Cruising Megathread- I'M ON A BOAT!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Cruising Megathread- I'M ON A BOAT!

Dazerbeams: Jul 8, 2009

I�ve only recently gotten it into my head that I wanted to go on a cruise with my husband for our delayed honeymoon. Thinking about booking for something in the summer of 2020, maybe time it for being on the water during the 4th of July? I�m torn between Bermuda, the Caribbean, and the Bahamas. Any insight from goons?

# ¿ May 13, 2019 01:44

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 12:33

Dazerbeams: Jul 8, 2009

Around 7-10 days give or take. Enough so that we'd have weekend buffers to wind down before going back to work. I haven't given the departure port much thought. Somewhere relatively cheap to fly to coming from Pittsburgh? As far as activities go, we're pretty flexible. It would be nice to see the sites, get in some beach and sun, relaxation. We're not really crazy party people and this is more for chilling and kicking back on or off ship.

# ¿ May 13, 2019 04:10

Dazerbeams: Jul 8, 2009

WithoutTheFezOn posted:

I�m no expert here, but I�ve taken a handful of Bahamas and western Caribbean cruises. Over many years, so some of this may be wrong.

I don�t know squat about Bermuda except that it�s a lot further north than I thought when I was younger.

The Bahamas are really close to Florida, and Bahamas cruises tend to be short (3-5 days). There may be some cruises that stop in the Bahamas before making the big eastern Caribbean loop. I would assume most Bermuda cruises are short, too.

If you�re looking at the Caribbean, I think the first thing to look at is western or eastern. Eastern is like the Grand Turks, the Virgin Islands, and possibly down to Aruba and/or Cura�ao.

Western would be mostly Jamaica, the Caymans, and along the gulf coast of Mexico. Some also stop on the island of Roatan off Honduras, and Belize City. And Cozumel, the island just off the coast of Cancun, seems to be the most popular cruise destination � that is, tons of cruises stop there. A lot.

Not sure what you mean by �see the sites�, but many western ports will give you the opportunity to visit Mayan ruins, which we found really cool but be warned because of the limited time in port and the fact that the ruins aren�t located right next to the cruise ports means those excursions are kind of time limited and generally not chill at all where a clock is concerned. In my limited experience, a ruins excursion is usually a 6 hour deal in total (from leave ship to board ship), and 2-3 hours are at the actual site.

For Florida ports, I think it�s safe to say Miami is the busiest one as far as number of departures. Port Canaveral I would guess is next � it�s an hour due east from Orlando, and there are lots of cheap shuttle services between the two so you wouldn�t have to rent a car. There are also some cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale, and a few out of Tampa. All pretty big airports with cheapish fares.

Since you mentioned wind-down periods, you might not rule out a shorter cruise + a stay near your departure port. As an example (and not necessarily a recommendation) a few years back my wife and I took a 7-day western Caribbean cruise out of New Orleans, then booked a 3-night stay in NO for after, before flying home. (For info, if you consider this option Port Canaveral is on a barrier island right next to Cocoa Beach).

I�d just start browsing the cruise lines' web sites and seeing what�s generally available. You can filter by all sorts of stuff when you search. I might be able to answer some more specific questions about western Caribbean ports if you think of any.

Thanks for the info! I would have to take a look at comparing east vs west but the Caribbean sounds like it offers more variety in terms of ports than Bermuda, which seems to only be a single port for the duration of the cruise. I've been scoping out Norwegian and they do 7 night cruises there but just the one location.

Yeah natural and historical places of interest are what I'd consider to be sites. And my idea of chill is on the rails, handheld tours and things of that nature. I don't want to deal with having an unsupervised adventure into an unknown city where I'm a giant mark while my husband is getting anxious. Full on tourist experience please.

We're more homebodies than anything else and we'll have pets waiting for us at home so I doubt we'd do an extended stay anywhere once the cruise is over and done with.

Will browse the websites to get a better feel for what's on offer.

For the Caribbean, is there much of a rain/hurricane risk during late June? I'd rather not get caught in bad weather but that's kind of the best time for us to be taking vacation.

And do either of you recommend any particular cruise lines?

# ¿ May 13, 2019 21:01

Dazerbeams: Jul 8, 2009

Well Disney isn't really our scene, and my husband nixed Carnival because all the horror stories he's heard about cruises involve them. So I guess that leaves Royal Caribbean and maybe Princess Cruises? There are a lot of different port stops. I'm leaning more towards Western Caribbean although I'm not sure why.

Brak, are you a travel agent?

# ¿ May 14, 2019 05:01

Dazerbeams: Jul 8, 2009

Cockashocka posted:

Hopefully our NCL cruise in July won't be affected... hopefully.

I am also booked for an NCL cruise in June/July to the Caribbean. Fingers crossed.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2020 02:36

Dazerbeams: Jul 8, 2009

There will probably be a lot of hot deals whenever the cruise lines start up again in order to encourage people to come back.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2020 04:50

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 12:33

Dazerbeams: Jul 8, 2009

NCL just fulfilled my refund for a June 28th cruise, hooray for getting my money back.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2020 02:16

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