1st Cruise - have some questions for the experienced cruiser

[Hambergler]

My girlfriend and I are going to be traveling for a year around the world. We want to start our adventure with a Trans-Atlantic cruise in April 2012 destined for Spain. One of these HERE Neither of us have ever been on a cruise before. I was hoping to tap the wealth of knowledge that is Cruise Critic. A little about us. We are in our mid thirties, don't drink, don't party, are on a very tight budget.

 

Here are my questions:

 

What is the cheapest way to book a cruise? How do you get discounts and deals? i.e. Travel agent, websites

 

Is it possible to get a room upgrade? If so, how?

 

Which one of the Royal Carribean Cruises I linked to is the best?

 

When is the best time to book? The prices seam to fluctuate.

 

Where are the more desirable places on the ship to book your room? Any places to avoid?

 

Some rooms have a "promenade view" Are these rooms very noisy? My understanding is that they face a busy mall area.

 

We will not have room in our bags for formal attire. What will happen to us on formal night? Will we be thrown overboard? :)

 

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Cruisin' Chick]

My girlfriend and I are going to be traveling for a year around the world. We want to start our adventure with a Trans-Atlantic cruise in April 2012 destined for Spain. One of these HERE Neither of us have ever been on a cruise before. I was hoping to tap the wealth of knowledge that is Cruise Critic. A little about us. We are in our mid thirties, don't drink, don't party, are on a very tight budget.

 

Here are my questions:

 

What is the cheapest way to book a cruise? How do you get discounts and deals? i.e. Travel agent, websites

 

Is it possible to get a room upgrade? If so, how?

 

Which one of the Royal Carribean Cruises I linked to is the best?

 

When is the best time to book? The prices seam to fluctuate.

 

Where are the more desirable places on the ship to book your room? Any places to avoid?

 

Some rooms have a "promenade view" Are these rooms very noisy? My understanding is that they face a busy mall area.

 

We will not have room in our bags for formal attire. What will happen to us on formal night? Will we be thrown overboard? :)

 

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Your link is probably not going to work (I ran my mouse over it and it came up censored) so you should probably just list the ships, dates, and ports to get an answer. Most likely (if you're just looking on RC), you should ask this on the Royal Caribbean board.

 

I have never been on a RC cruise, but I imagine the upgrades are just like on Carnival and Princess, at random, and not something to expect for sure. If there's a category cabin you want, the best way to get it is to book it. Some people have been on many, many cruises and haven't received an upgrade. We have received a few small ones (from inside to inside or inside to oceanview), but not every one of those was an improvement at all and one was under a dining room (we heard vacuuming at night).

[mousey]

My girlfriend and I are going to be traveling for a year around the world. We want to start our adventure with a Trans-Atlantic cruise in April 2012 destined for Spain. One of these HERE Neither of us have ever been on a cruise before. I was hoping to tap the wealth of knowledge that is Cruise Critic. A little about us. We are in our mid thirties, don't drink, don't party, are on a very tight budget.

 

Here are my questions:

 

What is the cheapest way to book a cruise? How do you get discounts and deals? i.e. Travel agent, websites

 

Is it possible to get a room upgrade? If so, how?

 

Which one of the Royal Carribean Cruises I linked to is the best?

 

When is the best time to book? The prices seam to fluctuate.

 

Where are the more desirable places on the ship to book your room? Any places to avoid?

 

Some rooms have a "promenade view" Are these rooms very noisy? My understanding is that they face a busy mall area.

 

We will not have room in our bags for formal attire. What will happen to us on formal night? Will we be thrown overboard? :)

 

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

We book our cruises through an internet cruise-specific travel agency. You can get discounts with your AAA card and if you were older, like us, you could use your AARP card for discounts.

 

We have only gotten an upgrade once from an inside cabin to an obstructed oceanview room. It was no big deal.

 

If you don't want to dress up on "formal" night you can eat at other places on the ship such as the buffet, but you won't get the same "formal night" menu as you would get in the MDR. Really, formal nights are not what they used to be and you will see everything from long dresses and tuxedos to "Sunday best". I don't dress formally anymore. If you have dressy tops and black pants or skirt you would be fine.

 

I hope you and your friend have an absolutely wonderful trip and cruise!!:D

[Essiesmom]

The link worked for me, it just goes to the Royal Caribbean website.

I would choose one from Fort Lauderdale or Miami. Airfare would be less expensive than to San Juan, plus a member of another forum said he wouldn't do another from San Juan because of the boisterous behavior of the many locals on the cruise.

I would book now, whatever you can afford (if you go for a balcony, do starboard siude for sunshine). Most cruise lines do not allow travel agents to discount their prices, so the deals you may see online are usually high volume agencies that get larger percentage commission and are rebating some of that back in lower fare or OBC (onboard credit).

Most cruise lines allow you to refare before final payment date if you closely monitor the rates for your cabin category and find a lower price. However, some travel agencies charge a fee for this, or reclaim some of the OBC.

The best places for your cabin in on a deck with cabins above and below you. If you have a cabin below an open deck, you can hear chairs being moved/scraped along the deck, people walking/running, etc.

I haven't sailed Royal, so I can answer your questions specific to them. As was suggested above, go to the boards page, find Royal Caribbean under Cruise LInes P-Z, and click on royal Caribbean. The experts reside there, and there are far more of them than frequent this board. EM

[paul929207]

RCCL does not allow TA's to discount, however, some will offer perks like Onboard Credit, bottle of wine, etc.

