Crusing?

[Pushin40]

So - who is going on a cruise for their honeymoon??

Share your itineraries/ships!!!

We are considering a Carrnival cruise out of Miami or Ft Lauderdale after our destination wedding, for our second week off.
I think I will be all vacationed out by that time!! We''ve been on 3 cruises together, and honestly I prefer land-based trips much better, but I think after being on the beach in Mexico for 8 nights we''ll need a change of pace. And cruises are so discounted right now.....

Its also not that easy to get from Cancun to other islands...I thought it would be, but i''ts pretty expensive and half of the flights take you to Miami then you fly south again.

 

[sunnyd]

We just got back from our first cruise last week, and it was fabulous! Ports of call were Ft. Lauderdale, (skipped Princess Cays due to swells,) St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Grand Turk on Princess. We loved it and it was the perfect HM for us. Just active enough to be fun, but also soooo relaxing. Lots of perks for being honeymooners as well.

 

[meresal]

This was our itenerary: RCL

2 days vacation time: San Juan PR
- Embarkation - San Juan, PR
1 day - At Sea
1 day - Aruba
1 Day - Curacao
1 Day - At Sea
1 Day - Dominica
1 Day - St Thomas
- Disembarkation - San Juan, PR

 

[monkeyprincess]

Ooh, I''m very interested in this topic. Neither my fiance nor I have been on a cruise before, and he would really like to go one. I have mixed feelings about going on one for our honeymoon because i feel like we wouldn''t have as much of privacy on a cruise ship as we would at a resort. But maybe that is just my cruise ignorance causing me to think that. Gotta say the Caribbean itineraries sound tempting though.

 

[Prana]

Haven''t booked yet, but we will probably be cruising to Alaska. Can''t wait!

 

[sunnyd]

Date: 2/8/2010 6:26:22 PM
Author: girlface
Haven''t booked yet, but we will probably be cruising to Alaska. Can''t wait!

Fun! That''s next on our list. We''re in Seattle, so not having to fly anywhere makes it pretty cheap!

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

I didn't cruise on my honeymoon but one tip - avoid Carnival. It's terrible. I highly recommend Royal Caribbean or Celebrity.

 

[shertz1981]

Me!

We''re going to Prague and Budapest first

Then, Regent Seven Seas

Venice
Split, Croatia
Kotor, Montenegro
Sarande, Albania
Corfu, Greece
Olympia, Greece
Santorini, Greece
Athens

 

[Blair138]

I love cruising and am a big fan of Royal Caribbean...however, on our honeymoon we wanted to just relax. While cruises are relaxing there are ports to see and things to do and I don't know about you but even if I'm tired, when there are things going on and I am in a new place, I feel the need to see it or I will feel it's wasted.

On our honeymoon, DH and I went to The Royal Playa del Carmen which was recommended by someone else on here. I must tell you, it was one of the most fabulously relaxing vacations I have ever been on and I so so so want to go back.

We went to the pool everyday and even met some other couples who were honeymooning. We would hang with them, eat breakfast and lunch leisurely, we would go nap in our room and hang out on the balcony, read, spend time together and then usually go see the shows they had in the resort and eat dinner/stay out late. We shopped in town a few times and did one excursion and I didn't have any regrets or feel like I ever missed out on anything.

BUT, if that's not really what you want or you don't have a preference, I say do a cruise! We have done RCCL Eastern Caribbean and we are doing Western this summer. Oh and monkeyprincess, cruises are very private, but the resort ***FELT** more private to me and our room was GINORMOUS compared to a cruise.

I will say EVERYTHING was included at our h-moon resort and there was SO MANY food options we had a great meal everytime...alcohol and some restaurants are not included in the cruise price. For our 10 day honeymoon it was the same as a cruise we took the summer before for 7 days.

ETA: our resort was ADULTS ONLY and the cruise definitely will have children-they don't annoy or bother me by any means but it was nice to just be surrounded by adults.

 

[caribqueen]

It''s what FI really wanted so I figured, why not. I''m happy because I won''t be going to any places where I''ve already been. Our cruise leaves from Puerto Rico and stops in:
Saint Thomas
Dominica
Barbardos
St. Lucia
St. Kitts
St. Maarten
Then back to PR where we''ll stay an extra night. Considering our situation, this is not a bad vacation/honeymoon at all. (I wanted to go with Royal Caribbean, but it was a bit over budget, so this is Carnival).

