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I only know about Carnival, because that's the cruise I was proposed to on. We booked through Orbitz and they gave us money off an excursion, which was nice. What exactly do you mean by "risky"? If you can book one in the off-season it could potentially be much cheaper. FI is the one who did all the cruise stuff for us, and he paid a little more for an oceanview guarantee, but the room we ended up with would've cost a lot more than we paid had we booked it outright. There are also a ton of cruise forums out there, too! Oh and he said you book now, you shouldn't have to worry about doing oceanview guarantee because they have some early savers thing. Again, this is all for Carnival only.
@HappilyEverAfter54: End of June is prime time for lots of children, and the cheapier ones have more children on board anyways.
I sailed Carnival 7 day to Mexico 2 years ago. It was OK. Too many children. We also got very bored they charge for everything, it was MAD. We did find one couple who were just married and were able to hang out with them.
Whatever you choose make sure there are port stops almost everyday... and get a room with a window that opens. We got an indoor cabin and slept in almost everyday, and we were jelous of everyone who ate breakfast on their balcony. I know you may not be able to afford the balcony but its one splurge we wish we did.
Good luck!
@Captain013: I'm not a fan of being closed in... were springing for a balcony =) my only slurge beyond my wedding dress. lol!
@jumpthegun: by risky I meant hurricane the start of hurricane season...
as far as ports go...
these ones look interesting b/c they dock at a port in Bermuda for 3 days straight
these have 3 different ports in the middle of the trip
@HappilyEverAfter54: Good! It will be money well spent. Bring a deck of cards or something you both like to do.
We got kind of bored when we weren't at the ports. We wished we had our friends with us. You may be busy with other activities though.... ;)
@HappilyEverAfter54:Oh ok. Growing up in Florida where hurricane season is half the year, I stopped thinking about them a long time ago. Ships can sail around minor situations and I'm guessing they'd do an emergency re-route if a hurricane sprang up. Like when you're on a plane and there is a storm and they fly around until it's safe to land.
@Captain013: hehe will do... how does the alcohol situation work on board? Buy only... no carry on? Is it super pricey?
Oh and how does food price work? I assume food is not included and probably expensive... how much would a person be comfortable having on hand (in the bank) for a 6 to 8 day cruise?
@jumpthegun: Good I've heard a few horror stories about people on cruises during bad storms... sounds awful. I know they are worse in August and September but I don't know much about anything else lol.
@HappilyEverAfter54: Food is usually included on a cruise. Its actually unlimited, thats why I gained weight on my cruise :) some cruise lines have a fancy restaurant that you have to pay for, but most everything else is included. Not alcohol though :(
We did a 7 day cruise in March on Carnival and loved it. I read probably 1000 reviews before we left and I had no idea what to expect. We stopped at 4 ports which I liked, because the days at sea can get boring. I recomend researching excursions ahead of time, so you dont have to worry about it on vacation. You can usually get a better deal than booking them through the cruise line.
Have you looked into Royal Carribean? I heard that is a little nicer than Carnival.
I would definitely stay away from a disney cruise for your honeymoon, too many kids and families...
I have never been on celebrity but from looking at them when I was on other cruises it seems like an older crowd...
Norwegian was one of my favorites, the ship was older but everyone was friendly and I met a lot of people (that said I was 17... there were quite a few families with teenagers).
Carnival probably would have been my favorite if I had been older (they are known as "party" ships) they tend to get a younger crowd (20's and 30's), I was 16 I believe when I went on this one, so it was a bit boring for me (I didn't drink or "party" really).
I personally love cruises and think they are a lot of fun, but I think for a honeymoon and not a regular vacation you really have to think about what you want in a honeymoon... do you want to be really social and spend a lot of time out at shows and parties and bars socializing with other people or do you want a secluded type where ya'll can have some time alone outside of your room?
I think if you are looking for more social go with carnival or royal carribbean, if you want more seclusion go with celebrity or princess... Maybe even norwegian if you don't mind older ships.
ETA: Get an oceanview room or better... An inside cabin will be dark and it messes with your sleep because you have no natural light (you wont want to get up!!) Even a small ocean view room will be wonderful.
