The family has decided on a cruise.

No idea on a destination or length as of yet, still gathering information.

Where have you guys went? How long? What Ship?

Where did you go to order?

If your going on a cruise that will have nice scenery (most), a cabin with a deck is WELL worth the money, IMO.

5 to 7 nights would be preferred. If you are flying to debarkation don't do Bahamas, they suck. However, if you are driving it might be worth it to not have to fly.
Cruisecritic.com is a wealth of information. Never pay the cruise line for excursions. Cheaper and better can be found online. The eastern Caribbean (Aruba, Barbados, St. Thomas, etc) are what I would recommend as far as locales.

To Laley's point, a balcony is nice, but if I remember it is pretty expensive and we never were in our rooms. It depends on your age and what you plan on doing whole on the ship, imo. We were only in out rooms to sleep. If we wanted to read we would find a deck somewhere, either in the sun or covered.

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I've been on many cruises(not including the permenant 4 year cruise) but my favorite islands are Turks & Caicos and St Thomas. Which were both on the same cruise. Bahamas to me sucked. Dirty and the people selling stuff wouldn't leave you alone while trying to relax on the beach.

We have went on one. It was a Carnival cruise that stopped at Cozumel, Grand Caymen, and another port I forget. The cruise was great. I would send my wife to the pool while I would hangout at the casino. The ports were great we did ATVing, Swim with the Dolphins and stingray City. Both were really fun if you go to Grand Caymen I highly recommend Stingray City. The food with Carnival was pretty good and dinners were great. You can also bring 2 bottles of wine a person. If you book a cheaper room try a porthole room that has a window. We had family stay in there and it wasn't bad and they payed a lot less then we did.

Also a cruise is a great way to visit some of the places like the Grand Caymen Island or Turks because those places have really expensive food if you were to stay there for a week.

Cruises are a favorite of ours...we take one every other year. It's difficult for me to get away for longer than 5 days, so we have been about everywhere you can go for 5 days or less. We did Turks and Caicos this past February on Princess. Mrs.Hits and I have had inside cabins, but I don't recommend them unless you are on a tight budget, or short cruise (3-4 days). Ocean view is okay, but we've graduated to having a balcony. A balcony is a MUST if you go to Alaska...that is on our bucket list, but we have heard that numerous places and from many sources.

My suggestion would be to have a travel agent assist you in your first one. If you are an AAA member you can use their services at no charges. They can easily arrange transfers to the ship and back to the airport.

If you have specific questions about itineraries, post it, 'cause there is a lot to talk about.

As far as cruise lines...

Carnival is a party boat....geared toward singles and young adults without kids. With kids it's still okay.

Royal Carribbean ...geared toward families. Probably my favorite cruises were on RC

Norwegian and Celebrity....kind of in between Carnival and RC.....Norwegian is a little better appointed. (nicer, newer ships)

Princess ....a little more sedate but still a lot of fun things to do. Our latest cruise, and our first on Princess...was a little disappointed (expected more) but I can't put my finger on why.
I think we just expected Princess to be of higher quality than the others.

Holland America...geared towards seniors, quiet, elegant.

HitsRus;1719140 wrote:
Holland America...geared towards seniors, quiet, elegant.

Thanks for the tip!

I have cruised twice with Carnival and had a blast both times.

The first time was a four day cruise to Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas. We actually didn't get to dock in Freeport because of weather, but I really had no issue with an extra day at sea. They are fun. We were on Carnival Ecstasy, and I really enjoyed the ship. The staff and entertainers were great.

The second time was a 7 day cruise to Cozumel, Belize, Roatan and Grand Cayman. We were on Carnival Legend. I didn't like the ship as much as the Ecstasy, but I did enjoy the longer cruise, plus we had a balcony room which was awesome. The ports were definitely better, and we booked our excursions through outside parties instead of the cruise line.

^^^what "outside parties"?

HitsRus;1719212 wrote:^^^what "outside parties"?

Companies who do excursions that you do not have to book through the cruise line. You can find them online, through a travel agent, or even the day of when you get off the ship at the port of call. My friends booked a Stingray City excursion through their travel agent ahead of time, and I decided the morning of that I wanted to tag along. I got off the ship with them and paid the gentleman who was picking them up and off we went.

SS Minnow.

They specialize in a 3 hour tour that seems much, much longer...

^^^LOL....you just like Ginger.

Companies who do excursions that you do not have to book through the cruise line. You can find them online, through a travel agent, or even the day of when you get off the ship at the port of call. My friends booked a Stingray City excursion through their travel agent ahead of time, and I decided the morning of that I wanted to tag along. I got off the ship with them and paid the gentleman who was picking them up and off we went.

We've always booked thru the cruise line and never had a bad experience, although I suppose other agents could be good. I don't think I'd recommend booking your excursion AFTER you get off the ship in port. I'd want to be sure the person/excursion is reputable. It gets pretty seedy in some of those ports. I wouldn't be too worried in Grand Cayman, but I sure wouldn't do that in Jamaica.

We did a cruise last year on Celebrity Cruise line. Sailed from Puerto Rico to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas. I really liked the fact that we only had 1 day at sea and were at a different port each morning. Gave us a chance to get off the boat and see some stuff around each island and then come back in and eat like crazy.

One tip, our travel agent told us that if we were going to buy a drink package, we had to get one for both me and my wife instead of just getting one drink package. So we didn't do anything before hand. When we first got on the boat, they had people stationed all around trying to get you to sign up for all of the extras. I went up to the dude at the bar and signed up for a drink package for myself. Then, I would get two beers/drinks at a time and give one to my wife. Ended up saving a ton of money.

HitsRus;1719297 wrote:We've always booked thru the cruise line and never had a bad experience, although I suppose other agents could be good.

The main reason I wouldn't do it, is that it is a ripoff.