 

If you want an upgrade, book and pay for the higher cabin. Free upgrades are rare

[BIG_Steve]

Here are my questions:

 

What is the cheapest way to book a cruise? How do you get discounts and deals? i.e. Travel agent, websites

 

Is it possible to get a room upgrade? If so, how?

 

Which one of the Royal Carribean Cruises I linked to is the best?

 

When is the best time to book? The prices seam to fluctuate.

 

Where are the more desirable places on the ship to book your room? Any places to avoid?

 

Some rooms have a "promenade view" Are these rooms very noisy? My understanding is that they face a busy mall area.

 

We will not have room in our bags for formal attire. What will happen to us on formal night? Will we be thrown overboard? :)

 

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Any questions about the cruiseline specifically may be better answered on the Royal Caribbean board.

 

Normally, I would say not to give formal night a second thought, because many folks think faded jeans and a shirt with no holes is fancy these days. The buffet is always there if you feel under dressed for the MDR.

[bus man]

Not that it's any of my business, but I would LOVE to know how two thirtysomethings have the time and wherewithal to travel around the world for a year!

 

Crusing is a wonderful experience, and you may well find it to be the highlight of your travels. Given that you are on a "very tight budget," there are definitely ways to economize:

 

Book an interior room. They are a little bit smaller, and generally somewhat cheaper, than any other room type. Sure, there's no view; but you can go up on deck any time you want and soak up the view to your heart's content. As another poster said, try to place yourself in a room that is both above and below other staterooms. (The deck plans on the RCI's website will help you with this.) These rooms are quieter than ones that adjoin public areas.

 

If you're concerned about motion sickness, try and book as low (vertically) and as close to the center (horizontally) as possible. I've never done a TA, but the Atlantic does have a reputation as being sometimes a rough body of water. If you don't think it'll be an issue, the rooms closer to the bow and stern are sometimes cheaper than the ones in the middle.

 

If you feel you'd be out of place in the MDR on formal nights, simply eat at the buffet on those nights. The food is just as good, and in fact there's often a wider selection available. Meals in both the MDR and the buffet (called the Windjammer on RCI) are included in your fare, and you can eat as much as you want. The ship will also have specialty restaurants available, but be advised that there is an extra charge for them.

 

Here's another way to save money: don't drink anything except water and fruit juices. Every thing else costs extra. This is especially true of alcoholic beverages, but as you said, you don't drink.

 

The good news is that most onboard activities -- and there are LOTS of them -- are included in the price of your ticket. Every evening you will receive a newsletter outlining the next day's activities, and any that require an extra charge will be so noted.

 

You will find that there are lots and lots of parties on board. As you've said you are not partiers, these will likely not be of interest to you. The good news here is that these ships are big, and there's plenty of room for everyone. Also, there are plenty of other people (myself included) who prefer other, non-party activities. You will never feel like you're being crowded by the partiers, or that you're being somehow "left out." Indeed, you may well not even be aware of the existence of the parties at all. (I'll remind you again to NOT choose a stateroom that is adjacent to any room that is typically used for parties.) The same is true of drinking. Lots of people drink . . . and lots of people don't.

 

Good luck, and happy planning!

[Hambergler]

Thank you for your replies. Very helpful. As suggested I will post in the RC forum. To answer Bus mans question. We saved money, are putting our stuff in storage and going. Not much else to it. Hostels, slow travel and frequent flyer miles.

[surfsidemary]

If I were in my 30's and had a whole year, and was on a tight budget - and also didn't care about parties and formal wear - I'd take a look a travel by freighter. Somewhat less predictable itineraries, and you would need to entertain yourselves on the ship. You can Google "freighter travel."

[Nebr.cruiser]

There are a lot of variables to answers to your questions, but I'll give it a try.

 

We usually find that the cheapest way to book a cruise is through an online travel agency; we're not allowed to mention specific agencies here, so you have to search some term like 'cheap cruises', etc. and then look at the different agencies. Get on their email lists too, to receive specials.

 

Sometimes, though, we get better deals through the cruise line, especially if we are a loyalty member.

 

We find the best deals a couple of months out (usually), or right after the final payment deadline, but we are flexible as to when we can go, use miles for airfare and realize that the exact ship/date we want may sell out.

 

Upgrades are not very likely, so don't book a cabin you are not ok with hoping for one. Guarantee cabins are usually the cheapest as long as you are willing to accept any cabin in that category. We book these often, have never had a 'real' upgrade.

 

April is a great time for good deals on a transatlantic cruise--we've done 14 days for as little as $799 in a balcony. But, we booked about 2 months out, which is pretty close.

 

Going east on a Transatlantic, starboard rooms get more sun in the afternoon, otherwise it doesn't matter much. If you are worried about sea sickness, mid ship and lower decks are better; we often have higher decks and either forward or aft cabins and haven't (yet) had a problem. These cabins are also usually cheaper. Try to get a cabin sandwiched between decks with other cabins and not under a noisy public area.

 

The only RCI ship we have sailed on is the Navigator,(besides other lines), which we liked a lot. We've benn on that particular ship twice. We haven't had a promenade view room; I like to be able to see outside, but others have said they are ok.

 

We've enjoyed TA's on RCI, Celebrity and NCL. They were all great.

 

Don't worry about bringing real formal wear for formal night. For guys, you can wear nice pants, shirt and tie--a sports jacket would be great, if you have room. For gals a long or short black skirt or pants and a couple of dressy tops will work. Find travel type knits that take up little space and don't wrinkle. We like to dress up a little more, but you won't be the only ones not in true formal wear by a long shot.

 

Have fun! It sounds like a wonderful year.