 

[CDNinNYC]

Date: 2/8/2010 10:24:37 PM
Author: Blair138
On our honeymoon, DH and I went to The Royal Playa del Carmen which was recommended by someone else on here. I must tell you, it was one of the most fabulously relaxing vacations I have ever been on and I so so so want to go back.

Blair, I didn't know you went to The Royal on your HM! We had our wedding there. I loved that resort.

I don't have any info to add on cruising as I've never done it but I'm interested in the responses as my ILs want us to join them on one and the options are overwhelming.

 

[Prana]

Lucky you SunnyD! The flight alone is going to be such an expensive headache! (We are on the East Coast)

 

[sunnyd]

Date: 2/9/2010 12:48:59 PM
Author: girlface
Lucky you SunnyD! The flight alone is going to be such an expensive headache! (We are on the East Coast)

Yeah, we had the same headache flying to Florida!

 

[Blair138]

Date: 2/9/2010 11:39:50 AM
Author: CDNinNYC

Date: 2/8/2010 10:24:37 PM

Author: Blair138

On our honeymoon, DH and I went to The Royal Playa del Carmen which was recommended by someone else on here. I must tell you, it was one of the most fabulously relaxing vacations I have ever been on and I so so so want to go back.

Blair, I didn''t know you went to The Royal on your HM! We had our wedding there. I loved that resort.


I don''t have any info to add on cruising as I''ve never done it but I''m interested in the responses as my ILs want us to join them on one and the options are overwhelming.

I didn''t know that! I loved it there so much, DH and I are stopping in Cozumel on our cruise this June and I want to see if we can take the ferry over to Playa and sneak into the resort for a Miami Vice!

 

[noelwr]

yay - cruising! we just booked one for our 2nd honeymoon (got married in South Africa in Sep 2009 and went to the Maldives on our honeymoon). we wanted to go to Phi Phi Island in Thailand but the trip was getting really expensive, so a Caribbean cruise turned out to be cheaper which is something I''ve always wanted to do. it''s not REALLY a 2nd honeymoon, just our next vacation but we''re calling it another honeymoon because our first one was only a week and way too short.

we''ve booked with the Holland America Line, and no, it''s not because I''m Dutch. this cruise line attracts an older crowd (average age 55), and we are not big party animals so we thought this would be perfect for us plus we go to bed early with jetlag. Here''s our itinerary:

Fort Lauderdale (board)
At Sea
At Sea
St Maarten
St Lucia
Barbados
Martinique
U.S. Virgin Islands
At Sea
Bahamas (cruiseline owns its own island)
Fort Lauderdale (disembark)

 

[JerseyGrl81]

I love cruising too!

We actually took a cruise to Bermuda for our destination wedding and went on a cruise to Alaska for our honeymoon (wanted to change it up)!
The cruise to Bermuda's was on Royal Caribbean. It's itinerary was:
Bayonne, NJ
At Sea
Bermuda (Got married at a resort this night since we we docked over night)
Bermuda
At Sea
Bayonne

Our cruise to Alaska was on Celebrity for seven days. It was very relaxing! Probably my favorite cruise we have been on. It started in Seattle and then we cruised the inner passage, cruised through Hubbard Glacier and had stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Vancouver, British Columbia. I would recommend an itinerary that includes Stagway in addition to those stops. Vancouver was not the best port.

If you want a more relaxing cruise I would suggest one that has a lot of "At Seas Days" That way you don't have the pressure to get off the ship and explorer the new ports. For those of you that live in the NY area, like me, I just want to let you know that all the cruises I have been on that leave out of NY have had a least one rainy day on the way down to the Caribbean or back to NY. They have also been more rocky then the cruises I have went on that left out of FL or Puerto Rico. They are great for the convience though!

I have sailed on Royal Carribean, Celebrity, Princess and Carnival. So feel free to ask me any questions about the cruise lines. My parents also go on at least 2 cruises a year- so I can ask my mom any questions you have too!

 

[CDNinNYC]

Date: 2/9/2010 7:15:12 PM
Author: Blair138
I didn't know that! I loved it there so much, DH and I are stopping in Cozumel on our cruise this June and I want to see if we can take the ferry over to Playa and sneak into the resort for a Miami Vice!

