I've cruised with both NCL & Royal Carribean and have to say I really enjoy cruising to regular vacations at an all-inclusive.
To begin with, choose your cabin carefully - we did the carribean with a balcony and it was marvelous....you woke up and had coffee on your balcony in the morning and could sit and talk etc at night watching the moon over the water as well. You don't really spend alot of time in your cabin - so it might not matter to you but the balcony is really lovely.
As for locales, we've been to St. Maarten/St. Martin, BVI, St. Thomas, San Juan etc. The thing with excursions is to find one that gets the most of what you think you'd like to do in a place. There are some expensive ones but I found that generally we went on the cheaper excursions that toured you around and built in time at a beach or for shopping and really enjoyed them. You can wait to book your excursions till you board but if there's one you really want, book it as soon as you can - the really good ones do fill up fast. Booking online is nice - there's really not a lot a travel agent can do for you that you can't do for yourself, but if you have someone you like to use, it's worth checking in with them at least.
As for beverages? Alcohol is always expensive but you can get pop "passes" for the duration of your trip - it's like a fast-pay pass and they are about $5/day usually (so for a 7-day cruise it's about $35). Depending on your cruise line, you can sometimes also buy a bottle of wine and bring it with you thru the night or if you want, they will re-cork it and store it for you for another day. They do tend to confiscate alcohol bought on land but I managed to get a whole bottle of spiced rum past the check in San Juan (Capt Morgan's - yum!) and didn't try to hide it so who knows, you might be able to smuggle a mickey aboard.
Tipping is done differently by different lines - many have started to make tipping a part of your overall bill with a charge/day. If your ship doesn't do this, they do give you guidelines as to the appropriate amount to tip your individual crew people - remember that for many of these people their salaries are minimal and it's the tips that they work for....and send back to their families in a lot of cases.
NCL has a nice policy of "care free" cruising - they don't make you eat at a certain time or with people you don't know (and don't necessarily care to know). You also don't have to dress up as much for their restaurants (altho you can't go in shorts and a t-shirt for some).
No matter what you do, you'll have fun - it's a different way to travel, busy yet relaxed and full of different adventures, big & small!
Enjoy & let us know how you liked it!
