Suggestions for first cruise.
 

For all our air travel, we have actually never been on a commercial cruise.

This weekend, however, we had cousins visiting from Florida who embarked this afternoon on the Norwegian Sky for cruise to Alaska, and that has started us thinking about taking a cruise.

What "first time cruise" suggestions do you have? We have already decided that we have to have a balcony, but don't know which cruise line to choose, where to go, etc., etc., etc. OBTW, we are of mature years and we love to dance--ballroom.

Punki,

You seem to be so well traveled and also as if you would be a terrific traveling companion.

Our family adores cruising. Maybe it's the fact that there is something for everyone. We love the pampering and the fact that we only unpack once. Since 1998 we have taken 5 cruises.

How to pick a cruise? Consider your budget. Having teenagers we need to choose a large ship so that there will be plenty of other kids. We have sailed on Holland America and Royal Carribean. We have been more that pleased with both. I consider them to be equivalent to Marriott in quality. I choose those lines (and Marriot) because I know I am going to get a fine, consistant (tho not necessarily ulta posh) product every time.

If you want something more elegant and upscale look into Seaborne or Chrystal or Silver Seas. I plan to do that when my kids are college grads.

The Holland and Royal ships are big enough that there is plenty to do. The entertainment is excellent. There is dancing (We love ball room dancing, too) The food is worthy of a B to B+. To me the food is not all that important. When you consider how many passengers they are serving I think they do a fine job with the food. As long as we're talking food, let me advise you to choose 2nd dinner seating. You will find it to be better especially if you want to do shore excursions. It also seems to be more popular than the 5:30 seating so ask for 2nd as soon as you book.

You are on the right track about a verandah cabin. You will feel like you have so much more space and you will thoroughly enjoy having your own private outdoor spot. My husband won't go without the verandah. On the lines I use the verandahs tend to get fully booked, so there is not near the discounting you can get with a lower level of cabin. We usually stay in what they call the minisuite. Those are perfectly adequate for us. We have stayed in the full suites as well and they are sumptuous.

Consider the itinerary. Do you want to totally relax and not be pressured to be on the go all the time? If so you might like Carribean. To us that is a little boring. If you want to relax also choose a cruise with many sea days. We have done European cruises the last 3 summers. They are very port intensive with not really enough time in each port. That can be frustrating, but we look at it as a great intro and we know where we would like to go back. The European cruises are an excellent chance to learn lots of history, geography, etc. Holland America has terrific port lecturers.

Alaska might be a good choice for the first time (It was ours). If you have not been there before it would be real easy for you to do since you are in Seattle, as I remember. Alaska is beautiful and the itinerary is not so intense.

Consider the time of year as well. The ships move around. In Winter the Panama Canal and South America are gems. In Fall the east coast and eastern Canada are popular. Carribean are year round. Europe is summer generally.

One last thought: think about arranging for your own shore excursions. The internet makes that fairly easy now days. You will save a ton of money and can tailor them to suit your interests. (like no shopping) The cruise lines will try to intimidate you into using their own (They say if you are late for sailing on their excursion they will hold the ship. If you are independent they will not. That is pretty much true so be careful). For example, I booked Egypt all day to Pyramids independently at way less than half price and we had a magnificent tour.

I could go on, but don't want to make this too long. I would be happy to share more thoughts.

Also, if anyone needs the name of a great cruise travel agent let me know. I have used two. One was horrible! The other has earned all of my business.

[This message has been edited by paradocs (edited 08-05-2001).]

There are so many factors in picking a cruise.

I'd probably say to start, figure out what part of the world you would like to go to. Beaches in the Caribbiean, islands in Greece, the baltic area, Antartica, The Far East, the Mid East, etc. Once you figure out where you want ot go then you can start narrowing down the ships.

Base it also on your interests, if you have little interest in beaches and snorkling, then the Caribbiean may not be for you. If you love history, ruins, and castles, then there are cruises that get you into great places to visit those too.

If you are not sure you would like a cruise or not I would suggest starting with a seven day voyage. If you think you would like it, then consider a ten day or longer trip. I don't think the three day trips are long enough to enjoy.

Like lots of people around? Then consider one of the larger mega ships. Not so sure about lots of people around? then one of the smaller ships. There are very good deals on both ends of the scale all over the world, so picking a ship that fits your needs shouldn't be an issue.

As to the balcony, we certainly want one on each cruise, but always compare the prices with and without one. Some times the difference is impossible to justify, and the money is better spent on other aspects of the vacation. There are places I wouldn't want to do without a balcony (Alaska comes to mind) and places that it really wouldn't matter, so always compare both with and without. Sometimes the price difference is small, sometimes it's huge.

Saying all that, the single best bit of advice I can give you is to find a cruise agent (not a travel agent that sells cruises too, but an agent who does nothing but cruises) if you can and become their best friend. Somebody who sacutlly gets out there and has been to the places you are thinking about on different lines is an incredible asset when cruising, and may or may not be any more expensive then a discount agency. Get the videos for the lines and locations you are considering, and look at the people on the ships and see if you would fit into that crowd (the travel agency should let you borrow them) or not.

