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NBR: Cruises... good deals? Basic questions...
I've never been on a cruise, but I'm hoping for a little help to guide my search. DH has been living in San Antonio for 6 months and returns in February. I think we are in desperate need of some alone time together. We are a tight budget, but I think I would be OK taking a little out of savings for a little vaca. I don't want to fly anywhere because that in itself with be a big expense, but if we could drive down to Galveston, we could drop DH off with the Grandparents in Houston.
So... here are my questions.
(1) Are there some cruise lines to stay away from (i.e., are some nicer/trashier than others)?
(2) Advise on how to find good deals for cruises out of Galveston
(3) How pregnant can you be before the cruiseline won't let you go?
(4) In February/March... where is a nice place to go?
(5) Where/how can I find a good deal on a cruise?
(6) General advise?
TIA!
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Re: NBR: Cruises... good deals? Basic questions...
(1) Are there some cruise lines to stay away from (i.e., are some nicer/trashier than others)?
I have been on a Carnival cruise and a Royal Caribbean cruise and of the two Carnival was my favorite but you can't really go wrong with either.
(2) Advise on how to find good deals for cruises out of Galveston
We just searched each cruise lines website and called. We got a better deal calling then online was showing.
(3) How pregnant can you be before the cruiseline won't let you go?
Can't help you with this one.
(4) In February/March... where is a nice place to go?
We went to the Caribbean around that time 3 years ago. I'm pretty sure that if you are sailing out of Galveston the only places to go is the Caribbean. With that said, I have been to Jamaica and Grand Cayman and loved both of those. Cozumel to me was good for shopping and snorkeling. We also went to Progresso/Yucatan and went on an awesome Mayan Ruin tour. Really, I think you can find something awesome to do no matter where your cruise goes.
(5) Where/how can I find a good deal on a cruise?
See #2
(6) General advise?
Get a room with a balcony if you can fit in your budget. A "inside" room has no windows and it really sucks not being able to see outside. The room with the windows wasn't all that useful either because if there was fog or anything we couldn't see out the window. We got a balcony on our last cruise and it was awesome. We ordered room service and sat on our balcony every morning in our robes and it was awesome.
TTC #1 since February 2011
BFP #1 1/14/12 EDD 9/24/12 m/c at 8w4d on 2/20/12
March 2012- Dx with PCOS, started metformin
July 2012- SA completely normal
I don't know the answer to most of your questions but I'll tell you what I do know. I adore Princess cruise lines. When our honeymoon could have been a complete disaster (through no fault of theirs) they went far, far above and beyond to help us out. I was hesitant to take a cruise but we ended up loving it.
Tripadvisor.com is my go to for planning vacations, a search on their forums could probably answer most of your questions if someone here can't.
1. Looks like Princess, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival are all out of Galveston.
Carnival- party ships
, you will get a younger crowd and the ships are flashy, and bright (think Vegas on the water). They are not "trashy" but definitely not as nice as some of the other lines. They are usually a little lower priced.
Royal Caribbean- very nice line, usually an older less "party" crowd than Carnival
Princess- along the same lines as RC
4. They pretty much all have similar itineraries- Mexico(Cozumel) or Bahamas. I would do one of the Cozumel itineraries over the bahamas.
6. take toiletries, sun block, bug spray and alcohol with you- it is all $$$ on the ship.
Check the rules regarding alcohol before you bring a bunch of stuff. We were allowed to bring wine onboard but not liquor. They took our liquor and gave it back to us on the last day of the cruise.
oh yeah- you have to smuggle it on board.
We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Galveston last February and it was awesome. We chose them because we were taking Kate with us and they were the only cruise line with activities for kids as young as Kate. It's the only cruise that I've been on so I can't really compare it to other lines, but the crowd seemed to be older.
We had a room without a window and it wasn't bad. My dad and stepmom had a balcony and it was awesome, but I personally would not pay for it.
