Cruise to the Carribbean

[go iggy]

Hello,

I've never taken a cruise and the new wife and i were planning on taking one for our honeymoon. Has anyone taken one before and how was it?
I heard that theres a good time of year and a bad time of year. when is that? Our plan is to take a flight to Fort lauderdale and start the Cruise there. once we get back to fort lauderdale we are going to take a flight to new orleans and see a friend and enjoy mardi gras.We have about 6 friends who are meeting us in New Orleans. After a week of that fly home. Im worried about the cruise. Will we be sea sick?

any stories or best bets?

Thanks

[Phanuthier]

When I was younger, I did the Caribbean with my family (I was in high school). What do you need to know?

Sea sick - doubtful, its a big ship.
Cost - keep in mind additional to the cruise, there are additional costs: land tours, tipping your servers/room keepers and so on.

My parents love cruises, I'm less of a fan myself. When you go on a cruise, you are going for the relax and kick back, not really for the adventure or seeing anything.

[Jayems]

Carribean cruises are my favorite thing to do. Been on 2, and my 3rd will be my honeymoon. Sea sickness isn't much of a concern, they have balancing things down below (real technical... balancing things..) to counter any swaying. That said, I've never been in a nasty storm, so that could change things. NO was great, glad I got there before Katrina did.

Cruises are amazing... all you can eat.. new countries every day, great weather, fun excursions (i'd recommend looking at your available excursions before, then booking them your first day.. that way, you get to do what you want)

Yep. Tipping is already included, IE: they already put 20% of what you spend to a tip.. or something like that. They explain it. I'll write up a thing for each country I've visited.

[LChoy]

Hello

My family and I are frequent cruisers (well, more my parents, but they like to take us kids still) and I've been to the Caribbean 4 times on cruises. I'm a frequent cruiser with Royal Caribbean so I might be a little bias, but I'll keep the tips general

- Don't worry about sea sickness. The ships are so big these days that the rocking is not very noticeable. However, if you are really concerned about seasickness, request a cabin in the centre of the ship and on a lower deck. However, the wedding suits are generally on the top decks, but I assure sea sickness shouldn't be a problem
- The one problem I don't like about Fort Lauderdale departures is that the cruise ship centre is about an hour away from the airport. Price check for shuttles from your hotel to the port, sometimes it's cheaper to use the option of having your cruise arrange it, sometimes you find a better deal.
- Arrive in Fort Lauderdale a day early before your cruise. This is just in case for delays or if the flight loses your luggage. Boarding usually begins at around 1 or so, so it's really tight to get to Florida from Calgary on the same day.
- Do your homework about the cruise line you want to go on. They are all different and cater to different crowds. Carnival is the entry level one and generally more of a young people crowd. Royal Caribbean is geared towards families and have the biggest and most innovative ships. However, they also have the most people on board. Princess/Holland America is geared more on the older crowd and may not have as many activities to do on board as the other 2 previous mentioned ships. However, they have the better food and service and generally more upper scale. For ports, all of them usually go to the same ones and the port activities don't vary too much from ship to ship
- September-November is the cheapest time for cruises to the Caribbean, but that is due to it being hurricane season. Cruise ships will avoid bad weather and may change their destinations but you won't get jipped on the number of ports. However, you might get rainy port days during those months
- No matter which ship you go on, there will always be food, all the time. For a romantic time, I recommend requesting a private table for dinner seating (unless you wouldn't mind meeting new people). Also, I prefer 2nd seating to have dinner later in the evening to give you more time to enjoy your day.


I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, but feel free to message me if you have any questions

[Jayems]

Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Nothing much here other than the docks and the ship yard. Not sure why i said this, but I guess common ground that I've left from one cruise here (the other out of 'Nawlins)

Bahamas: Went to Half Moon Cay. This was pretty boring, didn't do too much as this was the last stop on the cruise. Hung out on the beach, and the water was kind of cold in February. Nassau is pretty good, I've heard.

