If you've been on a cruise...

[mom2riandkayl]

do you think there is enough stuff to do to keep you busy or did you find yourself bored?

We're considering one and dh has been talking to a friend who told him that "there's nothing to do but eat all day".

So, what do you think?

[StillJulie]

I think there is enough to do, but I'd prefer a different type of vacation. I likely would not cruise again. (that's not the majority opinion, though)

[SarahW]

If you planning on doing the shore excurtions you will be fine. We skipped one of the shore excurtions and that day we had a hard time finding stuff to do since the staff did not have much planned.

We only had one "day at sea" and the staff had one or two or even three activites scheduled every minute the whole day.

[Hadley]

I would cruise again in a minute!

Yes, you can eat all day ~ swim, there are shows to attend, the one we went on sent a paper every day for what would be going on the next day. You can lay on the deck and read a book. . . nap. . . I think there is plenty to do - I think it's a matter of what you're into, but dh and I enjoyed the shows, a little dancing, a piano bar, there's always something to entertain you. . . and of course, napping and eating!

[tiffany]

DH and I love going on cruises. We took our DD on one back in November. We will be going on a panama canal cruise in several months. We always find things to do. We like to take in God's wonderful work by going for walks on the ship, sitting in our balcony enjoying the ocean going by. It is so beautiful.

We have been on Disney and Princess. They are both fabulous. Carnival is for a younger crowd. We enjoy going on Princess. There is tons to do on the ship: swim, wine tasting, playing games in the game room, afternoon tea, shows in the evening, and so on.

[Kristine]

You can do as much as you want or as little as you want... that's the beauty!

[JDPudge]

LOVE cruising!! I've been on 4 ranging from 4 days to nearly 2 weeks... NEVER bored.

Not all cruiselines are the same, but I've NEVER thought, "man, this was dumb".:giggle:

[mom2riandkayl]

Thanks for your answers. We're still weighing our options.

[mommyof2monkeys+princess]

You can do as much as you want or as little as you want... that's the beauty!

I agree with this. I LOVE cruising. We should be going on another one in August and taking the kids for the first time. To me it is the best way to vacation!

Tammy

[*Lori*]

We've been on one cruise and had a lot of fun. We can't wait to go again, and we definitely never got bored. If we wanted to do something, there was always something to do.

[3monkeys]

I think cruising is great and the chance of being bored is nil UNLESS it pours rain on one of the port days and you are not allowed to get off ship. That is what happened to us in the Bahamas. We were stuck on the ship an extra day. The staff seemed to "scramble" to find stuff for the passengers to do and dh and I weren't impressed.

That being said--we are going to take the whole family on a cruise in May to celebrate dd's high school graduation. As long as the weather holds out, it will be great!

[roscoepc1]

I've been researching for a cruise next winter..and the one thing I've noticed is the HUGE difference between ships and companies over what is available to do on board!

I've decided a library and casino are a must for us. We don't "problem gamble" but we do really enjoy taking $20-40 and playing with that! And I'm a reader, while dh is a sun-bather, so I'd want a good supply of reading material to dive into while he "sunbathes" (code for "snores in the sunshine":giggle:).

I also think a movie theatre is almost a must, for bad weather etc.

My sis and bil are "cruisers" now, and they encourage a few shore excursions, so I'm making sure that fits in the budget too....they're like me- can't just "sit there" for days on end! The other thing they really advise is to get oceanview...they really feel it's worth the money over an inside cabin.:dunno:

I'm leaning towards Princess or Norwegian...they seem to hae the best of what I'm looking for, as well as decent sale prices, which will be imperative for us to be able to swing it. I have no desire to be on a "party ship" which seems to be the consensus of everyone I know about Carnival...I got past that phase of my life 20 years ago, and have no desire to go back!:rollingeyes:

[JDPudge]

Laura... MOST "shore excursions" booked through the cruise line are a bit of a rip off and can be done 'on your own'. They take all the "guess work" out of things... and certainly know "the lay of the land" and can do the legwork and all... and, of course, if there's a delay, the ship WILL wait for those on a ship-booked-shore excursion... but the shore excursions, the casino and the liquor are where cruise companies make all their money.

If you're willing to 'do the legwork yourself' you can save a LOT of money that way.

[SarahW]

I'm leaning towards Princess or Norwegian...they seem to hae the best of what I'm looking for, as well as decent sale prices, which will be imperative for us to be able to swing it. I have no desire to be on a "party ship" which seems to be the consensus of everyone I know about Carnival...I got past that phase of my life 20 years ago, and have no desire to go back!:rollingeyes:

I think it depend when you go on carnival. We went in February and the whole ship was old folks. I think we saw 10 kids in 5 days and not one person in the 18-21 age bracket. Ok maybe one of two but def not any party people. Now if you go on carnival in March or April well I am sure then you will find all of the spring breakers

[JDPudge]

I think it depend when you go on carnival. We went in February and the whole ship was old folks. I think we saw 10 kids in 5 days and not one person in the 18-21 age bracket. Ok maybe one of two but def not any party people. Now if you go on carnival in March or April well I am sure then you will find all of the spring breakers

Several of our cruises have been Carnival, and their reputation as a "party ship" has little to do with the age group. A LOT of the people on the cruises are in their 40's -60's age range (though obviously spring break/summertime has more college age/families with kids)... and it was still rather "party-esque" imo.

