<p>As we have grown older, we have decided that Royal Car is our favorite. We use to travel alot of Carnival…mostly because of the cost, and with our dd, the crowd was younger. RC is much nicer imo.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! We would love to go to Bonaire. My SIL went a couple of years again but airfare was crazy high so a cruise to that area would be perfect. </p>
<p>I really want to take a cruise somewhere warm when the weather stinks here. We’ve had snow this week everyday, I am so over this. We are going to Tennessee next week, the forecast is for the high 40’s. Not what I wanted. So next year something warmer. Everyone who I know has gone to Alaska has loved it but its not a cruise I can think of today!</p>
<p>Glad to hear others are not into the sitting around the pool and drinking. I’ve been reading trip reviews on cruise critic and the activities that I’ve read about are not things we would enjoy. I don’t want to hang out at the port, go shopping and then go to margaritavile. We want to see the islands and do things.</p>
<p>deb, that is something I would hate too, shopping and going to margaritaville. I like drinking a little wine and losing a little money gambling, but it’s not a major part of the cruise. Don’t sit out by the pool much, unless it’s brief, with a book. Yuck. But the thing about cruises, is that there are so many choices. Sure, there are plenty of people that are doing things unappealing to you, but there is really something for everyone. </p>
<p>I second going on a cruise with lots of port stops, and you can look at the excursions before you book. There are many forms of entertainment, there are exercise classes and you can find plenty of people working out, while looking out of the huge windows facing the ocean. There will be some people that never get off the boat, but our usual choice is to sleep in a bit, go on a great shore excursion (biking, zip lining, snorkel, something where you get exercise), come back for dinner, see a show (whether comedy, singing, drama) and that takes up most of the day.</p>
<p>Our RC cruise had plenty to do beside sit around and drink. We made jewelry, took dance classes, went to the fitness center (DH really liked it), went to the spa, entered the trivia contest, did the karaoke contest (I was a finalist!), did some shore excursions, and went to a couple of lectures on the ship. We were traveling in a group of 17 ranging in age from 2 to 83. There really was something for everyone.</p>
<p>We have cruised Royal Car 3 times and all of them were fun but we did note a downward trend in the quality of the food more recently. Last week we took our first NCL Cruise out of Miami with a group of 30 parents and high school seniors and we had a fabulous time! The food in the main dining rooms was kind of bland but they have several upgrade restaurants that are worth it if you are a foodie. Most importantly the kids had a great time! They were able to go into port each day on their own and get into all of the clubs on the ship to dance. A great time was had by all:) Now looking at Celebrity for a cruise (for two!!) after DS goes off to college in the Fall!</p>
<p>Glad you had such a great experience with NCL & Hawaii, Hayden. I would try it again since we loved the itinerary so much! Maybe we just had an inexperienced chef who flavored the food with salt & spices too much! 
Glad to hear they’re improved!!</p>
<p>We used to take ship excursions on our first few cruises. Then we learned to do for ourselves. It became much cheaper and more relaxing. Basically we research each island the ship stops at, and what we want to do and where we want to go on each island. Almost every port has taxi drivers now that you can use for a fraction of the price of a ship excursion.</p>
<p>Basically research ahead of time what you want to do and tell the taxi driver. He will tell you how much it will cost and for how many hours. So an island that has a Rum factory, for instance, that you want to go to…and then a museum or something unique at that particular island…you can go to the end of the pier after getting off the ship for the day and walk over to a taxi driver, who will drive you around and take you where you ask him to go. On St. Kitts, for example, they have a popular Batik shop and beautiful grounds…the taxi driver will drive you there and wherever else you tell him!</p>
<p>We have loved going exploring. We’ve seen very white sand beaches as well as pink and black. We’ve seen where John Glenn splashed down after his moon walk into the Turks and Caicos waters. We have seen lots of native dances, costumes, manufacturing plants, synagogues and churches, fish in their natural habitats, waterfalls, etc.,etc.,etc.</p>
<p>We also loved Alaska in August. It was funny to see everyone on the ship wearing heavy ski jackets! I did it once! That was enough. (I’m not a cold weather person!) The beauty of the Glaciers was breathtaking.</p>
<p>I agree, Hayden, we’ve used cruising lately as a portable hotel. In the beginning we did more of the on-ship stuff, but lately we’ve been more low-key and pick & choose a few things to do, but mostly enjoy the different islands we stop at.</p>
<p>I have been to many of the different Caribbean islands from cruising. Now I would try the Panama Canal, maybe Hawaii again or possibly Europe! I also would just take a break from cruising and do some land tours for a change.</p>
<p>My bucket list cruise would be a Baltic cruise to see St. Petersburg. Not in the cards financially but it would be wonderful.</p>
<p>Trying to see who goes to Bonaire. Celebrity did but I don’t see where they go there next winter. Also it was a 14 day cruise and not possible now. Looking to see if any other cruise ships goes there, it may be that RCCL does.</p>
<p>^^Try this link, it shows who cruises to Bonaire and when.</p>