OMG, we all loved those Miami Vices! We were in the RM over the holidays at a different resort but they couldn't duplicate the drink. We go back in May for a friend's wedding, so hopefully the resort they picked can make a good one! If not, I'll steal your idea and go back to The Royal for an afternoon.

Pushin40, you're staying at the Gran Porto, right? Lucky!

 

[cinnamongurl]

We are doing a 12 day Mediterranean cruise through Royal Caribbean!

Here is the itinerary:
Day 1 - Departing from Barcelona, Spain
Day 2 - Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France
Day 3 - Florence & Pisa, Italy
Day 4 - Rome, Italy
Day 5 & 6 - At Sea
Day 7 - Santorini, Greece
Day 8 - Kusadasi, Turkey
Day 9 - Athens, Greece
Day 10 - At Sea
Day 11 - Naples, Italy
Day 12 - At Sea
Day 13 - Return to Barcelona, Spain

We can''t wait!! We''ve never been anywhere exciting, let alone taken a "real" vacation together in the 6 years we''ve been together

July can''t come soon enough!

 

[sunnyd]

Date: 2/11/2010 8:03:11 PM
Author: cinnamongurl
We are doing a 12 day Mediterranean cruise through Royal Caribbean!

Here is the itinerary:
Day 1 - Departing from Barcelona, Spain
Day 2 - Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France
Day 3 - Florence & Pisa, Italy
Day 4 - Rome, Italy
Day 5 & 6 - At Sea
Day 7 - Santorini, Greece
Day 8 - Kusadasi, Turkey
Day 9 - Athens, Greece
Day 10 - At Sea
Day 11 - Naples, Italy
Day 12 - At Sea
Day 13 - Return to Barcelona, Spain

We can''t wait!! We''ve never been anywhere exciting, let alone taken a ''real'' vacation together in the 6 years we''ve been together

July can''t come soon enough!

Fun! A friend of mine did that one in the summer and had a BLAST!

 

[Pushin40]

Date: 2/8/2010 10:24:37 PM
Author: Blair138
I love cruising and am a big fan of Royal Caribbean...however, on our honeymoon we wanted to just relax. While cruises are relaxing there are ports to see and things to do and I don't know about you but even if I'm tired, when there are things going on and I am in a new place, I feel the need to see it or I will feel it's wasted.

On our honeymoon, DH and I went to The Royal Playa del Carmen which was recommended by someone else on here. I must tell you, it was one of the most fabulously relaxing vacations I have ever been on and I so so so want to go back.

We went to the pool everyday and even met some other couples who were honeymooning. We would hang with them, eat breakfast and lunch leisurely, we would go nap in our room and hang out on the balcony, read, spend time together and then usually go see the shows they had in the resort and eat dinner/stay out late. We shopped in town a few times and did one excursion and I didn't have any regrets or feel like I ever missed out on anything.

BUT, if that's not really what you want or you don't have a preference, I say do a cruise! We have done RCCL Eastern Caribbean and we are doing Western this summer. Oh and monkeyprincess, cruises are very private, but the resort ***FELT** more private to me and our room was GINORMOUS compared to a cruise.

I will say EVERYTHING was included at our h-moon resort and there was SO MANY food options we had a great meal everytime...alcohol and some restaurants are not included in the cruise price. For our 10 day honeymoon it was the same as a cruise we took the summer before for 7 days.

ETA: our resort was ADULTS ONLY and the cruise definitely will have children-they don't annoy or bother me by any means but it was nice to just be surrounded by adults.

Blair - we'll be in PDC for 8 nights (Gran Proto Real) for the wedding so we want to get out of Mexico rather than just switch hotels, although we did consider that....

I bet you loved the Royal. We looked at it too, but wanted to keep costs lower and needed a resort that accepted kids. It looks amazing!

 

[Pushin40]

Date: 2/10/2010 11:00:01 AM
Author: JerseyGrl81

I love cruising too!

We actually took a cruise to Bermuda for our destination wedding and went on a cruise to Alaska for our honeymoon (wanted to change it up)!
The cruise to Bermuda''s was on Royal Caribbean. It''s itinerary was:
Bayonne, NJ
At Sea
Bermuda (Got married at a resort this night since we we docked over night)
Bermuda
At Sea
Bayonne

Our cruise to Alaska was on Celebrity for seven days. It was very relaxing! Probably my favorite cruise we have been on. It started in Seattle and then we cruised the inner passage, cruised through Hubbard Glacier and had stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Vancouver, British Columbia. I would recommend an itinerary that includes Stagway in addition to those stops. Vancouver was not the best port.

