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Originally Posted by Daoust
My wife and I, who have been married for 5 years, and have yet to go on a honeymoon, have been talking about finally going on one. We both would like to maybe go on a cruise. We're thinking Caribbean. It won't be Alaskan, or Mediterranean.
Have any of you fine folks been on a Cruise? What did you take? Carnival? Princess? What was it like? Any tips? What should I look for? What should I avoid? When did you go?
Also, have any of you gone on cruises you paid for with Airmiles?
Any other hints or tips you could give would be great. Thanks.
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Royal Caribbean two years ago.
The good:
The ship was great, the food was good, the people working the ship were pretty nice. The pre-package shore activities were mostly good. You don't need to pre-plan ANYTHING. Once you are on the ship, you are golden.
The neutral:
The on board entertainment was 'ok', just not great. The pools are really pretty small for the number of people on board, this becomes an issue on the 'sea days'. The on board activities and games are really pretty limited, oh and internet access at the time was 10 bucks an hour.
The bad:
The islands are basically giant jewelery stores. Good if you are looking for that sort of stuff, but bad otherwise. All the islands seem the same for this reason. You don't have enough time to really get out of the 'cruise' areas and get to see the 'real' island, plus if you are like me you are paranoid you will miss your ship. Even on the ship its about selling you stuff. Paintings, jewelery, time shares, whatever. Its not 'in your face' so much but its basically about shopping. Really I wouldn't call it a cruise as much as a well fed ship board shopping experience.
My wife and I took the cruise alone and last minute since the just prior God destroyed the Yucatan with a hurricane destroying the location we were going to. If I were to do another cruise it would be with a group of friends.
Recomendations: Bring books for the at sea days, and your normal 'sun' vacation wear. Don't forget to bring something more formal if you plan to eat in the main dining room. The food is good there so its worth it, plus its sort of fun to not be wearing the same casual you do every day.
Also be sure to investigate the cruise lines a bit. We felt Royal Caribbean was about right in the number of passengers for the size of the ship. Line like carnival are known for a younger party crowd which can be good, but they pack you in a bit tighter.
I am glad we did it, it was a good experience over all, and its a great way to get a package vacation, but unless we were retired I couldn't see us doing it more than once (or again we were going with a group of friends).