cruises rock, Go out of San Juan (Aruba, Carosau, St Maartins, and St Thomas)
No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned. A man in a jail has more room, better food and commonly better company. — Dr. Samuel Johnson
My idea of a vacation is to get away from the huddled masses —not be enclosed on a ship with a crowd. Just my own opinion on the matter.
Years ago, I worked with a woman who wouldn't travel any other way. She belonged to a cruise club that offered spectacular last minute deals to its members. Let's say Carnival had a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean leaving tomorrow, but there was 1 unsold cabin left. The cruise line would offer the unsold cabin to the cruise club members for dirt cheap and the club would pass the offer on to its members. This coworker did several cruises that way.
The disadvantages are that you have to be able to pick up and go on a moment's notice and you may end up with a less desirable cabin (interior cabin near the bottom of the ship, as opposed to an outside cabin or a suite on one of the higher tiers). But if you were willing to put up with some minor inconveniences, the price was worth it. The coworker took one cruise for $25. Normally, at high season, she would have paid thousands.
Yeah. If you have a flexible schedule you can book a last minute cruise very cheap. We were taking them from Port Canaveral in FL, because it was an easy drive from where we live.
My boyfriend and I did a cruise to Maine and the Canadian Maritimes in October and we did a Caribbean cruise a couple of years ago. It is about the most relaxing vacation imaginable. Try Royal Caribbean or Holland America. Go for the mid-sized ships since they can go places the huge megaliners can’t. If you have the time and the ability, tru one of the repositioning cruises where the line is shifting ships from Alaska to the Caribbean or back again. They go through the Panama Canal and that’s supposed to be quite an experience. It’s a cruise that is definitely on our bucket list.
I’ve been on three, paid for by work. All we paid for were tips for the shipboard workers and the flight to get there. One of them was actually on an ocean going liner. Which beat the crap out of what many of them do today. That would be loiter around off shore for gambling, and them hit a couple of ports.
The real danger of a cruise, is the amount of food you could consume in any given day.
No way I could live like the guy in the article.
Not much good for a Boozer. The beer is outrageously high on a Cruise ship.
I'd recommend people try cruising without any preconceived notions. People like or dislike it for their own reasons.
Bookmarked for retirement.
I’ve cruised with only 3 lines — Carnival, Princess and Norwegian. I liked Princess the best. Service was outstanding — even more so than the other 2. I can’t say I ever had a bad time in any of cruises. Some were just better than others.
Took a Mediterranean cruise with Princess. One of the amenities was a basket of fruit left in the cabin for the whole cruise. One morning, we were on our way out of the cabin ad our cabin steward was coming in to clean. I happened to say to my mother that the peaches in that fruit basket were outstanding. The steward overheard because when we came back to the cabin later, the basket was filled with peaches. The last full day of the cruise, the steward made a point of apologizing. He was out of peaches.
Then look at their "90 Day Ticker". Prices drop as the sailing date approaches.
Mrs BN & I found an 11 day Hawaii cruise a few years back. Most Hawaii cruises are 7 days around the islands. However, US regulations require a foreign registered ship to visit a foreign port between leaving the US and returning to a US port. Norwegian Cruise lines only had a foreign registered ship available for this cruise. The closest foreign "port" was the Fanning Island ( Tabuaeran) in the republic of Kiribati, 1000 miles south of Hawaii.
So, we steamed 2 days to Fanning Is., an atoll about 5 miles by 10 miles. They launched the shuttle boats, we all went to the beach for a picnic for most of the day, rented bicycles and rode around visiting villages, then loaded back on the cruise ship for the 2 day sail back to Hawaii.
Our inside cabin was normally $559/person. We took the $50 upgrade to choose our cabin and ended up with a "handicapped" cabin, about twice the size of the regular cabin, for $599 each.
Last year we really wanted to take a last minute San Francisco to Australian, 23 day cruise with stops at several Hawaiian islands, Tahiti, Bora Bora, 5 stops in New Zealand and several in Australia. Cost for 23 days was $1995. Airfare was extra, of course.
Alas, commitments and bank accounts conspired to keep us from taking that wonderful cruise.
Generally, you can cruise for close to $100/day, if you shop and catch bargains.
| FastDeal # | Nights | Ends In | Cruise Line / Ship | Ship Rating 1-6 Stars | Brochure | Our | YOU | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting | Starting | SAVE!! | ||||||
| Price* | Price | |||||||
| #10139 Info | 14 | Guadeloupe | Costa Cruises / Costa Mediterranea | 4 | $1,629 | $390 | 76% | Military Rate! |
| #11390 Info | 10 | Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Islands | Costa Cruises / Costa Classica | 3 | $1,089 | $609 | 44% | |
| #17675 Info | 12 | Athens (Piraeus), Greece | Holland America / Rotterdam VI | 4.5 | $3,079 | $629 | 80% | 80% Off! |
| #22551 Info | 11 | Athens (Piraeus), Greece | Holland America / Rotterdam VI | 4.5 | $2,879 | $629 | 78% | Exclusive Offer! |
| #14881 Info | 10 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Cunard / Queen Victoria | 5 | - | $702 | Info | Balcony! |
| #16426 Info | 11 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Cunard / Queen Elizabeth | 5 | $802 | $802 | 0 | |
Floating on a tin can.
In the middle of nowhere.
With 5,000 strangers.
And germs galore.
Boy, that really sounds like fun.
I could never understand the appeal of it.
My wife and I went on our first cruise with Norwegian for our 25th anniversary. The best time we ever had! I did some math, you don’t have to keep switching to find cruise deals. You can get an inside cabin for $400/week. Don’t know if they would let you book for the entire year but that’s $20,800 and you live like a king/queen!
SFL
I went once and although I enjoyed it I would not go again.
I’ve been around some pretty wealthy people. The thing I noticed, which is opposite of how this guy lives, is that they don’t have to do any planing. They decide to go on a vacation the day before they go, and they decide where they’re going as they drive off. Hawaii, skiing, tour of Europe, wherever, the staff takes care of it. And there are always a couple cute college girls along to help with the kids.
This guy’s life is nothing.