Jerry Christ Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 So I'm looking to take my wife on a cruise this and I know some of my fellow bills fans have experience. We have no specific area we have in mind at this time. Just a nice cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Went on my first cruise June of 2015. We did a Mediterranean cruise with Royal Caribean on the Oasis of the Seas. that ship is freaking huge..5,000 passengers! I thought it would suck and everything would be crowded on the ship...was just the opposite outside of the pools at 5.00PM . Enjoyed it the trip immensely, way more than I thought I would. I bought an unlimited drink package, and while i prolly booze more than the average joe, i did like knowing there was no surprise bill at the end of the trip. Guess the point i was trying to make is don't be scared off by the big ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mead107 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 We cruised out of Boston and went up to Nova Scotia and down the Saint Lawrence to Quebec We went oneway and rented a car and drove back to Boston. Last year we went to Seattle then cruised up to Alaska. We also did Hawaii , flew and did the cruise around the island. Pm me if you want any details. Loved all 3. Would do them all again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewPort71 Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 We have been on 4 cruises. 2 to the Western Caribbean and 2 to the Eastern Caribbean.2 on Carnival, 1 Princess and 1 Norwegian. I liked them all. Carnival gives more 'bang for the buck" The site mentioned by others, cruise critic , is very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 My wife gets motion sickness so we're just doing European River cruises. 3 decks, 160 passengers, so no big crowds either. We've taken the Rhine cruise from Basel to Amsterdam, and the Danube from Budapest to Vilshoffen, 2 hr. E of Munich. Both were 7 day cruises. http://www.amawaterways.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augie Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 (edited) We've been on 3 out of Florida, 2 with the kids when they were younger. LOVED them. I've been seeing ads and considering doing the 3 generation family thing that always looked so cool to me earlier. Our 3 year old grandson would love it. My wife gets motion sickness but would drug up and tough it out for that! I am personally very interested in the European options. My wife used to spend her summers overseas and has been so many times it's tough to get her to agree to go back. She travels constantly for work and not her idea of fun.....but what about me? She's softening though. Surprisingly, the Disney cruise was fairly disappointing. The first cruise was the best (Norwegian?). Carnival was fun and just fine. The unlimited drink package sounds like the way to go, but I'd have to avoid the challenge of getting the most for my $$$. Best to remember the trip! As I type another cruise ad comes on (Princess). Is this an seasonal thing I never noticed before? Edited January 17, 2017 by Augie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBud Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 My wife gets motion sickness so we're just doing European River cruises. 3 decks, 160 passengers, so no big crowds either. We've taken the Rhine cruise from Basel to Amsterdam, and the Danube from Budapest to Vilshoffen, 2 hr. E of Munich. Both were 7 day cruises. http://www.amawaterways.com/ My parents have taken 3 of these and loved them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 (edited) My parents have taken 3 of these and loved them. Different strokes as they say...wife just did one of the Viking River cruises with her mom, and while did not hate it, would not do again. She just turned 50, one other couple was in their 40's, rest retirement age. us,. 1) Everything on shore was done as a group. Many times you exited the boat, j boarded directly on a coach,toured the countryside , visited a castle, had lunch somewhere, and then re boardied the ship at another town. All with the entire ship with you! 2) Dinner was 7, over by 8:30 or so...and all that was left to do was have a drink in the lounge with a piano player. The unlimited drink package sounds like the way to go, but I'd have to avoid the challenge of getting the most for my $$$. Best to remember the trip! That was my problem, especially the last couple of days LOL " I don't care if i don't want a beer..I paid for it, I am getting it!" Edited January 17, 2017 by plenzmd1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 So I'm looking to take my wife on a cruise this and I know some of my fellow bills fans have experience. We have no specific area we have in mind at this time. Just a nice cruise. We've done two cruises, both on Carnival. Once Western Caribbean, the other Bahamas. The first one was magical because we never did it before. The second was meh because we felt like we did it all before. Cruises are a terrific value if you look at them like hotels. What you get for the money, per day, is amazing. I can only speak for Carnival but the food was great, and the shows and entertainment were decent. That said, you want to be on a cruise that stops daily and spends a good amount of time in port. Two days of sailing gets boring. So you probably want to board in a southern port. That way there will be no long sails. Just stops every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Different strokes as they say...wife just did one of the Viking River cruises with her mom, and while did not hate it, would not do again. She just turned 50, one other couple was in their 40's, rest retirement age. us,. 