@HappilyEverAfter54: Food is definitely included, usually unlimited as pp has said... But you should look into drink card specials... A lot of times they will have a flat fee (maybe $100) for unlimited "specialty" drinks, some cruise lines only offer them for soda/non alcoholic beverages, but some lines offer them for alcohol which can save a lot of money if ya'll plan on drinking.
I've been on a Disney cruise with my family and definitely avoid it for your honeymoon/during summer months. A LOT of kids.
I've heard good things about NCL and Carnival. We are looking into one on NCL because we like their freestyle dining concept. Also, there will probably be kids on both of those though not to the degree on Disney. To keep that down, I've heard that doing more than 5 or 7 days will help keep that down.
The best tips/research can be found on Cruisecritic.com. I could spend HOURS there researching cruise ships, ports, excursions, on board tips, etc.
Some people dont like Carnival but to me, a vacation is what you make of it. If you go when schools are out then yes there will be a lot more children on it than say NCL or Royal Caribbean. If you can afford it, I would go with Disney cruise line. They are the best of the best and I've heard amazing things about their ships, their entertainment, their food, etc.
From what I've heard, NCL and Celebrity have a slightly older crowd on them. Celebrity is also a higher end cruis line from what I've heard. Carnival is aimed towards a younger crowd (20's and 30's). Royal Caribbean (which i've been on) is between Carnival and Celebrity. I didn't find a lot of kids on our cruise and it was in August. The kids that we saw were well behaved.
And like others said, splurge on the balcony, we are doing that for our honeymoon next year. We think that it will be nice to enjoy breakfast on the balcony. We are going to the Caribbean for 2 weeks at the end of July/beginning of August.
You should visit with a travel agent. We found one who was very patient and helpful...our honeymoon was between Christmas and New Years and she tried to find us the best value. You might think booking through a travel agent is more expensive but I don't think that's always the case.
Celebrity is an amazing cruise line with great options. We loved the freestyle dining option that allowed us to walk in whenever we wanted and be seated together at a 2 top instead of 6:30pm every single night and sitting with 6 other strangers. I'd choose that or NCL over the other two for sure.
Check www.cruisecritic.com for all kinds of feedback/message boards/info. :)
Cunard! They are the best! (No one's mentioned them....yet)
I've been on two cruises and both were with Carnival. I really enjoyed it. We didn't get bored.. but we had a stop like every day except for one... on the day at sea we were actually exhausted, because we did a lot at each of the ports... ATV tours, Segway tours, etc. We also found a lot of stuff to do on board.. it's as fun as you want to make it. My FI has been on 10+ cruises and he says that the Disney cruise was the best he'd been on.
@HappilyEverAfter54: Carnival usually has a soda plan for like 10 dollars a day you get unlimited soda. They do charge per drink everywhere, its about the price of a moderate club, not a dive bar. Expect 6$ a drink.
The allow 1 bottle of alchol per person, anything beyond that they take it away. I have heard of people silling shampoo bottles (cleaned) with booze... :) They WILL go through your bags, if you have anything that looks shady just like an airplane expect you dont see your bags until they arrive at your suite.
Feel free to message me if you have more questions.
One thing to add is take the dining into consideration. IMO the food is one of the best things on cruises (and as someone mentioned it's all-inclusive!). I just love it cause it's always delicious, it's a ton of food (like 5 course meals), and it's fancy (guests dress up and there are usually a couple formal nights). I just think it's cool to be pampered for dinner cause i'm on vacation and it's something different from everyday.
Now of course, I don't know if you'd even like these fancy/elaborate dinners but figured I'd let you know about some differences between cruise lines. I've been on a bunch of cruiselines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Norweigan). All of these cruiselines have the fancy dinners except for Norweigan. Norweigan has the freestyle cruising (i.e. you can do food the way you want meaning do dinner in the fancier restaurants but pay (like $20 pp), or do dinner in the normal dining room, but probably be amongst people in casual clothes - shorts, tanks, etc). Still tasty food wherever you go, but if you like dressing up for dinner, you may feel out of place on Norweigan.
