# Taking a cruise after a timeshare stay?



## DaveNV (Apr 7, 2018)

I'm exploring options for a trip next year, and would like to know if you have experience with this kind of thing.  I'm looking for tips, comments about your experience, pro and con, and whether you think you'd do it again.  

Traveling far from home for just a week or so in a timeshare is never long enough, and I always like to take a second week somewhere nearby, to extend the vacation, and maybe even get more out of my airfare dollars.  For example, next month I'm doing a trip to Hawaii for two weeks, with a timeshare week on two islands.  With a multi-city airfare, it's a good use of the time and money.

In this case, I'm looking at New Orleans.  For the time just after the timeshare visit, I didn't find other timeshares around there that caught my attention, but the idea of a cruise came to mind.  I find there are Caribbean cruises that leave from New Orleans, and return there, that may tie in with the dates I'll be there.  

One such cruise is down to the Yucatan, stopping in Cozumel and Progreso (Merida), then returning to New Orleans.  I've been to Cancun before, but not out to Cozumel, and I've always wanted to see Merida.  This looks like a nice way to do that, without spending a lot of money. I could then fly home from New Orleans, and everything could be tied into a neat bundle.

For those who have done this kind of thing (cruising before/after a timeshare stay), or who have done that specific cruise, what can you tell me about it?  The cruises I'm seeing are on Carnival.  I'm not much for partying, so a lot of the events on such a ship will likely not be used.  But a nice ocean trip on a nice ship seems like it'd be fun.  And seeing a bucket-list place like Merida, even for just a few hours, would be nice.  We could then decide if we'd like to return another time for a destination visit.

What can you share with me?

Dave


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## VacationForever (Apr 7, 2018)

We enjoy cruises but we just cannot do Carnival.  It is on the low end of all cruise lines, and as such, generally the demographics that go with it and not people that we want to be around.


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## vacationhopeful (Apr 7, 2018)

How about a riverboat cruise up or down the Mississippi River added to NOLA stay? 

Baton Rouge is up river from NOLA, also. And Panama City, FL is a 'drive' along the the Gulf.

I spent too much time in that area of the country 20+ years ago ... that era BF worked Nuclear Power plants in NOLA and Baton Rouge. NOLA had WAY better food; Baton Rouge was cheaper but fewer flights IN/OUT. His BFF nuclear friend rented a place from me in NJ while working the nuke plants at Artifcial Island (Salem) ... he eventaully MOVE here and rented a different place from me. He now is retired in lives fulltime in Thailand ... I am NOT visiting him nor his landholder where he owns the house and she owns the land it sits on. 

And to the other Nuke pros on TUG ... how I acquired ALL my nuclear power plant knowledge.


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## dioxide45 (Apr 7, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> I'm exploring options for a trip next year, and would like to know if you have experience with this kind of thing.  I'm looking for tips, comments about your experience, pro and con, and whether you think you'd do it again.
> 
> Traveling far from home for just a week or so in a timeshare is never long enough, and I always like to take a second week somewhere nearby, to extend the vacation, and maybe even get more out of my airfare dollars.  For example, next month I'm doing a trip to Hawaii for two weeks, with a timeshare week on two islands.  With a multi-city airfare, it's a good use of the time and money.
> 
> ...


We have tied cruises to our timeshare stays many times. The cruises out of New Orleans are fine, they have limited itineraries because of where the port is situated. We have actually done that very same itinerary on Carnival and Merida is a neat city to see, though it is about an hour away from Progresso. So either rent a car or take an excursion there. It is an old colonial city with wonderful charm. We enjoyed our visit to Merida which happened to be just before the Day of the Dead that is HUGE in Mexico. They were putting up their decorations and shrines (not really sure what they call them) in the town square.

ETA: I would like to add, we usually like to have the cruise after our timeshare stay. This way there is no worries about missing the ship with a delayed flight. It also means we don't have to fly in a day early like we usually do for cruises and pay for a hotel.


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## Germanyboy (Apr 7, 2018)

We did a week in Oahu followed by a 15 night celebrity cruise. Another time we did three nights in Victoria three nights in Vancouver then a week Alaska cruise and then three more nights in Seattle at timeshares. This fall we are doing a week in Vancouver timeshare, followed by one week cruise. And two short cruises out of Fort Lauderdale, with stays before and between. Very doable. All Celebrity cruises, all Worldmark or Wyndham.


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## DaveNV (Apr 7, 2018)

Germanyboy said:


> We did a week in Oahu followed by a 15 night celebrity cruise. Another time we did three nights in Victoria three nights in Vancouver then a week Alaska cruise and then three more nights in Seattle at timeshares. This fall we are doing a week in Vancouver timeshare, followed by one week cruise. And two short cruises out of Fort Lauderdale, with stays before and between. Very doable. All Celebrity cruises, all Worldmark or Wyndham.



So it sounds like you've done this a fair bit.  If it was a cruise line you weren't enamored with, (based purely on presumed reputation), but it was the only game in town for the cruise you wanted to take, would you still do it?  

Dave


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## SmithOp (Apr 7, 2018)

We did several weeks on the southeast coast last year with a cruise from Miami in the middle, worked out great.  We are considering a Panama Canal cruise on the bucket list, there are some from Nola to LA, gets you most of the way home... I was just going to do a 3 night hotel stay before the cruise.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


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## Glynda (Apr 7, 2018)

I just took a Carnival cruise out of Cape Canaveral over Spring Break with my granddaughter and daughter. I chose it based on itinerary, embarkation port and specific dates. It was my only choice without repeating a previous itinenary. Did we have a good time? Yes. Did I like Carnival any more than I had on prior voyages? No. Worse, in fact. Did my daughter and 16 yr old granddaughter like Carnival? Surprisingly they did not. Was it a wild and drunken Spring Break cruise? Not like I expected it to be. If it was my only choice, I'd go again even though we had a number of bad experiences along the way. We were together. We had never been to the ports before and loved them. It was only a week out of our lives that wasn't top-notch.