<p>[Bonaire</a> Cruises - Find a Cruise to Bonaire](<a href=“THE 25 BEST Cruises to Bonaire 2023 (with Prices) - Bonaire Cruise Port Terminal on Cruise Critic”>THE 25 BEST Cruises to Bonaire 2023 (with Prices) - Bonaire Cruise Port Terminal on Cruise Critic)</p>
<p>I love cruise critic, they are so useful.</p>
<p>Has anyone cruised on Azamara? They have a cruise we would like to take next year but I wonder if it will be only 40-50+ age bracket. We would like to take our sons who are in their early 20’s, and they would appreciate not being the only ones!</p>
<p>Thanks busdriver, that’s was great! Looks like Holland America and Princess.</p>
<p>We cruise very often. We have been on Carnival, RCI, Celebrity, Princess and Holland America and have enjoyed them all.</p>
<p>We prefer Princess but would sail any depending on itinerary and ship.</p>
<p>We’ve cruised on Royal Caribbean and NCL. Liked both, although RCI was a tad bit better. We are more interested in the cruise itinerary and the ports though - so we picked NCL the next time around - it had a better itinerary when we wanted to travel. We also treat the cruise as a hotel - we enjoy the entertainment etc, but the main thing for us on the cruise is the ports. H would go crazy if we had more than 2 at-sea days (happened on our last cruise where they canceled a port due to bad weather).</p>
<p>I second the recommendation of Bonaire. We loved it. We walked off the ship, shared a private tour taxi with another couple, and saw wild flamingos, wild parakeets, and burros by the side of the road.</p>
<p>We’ve cruised once on Carnival, once on Norwegian and twice on SeaDream. </p>
<p>SeaDream was, by far, my favorite, but it’s also much more expensive. The food is phenomenal, the staff is extremely helpful and the accommodations are very comfortable. We did a European cruise with them as well as a Caribbean cruise. </p>
<p>We (a group of 20) cruised Carnival to the Bahamas when DD and her best friend graduated high school and we had a blast. The food was okay, but nothing special. The atmosphere was loads of fun, but I think that has a lot to do with the fact there were so many of us and we were always doing something fun. </p>
<p>We took a fall cruise (New England and Canada) with Norwegian and we will never cruise them again. There was nothing special about the food, though you can pay extra to dine in a nicer restaurant (anywhere from $15 - $75 extra per person). When preparing for tender, their staff was the most disorganized I have experienced. The places we visited were lovely and we had a great time in port, but we all agreed that the ship experience itself was not good at all.</p>
<p>I do love a cruise and just talking about it makes me want to go again.</p>
<p>“SeaDream was, by far, my favorite, but it’s also much more expensive.”</p>
<p>I would love to go on them one day, but they appear to be seriously big bucks, and I’m a cheapskate. Maybe one day without the kids, though they might be shocked that we’d consider a cruise without them. Another cruise line I’d like to try is Windstar. Love their itineraries, beautiful smaller boats, upscale but not dressy. We can book them at a major discount ($800-$1K/person), and I’d just love to try them.</p>
<p>Laketime:</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of Azamara! Good question to ask cruise travel agent about 20 yr. olds versus “old folks”.</p>
<p>Never heard of SeaDream or Windstar either! Now that my youngest is almost out of the house for college these all look like lines my H & I would enjoy, especially if the ships are smaller and more intimate!</p>
<p>Seadream sounds really luxurious, but unless they’re running a big sale, I fear, out of my price range. Windstar seems more likely. The boats only carry about 200-300 pax, great service and food, get to know the staff and other passengers. A port every day, often at some unusual places that the big boats can’t get into. You’re not going to get much in the entertainment category, but it’s a completely different experience, I’ve heard. Apparently many days they’ll stop somewhere, and take out the water toys (kayaks, wind surfing, water skiing, all free). Don’t think many kids go aboard, if any, supposedly the demographic is mostly folks in their 40’s-50’s-60’s.</p>
<p>Azamara is owned by Royal Caribbean. It’s upscale with smaller ships and interesting destinations such as the Galapagos Islands. They tend to stay in port longer than most ships to give passengers more time to enjoy the ports.</p>
<p>Did only one: Holland America to Alaska, and it was awful. Smoking everywhere. Gambling and more gambling. “Entertainment” wasn’t. The buffet food was worse than a Golden Corral, the sit-down fancy food not much better. Lots of drunks. The “educational seminars” were all sales pitches for “ammonite”, or all the things you could buy (at three times their value) in the faux-gold rush towns. The “excursions” were way overpriced - you could just get off the boat and book the same excursions for 40% of the onboard cost. The most enjoyable thing was listening to my d. play the piano (she was a heck of a lot better than the ship’s piano player.) But I did literally write an entire book on the cruise (I was so stir-crazy).</p>
<p>I might go on a Carribean cruise, but only for the explicit purpose of avoiding my mother’s cooking.</p>
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<p>My sons and I love Golden Corral! I guess it all depends on what you are used to. The first time I stayed in a 5-star hotel (the Palace at Sun City in South Africa) a lady behind me at the front desk waiting line talked my ear off about how terrible the service was. I still have no idea what she was complaining about – perhaps the bartender had stirred her vodka martini rather than shaken it?</p>
<p>I think it might be fun to go on adventure cruise on Carnival, never quite sure what will happen and whether the toilets will flush properly the whole trip. Carnival, where sometimes every deck becomes the poop deck! ;)</p>