Thinking about
cruising? Here some notes we hope you find useful.
We have been on many cruises. We have
been on 5 cruise lines; Viking, Holland America, Royal Caribbean,
Celebrity, and Princess.
Carnival is a fine cruise line, but they have a reputation of
catering to the younger 20 something crowd. Hence you are more apt to
experience while and crazy partiers on Carnival. I've heard many stories
about Carnival cruisers experiencing the after affects of partiers who
are too young and drank way too much. My wife met a woman who was thrown
up on twice during a three day cruise. I WON'T CRUISE ON CARNIVAL.
Holland America offers somewhat unique itineraries. However,
the problem with Holland America is that they are the opposite of
Carnival. Holland America caters to the older crowd.
Our first cruise was on a Holland America cruise to Alaska. The
cruise was spectacular. However, we were definitely among the
youngest people on the ship. Oddly enough, Carnival owns Holland
America. What we found on our Holland Americacruises is that the evening
entertainment is quite boring for us. It is meant for an older crowd.
Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are both quite good. Food is good,
service is good, itineraries are good, and the average age of the
passengers are more in line with ours. I will
no longer cruise on Royal Caribbean because their ships are enormous.
For example, the last RC cruise I was on was the Oasis which is over
220,000 tons carrying over 6,500 passengers. So crowded that you
were advised to make a reservation at any event you wanted to attend
prior to boarding. I like to be spontaneous - so reserving the
comedy club before I board the ship did not work for me.
I like Celebrity very much. They are a bit
more upscale. The dining is superior. Ship sizes are more
manageable. The Edge for example carries about 2,900 passengers
and is a brand new ship as of 2018.
I've mentioned a couple of times the age of the passengers. I mention
this only because I think people naturally have more in common with
people of similar age. One of the nice things about cruising is meeting
people on the ship and hanging out with them from time to time or just a
dinner. We still stay in touch with people we've met on cruise ships.
They make for very fond and lasting memories.
We have thoroughly enjoyed most of our cruises
with Princess. One cool thing that Princess offers is
Personal Choice Dining. On other cruise lines, and Princess if you
choose, you are assigned a dinner time. So you go to dinner at the same
time every day. Your choice is either 6 or 8:30. The benefit of this is
you get to meet your dinner table guests and form a bond over the
duration of the cruise. Tables range in size from 4 to 10 people.
You sit at the same table for dinner every night with the same people.
You can always skip dinner and go eat at the buffet restaurant located
by the main pool. Personal Choice dining means you do not have a set
table or time for dinner. You go to one of several other restaurants on
the ship. the benefit here is you eat when you want to eat and you can
choose from several restaurants or the buffet restaurant. We like this
because we are not tied to a set dinner time. However, you do miss out
on the potential for forming friendships with your dinner table guests.
We also loved the night time entertainment on Princess. They had
comedians on multiple nights. They also had spectacular singers,
pianist, guitarist, magicians, and ventriloquist. They also
offered a second theatre where either first run movies are played or an
alternative to the main theatre entertainment.
Breakfast and lunch you eat where ever you want. There is also food
somewhere on the ship including room service 24 hours a day. Eat as much
as you want. It's free!
The amount of activities for kids depends on the size of the ship.
The larger ships tend to have more activities for kids. The Grand
Princess (109,000 tons, BIG ship) has an area on deck 16 dedicated for
kids. Adults are NOT allowed in this area. From what I know, kids
play games, arts and crafts, play, etc all day long. They are NOT bored.
I believe you get a walkie talkie or a pager in case your kids need you.
Of course you can drop in anytime to check up on your children.
There are multiple pools on the ship. Depending on the size of the
ship. Smaller ships may have 2. Bigger ships may have 4 or 5. Same goes
for hot tubs. The Grand Princess I believe has 4 pools and about 12 hot
tubs. One of those pools is adults only. One of the pools is under a
retractable glass ceiling. Very cool.
So you can have your kids with you at the pool as much as you want.
You can take them to the kids zone as much as you want. There are
arcades on the bigger ships. Grand Princess has an enormous arcade
with virtual reality games. The games are not free. They do take tokens.
All services, food, and entertainment are included in the cost of
your cruise. YOU PAY FOR ALCOHOL! If you are like me, you'll go
through a few drinks per day. Average price of a fruity drink is
about 4 to 5 dollars.
Before you board the cruise ship, you get a card that serves are your
identification card, room card, and payment card. So you only need to
carry one card around (some older ships you may have to carry 2 cards).
So if you buy a drink, you simply show them your card and sign. At the
end of the cruise you get your lovely bill for stuff you bought on the
ship. They have MANY shops on the ship. Some things are worth buying
because they don't have duty tax.
Investigate the ports your ship will stop at. The cruise line will
offer you several
excursions for each port. What the excursion is depends on the port.
The Caribbean
offers a lot of water sports - snorkeling, scuba diving, boating,
etc. Alaska offered a lot of
out door activities like canoeing, white water rafting, exploring
glaciers, fishing, etc.
We like to take advantage of the stuff to do at the ports. Some
people just like to hang
out on the ship and relax. It is your choice.
We've been to Alaska, Mexico Sea of Cortez, and 4 times to the
Caribbean. WE LOVE
THE CARIBBEAN. Nothing like snorkeling clear blue waters, beautiful
white sand
beaches, and Margarita. Some islands, in particular the eastern
Caribbean do have
people that beg. If this is a problem for you, then avoid St. Martin,
St. Lucia, and
Barbados. However, St. Lucia and Barbados are absolutely gorgeous.
Western
Caribbean islands like Aruba and Grand Cayman have lots of money so
no begging and
they are gorgeous as well. We in particular loved Curacao. It was
like being in an old
Dutch village. Beautiful village with some of the nicest people I've
ever met.
Pay the extra cost for a window. Inside cabin sucks. You never know
what time of day it
is. If you have any claustrophobia, then DO NOT get an inside cabin.
It is nice to be
able to look out and see the water and distant islands. Just seeing
the sun makes it a
happy day.
Mini-suite or not? That is your choice. A mini-suite will increase
the size of your room
by about 50%. A standard ocean view (or inside ) cabin is between 170
to 190 square
feet. A mini suite is about 320. But you do pay for it. A mini suite
will run you about
50%. So if you have the money do it!
I like have a balcony. It is really nice in the morning and late
evening. The larger ships
have lots more balconies so they are more affordable. So if you go on
something like
the Grand Princess, an ocean view cabin with balcony won't cost very
much more then
an ocean view with no balcony. Smaller ships however will cost more.
I use the
balcony for coffee in the morning, a night cap in the late evening,
and maybe once in a
while if I just want to be alone.
People think that larger ships carry so many people that they are
crowded. They are
wrong. There is so much to do on these ships that it never seems
crowded to me. The
only exception is the pool. People like to bake by the pool. I don't!
I like to be by the
pool, but in the shade so we can usually find empty tables and
chairs. If you want to lay
on a lounge chair by the pool, then go early and crab one because
they do fill up.
Ship sizes do make a difference. I classify them like this;
small - 45,000 - 60,000 tons. medium - 60,000 - 90,000 tons. large -
90,000 - 120,000 tons. Ridiculous > 120,000 tons.
The bigger the ship, the more there is to do on the ship. The draw
back to a large ship
is that they are more restricted on what ports they can visit because
of the depth of the
water. So you may have to tender more often. A small ship has less
amenities, but can
go to more ports. For example, the Grand Princess, 109,000 tons
cannot go into the
Panama Canal. It is too wide. A Panama Canal cruise is usually on a
ship around
70,000 tons. Good size ship nonetheless.