If you want a more relaxing cruise I would suggest one that has a lot of ''At Seas Days'' That way you don''t have the pressure to get off the ship and explorer the new ports. For those of you that live in the NY area, like me, I just want to let you know that all the cruises I have been on that leave out of NY have had a least one rainy day on the way down to the Caribbean or back to NY. They have also been more rocky then the cruises I have went on that left out of FL or Puerto Rico. They are great for the convience though!

I have sailed on Royal Carribean, Celebrity, Princess and Carnival. So feel free to ask me any questions about the cruise lines. My parents also go on at least 2 cruises a year- so I can ask my mom any questions you have too!

Hey Jerseygirl!
I am very intested in yoru opinion on cruise lines.
I''ve been on 2 Princess and 1 RC cruise. FI was on about 10 Princess cruises and did comment that the quality has gone WAY down in the last 20 years. I wasn''t that impressed with either, but I had a great time....

RC was fine excpet FI''s dad almost died on the ship from a heart attack, and there was a huge issue with medical expenses, etc so I have a tarnished opinion of them just becuse so many things happened on that trip. My opinion of them is totally biased.

As far as Carnival goes, we alwasy swore there was no way we would ever bother. We would generally rather go more upscale.
With that being said, I think since we are spedning a fortune on the wedding, and taking 2 weeks off, etc. we thought if we went in with very low espectations we may be OK. The pricing is so low right now. But - for maybe $600 more total we could go on a nicer ship. IDK....

Is Carnival really that bad? What do you think?
We are looking fo go on a 5-7 night cruise from Miami or Ft Lauderdale Sun 11/28 (can''t go on Sat - will still be in MX)
I am open to suggestions!
A balcony is a must - a suite is ever better.

 

[Pushin40]

Date: 2/11/2010 8:03:11 PM
Author: cinnamongurl
We are doing a 12 day Mediterranean cruise through Royal Caribbean!

Here is the itinerary:
Day 1 - Departing from Barcelona, Spain
Day 2 - Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France
Day 3 - Florence & Pisa, Italy
Day 4 - Rome, Italy
Day 5 & 6 - At Sea
Day 7 - Santorini, Greece
Day 8 - Kusadasi, Turkey
Day 9 - Athens, Greece
Day 10 - At Sea
Day 11 - Naples, Italy
Day 12 - At Sea
Day 13 - Return to Barcelona, Spain

We can''t wait!! We''ve never been anywhere exciting, let alone taken a ''real'' vacation together in the 6 years we''ve been together

July can''t come soon enough!

WOW! Sounds amazing! LUCKY girl!!!!

 

[Pushin40]

Date: 2/10/2010 10:13:39 AM
Author: noelwr
yay - cruising! we just booked one for our 2nd honeymoon (got married in South Africa in Sep 2009 and went to the Maldives on our honeymoon). we wanted to go to Phi Phi Island in Thailand but the trip was getting really expensive, so a Caribbean cruise turned out to be cheaper which is something I''ve always wanted to do. it''s not REALLY a 2nd honeymoon, just our next vacation but we''re calling it another honeymoon because our first one was only a week and way too short.

we''ve booked with the Holland America Line, and no, it''s not because I''m Dutch. this cruise line attracts an older crowd (average age 55), and we are not big party animals so we thought this would be perfect for us plus we go to bed early with jetlag. Here''s our itinerary:

Fort Lauderdale (board)
At Sea
At Sea
St Maarten
St Lucia
Barbados
Martinique
U.S. Virgin Islands
At Sea
Bahamas (cruiseline owns its own island)
Fort Lauderdale (disembark)

This is a really really good Carribbean itineary!
Sounds great!!
Ahh tehhwater in Barbados was so beautiful...wish I was there now!

 

[AustenNut]

We haven''t decided for sure, but we''re thinking a cruise to Australia/New Zealand would be pretty awesome. We''d either be on Princess or Holland America. My boy likes to relax and chill out, so the at sea days should work well for him, while I love to see all sorts of new places, which will be good on our days at port. The itinerary we''re leaning toward the most is:

Sydney, Australia
At sea
Melbourne, Austsralia
At sea
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
At sea
At sea
Fjordland National Park, New Zealand
Dunedin (Port Chalmers), New Zealand
Christchurch (Lyttelton), New Zealand
At sea
Tauranga, New Zealand
Auckland, New Zealand

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 2/11/2010 8:03:11 PM
Author: cinnamongurl
We are doing a 12 day Mediterranean cruise through Royal Caribbean!
Here is the itinerary:
Day 1 - Departing from Barcelona, Spain
Day 2 - Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France
Day 3 - Florence; Pisa, Italy
Day 4 - Rome, Italy
Day 5/6 - At Sea
Day 7 - Santorini, Greece
Day 8 - Kusadasi, Turkey
Day 9 - Athens, Greece
Day 10 - At Sea
Day 11 - Naples, Italy
Day 12 - At Sea
Day 13 - Return to Barcelona, Spain

Wow ... we''re doing a VERY similar itinerary via Celebrity for our third anniversary. I was all for the thriftiest room possible but DH splurged on a balcony. Its both of our first cruise. I''ve been very prejudiced against them (perhaps illogically, definitely w/o first hand knowledge) and DH was afraid he''d NEVER get to go on one - but when we were able to combine my most lusted for destinations (Greece! Italy!) w/ a very reasonably priced *cruise* & fortunate timing: we jumped on it. I''ll give it a chance, he''s psyched and we spend our anniversary in Mykonos!

 

[sunnyd]

Deco you will love the balcony! My MIL and her mom go cruising once a year, and they always get an outside room and they insinuated that we were wasting money on the balcony. But I wouldn't have any other way! When we'd be in the room, we always had the door open. We read out there, had breakfast out there, it was amazing.

 

[JerseyGrl81]

Date: 2/12/2010 1:12:32 PM
Author: Pushin40

Date: 2/10/2010 11:00:01 AM
Author: JerseyGrl81


I love cruising too!

We actually took a cruise to Bermuda for our destination wedding and went on a cruise to Alaska for our honeymoon (wanted to change it up)!
The cruise to Bermuda''s was on Royal Caribbean. It''s itinerary was:
Bayonne, NJ
At Sea
Bermuda (Got married at a resort this night since we we docked over night)
Bermuda
At Sea
Bayonne

Our cruise to Alaska was on Celebrity for seven days. It was very relaxing! Probably my favorite cruise we have been on. It started in Seattle and then we cruised the inner passage, cruised through Hubbard Glacier and had stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Vancouver, British Columbia. I would recommend an itinerary that includes Stagway in addition to those stops. Vancouver was not the best port.

If you want a more relaxing cruise I would suggest one that has a lot of ''At Seas Days'' That way you don''t have the pressure to get off the ship and explorer the new ports. For those of you that live in the NY area, like me, I just want to let you know that all the cruises I have been on that leave out of NY have had a least one rainy day on the way down to the Caribbean or back to NY. They have also been more rocky then the cruises I have went on that left out of FL or Puerto Rico. They are great for the convience though!

I have sailed on Royal Carribean, Celebrity, Princess and Carnival. So feel free to ask me any questions about the cruise lines. My parents also go on at least 2 cruises a year- so I can ask my mom any questions you have too!

Hey Jerseygirl!
I am very intested in yoru opinion on cruise lines.
I''ve been on 2 Princess and 1 RC cruise. FI was on about 10 Princess cruises and did comment that the quality has gone WAY down in the last 20 years. I wasn''t that impressed with either, but I had a great time....

RC was fine excpet FI''s dad almost died on the ship from a heart attack, and there was a huge issue with medical expenses, etc so I have a tarnished opinion of them just becuse so many things happened on that trip. My opinion of them is totally biased.

As far as Carnival goes, we alwasy swore there was no way we would ever bother. We would generally rather go more upscale.
With that being said, I think since we are spedning a fortune on the wedding, and taking 2 weeks off, etc. we thought if we went in with very low espectations we may be OK. The pricing is so low right now. But - for maybe $600 more total we could go on a nicer ship. IDK....

Is Carnival really that bad? What do you think?
We are looking fo go on a 5-7 night cruise from Miami or Ft Lauderdale Sun 11/28 (can''t go on Sat - will still be in MX)
I am open to suggestions!
A balcony is a must - a suite is ever better.

I think with Carnival you really need to look at the ship and the itinerary. I have heard some really bad things about their older ships, but I have also heard some good things about their newer ships. Also, I wouldn''t recommend their short trips to the Bahamas out of FL. What are the two ships you are looking at and what are their itineraries?