Cruise Veterans: I Need Help!

[tarheelmjfan]

I know, that was in response to your question about RCI.

Sorry, I misunderstood your post. My bad. Thanks for the info.

Consider Adventure of the Seas out of San Juan. The ship is just about to go into dry dock, which recently on ROyal has meant added restaurants and possibly water slides. A Southern route is very port-intensive, and Old San Juan is amazing.

Alternatively, look at one of the Oasis class ships - they are huge and full of things to do.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I would also recommend NCL on either Getaway or Escape. Both offer two free choice options & my suggestion would be free beverage package and free gratuities. Both are the most value over the other options, unless you are booking your 24 yr old in your cabin. The dining packages are not as costly. We always get a separate cabin for our boys. If you only have one son you might want to check on the studio cabin option for him. The Getaway & Escape have tons of things to do onboard. Personally, I think the Western Caribbean is better than Eastern but mostly because I could skip Nassau on every cruise I ever take again. It seems every cruise goes to the Bahamas!

Have fun.

Thanks for the recommendation & tip on which free choices are most valuable. We were thinking we'd share a cabin. DH & I like the idea of all of us being together for bonding time. We don't get to see DS as often as we'd like now. I'll ask him what he'd rather do though.

I'm with you on Nassau. DH & I would be perfectly happy to never visit Bahamas or Jamaica again. DS hasn't been to as many ports as we have. He doesn't remember the Caribbean ports he has been to. They would all be new to him. He would prefer adventure ports to predominately beach destinations. It appears a western route would be better for that. DH & I have mostly been to Caribbean ports typical 7 day cruises don't go to, with the exception of Bahamas, Jamaica & Grand Cayman.

Based on what you list liking and wanting more to do for the 24 year old, I also recomend Royal Caribbean.

If you have any status with Celebrity, yo ucan call and have it matched on RCCI---they are owned by the same company. What you get as perks is different between the lines--you can easily look it up though. If you happen to be Elite on Celebrity (not sure if you have sailed that much), you'd be diamond on RCCI and get three drink vouchers each to use in any bar in the evenings (usually 6:00-8:30, though it varies a bit by ship) as well as other perks.

Sometimes there are special for dirnk packages, etc--though it is less likely in high volumes time frames like a spring break cruise that you are looking at. Or, they might offer 20% off online if you prebuy it once booking the cruise (this has been teh case for our last couple of cruises).

RCI also allows you to bring on two bottles of wine per cabin---in case not everyone wants a package but someone might still want a bit of wine on the balcony or something.

There is also usually a discounted speicality restraunt package you can buy online before you sail---works out to about 35% off with 3 or 5 nights out (usually)

Cruise critic is by far and a way your best source for information about lines other than DCL

Thanks for the recommendation & tips. Celebrity has changed their repeat cruisers categories, since we last sailed. I'll have to look up what status we have, before making a final decision on which cruise to book.

It's good to know, we can potentially get a discount on drink & dining packages by purchasing them ahead of time. That seems like an easy choice for us.

I love Cruise Critic & have always used it for planning cruises. The change in pricing structure for many of the lines had me a bit overwhelmed on where to start. It would take me forever to read through the boards for all the lines. Thanks to the very helpful people here, I now have a place to start planning on CC.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I will just throw this in...
Yes I would let my son choose his accommodations. I too would not choose to have an adult son in our small cabin.
If I were a 24 year old adult grown male, I don't think I would really enjoy spending a full week in a cabin with mom and dad.
Our son is now a grown teenager, and we would not choose to travel for a full week with him in the same bedroom area with only one bath.
I would check the difference in price between a suite and the combo of a balcony and an inside across the hall.

I know you mention 'togetherness'.
But, I think that there can be too much of a good thing!

Unless NCL is different than it used to be, and different than I have heard, I would choose one of the nicer RCCL ships over them.

 

[NHdisneylover]

A note on cabins---some lines now have solo rooms as well, which are cheaper than paying the upcharge to have one person alone in a double cabin. Several of the Royal ships have thes---and the couple I have seen look pretty nice.
(but, I can totally respect putting everyone togehter too--either for togetherness or cost reasons)

Personally, DH and i prefer ot have a seperate cabin than the kids---but we sailed 3 to a room last month with DS17 now that the oldest is in college and will do so again on a transatlantic coming up soon (purely for cost reasons) and it wasn't terrible by any means. Everyone trying to get ready at once was a bit of a challenge, but manageable (and we talked about, but never actually did, having someone run up and use the showers in teh gym---that is an option if needed)