There's plenty to do on the ship OTHER than that... but they kind of make it known that of their fleets (and they own a number of different "brands" of cruiselines), Carnival has PLENTY of partying.

[roscoepc1]

Laura... MOST "shore excursions" booked through the cruise line are a bit of a rip off and can be done 'on your own'. They take all the "guess work" out of things... and certainly know "the lay of the land" and can do the legwork and all... and, of course, if there's a delay, the ship WILL wait for those on a ship-booked-shore excursion... but the shore excursions, the casino and the liquor are where cruise companies make all their money.

If you're willing to 'do the legwork yourself' you can save a LOT of money that way.


Lol...if they're looking to make money off of us, they're going to be SADLY mistaken!:biglaugh: $40 in gambling, and maybe one beer per day is NOT going to fill their coffers!

But yes, I'm looking carefully at the price/value of the shore excursions. I DO believe in paying the experts...dh is far too volatile to do it on my own.:dunno:

[tiffany]

Become a member of cruise critic. It is a bulletin board on line for people who go on cruises. My DH is a member and has gotten alot of good info. We have also found shore excursions not thru the ship. It is great!

[JDPudge]

Lol...if they're looking to make money off of us, they're going to be SADLY mistaken!:biglaugh: $40 in gambling, and maybe one beer per day is NOT going to fill their coffers!

But yes, I'm looking carefully at the price/value of the shore excursions. I DO believe in paying the experts...dh is far too volatile to do it on my own.:dunno:

Oh yes... I firmly believe Carnival lost money on us all 3x we cruised. We don't drink, DH is the only one that plays blackjack and has NEVER walked away from a table with less than he started with... and there was plenty for us to do that was already included in the ticket price :D.

Yep... there are definitely a few excursions we have paid for and felt it was worth it... a number of others we didn't feel the need to and were glad we didn't. A LOT depends on where you're going and how "sophisticated" communications can be... and the other members in your party. On our Mediterranean cruise, we had 4 kids and there was NO WAY to justify that cost/excursion... but the communications were such that we were confident we knew what we were doing. When we went on one of our Carribbean Cruises... we booked through the cruiseline.

Become a member of cruise critic. It is a bulletin board on line for people who go on cruises. My DH is a member and has gotten alot of good info. We have also found shore excursions not thru the ship. It is great!

DH did this for our last cruise. He learned a lot... really enjoyed it :) Very informative.

[mommyof2monkeys+princess]

I love cruisecritic also.

I will caution doing shore excursions on your own for your first cruise. Yes you pay a premium for excursions through the ship. However, if something happens on the excursion the ship will wait for you. I learned on cruisecritic about a couple who did the airboat through the rainforest and the boat broke down. The ship waited 3 hours for them to get back to the ship. If you don't book through the ship they don't wait for you.

Tammy

[babydolls]

Laura... stay away from Norweigan... we really didn't like it. We found that we ended up paying for a whole lot of stuff, that is included on other ships. The food wasn't that great, and the service was less than stellar...

Princess, on the other hand, is incredible. Loved, loved, loved, Princess.

[roscoepc1]

Laura... stay away from Norweigan... we really didn't like it. We found that we ended up paying for a whole lot of stuff, that is included on other ships. The food wasn't that great, and the service was less than stellar...

Princess, on the other hand, is incredible. Loved, loved, loved, Princess.

Crap. They're the one we can afford, with their early booking credit.:cry:

[citylights]

we had a fabulous experience with Royal Carribean!

dh & I are not hard to please. we loved the food & the dining. we didn't feel we had too much down time. at night we hung out with friends (we went wiht a group) + dh & I really liked the piano bars (we are happy with soft drinks or juice). dh likes to read & i'm a knitter .... + with the pool ... we had a blast! i'd love to go & take our kids sometime. we thought about it for spring break but with air travel it just too many bucks for us right now.

[Rebeccca01]

oops. posted in the wrong place, sorry

[MamaToma]

you can tell what stage of life I'm in/just leaving...

because every time I see the title of this thread "Cruisers" I think of those Pampers diapers :lol:


EDIT: Well, don't I feel silly! This comment was supposed to go on Kim's thread that starts with "Cruisers..." It would've made much more sense if I had actually put it there :lol:

[Rebeccca01]

you can tell what stage of life I'm in/just leaving...

because every time I see the title of this thread "Cruisers" I think of those Pampers diapers :lol:


EDIT: Well, don't I feel silly! This comment was supposed to go on Kim's thread that starts with "Cruisers..." It would've made much more sense if I had actually put it there :lol:


Courtney, that's too funny. I posted the same comment about "Cruisers" on Kim's thread on the 26th! :giggle:
(plus, I also accidentally posted it here first! :))

[MamaToma]

Courtney, that's too funny. I posted the same comment about "Cruisers" on Kim's thread on the 26th! :giggle:
(plus, I also accidentally posted it here first! :))

:rofl: