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Expert
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Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | My mom best friend and I are wanting to go on a cruise sometime this year to either Jamaica or Bahamas. I want opinions on wich is better and who is the best cruise line to use? Should we try to book it our selves or through a travel adviser? Is it cheaper if we go during the fall/winter than it is the summer?
Edited by TessBelle 2014-05-01 11:01 PM
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25352
Location: Bastrop, Texas | I've been on 7 cruises. Â Three were Royal Caribbean and the rest Carnival. Â I've never had a bad experience on any of them and loved the pampering. Â I like the idea that you get to your cabin and after that it's pure relaxation. Â I would have to say that Royal Caribbean was a bit nicer overall....just one level above Carnival. Â I think generally you can get better deals with Carnival, but I haven't looked in a while. Â It's been 6 years since my last cruise. Â The food is fantastic, but after a while the buffets start to taste the same.....like with any buffets. Â The dinners are usually very good. Â You can order anything from a cheeseburger to a shrimp cocktail anytime around the clock and they will bring it to your room. Â There's always something fun to do on the ship. Â The evenings shows are typically Las Vegas caliber, but not always. Â With each port-of-call there is a list of excursions/tours you can take and the variety is pretty wide ranged....scuba, snorkel, motor scooters, sightseeing, etc.... Â If you know where you are going ahead of time, put in your reservations early. Â Maybe I can even give some advice, because I know most islands pretty well. Â If it's a choice between a Western Caribbean cruise versus the Bahamas, I would choose Caymans/Jamaica (Western Caribbean) hands down over the Bahamas, but both are enjoyable. Â Personally, I prefer the Eastern Caribbean, because there's a wider variety.....St Maarten, St Lucia, Barbados, etc.... Â
For sure summer cruises are cheaper than winter/spring, but most people don't care to go to the Caribbean in the summer mainly because it's so nice already at home! Â It's worth it to spend a little more and go in the winter. Â I love the idea of sipping an iced tea on deck at 10 o'clock under the stars in 80 degree weather, when I know it's -40 below back home! Â But hey! Â That's just me. You will have fun and I think cruises are a good value for what you get.
Edited by HotbearLVR 2014-05-01 11:19 PM
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 Banjo and Baby
Posts: 7259
Location: South of Canada and North of Mexico | My mom and dad have been on I think 10 cruises now, They have done mostly Princess but have gone on two Royal Carribean. She just booked another one a few days ago on Princess. They use a travel agent, the thing about a travel agent is they know the good spots to put you on the boat, as some places you'll feel the boat more or be far away from teh steps or whatever. It wasnt any more money, to book through the travel agent, Ive also heard bad things about people who need to contact the cruise line and waiting for hours on hold, the travel agent will do that for you if anything needs to be done. I've only been on one and loved it, we had balcony rooms - worth it!! It was so nice to sit outside as we pulled into ports and to have the door open at night.
We were on the western carribean on RC out of Galveston.
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Expert
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Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | The one we are looking at right now is 5 day and leaves November 14th. We decided that it was easyer finically to go in the fall. It's a Carnivle ship but don't remember the name. We can go for $144 a person. It's a ocean view room. I'm not positive but I'm guessing that means we will have one tiny little window. Is there stuff to do at night other than clubs and bars? We're not clubbers at all and rarely have a drink. |
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Member
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| Cruising is a lot fun. There a lot of fun things to do on the ship. There are always shows, comedians and a lot of other entertainment. I have been on several cruises both RC and Carnival. I think they are pretty much the same. Carnival is usually more affordable. An ocean view room is usually down on the lower decks and would be fine. You don't spend much time in your room. Cruises are usually cheaper in the fall but deals can be found anytime. I would book through a travel agent so they can give you all the advice you need. The price is the same. Have a great time!
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 667
| I have been on 6 cruises... Celebrity Cruise Line is by far the best. I absolutly love it. Check it out :) I also went on Royal Caribbean and it was nice too but Celebrity is by far my fav |
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 Elite Veteran
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Location: Do I hear Banjos? | I have been on two. One was a Royal Carribean to Cozumel/Cancun etc. It was fun...and I learned a lot about what to do better for the next one. The biggest thing I learned is that it is far better to book your own shore activities. Cheaper and more options that way.
So...My second one was on Princess. It was the Inside Passage cruise to Alaska. IT.WAS.AMAZING. I went through a travel agent and that was a great choice as others have stated. Coordinated the flight/hotel to Anchorage and the car down to the cruise ship. I planned all of my shore activities myself ands booked them before we left. THAT was the best thing I ever did. We had a privare whale watching trip on a jet boat that got us so close to the whales. That was an accident really as we were staying the proper distance watching a male surface a ways off...when out of nowhere a female and her calf (Calf the size of a volkswagen) Surfaced right next to the boat! The ravel agent got us a great deal on a balcony room that allowed us to sit alone sipping hot chocolate while we were watching the glaciers calve in Glacier Bay...awesome.
