[JakeBarkings]

My girlfriend and I have never been on a cruise, and I'd like to plan out a trip for early 2007. We live in Michigan, and we both hate the cold. So anyway I've been trying to do some research online, but I know this forum is pretty big and I'm sure some of you will have some opinions on the subject. Are there good times during the year to cruise? Times where there's lots of deals? Which cruiselines are better than others?

[xtrupoke]

My girlfriend and I have never been on a cruise, and I'd like to plan out a trip for early 2007. We live in Michigan, and we both hate the cold. So anyway I've been trying to do some research online, but I know this forum is pretty big and I'm sure some of you will have some opinions on the subject. Are there good times during the year to cruise? Times where there's lots of deals? Which cruiselines are better than others?

I've probably been on 50 cruises in my life, never in the US though, only between Finland, Sweden and Estonia.
You are probably thinking about those Caribbean cruises right? I'd go I had the money. This woman from work went on a 10 day long cruise a couple of weeks ago on one of the biggest ships currently in the Caribbean and she said it was a blast.

This might be of interest:
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/home.do

Most of the biggest cruiseliners in the Caribbean are built here in Finland. [yes]

[GaxyGroordrep]

I went on a 1 week Caribbean cruise out of Miami in April of 2000. It was great, lots of food, lots of sun etc etc. Went on Holland America which is owned by (or owns) Carnival. HA appeals to the Newlyweds and Nearlydeads, while Carnival is more of a party atmosphere. Take your pick...

[Xxmlqevq]

Being finnish I've been on numerous cruises. Always fun. Depends on what kind of crowd you got. You and your girlfriend probably aren't planning on a binge so my opinions are just ideas.
I'm sure a nice summer caribbean cruise would probaly be incredible, no doubt about it. I'd say you should pick a time soon after some very common cruise week(s)/month as prices would probably fall then.

[stutnerman]

I've been on lots of boats & ships, but only one that I'd consider a cruise. It was on the Rhine river in germany, and I highly recommend it.

[bQXHsKzS]

I went on a Holland America cruise from Vancouver to Alaska and I think the average age on the boat was well over 60. It was more gray hair then I cared to see. Luckilly It was only 4 days long and then we got off the boat. Basically the activities in the evening on the boat were drinking/gambling, drinking/shopping, drinking/sleeping, or drinking/Karaoke. So if you like drinking, go right ahead, but I wasn't too impressed with the activities or the ship. Cruising is probably not something I will do again.

Here are some pictures of the ship I rode on
http://www.hollandamerica.com/fleet/...our.do?ship=vo

[tuszit]

I went on a Caribbean Cruise for Spring Break. It was a lot of fun. We did some Kayaking in Key West, chilling in the Bahamas and swimming with fish and rays and stuff.

It's a lot of fun, and I hate the beach. So, if I can have fun, anyone can!

[kanchouska]

My girlfriend and I have never been on a cruise, and I'd like to plan out a trip for early 2007. We live in Michigan, and we both hate the cold. So anyway I've been trying to do some research online, but I know this forum is pretty big and I'm sure some of you will have some opinions on the subject. Are there good times during the year to cruise? Times where there's lots of deals? Which cruiselines are better than others?

Cruises are about my favorite vacation. They are usually a really great buy for what you get. I would recommend contacting a travel agent for the best buy and type of cruise. You can usually get an all inclusive package with airfare that is a better buy than paying for them separately.

All the cruises I have been on so far have been family oriented but there are many geared for young adults so you dont have to worry about being with either a shipload of kids or herds of senior citizens if you do a little homework.

The food is awesome.

Do not go during hurricane season...trust me. The cheaper price isnt worth it if a big one comes up.

[boxcigsnick]

I have been on two cruises. The first one was a Bahamas cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines back when I was about 10 or so. It was a family reunion type of thing and my first cruise so there was more focus on seeing all my family rather then just what the ship had to offer, etc. It was a four day (I think) cruise and we stopped on two islands during that time. There were a number of different things to do on the islands sponsored by the cruise ship (glass bottom boat, snorkeling, SCUBA diving, etc) that are all available for purchase once during the time you purchase your tickets or when your on the ship. If none of those appeal to you or are outside of your budget you always have the option to just wonder around on your own in town or on the beaches or something for the time you have at port or, stay on the ship while it’s in port.

The second cruise I took was just a few years ago to Alaska, it was a seven day cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) and was out of Seattle, WA. This cruise had four ports of call, three in Alaska and one fairly short one (like 6 hours) in Canada. Again NCL offers a host of different excursions while docked or lets you disembark the ship to simply wonder around town.

Comparing the two cruise lines and destinations...

