Any other cruising fans???

[ohmommymommy]

We have been on four cruises already. Two on Celebrity and two on Royal Caribbean including one on the Freedom of the Seas.

We have a Disney cruise booked to the Eastern Caribbean this December, a 11 day cruise to the Panama Canal next March and we just booked a 15 day cruise to Hawaii for October 2008. We are taking DD out of pre-school and kindergarten for the cruises, but I would rather her get to travel now before it starts getting really hard to miss school in High school.

Anyone else a cruising nut?

[hudsonam]

We were not a cruise fan after our first cruise on Celebrity, when I was pg with DS. I'm sure we could have had a slightly better time had I been able to drink and do more excursions, but other guests we sat with at dinner told us they were bored as well. We decided to try a Royal Caribbean cruise this year, and we absolutely loved it. Couldn't stop saying what a great time we were having the whole time. We did a lot of excursions, and spent quite a lot of money in the process though. I will definitely cruise again, especially with DS once he's old enough to enjoy the kids' programs. The one on RCCL looked great, and another parent told us it was really good. Have fun on all your cruises! Sounds like a blast!! :)

[HallsofVA]

We did the Disney Western Carib cruise in Dec 2005 and absolutely loved it!! We're going on the east carib in Dec 2008 when the new one will be 2 and older brother will be almost 5. I would have loved to do their panama canal repo cruise.

We were completely spoiled on our original disney experience having scored an upgrade to a Cat 3 handicapped suite which was huge huge huge!!! Cruising will never be the same after that.

[LD92599]

We've been on several cruises as well. Disney for our Honeymoon, Disney again for our 2nd (?) Anniversary, another Disney, and then Queen Mary II for July 4th 2005 and Labor Day 2006. We're going on Royal Caribbean to Bermuda later this year!

Laura
Mom to Will

http://b4.lilypie.com/BhyBm5.png

[ohmommymommy]

We are so looking forward to Disney, but we looked at the WB Panama Canal cruise for next year and what they wanted was just insane.

I booked the Hawaii trip for less money in a D1 on Royal for what they wanted for a CAT 7 on Disney!!! We almost booked a JS but the D1 was $2200 less and that is a lot of money for excursions, shopping and gambling!!! DD takes showers so she will not really miss the bathtub. As long as I have my balcony I am pretty happy.

We loved Freedom of the Seas though we felt it was a little big for our tastes. Maybe when DD is older and into all the activities, it will be more fun. I am just looking forward to the Radiance class of ships for March and October 2008 since I hear they are just wonderful.

[kijip]

I am not. I am slightly afraid of boats and would spend too much time factoring in the environmental and political concerns. My mother really, really wants to go on an Alaskan cruise though, so we are going to take her after we save up the money later this year. It is seriously like something she thinks she needs to cross off her list, and I am not one to argue with my mother, especially when she fighting back stage 4 cancer. If any cruise experts have suggestions, I am all ears. How not seasick will I be?

[millerpjm]

I'll let you know in October! We have our first ever cruise booked - a 7 day Disney Western Caribbean. I can't wait!

Jen

[hudsonam]

We went to the Western Caribbean on RCCL Mariner of the Seas and we loved it. They have Ben & Jerry's on board (you have to pay for that though) and you can get coffee any time of the day or night for free at a coffee station in the promenade area. On Celebrity, as far as we knew, we had to get it at a coffee bar and pay like $5/cup. They have a really nice adults only pool area, and a huge pool area for everyone with lots of chairs. They had great shows (shows on cruises have to be taken with a grain of salt, but for a cruise, they were really good), and a lot of fun game show type shows. We had a blast. We had a balcony room which I highly recommend. It's so nice to get breakfast and sit out on your balcony, or just relax out there before or after you get off the ship in the ports.

I'm not sure if RCCL goes to Alaska or not, but my parents took, I believe, either Celebrity or Princess to Alaska and absolutely loved it.

[ohmommymommy]

RCCL does. The Serenade and Radiance both cruise Alaska. One does RTs out of Vancouver and one goes north and south between Vancouver and Seward (three hours from Anchorage).

Princess is the only cruiseline, I think, that goes to Glacier Bay. The other cruiselines go to Hubbard Glacier. Some say Glacier Bay is far superior, but we loved Hubbard.

[o_mom]

Never been. DH refuses to go near them as he thinks they are floating death traps (his company supplies building materials for them) that no amount of statistics can overcome. :-)

[Tondi G]

Norwegian also does Alaska and I understand that boat (the Star, I think) is great (also does the mexican riviera)! They also, Like Carnival, take kids as young at 2 in their childrens program. The only downside to that is that they don't change diapers... they give you a beeper and page you when your kiddo needs a change!

we took a Royal Carribean cruise for our honeymoon and LOVED it! we haven't been on another cruise yet but we are planning to go Disney to the Mexican Riviera ion summer 2008 (hopefully). Our little guy will be 3 then and will be able to take part in the kids programs (which I hear are great).

The only thing holding us back from a Cruise this summer is that my DH thinks the room will be too tight with a 2 year old and a 5 year old.... I think he's nuts! LOL I would love a carnival/Norwegian cruise so i could drop both kids off in the kids club and have some free time!!!! The only other drawback is the pools. aside from Disney (and princess i think) the pools are all just ocean water. Oh and the fact that kids in swim diapers are not allowed in ANY pool on a ship. disney has a fountain area that they can get wet in though!

To people considering a cruise I highly reccomend the site Cruisecritic

~Tondi

[ohmommymommy]

What about getting two connecting inside cabins and putting a door stop in the connecting door to keep it from closing. You have to book one adult in each cabin, but then you get sort of some space to yourself and it would be cheaper than a suite if you can live without a balcony.