information about a hard to find door leading to a deserted outdoor deck, unexpected restaurant hours and various drink specials. For the ports of call I've had excellent luck with their recommendations for non-cruse line excursions that were better than the cruise line options for notably less cost.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Balcony is nice, but sometimes Balcony costs 3x as much as an interior room, or 2x as much as a room with a window. It can be worth the price, but depends on how you plan to spend your time. I've gone on maybe half a dozen cruises in my life, 1 time we paid for an upgrade to stay in a balcony when it was offered to us for only $200 premium, other times we have stayed in "interior" or basic porthole-window type rooms.

I usually book directly on Carnival's webpage for off season cruises.
I have also booked at cruisedirect before.

And also suggesting cruisecritic.com as a very useful source of information.

 

[Zeze]

You're much too young for a cruise. Go party at an all inclusive resort in the Caribbean instead.

I'm 'go-getter' type for vacay and we almost always end up getting a rental and/or check out the surroundings.

I didn't realize cruise for older people. I know younguns go too. If you haven't done it. Go do check it out regardless of age.

 

[boomhower]

Cruises are not only for older folks. Length of cruise, itinerary, cruise line and time of year all make a huge difference. Carnival is by far leans to the younger crowd on the shorter trips, along with most other lines just because of price. Take a 3-4 trips during spring break season and you'll have plenty of party available. Norwegian Sky does short runs with an open bar that you can count on for a good time.

Now you don't to take on of these "booze" cruises to have a good time as a younger cruiser. When you have 3k-6k people on a ship you are going to find some like minded folks. They almost universally have night/dance clubs. Plenty of bars and music to go around. Cruises are largely what you make of it. There are plenty of activities for most age groups.

I'd stick to Carnival, NCL, and Royal Carribean. Celebrety, Princess and MSC geared to middle age crowd. Stay far away from the likes of Hollan and Cunard until your around retirement age.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Balcony is nice, but sometimes Balcony costs 3x as much as an interior room, or 2x as much as a room with a window. It can be worth the price, but depends on how you plan to spend your time. I've gone on maybe half a dozen cruises in my life, 1 time we paid for an upgrade to stay in a balcony when it was offered to us for only $200 premium, other times we have stayed in "interior" or basic porthole-window type rooms.

I usually book directly on Carnival's webpage for off season cruises.
I have also booked at cruisedirect before.

And also suggesting cruisecritic.com as a very useful source of information.

Yeah, I'm planning on booking an off season one (does Caribbean during the winter count?) (Please suggest some good off season ones).

I'm a very introverted person, think as me as a turtle, and my gf informed me that when you're eating, they pair you up with another group (her dad loves cruises) so I guess I'll have to suck that one up.

Might pay to get a window room since I'd love to have a view of the ocean (and yes, try to get one thats facing inland for the most amount of wow).

Balcony room might be pricey but I doubt I'll go on another cruise (that I'm going to pay for) anytime soon so I kind of want to ball out. Don't care for open bar and what not since I'm not a heavy drinker (I'm a 1 beer kinda person).

 

[Humpy]

You want to pick the cruise with the least amount of vomit and diarrhea.

That's what I've heard at least.

 

[KMFJD]

You don't have to be paired at dining (atleast you didn't on Holland America) , look for a cruise with a lot of interesting stops and take a look at the excursions that they offer. Also try not to use the cruise tours, they are overpriced, use local taxis.

 

[spacejamz]

I'm a very introverted person, think as me as a turtle, and my gf informed me that when you're eating, they pair you up with another group (her dad loves cruises) so I guess I'll have to suck that one up.

For Carnival, you can pick either early or late dinner where you it a table with others. If that isn't your thing, there will be plenty of other food options on the ship. But you should do the surf and turf night though (captain's dinner and you had to dress up a bit)...If you can make friends with your waiter, you should ask for both the surf AND turf (if he is really friendly, he can usually get you multiple surfs - two or three lobster tails with the prime rib)...

