Okay, so my wife and I are considering a cruise in the late summer, early fall. Never been. At the moment we're pretty open as far where we might like to go, price....I think the only thing we wouldn't want was a cruise that catered to the really older traveler or a cruise that was very kid friendly. We'd like both party and chill out time.

Anybody have any advice, recomendations of quality cruise lines, cool destinations with great ports of call... etc, etc, etc. Any help will be appreciated.

Edit:As far as duration we'd want something between 4-7 days.

Steve

My wife's pushing for a cruise as well. We looked at cruises last year, and if we do it, we'll hit one of the travel web-sites and try to score a last minute deal.

Boats nowadays are ginormous, so unless you're on Disney (which will require a second mortgage) the kid issue shouldn't be a problem.

[Yail Bloor] I reccoemmned the SS Legionnaire's Disease [/Yail Bloor]

Yeah, yeah. It's pretty freaky but we're willing to take our chance with that or food poisoning.

Steve

gay cruises, dude.

I'm honestly not a big fan of cruises. I mean how much can you eat in one day anyway. I've only been on one and it was with my family. I grew bored of the stuff that they had to do on there in 2 days.

All of the entertainment is like Vegas style shows, etc. It can be very relaxing but if you do a Caribbean cruise I would rather spend my money on flying to St. Thomas, Barbados, or something, staying there and taking a day cruise to one of the other islands/beaches.

I would rather soak up the local culture.

I was never keen on the cruise vacation deal, but then my bro-in-law got a job as the assistant cruise director on the Grand Princess. So... we went on a cruise to St. Thomas and St. Martin etc. etc. It was fantastic.

We probably had a better time than the averge cruiser because of the connection and the WAY cheaper drinks in the crew bar, but all that said, I enjoyed it so much we paid full fare to go on another cruise last year. You've got to time it right to stay away from the hurricanes (not the frozen ones).

Yeah, plus all those cases of food poisoning lately. And, I know they treat their staff like slaves, making them work weeks at a time without a day off. The cruise ships that dock here have a bad reputation. For the amount of money you pay, it seems like a ripoff anyways. Leave it for the old folks.

Awesome, dude. I'll save that for when the wifes not around and I'm gone for "business."

Steve

I've only been on one cruise, this past Feb. It was a Carnival cruise to Cozumel. I went with my girlfriend (her work paid for it). It was cool, but I definitely felt like it catered much more to an older crowd. At least there weren't too many kids.

I don't think I'd ever pay to do it again, though, at least not on Carnival. I loved being out on the water, but the ship itself kinda sucked. All the games/ events/ shows they had were incredibly lame. There really wasn't shit to do but hang out on deck, but that was cool with me. Except when they had some sort of obnoxious game going on up there, in which case it could be pretty fucking annoying.

They also have a shitload of ways to get more money off of you. Other than food and your cabin, the money you pay for the cruise itself doesn't really cover much of anything. We made the semi-mistake of taking a shore excursion to some tiny, heavily vandalized, and way over-toured Mayan ruins (Tulum - not recommended) which set me back about $180, figuring in all expenses. As it was, I got off incredibly cheap for a 4-or-5-day trip because the cruise itself was paid for, but I imagine I'd have been pissed off at all the additional charges if I had paid to go on the cruise.

robot boy saved me the trouble of finding a good image.

The only cruise I went on was a class trip after high school graduation. Had alot of fun, but I probably would have had a lot of fun in a shit shack during that time period.

i'm just saying you know the gay cruise will have better rooms and food, and probably a lot more rampant drinking. besides, everyone knows that all dcruises are at least 30% gay. Except Tom, who is a whopping 91%

If you're up for a little more adventure, I'd highly recommend this trip: http://www.smallshipcruises.com/glacierbaytours.shtml

We did this trip last summer, and it was the best trip of our lives. These smaller ships can go places the behemouths can't. It's much more adventure oriented i.e. no coat and tie dinners, no lounge shows. It's all about seeing the nature from the ship and the shore. Stopping in a cove and kayaking directly from the back of the ship to take a hike on an uninhabited island. We had a close call with a grizzly, saw dozens of moose, whales, dolphins---all up close.

Highly recommended.

Yeah but you can't go to the Cayman Islands. They don't allow gay cruise ships.

Steve, I went on an eastern Caribbean cruise with my family last April. My parents paid for it (they are career cruisers, it seems, so they get all sorts of discounts), so I'm not sure how much it was. We were in one of the "internal" cabins (no windows, no decks), so it was pretty cramped and tiny. No biggie because you probably won't be spending much time in the room anyway.

We went on Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas. At the time I think it was the largest, newest ship out there. I agree with Derris' assessment that you should just drop the cash and go somewhere, but cruises are a great way to find out WHERE you'd like to visit in the future. Our particular cruise started in Orlando, and went to the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

My biggest thing was that I didn't want to do all the "excursions" that the cruise line organizes. Yes, they're convenient, but there are cheaper ways to do things on the islands. I checked a Frommer's travel guide from the library, and we found all sorts of cool sites to see, and cheaper, more adventurous ways to get around the islands (vs. being on a huge-ass air conditioned bus with a bunch of seniors). As for the snorkeling/scuba excursions, again, you can usually find much cheaper prices once you get off the ship, and sometimes find even better places to dive.

I must admit, you start to feel like cattle, going up and down the ramp of the ship, flashing your "sea pass" (which is basically your id card for getting on/off the ship, buying drinks/food, etc.). Our trip was during spring break time, so there were a ton of kids on the ship. I think in a fall situation, there may not be as many. Plus the good thing about Royal Caribbean (and a lot of the other cruise lines) is that they have programs specifically for kids, so there are a lot of parents that are very keen on dropping their kids off so they can have some r'n'r.

PM if you want more info. I can send you a link to some pictures too.

oh, and I should also say that I did not attend any of the on-board "entertainment" including their goofy Vegas-style shows. We basically spent the entire cruise drinking, lying in the sun, and visiting islands on certain days. Yeah, the food's there to eat if you want it, but you don't have to eat all the time.

Alaska, I shit you not.

Co-worker just came back, the ex is going next week or so.

damn gay bankers and their offshore accounts.

i am not into cruises either. I would do an Alaska cruise, where you cruse up for half the time and check out Glacier bay, then the other half of the time is spent inland.

this is exactly the only type of cruise i would ever consider. alaska, half the time on board the boat, half on land.

right about now, alaska's got about 23 hours of daylight per day.

Oh, yeah. If we do it, Alaska would definitely be a possibility.

I can understand the reservations some of you have because I've got them too, but it's just about trying something different. We wouldn't even have considered a cruise 10 years ago, but 10 years ago I was in my 20's. Now I'm pushing 40 and I just can't party like I used to. Frankly, I'd be happy with a cruise made up of people 30-45.

Thanks all for your input!

Steve

Definitely check out that link I posted above. Do not get onto one of the larger 3000 passenger Alaska cruises. This ship carries 50-75 people. No tuxedos, no fancy dinners (the food was quite good, though); just cruising and going ashore or kayaking off the boat everyday. Alaska is absolutely beautiful.

My folks did this last year and really loved; you actually travel by train for a while as well. Their. advice was to bring your own wine for the train part.

They are doing some sort of Australia/New Zealand cruise this year; I guess you fly there first? I dunno. I wouldnt personally do it (the whole Legionaires thing); but my parents have more time and money than brains at this point in their lives at this point so I'm sure they'll have a blast.