cruisesonly.com with Marriott points
Nov 17, 2011, 5:58 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 35
cruisesonly.com with Marriott points
We are looking for a last minute cruise idea (7-ish days) mid-December. We want to leave from the eastern US. We got married last week and were too busy with work to plan a trip. Ideally we will cruise to 4 different places to scout out future Marriott rewards trips. We don't love crowds, kids, or waiting in line (or waiting for anything). My concerns are the long lines coming and going, cabin location, and food quality.
any suggestions? :-)
any suggestions? :-)
Nov 17, 2011, 6:31 pm
#2
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Back to Florida...... bye London
Programs: Hilton, AA,, Delta
Posts: 5,149
The more expensive the cruise the less lines and higher service (in general).
Your requirements are too vague. You need to see where Marriott has properties and then see who cruises to those places.
Your requirements are too vague. You need to see where Marriott has properties and then see who cruises to those places.
Nov 19, 2011, 9:28 am
#4
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Phila, PA
Posts: 891
I suggest you find a good TA who specializes in cruising and use the agent's expertise. Then you can check the CruiseCritic.com forum site for the line you pick. Frequent cruisers will have suggestions on staterooms, such as avoiding one below the 'Lido' deck where the deck chairs are dragged about and the music can be loud.
Nov 19, 2011, 4:45 pm
#5
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Back to Florida...... bye London
Programs: Hilton, AA,, Delta
Posts: 5,149
If you want to go Carnival let me know. I will give you the details for my PVP and you can talk to her about your options. Carnival tends to be a bit "bown market" but we always have a lot of fun and the cabins are fine.
Nov 20, 2011, 1:45 am
#6
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Phila, PA
Posts: 891
Some Carnival ships leave from Tampa for the western Caribbean and that's an easy port to negotiate, much less hectic than Ft Lauderdale or Miami. I sailed on the Carnival Legend and had a lovely time, except we were below the Lido deck and were annoyed with the band noise late at night. (Live and learn.)
Nov 20, 2011, 11:34 pm
#8
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 8
Yes, twice. Had no problem with the price, cabin, or getting cruiseline loyalty discounts. I just do my own search for dates, ship, cabin, and price then call the special CruisesOnly # Marriott gives you when I'm ready to book. If you haven't already redeemed your points for certs, they will just conference in a Marriott rep who will verify on the phone that you want to redeem points and for how many. That's it. It's done. We just redeemed points for 2 $1000 vouchers in order to pay for a cruise on the Allure of the Seas with RCCL for 2 people - Western Carib. Great ship. Loads of fun. But, you might want to rethink cruising at all if you "don't like waiting for anything". Cruising is great, but it's not for everyone. Crowds, kids, waiting in line...it's all part of the experience on a cruise. And, there's no escape...unless you stay put in your cabin. Just being honest. Also, from experience, the cruise ship itself can make a huge difference. You might want to look into Celebrity for something more low key. We like the Solstice. Holland was a little too low key...but had very few kids. When we want to have fun, we like RCCL ships with the Oasis and Allure being our favorites. But, we also like the NCL Epic, Gem, and Pearl ships. If you want a nice itinerary, though, you should book the Eastern Carib vs. the Western. You will hit ports like St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Nassau (most of the time) which are more popular than Jamaica and Cozumel on the Western Carib itineraries. Hope this helps.
Nov 21, 2011, 7:40 am
#9
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 526
We used cruisesonly for our first cruise and it was just fine! The cruise lines you mentioned will ALL have lines and crowds. You need to go to the higher end lines like Crystal, Seabourn, SilverSea, etc. You might try Regent as it is all inclusive (as are the ones I just mentioned) and I believe not quite as crowded. Do go to cruisecritic and do your homework. I personally will try to avoid Royal Carib in future as our last cruise on that line was soooo crowded but, of course, it was a big ship. We are doing HAL over Christmas as it had the dates and itinerary I wanted. I wanted to do Regent but the dates were wrong.