lauren009

I didn't read any of the other posts - I know you said you intend on flying, but you could drive to the NY/NJ ports. Celebrity, NCL, and RCL all have sailings from there. The cheapest sailings are out of Miami and LA because that is where the most ships are, but like someone else said, pick a cruise port that you can fly to with the lowest airfare, and then narrow by preferred date and itinerary. Larger boats have more activites so that might be a good way to choose which cruise line to use.

Sailings are chepest in Sept & January and most expensive when schools are on break. July-Oct is hurricane season so you'd be gambling a bit if you book one then, esp Aug & Sept.

I like to use cruiseweb.com for searching because it has the most advanced search filters. Find the one you want to go on then book thru the cruiseline or yoru travel agent if you have one. If you end up picking Carnival and can book way ahead of time (like 2 years ahead of time), you will get their best prices. I havent studied the prices of the other lines as much so cant weigh in on those.

Here is my packing list if you are interested: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/cruise-packing-list.html

My best advice is to join a Facebook group for the two ships you are intersted in sailing on and ask questions there. You can also find groups for the specific sailing you end up chosing. I'm in PA and also looking to cruise on one of those ships! Let me know which you pick!

https://www.facebook.com/search/groups/?q=anthem%20of%20the%20seas

https://www.facebook.com/search/groups/?q=grandeur%20of%20the%20seasblogg

You will get answers that are specific to the crusie line and ships themselves. You will also get info you might not have thougth of from other peoples Q&As.

Also look up Very Unofficial Travel Guide on YouTube. He has great videos about cruising in general and is a RCL fan. Dunno if he's been on your ships.

Here is my packing list for when I cruise: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/cruise-packing-list.html

Here's a chart I made. It does not have every single drink option/price but should be helpful to give you a good idea of what to expect. As others have said, it depends on what and how much you expect to drink. Assume you will drink at least a little more than normal since there are bars everywhere.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z9HJaXa8aFFdhKb-3d7KakzglA3M08dXPF70TgXHHTU/edit?usp=sharing

I have a friend who the above happened to presumably because they were (incorrectly) under investigation by the FBI - I'm only going to say that it was money related. When asking why they were singled out, the customs officers claimed to not know, but did say "have you ever been arrested?" (my friend hadn't). Depending on the nature of the felony, this could happen to Daisymae as well. Wanted to warn her, better safe than sorry.

You will probably get flagged by customs when returning. If so, when disembarking, the cruise line staff will call down to customs and they will send someone to escort you to the interview area. They'll look through your bags ask you the standard questions then let you go.

However, if there are other people getting pulled (for similar reasons, or because they got caught with too many duty free items, undeclared high value purchases, etc), you might be waiting a while, so keep this in mind if taking plane/bus/train/etc. after the cruise.

I agree with above; sea days are great.

The "orlando" stop is very meh. like someone said, it's really cape Canaveral. Unlike most ports, you can't get off the ship and walk somewhere. You have to take some kind of motor vehicle due to the dock location. When I say you can't walk I am being very literal, you're not allowed to walk on the roads that would take you to a beach - learned by trying to google maps the dock to cocoa beach FL. Kennedy Space Center might be fun once. I stayed on the boat when I had a stop there.

They are all very similar with Epic being the smallest of the three and Escape being the biggest. Bigger ships have more restaurants, bars, activities, etc but people say they feel more crowded. My advice is to choose your cruise based on itinerary/date and then also avoid dates when children won't be in school (summer, between xmas/new years/march-[spring break]/week of president's day [winter break]).

Sorry if this has been said before, I didn't read everyone's comments.. you didn't specify which cruise line you are looking at, but that is a factor when deciding OV and Balcony. On Carnival for example, their OV rooms are the same size as balcony rooms, without the balcony. On Norwegian OV are much smaller than balcony. I haven't investigated the differences b/t the two on other lines as I haven't sailed them yet.

I dont think this has been asked yet in this thread... Can the cruisenext certificates be used when booking online or do they have to be used over the phone? I got two on my last cruise and the email only had a phone number and didn't mention online.

