Cruise recommendations

[Caliga]

Ok, this is sort of a followup to my "Destination Weddings" thread:

My brother wants to go on a cruise with his girlfriend this fall and wants me and Princesca to come along.  He's hinting at wanting to propose to his gf on the cruise.

I've never been on a cruise before, and neither has he.  I used to think it was kind of a stupid idea, but in looking over some of the typical Caribbean cruises, I'm intrigued as I see that a number of them go to multiple destinations I want to visit (Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, St. Maarten, US Virgin Islands, etc.)

I need some recommendations and the like PLZ.

A co-worker of mine goes on cruises quite a bit and she recommended Princess and Norwegian to me.

[Ed Anger]

Don't fall off the boat.

And my bro says that Jamaica is a shithole not worth visiting.

[ulmont]

I've never been on a cruise before, and neither has he.  I used to think it was kind of a stupid idea, but in looking over some of the typical Caribbean cruises, I'm intrigued as I see that a number of them go to multiple destinations I want to visit (Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, St. Maarten, US Virgin Islands, etc.)

Don't do it unless you really like gambling, swimming, and eating.  My wife and I got bored as hell approximately 2 hours into our last cruise, and managed to match our ticket price in bar bills over 2 days.

[Caliga]

gambling, swimming, and eating

[Caliga]

And my bro says that Jamaica is a shithole not worth visiting.

Actually we already agreed we wanted to avoid any itineraries that stop in Jamaica.

[Monoriu]

I was on a cruise once, from Vancouver to Skagway, Alaska.  It was alright, but personally I am not interested in going on a cruise ship again.

There was as much food as we wanted.  Basically, food is included in the price, and you can order as much food as you want, even though it was a fine-dining setting.  Probably because of that, the food was average at best.  It wasn't bad, but I can easily find much better food elsewhere. 

Another thing is, there are a huge amount of temptations and additional expenditure.  Tips for the waiters, drinks, local tours in the destinations, these all cost extra.  I could and did avoid drinks (only drank water).  I did shortchange the waiters.  But the local tours are pretty much unavoidable, unless you (a) stay on the ship or (b) walk to the tourist spots yourself.  There are also a lot of temptations - shopping, gambling, etc.

What I detest most was they didn't accept cash on the ship.  They gave us a plastic card for spending and that was the only medium of exchange accepted.  At the end of the tour they would settle the bill on that.  I didn't incur anything on that card but it was so limiting. 

[Caliga]

Yeah, I've been to all-inclusive resorts and on guided tours before so I'm well aware of the constant attempts to tack on extra charges at every opportunity.

Heh, did I ever tell the story before about the crazy timeshare woman that stalked me in Mexico?  They tried to make us go to some stupid timeshare presentation at the resort, and we agreed to go but no-showed on them.  The sales lady kept chasing after us every time she saw us there, begging and trying to bribe us to go to another presentation.

[Monoriu]

Some large hotel chain that begins with an "M" send us junk mail all the time, asking us to endure a 2-hour session with their people. At the end we get some air miles whether we join their programme or not.  I'm not going there.  I've heard too many horror stories about these companies.  They lock you up in a small room, don't let you go to bathrooms, "borrow" your ID card and make excuses about not returning it, and position 5-6 muscle guys behind you.  I am really surprised that a large international chain has to do this. 

[Martinus]

And my bro says that Jamaica is a shithole not worth visiting.

Actually we already agreed we wanted to avoid any itineraries that stop in Jamaica.

Good man. Boycott that shitty country. 

[jimmy olsen]

Did a 9 day cruise from NYC to Bermuda, St. Martin, St. Thomas and Peurto Rico. I though it was pretty damn awesome though St. Thomas from what I saw wasn't on par with the other three. The big negative for cruises is that the stops at the islands are really short.

[Martinus]

I would recommend parks, public restrooms, alleys behind bars...

[Brazen]

And my bro says that Jamaica is a shithole not worth visiting.

Actually we already agreed we wanted to avoid any itineraries that stop in Jamaica.

Good man. Boycott that shitty country. 

Thirded

[Caliga]

Good man. Boycott that shitty country. 

Righto.  Homophobic negroes don't need my money.

[C.C.R.]

I saw that the thread was titled "Cruise recommendations" and thought that you would be looking for recommendations for what Tom Cruise film to watch.  Imagine my disappointment when I couldn't recommend the movie where Cruise's character was the best at something but he had to overcome adversity (and his own ego) in order to prove it...

[vcarter706]

When I was younger I went on a few cruises with my family. I was a big fan of Celebrity. We did one in the Mediterranean and it was great.

We went to cities like Rome, Nice, Athens, Greek isles, etc. It was great to get to see lots of different places and enjoy the great weather. However, you will leave a city like Rome with such little knowledge about the place (if you haven't been there). I mean... 6-8 hours in a city like Rome or Athens just isn't enough.

But it's amazing in terms of relaxing and being spoiled, it's amazing. I've been on 5 cruises and I would say the Celebrity cruise in the Med sea was the best.