Cruises

[winneythepooh7]

Has anyone ever gone? What are your thoughts? I just completed my first cruise this weekend. We went to Bermuda for our honeymoon. I had a really good time, but would definitely only do a cruise again with a bunch of friends/family (gets boring with two people after a couple of days). I also thought that it ended up being quite pricey (it seemed cheap when we booked), because you WILL as a couple end up spending about an extra grand on top of the price of the cruise (more than that if you are a big drinker/gambler). Drinks are much more expensive then I thought (average drink is like $7-$9) and they automatically add tips to everything (drinks, room steward daily, etc). They also get you in areas like not having irons in the room for "safety reasons" so you have to send your clothing out to be pressed which can add up too because you have to look neat for many of the restaurants. It was a learning experience though. There are things I'd do differently next time (ie. not pay for off-ship excursions but explore more on our own). It is true what they say about constantly eating, as well. And the food is not all that healthy. There were also a ton of old people on the ship (not really an issue but they do slow you down LOL), and while overall, the kids on the ship didn't annoy me, they did annoy me when they took over the hot tubs all day and night or cried all through lunch/dinner.

[EmberMae]

I just went on a cruise for my honeymoon too. It was my 3rd cruise, his 1st. To me the biggest appeal is the fact that I don't have to worry about food. Since I'm vegetarian finding something to eat can be a constant source of anxiety while traveling. All the cruise lines I've been on have been very accommodating to my dietary needs.

Also it's nice to visit several different places traveling while you sleep. We went to Hawaii and it was the cheapest way possible to see all the major islands, with the added bonus of not having to unpack at each one. However the shore excursions were annoyingly pricey, and in most cases the cruise line charged us significantly more than if we had just booked the tours directly ourselves, although this way the guides picked us up at the pier. Same thing with the airline tickets, which I would not buy through a cruise line again. We did rent a car one day and explore on our own, which was fun, but I also really enjoyed having an experienced tour guide and some guided activities rather than just driving around. I learned and experienced so much on this trip and loved it. I did not like the large bus tours and would avoid those in the future, especially since the clientel is very slow moving elderly people and loading and unloading the bus takes forever. The small groups of 10-15ish doing more active things were very fun though.

I'd do it again, but you're right it can get boring hanging out on the ship with just two people. On the other hand it was nice being able to do just the activities we wanted on the islands and not having to worry about pleasing others. Had so much more fun this time than when I went on cruises with my parents years ago.

[hoodie]

I was on a cruise this summer to Key West/Cozumel and loved it! First of all, my bf and myself went with another couple, which did alleviate a lot of the boredom that others are mentioning. We smuggled some bottles of liquor onboard, and were allowed to bring wine, so we had plenty of drinks without having to buy theirs. I think we purchased one beverage card we could share. The offshore excursions were a blast, but I wish we'd chosen shorter ones. The ones we had lasted the entire time we were in port, while many others took a few hours and left some other time for just looking around on your own. I thought the food was great because the portions were pretty small, and they let you know what the "healthy" options were on the menu each night. The staff on the cruise was fantastic, and very friendly. My main complaint would be children. I think we were on a "family friendly" boat, and honestly, I was so sick of kids and teens in the pool and hot tub that I'd rather go with the old people next time! :p (plus I think elderly folks wouldn't leave a condom in the pool. EW!)

Still, all in all, I loved it and would do it again in an instant!

[SunnyCee]

I've been on a few cruises, and I've loved them! Two of them were to Canada, and there wasn't as much sight-seeing off the ship, but mostly relaxing activities on board. The other I went on was to Alaska, and it was amazing! I saw so much nature, and it was a great experience.

My parents are obsessed with cruises, because they get to travel and they have the convenience of a trip that's sort of all taken care of. This past summer they took a two-week cruise of the Baltic Sea area, and went to places like Berlin and St. Petersburg.

[coll214]

I loved my first, and only cruise. It was great to see and explore different areas (we did a 7 day with 5 stops), without every having to pack up like when transferring hotels. there are a lot of hidden costs, but overall i enjoy the easiness of it (how could you not enjoy ordering a drink on the beach without ever having to worry about money? :) ). Personally i enjoyed having knowledgeable guides everywhere I went and while some of the places I wish we had more time, I could always go back to those places on my own. I went with two other people, and we seemed to make friends with everyone everywhere we went, so there never was a 'boredom' factor. Honestly I think for the kid/old people factor, it all depends on the cruise line. Certain ones tend to cater to certain people, at least that's what my travel agent had told us. We did fine w/ ours; it was a good mix of people.

