Going on a Cruise

[LovesTimone]

Keep in mind mainstream cruising is getting more casual. On NCL, you can wear shorts in most MDR’s and specialty restaurants, the most restrictive just require pants or jeans. No need to stick with the buffet.

When I said a bit dressed up... I should have clarified... a bit dressed up means, out of a bathing suit with a cover-up, or old cut off shorts and a T-shirt... into some nice short and top or a sun dress... not really fancy, more of a nice casual...

My friends are the people you see in the buffet line, with a cover up on...or T-shirt with wet spots over board shorts... That's all they bring when they cruise, both of them work in environments that call for him to wear a suit everyday, and she wear a suit or dress with a jacket and high heels daily...so they love to just bum around, when cruising...

I think that's why people love to cruise more and more now... you can just whatever you want to do.....do a lot or nothing at all...

 

[Darcy03231]

We just sailed on the Norwegian Escape with a group of mixed ages. I would highly recommend this ship. There is so much to see and do on-board for everyone. We sailed during a busy time and never waited more than 10 minutes for a table. Food and entertainment were excellent. Another nice thing is that if you're on a tight budget there's so much to see/do on the ship you don't have to do a lot of expensive excursions. We've cruise Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess, Holland America and this was our first Norwegian cruise. It definitely won't be our last. We all agreed it was the best overall cruise to date.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

We did a Disney cruise 5 years ago and a Carnival 2 years ago. Planning our next Carnival next year.

 

[neatokimmo]

I stalk cruise prices for work. I feel like carnival has the lowest prices when you do a western route. I am not sure which ship will be homed in New Orleans in 2020, but the Dream has some excellent prices. When we went on her, we stayed in an interior lido cabin. I really liked being able to easily return to my cabin from the pool. It was also handy for grabbing breakfast to go from the lido buffet.

 

[neatokimmo]

We did a Disney cruise 5 years ago and a Carnival 2 years ago. Planning our next Carnival next year.

Which one are you looking at? We are considering the 8 day on the new ship in October

 

[DisMommyTX]

We have cruised 20+ times, mostly with Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian, but have also been on DCL, Princess, Celebrity, and a couple others. Celebrity and Princess were definitely older crowds, but we loved the educational seminars. DCL had characters, but at 2-3 times the cost for a comparable cruise and the experience was not 2-3 times better Carnival, RCL and NCL were all comparable with newer ships on all three generally better than the older ships on all three. The 3-4 day voyages tend to have the newest staff and most turnover, so they tend to be the most hit or miss on all three lines. The week long sailings on relatively new ships tended to be the better staff, food, and entertainment on all three.

RCL is the best for kids hands down. In our experience, their shows are more kid-friendly than any other line (except DCL). They tend to show family-friendly movies and have lots of activities going on throughout the day. Our kids love the rock walls, ice rink, hot tubs, movies by the pool, water slides, game shows, and food options.

Carnival is a great option as well and usually has the most choices for different ports and sailing dates. The shows and movies aren't always appropriate for kids, and most of their ships don't have as many activities on board for families, but we all have a great time anyway. We usually choose cruises based on ports we want to try and often have very limited travel dates, so Carnival gets a lot of our business.

DH and I alone enjoy NCL, particularly for the live music, dining options, and free drink packages! Unfortunately, the shows are not family friendly with costumes and choreography I don't want to explain to my 9yo with special needs, and they tend to be more disco and 70's themed, so not particularly appealing to any of us. We often find ourselves bored with nothing of interest going on anywhere on the ship--this happens on other lines too, but I think more with NCL. We are going to Hawaii next winter on NCL so hopefully that ships will cater more to families. We haven't been on their newest ships, so this might not be a fair assessment as those seem to be targeting more of the family crowd.

 

[Scillycruisers]

We cruised 5 times with DCL before looking elsewhere due to price and the same ports over and over (we are very restricted with dates so have to take whatever itinerary is available). Have tried NCL Getaway and Carnival Magic so far & are booked onto RC Freedom OTS in Feb. Wouldn't cruise NCL again without doing all specialty dining, the MDR was very poor for food & service. Carnival Magic was really great and DS said it was his best cruise so far - there was more for him to do as he gets older (he was 10). Also even with booking a suite, what we saved over DCL paid for a good chunk of a WDW stay before the cruise.
We would have booked back on the Carnival Magic for Feb, except the itinerary was returning to ports we had done several times before with DCL and the FOTS had a better itinerary for us, though we aren't springing for a suite!

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Which one are you looking at? We are considering the 8 day on the new ship in October

Next October too. Seven day on the Carnival Dream out of New Orleans.

 

[okeydokey]

The food on NCL is not good. For value, we love Celebrity.

 

[jen7233]

We are going an our 11th cruise between DH and I. The kids have been on a few of them with us, and the other cruises we did before they were born.

Our most-cruised line has been Carnival. That's what we are booked for this summer. We've been on RCCL twice. One we didn't like as much yes it was smaller but the weather (RCCL Monarch), and one we did (RCCL Liberty). Haven't ever been on a DCL, Norwegian, or Princess. I would like to try NCL, but the timelines have never matched up with the port and times. The smaller cruises don't really disappoint me, some of our first cruises were on the smaller ships on now defunct cruise lines out of business. But, we didn't have our youngest ones then, so different experience to us. But, our kids like to explore a bit on board, and they think all the areas pretty cool, like the arcades and pools, and dining experiences, so we kind of do look for different things to do on board now with them along. They loved the RCCL Liberty and the flow rider, and rock wall, and ice skating.