We saw monkeys in Roatan, Honduras which was a lot of fun.
I like Norwegian cruise lines the best. I'm not a fan of eating with strangers and if just you and DH go then it's likely when it's time for the "nice" dinner you'll have a scheduled time with 2-3 other couples whom you've never met. It's not guaranteed that you'll like them. You might make instant friends and have somebody who you enjoy eating meals with but you might not. DH and I have never been more uncomfortable as eating with people who you have nothing in common with and can't have a decent conversation with.....makes for a long dinner. If you can find one that doesn't have scheduled dining or "freestyle cruising" go with that one.
As for being pregnant....I think most have a cut off of about 24/25 weeks. Some even require a doctors note saying how far along you are.
DH and I went in March and depending on where you go it's a good time. Avoid spring break weeks though if you can because you'll get a lot of the spring breakers/college kids. The price also goes up for those couple of weeks too.
No advice as I haven't been on a cruise, but.... Did I miss an announcement???!!??
(1) Are there some cruise lines to stay away from (i.e., are some nicer/trashier than others)?
I don't think it's so much the cruise line that matters as the ship that you are on. Try to get on the newest ship you can afford. The nicer the ship, I think the older the crowd, ie a newer carnival ship will have less of a party crowd than an older royal caribbean. I've been on both lines and thought the food was better on RC. But both were great.
(2) Advise on how to find good deals for cruises out of Galveston
Check out cruisecritic.com. I ended up booking my last cruise through one of those cruise outlet websites i found through cruisecritic. sorry i can't remember the name of the website.
(3) How pregnant can you be before the cruiseline won't let you go?
You have to be less than 24 weeks by the end of the cruise. So you can't start a cruise at 23w5d and get off at 24w4d, you have to finish the cruise before you hit 24w. I cruised at 19-20w and it was a great time to go pregnancy wise.
(4) In February/March... where is a nice place to go?
I haven't cruised during that time so no help there, but i think the caribbean is always nice.
(5) Where/how can I find a good deal on a cruise?
see #2
(6) General advise?
if you aren't pg, ditto the advice on smuggling alcohol on board. Put it in your luggage.
again, i'd try to get on the newest ship you can afford.
I went on a Carnival Cruise this summer, aboard the Dream. We left from Florida and cruised the Eastern Caribbean (Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten). Like others have mentioned, the newer the ship, the better. cruisecritic.com is an excellent resource for ship & itinerary reviews. I'd never been on a cruise prior to that, and (much to my surprise) I really enjoyed it. I answered the questions I could below.
(1) Are there some cruise lines to stay away from (i.e., are some nicer/trashier than others)? Two of the people I was with on the cruise had been on 10+ cruises, and it was their first time on Carnival. They really liked our cruise, and also recommended Royal Caribbean.
(4) In February/March... where is a nice place to go? I really enjoyed the Eastern Caribbean. St. Maarten was gorgeous, definitely my favorite.
(6) General advise? When we booked our cruise, it gave us the option of "anytime" dining or dining at a certain time. (For dinner, in the evening.) We got stuck with a certain time, but we were easily able to make sure it was just the four in our group and not a table full of strangers. You have the option of eating in the other restaurants anytime, but (to my surprise) the main dining room was where we most often went for dinner. We had breakfast and lunch there a couple of times, too.
We were allowed to take aboard one bottle of wine per person, which we did. We also decided to smuggle liquor in our suitcase. Well, I thought I had to be super sneaky, so I emptied out and washed a couple of big mouthwash bottles and poured the liquor in there. The other couple just stuck a bottle of vodka in their luggage and it was fine.
We had a room with a balcony. I can't imagine being in a room without even a window--we peeked in a couple of those while walking around, and they seemed so small and cave-like. Our room (while small) still felt big with the balcony option. I think it's worth the extra $. (And in our case, it wasn't much more expensive than a room with just a window.)
Feel free to ask more questions if you have any!
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