cruisinqt

We've done many cruises but never in March. Is it cooler on the islands? Will the ocean be colder? Or is this a rainy season or anything? We are doing a southern cruise to Dominican Republic, Curacao, Aruba, and Grand Turk. I'm not sure what to pack. I usually pack all summer clothes and sandals.

We have cruised both Princess and Royal Caribbean. Carnival is a lot like Royal Caribbean. The crowd is a bit younger and funner. The food is very good. The standard cabins are bigger too. You will like it. Don't listen to the people that put Carnival down. Most of them are cruise snobs that prefer a specific line and have never even been on Carnival. Just like some car owners out there. 😊

Oh those are cute. Thanks for all the info guys. I'll try to post pics of what we find. :)

I've noticed that carnival and Royal Caribbean have more night life than anyone. ;) But sailing off season when the ship isn't full can result in a slower nightlife and unusually older set of passengers. The younger crowd that likes nightclubs and nightlife tend to be baby boomers or college students. And they are stuck with cruising during holidays, summer time, and spring break. And older folks that like to go to bed early tend to prefer to cruise during off season times when there are no kids. This results in off season cruising being a little quieter and dead on some nights, even on the young fun cruise lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean. That being said, we've cruised Carnival in September and October and had a blast in the clubs with lots going on until the wee hours of the night. We've cruised the a freedom once already and liked it so much that we're going on her again next week. :) I would sail her in a heartbeat regardless.

When we boarded we bypassed numerous long winding lines and went straight onto the ship. It wasn't just 10-15 minutes earlier than others, it was an hour or more at least. ;) I guess the reason for people saying they boarded as quickly as the FTTF people is because it depends on when you arrive. If you get there super early or kind of late, you miss the majority of the crowds and get on quicker so I could see it being only 15-20 minutes earlier in that instance. But we never arrive late, we want to enjoy every last minute we can of our cruise. We always try to get there early like 10:30 to bypass the crowds but with two teenage daughters it's difficult to get out of the hotel early. :rolleyes: So we end up getting there around 11:30-12:00 which is the most crowded time. That's why we love FTTF because it saves us major time on boarding. I say go for it. It certainly is not a waste but well worth the money. I have no idea why people make the effort to go on a thread and put down something you value. If they don't like FTTF and would never purchase it, then why do they go on FTTF threads? Seems like that's the real "absolute waste" of time here. Lol.

Our ports are Aruba, Curacao, Dominican Republic, and Grand Turk. If there's any other place we can shop in any of these ports please let me know. Thanks. :)

Thanks, that helps. :)

When we first started cruising my husband would adjust tips based on service, some were went higher, some were lowered. You can adjust it any time without any problem. Then we found out that the only pay the cabin stewards, waitstaff, etc. gets is our gratuities. And most of these people live in very poor countries and send most of their money home to their families. :eek: Now we never lower any of our gratuities but we do give extra to those that go out of their way for us. But to answer your question, yes gratuities can be adjusted without any hassle.

I'm a little skeptical of cruisers that have numerous cruises listed and are obviously platinum cruisers dissing FTTF. They are not very subtle in their attempt to dissuade people from getting FTTF because they don't like sharing their platinum perks. I'm not addressing this to any particular poster, I'm just saying it's happening on a lot of posts about FTTF and it's starting to get pretty obvious. So just keep that in mind when you hear the negative comments. :) That being said, you get a lot more than priority boarding. You get priority boarding, priority debarkation, you can go straight to your cabin instead of lugging around your bags waiting for the cabins to open up, you can use the always empty platinum line at the pursers desk instead the normal line with 20 or more people in it, and you get priority tendering. Well worth $50 to me. We use it every time now. Even my tightwad husband approves of the purchase. Good luck. Oh and some cruisers are saying they called Carnival and got on a waiting list for FTTF and it helped them get it. Hope this helps. Happy sailing.

I used to be a little bored in Nassau until our last visit. We did a Segway tour and had a blast! :) There are two different Segway tours offered by local tour operators, one in the city and one in the country. The one in the country is hands down the best, no concrete everywhere, just beautiful scenery. We were taken out to a ranch and got to see the beautiful countryside and play at the beach. Definitely one of my all time favorite tours. And it was just $69 per person. :D And we had no experience with segway's but did just fine on them. Most ships charge well over $100 pp for this type of tour. I can't remember their name but I did a review of it on the Nassau boards. Just do a search on Segway tours and it will pop up. Now you can look forward to every port on the Liberty cruise. Lol No reason not to cruise her now. :) We cruise every summer with our kids and $2695 is normal for 3 for the summer for an ocean view or balcony. It would be a little high if it were for an inside. But if you're doing early saver rates they will match any price drops. I've had $800 in price drops so far. Gotta love that. :p