1) Everything on shore was done as a group. Many times you exited the boat, j boarded directly on a coach,toured the countryside , visited a castle, had lunch somewhere, and then re boardied the ship at another town. All with the entire ship with you! 2) Dinner was 7, over by 8:30 or so...and all that was left to do was have a drink in the lounge with a piano player. That was my problem, especially the last couple of days LOL " I don't care if i don't want a beer..I paid for it, I am getting it!" OK there were many retirees, but not all. In fact AMA does Disney cruises too in Europe. We've never sailed with Viking, or as AMA calls them, The Evil Empire. Every day we had choices on tours. One of the choices was taking a bicycle for your own tour. If you take a bike, you have to sign the "IF anything happens it's all my fault" waiver. Often there was more than one tour choice, and you are allowed to decide. We never did anything, or went anywhere that we didn't want. There was entertainment in the lounge after dinner. These are not large ships but they do a nice job. We rarely sailed mid-day, so there were an AM & PM tour choices but most of the sailing was early AM, or late at night. We don't do castles because they're mostly just big shells. No furnishings. So there are a lot of options & choices, depending on what you make of it. The food was great. I'm celiac, and they were very attentive to the gluten free situation, so that was a plus for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maury Ballstein Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Can't go wrong w Carnival or Royal Carribean unless you're too bougie or don't like fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 OK there were many retirees, but not all. In fact AMA does Disney cruises too in Europe. We've never sailed with Viking, or as AMA calls them, The Evil Empire. Every day we had choices on tours. One of the choices was taking a bicycle for your own tour. If you take a bike, you have to sign the "IF anything happens it's all my fault" waiver. Often there was more than one tour choice, and you are allowed to decide. We never did anything, or went anywhere that we didn't want. There was entertainment in the lounge after dinner. These are not large ships but they do a nice job. We rarely sailed mid-day, so there were an AM & PM tour choices but most of the sailing was early AM, or late at night. We don't do castles because they're mostly just big shells. No furnishings. So there are a lot of options & choices, depending on what you make of it. The food was great. I'm celiac, and they were very attentive to the gluten free situation, so that was a plus for us. sounds a lot better than the Viking line! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mead107 Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 When is the Bills mafia cruise with Bills players Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Hammersticks Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Can't go wrong w Carnival or Royal Carribean unless you're too bougie or don't like fun. The wife and I did a 5 day Carnival cruise to the Bahamas. First stop in Freeport and then Nassau before heading back to Jacksonville. Loved every minute of it. Only thing was that we ended up spending more money on booze than we did on the cruise itself. If I did it again, I would definitely do an all inclusive deal. I've heard Norwegian cruise lines are good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augie Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Since this thread popped up I'm seeing cruise commercials all over TV......what else was I missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augie Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I am not a big drinker or gambler and so we make out like Bandits on a cruise--that's how these cruise lines make all their money. Glad to hear the Bills didn't ruin you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Info Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) I will describe my approach but give a little background first. I am not a cruise person because I like to do things when in another country and want to get there asap to do those activities. But I understand that some visits require a cruise to accommodate visiting several places in one trip. Or you may enjoy taking a leisurely approach to vacationing and a cruise suits you. You may enjoy the different opportunities available when a large # of people are on a cruise. My first suggestion is to determine what do you want your cruise experience to include. I will give an example as we just returned from a cruise in the Galapagos Islands. This is what we collectively determined: we did not require unlimited food or drink or gambling but wanted good food: freshly prepared healthy meals & three meals a day. We wanted lots of activities (hiking, snorkeling, etc.) but wanted to be certain that others on the cruise were just as active as we are. We did not want to be with retirees who wanted more leisurely activities. At some point that is what I might prefer but not now. We wanted English speaking guides but not have the cruise be bi-lingual. We would prefer if one of the guides was a marine biologist. We did not want a large cruise ship as that requires a lot more logistics in transporting people. We wanted the limit to be 20-30 people/boat. I do not want to waste time when I am on vacation. After we determined our requirements, we had to find a company that could address these. We used AdventureSmith Explorations https://www.adventuresmithexplorations.com/ They use small boats/yachts and will try to tailor to your requirements. You are assigned a representative who will deal with you personally and directly. You