Cruise Vacations

[jcme]

I've been trying to think of where to go on vaction and I've been thinking about a cruise. It seems that there are a lot of great deals on cruises right now. I also love the fact that many cruises no longer require you to "dress up".

I know there are several ladies on this board that have been on cruises or will be going. Just wondering if you can share any information on what to look for in planning a cruise vacation.

Have any of you used the last minute or travel bargain sites to plan your cruise vacation? How far in advance did you plan your trip? Where did you go? How long did you go for?

Have any of you cruised solo? I'm single and prefer to travel with a friend, it's been rough in this economy to coordinate travel plans with others.

Take care

[YellowRoseTex]

:wave: JC,
We just got back from a cruise. It was our first cruise ever. We had a wonderful time! We did an Alaskan cruise with Holland America. Our cruise was 7 days, but they did have longer cruises. I think we booked approximately 3 months in advance.

You are right, there is soooo much to choose from. One of the things that played into our decision on where to go is that we have been to Mexico before and I didn't want to go there. Than there was another cruise for the Caribbean but one of the stops was Jamaica and I really didn't have an interest in going there. I think it's important to first decide where you would like to go and go from there.

There were many single people on our cruise. The first night they had a singles get together. The cruise also had lots of activities during the day, not just for couples or singles, but where everyone could participate. At dinner, we were often seated with multiple people and everyone chatted and got to know each other. It really didn't matter whether you were alone or with others, everyone gabbed and chatted as if we were old friends.

We booked our cruise directly thru the cruise line. We had researched several different lines and settled on HAL as we liked their itinerary the best. I had also heard good things about the cruise line.

I can't say enough good things about the experience. I would highly recommend HAL for the friendliness and size of the ships. The ships aren't huge, but a nice size. When we were in port the other ships were nearly twice the size of ours. Than again, it is probably all about what you are looking for in your cruise experience. We prefer smaller and more intimate. We could head down to dinner and be there in just a few minutes, vs having to plan a hike and take rations. ;) I do believe that HAL is generally an older crowd, vs the teen crown of say a Disney cruise or what I have heard about Carnival.

Cruisecritic.com is a great resource for researching your options.

Good luck! And Happy Cruising! I think we will be doing another in the future.

[jcme]

Kim,

Thanks for the information. Sounds like you had a great time. Alaska is an awesome place to visit and one of my dream vacations is to do an Alaskan Cruise.

Initially I was thinking maybe a fall last minute cruise deal would work but they are recommending passports so the timing on that won't work since I need to get one.

I'm dreading winter even though it isn't cold yet so am thinking a 4-5 day Caribean cruise would be a good escape from the cold weather.

Take care

[40sladyz]

I have visited St Maarten twice in the past year. The rhino safari snorkeling tours are fantastic! I highly recommend it, if you have time.

[YellowRoseTex]

JC,
Yes, you will need a passport. A passport is now mandatory for any travel outside the U.S., including Mexico. I'm glad I got mine a few years ago, didn't need it at the time, but as I was off during the holidays dh thought it would be a good idea.

Good luck! Let us know what you decide to do. Vacations can be a hard decision. We had been procrastinating since February about our plans. :eek:

[Speaky Sue]

We enjoyed cruising on Royal Carribean and my parents also have cruised with Holland America. We've done the Mexico cruise and the Bahamas cruise. My parents have done Alaska, through the Panama Canal, and many of the Carribean Islands.

[dolphin_s88]

My hubby & I cruised to Mexico in Jan. 2007. I booked our cruise about 9 mos in advance. I used an online website to book our cruise. We left NE Oklahoma on a Friday morning amid rain/icy roads (nearly in a wreck south of OKC), got to Gainsville and the windows fogged over (went from freezing to heatwave-instantly)! Enjoyed our crusie (while son's were staying with relatives in power outages) in the warm weather. Came back into Galveston to COLD weather & we had left our heavy coats in truck at motel. It was a little cold til we got to truck to bundle up. Not to bad of a trip home at least no rain/snow/icy roads.

We went to Cozumel and Progreso on a 5 night cruise leaving from Galveston (Carnival Ecstacy). Our daughter & husband also went with us. There was a formal night, we did go & enjoyed it. I don't think I would go to it next time-we aren't dress up people. Did alot of formal pics, won't do so many next time.

We want to do more cruising in the future. My long term goal is to someday go to Alaska on Carnival to visit/see Sitka (my aunt/uncle/cousins lived there many years). Would also like to go to the Bahama's someday.

Our next cruise will probably be booked as a last-minute deal, using our past guest status!!!!We got our passports for our 1st cruise even tho at the time they kept changing the deadline for when they would be required.