Suggestions on where to go?

What cruise line?

Best time to go?

Does afrcom not do cruises anymore?

The only cruise I will even entertain the idea of going on is an Alaskan cruise.

Budget....?
A/S/L

You'll get better advice in the Travel Forum.

I cruise 3-4 x a year on all lines.

 



































 

We are looking for something tropical with multiple stops. We have never been on a cruise before. We don't drink (flame suit on).



Budget can be anything not too expensive. I want to stay under $2k with air fair if possible.

Skip the cruise, go to Venice La. in October and go offshore fishing for huge yellowfin tuna.


ETA: You said "we"...probably nevermind.

In before two dozen ways to sneak booze on board

Eastern Caribbean, you are welcome.

 

Here is my suggestion save your money and get some food storage. But if you do go enjoy yourself.

Already been working on that for a few years



 

Princess for big ship cruises.

Avalon for European river cruises.

November 16 holland America out of Fort Lauderdale has some good prices.  Balcony room $577 7 nights plus fees.  Note I have never been on Holland America but some other people I know have enjoyed them.  Royal Carribean has some good fares for you also for Eastern Carribean.

There are a few other good deals my cruise guy sent me if you want his contact info.

Or if anyone has any suggestions on where to go other than a cruise.

We did a Carnival western Caribbean on a smaller ship.  Four ports in seven days.  It was a good first cruise.

I've done the Royal Caribbean cruise through the Caribbean (Nassau, St. Thomas & St. Maarten) on the Oasis of the Seas.

The ship is still relatively new and even the basic staterooms were very nice.  Our bed had a great mattress, the bathroom had good water pressure, etc.

The food aboard ship was fantastic.  We only dressed up for the main dining room one time, and while the food was good there, it was too fussy and over-executed for my taste.  The buffet was a sight to behold, and there was always plenty of good stuff.  I had what was probably the best lamb curry I've ever eaten.  The breakfast buffet was great as well.

The islands were basically ghetto with palm trees.  Ardastra Gardens on Nassau was nice, and Fort Charlotte was pretty cool (worth the price of admission just to see the gun emplacements -- the mounts were quite interesting).  We had great jerk pork and chicken at a little place near the port.  We did the basic tours of the other two islands, and found most folks to be pretty friendly.  The really obnoxious people were some of the passengers -- especially the decrepit, hateful old women with East Coast accents.  The way they talked to some of the staff on the ship was infuriating.

St. Thomas had a lot of chickens running around.  St. Maarten had a lot of goats running around.  We didn't do much shopping, as neither of us cared anything about diamonds or expensive watches.  I bought a carved mask at Nassau, some West Indies curry powder and some locally-made rum on St. Maarten, but that was about it.

The Oasis is an enormous ship, but there's tons of stuff to do.  The promenade deck kept making me think of Logan's Run.

The Oasis has a solarium near the bow where kids under 16 aren't allowed, so it's pretty laid back.  It's open all night, so I got into the habit of going up there to read my Kindle after about 3 a.m. when everyone else cleared out and the bar closed.

You can catch some really spectacular sunrises/sunsets at sea.  I would read for a few hours, then check out the sunrise, head to breakfast and then go back to the room for a nap, all before the wife woke up (she gets up super early for work, so she made a point of not rolling out of bed until at least 10 a.m. unless it was a day we were going to be in port).

This was all just my .02, but I was happy enough with Royal Caribbean that we'll eventually book another cruise with them.

Thanks for the write up



 

I've only been on one cruise so not an expert but...

Did an Amsterdam, Belgium, France and 5 Norwegian ports on Royal Caribbean.  Great food.  Great Service.  Great experience but certainly not the booze cruise party boat.  If your interest is party...i hear a Caribbean  cruise is the ticket.  Europe is a fantastic cruising destination though...the fjords are absolutely incredible and I will never forget my day in Normandy and Omaha Beach.

Took a Carnival cruise to the western Bahamas, it was ok, I really wanted it to be great or atleast really good as it was our honeymoon, but it wasn't. Lots of stupid people and uninteresting shipboard activities. Food was good, selection not so much. Stops were great, should've just flown into the islands, the boat did not add to the trip. As to the stops, they make it sound as though shore activities must be scheduled thru the ship, this is not true and you can easily find the same or better and less crowded activities for less once ashore. Was early spring and the weather was fantastic.

Wife once took a Windjammer to the Bahamas she raves about it.

Part of me just wants to find a resort to go to instead of a cruise but I have never done either in the Caribbean



 

I took cruse on a big grey ship to sunny South East Asia back when I got out of high school.  It was all expenses paid, as a mater of fact they paid me.  It was the last time I went on a cruse.  Maybe some day I will go on a cruse that takes me somewhere I want to go.

