School me on cruises.....never been on one

Riddle

Riddle

Armed Infidel
Joined
May 12, 2009
Location
Walnut Cove, NC 27052
Me and my wife are wanting to go on a cruise, but have no idea where to start.

Any and all info and pointers would be great.

We are thinking about a 5 or 6 night cruise. And we aren't made of money.
 
We did our honeymoon on a cruise to Bahamas from Charleston sc. it was thru carnival, splurged for private balcony room and was worth it.

Also worth the $50 for priority VIP boarding, skipping the long lines on and off the ship.

Carnival was the only one that's dates worked for our schedule and left from Charleston.

We stopped in half moon cay and Nassau. Freeport was closed from hurricane damage.

We did the day pass at Atlantis in Nassau for the water park and was completely worth it.
 
I have a friend that we deal with that gets killer rates. She is a travel agent on the side basically just for getting them,friends and family great rates. She's got a hell of a special going on right now for Nov that's like 370 person for dual occupancy for a 4 night out of Miami. We went with them on a 5er last Sept and it was 800bucks for both the wife and I. Hum if you want her Facebook info
 
Mac5005 said:
We did our honeymoon on a cruise to Bahamas from Charleston sc. it was thru carnival, splurged for private balcony room and was worth it.

Also worth the $50 for priority VIP boarding, skipping the long lines on and off the ship.

Carnival was the only one that's dates worked for our schedule and left from Charleston.

We stopped in half moon cay and Nassau. Freeport was closed from hurricane damage.

We did the day pass at Atlantis in Nassau for the water park and was completely worth it.
Click to expand...
Exactly my experience. Also spring for the unlimited drink card if you really want to stay drink the entire time. Charleston is the easiest to run from compared to driving clear down to Miami or Port Canaveral.

I did like Royal Caribbean better than carnival.
 
Carnival equals college frat party drunk fest hook up lounge.

Royal Caribbean is a step up middle row less rowdy.

Norwegian is the high roller classy line.

Balcony is great. Not nearly claustrophobic. Book middle deck middle of the boat. Up or out equals more disturbance from the seas. Take full advantage of the formal dinning at least a few times......purty classy. Excursions are cool, have a back up of they get cancelled. Be ready to end up broke without a prepaid drink plan.......even the soft drinks are stupid.
 
Cruise itself can be very affordable if booked right. Been a long time since I cruised, but back in 09 when I went a bucket of beer which was only 4 beers was $20. If you like to drink get the unlimited deal or sneak your own liquor in.
Formal dining every night for sure! The food was great.
Costco has some great deals on cruises believe it or not.
Don't throw your wife off the ship, don't let her throw you off.
Use sun block every single day!!
 
catfishblues said:
1: Sign up to listen to somebody talk about time shares or pots and pans.

2: Sit in a rented meeting space for two hours and roll your eyes. Don't buy anything.

3: Profit.
Click to expand...

Who was it on here that ended up with a time share that way? Dylan??
 
There are good options that leave out if Jacksonville FL as well, and it's much closer than south FL.

We looked at a cruise out of Jacksonville this past June and it was only about $1k for a 5 night trip to the Bahamas. While we finally opted to fly to Jamaica, the prices out of Jacksonville were pretty affordable for some relaxing days at sea and the Bahamas.

If you think you may even remotely get sea sick, go ahead and get the meds and/or the anti sick braclet. My wife gets sea sick easily, so in our past cruises we opted for a room down in the basement and it worked out well. I imagine if you get the anti sea sick meds then a room with a balcony would be nice.
 
Depending on what you're looking to see, don't rule out European cruises. Better yet, European River cruises. The Rhine, The Elbe, the Moselle. Smaller boats, few people. that' probably the only way you're going to get me on a cruise. I went to a wedding that was on a cruise ship. We never left the dock, only the wedding party did. but for those 2-3 hours I decided NOPE, NOT FOR ME! too many damn people!

Have fun!
 
I've been on several cruises. The bigger name cruise lines have larger ships. Larger ships = less motion sickness. I was on one cruise (ex in-laws paid for it, so I didn't get a choice in the line) was a Dolphin Cruise Line. Ship was half the size of a Carnival or Royal Caribbean vessel. We felt EVERY wave in the ocean. I don't think I've ever felt so sick. One Royal Caribbean cruise I took we had 15 foot cresting waves outside and nobody knew it. Even sat and watched a circus act with jugglers and balancing acts and the only way you knew anything was different than sitting on dry ground was the fact that the light fixtures were swaying back and forth.
 
I've only gone on 1 cruise and that was my LAST one!

Royal Caribbean from Miami to the Bahamas and coco cay.

My wife kept telling me "You're going to HATE a cruise" but did I listen?

First off, I hate people. I hate lines. I hate crowds. I hate public pools. Why in the WORLD I wanted to go on a cruise is beyond me, but lesson learned I guess.