Also, on any cruiseline, you never even have to do dinner in one of the dining rooms..if it's not your thang! :) All cruiselines have buffets usually near the top deck near the pool which you can go to for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
As a travel agent, not soliciting for the job, I will say... Go with NCL or Celebrity. There will be less kids on both, even though it is summer time. Families gravitate to Disney and Carnival, and it can get crazy. June is hurricane season, but not the height of it. I have sailed on NCL 5 times and Celebrity once, had much more fun on NCL. At 44 i felt out of place on Celebrity and that was just in April, sailed for 7 nights on the Solstice for my birthday. I felt like one of the youngest there, and this was the norm for them. However, I wanted to try it for myself.
I'm going on a cruise for my honeymoon in October! We're going with Carnival and it leaves from Baltimore for a 7 night cruise. We live in Baltimore so it's incredibly convenient. It's actually one of the ones you linked to, goes to Florida and Bahamas. I did insist that we have a balcony!
I went on a Royal Carribean cruise out of Baltimore last July and LOVED it! It was a 9 nighter. There weren't a bunch of kids and it wasn't too crowded. I've heard that sometimes it's hard to find deck chairs on Carnival. The exerisions were fun but my favorite was the days at sea. It was really nice not needing to get up at a certain time to make sure we met with our excursion and could lounge on the deck all day. There's always something to do- a show to watch, movies, game shows, bingo, poker. Also, the food is amazing!
I have only been on Carnival and loved my experiences. I know a lot of people want to say that it isn't a good cruiseline, but I think the service has been spectacular, food was excellent and yes, some people annoyed me, but they would annoy me on any of the lines. I think you need to look at what ports you may want to stop at and do research as to what are the costs involved and I am sure you figure out what cruise is right for you.Everyone here will have different views, so it is hard to figure it all out. I personally like days at sea as I find them so relaxing. If you have a lot of ports and you do an excursion at each port, you are going to get very tired. And remember, you don't necessarily have to do an excursion everywhere. Some ports are good at exploring by yourself and that can be cheaper.
Definitely check out cruisecritic.com, I have gotten so much good information from there. And as a pp said, the trip will be what you make it. If you go in thinking it will be fun, it will. try new things, especially with food as most of it is free. I am sure what you pick will be a lot of fun because you and your FI will be able to get away from it all.
We sailed Carnival out of Baltimore and LOVED it! There was plenty of things for adults only and we hardly ever ran into kids. I know someone else that sailed Royal Caribbean and hated it. He said there weren't very many activities...only bingo.
THANKS for all the help bee's really really! I think we've definitely decided this is what we want to do and we'll be doing th 7 day bahama cruise on the carnival pride! My next question is... do I need a passport and shore excursions... worth it or wing it? They have one for Nassau I like (swim with the dolphins) but another I was like WTF? (hang on the beach??? okay they offer toys and lunch... can't we do that ourselves and not spend $280?)
they have so many different excursions out there because some of those boring ones are perfect for the not so adventurous people. I like the beach excursions, but yes, that is an awful lot, is that at the Atlantis resort? I heard that is expensive.
You should look at the excursions offered and check out people's reviews on cruisecritic.com.
Def book some of your excursions before you go on the trip! If you book through the cruiseline they are usually super expensive and you can find a lot of the same things online before you go on vacation. I have been on 7 cruises and had AWESOME shore excursions everytime and NEVER booked through the ship. But be sure you look up reviews before you go and do you research. And YES you NEED A PASSPORT! And be sure to put in your application early so you are sure to get it in time :)
You are required to have a passport if you go on cruises now if I am not mistaken. I know there was some sort of pamphlet I got in the mail from Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise lines about it.
This was one of the articles I found, so maybe not? http://www.cruisecritic.com/blog/index.php/2011/06/10/poll-position-passports-in-paradise/
I love Disney cruise line, yes there is a lot of kids, but they tend to stay in the kid only areas or the family pool. The service, food and entertainment on the ship is amazing, especially if you like Disney. There are a lot of couples and people who travel without kids, they tend to group the people without kids together for the dinner service. I've been on three of there cruises, all without kids and had a great time. Good luck!
