First time cruisers - but which cruiseline

[Dorotheajn]

Hello

 

We are a couple who are planning our first cruise(s)

 

We live in Denmark, are in the late 40's and we love to travel and have traveled extensively all over Europe and North America by car/plane. We are now planning our first cruises but are not really sure which cruise line fit our style.

 

We are laid back - probably won't spend a minute in the casino and very little time on the dance floor. We do like to spend time in the lounge/pub meeting people, but are not big drinkers - preferring quality over quantity but love spending time @ the pool and working out in the fitness room.

 

We do need a cabin with a balcony, since it is essential to be able to get fresh air into the cabin due to allergies. We would probably also prefer a mid size or smaller ship. I get seasick easily so that is why we do a trial run.

 

Since we are in reality researching TWO cruise Itineraries - A short (7-9 days) Caribbean cruise (trial run) which should include St. John and a longer +20 days south American/Amazons cruise, it would be preferable if it was with the same cruise line.

 

We've been looking at Celebrity, Princess, Silversea and RSSC but right now I think we're more confused than anything else...:confused:

 

/Thea

[sparks1093]

Fodor's has an excellent guide to cruises that covers all of the lines, what they have to offer and what each line's "personality" is. That's where we started.

[Dorotheajn]

Fodor's has an excellent guide to cruises that covers all of the lines, what they have to offer and what each line's "personality" is. That's where we started.

 

 

Thanks for the tip - I've just ordered the book from Amazon.

 

We are really leaning towards RSSC - husband likes the fact that he won't have to bother with a tux and won't have to wear a tie every evening. Still not sure however how we will fit in, and if given the fact that I'm very susceptible to motion sickness we might not be better of on a bigger ship.

[laurakdy]

I think your best to go on a bigger ship if you suffer from notion sickness...We were on the atlantica last year which is an 85,000 ton ship and I suffered quite bad and I took plenty medications to try and ward it off but nothing did...

 

This year we are doing the azura which is an even bigger ship (115,000 ton), so I'm hoping I will be better on that...If not, its no more cruises for me, I'm afraid...:(

[Dorotheajn]

I think your best to go on a bigger ship if you suffer from notion sickness...We were on the atlantica last year which is an 85,000 ton ship and I suffered quite bad and I took plenty medications to try and ward it off but nothing did...

 

This year we are doing the azura which is an even bigger ship (115,000 ton), so I'm hoping I will be better on that...If not, its no more cruises for me, I'm afraid...:(

 

 

Thanks for the info. Aside from a few short overnight cruises to the UK and Norway we really haven't cruised. I did get motion sickness on 3 out of 4 of those - but maybe it was because we had an inside cabin in the lower aft part of the boat. I do seem to get queasy easier when I can feel the vibrations of the engine and the one time we had a midships outside cabin on a higher deck I was OK.

 

To make matters worse - I'm multi allergic and takes antihistamine 8 months out of the year, which is why we want a cabin with a balcony so we can air out the cabin if necessary. We have previously experienced the use of perfumed air fresheners in inside cabins and it really made my allergy act up.

 

For those who have sailed with a balcony - do any of you sleep with the door open ? is it even feasible ?