Cruise help please! UPDATE- I booked one! YAY!

[jfoofj]

SO, DH and I have been talking about taking a vacation- just the two of us. We have gone away for a weekend here and there, but we have never gone away just to two of us for a week's vacation (we love to travel with the kids... BUT and adults only vacation would be super-nice!). Our honeymoon was a weekend away in a nice NH Inn, which was FABULOUS, and we said we would take a real honeymoon at some point... well, I think some point is getting close.

DH mentioned today that he thought that a cruise would be a great idea. I have cruised in the past on Carnival a couple times and the Norwegian cruise out of Boston to Bermuda. We are looking at cruises that leave out of Boston (but I think that limits us to Bermuda or Canada) or New York, so as to not have to fly anywhere (cutting down on expense, and I HATE flying). I am at a loss. Has anyone cruised out of New York before? What cruise line/ship/itinerary did you have and would you recommend it? We are thinking this fall or next spring for our time frame (I am pushing the fall, after hurricane season). Also, how did you book your cruise? The last time I cruised I used a TA, but it looks like you can just book it yourself these days... I want a good deal, so any advice as to how to get one on a cruise would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks~
Jfoofj

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

perhaps you should post this on the cruise board.

 

[LoraJ]

I love cruising, but I have never cruised out of NY or Boston. That may change next year when we go on a cruise with our family. Princess and NCL both have ships that sail down to the Eastern Caribbean from NYC. My only concern with doing that is from what I understand, the Atlantic isn't the smoothest ride.

Check out the websites for Princess, Carnival, RCCL, NCL and Celebrity to see what they have to offer for when you want to go.
Head over to cruisecritic.com so that you can get some more advice and ideas.

 

[tae1218]

We have cruised 3 times out of Cape Liberty NJ (Newark) on Royal Caribbean. We did a 5 day cruise to Bermuda and 2 9 day cruises to the Eastern Caribbean. We had a great time and it was a plus that we did not have to pay for airfare.

 

[bimshire]

SO, DH and I have been talking about taking a vacation- just the two of us. We have gone away for a weekend here and there, but we have never gone away just to two of us for a week's vacation (we love to travel with the kids... BUT and adults only vacation would be super-nice!). Our honeymoon was a weekend away in a nice NH Inn, which was FABULOUS, and we said we would take a real honeymoon at some point... well, I think some point is getting close.

DH mentioned today that he thought that a cruise would be a great idea. I have cruised in the past on Carnival a couple times and the Norwegian cruise out of Boston to Bermuda. We are looking at cruises that leave out of Boston (but I think that limits us to Bermuda or Canada) or New York, so as to not have to fly anywhere (cutting down on expense, and I HATE flying). I am at a loss. Has anyone cruised out of New York before? What cruise line/ship/itinerary did you have and would you recommend it? We are thinking this fall or next spring for our time frame (I am pushing the fall, after hurricane season). Also, how did you book your cruise? The last time I cruised I used a TA, but it looks like you can just book it yourself these days... I want a good deal, so any advice as to how to get one on a cruise would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks~
Jfoofj

Hurricane season in the Atlantic/Caribbean ends in late November.

Princess has Canada/New England cruises on the Caribbean Princess this fall. While Carnival has sailings on the Canival Glory. Royal Caribbean has sailings on Jewel of the Seas.

In the Fall and Spring Royal Caribbean has Explorer of the Seas doing Caribbean sailings out of Cape Liberty, NJ

 

[MM27]

I'm loyal to Royal They usually only do the Canadian Cruises out of Boston, but there is a ship that is leaving Boston in October that goes to the Caribbean. I saw one that leaves Boston, but it's a repositioning cruise The price is low for a 13 day, but the ports are:
Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Roseau, Dominica; Bridgetown, Barbados; Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; Fort Lauderdale, Florida
so you would need a flight home after from Fort Lauderdale. If I wasn't a teacher, I would jump on this one right away.

 

[kafitty]

i sailed out of New York in August of 2007 on the Crown Princess. It was 9 nights, and stopped at Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Martin, and Grand Turk.

Definitely check out cruisecritic.com, it's like the DIS but for cruises! i booked myself, using a website that lets you ask for quotes for a certain sailing and then TA's will send you quotes, then you can pick which deal works best for you. i doubt i can list the website here so PM me if you'd like it.

i definitely like Princess, and want to try RCCL. i've also done Carnival, but they're definitely considered on the low end of cruiselines.

it's really no big deal to go during hurricane season, so long as you don't have your heart set on any particular port (and, really...they all kind of look the same if you're only there for a day, lol). They'll just move the ship around the affected area.

sailing out of New York was SUPER SUPER easy, we came from just southeast of Boston and the trip was about 4 hours. Definitely preferable to flying!!

let me know if you have any other questions...i love planning trips, especially cruises!

