My husband and I are not technically first time cruisers, but certainly inexperienced cuisers. We've only been on one cruise. For our honeymoon in 2012, we took a 5 day cruise to the Bahamas on Carnival. We had an inside cabin down in the bottom of the ship. The cabin was nice, larger than I thought it would be and quite comfortable, even without a view. We spent most of our time up on deck (mostly in the adults only area), or at port, anyway. We had a lot of fun, and both agreed that we would like to do another cruise on some point. Well, I think that some point has arrived.
I'd like to book a cruise for next winter. We live in New England, so one of the goals would be to escape the cold, dark winter and go somewhere sunny. A Caribbean cruise sounds delightful. I've been looking at what's available for next February/March, and I have things narrowed down to two itineraries, and two cruise lines. I'm lookingfor advice on both.
First, the cruise lines. I'm looking at either Norwegian or Celebrity. I'm leaning a little towards Celebrity. We're both on the introverted side. We like to do things and have fun, but less "Whoo! Party!". Celebrity seems a bit more refined. We are also in our upper 40's. On the other hand, I am the type of person that will go play on the waterslide, at least for a little while. And I won't say no to a round of mini-golf. Price-wise, Norwegian and celebrity seem to be about on par with each other. Norwegian seems to have larger ships, with the Norwegian Joy almost twice the capacity of the Celebrity Constellation (3,776 passengers vs 2184). I'm not sure how I feel about that many people.
Both cruise lines offer similar itineraries. The two I'm choosing between are Yucatan penninsula (Belize, Honduras, and Mexico) leaving from Florida (Miami or Tampa, depending on the cruise line) and southern Caribbean leaving from San Juan. Honestly, I'd be pretty happy with either one. The southern caribbean is a little more expensive, and there are more ports, so we'll probably spend more in shore excursions.
I've already decided that this time around, we're getting a balcony. I'm considering splurging on an aft facing balcony. Are these worth the price?