We had a balcony room (which l kept me from gong on a killing spree) but everything else was just infuriating. The only meal I enjoyed was the sit-down dinner where we had reservations. All other meals were served "Golden Corral" style where you have buffet stations and wait behind 30 different nationalities of "rude bastard" to be served by someone who flunked Burger King's stringent serving line training (I.E. they couldn't even offer up the shittiest fast food service etiquette).
The pool was ALWAYS filled with flatbillers and one-uppers holding bottomless drinks sitting on the edge with their side piece while the water was camouflaged by kids using it as a toilet. We DID enjoy sitting on the upper deck people watching for a while though. My wife always pointed out the fake breasts for me to critique.
Off-boarding to Coco-cay took 2 hours waiting on the main stairs for a 40 person boat taxi to go from the ship to the island. Once on the island you had a choice of 3000 chairs near the buffet huts serving grilled dog and cat, or walking around the island. There wasn't a square foot that wasn't occupied by others.
The only part about the cruise I liked was when we ported at the Bahama's and we took a cab over to Atlantis. This is where we should have vacationed! Just flew down to the Bahamas and stayed there for the week. I was sad to actually have to get back on that "city bus in the water"
As much as I paid for that cruise, I was really surprised at how many ghetto hood rats there were on the same boat. It was if there were free tickets passed out with food stamps that month. Overall, worst experience I've ever paid for.......OH, and then there was off-boarding thru TSA......yeah I just about went postal in the terminal.
 
mbalbritton said:
Depending on what you're looking to see, don't rule out European cruises. Better yet, European River cruises. The Rhine, The Elbe, the Moselle. Smaller boats, few people. that' probably the only way you're going to get me on a cruise. I went to a wedding that was on a cruise ship. We never left the dock, only the wedding party did. but for those 2-3 hours I decided NOPE, NOT FOR ME! too many damn people!

Have fun!
Click to expand...

I've always wanted to go on a fjord cruise, they have the smaller boats because it's all coastline. Fly to Norway or Sweden, get on boat.

In general though, I like the ocean too much to support the major cruise lines. They are pretty bad ocean polluters. Bad enough that you can find ratings/rankings of the different companies based solely on environmental impact.

I'm with CastorTroy though; the more mega cruise ship commercials I see, the less it looks like something I'm suited for. It's everything I don't like about Vegas (fake people, crowds, manufactured experiences, tackiness, bad food) in a place I can't escape from.
 
Last edited:
HE WAS IN THE POOL!!!!




shrinkage[1].jpg
 
The VIP boarding meant skipping the lines on and off the boat.

This was great not just for boarding at the home port but each day at the destination ports.

At half moon cay (private island just for cruise) we were in the second boat across to the island.

Had our choice of chairs and location.

Didn't pay for the snorkeling excursion, just took our snorkeling gear and swam the 50 yards over to where the paid snorkelers were and saw the same stuff.

I hate tons of people, but we were determined not to have a bad time and make the best of the trip.

We tried to eat lunch at 11:50, as from 12-2 the buffet lines were stupid on board. We went a littler early and no issue. We also found another buffet line that most people skipped that rarely had more than a few people. We just avoided long lines.

Definitely a lot of rude people on board, but that's expected with society today.

We also avoided the on ship pools due to the scene as mentioned above.

We just sunbathed on the upper and rear decks while on the ship that offered more peace than club music and drunks.

The balcony room was nice to have coffee and watch the sunrise, or sunset after dinner.

We enjoyed the formal dining in the evenings.

I wouldn't hesitate to go carnival again, just bc it's only 4 hr drive to Charleston vs 8 to Florida.

That said, I would like to try royal Caribbean just to try it and compare.


I would also be up for just flying to Nassau and staying at Atlantis, but there are better swimming/snorkeling and better beaches than what is available at Atlantis. These spots are just in different areas of the Bahamas.

I was very skeptical at first of how half moon cay was going to be, but once there, it is a perfect setup for snorkeling and beaching it in a non populated area. White sand, calm water, crystal clear.
 
I leave in 93 days for my third cruise. I find it more affordable than paying for a hotel at the beach. If you plan on staying drunk it is expensive, no issues with affording a couple of drinks a day. Find a bar that you like, tip the bartender well and he/she will take care of the rest.
 
I listened to lots of people telling me I'd hate the 7 day cruise. Not sure which one they went on, because I had a blast!

The balcony room is worth it.
VIP or Express anything is worth it (especially luggage from airport)
The ship tour (have to ask for it, they don't advertise it) bridge, kitchen, engine rooms, mooring, etc.

I didn't think drink packages were worth it. All the drinks are strong, I didn't need many.
Don't hit the buffet during peak times. The food is fresh no matter what time you go.

Don't be afraid to ask for special treatment. After your mandatory "abandon ship" drill, you're on relax mode!

I've been on 3, once Carnival and twice Royal Carr.
 
We didn't buy the drink package, just bought drinks when we wanted them.

Spent less than half of the drink package on booze.

We had a really good steward and tipped him, made conversation with him the first day, he took care of us for the rest of the trip.

We pretty much got the entire honeymoon package without paying for it, just from talking to the guy for 5 mins and asking him about his family and all.

I'd like to do the ship tour as mentioned above.

There is a duty free store where you can purchase bottles to take home on board, but can't drink on the cruise.

However you can order a bottle of booze through room service to make your own drinks for the trip.

I got a couple of the happy hour beer buckets and kept what i didn't drink in fridge, and then put in a small folding cooler for the beach the next day.
 
my wife and i played bingo on the last night of the 2nd cruise. Won the grand prize, a free cruise for two! So, our 3rd was free.

Ships tour was really cool. You can go into the engine control room, hang out with the guys that actually drive the ship. The mooring rooms were really cool too. Those ships have an entire city below where all the workers stay.
 
I wasn't a huge fan of the cruise we did. The food was so so. However the biggest thing to me is a boat for 5 days isn't my thing. I like to do things locals do, see little bars, sites, etc. When you dock the the tourist trap you just don't have enough time on the Islands to do stuff (at least the stuff I like to do)

And the Bahamas is the worst too, dirty, crappy tourist trap. Would much rather go to other locations.
 
x2 on the Faster to the Fun pass on Carnival, gets you where you want to go faster, and x2 on the ship tour, worth it.
 
And there is always a way to bring booze on board.

Mouthwash bottles carefully taken apart to keep the plastic coating, shampoo bottles, etc.
 
Back
Top