 

[bumbershoot]

Be sure to check out cruisecritic.com! Good articles and a helpful forum. CC is to cruising what disboards is to all things Disney Parks.

 

[testifyoncruises]

Get recommendations for a local travel agent who has been on cruises her or himself. You want someone you can meet face to face and ask a lot of questions. Those websites that compete are all fine and dandy until their is a problem. Do you want to do deal with a professional or an order taker? A professional honestly can make the difference between a dream vacation and a nightmare.

Thought it is great for port research, you have to weed through a lot of know it alls on cruise critic. One thing for sure if there is a problem cruisecritic is not going to be there to help you.

When you are spending thousands on a vacation, never buy from the agency of THEY'VE SAID and I'VE HEARD.

Just be aware that people who sail on RCL out of Bayonne (Cape Liberty) have come back to their cars damaged by paint overspray from the dockyard next to the parking lot.

 

[DrCavin]

Royal is sailing out of Baltimore, not sure on when they start/finish, they are Caribbean routes.

 

[jfoofj]

SO- I booked the Norwegian Gem for a cruise leaving from NY, stoping in Port Canaverel, FL, Stirrup Cay, and Nassau for March '11. I really wanted to do further down in the Carribean, but DH has never cruised before so I figured we should stick to a 7 night cruise and all the southern/eastern Carribbean cruises were 9 and 10 nights. I figure if he loves it, we can book a longer one for the next time!

I pick NCL because I have cruised with them before and I got a great upgrade because of that. I'm pretty excited, I know it is far away, but a year will go by before we know it.

 

[dakcp2001]

I had a bad experience with RCCL, I would avoid them if you can! If everything goes according to plan you are all set, but if something goes wrong you are SOL and they are very difficult to deal with. Remember the cruise out of New Orleans that crashed into the pier in Mexico in 2005? Grandeur of the Seas) I am sure you saw it on the news. I was on it, we had to spend hours on a bus in Mexico, then they flew us to one place, then another, then another. It was 2 full days and many flights to get from Mexico back to NO, where we had missed our return flight and lost our deposit on our hotel that we were a no show from There was no where to make phone calls from since they just ushered us from plane to bus to plane. It cost me so much, getting back late caused me to lose my deposit on a hotel, change flight fees, missed 2 days of work and by the way, had no vacation. I got a 100 refund for a 1000 cruise and that was after calling for months. It was the most expensive and horrible vacation ever.

BTW RCCL covered the whole thing up in the press and said all customers were offered a full refund. Of all the people I met on that cruise, no one got anything close.

 

[jfoofj]

I had a bad experience with RCCL, I would avoid them if you can! If everything goes according to plan you are all set, but if something goes wrong you are SOL and they are very difficult to deal with. Remember the cruise out of New Orleans that crashed into the pier in Mexico in 2005? Grandeur of the Seas) I am sure you saw it on the news. I was on it, we had to spend hours on a bus in Mexico, then they flew us to one place, then another, then another. It was 2 full days and many flights to get from Mexico back to NO, where we had missed our return flight and lost our deposit on our hotel that we were a no show from There was no where to make phone calls from since they just ushered us from plane to bus to plane. It cost me so much, getting back late caused me to lose my deposit on a hotel, change flight fees, missed 2 days of work and by the way, had no vacation. I got a 100 refund for a 1000 cruise and that was after calling for months. It was the most expensive and horrible vacation ever.

BTW RCCL covered the whole thing up in the press and said all customers were offered a full refund. Of all the people I met on that cruise, no one got anything close.

OMG that is horrible....... word of mouth is a powerful thing, thanks for sharing. I had a great cruise on NCL the last time (8 years ago) and even Carnival was good (10 and 12 years ago) but Carnival is definitely in a different league, not a bad thing at all, I had a blast, but NCL is more my speed.

 

[mjkacmom]

SO- I booked the Norwegian Gem for a cruise leaving from NY, stoping in Port Canaverel, FL, Stirrup Cay, and Nassau for March '11. I really wanted to do further down in the Carribean, but DH has never cruised before so I figured we should stick to a 7 night cruise and all the southern/eastern Carribbean cruises were 9 and 10 nights. I figure if he loves it, we can book a longer one for the next time!

I pick NCL because I have cruised with them before and I got a great upgrade because of that. I'm pretty excited, I know it is far away, but a year will go by before we know it.

I just booked our second NCL for next November, and I'm excited. Same itinerary, the Jewel, and we did the same itinerary for our adult only vacation 2 years ago on the Spirit. This time, kids and grandparents, too. Last time, we booked a room at the Comfort Suites and spent the day at Atlantis (this was on DCL and we brought a couple kids - yes, same itinerary ). This time I'm looking into daypasses at hotels - we also did the Hilton daypass, a 5 minute walk from the port. Enjoy!