I've written a few blog posts about my cruising; feel free to peruse: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/search/label/cruises

I went to Cozumel for one day and did the Snuba excursion and liked it a lot. Snuba is really snorkeling, but you are hooked up to a tank that floats on the surface so you dont have to go up for air. It was a good choice for being in port only one day and having never scuba-ed before.

I've been on two cruises and both times was among the last to board because we wanted to eat lunch off-ship. Once we were on board it was already after 2 and our room was ready so we went straight there. Your boarding time is more of a suggestion than a requirement.

The $13-$15 service charge goes to service employees on board. Instead of tipping your housekeeper, restaurant servers, and others you don't even interact with, you are charged a flat amount per person per day and it is split between everyone. A lot of people still tip a little bit ($1 per person at dinner, $5 per person to housekeeper at the end of the trip) but it is not expected.

I wanted to weigh in on the gratuities and luggage.

I've been on two cruises so far and carried my luggage on. Unless you have those giant bags that I could fit myself into, it's not that cumbersome to take them with you if your room's not ready yet. If you get stuck in a line at check-in, or arrive later than planned, your room will probably be ready when you board. When you check it, it gets delivered to outside your door for anyone to possibly take (though it's not a common occurrence), and you don't get it till later that evening/afternoon. Make sure to have your soda in hand, not in your checked luggage, if you do decide to check it. I more strongly suggest you carry it off. There is no one making sure the right people are taking the bags which are kind of just left out in the open before you have a chance to get to the retrieval spot.

Gratuities: I am happy to see the other responders were in agreement with me that you should leave them on. You are able to lower them, but you shouldn't because they go to more than just servers and housekeeping and you cant do something like remove the mount that goes to housekeeping and tip as you go, because lowering it lowers all tips. I usually tip another $1 per person at dinner when in the Dining room. This is the breakdown according to CCL per day:

Housekeeping Team: $4.05 ($5.05 for suites)

Dining Team: $6.40

Alternative Services: $2.50

So, yes it adds up, but at least for dining, it's way less than if you ate out for 3 meals a day on land.

If you're interested in more reading, I have blog posts about my Carnival Vista trip last year, my packing list, and Carnival cruise tips:

http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/03/on-a-boat.html

http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/cruise-packing-list.html

http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/carnival-cruise-tips.html

This is my packing list, but it is for caribbean cruises. Should still be helpful, but you'd have to adjust the clothing items for the cooler temperatures:

http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/cruise-packing-list.html

I tip $1 per two drinks, $1 pp at dinner, and $5-20 per room to my steward at the end of the cruise depending on the level of service.

If the bartenders learn that you tip well, you will get extra good service. The other tips are more of a thank you, unless youre asking for the same restaurant servers every night or if you have assigned dining.

The bare minimum extra fees are per-person-per-day gratuity of $12-14 depending on the cruise line, taxes and port fees are a flat cost paid at time of booking... and that's technically it as you can eat for free the entire time and you are not expected to tip at all on board (because of the $12-14 per day).

Drinks: packages are $50-90pp per day (varies by cruise line) or budget for $10 per drink (beer is a bit less, cocktails are a bit more). Alcoholic drinks have gratuity added on automatically. Soft drinks are not free.

Excursions: budget for $90 per person per excursion, but price varies greatly.

Specialty restaurants: Budget for $35 per person per restaurant visit.

Tips: If you feel inclined to tip extra, you really just need a small amount. Any additional tip is greatly appreciated by staff, e.g. $1 per two drinks, $1pp at dinner.

I can't weigh in on spas, I don't use them at all.

My recommendation for a Miami cruise is to go on the Carnival Vista, it is just a beautiful ship. As others have posted, there will be children, I was on a cruise during Winter Break (which I didn't know was a thing, not all schools do it) and there were a lot of children but not an unbearable amount. This week in particular is also FAR more expensive than the week before or after, but that's the case with all lines.