 

[purbeast0]

My wife and I simply do not understand the appeal of a cruise. Being on a floating hotel for most of the time stuck with thousands of fat slobs then having like 8 hours on an island where you have time to maybe do one thing or go to tourist trap "cruise spots", no thanks. The past 2 times I was in Grand Cayman we happened to eat lunch at a "cruise spot" each time and the way they just corral those people like cattle is hilarious.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

If you drink booze I've been told it's way better if you find a way to sneak it on board. Otherwise enjoy the high price of drinks every day.

I'll be going on my first cruise in March so we will see how that goes. Normally I get kinda stressed with vacations with all the bullshit of finding stuff to do... But with a cruise it seems more simply defined. If you want to do a side excursion here are the options and prices. If you want to sit around and Jack off you are free to do that anytime at no additional cost.

 

[Exterous]

I'm a very introverted person, think as me as a turtle, and my gf informed me that when you're eating, they pair you up with another group (her dad loves cruises) so I guess I'll have to suck that one up.

You might want to look into the specialty restaurants. They cost a little more (less after you leave port because they don't charge tax and may have discounts depending on how many people signed up) but the food is better and the spacing\locations of the seats are better. Also you can typically still order anything you want. Want all 3 desserts? Ask for them.

My wife and I simply do not understand the appeal of a cruise. Being on a floating hotel for most of the time stuck with thousands of fat slobs then having like 8 hours on an island where you have time to maybe do one thing or go to tourist trap "cruise spots", no thanks. The past 2 times I was in Grand Cayman we happened to eat lunch at a "cruise spot" each time and the way they just corral those people like cattle is hilarious.

There is some variety in port durations. You can find cruises that spend 4 hours in port and others that spend 36. There are also river cruises that let you off right in the middle of Paris, Budapest etc. I was leery at first too but its not as bad or as crowded as you would think (as long as you avoid peak dining times but that would be the same for popular land restaurants). Personally I thought it was a great way to see several Eastern Caribbean islands without trying to decipher which one we'd like more or paying a lot to fly between them. It was also a great way to see the Alaskan coast line. A lot of people like to pass judgement on them without actually trying them. And you still need to put some effort into selecting the right one and planning the trip. If you just booked a cruise from Galveston to Cancun and back just doing cruise line provided activities that probably wouldn't give a good impression. But a Baltics cruise with 2 days in St. Petersburg avoiding the cruise tours? Totally different animal.

I'll admit some bias though as my favorite vacation memory was during a cruise where we boarded a semi-private catamaran at the cruise port (the 4 of us + 6 other people when it could have fit 24 passengers) and sailed off to enjoy deserted beaches, unlimited drinks, fresh beach grilled seafood and swimming with sea turtles (A far cry from being corralled like cattle)

If you drink booze I've been told it's way better if you find a way to sneak it on board. Otherwise enjoy the high price of drinks every day.

If you like wine you don't have to sneak it aboard as most cruise lines allow 2 bottles of wine per state room. We've been on 4 cruises and no one has ever recorded our wine allowance. So that means my wife checks in separately from me and we both have 2 wine bottles for our room allowance. Once I went back ashore after boarding and picked up another 2 bottles so we had 6 bottles of wine available.

Sometimes they don't even care if you bring something else aboard. A friend asked me to get a particular type of rum he can't get at home. I put it on the security conveyor belt just by itself, completely expecting to need to turn it in to pick up later. They didn't say a word about it.

 

[purbeast0]

@Exterous I'm referring specifically to the cruises that just hit like 3-4 islands in a week in the Caribbean. The Alaskan ones I can see because they are basically sight seeing tours.

 

[zinfamous]

If you drink booze I've been told it's way better if you find a way to sneak it on board. Otherwise enjoy the high price of drinks every day.

I'll be going on my first cruise in March so we will see how that goes. Normally I get kinda stressed with vacations with all the bullshit of finding stuff to do... But with a cruise it seems more simply defined. If you want to do a side excursion here are the options and prices. If you want to sit around and Jack off you are free to do that anytime at no additional cost.

I've been told that all-inclusive cruise packages are actually the cheapest type of vacation that you can have, if food and booze are part of your normal plans. Especially the food. Some ships have world class restaurants on them.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Yeah, I'm planning on booking an off season one (does Caribbean during the winter count?) (Please suggest some good off season ones).