Both ships had wonderful food, however, I found that at the time (~1991 or something) Carnival seemed to have their menu’s more “Healthy Choice!” oriented and their two main dinning rooms had scheduled dinning times that you were assigned to based on cabin location. NCL had what they call “Free Style Cruising” which means that their two dinning rooms opened at 11:30 and closed at like 2pm for lunch and opened again at like 5:30 and closed at 10pm for dinner or what not. During those times you simple showed up as you would at a normal restaurant and waited to be seated (for us the wait was never more then about five minutes, it’s amazing how large these dinning rooms are and how many people they can handle). I also noticed that the food was a step or two above Carnivals and was really more of what you find in a very nice fancy four or five star restaurant, just amazing food! I have heard that Carnival has switched over to open seating now but I would check on that before booking with Carnival and would heavily recommend not booking them if they still have the scheduled table / dinning times.

I can’t really give a good comparison between Carnival and NCL when it comes down to activities the ship had during time at sea because I either didn’t take advantage of what Carnival had since it was my first cruise, it was too long ago to really remember, or they didn’t offer much. However, with that said, NCL had an amazing amount of stuff going on during the time at sea! I believe they had at least two but maybe three different shows at night. I’m pretty sure one was a variety type show, magic, comedy, etc. One was a “mini” Cirque Du Soleil type show and the last was sort of an abridged 50 minute long play or something. All three were great, not as good as Broadway or $100 a ticket Las Vegas shows but well worth seeing while on the ship! In the day time they had more “active” stuff with a few comedians hitting the different bars and lounges and stuff and the ship I was on had two art auctions. They really had a whole list of things, I’m forgetting a lot but they had enough to stay busy from like 10am to 10 or 11pm and still have time to eat and just hang around deck some taking the whole ship in.

I totally loved the Alaskan cruise so much more then the Bahamas one, again this might have been because I was a good bit older for the Alaskan one but I’ll try to compare the two the best I can. For me the Bahamas was sort of a classic vacation. If you’ve been to the beach then you have been to the beach. The Atlantic water is perfect for swimming in and is really a huge difference to the Pacific but other then that it’s still an ocean. The Bahamas is probably the better pick if you don’t have a lot of extra cash to spend excursions and stuff since you can totally spend the day on the beach or an aquarium or something and really enjoy yourself. This is also really the better pick if the girlfriend wants to just hit the pool on the ship and soak up the sun all day on the ship deck.

Alaska on the other hand was something totally different. Alaska felt like an adventure and like I was there to see something rather then to just “get away from it all.” You really want to have the extra money to do some of the cool excursions on this one. Helicopter rides over glaciers, sightseeing on jet boats to see whales and stuff. One of the things I really enjoyed was about a two hour train ride along some narrow gage tracks up into the Canadian Yukon, the same tracks gold prospectors built. The ship also spends a day heading into Glacier Bay and its just amazing passing by a glacier and being able to hear in the crystal clear and still air the cracking of the ice and then the thundering sound as a huge chunk of it calves off. Waking up and heading up on deck and noticing that all around you flowing in the bright blueish water are chunks of ice, it’s an adventure.

If you can’t tell by now I would really recommend to anyone the Alaskan trip unless they have their heart set on soaking up lots of sun and playing in the water or if they can’t take the seven to twelve days off in the summer to do this trip. My cruise was near the end of July I think and daytime in Alaska was mid 70s or high 60s I think, enough to have a light jacket when walking around or on the ship and maybe a heavier one after midnight (the sun sets REALLY late up there, that alone is a mind trip). I would also highly recommend NCL; I really enjoyed how their ship was setup and how they organized things. They sail all over so make sure to check them out and see if you like what you see on their web site.

View from the ship in Glacier Bay

The White Pass Railway that I was talking about, it starts in Skagway, Alaska

Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska

Fake Edit: Also, unless you plan to be in your cabin a lot and want to be alone away from everyone else on the ship and just read some good books or what not this would be somewhere to try and save money. I found that I was in my cabin very little unless I was sleeping and if I had a nice balcony or any other upgraded type stuff it would have gone to waste and may have used up more of my budget so I was unable to take the train ride or what not.

[kanchouska]

Fake Edit: Also, unless you plan to be in your cabin a lot and want to be alone away from everyone else on the ship and just read some good books or what not this would be somewhere to try and save money. I found that I was in my cabin very little unless I was sleeping and if I had a nice balcony or any other upgraded type stuff it would have gone to waste and may have used up more of my budget so I was unable to take the train ride or what not.

Great informative post Andy.

I would agree with not spending the money for the higher priced cabin but being down in the smallest rooms isnt the best either. I would go one upgrade up from the bottom. You are really only there to sleep and change clothes.