TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only
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I have been on more than 20 cruises with several different cruise lines and my advice is select Royal Caribbean or Carnival cruise lines and select a cruise to Bermuda, the Caribbean, or the Mexican Riviera.
I have been on Princess, Celebrity, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean ships and can vouch that they are good cruise lines. However, there are some differences.
- Princess, Celebrity and Holland America have great ships are more classy and reserved. They are just a little more upscale and luxurious than the other cruise lines. Passengers tend to be middle aged and up and have cruised multiple times. Holland America has mostly senior citizens cruising on its ships.
-Norwegian cruise line is good, they cater to families and have mostly passengers in the range of age 35-40 and up. Its the line that you want to go on if you want to be informal for pretty much your whole cruise. They have formal nights like other cruise lines but they do not stress dressing up; the call it "dress up if you want to" night.
Carnival is the budget cruise line that generally has the lowest prices. They cater to young people, first time cruiser and families. The best of their ships are their newer ships so do pay attention to when the ship was launched is you find a really cheap cruise.
Royal Caribbean is also a cruise line that caters to young cruiser and families. It has the advantage of having the most on-board activities. Things like ice skating, a roller blade track, mini-golf course, a basketball/tennis court, the rock climbing wall, and on the new Freedom Class ships the surfing simulator, the Flowrider. The RC ships that you should look for cruises on are the RC's Freedom Class and Voyager Class ships. You can look at the features of these ships on these two web links:
Freedom Class:
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/home.do;jsessionid=0000KqpelcIEU2xRpzJPQ-_cP1f:13hldcctq?shipClassCode=FR&br=R
Voyager Class:
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/home.do;jsessionid=0000KqpelcIEU2xRpzJPQ-_cP1f:13hldcctq?shipClassCode=VY&br=R
The hurricane season in the Caribbean is June through the end of October. So if you want a Caribbean cruise with no hurricane worries then go in November or December of next year. That is also a great time to book now and get a great price.
- Western Caribbean cruises typically go to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and a private cruise line island. These cruises provide for great beach and water activities, plus the opportunity to visit Mayan ruins.
-Eastern Caribbean typically go to St Thomas, St Maarten, a private cruise line island and maybe another island like Tortola or Puerto Rico. If you want to do a lot of shopping then pick a cruise with St Thomas as one of the port stops. St Maarten is also mainly a beach and shopping stop.
- Southern Caribbean cruise itineraries typically start in Puerto Rico and go either to Aruba, Curacao, and St Thomas and St Maarten, OR they go to the southern Caribbean islands like Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, St Lucia and maybe St Thomas and/or St Maarten. The main difference between these two itineraries, aside from the different islands, is the Aruba cruise has 2 "at sea" days with no port stops, while the other has a port stop about each day. |
mooby67
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Many cruise lines offer 1 or 2 day cruises in the spring and fall when they are repositioning ships. They are usually short cruises between ports that are less than 200 miles from each other. They're very reasonably priced and give you a good feel for cruise travel. Since they stay close to shore, you get minimal rocking motion if you're worried about getting seasick.
Another good first timer cruise is the NCL Hawaiian cruises. You're at a port every day, so you don't have days at sea, which can sometimes be a little boring, especially if it's too cold and windy to enjoy the outside decks. Again, the Hawaiian cruises stay close to the island which minimizes the ocean motion for those prone to seasickness.
As far as cruise lines go, NCL is very family friendly, with activities for all age groups. Also, their freestyle cruising concept is my favorite. They have several choices of restaurants onboard that offer a large variety of cuisines, so you're not limited to what's being served in the main dining room.
Another word of advice, if you can afford it, don't settle for an inside room. At least go with the balcony room. |
Travel 4 life
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I would highly recommend taking a caribbean cruise especially on Royal Caribbean. They have lots of cool things like a rock wall, specialty ice cream places like ben and Jerry's, awsome kids and teen programs, and depending on the ship some might have a Bungee Jump trampoline on board! and and ice skating rink, and being able to surf on the ship!. It all depends on the ship. For a starter I might recommend taking a 5 day cruise so you can sample to see if you really like it then go on a week long or more cruise. For the best time to go I am not quite sure because I have only gone on cruises in March but its spring break then and there are lots of kids onboard for break. |
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