We want to take a cruise. Best-deal tips? Travel tips? Cruiseline suggestions?

DeathLlama and I have not had a real vacation since before RuffLlama was born. The last two years have been insane stress: having a baby, having back surgery #1, both of us finishing our thesis and graduating, selling the condo, buying a house, moving, flying cross-country for a funeral, disastrous back problems leading to surgery #2…UGH! GET US OUT OF HERE!

I’m afraid to fly (it was the cross-country flight that triggered the shit snowball that led to the back surgery), and driving for hours with a 2-year-old doesn’t seem fun. We’re thinking a cruise would be best. That way, we take the hotel with us, and RuffLlama has the least amount of adjusting…and we get to get out of here.

We’re just thinking a short 5-7 night cruise to Mexico. Ideally, we’d like a suite as having two separate rooms is a HUGE help with a toddler. Otherwise, we put him to bed, and he looks at us and says, “Hi! Hi! Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” since we’re on the other end of his bed. But of course, suites are prohibitively expensive.

We’ve never been on a cruise before, so we don’t know what to ask, look for, or expect. So we’re here soliciting you, mighty Dopers. What great insight into the world of cruiseline vacations do you have to offer?

www.cruisecritic.com might help

Yeah, check out the various sites and get an idea about what it’s all about.

We’ve only taken one cruise in our life, and it was a pretty good experience. The one thing I’d like to contribute is be careful about the cruise line.

Ours was on a Royal Caribbean ship, and at the port in Miami, there was a Carnival ship leaving the harbor. We were on deck observing this…and, even from where we were, the loud music and rowdiness on that ship was quite evident.

I’m not criticizing them, understand, but my wife and I just looked at each other and thanked God we were not on **that ** boat!

So, do be sure the particular cruise ship is in line with your lifestyle.

When we went to Alaska, during the Bubble, we got a good deal on an almost last minute cruise website. That was so long ago that it is pointless to give a link, but I bet there are plenty. Cruise ships are like airplanes - they don’t want to sail with empty cabins.

We’ve done three cruises, and I don’t remember seeing a lot of two year olds to be quite frank. I think maybe your #1 criterion would be the availability of on-board baby sitting. One of the best things about cruising is the food, but dinners are long and fancy, probably too much for a two-year old. There are alternate arrangements, usually, but I think you’d lose a lot. You might also check to see what shore excursions they have, and if they are appropriate.

I don’t know if there are any family oriented cruise ships, like Disney style cruises to Mexico. That would be your best bet, I think, if they exist.

My wife & I took our first cruise last year, and fell in love with cruising. Took our second cruise two months ago.

Both were on Princess. #1 7 days, LA to Mexico. #2 10 days, Caribbean-Panama Canal, out of Florida.

#1 – passenger demographics covered the spectrum, from geezers to families with little kids. #2 – completely skewed towards the geezer end.

#1 – staff & crew were 100% fantastic. #2 – 20% fantastic, 60% competent & efficient, 20% surly.

I think there are too many variable (except cruise line) to draw any conclusions; except that perhaps a 10-day cruise is too long for families.

There are two broad types of cruises:
(1) Sit on the boat and relax, eat lots of food, play games, maybe land at some tourist spots (example would be most Carribean tours)
(2) take a tour that happens to be on a cruise ship (this is more like the Alaska tours; the ship doesn’t have the same amenities as type-1; think of a bus-tour only you’re on a boat.)

Sounds like you’re aiming for the first type. One thing to do, especially on large ships, is to check about baby-sitting services. Then, you can put the li’l one to bed with a sitter, and you go off to enjoy yourselves.

In general I agree with the broad classifciation into two groups.

However, I don’t think you can say that type 2 cruises generally have fewer amenities than type 1. I’ve been on both an Alaskan cruise and a Mexican cruise and you couldn’t tell the difference in terms of service or entertainment inside the ship.

Ed

NCL does a nice Pacific Mexico cruise. If you want to go a little farther afield, they also do a nice Hawaiian inter-island cruise.

A search for “cruise” in the title will mostly get you previous threads on this topic–I know there have been several, and they might be useful.

