Besides DCL, best cruise for non-gambling light drinkers?

[Golf4food]

DW and I think we would enjoy a cruise, but we don't gamble and we don't drink much and we don't dance and we don't scuba, and we don't really fish, and we don't surf or hanglide or otherwise put our bodies at risk...

So besides a Disney cruise (which we think has enough other activities on board to keep us occupied during sea times), are there any other ships/lines out there that we might enjoy that aren't so expensive? That is the only problem with DCL - they are quite a bit more expensive than other cruise lines for similar iteneraries (up to $2,000 or more higher...)

 

[NC State]

We're the same type of couple...I would love to know too!

 

[MoniqueU]

The Norwegian Cruise Line, Pride of Hawaii. Goes to all the Islands, no casino on board. 10 different restaurants and not too much of a party ship in my experience.

 

[MareQ]

DH and I just did an NCL cruise to the NE out of New York - AMAZING!!! We were on the Norweigan Dawn. Most cruise ships force you through the Casino to get to the main entertainment area - not on this ship - you could avoid it all together. I HIGHLY recomment this cruise line and the cruise in particular (We did NY, Martha's Vineyard, Halifax - Nova SCotia, Bar Harbor - Maine, Boston and Newport RI. VERY VERY nice! (We went in September)

 

[Golf4food]

The Norwegian Cruise Line, Pride of Hawaii. Goes to all the Islands, no casino on board. 10 different restaurants and not too much of a party ship in my experience.

But I take it this is west coast? Alas, we are Florida departure people and prefer the Caribbean to Hawaii...

 

[ksjayhawks]

Have you looked at Royal Caribbean? They do have the casino, but it is not blatant as some people think and is really not that big of a deal and other than a "casino is open/closed" announcment they promoted their bingo more--just like DCL does. You could go through the casino to other areas or skip it entirely.

They have a promenade, vegetable and ice carving demos, towel folding, various seminars, art auctions, etc. IF you are on a voyager class you can ice skate or play miniature golf--they had a game room and library--you can relax by the pool/hot tubs--they have a 24 hour cafe--you can eat at Johnny Rockets--etc, etc. There is a lot to do besides drinking and gambling.

They leave out of Port Canaveral, Ft Lauderdale, Tampa, Miami. So you should be able to find something to your liking.

 

[DawnCt1]

I LOVED Royal Caribbean until we sailed with Celebrity, (which is actually now owned by RC). Celebrity is wonderful. Personalized service, excellent food. Great ships. I would do it again, and again, and again.

 

[marybet]

We cruised in Nov. on the Carnival Glory from Port Canaveral. We don't do any of the things you mentioned either, and we had a great time. Most of the bars have entertainment, we went to the Piano bar, they don't push the drinks, and we would maybe have a drink, or a diet coke.

In the ports we did island tours, and there is plenty to do if you just take a taxi into town. Or you can just go to the beach.

We were just a tiny bit bored on one sea day, but they do have a lot of things going on most of the time. We spent some time on our balcony just relaxing and reading.

If you are looking for a less expensive cruise, than give Carnival a try.

 

[Golf4food]

We cruised in Nov. on the Carnival Glory from Port Canaveral. We don't do any of the things you mentioned either, and we had a great time. Most of the bars have entertainment, we went to the Piano bar, they don't push the drinks, and we would maybe have a drink, or a diet coke.

In the ports we did island tours, and there is plenty to do if you just take a taxi into town. Or you can just go to the beach.

We were just a tiny bit bored on one sea day, but they do have a lot of things going on most of the time. We spent some time on our balcony just relaxing and reading.

If you are looking for a less expensive cruise, than give Carnival a try.

I was just pulling up a Carnival Glory cruise actually: 7-day Western that visits Cozumel, Belize City, Costa Maya, and Nassau, departing from Cape Canaveral. I would love to visit the Mayan ruins and such in addition to the nice tropical water...

Over $1,000 cheaper than a 7 day DCL cruise...

 

[DMickey28]

Have you ever been on a cruise?

I highly recommend Royal Caribbean. We have been on a bunch of cruises and on Holland America, Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises. By far our favorite is Royal Caribbean and we are very loyal to them. My brother also like Norwegian Cruise Lines.

We do gamble but otherwise don't do much else on the cruises. Royal Caribbean has alot of other activity options and the casino is not IN YOUR FACE or anything at all. The bigger ships have wonderful shows, the ice rink, the promanade, the pools. Lot's of cool stuff to do!!!

We are going on our next on in the winter of 2008 with the new baby and I CAN"T WAIT!!! We are taking this year off for obvious reasons and I am in withdrawl.

 

[marybet]

I was just pulling up a Carnival Glory cruise actually: 7-day Western that visits Cozumel, Belize City, Costa Maya, and Nassau, departing from Cape Canaveral. I would love to visit the Mayan ruins and such in addition to the nice tropical water...

Over $1,000 cheaper than a 7 day DCL cruise...

We did this cruise in March 2005. The Mayan ruins were awesome, we climbed to the top of the pyramid at Chichen Itzen and I can still remember the spectacular view of the uncovered ruins in the forest. This is a great cruise because you have 4 ports.

We did the eastern Caribbean in Nov., I thought St. Thomas was beautiful, but I did miss not being able to visit any ruins.

 

[mrsmom]

We went on The glory eastern in Nov , we loved it. And we didn't drink alot or gamble, We had a good time going to the shows and sitting on our own balcony realxing. I think you would love the glory.
Kim

 

[Tony-NJ]

There are thousands of cruises out of FL. You can go on a cruise and not gamble or drink. There is plenty to do, they will keep you as busy / relaxed as you like. We've been on Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. Carnival would probably be too much of a party ship for you folks.

We took Norwegian with friends in September, Eastern Caribbean & Bermuda. I like to drink while on vacation and Gamble... Out of the 4 of us - there were 2 who hardly drink and don't really gamble, and they had a blast.
Do some research, try and compare the differences, head over to cruisecritic.com. Lots and lots of information there.

 

[HamTown]

We just did an Eastern caribbean itinerary on the Zuiderdam (Holland America). We spent a grand total of $20 in the casino (.25 slots) and were never harassed in the lounges once we told the servers we didn't want a drink. HAL is a low-key line (not a lot of wild and crazy activities on board), you're expected to follow the dress code for dinner (2 formal nights, 1 "informal/jacket for men", and 4 casual nights/no jeans or t-shirts) and their clientele trends older. There were only 38 children on our cruise, but we didn't find it to be the walker brigade that we had anticipated either. We were able to find plenty to do in port (except Grand Turk, our only option was really the beach).

We did a Carnival Pride cruise 3 years ago (sister ship to the Glory). We had a great time and did not find it to be a total booze cruise. However, the Elation was in port with us at Grand Turk this month and we found the passengers we encountered there to fit the "party boat" stereotype to a T.

We love cruising because you wake up in a new place every day and you can choose how much you want to do. There is someone to cook and clean for you! What could be better than that?