Fob_Magi

Me and my fiance are thinking about having our wedding on a carribean cruise. and I was just curious about other peoples experiences on cruises. we were thinking of royal carribean 7 day cruise in january...

Wedding Experiences?
Cruise Experiences?
Hints/Tips?

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Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both.
For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, "If I live I will kill you, if I die you are forgiven".
Such is the Rule of Honor.

greytone

My recent cruise experiences have been on Celebrity, which is highly rated among the real nice, but not super ridiculously expensive category.

Their Millinium class ships are fantastic with very good food and service. The thing I like about them is that their are no public announcements, unlike other lines with the PA system never letting you think. You get the schedule printed and on your bed every night with turn down service. That class of ships also has a great specialty restaurant with a theme and memorabilia from a classic ship such as the Olympic, or the Normandy.

No, I don't get a kick-back....I have just had a good time on them.

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Glad-I-Ate-Her

Good choice for a wedding. I've been on 5 cruises and I've enjoyed them all. I've been on the Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Line (Love Boat), and Royal Caribean. I enjoyed the Royal Caribean the best. Royal Caribean mega ships are awesome!! I've been on two of them.

Here is my two cents worth, the next day's itinerary are placed in your cabin the night before. Just look over it and plan what you both want to do. Check off what you want to do but keep it on a loose schedule. There are usually alot of activities going on both and off the ship. I suggest that if you want to book a tour (off ship) that's popular, do so as early in the cruise possible. I also suggest eating at the early seating. Usually 6pm. The reason is that way it gives you time to relax after dinner (8pm) to enjoy the shows, disco, casino, lounges without any rush. There won't be many people at these events until 10pm. If you eat at the later seating 8pm, then when you get out at 10pm, most of the events are usally full. Also, you won't be able to enjoy the midnight buffets because you are too full!! My favorite!

Enjoy and good luck!!
Glad

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Fob_Magi

Thanks glad and greytone, you've been alot of help.

we are strongly consdering:

Ship: Mariner of the Seas (Royal Carribean)
Depart: San Juan
Stops: St. Thomas USVI, Phillipsburg St. Maarten, St. Johns Antigua, Casties, St. Lucia, Bridgetown Barbados.

Ship: Explorer of the Seas (Royal Carribean)
Depart: Miami
Stops: Labadee Hispanola, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Georgetown Grand Caymen, Cozumel Mexico.

we're also considering similar routes with norwegian.

__________________
Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward.
Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both.
For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, "If I live I will kill you, if I die you are forgiven".
Such is the Rule of Honor.

gov135

Never been on one myself.

But know people who have. And winter months, though a little expensive, they say is best. Here's why: no kids.

I've heard several funny (only after the fact) stories about parents not controlling their kids on cruise ships. So you may want to factor in which trip or cruise lines will have less kids. I suppose you'll have other things to attend to...

Oh, yeah. My vote, which counts for absolutely squat, is for the San Juan departure. My parents went on a Carribean cruise, and their two favorite stops were St. Marteen and St. John's/Antigua.

Have fun.

-Ever-

I've been on a few cruises recently with my family and have mixed views on all of them. To me, it basically comes down to what you are looking for. There are many different cruise lines, all which offer different things. The lower end ones like Carnival will be horrid for a newly wed couple looking to relax but amazing for a group of people looking to get silly. The more expensive, the better they are going to be in many ways. There will be less abnoxious people, the staff will smile more often, food will be of restaurant quality, and you will be pampered more. However I have a personal limit that ends around Celebrity lines. Anything above that, holland america, krystal, and so on are fancy fancy and usually only have one or two kids aboard the entire ship of 2,000! Talk about boring, however to each his own.
And then there comes the fact that while one person might recomend a line to you, the cruise itself will differ from place to place that it goes, the size of the boat, and the time of year. The smaller the more personal, bigger will bring more excitement.
I wish you the best of luck!

Here are the two cruises you mentioned earlier:

Ship: Mariner of the Seas (Royal Carribean)
Depart: San Juan
Stops: St. Thomas USVI, Phillipsburg St. Maarten, St. Johns Antigua, Casties, St. Lucia, Bridgetown Barbados.

Ship: Explorer of the Seas (Royal Carribean)
Depart: Miami
Stops: Labadee Hispanola, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Georgetown Grand Caymen, Cozumel Mexico.

Id first look at the size. If nearly the same size (around 2,000+), I'd then begin to look at where they go. The first one is much more exotic in my mind, maybe in the way that it would be more for the experienced cruiser. I've been to St Thomas which is amazing, st lucia, and barbados, all of which were fun but again pretty exotic. Of the second one, you cant go wrong with jamacia, never been to hispanola, grand caymen was a little boring, however cozumel is a blast (up there with st thomas). To be honest, both look amazing. I'd go off of size for sure. If one is 3.,000 and the other is 1500 you're going to have to decide what you're looking for. If they are nearly identical, go off of location, what you plan on doing (guided tours, scuba, shopping.....) and then the dates they travel. And newer ships=better of course
I'm jealous. Have a great time. Feel free to email me with any questions. Check out this link to pictures that I took a few weeks back on my trip! http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...&threadid=5306

-tim

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noodle

Congrats! My husband (then, my fiance) and I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise last October. We spent our honeymoon on it for 6 days. It was heaven on earth. LOVED IT. We cannot wait to do it again. Seriously, they treat your ass like royalty.

