Gone on a great cruise? Come on in...

[AVP941]

My husband and I are thinking of taking our first cruise. I would love to hear from anyone who has recently cruised, what you liked, disliked, best cruise line, and any other suggestions. :D

Things we want:
Leave from Florida (any port)
Leave in late December-early January
Good nightlife
Great food
Relaxation

Things we don't want:
Super crowded ship
Long "cattle" lines to get on/off ship
Mediocre food
Hordes of loud children

THANKS!!!

[Marie]

May I suggest Princess or Celebrity based on your wants/dislikes. I'd avoid Carnival at all costs because of your dislike of lots of children and bad food.

To avoid a line getting on or off....we always get to port the day before departure and get to the port about 45-60 min before boarding begins. Yes, you have to wait. But, it is clear when you get there, you usually get a seat right up next to the door and then you are one of the first ones on - no lines to check in and you can stroll around the ship while it is still empty.

Getting off is another story....most lines will give you a time the day before as far as when your window is to get off (Carnival doesn't give you a time, just a color which sucks). We always do carry on only so we don't have to wade through the massive stacks of luggage. While the shuttles are cheap, we do private car/taxi/limo whatever to avoid waiting for the shuttles to fill.

[HeatherFL]

I did a Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Cruiselines in 2001. Wasn't thrilled at all and wouldn't recommend the ship-the Jubilee.

Food was good, though.

~H.

[Lauren23]

I'm also going to recommend Celebrity. I went on two cruises with them this year and loved every minute of both of them!

[Ohana]

We took the Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas on a cruise in February 2003. It was fabulous.

Now, I won't lie. We did have to wait in line to get on the ship. But that was pretty much the only time we had to wait in line. The ship was beautiful, the staff was amazing, and the food was yum!

We did a Caribbean cruise and went to Labadee (Royal Caribbean's "private" island), Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Cozumel. The ship sailed from Miami.

[Brandy]

I recommend Celebrity too! I went on a 7 day Western Carribean on the "Century" in 2002 and then this April, 10 day Southern Carribean on the "Summit". I saw maybe two kids on my last one and only a handful on the other one (we went at holidays both times). We always get to Fort Lauderdale 2 hours or so before board and have just walked right on both times (get there at 11:30, they'll let you on between then and noon even if boarding is at 1). The food is the best (I've been on Royal Carribean too, not my favorite) but the night life isn't the best in my opinion (I'm 22, piano bars and easy listening aren't my thing).

A great website for info is http://www.cruisecritic.com. It is so addicting!

[AHammer]

I've been on two cruises -- carnival (NOT recommended) and princess (definitely recommended). Carnival was okay, just not really my taste. Princess was much classier, the food was better imo, and the staff was excellent. Carnival just didn't compare. Princess or another upscale line is worth the extra $$$! On Princess, when you disembark back at port, they go by your deck, so we had to be out of our room and wait wait wait for quite some time before we could leave. That was the only disadvantage, and it sounds like some of the other ships might be better about that??

Whatever you choose, have a blast!! I love cruisin

amy

[AVP941]

Thanks for the replies, ladies! Anyone else have any cruise stories to share? I would love to hear everything: the good, the bad, and the ugly. TIA!

[Aimee]

DH and I were on Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas a few weeks ago. My biggest complaint is that it took us over 2 hours to board the ship. I had been on 2 carnival cruises before (including our honeymoon on the Conquest) and Royal Caribbean is definitely a step above Carnival. The Navigator does the Western Caribbean one week and the Eastern Caribbean the next. We did the Eastern itinerary and went to San Juan (LOVED it), St. Thomas (Liked it), St. Martin/St.Maarten (didn't like it) and Nassau (Liked it).

I was in a daze for most of the cruise, however, because we left the Saturday before Katrina hit - and we're from the metro NOLA area. We spent a lot of our time in the cabin watching CNN and on the computers trying to get info and get in touch with people. Royal Caribbean was wonderful in that they waived all of our internet charges (which came close to $200; 50 cents a minute adds up quickly) and our ship-to-shore calling charges (which was $7.95 a minute) so we could make plans to meet our families after the cruise was over. We were really grateful as we didn't know what, if anything, we'd be returning to at home, and were worried about all the money we'd spent on communications. You don't really plan to go on a vacation and then spend all your time talking to home.

Not that DH and i were out much at night anyway, but RC didn't seem to have a great nightlife IMO. The nightclub was the only thing open really late. Karaoke and such usually only lasted for 45 minutes to an hour, which isn't long enough to get a crowd going. We never made it to the shows because our waiter at dinner was kind of slow, so we were always late leaving the dining room. The ice show was a lot of fun, however. So was ice skating, but that only took place during the day, at certain times.

The food was good, better than Carnival, but I'm from New Orleans, so traveling for the food is kind of hard for me. Plus, it's impossible to cook for that many people and it not be slightly institutional. I'd rank it with a high-end chain restaurant.

We had about as good of a time as we could on our trip, given the circumstances. I wish I could give a stronger recommendation, but I really wasn't in the mindset to take advantage of all the ship had to offer.

[lawyergirl25]

I've cruised with Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. It took about 45 minutes to board the NCL ship and 15 to board the RCCL ship. The food was better on RCCL. The rooms were bigger on NCL. There were fewer kids on RCCL. The nightlife was better on RCCL.

I've never been on Celebrity or Princess, but they both look wonderful. I would recommend one of those two, or RCCL. NCL is great for us because we like to travel on the cheap, but you get what you pay for.