I've been on two Carnival cruises, both very enjoyable experiences. Carnival caters towards younger couples, so you'll never be bored. Food is included and basically unlimited, too! I have been informed that you WILL need a passport for all North American travel now, if you're traveling to a country that is not the United States. Luckily, they have made something called a "Passport Card". This card allows you to travel anywhere in North America via land or sea, not by air. These cards cost $45, a fraction of the cost of a regular passport. So if the only international travel you're planning on doing in the near future is this cruise, I'd just go for the passport card http://travel.state.gov/passport/ppt_card/ppt_card_3926.html
I never did shore excursions. They were, IMO, over priced for nothing. I wanted to do the swim with dolphins thing, but at $180 pp, I would have rather taken my chances of stumbling upon a dolphin while swimming in the ocean for free. If you absolutely HAVE to do it, then go for it. But, really consider if you'd rather do without the experience and have the extra money for drinks on the ship, or something else.
Here are some valuable cruising tips:
Soda and alcohol are not included in the cost of your ticket. What we did is put canned sodas and a bottle of liquor in our suitcases. Nobody will check your suitcases once you've given them to the busboys to load onto the ship. This will save you a ton of money if you just have to have soda (they charge about $2.50 per CAN) I would alott a certain portion of your travel budget for alcohol on the ship, though. You're going to want those yummy mixed drinks when you see them being passed around.
When you arrive at the dock, you will place your suitcases on a cart and the busboys will carry them off to be loaded onto the ship. Once you board, it may be 9 or 10 PM before your bags arrive at your room (my first cruise, the bags came about an hour after we boarded. second cruise, they came after dinner). Be absolutely sure to pack a carry on bag with a change of clothes and showering essentials to clean up once you get on board. You'll probably be in need of refreshing after travelling to the port. Remember to also include any medication in that carry on bag, too!
When you book, Carnival will send luggage tags. DO NOT forget to fill these out and attach them to your suitcases (not your carry ons) before you arrive at the port. This is the only way they'll be able to get your bags to your room.
If you plan on having dinner in the formal dining room, you MUST dress up for this meals. Cocktail dresses and suits are acceptable. You can't wear shorts and flip flops to the formal dining rooms. The meals are really fancy, four course style deals. If you don't want to dress up, you can go to the buffets for dinner, or just order in room service.
It is customary to, on the last night of your cruise, leave a tip to your restuarant waiter. You don't HAVE to do this, but it is a nice gesture. Also, you can tip your housekeepers and people who have brought room service.
When you board, be prepared to endure the dreaded lifeboat drill. You will have to suit up with a life jacket and go to a "muster station". Each floor has it's own muster station, which you will be informed of by a sign in your room and in the hallways of your floor. Upon arriving at your muster station, you will be briefed on emergency procedures and then escorted out to the deck to see the actual lifeboats. This process takes all of 30 minutes. Annoying, but once it's over the party really starts!
Be VERY cautious and careful at ports of call. Remember you are visiting a foreign land, although it is very close to us. I'm not sure how the Bahamas is, but I know that Grand Cayman Island and Jamaica had some pretty shady people. Stay in heavily populated areas and don't carry a lot of cash.
People WILL try to braid your hair WITHOUT your permission as soon as you step off of the ship. I'm sorry, but this is how it will be. Just say you're not interested and keep walking.
Pay very close attention to when your ship is scheduled to leave a port. You would not want to find yourself left behind.
Lol, I know this was long, and I think I remembered everything. But, if I remember something else, I'll let you know =] If you have any other specific questions, just ask me!
I've only been on Royal Caribbean and LOVED it. I've heard some sketchy things about Carnival. Cruisecritic.com is awesome. Even though you might like a particular cruise line, it also depends on the itinerary and the ship!
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Beekeeper
My FI has watched me pull my hair out for the past month now on the honeymoon issue since we need to book now so we can pay it off by the time it rolls around... I was on the verge of giving up and he said 'book a cruise'. Well I know NOTHING about cruises or cruise lines or times of the year you should and shouldn't cruise... How risky is an end of June cruise? What cruise lines are best which ones whould we stay away from and where should we head? Any info would be helpful at this point...
I know we'd like to leave soon after the wedding and have found a ton leaving the 24th and 30th which would both work! Now we have to leave from NY or MD so were limited BUT we do have these options
Celebrity X Cruises
Disney Cruise Line
Norwegian Cruise Line
Carnival
(were willing to drive further if theres something better out there) I just found these leaving around the time we need them from a close by location... please help, I'm so lost =(