http://www.cruisesavvy.com/savvyguide/in…

Cruise Deal Comparison:

http://www.worldwidetravel.com/cruises/

Hope this helps.

AS far as food and service I think Celebrity, Princess and Holland America are just a little bit better but not by that much. Celebrity and Princess ships are more reserved and nicely decorated. Royal Caribbean ships are more glitzy, with lots of glass and brass.

I don’t know that I can give you a listing of good vs bad but I do enjoy Royal Caribbean cruises and I think they are worth the money. Their prices are comparable with the other "mass market’ cruise lines that I mentioned above.

Every cruise that I have been on they always have one night when they serve lobster tails (usually on a formal night) and a night when they serve file mignon. Some ships that may have a night when they prepare fresh pasta in the dining room and serve it from a special table. There is usually a chef’s salad selection for the evening.

The one thing that I like about the RC menu is if you don’t want the specials of the day you can always order from the alternative menu that is available every day. It has sirloin steak, baked salmon, and grilled chicken on it. And you can always order a baked potato and/or a Caesar salad.

After your regular meal they will give you a desert menu which will usually include some specialty deserts, or you can always order ice cream, or cheese cake. The desert menu will usually include baked Alaska one night (usually a formal night) and hot cherries jubilee another night.

On the breakfast menu they will have just about anything you could want from pancakes to fresh made to order omelette’s. Lunches have about anything you could want, soups, sandwiches, hot entres, pizza, burgers and fries, etc. There is always some place on ship where you can get something to eat, even late at night you can get sandwiches and pizza. You know there is free room service 24/7, just pick up the phone and order.

There will be three people – all family, and all are adults (18 is the youngest). The timeframe is aimed around mid-July.

It is preferred to leave from the port of Houston/Galveston.

One week cruises is the goal, but if two week cruises are available for reasonable prices then great!

Once again, I’m not looking for quotes and solicitation, just the options available for Caribbean cruises from either personal experience or straight known facts.

Enlighten me, please!
I know of companies like Carnival that are known for fun cruises.. But the first step of my research starts here – I would like to know the options for quality Caribbean cruise companies with the most bang for the buck.

There will be three people – all family, and all are adults (18 is the youngest). The timeframe is aimed around mid-July.

It is preferred to leave from the port of Houston/Galveston.

One week cruises is the goal, but if two week cruises are available for reasonable prices then great!

Once again, I’m not looking for quotes and solicitation, just the options available for Caribbean cruises from either personal experience or straight known facts.

Enlighten me, please!

May I accentuate a previous statement.. I’m only asking for personal experiences. Opinions! I’ve used google to get some prices and some companies, but i can’t ask google about it’s personal experiences with a cruise. Learn to read you asshat, flock.

Ok, you seem to want information from people who have actually cruised. I have been on more than 20 cruises on Princess, Celebrity, Holland America, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean ships. I can vouch that they are good cruise lines and you are correct in that there are some differences that you need to be aware of in making your selection of which is "best".

Princess, Celebrity and Holland America have great ships are more classy and reserved. They are just a little more upscale and luxurious than the other cruise lines. Passengers tend to be middle aged and up and have cruised multiple times. Holland America has mostly senior citizens (65 and up) cruising on its ships and very few kids and young people. I found that most people on these lines were kinda stand-offish and aloft

Norwegian cruise line is good ( I have done 8 NCL cruises) , they cater to families and have mostly passengers in the range of age 35-40 and up. Its the line that you want to go on if you want to be informal for pretty much your whole cruise. They have formal nights like other cruise lines but they do not stress dressing up; they call it "dress up if you want to" night. Norwegian has the most alternative eating places on their ships, but you will have to pay a fee of $10 to $20 per person per visit to eat at some of them. All other cruise lines also have these alternatives but usually only two such places.

Carnival is the budget cruise line that generally has the lowest prices. They cater to young people, first time cruiser and families. Most of their cruiser will be in the 20 to 45 age group and there will be lots of kids on board. Their ships have some good on-board activities like water slides and basketball court. The best of their ships are their newer ships so do pay attention to when the ship was launched is you find a good and really cheap cruise.

Royal Caribbean is also a cruise line that caters to young cruiser and families; ages about 25/30 to 60. It has the advantage of having the most on-board activities, like ice skating, roller skating, mini-golf course, a basketball/tennis court, the rock climbing wall, and on the new Oasis and Freedom Class ships the surfing simulator, the Flowrider. The RC ships that you should look for cruises on are the RC’s Oasis Class, Freedom Class, and Voyager Class ships.

