Cruises (cruise, best, Cuba, senior)

[lastra]

Hi, me and my husband were thinking about going on a cruise around Caribbeans...I was wondering did any of you have experience with ANY cruising "destination", how did you like it...?This would be the first - time "cruise" for me and my husband...Thanks.

[Tek_Freek]

Caribbean Princess last Feb. Also our first. I was a skeptic for years. I'd go again in a minute!

St. Thomas: We took a sail and snorkel. It was not a cruise trip, we went off on our own. If you look on line you'll find quite a few. Instead of 30+ people and a crowded snorkel site, there 6 max and an almost deserted site. The catamarans have no shade, the one we were one had a place to get out of the sun. Really, really enjoyed it. I mean really.

St. Martin: Took a bus tour. Interesting, but probably could have found something better. Went shopping after the tour. Wife and jewelry. Me and tagging along.

Loved the ship (don't call it a boat!). Huge. Plenty to do. Lot of friendly people. If you can afford one get a balcony room. Really nice to sit out and watch the ocean go by. Lots of stars out there we don't see in our cities.

Here's our mascot. Started out as a way to see our room from port. It was never on the correct side in port. Never saw him! Ended up as a travel mascot on all trips. This is Crabby in KC MO last spring. As you can see he's a bit of a drinker.

Crabby



Try this site for help. A lot of help.

Cruise reviews, message boards, bargains, cruise information - CruiseCritic.com

[Mrs. H]

My first trip to the Caribbean was on a Carnival ship and I had a great time. I enjoyed Carnival so much my friends and I went on another Carnival ship, this time to the Mexican Riviera (Acapulco, Ixtapa, and Manzanillo).

For my Caribbean trip we went to:

Bahamas: Toured around, went to the Atlantis resort (which was awesome)
Puerto Rico: Went on an wonderful tour of El Yunque national forest
St. Thomas: Toured around the city but took an earlier tour and snorkel of St. John, which is just gorgeous. When I jumped into the water, it was warm and wonderful.

Like Tek_Freek mentioned, you can take an additional tours for extra costs.

Have a great time when you go!

[lastra]

Thank you so much. Other opinions welcome...As soon as I can rep again, I'll leave you reps, both of you have been very helpful!!!Cute picture!!!

[tahiti]

Love cruising and have been on 2 to the Caribbean.

San Juan - left from here. Ok - stay in the tourist areas. Old San Juan is neat.

St. Thomas - shopping area was ok, it's not supposed to be all that safe. We took a bus to Maegan's Bay which was very nice.

Grenada - skip it. One street of shopping which you can only buy spices.

Guadeloupe - must not have made much of an impression b/c I swear I don't remember much of it! LOL

Venezuela - avoid Caracas - EXTREMELY dangeous. We took a tour to a rainforest which was a lot of fun.

Aruba - ok, I liked Aruba. VERY windy! Built up, Americanized. I just liked the beach and how safe it seemed. We went scuba diving and parasailing (which is AWESOME).

Bermuda - this was a cruise from NYC - Bermuda is beautiful but most cruises only go here and back.

Really though - you can't go wrong with the destinations you choose. The cruise part to me is the best part and the destinations were secondary.

I've also been (not cruising) to Barbados, Cozumel, Caymans, Tortola and really the only one I would not go back to is Grenada - seriously NOTHING to do. You'll have a great time regardless!

[yellowsnow]

It's a carefree trip. You just wake up someplace different every day. Very relaxing and fun.

You don't have time to see anything in depth but you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn and drive either.

[Prettygyrl777]

Great thread- I'm also a first time cruiser...I've looked at a couple of short cruises (4-5 days) and I'm thinking of going with Royal Carribbean in Jan of '08. Does anyone have any experience with this cruise line? I'm a single 20 something, not necessarily looking to meet anyone but I'm going with friends. I'd prefer to cruise with people my age or older-- hopefully not too many little kids running around.

[OhioNative]

Originally Posted by Prettygyrl777

Great thread- I'm also a first time cruiser...I've looked at a couple of short cruises (4-5 days) and I'm thinking of going with Royal Carribbean in Jan of '08. Does anyone have any experience with this cruise line? I'm a single 20 something, not necessarily looking to meet anyone but I'm going with friends. I'd prefer to cruise with people my age or older-- hopefully not too many little kids running around.

We just went on a Royal Carribean cruise on the Sovereign of the Seas to the Bahamas. We had a great time, but we did bring our kids. There was quite a mix of people on the ship, everything from kids, teens, 20-somethings, and on up to seniors. There is really something for everybody. By the adult pool and in the clubs you had the younger people (20s) partying and trying to pick each other up, (which was actually quite amusing to watch as a married 37-year-old). The kids have their own program, and there never seemed to be too many underfoot. Teens have their own areas, as well, and they do have a strict enforcement of the drinking age, so you don't have a bunch of obnoxious drunk teens running around. If you want peace and quiet, there are lots of spots for that, too. The ships are so big that it really does not seem that there are 2500 people on board.

[Karla with a K]

Prettygyrl777
We just got back from our 2nd cruise with Royal Caribbean the first was to the western caribbean this last one was to Alaska.

On the caribbean cruise we met many single folks traveling with friends. I have also cruised on carnival. IMO I prefer Royal Caribbean you just can't beat the service.

[firebll31]

Are you thinking Eastern or Western Caribbean?