Confused want-to-be first time cruiser

[Judy24]

I love the name, MissingTurtles.   This is my very first cruise, taking it in 2 days.   November 24th./18.   I, as well, travel a lot with my daughter and friend, but first time cruising.  I will give you an honest review when I return, Dec 2nd if you would like.....  Judy24

[Jonslola]

The exchange I had with my travel agent regarding my very first cruise a few years ago:

 

Me: I found a great deal on a cruise!

Agent: That IS a great deal! Oh, it's on the Dawn, I don't like that ship.

Me: We've never been on a cruise, we have nothing to compare it to.

Agent: Oh well then, you will have a great time!

 

We had a FABULOUS time and decided to cruise as often as possible. Why? Sun, sand, waves, unlimited Mojitos, no cooking, no driving, no cleaning. I'm sure whatever ship or cruise line you choose, you will have an amazing time! 

 

 

[wonderland1]

On 11/21/2018 at 11:01 PM, SRF said:

I always like reading the bad reviews.  But find most of them are actually about minor things that people got worked up over.

 

And things DO go wrong.  It is unfortunate, but with over 16 million people cruising every year, some will have not so great experiences.

 

But I do find many of the bad reviews are due to the reviewer having unreasonable expectations.  There is a thread here on CC about a Facebook post about a "horrible experience" with a cruise.  It seems the writer returned to the ship over an hour after sail away time, and the ship had left.  And how the cruise line was at fault.  REALLY??
 

Or I have seen bad reviews of restaurants, that the reviewer admits they never ate all.  They either could not get reservations, or showed up without reservations on a busy night.  How DARE the restaurant not seat them no matter what.

 

But I do look at the ratio.  If 90+% are average or higher.  Or a large percentage are above average or higher, this is good.

Agree with this. There will always be a bad reviews but I also rate the reviews which is higher percentage the bad, minors, and/or good reviews. Anyways, it is still up to us to enjoy the cruise no matter what happen. 

[Freshycat]

22 hours ago, Jonslola said:

The exchange I had with my travel agent regarding my very first cruise a few years ago:

 

Me: I found a great deal on a cruise!

Agent: That IS a great deal! Oh, it's on the Dawn, I don't like that ship.

Me: We've never been on a cruise, we have nothing to compare it to.

Agent: Oh well then, you will have a great time!

 

We had a FABULOUS time and decided to cruise as often as possible. Why? Sun, sand, waves, unlimited Mojitos, no cooking, no driving, no cleaning. I'm sure whatever ship or cruise line you choose, you will have an amazing time! 

 

 

 

Haha, I love the sound of your travel agent. 

[lauren009]

Every cruise is what you make of it. Pick a cruise that is a good price, based on where you want to leave from (take cost of flights into consideration), for the duration you wany and that has an itinerary that sounds interesting to you. Worry less about the ship and the cruise line. After your first cruise you will have learned so much that you can start picking and choosing more deliberately.

[Flatbush Flyer]

6 hours ago, laurenofalltrades said:

Every cruise is what you make of it. Pick a cruise that is a good price, based on where you want to leave from (take cost of flights into consideration), for the duration you wany and that has an itinerary that sounds interesting to you. Worry less about the ship and the cruise line. After your first cruise you will have learned so much that you can start picking and choosing more deliberately.

If the quality of food, accommodations and service in your "home away from home" is important (particularly if you're considering longer cruises), worry most about the ship and cruise line. Antiquities and beaches don't change based on cruise lines but dinner and a good night's sleep does.

IMO, select the cruise lines that meet your travel  quality preferences/expectations and select your closest matches as a short list. Then look at itineraries. 

[Rockette]

On 11/4/2018 at 3:24 PM, MissingTurtle said:

We are a family of experienced travelers, but have never cruised before. We thought that might be a nice family trip in the last 2019 time window. Since then, I've been trying to do research and I have ended up kind of flummoxed by ship reviews. It seems that every ship I look at on the major mainstream cruise lines -- new or old, big or little -- has a reasonable number of reviews that report that the ship is awful in some way.

 

I completely understand experiences can vary and folks are looking for different things on any given cruise. But the breadth of these kinds of feedback leave me really confused. And they seem out of alignment with the Cruise Critic editor's scores. Is this a huge problems in the cruise industry? Unrealistic expectations? Something else?

 

More to the point: I'm not sure what the right path is for a new cruiser. Is it safe to assume a modern ship on a major line will be a decent experience and discount the strongly negative reviews?

 

For what it's worth, we're pretty low maintenance -- we want a clean, comfortable room and to have a nice time, but we don't need anything really fancy. At the same time, it doesn't need to be a super-low rate. We're looking to cruise in the Caribbean somewhere in the week range.

