First post/first cruise!

[bowzer1972]

Greetings all, this is my first post on this website. I was sent over here on recommendation from a member of the Las Vegas Advisor board. She mentioned that the people on this site are as passionate about cruises as the LVA members are about Las Vegas, and that was all I needed to hear. Looking forward to doing tons of research and getting some great suggestions from y'all to make our first-ever cruise a memorable one.

 

Wife and I are taking the Norwegian Star Mexican Riviera cruise at the very end of September. We are celebrating our 5-year wedding anniversary (not too long, but hey, you've got to start somewhere). We had our honeymoon down in Cabo San Lucas and loved it. Wife has always wanted to do a cruise, and a travel agent friend of ours got us a great deal on the NCL. I trust his recommendation, and based on the research I've done so far I think this will be a wonderful trip.

 

I feel pretty confident that I can get a handle on food and shipboard activities, just using the reviews and other hints from this board (although ANY comments/suggestions from you experts would be more than welcome).

 

What I'm most concerned about is the on-shore activities in the ports of call. Suzi and I are both 33 and fairly active, so spending an entire day (or even more than an hour or so) shopping is out of the question. I have heard that some of the excursions planned by the cruise line can be spendy, and that you are often better planning your own activities in advance. Here are some things that we'd love to experience at some point on our trip--maybe you can suggest 1) which town to do it in 2) which company to go through. Again, ANY comments are welcome.

 

In no particular order

 

Swim with dolphins

Deep-sea fishing (we did this on our honeymoon and Suzi actually LOVED it)

Snorkeling

Horseback riding

 

I'm sure there are other things to do that I just can't think of at the moment. I'm going to continue to do some snooping around the site, but if you have suggestions or personal experiences about excursions or about the NCL Riviera cruise in general, please e-mail them to me or respond to the thread. bowzer1972@yahoo.com

 

A couple years ago I joined the Las Vegas Advisor site, and because of the research and planning I did we had the best Vegas trip we've ever taken together (and yes, we've taken a few). I want to put the same effort into this cruise, and, God willing, we'll get the same great result.

 

Happy sailing all!

 

Chris

[mii]

You might try the Ports of Call board under Mex. Rivera. There is a wealth of info there. Justgo back to what I would call the table of contents and scroll down. You will see the ports of call .

 

Marilyn

[CaptData]

Hi Bowzer, welcome aboard. If you both like deep sea fishing, then the Mexican rivera is for you. as bove go to the ports of call board. There is a native of Mexico who has a lot of info. Also check in the Roll Call under the NCL listing for your sailing and go to the NCL board as well. Again Happy Sails.

[KKB]

DH (42) and I (39) were married in LV 11 years ago...with several trips prior and many since.

We decided a cruise was in order for our 10 year. We did Princess last Oct. to Western Caribbean--and we had a BLAST!

Though our ports are different, I'll tell you what we did. We are also very active travelers.

Costa Maya--Mayan ruin tour through ship 1/2 day. Loved it. Planned on shopping/eating/drinking around this small port, but storm rolled in so we headed to ship, had lunch, quick shower cleared the deck chairs around the pool, so we got primo poolside afternoon

Cozumel--our FAV port. Went to Carlos & Charlies--crazy bar even at 10AM! I shopped a bit, then we headed to Paradise Beach, which we wish we had just spent the whole day. Water activities, massages, henna, great food, Sol beer. This port was entirely on our own.

Jamaica--DH golfed at Sandals (OK--compared to "worst" course he has golfed in LV), and I climbed Dunn's River Falls. I'm really glad I did this, but have no desire to go back to Jamaica.

We are taking an Eastern Caribbean on Disney in Dec. w/ kids. St. Maarten I think DH will golf and I will shop w/ girls (dh's whole family is going) while kids stay on ship (kid's idea!). Think we'll hit the beach w/ kids at St. Thomas for half a day, then take them back to ship and dh and I hit casinos there--since there is no casino on Disney.

Happy cruising! MX Riviera is our next destination...

Kristin

[KKB]

Jamaica was ship excursions. DH feels that is what he will do for golf in St. Maarten, too. I was concerned about safety in Jamaica, especially since I would be alone, so ship excursion made most sense there, too.

Have a wonderful time--you sound like us--every Vegas trip has been a blast, from our first one at the Sahara (whole trip was $500!!!! But NEVER try the Circus Circus buffet again!) to our last trip at our fav hotel, the Mirage. Bally's is where we often stay since they generally have good rates, and decent location. But we prefer Mirage, especially its location. Always looking for a good deal there! Cripes, I don't think we can get flight or hotel individually for $500 today! (Much less our spending $....!)

Have a great cruise!

Kristin

[serene56]

Wow-- How kewl is that that you found cruise critic from a las vegas message board. I wonder if it was me who told you about this site.

 

I have been a member of that web site for a little less then a year.

 

There is tons of information here...now allyou have to do is sort it out.

Visit the NCL cruise board where you can learn the ins and outs of your ship.

 

then visit the port of calls baord so you can see what kind of excursions there are to do in all your ports.

[celbercrz333]

Each cruise line has their own website and each cruise line has their own shore excursions for each port. Check into the site and the excursion for the trip you want to take. Many times it is more convenient to do a shore excursion through your cruise line. Sometimes it's better to do it on your own. We wanted to do golf in Bermuda and was told all the way up until we boarded our ship that there was no longer a golf specialist on board. What we found was they hired one and he was on board. We made tee times directly by e-mail with the golf course and we found that our cruise-golf specialist decided to do that course, we just adjusted everything and did it through him. We paid at the course and it all worked out ok. Depending on what you want to see/do then you will know which road to travel. Just do your homework before you go and you should be ok. And the cruise---I think you will say you loved it once you get back. The only thing that could turn you against it would be if you have rough weather. Good luck on that. We had a tropical storm on our first night of our first cruise with (we're told) 12 foot swells. We still love cruising.

[catmand]

A very, very popular excursion with a lot of us is a horseback ride and beach lunch with Randi's Happy Horses in Mazatlan. I have a few pictures of the ride in my Celebrity Mercury album, to view you would need to click on webshot link in my signature. As others have said, check out the port of call boards.

[BoscoBreaux]

 

 

What I'm most concerned about is the on-shore activities in the ports of call. Suzi and I are both 33 and fairly active, so spending an entire day (or even more than an hour or so) shopping is out of the question. I have heard that some of the excursions planned by the cruise line can be spendy, and that you are often better planning your own activities in advance. Here are some things that we'd love to experience at some point on our trip--maybe you can suggest 1) which town to do it in 2) which company to go through. Again, ANY comments are welcome.

 

 

Chris

I'm a fan of booking through the cruise line. Vacations aren't supposed to be taxing, and finding a company, checking its reliability, finding out how to get there, what time they live, get back, whether to tip, etc. is a lot of work to save $10. To me, it is a "peace of mind" investment, only further enhanced by the fact if the shore excursion is a bust (like the bus getting a flat tire in the middle of a Mexican jungle), they will hold the ship for you. Certainly, you can save money by booking yourself directly, but you should also consider the risks.