What we look for now though is the cruise itinerary, the timeline for work or school, the cost, the travel to and from the departure port if we feel like driving or flying, and yes, the type of boat. There are also some ports in the itinerary I just don't want to go back to, and some that I love to revisit, so those factor in decisions.

Also, the time of year and what is a better port to go out of factoring weather, etc. You can't predict the weather, I know, any minute the weather can change, but, we did one cruise out of Long Beach in December once (the first mentioned - RCCL Monarch) and happened to be an overcast, drizzly, and chilly week, even in the ports, so we do usually want to go out of a port where the weather and time of year is at least supposed to be warmer because we prefer to cruise in warm or hot weather. Haven't had a hurricane issue *knock on wood* but we have missed one by a few weeks.

 

[jen7233]

I think that's why people love to cruise more and more now... you can just whatever you want to do.....do a lot or nothing at all...

I remember our first few cruises, formal night was actually formal night. It's changed a lot, and we are more casual now and prefer it casual. But, I do remember many years ago taking and wearing a ball gown and got the hair done in the spa in an up-do. Oh boy. Now, I'll wear slacks or skirt to the dining room, and the buffet places, I'll wear shorts, no matter. But even in the dining rooms, I'll see whatever, and I let my boys wear shorts in the dining room. Sometimes though, I'll still occasionally see some decked out people and that's kind of fun. Fun for me to see them, but I don't any longer feel like packing all that extra stuff! I'm way too casual now!

 

[HopperFan]

First was on Carnival, last two on RCL and going again in November on RCL (Freedom of Seas, Oasis and next up Harmony). Will start looking at the Symphony once our trip is complete for the next one.

I LOVE the big ships; there is so much to do for everyone of all ages, the pool decks are not crowded, so many food options, never felt crowded, several different shows ... I honestly don't even care about getting off as there is plenty to explore.

Food was good, lots of options. I REALLY liked the staff as they were from all over the world, very interesting and great to talk to. We actually compared lots of cruises for the next one but I just couldn't break away from RCL for fear I'd be disappointed.

 

[jen7233]

Some ships offer some different types of cabins now, like I am really interested to try a Havana cabin one day on the Carnival Vista. There is a particular pool with the guests in those cabins exclusively before 7pm.

I would love to go on DCL, just can't convince DH on it due to the cost. That's on the bucket list. Anyway, I mentioned the dress code in my previous post, but we always all take a pair of slacks anyway. Just in case the main dining room wanted to adhere to slacks on a more formal night and would say something, and also sometimes I feel a little chilly from AC. Slacks being khaki pants for the kids or something similar, and they are like me sometimes get chilly from AC.

 

[Denise W]

Some ships offer some different types of cabins now, like I am really interested to try a Havana cabin one day on the Carnival Vista. There is a particular pool with the guests in those cabins exclusively before 7pm.

I would love to go on DCL, just can't convince DH on it due to the cost. That's on the bucket list. Anyway, I mentioned the dress code in my previous post, but we always all take a pair of slacks anyway. Just in case the main dining room wanted to adhere to slacks on a more formal night and would say something, and also sometimes I feel a little chilly from AC. Slacks being khaki pants for the kids or something similar, and they are like me sometimes get chilly from AC.

Do you mean The Haven on some NCL ships? That is their suite/concierge area. It looks very nice!
Denise

 

[HeatherC]

We love a Royal Caribbean and are sailing on an 8 night in cruise in February on the Freedom of the Seas with or three kids. Our kids are now 21,19 and 16 but this will be there 6 th cruise.

DH and I have sailed on Celebrity, Carnival and Princess as well. For families we just love the Royal Caribbean big ships....Voyager class or larger. For couples we loved Princess and found Celebrity a little too sedate for our liking. If the price was right we would definitely do one of their larger and newer ships which offer much more amenities than their older smaller ships.

Also agree on cruisecritic. It is like the DIS for cruising.

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

We've done Celebrity (2), NCL (1), and Carnival (9). Doing our 10th Carnival in August.

We love Carnival, and are Gold status. Budget friendly, tons of to do, comfortable state rooms (though we aren't in there much). We also live in FL (20 minutes from Port of Tampa) so it's pretty easy for us.

I would love to do DCL but I can't justify the cost.

 

[jen7233]

Do you mean The Haven on some NCL ships? That is their suite/concierge area. It looks very nice!

No, there is an area on the Carnival Vista ship called Havana pool and staterooms. I was looking into these and it looked fun. I haven't been on NCL yet! Hope to one day.

Also agree on cruisecritic. It is like the DIS for cruising.

Yes, I get a ton of my info from there, and sometimes some great ideas!

We've done Celebrity (2), NCL (1), and Carnival (9). Doing our 10th Carnival in August.

Enjoy! Number 10 is a great number. We haven't quite done that yet.

 

[Denise W]

We are sailing Sunday on Anthem of the Seas and are booked for a Baltic cruise on Brilliance of the Seas in July. We have sailed DCL, NCL,
Carnival, Celebrity, and RCCL. We love cruising!
Denise

 

[CandleontheWater]

We really love cruising and have done Disney, Carnival and NCL. I really like Carnival, I think it is a good value for the price. I mean, we loved our Disney cruise, but at three times the cost of a Carnival cruise, I don't think I loved it three times as much. I am really looking forward to trying Royal Caribbean in the future, but I want to make sure my kids are BOTH tall enough for all the fun activities before we book. I don't want to take them on a cruise with all kinds of fun things, like the big slides and flowrider and rock climbing wall, only to have them not be able to experience them. We have a few years left to go, but we will get there!