[winneythepooh7]

Being on the cruise really inspired me to try to eat healthier. I'm not super overweight or anything (could stand to lose 10-15 lbs.) but seriously, there were some really BIG people on that ship who every hour, you see them loading up their plates high to the sky with cheeseburgers, hot dogs, ribs, buffalo wings, french fries and whatever fried dish of the day was being prepared. I know that this can be an eating disorder, but it was really eye-raising to see SO MANY people who kept eating so much unhealthy food constantly. YUCK!

Even the so-called "healthy" food wasn't THAT healthy (creamy salad dressings, cheese in everything, pasta, etc. etc. etc.).

I also heard the same thing about certain cruises catering to certain people. We went on Norwegian "Freestyle" cruising. I heard that Carnival is kids-galore and basically any cruise line is going to have old people!

[winneythepooh7]

I've been on a few cruises, and I've loved them! Two of them were to Canada, and there wasn't as much sight-seeing off the ship, but mostly relaxing activities on board. The other I went on was to Alaska, and it was amazing! I saw so much nature, and it was a great experience.

My parents are obsessed with cruises, because they get to travel and they have the convenience of a trip that's sort of all taken care of. This past summer they took a two-week cruise of the Baltic Sea area, and went to places like Berlin and St. Petersburg.


I flew to Alaska in the past but I heard the cruise is amazing. I really wanted to go on the 12-day Mediterranean cruise that also goes to Venice (one of the places I am dying to go to). We just couldn't take that much time off, nor were we able to afford the airfare in addition to the cruise price! Maybe in a year or two though..........we'll see!!!

[winneythepooh7]

I loved my first, and only cruise. It was great to see and explore different areas (we did a 7 day with 5 stops), without every having to pack up like when transferring hotels. there are a lot of hidden costs, but overall i enjoy the easiness of it (how could you not enjoy ordering a drink on the beach without ever having to worry about money? :) ). Personally i enjoyed having knowledgeable guides everywhere I went and while some of the places I wish we had more time, I could always go back to those places on my own. I went with two other people, and we seemed to make friends with everyone everywhere we went, so there never was a 'boredom' factor. Honestly I think for the kid/old people factor, it all depends on the cruise line. Certain ones tend to cater to certain people, at least that's what my travel agent had told us. We did fine w/ ours; it was a good mix of people.


Yeah, we did meet a lot of other couples on the ship who also just got married. They even had a champagne/cake party on one of the last days for all the new couples, and they invited some of the older couples to join who were celebrating their anniversary. This was also cool because my husband always had someone to chat with watching football in the bar area. I forgot to mention that he got a really bad rash when he went snorkeling. He finished off a whole box of benadryl and a whole tube of benadryl cream. It covered his entire body and would disappear for a few hours after he popped the benadryl, then came back. The RN on the ship said it was from "glow fish sperm". ICK! Glad I didn't go snorkeling! His mom also told me her friend got a really bad rash from the snorkel equipment when they went on a cruise a few years back.

[asm198]

We went on a cruise for part of our honeymoon and we pretty much felt the way you did. It was a ton of fun, but it got a little dull after a couple of days.

My main complaint is that there just didn't seem to be very much to do that appealled to us, which is why I think I got bored. I mean, there was plenty to do during the day, but it seemed like lots of the activities were geared toward a different type of people. I had no interest in going to an art auction or playing bingo or whatever and the things we did want to do always seemed to be overrun with kids, so there were long wait times. This was mainly with any sport activity like the rock climbing wall or mini-golf.

Also, it seemed as if lots of the things we wanted to do overlapped. They had a newlywed get together one evening, but scheduled it 30 minutes before the second seating of dinner, so we only got to hang out for about 20 minutes before we had to leave.

I hated that the kids were all over the pool area as well. Our ship had a pool and hot tub for everyone and then a separate area for adults, but it didn't seem to matter because the kids were in both. We wanted to get in the hot tub, but there were ALWAYS kids in the all ages tubs (we stay up very late and decided to hit the hot tub around 2 am and the hot tub was packed with kids) and the adult hot tub was closed for the duration of our cruise.

Stuff to do at night was a bit better than during the day, but not by much. We went to several shows, so that was fun, but afterwards there didn't seem to be much that was open and active. I think there were three nightclub places on the ship. One seemed to be geared towards the older crowd, one was an actual nightclub but there didn't seem to ever be anyone there, and one was for kids and seemed dead as well. We ended up hanging out at a random bar most nights, which was fun and we met quite a few people that way.

I know there was lots of people our age on the ship, but we never did find out where they were hanging out.


All in all, we had fun and would cruise again. The food and service was awesome and I liked just being able to kick back and not have to worry about anything, but I think it would be more fun to do stuff in a group, rather than go as a couple.

[winneythepooh7]

I think what was hard for me is that a big point of "cruising" is sitting around a lot and doing nothing majorly productive. I'm just not used to that, and felt really restless, really quickly.