I'm a very introverted person, think as me as a turtle, and my gf informed me that when you're eating, they pair you up with another group (her dad loves cruises) so I guess I'll have to suck that one up.

Might pay to get a window room since I'd love to have a view of the ocean (and yes, try to get one thats facing inland for the most amount of wow).

Balcony room might be pricey but I doubt I'll go on another cruise (that I'm going to pay for) anytime soon so I kind of want to ball out. Don't care for open bar and what not since I'm not a heavy drinker (I'm a 1 beer kinda person).

The wife and I are both quite introverted. She is extremely introverted. The first night, meeting the new neighbors at the dining room is a bit awkward, but, since it's the same people each night, and, usually they are having the time of their life partying on vacation, it tends to be quite jovial. There are many other dining options, but, I highly recommend sucking it up and going to the fancy dinners with the strangers. If you choose the late dinner, it'll be mostly adults. The early dinner will be mostly seniors or adults with kids.

Off season for the most part is "when the kids are in school", so, summer is busy/expensive. The 2 weeks when all the school kids have winter break is expensive. The week of thanksgiving is expensive. If you go early-mid December, or Mid-Late Jan or Feb, it's usually discounted. (Prices tend to go up for valentines day.) March/April tends to have some expensive times due to Spring Break.

The port you start at also can impact things.
We live by chicago, so, it's 750ish miles drive to the closest port (Baltimore)
Or it's about 1000 miles to a few other ports (New Orleans, Charleston)

We like New Orleans the best, but, Baltimore is less expensive to park our car.

If you fly, there's usually some kind of airport to port arrangement, but, you might want to arrive at the city with the port 1 or 2 days early to account for airline delays or prevent problems with lost luggage from impacting you.

if your not sure about a cruise, or nervous about getting seasick, it might be smart to start with a short 3 day cruise instead of booking a whole week. Booze is expensive on the boat, that tends to be one of their biggest money makers.

In most cases, the price difference between a Window room and an interior room is small enough that it doesn't hurt too bad. It really depends on how much time you spend in the room.


Sample off season pricing is here ...
https://www.cruisedirect.com/search...te]=12-1-2019&Departure[max][date]=12-31-2019
5 Days from New Orleans to Cozumel & Progreso has interior rooms for as low as $55 per night per person, or, Window room for $66 per night, or Balcony for $88 per night in early December 2019.

Same cruise during Christmas or New Years week, prices are 2x as much.

 

[snoopy7548]

Unless you're newly married, I'd skip the cruise and visit some country you've never been to. You'll have plenty more to do and more food choices, and the experience will be incomparable. Plus you won't be stuck with each other on a boat in a tiny room (hence why you should be newly married for a cruise... if you know what I mean). To me, a cruise just seems like an expensive way to pig out and be drunk 24/7, but some people love them.

Flying to some country (like Australia) and getting a hotel may be fairly expensive, but you quickly rack up lots of airline miles which will offset the costs of future trips.

 

[Denly]

Too all the nay sayer all my cruise experiences have been positive, and I am an active mid age dude. You can hardly find any free time to sit down and read a book(in my case to play some BB) between eating like a pig, workout, ports, shows, happy hours, dancing, games and sex. As for balcony, like I say you will hardly find any time to sit down in your room the most use of balcony is to hang cloth dry. I would suggest go Alaska or Baltic sea, both are wonderful and you can expect less kids running around.

A few pointers,
book dinner room every night remember you can order as many dishes as you can consume, like you can have 3 soups, 4 steaks and 5 dessert.
Tip heavy($20) on the to first day to your dinning room servers, dinning room hostess and the 2 that fix your room
If you drink and want to get a pass, wait till the second half of the trip they normally run discount and give you a free day. Or else buy it before the dinner at your favorite bar, they normally give it to you for free for the night and start charging you the next day.
Edit oh buy just one drink package between the two.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Too all the nay sayer all my cruise experiences have been positive, and I am an active mid age dude. You can hardly find any free time to sit down and read a book(in my case to play some BB) between eating like a pig, workout, ports, shows, happy hours, dancing, games and sex. As for balcony, like I say you will hardly find any time to sit down in your room the most use of balcony is to hang cloth dry. I would suggest go Alaska or Baltic sea, both are wonderful and you can expect less kids running around.

