Help with cruise picking!

[starfox]

Hello all! I am trying to plan a cruise trip with my bf who has never cruised before and has never been to the cruise locales in general and I am trying to get some input on what would be "best" for him.

 

I am not a first time cruiser myself, I just returned from a Scandinavia/Russia cruise aboard the Regal Princess a month ago (GREAT TRIP!!). I have also been on an Alaska Princess cruise and have been on a Mexican Riviera, Bahamas, and Caribbean on Carnival but these were 10+ years ago when I was a child and I'm not sure how relevant that experience is to how the ships are nowadays.

 

We are in our mid-20s. We do not like to party too much, I would prefer a less rowdy crowd and also less children running amok. He prefers relaxing activities while in port and I prefer scenic "adventures" (hiking, more active things, etc). He is of course willing to do whatever I plan :D but an itinerary with a good mix would be nice. We are not big on shopping and doing a lot of souvenir shopping while in port though I will pick up a trinket here and there. Budget-wise, we would prefer to spend $550~ or less on the base fare (not including gratuity, tax/fees, airfare, excursions, etc.). We will be booking an interior cabin since I think we will pretty much only be in there to sleep and maybe watch some TV. I enjoy watching the shows and the ship's trivia events and whatnot. I think he will be fine with just a casino. I have not been on a RCI cruise before, are the extra perks/activities worth it? I prefer to DIY most ports and book with private companies for excursions (perused this forum for WEEKS planning for Scandinavia cruise).

 

I would really prefer to leave from California so as to save on airfare, but that seems to really limit where we can go. If we were to fly somewhere, which area seems to cost least to fly to from the west coast? Quick searches seems to show me that flying to Texas is generally cheaper than Florida? I would rather spend money towards a more expensive cruise than on a flight so as to feel like I'm getting more bang for my buck lol

 

I have pretty much decided that the 3-4 day cruises are off the table. Seems pointless to travel to Catalina Island and Baja CA when I am from the area and I am not too keen on just going to Nassau (which I read is the east coast equivalent of Catalina/Ensenada).

 

I have somewhat narrowed down my options to 7-day Mexican Riviera (for convenience mostly), 7 day Western Caribbean (Mayan Ruins? Are there any other itineraries that have this?), and Alaska (So pretty! but so much more pricey! Northern lights possibility?). Anything special about the other Caribbean cruises? Western in particular appealed to me because of the ruins.

 

In terms of cruise lines, is there much difference between Carnival and Princess on the 7-day cruises? I would really prefer a more subdued crowd but am flexible depending on prices. I prefer a more classy look/feel overall, I have read the Carnival ships are a bit gaudy and over-glitzed out? I have never cruised on any other lines (RCI, NCL, Celebrity) and don't know much about them except what I have picked up here and there on the boards. I really enjoyed my last Princess cruise even though the crowd was in general much older than me :P but it was a very port intensive trip so not sure much how much difference that made.. I, of course, enjoyed Carnival as a kid but am very wary of it now. Bf does not seem to have a good opinion on cruises but he can't explain why haha maybe he is imagining a small boat?? I am obviously a huge fan of cruises and would like to "show him the light" :D

 

I am aiming to cruise in Feb 2016 for my birthday, but very flexible with any month after that in 2016.

 

I know what's "best" is different for everyone, but I would appreciate any advice/suggestions/info/your experiences you could provide. Perhaps people who were making similar decisions, what made you choose what you did? In the meantime, I'll be spending even more time info searching on the boards!

 

Random questions about Alaska: Generally, what is an ideal price? May and Sept are the cheapest times to go?

Edited August 11, 2015 by starfox

[cb at sea]

It sounds like you might prefer Princess...but even on a Carnival ship, you do NOT have to participate in any activity that you don't want to! That's the beauty of cruising...there is never a reason to be subjected to any "party atmosphere" unless you want to be part of it!

Carnival isn't the "party ship" it used to be!

 

For Alaska, you'll be on smaller ships, so they won't have all the "bells and whistles" that the new, behemoth ship have.

 

I think you should talk to a local travel agent...get brochures, prices and schedules...THEN decide!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

You really do need to see a travel agent and pick up some brochures.

There are some Mexican cruises that sail out of CA.

HAL is a wonderful destination.

[Roz]

Do you have enough time to take a cruise to Hawaii from the West Coast?

 

Roz

[NMLady]

Planning just $550 each for the basic fare before fees, gratuity etc is not going to allow for many days, even in an inside cabin, especially with the port limitations you've given. Look at cruises out of CA harbors to get an idea of costs.