will probably not find them on cruise critic because they are not a cruise line but deal with small, specialty charters all over the world. Sure, they can be expensive but they were outstanding. There were 20 people on our boat and two guides (one of which was a marine biologist). There was a crew including a chef and bartender and they had two small skiffs that would transport 10 of us at a time so logistics were quick and simple. Lots of activities, some fairly robust, but were willing to adjust if passengers wanted to change. For example, a longer or more difficult hike or forego a hike for more snorkeling. Very organized as they kept in contact leading up to the cruise and had someone meet us at the airport. It helps with planning if you determine what is important to you on a cruise and then find out if a company can meet that within your budget. There is some flexibility with companies like AdventureSmith. For example, you can select more moderate cabins to reduce expenses. My wife and I had a nice cabin but our boys had a moderate cabin. Edited January 18, 2017 by Mr Info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augie Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I will describe my approach but give a little background first. I am not a cruise person because I like to do things when in another country and want to get there asap to do those activities. But I understand that some visits require a cruise to accommodate visiting several places in one trip. Or you may enjoy taking a leisurely approach to vacationing and a cruise suits you. You may enjoy the different opportunities available when a large # of people are on a cruise. My first suggestion is to determine what do you want your cruise experience to include. I will give an example as we just returned from a cruise in the Galapagos Islands. This is what we collectively determined: we did not require unlimited food or drink or gambling but wanted good food: freshly prepared healthy meals & three meals a day. We wanted lots of activities (hiking, snorkeling, etc.) but wanted to be certain that others on the cruise were just as active as we are. We did not want to be with retirees who wanted more leisurely activities. At some point that is what I might prefer but not now. We wanted English speaking guides but not have the cruise be bi-lingual. We would prefer if one of the guides was a marine biologist. We did not want a large cruise ship as that requires a lot more logistics in transporting people. We wanted the limit to be 20-30 people/boat. I do not want to waste time when I am on vacation. After we determined our requirements, we had to find a company that could address these. We used AdventureSmith Explorations https://www.adventuresmithexplorations.com/ They use small boats/yachts and will try to tailor to your requirements. You are assigned a representative who will deal with you personally and directly. You will probably not find them on cruise critic because they are not a cruise line but deal with small, specialty charters all over the world. Sure, they can be expensive but they were outstanding. There were 20 people on our boat and two guides (one of which was a marine biologist). There was a crew including a chef and bartender and they had two small skiffs that would transport 10 of us at a time so logistics were quick and simple. Lots of activities, some fairly robust, but were willing to adjust if passengers wanted to change. For example, a longer or more difficult hike or forego a hike for more snorkeling. Very organized as they kept in contact leading up to the cruise and had someone meet us at the airport. It helps with planning if you determine what is important to you on a cruise and then find out if a company can meet that within your budget. There is some flexibility with companies like AdventureSmith. For example, you can select more moderate cabins to reduce expenses. My wife and I had a nice cabin but our boys had a moderate cabin. I can honestly say the Galápagos Islands were not on my list for the next cruise. Good for you!!! (Full disclosure - I don't have a list, but still....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Went on my first cruise June of 2015. We did a Mediterranean cruise with Royal Caribean on the Oasis of the Seas. that ship is freaking huge..5,000 passengers! I thought it would suck and everything would be crowded on the ship...was just the opposite outside of the pools at 5.00PM . Enjoyed it the trip immensely, way more than I thought I would. I bought an unlimited drink package, and while i prolly booze more than the average joe, i did like knowing there was no surprise bill at the end of the trip. Guess the point i was trying to make is don't be scared off by the big ships. Love the Oasis. We've taken that boat twice (three cruises total in my lifetime). You're absolutely right -- not crowded at all despite the number of passengers. We also did the unlimited booze thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Info Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I can honestly say the Galápagos Islands were not on my list for the next cruise. Good for you!!! (Full disclosure - I don't have a list, but still....) Augie Doggie, I was using my GIs cruise decision as an example. The same decision process (small craft vs large, unlimited food/drink, gambling, rapid logisitcs, etc.) would be applicable to any cruise. You want your cruise/vacation to be as perfect as possible to avoid the unfortunate cruise experiences posted in a few comments in this thread by TBD members. Good luck with your cruise evaluation and selection and have a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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