 

Given that you're new, I would probably go with what another poster on here said and go with the Oasis Class Ships from Royal Caribbean:

 

1. Oasis of the Seas

2. Allure of the Seas

3. Harmony of the Seas

4. Symphony of the Seas

 

As far as week long itineraries go, I think they only run 7 day Caribbean Cruises off of various ports from the east coast of Florida. You're in the Midwest, so flying into MCO and looking for any of these ships based out of Port Canaveral might be your best bet.

 

There is just so much to do on these ships it's simply ridiculous. The only reason I haven't been on one in awhile is that they tend to run the same basic eastern/western Caribbean itinerary - and I prefer going somewhere different.

 

Look for a reputable travel agent to search for you! I remember when I started cruising I really didn't want to listen. I'm extremely tech savvy and I just though the idea of "hiring" someone to look for me was simply silly. But the reality of it is that they do save you money, and I've received countless upgrades and on-board credits because of them. 

[Leejanste]

Our first cruise and we looked at a few, in the end we went for Ovation of the seas.

Very simply as it just seem to offer we wanted, like anything when you are doing something for the first time it is stepping into the unknown.

As with any holiday go with an open mind and don’t expect everything to be perfection, usually all works out fine.

if honest my lead upto my first cruise is superb, as i can find so much info out it is unbelievable and people so helpful 

roll on September😊😊

[kimlovesfl]

On 11/15/2018 at 3:34 PM, Betty Gale said:

 

It seems the itinerary is changed and they don't visit Venice now :

CRUISE PORTS Embark Barcelona (Spain); Naples (Italy); Rome (Civitavecchia) (Italy); Florence/Pisa (Livorno) (Italy); Cannes (France); Palma, Majorca (Spain); Disembark Barcelona (Spain)

Do you think that Cannes and Palma are worth to visit taking in consideration it will be my first cruise?

 

Cheers, Liz

We were in Cannes last year, and absolutely LOVED it! It's a very charming little seaside town, and I could actually spend several days there. 

 

For the OP-we've been on 6 cruises, 6 different ships, 2 cruise lines. I've read bad reviews of EVERY ship I've sailed on, before I sailed that ship. We have loved EVERY ship. They all have pros and cons. Some people are just whiners. Some people hate change, so when we sailed the Royal Princess, I kept hearing how awful the Royal class ships were as compared to other Princess ships. We really enjoyed the Royal and Regal. Our first cruise was on the Celebrity Constellation. "Oh, it's old and worn looking" I kept reading. We loved it so much that we were hooked on cruising from the time we boarded. 

 

I did all my research myself, even for my first cruise, and I've never used a TA, although I would consider it in the future. Figure out what you budget is, where you want to go and when, and look at which ships offer what you want, and choose from there. For families with small children, I would not recommend Princess or Celebrity. They aren't very family oriented. RCI, Disney, NCL, Carnival, seem to have loads and loads of activities for kids. 

[KKB]

The beauty of a cruise is that you can do EVERYTHING...or NOTHING.

We took our first cruise 14 years ago (I think!!). DH was NOT convinced (my parent said we would love it). Once we got on, walked around, he said--"Oh, it's just Vegas on a ship!"--meaning, shows, nice meals, pool, gambling. Yeah, and we get to stop at the beach several times!!!!

WE have not been disappointed by a single Caribbean cruise--we have done DCL, RCCL, Princess & Celebrity.

Our very favorite cruise ever was on the megaship Allure of the seas--with that many passengers there is just SO SO much to do! But over the years we have learned to appreciate relaxing more, but still enjoy many activities.

You haven't mentioned the ages of your traveling party, so I will advise:

RCCL really hits it for all ages, imo. Our kids loved it as upper elementary & middle schoolers; Allure was our fav cruise ever & we are dying to share it with them. But Anthem came up the right price--so that is what we are sharing with our young adult children this New Years. 

I would tend to agree overall that Princess & Celebrity are more adult centered, though we have taken our children on both.

Carnival & NCL are a small step below these (per DS who has cruised NCL & numerous relatives who have done Carnival). Still a cruise, so a good time, but a tick below.

DCL is great; but MIL paid--their price point is just nuts, imo. Other lines are almost as nice for MUCH cheaper.

Holland...well, I know only 2 couples who have cruised them & they are quite a bit older than us (we are 50s...)....take that with a grain of salt...

MSC...my relatives who have cruised Carnival (happily, but call it the Super 8 of cruising) also dis MSC & HATED it. VERY European in service...

[Elaine5715]

On 11/4/2018 at 3:24 PM, MissingTurtle said:

We are a family of experienced travelers, but have never cruised before. We thought that might be a nice family trip in the last 2019 time window. Since then, I've been trying to do research and I have ended up kind of flummoxed by ship reviews. It seems that every ship I look at on the major mainstream cruise lines -- new or old, big or little -- has a reasonable number of reviews that report that the ship is awful in some way.

 

I completely understand experiences can vary and folks are looking for different things on any given cruise. But the breadth of these kinds of feedback leave me really confused. And they seem out of alignment with the Cruise Critic editor's scores. Is this a huge problems in the cruise industry? Unrealistic expectations? Something else?

