bbodb1

I'd like to tag along here as well since I am looking at an Alaskan Cruise as a possibility in late May - early June of 2024 as well.  

In my initial reading, and watching tips for travelers, I had mentally narrowed the choice of lines to HAL or Princess.  As I have watched more videos and read reviews, I am starting to sour on Princess but as is noted in this thread, I too have a LOT of reading to do!

On 7/13/2022 at 10:38 PM, cruizergal70 said:

If you don't care about ports and you don't care about ship activities and all you want to do is look at sunrises and sunsets, do you even need to be on a ship? There are many land based all inclusives that may work for you.

Thanks for pointing this option out @cruizergal70 - I should have included a bit more explanation on this...  As the years have gone by and some of our vacation times have been around oceans or the Gulf of Mexico, we have enjoyed being around the water and given that a cruise is on the wife's list of must do's at some point, it seemed like a good time to give cruising a try.  Based on what I have read, I am hoping the Serenity area of the ship may be the answer when a quieter time is wanted / desired.  We shall see!  Thanks.

Hello again all,

Sorry I have not been back this way in a month or so but I did want to let y'all who have replied in this thread know that your advice definitely proved helpful.  After searching, planning, revising and repeating I finally found a cruise that would work with our schedule and allow us a decent sample of cruising.  We are going to take a Carnival Cruise out of Galveston (which is in driving distance for us) to Mexico.  As was suggested here, we did find a decent price on a balcony cabin and purchased this through a travel agent I will not name (oops!) in case of price drops. 

I realize Carnival (being the fun line) might be a bit more boisterous than would likely prefer, but in the slew of YouTube videos I have watched about cruising on Carnival and the Serenity section was mentioned on several videos.  This sounds ideal and I am sure we will give this area several visits.  OF course, I have no way of knowing for sure if Carnival will be our best fit (as far as cruise line) but we have to start somewhere (with one cruise line first).  

Also, this cruise port allows us to economize a bit as we will save airfare, hotel and/or some driving time.  Galveston does not offer a larger variety of cruise lines, but for proximity it is definitely good choice for us (as perhaps New Orleans and Mobile may be in future cruises).

Again, thanks to all of you who offered ideas throughout this thread!

@trafaelwyr

If I may piggyback on this thread, we have a similar situation with respect to an upcoming Carnival cruise with Costa Maya as a port of call but with only a 6 1/2 hour window.  In your OP you did not note how much time you will have in Costa Maya - are you facing a similarly small window of time?

We have never cruised before and while there seems to be no end of choices for things to do in Costa Maya, the fact this is such a small window of time has me thinking it would be best NOT do any excursion while in Costa Maya.  Is getting off the ship and walking around the area surrounding the port safe and does it offer things like shops, bars, restaurants, etc near the port?   We would prefer to avoid taxis and we don't mind a good amount of walking.  Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Hello all,

Thank you in advance for any ideas, suggestions or modification you offer to the following plans. 

My wife and I have never taken a cruise (any and all previous plans at this fell through the cracks).  We have been on small boats before (a catamaran being the most recent example) and I found I do get motion sick on this size of craft.  This particular outing was in Hawaii and the surf was estimated at 3-6 feet.  This was a swim with the manta rays...which was quite memorable.

Anyway, I want to give cruising since the wife has mentioned this on more than one occasion so I came up with the following idea. 

We own timeshare holdings and can take a trip to Florida in February and/or March.  I would like to have a timeshare stay (and then take a cruise - in that order) to get the most from this trip.  I am looking at cruises lasting somewhere in the 3-5 night range as I want the cruise to be long enough (time wise) where we can enjoy the cruise but not so long that in case I am miserable that I would be wishing for the cruise to be over.  (I will definitely read and follow the advice to -hopefully- avoid / minimize the possibility of seasickness!)

Again, considering that we can be in Florida anytime in the months of February and / or March, is there a particular route / destination that is more likely to produce a smoother sailing experience than other destinations?  For example, I see several cruises to Mexico from Florida but given this would be over the Gulf of Mexico (with what appears to be very little shelter) would there be a better route / destination?  For example, might some of the Caribbean destinations be a better choice given this background?  

I should also not the destination is not as important as the sailing experience so whether the destination is Mexico or the Caribbean makes no difference here.

A (more) perfect cruise for us would be one where we could be alone to some extent when desired.  For example, we would enjoy sitting on the ship taking in the sunrise / sunset as much as (if not more than) whatever shows or attractions the ship may have to offer.  I have read a bit about the day(s) some cruise lines spend at their island (ex: Perfect Day at CocoCay) and while I do not know if we would enjoy such a crowded area, some time back on dry land may be beneficial in shaking off the effects of the sea on me (in case of motion sickness).  

Might anyone have some suggestions as to which cruise line / destination makes sense here?  I am certain of the date range (hoping crowds will be a bit smaller) and that we are budgeting for a balcony cabin.  Also, the point of departure is Florida (all ports are in play).  Beyond that, I hope to find a smooth sailing experience.... we have no previous or existing ties to any cruise line. 

Thanks again!

Hello all.  And thanks in advance for any insights or opinions you may offer.

The wife and I will be first time cruisers.  We do not know if cruising is for us but given that an Alaska trip is surely bucket list worthy, the current plan is to take an Alaska cruise in order to see those once (or more) in a lifetime sights of the north and to concurrently see if cruising appeals to us.  I have been reading a good bit on the Cruise Critic boards and have come to the following conclusions:

    ▪    As noted above, Alaska will be our first destination.
    ▪    We are considering a cruise on Holland American as their Alaska Itinerary includes Glacier Bay.
    ▪    We really do not want to be around large crowds, but understand that a trip like this is going to have some element of large crowds.
    ▪    To avoid the crowds (at least somewhat), I am thinking it would be wise to reserve a Balcony cabin so we can have some (somewhat) private time when needed).  
    ▪    It appears we need to be ready for some sticker shock even after making our reservations - especially with respect to excursions.  I have read / heard about some excursions in Alaska costing $600 per person to ride a helicopter that takes you to dog sledding for example.  Wow.  I don’t mind spending the money for something that is fairly priced and this unique, but since we will be on very unfamiliar ground, I just don’t know if these prices are reasonable.  
    ▪    We will likely pick and choose from what the ship offers in terms of activities, but for us the most compelling allure of Alaska is the outdoors (and what is off the ship).  I say this because I have also been looking at smaller ships in Alaska for the closer to nature experience they can offer (simply by getting closer to things in nature due to the smaller craft they use).  I also cannot shake the feeling that a properly chosen smaller cruise line might be a better fit for us than one of the big lines.  

I’ll pause there for now - please feel free to point out any flaws / holes with this line of thinking.  As noted above, we are new to this experience and still learning.  I will do my best to update developments in this thread as our plans firm up. 

Thanks in advance!

Here is a link to a parking garage at the port (Pier 66 for NCL). It's $21 per day if you book in advance.

 

https://www.cruiseseattleparking.com/

Holy cow - there's a reason NOT to depart from Seattle!

Again, thanks to everyone who has contributed their thoughts and links to other resources - I've been reading as much as I can as time permits. It is nice to know there are similar minded people out there (cruisers with similar goals).

One refinement I have made to my goals as a result of the suggested reading thus far is this - I had considered taking an available Caribbean in the coming months to see if we would like it but the problem with that approach is the Caribbean holds very little allure for us. The more I read about experiences in the various Caribbean ports, the less desirable that area becomes. While there are no doubt some very scenic areas in the Caribbean (along with a healthy does of nature), to me the Caribbean will always pale in comparison to Alaska. Since Alaska is the ultimate goal here anyway, I think we will break our cruising maiden with a goal of the 49th state as our destination. Even if we find the cruise ship experience less than desirable, the views will be spectacular. If we're going to spend the kind of money cruising demands, picking the most desirable destination would seem to be a prudent choice.

Thanks again all!

Most importantly, thank you to everyone who has responded. A definite common theme (easy for even more to spot) was to find a TA so I used the two links on CruiseCritic (one for CLIA and the other for ASTA) to find a TA near me. I will definitely continue down that route.

Most assuredly, an Alaskan cruise will be in our future - it is on our bucket list for sure. Even if I hate our first cruise (likely to be Caribbean), I will get back up on that horse for Alaska.

We do have our passports already (and Nexus cards) - so we should be good to go there.

Thanks again to y'all who have given me a lot to think about - that is exactly what I had hoped to find here and you kind folks delivered!

Hello all,

Allow me a bit of a disclaimer here: we have never cruised before so as we are reading the information on this forum (and a lot of information there is!) among the questions we are trying to figure out is this: Is cruising right for us? Since we have no previous knowledge of cruising to fall back on, that first cruise decision will be crucial in determining if we ever want to cruise again. One of the questions I am posing below could be misread in a negative light - please understand we are trying to determine if cruising is right for us. Having said that, here we go:

Area of concern 1) Being among 5000 people, we want to enjoy the experience alone.

As we think back to previous vacations we really enjoyed, we took the most joy from seeing the wildlife, the wonders of nature, the scenery and serenity of being in places with very few other people. (One of our most enjoyable vacations was at Rocky Mountain National Park as we hiked many trails.) Cruising would seem to offer ample opportunities to see wildlife, scenery and nature but serenity would seem to be very hard to come by. We don't want to feel like we must move with a crowd to enjoy a cruise, but rather enjoy the experience together (away from crowds). Can a couple find alone time on a cruise outside of their cabin?

Is this even possible?

Would we be better off on a smaller cruise ship or a particular cruise line?

Area of concern 2) The escalating costs

As we have started to look at possible first cruises, I'm really getting frustrated and concerned at just how many charges there are after considering the room charges. Taxes, tips, drinks, food, etc all can produce a lot more charges. Is there a website or resource that cuts through all this - a website that shows you cruises (along with the different room choices) that actually includes the charges you must bear? I thought airline (and their extra charges) were bad, but those are nothing compared to cruise ship charges. I'd really like to find an option that lists a room charge and that charge includes everything on board the ship - even tips. Does that exist?

Thank you in advance for any info or insights offered. Obviously, I still have a lot of reading to do here on Cruise Critic! Are there other resources I should visit?

Bbodb1

(obviously) new to cruising maybe!

Thank you Mike and Ricew!

I am considering our first cruise and your information was very helpful indeed!