Any rate... by planning/.booking your own shore tours you can get in on things that are more private small group stuff and save money honestly.
The Princess ship was brand new so it over all seemed much nicer and better food than the RC trip. But then...it was a much more expensive trip too.
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  Rebel Without a Cause
Posts: 2758
Location: Adopt a homeless pet - www.petfinder.com! | I've been on two cruises on Carnival and Norwegian. Both in the Carribean. They are tons of fun. If you go to the Carribean in the fall remember that it is hurricane season so I'd recommend getting the trip insurance just in case your cruise is impacted, which isn't likely. www.cruisecritic.com is a great website for research. Have fun! |
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Expert
Posts: 1477
Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | Ok. So of coarse I want to ride horses on the beach. Do y'all know of any places at either destination that we can do that? It's something I've always wanted to do. Being 45min for the beach you would think I would have already but no where allows it that I know of.
Edited by TessBelle 2014-05-02 12:27 PM
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 Veteran
Posts: 233
| We have been on four cruises; one carnival and the rest Disney.. I'm a big kid at heart but even as I have gotten older, the Disney is never dull and offers a lot of fun for adults. I had fun on the carnival also but I am partial to Disney and their private island. We have always used a travel advisor. Enjoy your cruise! |
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Member
Posts: 11
| Grand Turk, Caicos and Jamaica are the only 2 destinations that I have found that allow you to ride on the beach and in the ocean. The rest usually are inland. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 393
Location: East Texas | We go on Carnival because we can drive to Galveston the morning of the cruise. We do love it and just got to sail for 5 days in January for $350. We are already booked on our next cruise and have friends going with us. They are first time cruisers and are getting our repeat customer perks because they are our friends and booked with us at the same time. |
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Expert
Posts: 1477
Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | BrownieBites - 2014-05-02 12:39 PM
We go on Carnival because we can drive to Galveston the morning of the cruise. Â We do love it and just got to sail for 5 days in January for $350. Â We are already booked on our next cruise and have friends going with us. Â They are first time cruisers and are getting our repeat customer perks because they are our friends and booked with us at the same time. Â Â
We are going to depart from Orlando Fl because that's within driving distance. |
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| We just got back from our first one about a month ago. It was royal Caribbean and we had so much fun! Ported out of Galveston. Went to Falmouth Jamaica which since we had t planned on doing any excursions there I was disappointed. We ended up doing a trolley ride through the historic part. It was ok. We had a blast at Margaritaville though! Then to caymon islands where we snorkeled and Cozumel we swam with dolphins. Booked everything ourselves. Only problem if not ship excursions is their insurance won't cover you if something happens. As far as nights we don't drink but found a lot to do. The ice skating show was so fun we went twice. There's game shows you can play, karaoke, we enjoyed sitting in the decks people watching. Our son is almost 16 and had a blast. So many teen activities to do. We will plan another soon!! |
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Expert
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Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | gunsmoke - 2014-05-02 12:54 PM
We just got back from our first one about a month ago. It was royal Caribbean and we had so much fun! Ported out of Galveston. Went to Falmouth Jamaica which since we had t planned on doing any excursions there I was disappointed. We ended up doing a trolley ride through the historic part. It was ok. We had a blast at Margaritaville though! Then to caymon islands where we snorkeled and Cozumel we swam with dolphins. Booked everything ourselves. Only problem if not ship excursions is their insurance won't cover you if something happens. As far as nights we don't drink but found a lot to do. The ice skating show was so fun we went twice. There's game shows you can play, karaoke, we enjoyed sitting in the decks people watching. Our son is almost 16 and had a blast. So many teen activities to do. We will plan another soon!!
I wanna snorkel as long as there's no sharks. Lol I think swimming with dolphins would be cool too. |
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 Triple Extra-Ordinaire
Posts: 4244
Location: Okla | I havn't read all the posts so don't know if your question has been answered. The cruise line will usually have a list that you can get in advance of the cruise that will explain all the side trips, excursions that they recommend. They will be able to tell you if there is horseback riding available. I have been on 5 cruises. We went horseback riding on 2 of them. One was in Mexico, we went through little vilages and into the jungle. It was a lot of fun. The other was in Hawaii. We rode to the top of a huge cliff and could see half the island. Went down a trail from the cliff and got to ride along the beach. It was a lot of fun. Ask the cruise lines and they will be able to tell you, though. |
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Expert
Posts: 1477
Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | Another question.... Mom and friend are the type they just wanna chill but I like to get out and move around. I have a disability and may need help finding things. Is there anyone that could help me? |
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