| What???
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> Cruise line
Carnival is likely to be have more people your age on any of its
cruises. However, cruising isn't just for the retired anymore and
almost any line will have lots of people in their 30s.
> Cruise/s to which Islands etc.
All of the lines offer many itineraries. Really depends mostly on
what you are looking for. Some people like lots of ports of call
(sailing from San Juan will give you this); others like more time
at sea (this is more true of cruises out of Miami).
> Room types
The classic answer here is its likely all that you will do in your
room is sleep. Thus, the cheapest possible is usually what you should
opt for (particularily when cruising the Caribbean - there's just not
that much time in the room or that much to look out the porthole at).
> Date/time of year
In the Caribbean, the weather is just about the same year round
(hurricane season is in the fall but I wouldn't let that worry me
much as encountering one is unlikely). What does change is the
weather other places (like it gets cold father north) and the cruise
lines take advantage of this to charge higher prices when you're more
likely to be willing to pay them. Thus, from early fall to late winter
is what is called high season and prices are usually higher then.
> Meal plan/times
The meals are included. The choice you have to make on most cruises
in the Caribbean is between "early" and "late" seating. What this
means is exactly what it sound like - whether you have breakfast,
lunch, and dinner earlier or later. E.g., early seating dinner might
be served at 6:15 and late seating dinner might be at 8:30. There are
also early and late seating shows that go along with dinner. There are
things to recommend both but the more adventurous folks (younger?)
usually opt for late seating.
> Departure location
See above on San Juan vs Miami (or anywhere in Flordia).
> How many days
Most Caribbean cruises are 7 days, most Bahama cruises are either 3 or
4 days.
> I was originally thinking about a 7 day cruise but noticed that some people
> plan a post-cruise vacation at hotels. This seems like something i would be
> interested in. Maybe 5 day cruise/ 3 day hotel. Have many of you done this
> and recommend this?
Most cruise lines will let you do something before or after any cruise.
It will usually be more expensive than if you just did it on you own
but since the airfare is the killer in terms of cost, the additional
usually doesn't matter much. I don't know of any line that has 5 day
cruises but many of them offer 3 or 4 day cruises to the Bahamas and
an out island and then 3 or 4 days somewhere in Flordia to bring the
total to 7 days. One that does this is Premier Crusie Lines where
your land part is at Disney World.
The very best way to figure out what you might like is to go to any
travel agent and pick up several brochures on what's available. Beyond
the glitz and glossy, there will be descriptions of what to expect,
ports of call, on board services, pre and post cruise stuff, prices,
etc., etc., etc. They are free, you can take them home and peruse them
at your leisure, and find out everything you ever wanted to know about
cruising. Then all you have to do is try to figure out what travel
agent to book through to get the best price. Lots of recommendations
wrt that in this conference.
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Thanks (-1) for your time and input!
Before going to any agent i was hoping on getting an idea of maybe a couple
of cruises that i might really be interested in after reading this note. Was
hoping to have someone reply saying that you (MUST) go on (SHIP), it
was the BEST cruise i was ever on and i will do it again, with maybe a couple
of pointers on things TO DO and NOT TO DO on (THAT/THEIR) cruise.
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pre-cruise vs post-cruise land trip:
I don't know where you are flying out to your port and what time. But
when I took my cruise, I had to fly out of the Manchester airport at
6:30am. I woke up at 4:30am, cleaned up and drove 30-45 minutes to
the airport. Anyway, to make the story short, I got into Miami at
12:30pm. Miami airport on a Saturday was like a zoo since there were
4-5 cruises full of passengers arriving on the same airport on the same
day. Our airline lost one of our suitcases so we waited around the
airport for 2 hours to retrieve our belonging. We then had to take
the cruise company shuttle bus and go through immigration before
getting onto the ship. By the time we got to our cabin (3:30pm), my
friend and I were exhausted.
After that, I learned that it is not a bad idea to fly into the port
city a day early. That way, you can rest and feel refresh for the
cruise trip. If I were to do a land trip, I would do it before the
cruise instead of after.
In addition, many people tend to stay up real late (1-2 am) on cruises.
If you are into staying up late, you may be exhausted after a 7-day
cruise. So a pre-cruise land trip still sounds better.
- Sukie
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| Well, here is my 2 cents...
> Cruise/s to which Islands etc.
St. Thomas (beaches, shopping), St. John (beaches), Grande Cayman (beaches,
diving), Cozumel (beaches and shopping), Tortola & Virgin Gorda (beaches).
> Cruise line
In order of preference...
Crystal, Holland America, NCL, RCCL, Princess
> Room types
Inside is ok until you experience and outside cabin. Outside is ok until
you experience outside with private veranda. You start to get spoiled. I
think the cruise lines know this and that is why people get upgraded so
often, so the next time you come back you'll spend more money.
> Date/time of year
Any time!
> Meal plan/times
Second seating. Allows for unhurried afternoons and beautiful sunsets.
> Departure location
Directly from a Caribbean port. This way you bypass the slight roughness
of the Gulf Stream experienced when departing from Florida's east coast.
> How many days
7 - 10 day cruise, 3/4 days pre/post cruise.
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