My girlie and I are in the middle of planning our wedding, and I have taken it upon myself to figure out what we are doing for our honeymoon. We talked about it and a cruise would give us the biggest bang for our buck (we are poor, so our wedding is going to be really small; 40 people at the most).
What would be a good website to find a good price? I’m thinking of an Alaskan cruise (I really wanted an Antarctica) because of the scenery, and a balcony is a must. How has anyone who’s gone on a cruise liked it?
I’ve been on Carnival and Royal Caribbean to Ensenada—very cheap and a lot of fun. My friends who cruise like Alaska. I’ll forward you the emails I get from Cruise.com and such…
I’ve used them before to buy tickets and it worked out perfect. The cruise itself to The Bahamas was great but we didn’t order balcony seats, so we were kept cooped up in what seemed like a basement. You definitely want to spend a few more bucks to at least have an oceanview as it’ll be nice when relaxing in your room – you won’t be spending each and every second walking around the ship.
Alaskan cruises are not the cheapest, but I would pick them over, say, a Caribbean one any time. You tend to get a better class of people on-board too. One tip: the smaller the boat you go on, the closer they can get to the glaciers in the fjords. I think mine was Carnival (it was a while ago) and they were fine, but I’d go with a smaller one next time I think.
I went on a 7 day Alaskan cruise with Holland America. The ship and staff were wonderful and we had a great time. One of the things that I liked is that they add $10.00 a day to your bill up front, and that’s split up by the staff in lieu of tips. You can tip specific people more if you want to, but it’s not expected. The food, scenery, and rooms were great. It’s the most relaxing vacation I’ve ever been on by far.
I’ve done the Alaska one - and we got to see a glacier calf. However, the highlights are the land excursions. Check out those and book early, which will help you budget. You don’t want to be stuck in the towns for the entire time in port.
There are a number of cruise review sites, like http://www.cruisecritic.com/ Take them with a grain of salt, but some are helpful. We learned the cheap way of getting to Rome this way - saved us a bundle. We went on Princess about 9 years ago.
One hint - if you are going from Vancouver north, try to get a room on the starboard side, since that is where the land and the scenery is.
Went on a cruise to Alaska in 2003, going on a cruise through the British Isles next month. My 23 year old sister just went on her honeymoon cruise through the Mediterranean.
Alaska cruise was with Holland America. It was nice and I loved the actual cruise. One thing special about the Alaska cruise is it’s pretty much the ONLY WAY you can see some of the glaciers. I think the glaciers were the coolest part. And the fact that Bald Eagles are fricking everywhere. But to be real honest I wasn’t too impressed with the other sites. Alaska didn’t look all that different than my home state of Washington. Was probably a kick for someone from Kansas though.
Our England cruise is going to be with Princess. Nothing against our experience on Holland America, only the equivalent Holland America cruise was over twice as expensive as Princess for roughly the same cruise ($3000 vs $7000).
CruiseCritic.com. Great resource, but seriously some of those people could give Trekkies a run for their money in the obsession department. As Voyager said, take it with a grain of salt.
One of the problems with cruising is that getting to the port is sometimes as expensive as the actual cruise so if you’re worried about money, I may think about a cruise that leaves from nearby. Princess is showing a 7 day Mexican Riviera for $700*. They also have some Panama Canal cruises in the $1600-$2,000 range but then you’d also have to fly back from Ft. Lauderdale.
I’ve heard universal advice…NEVER book a cruise for college spring break or the first few weeks school is out unless you want your ship mobbed with either drunken frat boys or kids. Realize, your destination will often times dictate your shipmates. People who want to party will want a cheap cruise to an exotic local (Carnival cruise to the Caribbean). Older people probably wouldn’t mind pay more for a trip to a more subdued destination (Holland America to Alaska, Canada, etc.).
If you are younger than, say 50, be aware that you will be the youngest couple on the cruise and more than likely end up hanging out with the staff rather than the retirees. ( co-worker - 25- did an alaskan cruise for their honeymoon. Everyone else on ship was late 60’s and up in age.)
Just completed our 8th cruise and I have not found this to be the case at all. Older folks love cruises but I found the median range to be around 30-35 with a lot of folks in their 20’s as well.
We loved all of them and if it is a honeymoon cruise, just go for cheap rates. I have never taken a bad cruise but loved the one we took that included Mexico. St. Thomas stops were also cool but we never get tired of the Caribbean or any of the islands we have been to.
Besides talkingto the staff is really a part of the cruise experience, they can be very entertaining.
Check out CruiseCritic.com for ship reviews. They also have a message board where you can get info on specific cruises and ports of call (excursions, etc).
When I’m thinking about a cruise I usually go to cruise.com first to compare prices and itineraries. Then I compare prices with the cruiseline’s own website. Sites like Travelocity and Orbitz also book cruises.
Keep in mind that some Alaska cruises depart from and end at different cities.
I’m guessing that Shirley was referring specifically to the Alaska cruise, and I think she’s probably on target. I was in the business 20 years ago, but for sure, all our Alaska cruisers were retirees. Same was true of China and the Nordic cruises. The younger folks went for tropical destinations, the Caribbean, Bermuda and such.
Not that it matters necessarily. Being the darlings of the older couples during your Honeymoon cruise sounds wonderful to me. If you want to “party hearty” though, the Alaska cruise is a bad choice. (The Alaskan pubs on the ports days are pretty hardcore though!)