Cayman Islands: Probably my favorite place in the Carribean. Went once as a stop on a cruise and the other my buddy and his wife move there, so we visited for 7 days. Sting Ray city is a MUST. Been 3 times and always amazing. luckily, my buddies sister-in-law, was a tour operator for a sting ray operation and she took us on a private tour of the island, including sting ray city where we had the place to ourselves. usually, there are 500 people with cruises there. feed them squid, it's a weird feeling. They suck the food up really strong. The whole island is awesome, but pretty expensive. Very British and developed.

Cozumel, Mexico: Did the best snorkling of my life here. Went to a reef and saw amazing fish and other things. Then, went on a 4x4 safari around the area. Pretty cool. Go snorkling here, really cool.

Turks and Caicos: Really boring place, nothing really there. But we did a motorized underwater scooter thing where you hold it in front of you and it propells you through the water. Saw some cool sea-turtles, nurse sharks and other stuff. Really fun. Then went and drank at the Margaretiaville. fun times.

Jamaica: Went to Montego Bay. People always yell at me for saying this, but by far the worst place I've ever been to in the caribbean. The locals did nothing but harrass my fiancee to braid her hair, and we didn't feel overwhelmingly safe, but our excursion was fun. We did an innertube water rafting trip down a dirty river. It was pretty fun, I'll admit.

St. Maarten: This was cool. We did a sailing trip where we raced in '80s race boats that were used in some cup race... there was even a Canadian boat they had racing.. Place was cool, nice scenery.

British Virgin Islands: Really amazing hills and beaches. We just walked off the boat and found a taxi after walking around for a few hours. They took us around the island where we went to a rum place (where we saw a Source sticker, which I found odd... but okay) then to a really nice beach and hung out for the rest of the day.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by lchoy

Hello




- The one problem I don't like about Fort Lauderdale departures is that the cruise ship centre is about an hour away from the airport. Price check for shuttles from your hotel to the port, sometimes it's cheaper to use the option of having your cruise arrange it, sometimes you find a better deal.

From Miami? The Ft. Lauderdale airport is only like 15 mins away.

Edit: Actually, it's only about 3 minutes.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en...77248&t=h&z=14

You can see the airport is almost right next to the port.

[MoneyGuy]

I've done seven cruises including two in the Caribbean. I love the Caribbean. The weather is almost always very nice, the ocean is not terribly rough, the water is warm and a gorgeous blue and the islands are interesting. Be prepared as these are a third-world countries. There is poverty with all of the problems such as beggars. I've seen many of the Caribbean islands. Good decision.

[LChoy]

Originally Posted by Jayems

From Miami? The Ft. Lauderdale airport is only like 15 mins away.

Edit: Actually, it's only about 3 minutes.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en...77248&t=h&z=14

You can see the airport is almost right next to the port.

Ooops, my mistake. I was thinking of Port Canaveral from Orlando International

[LChoy]

For most cruises, you have your credit card scanned into your cruise key, and use that to pay for things on the cruise. All alcoholic drinks are $5-7 usually. Beverages outside of the restaurants and the buffets will be charged to your card as well. All inclusive is usually cheaper in the long run to be quite honest since alcohol is included
It's true, tips really do add up

[MJK]

I have done all inclusive twice and a cruise once. I prefer the all inclusive.

Things I didn't like about the cruise:
- Expensive! Drinks are overpriced. Excursions are also very expensive compared to all inclusive resorts I find. I spent a TON more doing a cruise then I do on the all inclusive.

- Rushed! It was cool going to three different countries but we didn't spend very much time there. Off the boat, on the excursion and then right back on the boat.

Things I do like about the cruise:

- Relaxing on the boat. I got the room with the balcony to sit out on. It is the most expensive room to get but was well worth it. I watched several lightning storms just sitting outside of my room. Very private and relaxing.

Now that being said, I am willing to try a cruise again but I will probably do a 10 day one. I don't like being or feeling rushed.

[go iggy]

thanks for the info. Our stops are, Turks and caicos, san juan puerto rico, st. thomas and half moon cay. We want to do a lot of excursion, do we book those the first day on the boat or do we do that in advance? Should we use a travel agent to book our cruise or online is ok? I found our trip on line with expedia cruise ship centres.