I remember one night when we came into the dining room to eat dinner, the head waiter saw us and before we even sat down, our favorite drinks (which we didn't write down for them to remember or anything) were waiting for us at the table we usually sat at. You can't get better service than that, my friend. That's just once example too. I am convinced the cruise lines are the last place that good customer service exists. We were worried about the kid factor and to be honest, they weren't annoying. The ship had places they could go away from he adults if they wanted so I think that helped.

Have fun!

P.S. If you happen to stop in Jamaica as one of your ports, the locals are VERY insistent on you buying their stuff. Like, seriously. If you're not a people person, don't venture into the villages. Stay on the boat or only visit the big stores.

Here was our itinerary:

The ship: Explorer of the Seas, Royal Caribbean
Departed from: Miami
Ports: Labadee Hispanola, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Georgetown Grand Caymen, Cozumel Mexico.

Fob_Magi

thank you guys
thanks alot noodle, thats the exact cruise we're taking.
anymore suggestions?

__________________
Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward.
Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both.
For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, "If I live I will kill you, if I die you are forgiven".
Such is the Rule of Honor.

popo

My wife and I went on a 4 day (Royal Carribean) cruise a little over a year ago. I can't say we'll ever be back on one.

We found it to be the epitome of cheese. Things we didn't like:

1) The food was plentiful but not very good (everyone else seemed to rave about it, though),

2) there was just one small non-salt water pool on deck,

3) the fact that they decide who you sit with at dinner is ridiculous,

4) asking every 2.3 minutes if you want a $7 cocktail, even placing it in your hand then asking how you want to charge it,

5) the loud obnoxious heavily-tattooed folks chugging the coors light cans in the pool,

6) the extreme cheese of returning to your room and seeing envelopes laid out for each staff member with the TV tuned to a station telling you how much to tip and how to do it.

We went to Grand Lido in Jamaica for our honeymoon and that is a place I can't recommend highly enough. Incredible food, lush scenery, very helpful but NOT pushy staff, etc. Great great place.

If you want to go the cruise route so you can see different islands, keep in mind that in one afternoon you're not taking in the culture. Choose one island and have another one to look forward to another day.

Glad-I-Ate-Her

If you do finally go to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, I suggest walking up the Dunn's River Falls. The ship will set up a guide to help you walk up it. Its a blast all the cool running water rushing all around you! I've done it twice and loved it!!

Also, on the same itinerary, Grand Caymen is very laid back but very beautiful. The 7 mile beach is probably the most beautiful beach I've ever been to. It has snow white powdery sand. You could walk for about a block into the ocean and it would be only waist deep.

The snorkeling in Grand Cayman and Cozumel is something I highly recommend. You would be swimming in 40 feet of water and you can see the bottom like if you were in a pool. That side of the Caribean has very clear and warm water.

Have a great time!

Glad

__________________
I'm "Glad I Ate Her" because the payback was worth it!!

wondash

I've sailed on both Celebrity (Galaxy) and Royal Caribbean (Adventure Of The Seas). The RC ship is HUGE. It dwarfs most other cruise ships. Lot's of people, lots of activities (rock climbing, ice skating, etc.). Although the Celebrity ship was smaller, it felt more like a ship and less like a hotel (wood decks, round windows, etc.). The food was better on Celebrity. Service was fine on both.

Podmore

I enjoyed our alaskan cruise very much, but neither my wife nor I would go on any cruise right now. There are just way too many outbreaks of mass flu on them lately. They scrub a ship down with disinfectant and still hundreds of people get very ill. Who knows what's causing it, but it sure makes us uncomfortable.

Fob_Magi

yes the royal carribean ship we are going on is huge, it's currently the largest ship afloat ..

__________________
Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward.
Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both.
For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, "If I live I will kill you, if I die you are forgiven".
Such is the Rule of Honor.

freedomdowntime

I've been on only one cruise so far so I can't compare but I enjoyed Carnivil (Paradice) The food wasn't outstanding. The service is nice. The shows are for the most part disappointing. HOWEVER, for doing what we wanted to do (scuba dive) it was perfect because we could get to many ports and dive many differnt places in a fairly short amount of time (7 days). The kids on Carnival are there but didn't really seem annoying unless you want to get in the pool. One thing I dislike about cruises is this constent "STOP!!!!! YOU WILL HAVE YOUR PICTURE TAKEN NOW!!!!! YOU WILL BUY IT AND LIKE IT!!!!!" I didn't get off the boat at a port of call to get my picture taken. Also disapointed that pools and jacozzis don't stay open very late. Cruising is really better then having to repack and fly from island to island. On your cruise I reccomend spending some time in the front top of the boat. Yes it is winding but the view is great and really great place to view the ocean or stars at night. =) (sorry if I sounded negitive)