New to Cruise

[FriendshipTeacher]

Hi everyone...I am completely new to this whole cruising thing. My parents have been on cruises before and loved them but I myself have never ventured out. My friend and I have decided that a cruise during February break would be a great way to get away for a little while. Because we are both teachers, our time off is decided for us. But we are looking for suggestions.

We want to visit the Caribbean but unsure of where exactly to go. We thought about St. Thomas but I have heard different things about it. Barbados also sounds fun. So here are my questions:

1. Favorite Cruise? Ships? Crusie Lines?

2. Favorite Hot Spots? Destinations?

3. Best City to Sail from?

Any other help would be great. Thanks so much.

[Mebert]

FriendshipTeacher,

Welcome to CruiseCrazies.

There are so many great cruises to and in the Caribbean. If you ask me, all of them are great. There was never a cruise that I did not enjoy.

My very first cruise, the cruise that got me hooked on cruising, was on the Carnival Destiny that sailed out of Puerto Rico. The Destiny has a 7 day itinerary and makes stops in St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, Aruba and back to Puerto Rico. The itinerary packs in quite a few islands and gives a lot of bang for your buck.

I forgot to mention that the ship is very beautiful too. :grin: :grin:

[JoeyandDavid]

Hi FriendshipTeacher, Depending on the experience you want… do you want PARTY!!

Do you want a laid back atmosphere….do you want an more aggressive athlete rock climbing surfing type atmosphere or do you want pampered… these are questions you need to ask yourself.. Once you do that, the choices become easier.

I know all of us here want your first experience to be a special one just as it was for us... anything we can do to help lets us know…

Nothing is worse than picking the ideal itinerary but sailing it on the wrong ship..

Good luck

[Suzila]

Hi! Welcome to our group. I'm sure we can all help you choose the right first cruise.

A little more info would be helpful...like the others asked, what type of vacation do you want? Relaxing or adventurous?

The 'easiest' sailing would be just to drive to the port and get on the ship. You didn't say where you live. You can drive to a port in one of the coast cities. If not, you'll need to make arrangements for air first, then the cruise. For your first cruise, it may be easier to allow a cruise agent to do all that for you so you have a back up.

So, let us know a little more about what you're looking for, and we'll all try to help you out.

Again, welcome!

[Mebert]

FriendshipTeacher,

JoeyandDavid and Suzila are absolutely right. I'm so gung ho on cruises that I'm willing to go anywhere on anything.

You should first develop a profile of yourself and your traveling companion and a budget. That will pretty much expand or narrow your choices.

In your profile you might think about:

1. The size of the ship you'd like to sail on

2. The ratio of crew to guests

3. The type of cabin you'd like to be in: inside, outside, suite, balcony

4. The type of entertainment: shows, lectures, classes or experiential

5. Must see ports (but be prepared for a change in itinerary based on weather or other unforseen emergency)

There are a few other things to consider that some other CruiseCrazies will probably bring up. I'm almost certain you'll get hooked like the rest of us. It's a good disease to have.

[JoeyandDavid]

It sounds like you guys might enjoy Carnival as a first cruise...Lots of people here are much more Carnival experts than I am.. But it sounds like you want to kick up your heels and let the chalk dust fly where it may....Carnival is a good line when you want to do that, JMHO..

what do the other Crazies think????

[sailingrose]

Welcome to Crazies! I agree with the others more info needed. Each line is very different in respect to night life and it can also vary by ship and crew.

[Mebert]

Most of my cruises have been on Carnival. I think Carnival and Carnival passengers get a bum rap because there is a perception that Carnival cruisers are party people and disruptive or the ships are taken over by children.

I assume that you will be off at the same time children will be out of school so a number of children on board may be a consideration for you, but do not fear. That was one of my greatest fears too. I wanted to be away from children.

Carnival does a good job in controling the number of children on board. I've rarely had a problem with children or my fellow passengers and I'm not exactly a party person.

I believe that Carnival would be good if you're on a budget. I don't believe that the children on board would ruin your cruise. They don't usually go into the adult areas and I've rarely seen children be a problem in the main dining rooms. Children will not ruin your show experiences because hardly any of them show up.

I'm still pushing that Carnival Destiny cruise out of Puerto Rico. I think you would really enjoy that itinerary. If you can swing a couple of days in Puerto Rico before the cruise you might enjoy that too.

I don't know where you are but if you are near a cruise ship terminal, check out what ships sail from the terminal near you. That would knock out flight concerns and give you more funds to dedicate towards your cruise.

Give us a little more information as to where you are. Can you drive to a cruise terminal? Do you prefer to fly somewhere and visit the city or country you fly into?

Let us know.

[FriendshipTeacher]

Thank you everyone for the great advice. Some answers to some questions. Yes, we would be off the same time as children but not all schools have the same vacation so the number of children on board is not a concern. We figure there will always be some children on board. We have seen the itinerary for the Carnival Destiny and we like what we see. We like the idea of it leaving out of Puerto Rico, even though that means more money for us. We are from Connecticut so we figure we have to fly somewhere to catch a boat, somewhere in Florida. We do not have much time so seeing more of San Juan seems impossible.

Some other things we are looking for are a fun night life. Does the Carnival cruise have things to do at night on boat? If so, what are they? This will be the first cruise for both of us and we have no idea what we are getting into. Safety I guess would be another issue. With things that you hear on the news we want to make sure wherever we go we will be safe. Mebert--you mentioned adult areas...what did you mean? As for what kind of vacation we want...we want a little of everything. The ability to have adventure, the excitement of party, and the relaxing of sitting back, soaking in the sun. We not really concerned with size or number of employees, actually we didn't even think about that. Overall, we want to have fun and we think any cruise would do that. Just curious if something or someplace is better than the others.

[schatje]

I agree that Carnival might be a good line to start with because of the cost factor etc. I would do some research as to where you would like to go and then all you have to do is fill in the blanks when you actually want to book the cruise. They will ask you where you want to go and what port you want to sail out of etc. Sailing out of the USA is less expensive when you need airfare. Let the preparation be part of the fun :smiley: