Thinking about a cruise for my wedding anniversary

[methodtoll]

any suggestions on cruise line?

[Hawk]

check to see if there is a panthers cruise!

[Darth Biscuit]

We would like to do this too... never been on one so any info you guys have would be appreciated.

[Kettle]

i thought about going on one for my honeymoon, but ended up not doing so. I've heard the rooms are cramped, and on your honeymoon...the more room the better.

probably a good idea for you biscuit. plenty of stuff for the kids to do and the upper deck on many lines is adults only. meaning BOOBIES!!!

[Cat]

I've been on 12+ cruises (lost count). They are fun and cheap so I highly recommend them.

I've always liked Carnival though the food of the last few years isn't as good as it use to be and the clientele has become a little lower classed (which hasn't really bothered me, my parents wont go on Carnival again because of that but they are old and a bit snobbish). It's the best bang for your buck.

My fav trip is the exotic western Caribbean. Roatan Honduras, Belize, Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Which ever one you choose just let me know and I tell you some good things to do on the island.

[Darth Biscuit]

i thought about going on one for my honeymoon, but ended up not doing so. I've heard the rooms are cramped, and on your honeymoon...the more room the better.

probably a good idea for you biscuit. plenty of stuff for the kids to do and the upper deck on many lines is adults only. meaning BOOBIES!!!

Kids? Who said anything about kids... I'm not taking those damn rugrats on a cruise... my oldest would whine the whole time about being bored and the youngest would want to hang out all the time...

I inspect da boobies wherever I am anyway... fo sho.

[cookinwithgas]

Doing the 7 day Western Carribean on Royal C for our Honeymoon. Love it.

Don't care about the room, you sleep and screw and shower and that's it.

Give yourself 5 days if you want to come back somewhat relaxed - the 3 day ones are too short to really get used to being on vacation. After 7 I think I will be happy, rested and ready to get home.

I've been on one 3 day and 4 5 day cruises and all of them have been a blast.

[cookinwithgas]

Funny story, my first cruise was a 3 day Bahamas for my 10th wedding anniversary. I had worked with a travel agent but decided to book it myself and get a different cruise.

The day before we were supposed to leave wife was at the pool and I was getting things together and I looked at the tickets - we were leaving that afternoon, not the next day. I had confused the dates with the travel agents cruise. I had to go to the pool and explain to my wife what happened, she told me when she saw me coming up that she thought someone had died.

We ended up getting a flight out to the Bahamas the next day and caught up with the ship there, so at least we had a day and a night in the Bahamas, and a day and a night on the ship. But I entered a new level of checking things like tickets after that.

[Panthro]

Do an all inclusive resort. Same basic thing without the food all loaded up with sodium and msg, paying out the ass for drinks, and you're trapped on a boat

[Johnny Rockets]

Do an all inclusive resort. Same basic thing without the food all loaded up with sodium and msg, paying out the ass for drinks, and you're trapped on a boat

I like to alternate year to year......one year doo a cruise, one year do an all inclusive resort.

I agree with what cookinwithgas and Cat have said below. Do a 7 day cruise to make it worth your while (boats are always much nicer also compared to a 3-4 day cruise) and go for the Western Caribbean. I love to cruise and always have a blast. We actually just paid one off this week for my wife and her girlfriends to take in a couple of months. I get to stay home and babysit.........booooooooo!

[Samuel L. Jackson]

We've been on Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian... Both were good...

I've heard Carnival is a lower-quality/party boat cruise line, but I couldn't offer my own opinion...

If and when we take another cruise, it will def. be with Norwegian... The food was 10x better than RC, the rooms were nicer, there were more things to do, and we had a lot better experience... That isn't a slight to RC, because they were good too, but Norwegian was the poo!

On our RC trip, we went to Georgetown, Grand Cayman - Costa Maya, Mexico - and Belize City, Belize... Costa Maya was the best, and if you go there, take the 2 person speedboat to the Bacalar region excursion... It's a beautiful freshwater spring area that is as clear as a swimming pool, and the boats are fun... In Belize, we went to the zoo and took a river boat down the Belize river... That was fun too (aside from the rain in the zoo (it is in the rainforest, lol))... In Grand Cayman, we basically just took a tour of the island and went to the turtle farm, and also stopped in Hell...

With Norwegian, our stops were Samana, DR - St. Thomas, US VI - Tortola, BVI - and the cruise line's private island in the Bahamas (the name is escaping me)... Samana is very 3rd worldish for the most part... We did speedboats again there, although this was in the open ocean at times and the waves made it not so fun... The rest of the stops we chose not to do excursions, as our previous cruise's experience didn't allow us any free time to explore on our own.. At St. Thomas, we took a taxi to the ferry and went St. John... There, we took a taxi to Trunk Bay (one of the top beaches in the world) and spent the day swimming there (couldn't snorkel because of rough surf warnings, but you could still swim)... At Tortola, we didn't do much because of the heat... There is a straw market there and we just walked around a bit (it's kinda 3rd worldish there too) and then returned to the ship for a shower and trip to the pool... Great Stirrup Cay! That's the name of their private island in the Bahamas! I just remembered... IT WAS AWESOME! There is nothing really there except a small shop area, a couple of food/drink stands, and a snorkel gear outpost... This was the only time I have ever been snorkeling, but I can't wait to do it again... It was amazing... You can swim out a good 100 yards or so and see all kinds of wildlife in their artificial reef... I was within a couple feet from a 6 foot long barracuda and also saw a stingray (at a depth of like 30 feet)... The water was so clear, even deep, and it's just amazing to see things you wouldn't normally see (I wear glasses most of the time, but popped in some contacts just to go snorkeling)...

I've heard that Norwegian often cannot make the trip to GSC, due to rough surf, but we didn't have any problem... and the water was calm, aside from the normal tidal currents... GSC is one of the main reasons I'd like to go on Norwegian again though... it's a cool little place...

As far as overall experiences, it would likely vary depending on your interests... I don't drink, so I don't have a huge alcohol tab at the end of the trip... Soda costs too, but you can pay like $50 to get a cup that gets free refills the entire trip... The food is free, unless you go to a specialty restaurant that charges a cover (the food is still free for the most part)... There is always something to do while on board, and they can help setup any kind of excursion you'd want to do at your stops (I'd recommend at least one excursion per cruise)...

We took our last one, the Norwegian one, with another couple... That was fun, because if us guys didn't feel like doing something, the girls could just go do it...

All in all, you can't get a better vacation at a cheaper price...

I know a website with tons of helpful cruise info, and you can probably find it via google... I forget the policy of linking other websites, but I'll send you the link in a PM if you want it...

[Zcustom]

Whatever you do get on the biggest ship you can.

[Cat]

I've never done a 5 day cruise. I'm contemplating going on the one that leaves out of Charleston. Its the Carnival Fantasy that is refurbished. I haven't been on a ship that small since i was 10 so i don't know if its worth it. We would be taking our 3 year old so i figured if we go out of Charleston we don't have to pay for 3 plan tickets to Miami.

if anyone has any insight on that let me know.

[Samuel L. Jackson]

oh yeah.. both my cruises were 7 days... I think that's the best route to go as well...