Quick advice for a first time cruiser?
 

OK, so my father is turning 70 later this month and he and my mom want to take our family (5 adults, 2 kids) on a cruise in June. Looking to probably do a 4-5 night deal and would like to upgrade to suites with a balcony for a little more space. Figure we could do 3 adults in one room and 2 adults/2 kids in the other with pull out sofas.

So, I was looking at Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas 4 night Bahamas cruise that leaves from Miami.

Other than that, I have no idea what I am doing. Not sure if 4 or 5 nights make a difference, what ports to try and target, if this older ship is even a good option. Help!

I am guessing that we will do a mix of snorkeling and walking the ports with some rest and relaxation while on the ship. My wife would be a big fan of a decent gym and a nice pool on the boat.

Anyone give me advice or point me out to a website to visit? Sorry, I am so lost!

CruiseCritic.com is the Flyertalk of the cruise world. You can get some good reviews there.

Have fun! 4-5 days is a good length for a first cruise to see if you like it.

(Depending on the ages of the kids, you may want to reconsider balcony.)

Thanks so much. Older kids 12 & 13

Have a great cruise!

OP: Advice for first time cruiser based in USA: Seven-day Alaska cruise. Or, seven-day round-the islands Hawaii cruise.

Have fun!

day one is getting on the boat. last day is getting off the boat. might consider a longer trip. wife and i like grandeur. it is being refurbished this summer. food is good. staff is great. i do not recall 2x pull out sofas. extra's are a killer.

we are doing a 9 day in august on grandeur. if you want any particulars about the boat, PM me

Thanks for the input so far. My parents have done the Alaska route a couple of times but never the Bahamas/Caribbean. I hear you on burning a day on each side, but I'm not sure a 7-day+ makes sense for us first timers. Honestly, afraid we might not like it and be stuck! :)

I've been happy buying cruises from www.vacationstogo.com. In fact, the specific agent is Katrina Long ([email protected]). She seems to have a knack for finding the better deals.

You might find three rooms with a couple of them inside (or oceanview) and one balcony (or suite) to be roughly the same cost as two suites. And there would be three bathrooms.

Some of the shore activities are wonderful for kids. My granddaughter loved a zip line and snorkeling.

I'm big on "toe-in-the-water" too. My first cruise was 3 nights Seattle to Vancouver. It worked, and I've been back for 7 or 8 more, including a transatlantic.

You spend four nights at sea, but only make three stops as the first and last day are for boarding/disembarking the ship.

Monday-Board Miami leave port around 5 pm, usually some shows and a pool party during the night.
Tuesday-Arrive in either Freeport or Nassau before sunrise, leave near sunset
Wednesday-Arrive at the other city or their private island before sunrise leave near sunset
Thursday-arrive before sunrise in the final port of call, leave at sunset
Friday-arrive before sunrise, but can not get off ship until Customs clears it. Usually starts around 7 am, but can start as late as 8 am as well

I live in SFLA, and am used to the temperature and humidity, but a June cruise in the Caribbean or the Bahamas can be unbearable as the temperatures are usually in the high 80's to low 90's with the humidity close to 100 %. This will put the feel-like temperatures over 100 degrees.

I would suggest maybe a cruise out of NY or Baltimore going to Bermuda. You will spend some relaxing days at sea which can be cooler.

One important thing to look into if you do a cruise in June is Insurance. We have seen in the past hurricanes or other tropical systems force a change in itineraries of the ships as they "go around" the storms. Insurance will help cover any additional expenses incurred due to delays of return to original port due to a storm.

I have used cruises.com to look for cruises, as they can show you different lines with similar cruises. But sometimes, I have gotten better deals by booking directly with the cruise line.

Good luck

Thanks for that link - they seem to have pretty good deals. I will reach out to Katrina next week.

Eyeballing a Royal Caribbean on the Oasis ship. Looks amazing.

I find the Vacations To Go website very functional for the way I like to search. After I've narrowed down to perhaps my possible time frame, destinations and other detail and get a list of possibilities, I change the "Status Column" (right hand side) to price per night by clicking on the underlined "Price Per Night". Then I click on the "Price Per Night" column heading and it sorts by price per night. The bargains automatically bubble to the top. You also can get the rate information for Cheapest Overall,OceanView,Balcony or Suite (click on what you want in the header).

Then the "Custom Search" is really powerful, letting me look at something as specific as my choices for Transatlantic, April 2018, 10-13 nights, Oceanview, Celebrity, 4.5* and higher ship, visiting Tokyo. It is right under the red "Show Me the Deals!" on the left side. Brilliantly designed tool.

You will probably find you are looking at slightly higher rates than your parents. I was discussing cruises with a son, and we finally figured out that mine automatically was giving me the 55+ lower rates.

While most of my cruises have been a simple matter of me emailing or calling and telling them what I'd like them to hold until I have airfare set, the couple times I've had minor issues VTG has promptly helped me sort them out. Once I was traveling a couple weeks ahead of the cruise (Rome departure) and their normal mailing of documents to my home was within that time frame. They simply had the stuff mailed earlier. I can't remember the other issue, but do remember it was some sort of problem and they fixed it. I would be remembering if they hadn't.

Good luck to you.

One piece of advice: always fly to your departure port at least one day in advance if at all possible. This saved me when weather made me miss the once a day flight to SMX to meet my ship. You can spend the extra day at the beach, or maybe Kennedy Space Center if you leave from Port Canaveral.

Yeah, that is definitely the plan. So, if we were to fly into Orlando - what do people normally do to get from the airport to Port Canaveral (knowing we would not need a car for the duration of our cruise). Car service?

Unless you stop at a port using tenders, you will not be getting on and off a boat:confused:. You will be getting on and off a ship. A boat is what they put on the ship to save you.;)
FYI, never use the term "boat" around any of the ships officers.

Totally agree with the above statement. Ships can carry boats, but boats cannot carry ships.