 

More to the point: I'm not sure what the right path is for a new cruiser. Is it safe to assume a modern ship on a major line will be a decent experience and discount the strongly negative reviews?

 

For what it's worth, we're pretty low maintenance -- we want a clean, comfortable room and to have a nice time, but we don't need anything really fancy. At the same time, it doesn't need to be a super-low rate. We're looking to cruise in the Caribbean somewhere in the week range.

Check out this book... Berlitz Cruising and Cruise Ships 2019   It breaks down every cruise line and every ship by every angle without bias. You can decide what amenities are important and at what price.  

[LuckyStar]

On 11/4/2018 at 1:24 PM, MissingTurtle said:

We are a family of experienced travelers, but have never cruised before. We thought that might be a nice family trip in the last 2019 time window. Since then, I've been trying to do research and I have ended up kind of flummoxed by ship reviews. It seems that every ship I look at on the major mainstream cruise lines -- new or old, big or little -- has a reasonable number of reviews that report that the ship is awful in some way.

 

I completely understand experiences can vary and folks are looking for different things on any given cruise. But the breadth of these kinds of feedback leave me really confused. And they seem out of alignment with the Cruise Critic editor's scores. Is this a huge problems in the cruise industry? Unrealistic expectations? Something else?

 

More to the point: I'm not sure what the right path is for a new cruiser. Is it safe to assume a modern ship on a major line will be a decent experience and discount the strongly negative reviews?

 

For what it's worth, we're pretty low maintenance -- we want a clean, comfortable room and to have a nice time, but we don't need anything really fancy. At the same time, it doesn't need to be a super-low rate. We're looking to cruise in the Caribbean somewhere in the week range.

 

When I cruised for the first time, I chose an older ship, the Carnival Ecstasy was my first ship.  It was a cheap 5 day cruise.  I wasn't sure if I would be seasick or if I would even enjoy the experience.  We do a lot of land trips so I wasn't sure I would deal well with the down time.  

 

I'm glad I did.  It was a smaller ship so I wasn't overwhelmed by the sheer number of things to do and places to visit.  We chose good ports and decided to do the ship excursions as we were nervous about choosing vendors who would get us back to the ship in time.  In hindsight, we overthought this.  Vendors make their livelihood off cruise ships, they aren't going to risk getting people back to the ship late.  Stuff does happen but not often. That's just my humble opinion. 

[Essiesmom]

On 12/24/2018 at 6:28 PM, Elaine5715 said:

Check out this book... Berlitz Cruising and Cruise Ships 2019   It breaks down every cruise line and every ship by every angle without bias. You can decide what amenities are important and at what price.  

 

I used to buy this book every year, and read it all.  But then I realized that there is a lot of dated info in it...He doesn't cruise all those ships...There is a lot of 'copy & paste' of outdated information.  And as for 'no bias':  He really is biased for the luxury segment and he reviews there may be more up to date.  EM

[Elaine5715]

5 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

 

I used to buy this book every year, and read it all.  But then I realized that there is a lot of dated info in it...He doesn't cruise all those ships...There is a lot of 'copy & paste' of outdated information.  And as for 'no bias':  He really is biased for the luxury segment and he reviews there may be more up to date.  EM

Do you have a better option?

[Essiesmom]

Unfortunately no.  I don't think it is possible to write a totally unbiased and accurate book.  Noone could sail every ship every year, or even every cruise line.  And if you have a preference for luxury, you can't objectively rate a mass market cruise line/ship.  If you rely on others to work with you, they come with their own preferences/prejudices.  Send two people on the same ship and they will see it differently.  Just reference the turmoil that is going on over on the Celebrity board about the new ship Edge.  There used to be a very similar book that also came out every year, but I can't find reference to it on Amazon.  EM

Edited December 27, 2018 by Essiesmom

[Elaine5715]

48 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Unfortunately no.  I don't think it is possible to write a totally unbiased and accurate book.  Noone could sail every ship every year, or even every cruise line.  And if you have a preference for luxury, you can't objectively rate a mass market cruise line/ship.  If you rely on others to work with you, they come with their own preferences/prejudices.  Send two people on the same ship and they will see it differently.  Just reference the turmoil that is going on over on the Celebrity board about the new ship Edge.  There used to be a very similar book that also came out every year, but I can't find reference to it on Amazon.  EM

Most of the data in the book is just data...  cabin size, amenities those two factors are significant.

[SRF]

On 12/26/2018 at 8:53 PM, Elaine5715 said:

Do you have a better option?

 

Maybe Cruise Critic??????  

 

😄

 

 

[Elaine5715]

7 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Maybe Cruise Critic??????  

 

😄

 

 

My SIL would be a better source of information and she thinks butterflies are spirits of dead people.  

[SRF]

So you hang out here, and post a reasonable amount, but do not find it a good source of information??????

 

REALLY????

 

Yes, there is chaff mixed in with the wheat, but some good info available.