To me, with prices way below $100 per person per day now for cruising, it's one of the absolute best vacation deals out there, and gets us to places we would never go to for a traditional vacation.

I've taken about 15 cruises on various lines. Princess is by far the best of the low-end cruise lines. Royal Caribbean is also very nice but the food is much better on Princess.

But what about safety? Most of these cruise ships are registered outside the US. In addition when cruising on international waters, what safeguards are there to protect female passengers, for example, from aggressive crew members who probably are not US citizens? Sexual assault does not seem rare according to reports in the New York Times.

The Travel Channel has done exposes on the risks for women in particular on these cruise ships. Suppose I want to travel alone and try cruising, what do you all recommend I look for in a ship in terms of making sure I am safe and that criminal acts will not only be tolerated but will be prosecuted?

How do cruises you all have gone on address this? What should I look for in selecting a cruise given my concern for safety?

[This message has been edited by Analise (edited 08-08-2001).]

You shouldn't take a cruise, you will be way too worried about everything.

And while there have been incidents, compared to the number of people cruising, they are very few and very far between. Common sense, as always prevails, stick to public areas, stay out of dark corners, etc.

I really don't understand what the citizenship of the crew has to do with somebody being assaulted, but that is a different story.

While the ships are registered in other countries, they are inspected by many US government agencies (at least the ones that have port stops in the US are). The Coast Guard inspections and the CDC inspection results and rankings are very easily available online that address many of the safety and health issues.

The Travel Channel made a big deal about citizenship. They said that a cruise line could quickly send the accused crew member back to his native country and there would be nothing victims could do.

I just wonder that if it's not a big deal, why would newspapers such at the Times or even the Travel Channel discuss it?

I don't walk around constantly with 'potential victim' branded on my forehead....this would make living in Manhattan quite a challenge. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif But I see nothing wrong with questioning which cruise lines are more attentive to this.

the lowest cost cabins run from ~ $100/day/per person double to $800/day per/day/per person [adv prices actual can be lots less] & they go up from there. with us, the route is #1, then the ship, then the time. we've been on 1 so far this year [black sea - venice] & are on 2 more [cph-nyc via oslo, faroes, iceland, greenland & newfoundland] & west coast of africa [cpt-lis] but were getting off in canaries. this will make ~ 15 cruises & we are having trouble finding ones w/o too much duplication of ports. my suggestation is for 1st cruise, make sure theres a port every day. if you are worked out , take a positioning trip across the atlantic. the problem is that ships now have email & airplanes have phones.

[This message has been edited by clacko (edited 08-12-2001).]

If you live in New York I wouldn't be worried about crime on a cruise ship...

Punki, you two are WAY too young for Princess to Alaska, trust me. How old are they on those cruises? Well, on ours, first day out a guy died. YES. So, try Celebrity - clearly the best food on the seas. How adventurous are you? Our first cruise was to Antarctica! If you start with the Caribbean, do the Southern route - much more interesting, small islands, easy to see everything in a day. Grenada looks just like a picture postcard when you sail in. Or maybe the Panama Canal. You are not likely to get a verandah at under $100/day.

Remember the rule of thumb is that the longer the cruise and the more expensive per day, the older the crowd (I am talking 80 yr olds!). Take a gander at www.cruisereviews.com for advice. No one much likes Norwegian and Carnival is better liked than expected plus the crowd is more varied in age. Good luck! Knowing you, you will organize a FlyerTalk cruise and we will all go with you! That would really be fun!

On our cruise, everyone seemed to be 'past cruisers' all comparing rates.

Seems like most had at least 2 for 1!!!!!!!

I haven't found out the way to price cheapest. Perhaps someone can help us there??? hint hint.

But, do not pay too much. Deep discounts should be available.

Hey, my wife and I did Alaska on Princess for our honeymoon (both in our 30's at the time) and loved it. Yes, the crowd was a bit older, but they were all fascinitating and interesting people.

For the best prices, you need to find a good agent. Get on all the mailing lists from the cruise lines, the deals are incredible. There are many many cruises out there to very exotic places for $70 per person per day right now, they are discounting prices down to pretty much nothing. Ten days in Tahiti for under $800 pper, stuff like that. (without airfare).

I took my first cruise to Alaska with one of my friends from college aboard Holland America & had a phenominal time! With Alaska, I would strongly recommend doing a "cruise-tour" since it is so huge. For my 2 week trip, only 3 days of it were spent on the ship (a nice little introduction to cruising) and the rest were trips on land. We got to see so much from Vancouver to Juneau to Fairbanks to Denali to Anchorage! As for age of cruise patrons, let's just say my friend & I had a bunch of adopted grandparents. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

It did prepare me for my cruise from New Zealand to Australia which was also amazing!

------------------
Regards,
- Anna

I've only done one cruise but had a great time on it. Went from Acapulco to San Juan, PR via the Panama canel during New Years on Royal Caribbean. Our room (with a veranda) ran about $800 a day for an 11 day / 10 night cruise.

I'm hoping you meant $800 for the cruise, not per day. If it was that amount, I hope it was worth it.