Thinking about a cruise... your opinions/experiences?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’ve only been on one cruise, and as a person who hasn’t reached the legal age yet, it was pretty boring. The whole ship was filled with smokers and drinkers, so the air was kinda nasty in some places, the food was not half as good as I expected for an expensive cruise, and there really weren’t a lot of activities for someone my age. In addition to that, the pool was really cramped.

One thing I did enjoy, however, was the room my family and I stayed in :eek: . Man that place was gorgeous. We had this shower with these massaging sprays from all directions, big beds, fresh fruit laid out on the table… And it was located in the center, so we had the least amount of rocking back and forth.

Of course, the room was also really expensive :rolleyes: . Now I’ve only been on one cruise, so all the good/bad things I said probably don’t apply most other ships.

22

As others have stated, I too took a cruise for the Honeymoon. Short jaunt; plane ride from Oakland to San Diego, stayed at the Queen Mary for a night and boarded the Norwegian the next day. From San Diego to Catalina Island, from Catalina to Ensenada and back. Four days of sheer boredom. I don’t drink either, and there were bars in just about every public area. Time spent on the ship traveling was LONG, the off-ship ventures were kind of fun, we enjoyed the San Diego Zoo. The shore trip in Ensenada was just a money-grubbing waste. We didn’t see much, except some blow-hole somewhere and there were “shops” at each stop which kind of detracted from the authenticity.

The food, however, was FANTASTIC! I asked for and received an additional lobster tail at the fancy dinner, which I wrapped in a napkin for my midnight snack. Again, the food was great. If all you want to do is eat, then it would be a lot of fun.

We did end up with some wonderful portraits though. Perfect rememberance of the honeymoon; all young and pretty and stuff.

I’d enjoy Vegas more than another cruise. Unless it was to Alaska or maybe West Indies.

23

Hubby and I have been on one cruise, a Royal Carribean cruise to Hawaii. We’d never do it again.

  1. We’re not night-life people, and it seemed the majority of other passengers were. It was very noisy, especially at night. It was very hard to find a quiet place to read.

  2. The food was about one step up from caffeteria food. Everyone had always told us about the fabulous cuisine, but apparently people confuse quantity with quality. (And they didn’t have any ranch dressing on the salad bar for the whole trip!)

  3. The other passengers were the worst part. Some of them seemed to see the cruise as their chance to “act rich” and treated the crew with incredible disdain. I was appalled at how rude they were. They blatantly ignored all rules, such as no bathing suits in the dining room. (Had the unpleasant experience of sitting on a wet plush chair when we went to dinner one evening.) We were late to one of our excursions because they ignored their tender assignments and just pushed their way onto a boat when it arrived.

  4. The excursions were a big bust. We signed up for scuba diving, and they took us to a marina to dive. I saw three fish. I strongly suggest arranging your own excursions. The best one we had was when we independantly hired a local guide to take us to see the lava flow.

  5. Our cabin was great-- about the size of a normal hotel room and had its own balcony. Room service was pretty slim-- not much on the menu. You might be dissapointed if you want to curl up and watch a movie in your cabin-- on Royal Carribean, they’re all edited for content.

24

Longer the cruise, the older the passenger.

25

Went on one for my honeymoon. Hope to go again next summer.

Liked the food, but not the cafeteria. Ate in the cafeteria once, was very unimpressed, and only showed up occassionally for breakfast after that. The dining rooms were very nice (although the premium steak house did not impress).

Living in NYC, I found the drink prices reasonable. YMMV. I did run up the bill more than I should have, though.

Hate that whenever we go on vacation, everyone looks to me to plan, and complains about what I plan. On the boat, the plan is laid out. Was on Princess Cruises, and there was plenty for my daughter to do and decent oversight that I didn’t have to worry about her (too much).

Not a big nightlife person myself, but I would attend the comedy and magic shows, and there was a nice swing / big band / jazz bar that was much quieter than the dance places. Ignored the main discotheque, and the big, burly parties. Not my style.

I like to gamble, so I always had something I enjoyed. Plus, I was up after the first night, and never had to risk my initial stake after that (although it got close once). Would have liked a poker tournament, but what can you do?

Overdid the shore excursions. Live and learn for next time. Next time, I’ll arrange locally. Wasn’t impressed with the shopping, but then, I’m a guy who doesn’t like any type of knick-knacks unless they can be installed in my computer.

I think it would be bad for an older teen (16-20), but then it is hard to find any kind of vacation to satisfy kids that age. For me, I could sit back, be waited upon by a staff that always seemed to be “on”, and not worry about driving and scheduling and coming up with activities. That’s how I define vacation (only thing missing was a fishing excursion, but Mrs. D_Odds nixed that idea).

26

I’m a quiet type of person, but have been on a couple of cruises and had a really great time. There’s a lot to do, and if you don’t feel like socializing, you don’t have to (except at dinner). The food is great!

My only warning would be that if the ports of call are very important to you, do not travel during hurricane season. I went on one expecting to visit some Mayan ruins, but we were rerouted due to a bad hurricane. Still had a fun time, though. It was on Carnival.

27

Drachillix and I went on the Carnival Paradise in Feb from LA to Ensenada with a stop on Catalina Island. We only did 4 nights—what if we hated it, were bored?; we are not nightlife people and didn’t want to spend a lot on alcohol.
We loved it, our cabin was always spotless, most of the staff, excluding the bartenders, were great. (We are not drinkers, so we bought the soda cards and it was like pulling teeth to get a diet pepsi—you buy 2 25 dollar cards and still can’t get a soda!) The food wasn’t as good as I expected but we learned quickly how and what to order and were very happy with the formal dining room. We met very nice people from all over and they seated us with the other 30-somethings, although there were people of all ages. We are quite friendly, dare I say charming, and get along with all types. We’d like to go on a less casual cruise next time—we love dressing up and not everybody did for the formal dinners. We enjoyed the shore excursions but stayed on the ship most of the time. We tried to see everything and ended up going to bed fairly early every night, but we like to do that, too! :smiley: