Cruise Lines? Which ones are best?

[MamaKath]

We are thinking of taking a trip. DH wants to go on a cruise. Here are the criteria we need...
*looking for something that leaves out of either NJ, Baltimore, or VA preferably.
*It needs to be kid friendly.
*Needs to have good food. ;)
*DH will be recuperating from surgery so swimming and stuff is not of interest, mainly looking for relaxing and low key activities.
*Thinking of maybe going to Bermuda.
Which lines should we look at?
TIA~Kath

[Momof3Labs]

Try www.cruisecritic.com - tons of info on different cruise lines. Though you'll be limited on your options by leaving out of those ports. Compare prices to FL departures, too, as they may be enough cheaper that it is worth paying airfare.

DH and I took a 4 day cruise on Carnival last year and enjoyed it. The price was very much right, the ship was spotless, the food was quite good (but not out of this world) and we found it to be very relaxing without kids. Carnival is known for having a very good kids' program with long hours. There are plenty of fancier (and more expensive) lines out there but this was our first cruise and we didn't want to blow the budget on a little adults-only getaway.

[Bryan mom]

You might want to expand your search to include NYC ports.

Agree with Momof3Labs for the cruisecritic site and we also cruised on the Carnival. Love that they had the kids program (Camp Carnival).

Bermuda sounds relaxing...

Not sure about your timing (summer/winter). If summer, recommend a cruise to Canada. We did that last year and it was relaxing. We didn't do any shore excursions with the ship and we were able to sightsee around Nova Scotia and Halifax from the port.

I think there may be a special sale going on for Carnival (I recall from getting an email from Carnival). Do a google search or check Carnival website. Better yet, check out cruisecompete.com. This site has travel agents competing for your business.

[MamaKath]

Thanks for the tips! We honeymooned on Carnival and it was good. We can not decide if we would definitely take the kids or not. 4 days sounds like it might be just right. Long enough for a break, short enough to possibly convince someone to keep the kids if we decide to leave them behind. ;-) We won't be able to do much because of his operation, so stuff onboard is key. I was looking at Canada. I think that might be as nice as Bermuda. Thanks for the tips! :-)

[rlu]

FWIW, I've been on five cruise lines and in order of favorite to never-again,

Royal Caribbean
Princess
Regentsea (out of business)
Some cruise line out of Florida on our honeymoon, not a big name, can't even remember
Carnival

PPs gave you good advice. I've only cruised off the West Coast (except the 2 nighter on our honeymoon) so I can't recommend any East Coast cruises. IIRC there are fall cruises along New England/Canada that sounded intriguing as we were interested in doing the fall colors as well.

[Tondi G]

I second the recommendation to look over on Cruise Critic. You can find traveler reviews of any particular ship/itinerary you are interested in!

With kids you would probably do well with either Carnival or Royal Caribbean. How old are your children? If you have any non potty trained kiddos you would want to go with Carnival (they change diapers and take kids 2 and up) or Norwegian (they give you a beeper and and page you if your kiddo needs a change... they take 2 and up as well). Royal Caribbean takes them age 3 and up but there are no pull ups allowed... gotta use the potty with no assistance! With Norwegian you want a newer ship and just know they do free style dining which some people love and others do not! If you go to Cruise Critic and check the family cruising board you can find links to some of the kids club daily activities and see what your kids would like to participate in. Lots of helpful people over there!

All of these lines have decent food... and most offer a supper club/steakhouse of sorts that you can make a reservation for and pay a small fee to dine in... supposedly the food is very nice!