[Ohana]

The only recommendation I would have would be to stay away from NCL. Their staff is unbelievably unprofessional, the food is only eh, their drinks are very obviously watered down, and they've had problems with Norwalk for a reason...their ships are filthy and the food service is not clean.

[smartgrrl]

You must race out to your local bookstore and buy David Foster Wallace's collection of short stories entilted, "A Supposedly Fun Thing That I'll Never Do Again". The last story is his experiences on a cruise ship and it's the funniest, most well written story I've ever read. Happy reading!!

[LRL]

We've been on two cruise lines, Princess, and Royal Carribean. We went to Alaska on the Sapphire Princess for our honeymoon, and it was fabulous. The night life was great, and the food was excellent, as well as the staff... well, most of them. The ship was on it's sixth sailing (brand new ship) and it was gorgeous! As far as amenities, this one had it all! We went on Royal Carribean to Mexico earlier this month. The ship was older and therefore more worn and not as nice, but we actually had BETTER dining service on Royal Carribean. Princess was the more expensive cruise, but next time I would make sure that we got traditional dining in order to avoid having problems with their open dining. Royal Carribean was a good first timers cruise (We took MIL and BIL with us, they really enjoyed it).

FWIW- Princess actually attracts a different demographic than Royal Carribean, or at least these particular locations. Princess had a lot of couples, most were older and fewer children. It was calmer, and more relaxing. Royal Carribean had a HUGE younger crowd and it was always noisy and there were a TON of Newlyweds onboard- ie. lots of pool time and drinking.

Between the two companies, even though there was a little bit to be desired with service, I would cruise with Princess again in a heartbeat. They really have the more luxury cruising idea down.

I would also tell you that if they offer an option to carry off your luggage at the end of the cruise, to do it! Otherwise you have to wait to get off the ship- Princess was TWO hours, and you have to stay in the lounges. Getting on, we didn't have a wait for either cruise line.

HTH! Definitely go on a cruise! You will LOVE it! :)

[bookworm]

I've been on Holland America, and it fits many of your criteria--we got on quickly (though getting off the ship was slow), there were few children, the food was good, and it had a "nightclub," a casino, and a piano bar (where we hung out). However, it also generally has an older crowd (we went with my family--it was great, but probably a different experience than I would have had with friends).

Based on the "no lines to get off the ship" item, I'd check out Windjammer. I haven't been, but a friend has and she loves them. They are much smaller and more casual.

[philnikki]

Hello!

I went on a Canrival Cruise to Cozumel and Costa Maya when I was 5 mos preggo (this past May). We had a great time, but it wasn't as full of the frills that I had thought. I guess I had high expectations going into it. If I did it again, I would go with a trip that did not include Costa Maya (not a great place). But I LOVED Cozumel and our time on the ship was great too. I really enjoyed the food. The ship we were on was the smallest in their fleet, but it still seemed big enough for us (and mind you, I was HUGE at that point lol). Anyway -- just my two cents on cruises!

[Daisy]

I've sailed with Celebrity (in the Med) and Royal Caribbean (in the Caribbean). I would recommend them both, but DH and I had a greater time on Celebrity. This is mainly because: the itinerary, the ship is smaller, it was less crowded and had less people on it per square foot, there were just about zero kids onboard (!), and we made amazing friends with a ton of people.

With both lines, we never once had a problem getting on/off the ship - both seemed efficient. I also recommend CruiseCritic.com - I booked many private tours with people I met on their - I saw more, paid less, and met great people (some of whom I still keep in contact with).

Have fun!

[heather 8^)]

We went on the Carnival Triumph last October and the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas in May 2002. We're going on the Norwegian Sun at the end of next month.

Royal Caribbean: better food and better service (stateroom and dining room), classier people
Carnival: cheaper pricetag, faster embarking, better excursions-booking

Disembarking sucked on both (although I second carrying your bags: much faster). I've heard that Norwegian's Freestyling disembarkment is really really nice, so I'm interested to see how that goes. If you're interested in booking excursions through the ship, Carnival lets you do it through the tv system (very cool).

Really, if you want to avoid long lines and lots of kids, then your best bet would be to travel off-season or during times when schools are in session. Any line you go on for the holidays is going to be packed with families, so you're more likely to have long lines, crowded ships, and more kids. If you could push it back to mid-Jan or something, then you might have a better experience no matter what line you choose. You can't go wrong with a cruise, IMO. :)

[jaeger]

We took the Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas on a cruise in February 2003. It was fabulous.

Now, I won't lie. We did have to wait in line to get on the ship. But that was pretty much the only time we had to wait in line. The ship was beautiful, the staff was amazing, and the food was yum!

We did a Caribbean cruise and went to Labadee (Royal Caribbean's "private" island), Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Cozumel. The ship sailed from Miami.

I have to agree...I took the same cruise (in May 03) and it was awesome!

[amew]

I have been on two Royal Caribbean (both in the Caribbean) cruises and one Radisson Seven Seas Cruise in the South Pacific.

Royal Caribbean was fine. I don't recall terrible lines either time, the food was okay, and the boats were not totally overrun by children (we travled over New Year's both times). All in all, a good time.

Radisson was out of this world. Phenomenal food, incredible state rooms, absolutely no kids to speak of, wine with meals included, great spa, etc. There was less going on on the ship as far as games, dances on the deck, etc. but we prefered the quiter, more sophisticated vibe.