For me the best cruise lines is Royal Caribbean and they do cruise from Galveston and that is the one that I recommend. My recommendation, and its based on many cruises with several cruise lines, is to take a cruise on Royal Caribbean on their Voyager of the Seas. This ship has the most free, included in your cruise price, on-board activities. Things like the a gym, pools, hot tubs, rock climbing wall, basketball court, mini-golf course, ice skating, in-line roller skating, casino, disco and a variety of lounges. I have not cruised on the Voyager but I have cruised on two of its twins sister Voyager Class ships, the Mariner of the Seas and the Adventure of the Seas, which are identical. You can look at the ship’s details on this web link:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do;jsessionid=0000Qogp63PhFZVTmCDZhrPZXXH:12hdhu6tq?shipCode=VY

You are aware I am sure that the Galveston cruise port was heavily damaged by a hurricane a year or so ago and my not be the best departure port.

Inside cabin (no window or porthole) … cheapest
Outside (a window or porthole)… next lowest priced
Balcony .. (you own private balcony off your cabin)
Suites … the most expensive

You will also find that in some of the categories there may also be subcategories that cost more because they are in a more desirable location on the ship and/or because the cabins are slightly larger.

The cruise prices are per person for the entire cruise and for the most part all cruises are all inclusive. Let me explain.

Regardless of which cruise you select the things that are included are pretty much the same. The price of your cruise includes your cabin, all meals (including breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks and free room service), free admissions to all shows and entertainment, and free use of all facilities on ship except spa services. The things that you will have to pay for are:

GRATUITIES: They will amount to about $10 per person in your cabin per day. When you check in at the pier they will set up an on-board charge account for you to cover any and everything you may buy on ship. They will issue you a "cruise card" which will also serve as your room key and pass to get on and off the ship. At the end of the cruise they will add the gratuity to your tab and you can pay with a credit card or cash, your choice. So everything on ship except the casino is cashless; everything you buy goes on your account.

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND SOFT DRINKS: Coffee, tea, milk, juice, and lemonade and punch will be provided free but you must pay for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages and they will add a 15 percent gratuity to each drink and soft drink order.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Cruise lines will take plenty of photographs of you all over the ship, in the dining room, and as you exit the ship in ports. These will cost a lot, like $15 to $20 for most.

TOURS/EXCURSIONS: You are not required to book any tours and can get off and on in the ports as much as you want. But the cruise line will offer a lot of tours and these are expensive.

SOUVENIRS: Anything you buy on ship from a gift shop or duty free shop goes on your on board account. Things that you buy on shore you pay cash or credit card for.

CASINO: If you plan to gamble on ship you will need cash for that.

OTHER: The ship you go on will have what they call a "specialty" restaurants where there is a gratuity/service charge. All other food on board is free and its not really necessary to budget for food; you cannot eat all of the FREE FOOD that will be available.

SPA SERVICES: If you want/need to have your hair done, get a massage or wrap, or any services from the spa, you will have to pay for them. You can use the gym free but the spa stuff cost big bucks.

INTERNET SVCS: Ships now have internet cafe and some have WiFi but the there is a fee for internet access and it is very expensive (like about $50 to $60 an hour).

You cabin will likely have a minibar with soft drinks and munchies; you have to pay for them (but there is free room service 24/7).

So those are the additional charges you need to be aware of.

We went on voyage # 23 on Nov 5th, 2006 on the Freedom of the Seas. It is a very nice ship, but not one I want to cruise on again. This ship is designed to attract young people and families with kids. It will compete with Carnival and Disney because of its features.

I was somewhat surprised that check-in for a ship holding over 4,000 passengers went so quickly. The check-in could have been even faster if they had more than one person checking Set Sail Passes at the door and opened more stations to take security photos for the Sea Pass. As it was it took less than 45 minutes.

I will not try to list all of the great new and different things on this ship as they are available on the Royal Caribbean web site. Our cabin (8560) was great, as nice as any I have had. It was very roomy and had plenty of space for clothing. The balcony was huge and only needed better chairs for relaxing, like loungers, to make it the best. I give the ship’s Spa a rating of A+ for the quality and diversity of equipment and the fact that it has both a steam and sauna, plus a speed bag and a heavy bag to go with a boxing ring. Each treadmill, elliptical, stepper and bicycle had its own TV screen and you could select the channel you watched (had to use your own headphones for sound). There were plenty of pools and hot tubs, and an abundance of lounge chairs around the pools and on other decks. It was not hard to find a seat.

The formal dining room is a three story room that is elegant. The food was good and so was the wait service for dinner. We didn’t feel the same for breakfast and lunch, but it was acceptable. The major problems I had with food service on ship was accessibility for casual dining. It appears that the intent on the ship is to keep all food consumption in one area of the ship. The primary casual dining place is the Windjammer Café on Deck 11. The Windjammer is too small to handle all of the passengers on ship for casual dining. When we first boarded ship we had to really hunt for a place to sit and found that the same applied any time we went there during peak hours. The option of taking food from the Windjammer to the pool or your cabin is made difficult because you must go back out of the one entrance, through a busy elevator bay, and then through a revolving door in order to get to the pool area and the first pool that you come to is the kids’ H2O zone. In addition, if you want a cup of coffee or tea, or even iced tea or lemonade you have only one place to go, the Windjammer. That’s a long walk from most anywhere, and you have to negotiate the crowds. We found that ordering breakfast room service was much better than trying to get to the Windjammer. The room service was great with food usually delivered in 15 to 20 minutes.