[JimAOk1945]

If you can afford to fly to Texas, I suggest you look at a cruise round trip from Galveston aboard Royal Caribbean. We have done a few Western Caribbean cruises to see Mayan Ruins and have been very happy with our experiences. Although we have cruised on Carnival, we prefer Royal Caribbean. It's a better fit for us since we are enjoy a quieter atmosphere and good service.

 

Take a look at the Royal Caribbean website to get an idea of the time frame and prices available. Going in the off-season when kids are still in school, will give you lower prices and well as a quieter on-board experience.

 

Seeing pictures might help you make a decision. Take a look at the links below to my wife's website. You will see several Western Caribbean cruises listed there. She takes pictures on our cruises and other vacations, then makes the pictures into slide shows for her website.

 

Happy cruising!

Edited August 11, 2015 by JimAOk1945

[starfox]

Thanks everyone! Keep those opinions coming! I'll be reaching out to some travel agents in my area along with doing more price and itinerary comparisons online. I did not realize travel agents were still a thing nowadays hah!

 

Do you have enough time to take a cruise to Hawaii from the West Coast?

 

Roz

 

We just took a trip to Maui last year so I'm trying to pick a place he's never been!

[MCC retired]

Thanks everyone! Keep those opinions coming! I'll be reaching out to some travel agents in my area along with doing more price and itinerary comparisons online. I did not realize travel agents were still a thing nowadays hah!

 

 

 

Per CLIA , 65 percent of all cruises are booked using TA's :-) .

Just remember that all TA's are not Cruise Specialist's .

Interview that TA before ever booking .

[t_car]

Check out a 7 day Southern Caribbean Cruise out of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Early fall usually has the best deals. Love the southern islands, and the great weather.

Oops, forgot, you already have the great weather in the Bay area. :D

Both Carnival and RCI have 7 day cruises from San Juan. Just be careful of what ship each cruise is using at the time.

Carnival is taking the Liberty out of there and replacing it with the Fascination. Silly move in my opinion. It will not be able to compete with the much larger and better equipped RCI ships.

 

If you are looking for a port intensive cruise, this is one of your best options.

[starfox]

Per CLIA , 65 percent of all cruises are booked using TA's :-) .

Just remember that all TA's are not Cruise Specialist's .

Interview that TA before ever booking .

 

Are there certain questions I should be asking or any red flags I should be looking out for? Many of the ones I am contacting now say they are specialized with the different cruise lines but I'm not sure how reliable that is in terms of how savvy they are with cruises.

[Host Walt]

Are there certain questions I should be asking or any red flags I should be looking out for? Many of the ones I am contacting now say they are specialized with the different cruise lines but I'm not sure how reliable that is in terms of how savvy they are with cruises.

You might want to check out this article:

 

Finding a Cruise Travel Agent

[Keith1010]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

I would highly recommend seeking out a travel agent who specializes in Cruising to help guide you through all of this.

 

Keith

[tpadul]

Starfox,

 

I would definitely suggest a Royal Caribbean Cruise. My wife and I took our honeymoon on Royal Caribbean to the Southern Caribbean out of San Juan, Puerto Rico on the Jewel of the Seas in November 2014. Our cruise was a 7 night cruise and very port intensive with only 1 day of sailing. We wanted a port intensive cruise because honestly we didn't think we would care too much about actually being on the ship as we are more the resort type of travelers and we like to explore the towns and areas that we are visiting, so all the fancy stuff and activities on the ship really were not a draw to us, we don't like gambling and we don't care for the nightclub scene at all. We are the quiet type and are not into partying at all. This was my wife's first ever cruise and technically my 3rd cruise but I had taken Carnival cruises over 25 years ago and they were only 4 day cruises so I had not cruised in over 25 years before this most recent one in November.

 

I want to say that we had an absolutely AMAZING time on our cruise!!! And we did not feel the ship was too big and crowded at all. We had so many places on the ship that we were able to go to and be alone without having a bunch of people around us. We were simply amazed at a ship with about 3,000 people on it still had plenty of spaces to have some quite romantic alone time on deck at night. We loved loved the cruise and felt that we were treated like royalty on this cruise.

 

The food was outstanding and the service was just as outstanding. We are still blown over by the service we received on that cruise. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful and bent over backwards to do whatever they needed to help us out.

 

We enjoyed the port intenstive cruise as we really didn't do much on the ship at all in the evenings except go to dinner and then sit out on the deck at night and just enjoy the breeze and the sights as we were pulling out of port. We spent maybe 2 hours total in the Casino and it was just ok until all the smokers started coming in, we went very early right when the Casino opened up for the evening after it left port.

 

I think you definitely need to do at least a 7 night cruise and going in February when the kids are in school would be a good idea if you don't want to be surrounded by a lot of kids, but honestly we went in November the first week and while there were kids on the ship, there were not that many of them and we stayed away from the pool where the kids would have been.