I heard Carnival has a terrific track record.

Cruise down the Danube,
Hungary, Austria, Croatia, etc...

Eat, drink, look at the architecture, marvel at the stunning babes.

Anything but Carnival. You will wish the boat would just sink already.

I like this idea!  Sign me up!

Damn which one were you on? I have been on a  few and never had a problem.

 

My folks liked it so much they did it twice.

I hear the coast of Syria Lebanon is lovely this time of year.

We did Royal Caribbean in April, started in puerto rico, had one sea day, barbados, st maarten, antigua, st kitts, a few other places. Food was good, going different places was fun, booze is totally expensive. Only thing bad about a cruise is if you miss seing or doing something at a port, too bad...

we're talking about that, plus  a Viking river cruise in Europe.

We've done 5 cruises so far.

We really like Celebrity, 4 on that line. 1 on Royal Caribbean.

The RC was to the Caribbean, duh. We liked it a lot. The only problem was our tablemates at dinner. 2 other couples and they were jackasses.

We have done Alaska on Celebrity. That was great fun. No dinner companion problems because we were traveling with a large group of people who knew each other. Alaska is a great cruise. But I would recommend earlier in the season. Alaskans have told me that most stops suffer from the summer monsoons and it gets rainy. Late May, when we did ours, was great weather.

Three years ago we did the Panama Canal on Celebrity. This is our favorite cruise so far. We were able to leave from Seattle and that let us take a limo to the cruise dock. It was a very relaxing cruise, day-at-sea/day-in-port for most of the trip. Of course it was 16 days and not everyone can take off that kind of time. We were some of the youngest on the ship and we're in out 40's. There were exactly 4 children on that ship and everyone knew them.

We just got back from a 12-day Baltic & Russia cruise. It was very nice, but there was a knot of 4 port-days right in the middle. That made for a very hectic time and wasn't very relaxing. We did see some very neat things. I'm kind of jazzed that I have a Russia entry stamp in my passport. It was something that was unthinkable when I was a kid.

On our Panama and Baltic cruises we chose "select" dining. This allowed us to not have to go to "early" or "late" dinner. We could go whenever the dining room was open and we didn't have fixed seating. We could sit with others or we could dine alone. We generally chose to eat with other people and got to meet lots of very nice folks. If there was someone who you found annoying, well, you never had to eat with them again if you didn't want to.

This Christmas we're doing another Celebrity cruise to the northern Caribbean. This time we're doing a family cruise so there will be 8 of us in a pack. We do have assigned dining this time (my BIL's choice, grr.) but that should be okay. Of course I already know all of the annoying people I'll be eating with.

Since you're in Idaho, OP, the most cost effective for you would be an Alaskan cruise. Hop to Seattle or Vancouver and take a 7-day and it will be fairly cost effective.
I will recommend a balcony room if you can get into one. While everyone is up on deck crowding each other trying to get a look at the glaciers and stuff, you can be sitting on your balcony hearing the same info, and seeing the same stuff, without getting smashed in the crowd.

Because of our balcony, I learned something I never would have known if I hadn't. Icebergs fizz like Alka-Seltzer.

Have fun on your cruise. Once you do one, you won't want to do any other kind of vacation. We still go to Hawaii or California or wherever, but cruising is what we prefer. We also find that cruising is a great way to scout locations you might want to go back to to spend more time. We have a list of several destinations we want to go back to when we can that we visited on cruises. (Costa Rica, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands)

And we're in the planning stages of a cruise with friends for Nov, 2014. The wife turns 50 and so do some of her friends. There's a bunch that all have birthdays in November, 3 days apart.

I vote Alaska. Not a big cruise ship though, it's more personal.

Shit you might find Aimless diving for his IPAD.

We just got back from that very cruise last week. Excellent suggestion. We did it with Avalon.

Been on 4 cruises.





My best advise is go on the biggest, newest ship you can find for your first.



We took an old 600' (Celebrity) boat to Bermuda and it sucked. The amenities weren't great and their big lunch one day was hamburgers and hotdogs on the aft deck.





RCCL, Norwegen , Holland America are all GTG.

We loved our trip to Alaska via Princess Lines.  We've lived in Fla. our whole lives so we did not focus on a tropical trip.

 

I've been to Alaska and Cozumel on a cruise.  Both were great for what they were.

Make sure your cruise is going somewhere you want to go.  Seems obvious, but still.  

Make sure you're not an obnoxious, intolerable jerk.  Does everything have to be your way, all the time?  If so, maybe you should stick to land where you get to call all the shots.  Cruise ships run on schedules and you have to be able to adapt to this, Mr. Alpha.