The “type 2” cruise ships tend to be the older ships in a company’s fleet - they are often renovated to be the “same” in appearance, but the rooms may be smaller and newer features won’t be on them. For example, the ships used in Alaska by Royal Caribbean have fewer bars/dance areas, smaller pools, they don’t have the second specialty restaurant (either Portofino’s or Chops… I don’t know which one is on them), they don’t have the skating rink that the Voyager class ships do, or the new H2O Zone that the Freedom class has. In terms of staff and services, they are, as much as space allows, the same.

I know that Royal Caribbean has a day-care service, and some baby-sitting service. Norwegian and Princess do not. They all have day-time services, though. If you wait until the kid is 3, and make sure she’s potty-trained, Royal Caribbean will have programs for your kid until 10pm for free, and charge after. http://www.bermuda4u.com/cruise/babysitting.html

My husband and I have taken 2 cruises with RC, and loved them. We felt that there really was something for all ages, but it was never overwhelmingly rowdy or too quiet either. Zones with different music/entertainment are well defined, though certain ones fill up faster in the evenings (the pub on the Promenade, for example).

If you go to www.royalcaribbean.com you can see the different ships and their layouts. There aren’t any split or adjoining rooms for families, unless you pay a lot more. There are curtains separating the bed from the couch area, or from other beds, but they don’t go all the way around, just about 2/3 of the way down the bed length. Would that be enough for your child?

I do recommend getting at least an outside room, if you can’t afford a balcony. The inside staterooms get pretty dark!

Cruises are a lot of fun! I highly recommend one.

The tip I’ll contribute: At dinner, they give you a menu with a few entree selections. What most people don’t realize, though, is that you can order as many entrees as you like!

(Eating is one of the best parts of a cruise)

Atomicktom, that brings up another question–are meals included? Do you get vouchers or somesuch? How about drinks? If it’s “all-inclusive,” how inclusive is that–tips? Alcohol?

Free (well, included) meals is a HUGE bonus!

mnemosyne, a curtain blocking view is PERFECT. Really, we just need to be out of view. He knows the bedtime routine and should go down okay, but if we say night-night and then remain in view…well, yeah. Problematic.

LiveOnAPlane, that’s what I decidedly DON’T want–to get on a ship full of MTV-style partying 20-year-olds. Not that there’s anything wrong with that–except we’re old and boring now. :wink: Stupid growing up…

VERY useful tips, thank you!

My wife and I took a Norweigian cruise of the Caribbean in February. Though it was just the two of us, we saw plenty of kids on board and there were daytime and evening activities for toddlers. Certainly, had we brought our 5-year-old son, he would have had a good time. I wrote a full review of the trip on Cruise Critic.

I went on a Princess cruise last month and I am taking another at Thanksgiving. I have many friends that are serious cruisers…some of them have been on 50+ cruises.

Each line has it’s own demographic. I really like the way Princess handles their dining (Norwegian Carribbean aka NCL does something similar.

Most cruise ships give you a dinner seating, you eat every night at the same time, at the same table,with the same waitstaff. This gives the waitstaff a chance to learn your preferences and enhances the degree of service.

On Princess, you can select this option or you can go to other dining rooms that serve the same menu but have restaurant style service, you show up whenever you feel like it or you can call ahead for a reservation. If you have a fixed seating time you can skip it without notice and eat elsewhere. The menu is varied, with a selection of salads, entrees and deserts that are available every day and a extensive daily menu of fine dining entree and deserts. In addition, vegetarian and spa menus are available.

You can order anything you want, it’s OK to get 3 appetizers and 2 salads if that’s what you want. You can go to dinner once and come back again an hour later if that’s what you want.

There are also some specialty restaurants like steakhouse. Those are not free, they carry a surcharge of about $20 a person.

They serve breakfast and lunch with menus and waiter service in these dining rooms or you can always hit the 24 hour buffet. My ship had pizza and hamburger stands by the pool. All free. As is the room service. And they serve high tea with pastries and mini-sandwiches midafternoon.

I like the buffet ,mostly because I could do things like grab a big plate of fried shrimp and carry it out to the pool. You can also take buffet items back to your room, so you can grab a plate of guacamole and chips to snack on in your room.