 

I am not sure if Carnival would be a good choice if you want something more quiet and subdued. My daughter who is 18 just got back this past week from a 7 night Royal Caribbean cruise out of San Juan, basically the same cruise my wife and I took last November and she did a Carnival cruise last summer out of Florida to the Caribbean and she said that Carnival was definitely more of a party ship and the vibe on Carnival was very different from Royal Caribbean, she said Royal Caribbean was more subdued and quieter than the Carnival cruise, they saw lots of loud groups of people partying pretty much all night long on the Carnival cruise well until 3-4 am most nights. That's all coming directly from her as I have not been on a Carnival ship in about 25 years.

 

I have heard good things about Princess and Celebrity cruises as well, and Holland America. I think if you want something without too many kids and a quieter type of cruise going during the times you mentioned would be a good idea since most kids would still be in school.

[MCC retired]

Are there certain questions I should be asking or any red flags I should be looking out for? Many of the ones I am contacting now say they are specialized with the different cruise lines but I'm not sure how reliable that is in terms of how savvy they are with cruises.

 

Ask the TA if they have any CLIA Training and are ceritified ACC , MCC ect.

Ask the TA if they have been aboard the ship that they recommend.

Ask the TA how long they have been in the business and how many cruises they have sailed.

Ask the TA if they have any fee's for booking ,canceling & changes .

Don't be turned off if the TA works from home . Many of the most knowledgeable Cruise Specialist that I have encountered , work from home for

a large agency that books mostly cruises.

[Hawaiifrank]

I second (or maybe 3rd) the suggestion to take a look at the cruises from PR. I enjoyed the 2 cruises to the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) that we sailed on from there. You can hit those southern islands on a 7-day cruise because you save hundreds of miles by leaving from PR.

 

Since you'll need to fly somewhere anyway, it might be only slightly more to fly to San Juan, PR. Besides, PR is lots better than flying into Houston or NOLA. I've also found the prices to be better from PR than mainland ports.

 

It's easy to check by doing trial bookings on the different corporprate websites.

[Californiacruizers]

I would suggest a Norwegian Cruise. My kids and I sailed on the Norwegian Sky last April. The overall vibe was very relaxing, there were great activities and a host of entertainment options, however it was very quiet and calm. Unlike Carnival this was not a "Booze Cruise". If fact my children and I would have an entire deck to ourselves upon which we would watch the Sunset each day. There were children on aboard, but they were never running wild. The food was great, you had the option of anytime dining, and you did not have to dress up unless you wanted to.

 

We are from Los Angeles, we flew into Fort Lauderdale, FL and then hired a car service to take us to the Port in Miami. This was much cheaper than flying from LAX to Miami.

 

Personally, I do not think the cruises from Los Angeles to Mexico are worth the price, since you can drive to Mexico in a few hours not to mention most cruises to Mexico from Cali, only go to Ensenada which is not a Beach, rather picture the Port of Long Beach, CA very commercial.

 

We are going to cruise Princess in March 2016. I hear its the same as mentioned above.

[duncan449]

I'm 30 and husband is 34,we've been on 6 cruises, with our 7th planned for December. I don't have any experience with Princess, but I like Carnival and Royal Caribbean equally... each for different reasons. Carnival is almost always cheaper though.

 

We usually cruise during Christmas and the ship is always full of kids, but for the most part they are so busy playing in the kids areas or in the pools that you don't see too much of them. The cruise lines have created some good kids programs to keep them busy, so those of us that don't have kids can still enjoy our trip. That was one of my biggest concerns about cruising, but if they don't bother us during holiday cruises, you should be golden in February.

 

As for price, your never going to get an Alaska cruise in that budget. We just did it in June and an interior cabin for my husband and I was around $2000 on RC.

 

If you fly anywhere, I'd say FL. You have WAY more itinerary choices there, and generally these cruises stop at more ports. You can usually get at least 4 ports in a 7 day cruise, vs out of Galveston your only getting 3 and always 2 sea days in a row. It may be about the same distance to fly to PR as it is to FL.

 

I plan on cruising from PR at some point so we can go further south in the islands, but this year we are actually going out of Galveston (we live here), mostly because of $ since we just spent quite a bit in Alaska.

 

If you decide on Galveston, I've done the Western - Belize is really nice, Honduras is okay if you pick the right excursion, and Cozumel is not my favorite place but if your planing on the ruins then it will take your entire day and you won't have to worry about the port/city area. Costa Maya is nice to.

We are doing the Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel itinerary in December.

 

I prefer Eastern/Bahamas/southern Caribbean over western. I just don't get the cruise feel from Mexico... it seems too close to home and not exotic.

[Californiacruizers]

Which excursion do you recommend for Honduras? My children and I are going in March 2016.