CruisySusie

😄lots of strong and varying opinions on this topic! Thanks again 

Thanks very much for the info! Wishing now that I had checked out Regent!  We ended up booking on Crystal Barcelona - Rome on 6/24.  The ports and excursions seemed fun and the dates worked for all of us.  Thanks again for the input; I’m saving it in my travel file 😊

Yes, we thought Windstar would be good for us! Unfortunately their itineraries didn’t match up with our dates for this summer. We ended up booking a Crystal cruise Barcelona to Rome.  The excursions looked like a good fit. Thanks for the input! 🙂

1 hour ago, pacruise804 said:

 

Perhaps there does need to be a board that is for people who are looking for better than mainstream but not the exclusivity of luxury.  Most recommendations on the "Ask A Cruise Question" board only direct to mainstream lines (sometimes premium) and there seems to be a void for those looking for an experience that is more refined than Carnival and NCL but not quite as high end as Crystal et al.

 

Using cars as an analogy, there are likely a lot of cruisers who want better than a basic Ford/Chevy/Toyota, would be happy with Cadillac/BMW/Mercedes, but can only find a board for Rolls Royce and are missing the place to find what they need.

I agree completely! Thank you so much for putting my thoughts into words :)  I ended up booking the cruise with Crystal on the Barcelona to Rome cruise starting 6/26.  The ports will be interesting to all of us and all of the beachy excursions seem perfect for my daughter and her bf.  Thank you to everyone for all the info!

Thanks Cruseforme, I took your advice and posted there too. I guess technically I don’t need a “luxury” cruise; just looking for a better experience than on the big ships we’ve been on before.

Looking for a cruise to celebrate our daughter’s 21st this Summer and would like to go with a smaller ship and a more upscale experience. Thinking Greek islands, Mediterranean, S. America. We’ve looked at some of the luxury lines but they seem a little sedate for our group this time which will include my husband and myself, our daughter, her boyfriend and my 80 year old super active mother.  Daughter and bf are not partiers but would like some kind of entertainment other than lectures and touring. Windstar is a possibility but any others we should look at? Thank you in advance! 

I wondered about Windstar...let me ask, are any of the other mainstream lines a cut above the rest - without the over crowding and over the top party atmosphere that we want to avoid? 

Looking for a cruise to celebrate our daughter’s 21st this Summer. Travelers will include my husband and myself, our daughter, her boyfriend and my 80 year old mother.  Daughter and bf are not partiers but would like some kind of entertainment other than lectures and touring. Her request is to cruise somewhere warm; preferably with beaches. My husband and I have done Tauck tours and like that level of travel. My mom has been around the world with NatGeo and seen everything; still super active.  We’re thinking Greek islands, Mediterranean, S. America.  For reference, we looked at Viking and the onboard experience just looked too sedate for this trip.  Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

imsmilin, thanks so much for the great description of this trip. I feel like I have the total picture now!

imsmilin, thanks for the info. Forgot to mention we'll have our 7 year old daughter with us. She's pretty daring, but...do you think she'll have a problem? Also, is the boat enclosed? I guess we could always cancel if it looks too rough...

How much of the boat ride is in the ocean and exactly how big were those ocean swells? The excursion sounds great but they didn't mention any rough water. We'll be in Belize April 13 and are considering this one but it sounds a little rough. Anyone get seasick?