[3 Justin 3]

From my recent travels (wasn't a cruise), but I say book online. My family did a Eurotrip (totally different than a cruise, but still), and the travel agent booked us for all the overpriced stuff, which turned out to suck as well.

I will never use a travel agent again. Don't get me wrong, a travel agent can suggest plenty of things to do, but the internet can as well, for free. Doing it yourself (looking on the internet), may take longer, but I bet you will find better stuff than if you went through a travel agent. Again, this is all from my personal experience.

Have fun!

P.S. I went on a few ships (not cruise ships, just ships between Greek Islands), and Sea Sickness should NOT be a problem.

[Shin Pad]

We are going on an eastern caribean cruise in two weeks. I've never been on a cruise before, but we are flying to Fort Lauderdale a day before the cruise. I'll keep all of your suggestions and tips in mind.

Go-Iggy - it sound's like you're going on the same cruise as we are (probably different time).

[MJK]

Originally Posted by go iggy

thanks for the info. Our stops are, Turks and caicos, san juan puerto rico, st. thomas and half moon cay. We want to do a lot of excursion, do we book those the first day on the boat or do we do that in advance? Should we use a travel agent to book our cruise or online is ok? I found our trip on line with expedia cruise ship centres.

On the cruise I was on, Carnival Cruse Lines, we booked everything on the boat as we got closer to the stop. Lots of information on the boat when you get on it so don't worry about that. You'll have tons of things to choose from.

[Dan02]

going on a cruise in Feb, was wondering, if drinks are so expensive can we bring our own booze on board to consume in our cabin??

[Ryan Coke]

I've done a couple of all inclusives and 2 cruises, and I am a fan of the cruising. The food is not comparable, even the very good all inclusives were just not close to being as good as cruise food (I was on Royal Carib both times).

At some all incs there is probably more activities, but I have found there to be lots to do on the cruises, between the ship stuff and the excursions.

I'm not a big drinker, so that benefit to all incs is a little wasted on me. It is more expensive drinking a lot on a cruise ship for sure.

I prefer cruising.

[go iggy]

What about having to carry your passport around all the time. Has that been a pain in the but for some of you? More so if your going into the water. What do you do? is there a water proof something that I can buy or use?

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by fotze

The thing that has prevented me from cruises are what seems to be fees and charges coming out of your a-hole. From the sounds of it everything is centered on trying to get money out of you from day 1. Also, I have heard things are hugely expensive like $7 drinks?

Is any of this true?

Do you get the same value from a 7 day cruise as you would for a $1500 all-inclusive? Seems like more to do on a cruise?

Moneyguy, how would you compare a cruise to an all-inclusive?

For your question about comparing a cruise to an all-inclusive, think of the cruise ship as your all-inclusive resort but every morning you wake up and find your resort has been magically transplanted to another location. That's what I like about cruising - different destinations without having to board a plane or pack luggage. As for your comment about them trying to get your money and fees everytime you turn around, isn't the same however you travel? At a resort, it's much the same. Cruising is very cost efficient, in my view. My wife and I just got off a cruise ship about three weeks ago and we flew to Vancouver, did a nine-day cruise and flew back from San Diego, all for $2500 for two of us. Excursions and drinks are extra, but we hardly drink so that means nothing to me. The excursions can be costly but you only do what you want and what you can afford. We usually book our excursions privately, away from the ship. There are some risks there that you need to be aware of if you do that. I'd stack cruising up against any other form of travel in terms of value for your money.

BTW, for anyone who wants to learn about crusing, go to cruisecritic.com. It's the best site for cruise tips and information. Those folks know everything there is to know about cruising. There is no question you can dream up that they can't answer. I'm MoneyGuy over there so say hi.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by Dan02

going on a cruise in Feb, was wondering, if drinks are so expensive can we bring our own booze on board to consume in our cabin??

no. they search you and your stuff when u get back on the boat. If they find it, they put it aside and give it back after the cruise

[MoneyGuy]

You can usually smuggle your bottles onto the ship. The rule is no booze comes on. In reality, there is usually not problem. They usually turn a blind eye. Trust me.