A few pointers,
book dinner room every night remember you can order as many dishes as you can consume, like you can have 3 soups, 4 steaks and 5 dessert.
Tip heavy($20) on the to first day to your dinning room servers, dinning room hostess and the 2 that fix your room
If you drink and want to get a pass, wait till the second half of the trip they normally run discount and give you a free day. Or else buy it before the dinner at your favorite bar, they normally give it to you for free for the night and start charging you the next day.
Edit oh buy just one drink package between the two.

Which cruise line do you like?
Some of the carribean lines only do tipping at the end of the cruise, usually when you are about to leave the boat, you set your gratiuty amount...

Just curious,
Thanks!

 

[Exterous]

Too all the nay sayer all my cruise experiences have been positive, and I am an active mid age dude. You can hardly find any free time to sit down and read a book(in my case to play some BB) between eating like a pig, workout, ports, shows, happy hours, dancing, games and sex. As for balcony, like I say you will hardly find any time to sit down in your room the most use of balcony is to hang cloth dry. I would suggest go Alaska or Baltic sea, both are wonderful and you can expect less kids running around.

Which Baltic itinerary did you do? I haven't run into too many other people who have done one

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Which cruise line do you like?
Some of the carribean lines only do tipping at the end of the cruise, usually when you are about to leave the boat, you set your gratiuty amount...

Just curious,
Thanks!

I actually did the pre-pay option with Royal Caribbean just to avoid the hassle later.

 

[Jeeebus]

We cruise a lot, but we have the benefit of living in Fort Lauderdale and being within 30 minutes of 2 major ports. My family, however, is now spoiled as we went last May on Harmony of the Seas and I splurged on the 2-floor suite (pic below). Separate living quarters for parents/kids, dedicated suite restaurant, priority seating at shows, and no real obligation to be around the unwashed masses. Doing another cruise in a few months in the same suite category on the newest Royal Caribbean ship, the Symphony of the Seas. Don't think we could stay in a plain balcony room at this point.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

We cruise a lot, but we have the benefit of living in Fort Lauderdale and being within 30 minutes of 2 major ports. My family, however, is now spoiled as we went last May on Harmony of the Seas and I splurged on the 2-floor suite (pic below). Separate living quarters for parents/kids, dedicated suite restaurant, priority seating at shows, and no real obligation to be around the unwashed masses. Doing another cruise in a few months in the same suite category on the newest Royal Caribbean ship, the Symphony of the Seas. Don't think we could stay in a plain balcony room at this point.

That's crazy man - There has gotta be a hefty price tag for that, no?

I get the "good feeling" but knowing your time spent there will be overall minimal, just doesn't seem worth it to me.

I'd rather get an interior room and sit at the bar and have some drinks if I want a good view for a fraction of the room price difference.

 

[ponyo]

You're in NC right? Then the cheapest cruises are going to be cruises to the Caribbean. I would recommend Royal Caribbean as good all around cruise for someone your age. Try to go for minimum 7 days and choose one of the Oasis class ships. Allure and Oasis are the oldest ships in the Oasis class and generally cheaper. Harmony and Symphony are newer ships so it's little more expensive. I would pay little more and choose Harmony or Symphony if given the choice. Costco Travel is great site to book cruises if you have Costco membership.

 

[ponyo]

We cruise a lot, but we have the benefit of living in Fort Lauderdale and being within 30 minutes of 2 major ports. My family, however, is now spoiled as we went last May on Harmony of the Seas and I splurged on the 2-floor suite (pic below). Separate living quarters for parents/kids, dedicated suite restaurant, priority seating at shows, and no real obligation to be around the unwashed masses. Doing another cruise in a few months in the same suite category on the newest Royal Caribbean ship, the Symphony of the Seas. Don't think we could stay in a plain balcony room at this point.

Baller! That's pretty darn sweet! I just looked up the prices and it's not as expensive as I thought. It's expensive but not "holy hell that's expensive." Definitely an option going forward as a splurge.