I have two teen daughters and they insist on 7 day cruises. :) Believe me, your teens won't get bored. There's swimming, the 240 ft water slide, the spa, the arcade, numerous shows, shopping, 24/7 ice cream, 24/7 pizza, and that's not including the ports and the fun stuff you do there. And Camp Carnival is a great place to meet friends their age and hang out. They have Wii, Xbox, trivia games, slumber parties, ice cream parties, craft making, and painting, to name a few of the activities for teens. And Carnival has late night adult comedy shows that I'm sure you will love, along with the night clubs and piano bars that are always going strong well into the wee hours of the morning. I think there will be plenty to keep you and your teens happy on a 7 day cruise. I vote for the Liberty too. ;)

I've sailed Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Princess, and Carnival. Honestly there's just subtle differences in all of those cruise lines. The biggest difference I saw was that the median age of cruisers on Princess and Norwegian was much older than those of Carnival or a Royal Caribbean. But overall they are more similar than dissimilar. :) Anyone stating that their more expensive cruise is better because it cost more is showing their ignorance. It's no different than someone going to Saks Fifth Avenue and paying ten prices for a coach handbag and thinking it's better than the same exact coach handbag bought at a normal department store because they paid more. :rolleyes: I ignore those folks, they aren't worth my time.

Aw that sounds awesome but we are doing a southern Caribbean on the Freedom. Our ports are Aruba, Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, and Curacao. Thanks for the info though.

We don't have tenders in any of our ports on our next cruise but we still got FTTF. We love the early boarding and debarkation but what we really like is being able to use the short platinum line instead of the normal looong line at the pursers desk. You will love it!:D

Cool thanks. I'll check it out.

Thanks for the info. Yeah I'm interested in both outlets and knockoffs. We've made great finds in both types of places. I guess we will be checking out the outdoor marker next to the bus depot. :)

Thanks for the info. I don't have St Thomas or St. Maarten on my upcoming cruise. My ports are Aruba, Curacao, Grand Turk, and Dominican Republic. We've been to Sawgrass Mills mall and it is awesome. :)

Aw ok thanks.

A few years back while in Belize we came across designer handbags at a fraction of what they cost in department stores. :D Since then it has become a tradition for me and my daughters to shop for cheap designer purses together when we cruise. Is there anything like this in Grand Turk?

A few years back while shopping in Belize we found designer handbag outlet stores that sold them at a fraction of what they cost in department stores. :D Since then this has become a tradition for me and my daughters when we cruise. We always look for cheap designer purses. Is there anyplace like this I here? We dock in La Romana.

A few years back my girls and I had a blast shopping for designer purses at outlet stores in Belize. They were a fraction of the cost in department stores. :) It's now become a tradition for us. Is there anything like this in Curacao?

While in Belize a while back, we had a blast shopping for designer handbags at outlet stores that sold them at a fraction of what department stores sell them for. :) Since that cruise, its kind of a tradition for my daughters and I when we cruise to shop for new purses together. Is there anything like this in Aruba?

In Belize there's a flea market with awesome designer handbag knock offs at a fraction of department store prices. We had a blast shopping there. :) Unfortunately our upcoming cruise isn't going to Belize but we still want new purses. We will be in Ft. Lauderdale for a couple days before our cruise, is there any place like this there?

My husband is so tight I swear he squeaks. Lol. :rolleyes: But he insists on getting FTTF for our cruises now. He says time is money and it saves us soooo much time. No waiting in lines at embarkation or debarkation, :) no waiting in line at the pursers desk (you use the platinum line that's almost always empty), no waiting for your cabin to be ready, and no waiting in long lines for tenders. We've done numerous cruises and this is the best bargain for the money. Don't listen to the naysayers, keep checking because it is well worth it. Good luck!

Yeah you're probably right. Smoking is continually being banned everywhere, not just on cruise ships. And once they ban smoking they never go back. Even though it often creates controversy. We saw a similar situation regarding smoking in the restaurants in our city and numerous surrounding cities. At first they limited smoking to certain areas of the restaurants or businesses. Then they eliminated smoking in the restaurants altogether but you could smoke outside. Then they made it to where you couldn't smoke within a certain amount of feet from the entrance to the restaurants because the smoke blows in. Smokers protested and there was lots of heated debates. But the restaurants still got lots of customers and thrived financially so the change was eventually accepted. I imagine the same will most likely be true of the cruising industry.