[buggyone]

I also am in the Elite Plus category of Celebrity. For a first time cruise, I would suggest a 10 night Western Caribbean cruise. You will have some nice ports with great beaches. I would not suggest a Christmas cruise - these are the most expensive and most crowded of the year. The perfect time for a Caribbean cruise is April or October. Least expensive time of the year and pretty much perfect weather in the Caribbean.

For a good on-line travel agency, I would recommend CruCon.com. They will give on-board credits and usually will include all gratuities prepaid.

Tell them you are Florida residents over 55. That is a discount. On some cruises with Celebrity, you also get a discount if you are a veteran or if you own stock with RCL.

Have fun.

[Mr Hanky]

Originally Posted by ConnecticutYankee

I would suggest for your first cruise, try a 7 day Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas out of Port Canaveral. The itinerary is a stop at Cocoa Cay (RC's private Island), day in St Thomas, and a day in St. Maarten. The entertainment was very good, and we thought the food was excellent. We always get a cabin with an ocean view. We tried a balcony once, and the problem is there can be smokers around, and it can be very windy. Also, the cabin is smaller. If you explore the 2 sites I mentioned above, you can get this cruise for around $750-800/pp.

Cruising is the best vacation value going! Give it a try!

[kstew43]

Originally Posted by villager

As one who used to work a couple months at a time teaching computer classes on cruise ships, I might suggest taking a cruise over New Year's vs. Christmas. I can say, first hand, that Christmas cruises are not the most fun. As our cruise director used to say, the people who are on a Christmas cruise either have no family or their family doesn't want them. The tone of the passengers over a Christmas cruise is so much different than other times. The passengers are usually very grumpy and it affects the whole atmosphere. Even though the crew tries to make sure they are "up" and friendly, Christmas cruise passengers affect them, too. Hubby and I thought all this was crazy when we were told about it and then we experienced it first hand. So, book a New Year's Eve cruise and enjoy the fun and party! People are amazingly happy during New Year's.

Seriously.........We cruise at Christmas just to see all the decorations, and we have places to go and I think we are very much wanted.
We tend to attempt to get away from the hometown at christmas due to the crowds, congestion, cold and time off of work. Plus after the actual christmas day, families seem to behave a little better and there is less arguing.
I think your statement was cruel.

[buggyone]

" We always get a cabin with an ocean view. We tried a balcony once, and the problem is there can be smokers around, and it can be very windy. Also, the cabin is smaller."

Mrs. Buggy and I travel on Celebrity cruises - and they are a part of Royal Caribbean. On Celebrity, there is NO smoking allowed in the cabins NOR on the balcony. I believe RCL has the same policy.

The cabin of a balcony room is the same size of an outside ocean view cabin (usually around 190 sq feet - plus another 65 sq feet for the balcony - enough for a couple of chairs and small cocktail table outside.)

If you have a balcony cabin, you will find it hard to go to one without the balcony on your next cruise.

As you can see, some cruisers love Christmas cruising and some do not. It is a personal choice. Some people love going to Disney World during Christmas week - busiest time of year - and others would not go at gunpoint. Personal choice.

Anyhow, have fun whatever you decide.

[buggyone]

Best travel months are April, May, September, and October for good cruise prices and least crowded. Schools are in session so there will not be many kids on the cruise.

Do your own research online or ask a travel agent pertinent questions. Get price comparisons from at least 3 agencies. Have them compete for your business! Tell them you want things such as: onboard ship credits, paid gratuities or a drink package.

When I took my last cruise, Celebrity Cruises was offering their 1-2-3 package. You could have your choice of the onboard credits, paid gratuities, or a drink package for all alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. We chose the drink packages (1 for each of us) and our online travel agency (CruCon.com) paid for all of our gratuities and gave us onboard credits.

Those items saved us a huge amount of cash! Make the travel agent work for you!!

[swrinfla]

I'm a long-time cruiser, but have never sailed over the "holidays!"

On the other hand, I've done cruises over Thanksgiving for many years. Sometimes the ship is decorated for that day, then for Christmas. Other times, there seems to be little attention paid to the December event!

I can imagine that some folks over Christmas may be down, either because their family has 'rejected' them or because they don't have family, anymore. That's sad; I hope their fellow passengers will embrace them and make their sailing memorable!

SWR

[JourneyOfLife]

We travel outside of the country quite a bit.

Our first couple of cruises were more about trying the experience of a cruise.

For us, the novelty of "the cruise experience" wore off fairly quickly.

We cruise from time to time when that mode of transportation best meets our needs. The operative word being "transportation".

IMO; independent travel with fewer destinations and more time in those destinations is a far superior experience.

There are reasons other than "transportation" that we might consider a cruise too. But it is a fairly small list of reasons.

[casita37]

We just took a 7 day cruise on Norwegian, out of Tampa, the first week of December. The rates were by far the best for anytime even close to the holidays. I think the first week of Dec. is traditionally one of the lowest prices. The ship was already decorated, too.

That was just our 3rd cruise, so we're not experts. That brings me to my question. I am getting ready to book a 3 day out of Port Canaveral, on RCI in late March. I have checked all the travel sites and RCI's own site. They all offer the same rates, no on board credits, no free grats, etc. Is there any reason at all to use a travel site rather than the ship's own booking site....or vice versa?

[Ragman]

HERE IS THE BEST TIP I CAN GIVE YOU: There are motels in Port Canaveral and Ft. Lauderdale where you can stay the night before your sailing that will provide you with free parking for the week of your trip and free transportation to and from the port on the day of sailing.



What are some of the motels in Ft Lauderdale that provide free parking and transportation?

[dsweet12]

Originally Posted by Raen Dear

You know you're a Villager when . . . you are thinking about taking your first cruise. The Hubster and I would like to launch our cruising adventure with a Christmas cruise to somewhere like Mexico or the Panama Canal for maybe a week. My question is how in the world do you know what is a reasonable price for a cruise? Prices are all over the place and there are discounts etc etc. Do you just find something that you can afford and take a chance or is there a reasonably easy way to compare prices? I don't want to make finding cruise deals a second career because I've already found mah jongg. Thanks.

Cruising prices can be all over the place, but rule of thumb for a mass market cruise is; $100 per person per day is what to expect. So lets say for a 7 day Caribbean cruise for 2, expect to pay around $1400. This should include taxes, but not gratuities. That could add up to an additional $80 pp.

[Lauren Sweeny]

We have traveled for 30 days to the South Pacific after our dog died. You are so right about finding care for pets for long durations. I promised my hubby no more pets so we can have the cruises.

[wmkhut]

We just got back from our 42nd. cruise, we have been on most of the major lines. I would suggest a Southern Caribbean trip, the seas are usually calm that time of year, and you get better ports. We have found if you go on 7 day or longer, and go on newer ships it takes a lot of the risk out. Older people take longer cruises and there is less likely to be problems on newer ships. Of the 42 cruises 19 have been on Carnival and 15 of those were on ships that were new in the last 6 Mos. of us sailing and we had a Grand time, Carnival is still trying to out live the old days when they catered to a young party crowd. Their newer ships are as nice as any and there food and dining options are great. The advantage of using a Travel Agent is that we try to help the clients get rooms located where your not over or under say the Casino or the Theater Etc Personal experience is Valuable. Happy cruising to you. If you need advice on parking i know all the off site places to save you money. Bill