Drinks are most certainly not free, except champagne and wine at certain events. Princess usually sells some sort of unlimited soft drink pass it was about $35 for my one week cruise.

There is an amazing amount of stuff to do onboard the ship, they will distribute a newsletter every day listing all the activities. Most of them are free, some things, like golf simulators, carry a surcharge.

You can purchase shore excursions at every port, the ship will have an extensive list. You can also leave the ship and do things on your own. One advantage to a cruise line sponsored shore excursion is that if anything happens the ship will wait for you. If you go out on your own and you aren’t back atdeparture time the boat will leave without you.

The level of service is very high. You are not expected to clear your table if you eat at the buffet and waiters will circulate and bring you drinks. The room stewards will make up your room 3 times a day and bring you ice.

You will find very few Americans working on these ships, even in positions like captain and cruise director.

Princess has one or two formal nights on a 7-10 day cruise. Most people actually do this but it is not mandatory.

Bring walkie talkies for the people in your party so you can keep in touch.

There is a daily AA meeting aboard every ship

Even if the ship has an internet cafe, don’t count on consistent internet service. Also, internet can be expensive, I think Princess charged .75 a minute.

The ship will add about $10 per day per person to your tab for tips. You can actually adjust this amount, it is technically optional, but reasonable people will agree that it is worth it. I gave my cabin steward an additional tip as well. The staff will never make you feel like their service is dependent on tips.

You can bring beverages into the theatre and they will bring drinks to your seat before the show. The aisles are much wider than those in a standard theatre and the seats have tray tables. Sometimes the “headliners” will draw a big audience and the shows will be SRO, so get there early and have a drink or two.

On days when the ship is in port there are fewer onboard activities and a smaller staff. If you stay on board it can be a nice opportunity to have the pool all to yourself.

You can always find a nice quiet corner to hide in with a book. My tip for a Princess ship is to go the top deck nightclub during the day, it is always deserted then and the views are magnificent.

If you have gotten in the habit of using your cellphone as a timepiece, bring a watch.

You may not get your luggage delivered to your room until after dinner the first night, so bring essentials in your carry-on. Dress codes will be relaxed that night.

Don’t get to the ship too early. Passengers do not board in the order they arrive, there will be lots of frequent cruisers that get priority boarding.

Wash your hands frequently and use the hand sanitizer provided wherever there is food.

Norovirus (stomach flu) is taken very seriously and if you complain of stomach/intestinal symptoms you may be confined to your room – and they can do that. If you don’t think it’s stomach flu keep it to yourself.
As nice and compliant as the staff is, if you do anything dumbass like climb around on rails or balconies, they will throw your butt off the ship really fast.

You have to go to safety drill on the first day, they will find you if you try to skip it. Really.

They won’t let you carry on your own booze.

I went on a diet the month before the cruise and dropped five pounds. I recommend this for guilt free enjoyment of the constant feeding

Take some time to study the deck plans before you board, and look at the maps and familarize yourself with the layout as soon as you get onboard. The ship public areas are multi-leveled with many attractions and not all elevators go to every level. It is very easy to completely miss entire sections of the ship during a one week cruise.

In terms of selecting a cruise line, I really liked Princess and they have a reputation for carrying a varied group of passengers with an equal mix of young, middle-aged and old. I know Carnival has a rep for being more of a party ship with a younger crowd. I’m really not too familar with the demographics of the other major lines except for Disney, which is obvious.

I became an instant cruise fan, it is an incredibly hassle-free and relaxing experience. Good luck

It all depends. Princess is very big in Alaska, so they tend to send their newest and biggest ships there.

Ed

accidentalyuppie has given an really wonderful summary.
Princess to Alaska was a great experience. The ship I was on did have babysitting, also every amenity you could want. Plus art auctions (my brother-in-law got totally hooked on those.)

Okay, here’s what I’ve learned in the last few days of research, thanks to all of your leads:

  1. Royal Caribbean, Disney, and Carnival are the only cruise lines with cruises to Mexico in our time frame.

  2. Royal Caribbean is sold out, even the suites (no matter what Expedia says).

  3. Disney, in fine Disney tradition, is expensive as FUCK. (I was going to say, “Expensive as crap,” but who pays for crap?) Their prices are easily double anyone else’s. It might be worth it–later, when RuffLlama is older and able to appreciate it.