The entertainment was good, except one comedian who stuck, and the last show was really good. Another big plus for this ship is its’ stop at the Royal Caribbean’s private island, Labadee. The island is huge and has a variety of beaches and activities (like Jet Ski and parasailing). There were enough lounge chairs for everyone and plenty of shade trees. They even have a tram to take you from one end to the other and sand wheel chairs for the handicapped. The beach party food was nothing special, standard foods like hot dogs and hamburgers, etc. The one thing that we needed was a map of the island so we would know where things were.

Drinks are expensive and pretty much the same price on all ships.

In January, the average high temps at my destinations are in the high 70’s to low 80’s. The ports of call are:

Grand Cayman,
Roatan, Honduras,
Cozumel, Mexico
Princess Cays, Bahamas

Suggestions?

Your library or bookstore will have guidebooks for Caribbean ports of call. Or the on-line guidebooks will have info on that.

A great source is CruiseCritic.com. Click on "Boards" and go to "Ports of Call" for info from experienced cruisers.

Cayman and Coz are both easy to do on your own. Cayman is a tendered port, so you’ll need to allow extra time for the 15-20-minute tender to/from the ship. You MUST be sure to allow time to get back to the ship ON TIME because they will not wait for you if you’re late unless you’re on one of their excursions. Make sure you take the essentials for that situation [passport, money/credit card, name of ship's agent on shore].

In Cayman, "the" thing to do is to swim with the stingrays. You can do this independently and have a much better experience. Captain Marvin and Nativeway are among several providers that are reliable. I’ve done both and preferred the latter because their trip included a stop at Rum Point. However, we did just make it back in time for the last tender to the ship [they returned to shore just after leaving because someone forgot something - don't be that person!]. If you want a good snorkel spot, Eden Roc is literally a 5-minute walk to your right [with your back to the ocean]. Or take a cab or public bus to Seven Mile Beach. If you do a search on "Cayman Island tourism", you’ll get several leads [sorry, I can't remember the URL].

In Coz, you can take a cab south to one of the beach resorts. Chankanaab Park and Paradise Beach [both have websites] are popular ones. I’ve been to both and prefer the former, although I haven’t been since it was rebuilt after the hurricane. Pictures I’ve seen are awesome. Make sure you know which port your ship is docked at – there are three of them. Sometimes the cabbies seem a bit unsure about which ship is where. If you want to shop in town, you can get better deals if you walk back a block from the main drag.

Haven’t been to Roatan, but there’s good info on it at CC.

Princess Caye is the cruise line’s private island, so your activities will be whatever you sign up for or just lazing on the beach.

Have fun!!

I’m in Las Vegas now, so I’m really not interested in gambling or drinking/nightclubs/bars.

What is there for me to do? I’m really looking for a good spot to read, I think they have a library? Has anyone visited it who can tell me if they have lots of good books? And I know about the rock climbing and yoga classes – I’ll be doing those!
I’m also curious about in room movie rental… do they do that? Do you know what cable channels their ships get? Ordering room service and watching TV seem heavenly to me, I know it seems ridiculous to some.

One more thing, a lot of the excursions I’m interested in don’t allow my daughter to join yet (she’s 10.) If I chose to just hang out on the ship while it was at the different ports, do they still have activities onboard? Do you know if they just allow you to get a towel and hang out on the beach?

The first thing you should do is go to the web site for the cruise line you are going on and find the ship that you will be on and take their virtual tour of the ship. It will help you know what is on ship and where things are. You can also look at programs for you kid.

The room TV usually has one or more channels where free movies are shown. Some ships also have pay-per-view movies that you can purchase on your TV in your cabin. Some ships will have a small movie theater where movies (same ones as in your room) are shown.

I have been on many cruises and there is always a library. I have not looked at the selection of books but if you want to read I suggest that you bring your own. Some libraries are not really quiet. They are in traffic areas and thus may interfere with your reading. But you can always stay in your cabin or do as I usually do and find a secluded spot on one of the decks. Most people will be around the pool areas so places away from there will be quietest.

Since the ship is moving it will get what TV signals it can pick up that are near. The channels usually include a major network, CNN, ESPN and then some other channels that may have vintage TV shows. The stations may broadcast in Spanish if you are going to Mexico.

The good part is the movies run continuously and the room service is free 24/7. When you get to ports if you do not go on a tour you can get off ship and do whatever you want; just be back before time to go. If there is a beach available they will loan you a towel or two (will probably be in your cabin already) and yes you can hang out on the beach. Generally while the ship is in port its a very quiet time on ship. Not much happening.