Carnival is more affordable but the ships aren't as nice and the people tend to be younger, hence the more affordable part.
Royal Caribbean is what we went on. Nicer, more expensive, nicer ships. More people our age.
There are other cruise lines but I have no input on those.
We went out of LA but I've heard that the nicer ships with better food go out of Florida. They also have better destinations.
I recommend booking your shore excursions through the ship. It's really nice to just be shuttled everywhere and be taken care of. If you know the destinations well then it's cheaper to cab it and do it on your own but worth the extra money to me to not have to worry about anything and ESPECIALLY to not have to worry about getting back to the ship on time.
I would pay the extra bucks for a balcony room but not necessarily a suite. You spend so little time in your room and a suite is still small, especially if it's just the two of you.
I have lots more thoughts but I would start by going to a couple of cruise sites, plug in your dates and see what trips/ships are available for those dates. Then you can take a virtual tour of the ships to see what they have available. That's a really good way to help chose a cruiseline.
Then I wouldn't book online, just call them direct. It doesn't cost anymore to do it that way and they can answer all of your questions.
I have lots more to add I'm sure, let me think a little bit.
Having the balcony on our honeymoon was so awesome.
At first I was skeptical to spending the extra $$ because everyone I talked to said you don't spend anytime in your room. Well you do when you have a balcony. You can have breakfast sent up instead of going to the dining room and eat out there and you can relax out there while Matt is in the shower. Definitely worth it.
I also second what Kristi said about excursions unless you just plan on hitting the beach. That's what we did on St Martin and then just walked the main drag of shops. On St. Thomas we did a tour up the mountain and had time to shop after.
You may not think you will shop but you will LOL
Remember liquor is not included my bar bill when we got off the ship was $600 (they attach your room to a credit card so it is charged automatically)
Um I may have more or if you have a specific question just ask.
Oh we sailed Norwegian it was a decent mix of age groups with a lot to do on board.
one time on a carnival ship i noticed flies around the buffet at lunchtime.
we were in the middle of the ocean--those flies were fo sho not coming from land. :vomit
another time (on carnival) an unsupervised kid had an accident (not pee) on the deck. instead of immediately cleaning it up, the staff put of those wet floor cones over it. again :vomit
royal caribbean, on the other hand, is amazing. the staff is always incredible, the food is five star, everything looks spotless...i cannot say enough good things about that company.
definitely book your shore excursions ahead of time. it will save you so much time not standing in line to book the day of.
if you aren't planning on bringing the kids, you would want to choose the 2nd seating for dinner. the families all go to the 1st one.
where are you thinking of cruising to?
-- Edited by Corey on Thursday 17th of June 2010 04:07:59 PM
like KD said, carnival is a young rowdy crowd usually. marc went on a carnival cruise with a dude friend and even as drunk as they were, said it was pretty shoddy.
we've been on a few RC cruises, and it's always been fun. the ships are clean and the food is decent. the upgrade steakhouse on RC is the jiiiiiizamm!
we're going on a week long cruise on RC in december with Cole. i can haaardly wait!