  4. Carnival has one 7-day cruise on the Pride, and a 5-day cruise on Elation. For $3000, we can have a suite on the Elation, but with a “partially obstructed view.” From the looks of the deck plans, it’s obstructed by a lifeboat. For $3800 (ouch), we can have a 7-day cruise on the Pride with a balcony cabin. We figure we’ll put RuffLlama to bed then step out on the balcony (and out of sight) until he falls asleep, regardless of what cruise or room we take.

So…the dilemma now is, 5-night cruise in a suite with an obstructed view? Or pay $800 more for a balcony cabin on a 7-night cruise? Is the obstructed view really obnoxious, or minor? And how much nicer is that suite than the balcony? If things are more or less equal, I’d probably go toward pocketing the cash, but I dunno. Thoughts of you experienced cruisers?

I did the 7 day to mexico on the glory and had a very nice time. The 20 somethings tend to congregate in one of the hip hop places or the disco and that left plenty of things for us to do without worrying about them. I do recomend the balcony if you can swing it, we really loved ours.

It comes down to if you want a 2-foot diameter round window looking at a lifeboat and no balcony or a full-length sliding glass door leading to a balcony, if you want a 5-day or a 7-day cruise. and if you can manage the extra bucks.

If you stand to the side, you can probably see past the lifeboat, but otherwise, all you’ll see is the boat itself.

Staterooms with balconies, patios, decks or verandas (each line seems to have a different name for it) will not have lifeboats blocking the view.

As for the pricing - it’s $600 per day to look at a lifeboat or $545 per day to have the balcony. Either way, that’s a pretty decent price for a suite, assuming that’s for the family, and not per person. One Caribbean cruise that I’m eyeballing at the moment had (they’re sold out) veranda suites starting at $2100 per person. Available suites are starting at $3500 per person.

One thing to watch out for is all of the extra fees and charges. On some lines, the fare includes a basic gratuity for the staff, but on others, it’s not included. When you do tip them, remember that most of them work 12-16 hours per day, seven days a week, and there’s no such thing as “overtime” pay. Watch out for taxes and port charges, and pretty much all lines are adding a fuel cost surcharge. (You thought $4.03 a gallon is bad with a car? Try gassing up a cruise ship.)

Four cruise Carnival veteran here. Not because I’m averse to trying other lines, but cash and time have kept me on Carnival up to this point.

I have no kids, and if I were any more low-key I’d be dead.

I usually cruise during the school year when prices are lower and there are fewer children. I like kids and I don’t mind having some around, but I prefer to avoid zillions.

I also up to this point have stuck to 7 and 8 day cruises which tend to minimize the frantic party animals, too.

Two of my cruises have been on sister ships to Pride and I’ve really enjoyed both. The bars are kind of scattered through the ships instead of being in a central location which makes for a quieter ship.

In four cruises, I haven’t run into any ugly drunks or Norovirus-tainted ships or ghastly children.

Your cruise will in large part be what you make it. If you look around on cruise boards (Cruise Critic which was already mentioned is excellent) you’ll see that some people on the same sailing on any of the lines will report the best vacation of their lives and others will report on their hideous, tormented, horrible week.

Yes I’ve encountered some rude staff, some rude guests, and some missed ports, but I’ve had four lovely vacations, too.

You will see other two year olds, especially if you cruise in summer.

Be aware that kids in diapers are not allowed in pools, even in swim diapers unless policy has changed in the last eighteen months. RuffLlama may not have the issue, but some kids and parents have been shocked to discover that they can’t swim.

The dining room staff usually really do their best to keep kids happy, but dinner usually takes a while.

If you are comfortable with babysitting, try to get a reservation in the pay dining room. It ran about thirty per person plus tip on my last cruise and it is a really nice evening.

Balconies are fabulous.

I’m not sure you understood–the $3000 cabin on the 5-day cruise is a suite…the largest cabins on board, and with an extended balcony. The plans on Carnival.com show the suite has a partially obstructed view, and judging by those plans, obstructed by the lifeboat.