Make sure you're not a "better than everyone else" kind of person.  The food, with some exceptions in the formal restaurants, is buffet.  A comparison to Golden Corral is not completely unwarranted.  Unless you're completely pretentious, you'll find plenty of food you like, and plenty of it.  Tip:  Room service is free.  Order 8 things at once if you want.  I did.

If you're a generally easy-going guy who can have fun and get along with others, go for it.  It's a relatively inexpensive way to go places you might otherwise not be able to go.  I loved seeing Alaska.  I'll remember some of that stuff forever.  

Budget for excursions (stuff you do off-ship).  They can be pricey, but you'll almost definetly want to do them.  Don't stay on ship all day while in port.  That's just lame.

If you're a drinker, be warned:  Most people spend way, way too much on booze.  You get a passenger card that is linked to your account.  Want a beer?  One swipe and there's a beer.  Before long you have no idea how much you've spent and then you get a booze bill of $800.  Google rum runners if you're a drinker.  You're welcome.

I went to some of the shows onboard, worked out in the gym, and played in the casinos.  Never once got bored on either cruise.  Always had more stuff I wanted to do but didn't have time for.  I even took a 30-minute country dancing class once, even though I suck at dancing.  They paired me with an older woman (was hoping for someone my age) but it was still fun.  No one on board is ever going to see you again so why worry?

As far as paying for interior rooms vs exterior rooms vs balcony rooms vs suites, my opinion is to save your money and get the least room you're comfortable with.  I had an interior room for both cruises and it was fine.  What do you use your room for again?  That's right, sleeping or maybe taking a 30-minute nap because you're tired.  What difference does it make?  A balcony room would be cool, especially on an Alaskan tour, but there's no way I'd pay a significant premium for that.  You can just go to the deck and sit out on the chairs and enjoy the scenery for free.

Oh, and any pictures on-board are virtually rape prices and that especially includes formal dinner night.  Women are drawn to that for some reason.  I recommend you discourage such frivolous spending and instead promise your woman you'll go take formal pictures with her at some local photography studio where you live for 1/10th the cost.  

The website you should be at is cruisecritic.com, the arfcom of cruising.

Hope that helps.

There's also theme cruises if that's your bag.  These guys put on a good cruise:  http://www.sixthman.net/



I have this one booked now (I know, big surprise):  http://www.thekisskruise.com/

Been on over 20 starting in the mid 80's. We just booked another for next year to New England and Canada for something different to do. It's changed drastically over that time, but still a decent time. I get a lot of perks from the line I use the most, so it's worth it.

CruiseCritic forums is the Arfcom of cruising. Check it out.

Royal Carribean is great. No kids and awesome food, service and booze.

Take lots of spending money.

I have a friend who was on the Carnival cruise that was on the news with no power, limping to port for like a week.  

The entire cruise was refunded, a voucher for a completely free cruise was given, plus a decent check for the trouble was written.  On top of that, she said it wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be.  It stopped being a vacation, that's for sure, but the staff bent over backwards to do as much as humanly possible for the passengers.  She's a country girl, though, so maybe the prissy folks would be more sensitive to things.

I'd travel on Carnival today for the right price.



Alaska was truly exceptional.  I'd recommend it to anyone.

My folks just came back from Europe last month and they're wanting to go back again, but this time on a river cruise.  I think they're going to do it in a year or two.

RC in my opinion, has the best balance of all things. Good itineraries, excellent entertainment, good food and well planned ships. It's the one I use the most. Not a lot of kids and seems to be geared to the more active lifestyle.

I went on a Carnival cruise once because it was a great deal.....or so I thought.

There's talk of some presidential cruises that'll take you right into the heart of Syria. Those sound lovely.


ETA; as an added bonus there'll be one hell of a fireworks display upon your arrival!

My sister is a frequent cruise junky, gave me the best advice ever before doing our first. Fuck the excursions - they're a scam. Research where you'll be, set up the fun you'll have on shore yourself, and save a fucking ton.



Example, we went to Playa Del Carman, rented a Jeep in town for $25, spent the entire day exploring and hitting the beach on the far side completely on our own. Private beaches, nude swimming in the blue water, had a fucking epic time for under $50.



The boat price for a scripted Jeep tour (where you slowly crawl around in a line of other folks in their jeeps) was $200.



 

Celebrity, Inside Passage Alaska, August.

Concierge class.  Your welcome


Look in the General - Travel subsection for more write ups.

Cruises suck.

I can also give many examples. For instance, I got hooked up with a guy educated in the states who set up a tour company. He hooked me up with a shuttle to do some rigorous hiking and reviewed my maps, making a few changes for the time we had to do it and better sights. He dropped off his "excursion people" drove me to another trailhead and picked us up at the end of the day. All this was worked out beforehand months in advance and I got to see the real island. Cheaper and much better experience. I've been back to see him twice since.
I always do my "own thing" and never go on "tours'.