I wrote a blog post about my Vista cruise if you're interested in some specifics. It includes our experince flying Spirit Air into Ft Lauderdale, staying overnight in an Airbnb, and getting to Miami from Ft. Lauderdale.

http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/03/on-a-boat.html

From what I can tell, it's expensive purely because of the Disney brand. Nothing is particularly different than other cruise lines from what I have read (I have been trying to figure out why they are so much more as well!). Some people are just crazy for Disney which makes their cruises the obvious choice for those people. I'm sticking to the other ones: Carnival, NCL, Celebrity, and RCL.

Looks like you already booked your cruise, but since this is your first cruise I thought I'd share my NCL tips with you; published to my blog: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/11-ncl-cruise-tips.html

I cruised on Carnival and absolutely loved it. My cruise was on their newest ship the Vista, last February. The beds were very comfortable and the food was great. I've heard some bad things about some Carnival ships (the older ones that need renovation) so do some research first before booking one. You can do this on cruise critic and on Facebook (search by ship name and join a group).

I researched best times to cruise to avoid kids and those times are right when kids go back to school (first weeks of Jan and Sept) and to avoid school holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, mid-to-late-March (spring break), and Presidents day (some schools have a winter break the week of President's day)

I have a blog post about what I learned about cruising on Carnival before (and after) my first cruise, that might be helpful: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/carnival-cruise-tips.html

I struggled with putting together a packing list for my first cruise so I published it recently (about to set sail on my 2nd cruise!) for others to use! There is a link for if you want to print it as well. Another blog post I have is about cruise gadgets you will want.

Packing List: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.co...king-list.html

Cabin Must-haves: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.co...breakaway.html

My Tips concern what to bring!

I struggled with putting together a packing list for my first cruise so I published it recently (about to set sail on my 2nd cruise!) for others to use! There is a link for if you want to print it as well. Another blog post I have is about cruise gadgets you will want. The last link I'm posting is tips specific to NCL - I cruised out of the US so not sure if there will be anything that doesn't apply to your cruise since it's out of Italy.

I'm not sure what the weather will be like so you might need to adjust my list, but my understanding is that it is warmer than where I am in the Northeast US. My list is based on mid-70s and warmer.

Packing List: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.co...king-list.html

Cabin Must-haves: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.co...breakaway.html

NCL Tips: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.co...uise-tips.html

My Tips concern what to bring!

I struggled with putting together a packing list for my first cruise so I published it recently (about to set sail on my 2nd cruise!) for others to use! There is a link for if you want to print it as well. Another blog post I have is about cruise gadgets you will want. The last link I'm posting is tips specific to NCL - I cruised out of the US so not sure if there will be anything that doesn't apply to your cruise since it's out of Germany.

Packing List: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.co...king-list.html

Cabin Must-haves: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.co...breakaway.html

NCL Tips: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.co...uise-tips.html

I have only cruised Carnival and NCL so far; Carnival out of Miami and NCL out of NYC so I know the most about those lines. From what I know about NCL, Carnival, Celebrity, and RCL, my impression is that Carnival is going to be cheapest for your base cruise fare and NCL is going to be cheapest if you want to drink a lot (you have to book a cabin in which you can add the drink package on for "free"). Celebrity and RCL seem to be in the middle of the two.

I have blog posts about both Carnival and NCL (below) if you're interested in reading them.

Generally, the farther in advance that you book your cruise, the better price you're going to get.

I like cruiseweb.com for searching for an itinerary I want based on dates and locations and then I book through the cruise line itself. I haven't used a travel agent, I have just used cruise critic and facebook for learning everything I can about the cruise lines and the specific ship I'm sailing on.

Carnival Tips: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/carnival-cruise-tips.html

NCL Tips: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/11-ncl-cruise-tips.html

My Tips concern what to bring!

I struggled with putting together a packing list for my first cruise so I published it recently (about to set sail on my 2nd cruise!) for others to use! There is a link for if you want to print it as well. Another blog post I have is about cruise gadgets you will want.

Packing List: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/cruise-packing-list.html

Cabin Must-haves: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/ncl-breakaway.html