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## TravelTime (Apr 7, 2018)

We have enjoyed many Windstar Cruises all over the world. If we were to do cruises in the future, we would consider Viking Ocean Cruises, Oceania or Seabourne. We will also consider a Disney cruise, but that will be a one timer just for the kids. Viking started the ocean cruises not that long ago and they are getting superb reviews.


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## dioxide45 (Apr 7, 2018)

TravelTime said:


> We have enjoyed many Windstar Cruises all over the world. If we were to do cruises in the future, we would consider Viking Ocean Cruises, Oceania or Seabourne. We will also consider a Disney cruise, but that will be a one timer just for the kids. Viking started the ocean cruises not that long ago and they are getting superb reviews.


Unfortunately, not all of us have the budgets for these types of cruises. Other than Disney, you are talking $3000-$4000 per person for the lowest category cabin in off season. These are luxury lines, far from the mainline cruise lines.


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## TravelTime (Apr 7, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> Unfortunately, not all of us have the budgets for these types of cruises. Other than Disney, you are talking $3000-$4000 per person for the lowest category cabin in off season. These are luxury lines, far from the mainline cruise lines.



Actually, we have never paid more than $2000-$3000 per person for a 7-8 night Windstar Cruise regardless of category or season or location and we have done 7 of them by now. Sometimes, they have really great deals for less.


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## dioxide45 (Apr 7, 2018)

TravelTime said:


> Actually, we have never paid more than $2000-$3000 per person for a 7-8 night Windstar Cruise regardless of category or season or location and we have done 7 of them by now. Sometimes, they have really great deals for less.


Still a big difference from a Carnival Cruise like the OP is considering that is $750 for a balcony for five nights. Also, Carnival is the only game in town out of New Orleans for the OP.


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## VacationForever (Apr 7, 2018)

My travel agent, who is Ken's travel agent, showed us a couple of great prices for Windstar but we passed as we had other cruises booked.  I did look at other Windstar cruises recently and they were quite a bit higher than mass market lines.

We have done 2 Celebrity cruises and will have another 2 this year.  It is considered the best cruise line for the mass market.

We had originally booked an Oceania and a Cunard for next year but my travel agent got us to go with him on a Royal Caribbean cruise, which I really had no interest to cruise with, but since it is a transatlantic cruise, there will be few kids.  Plus it will in a large suite (owners suite).  The cost per night of that is very close to the Oceania cruise, also an eastbound TA which we cancelled, after equalizing the perks offered by Oceania.

There are deals to be had especially when booking early or last minute.


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## DaveNV (Apr 7, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> Still a big difference from a Carnival Cruise like the OP is considering that is $750 for a balcony for five nights. Also, Carnival is the only game in town out of New Orleans for the OP.



And therein lies the problem.  I'd like to see the northwest corner of the Yucatan, and this seems like a fairly inexpensive way to do it.  Minimal extra expense, since my airfare home would be the return leg of a roundtrip fare, and the cruise leaves from the city where I'll already be. Leave the timeshare, board the ship, spend five nights without much extra cost, return to New Orleans, and fly home.  Easy breezy.

The only thing giving me serious pause is that it's on Carnival.  I've heard conflicting stories about them, including that they use their worst ships for that part of the world.  And frankly, the idea of dealing with a bunch of napkin-twirling waiters doing a conga line around the dining room just does not appeal to me.  With a balcony stateroom, I could sit out in the sun and enjoy the relative peace and quiet.  And there's always room service.  

For those of you who can't stand Carnival, can you be specific?  What exactly about them do you not like?

Dave


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## dioxide45 (Apr 7, 2018)

We have sailed Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. All have their pluses and minuses and we weren't actually impressed as much as we expected to be with Celebrity. On Carnival we have sailed their small ships as well as their largest. Their ships may not be as nice as the other lines and they may be decorated in a more gaudy "Las Vegas" look to them. From a cruise and food standpoint, you ultimately get what you pay for. I would have no problems doing another Carnival cruise out of New Orleans. If you want to cruise to Merida, you really don't have a lot of options. For a five night cruise, if you don't end up liking it, you won't be on it all that long...


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## VacationForever (Apr 7, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> And therein lies the problem.  I'd like to see the northwest corner of the Yucatan, and this seems like a fairly inexpensive way to do it.  Minimal extra expense, since my airfare home would be the return leg of a roundtrip fare, and the cruise leaves from the city where I'll already be. Leave the timeshare, board the ship, spend five nights without much extra cost, return to New Orleans, and fly home.  Easy breezy.
> 
> The only thing giving me serious pause is that it's on Carnival.  I've heard conflicting stories about them, including that they use their worst ships for that part of the world.  And frankly, the idea of dealing with a bunch of napkin-twirling waiters doing a conga line around the dining room just does not appeal to me.  With a balcony stateroom, I could sit out in the sun and enjoy the relative peace and quiet.  And there's always rooms service.
> 
> ...



You might have seen this story... bad handling by the captain.  But you would not find this sort of problem in higher end cruise lines.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/18/asia/cruise-ship-brawl/index.html

You may want to read Carnival reviews.  Because of inexpensive cruise price, it also attracts many people who just want to drink and party.  People complained about hearing folks shouting and banging on cabin doors going down the corridor in the early hours, presumably drunks.  I am an old fart and I really do not want to hear or see young or older adults behaving like brats.

One thing to note about cruising and norovirus can hit any ship, I generally stay away from the buffet restaurant.


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## dioxide45 (Apr 7, 2018)

VacationForever said:


> You might have seen this story... bad handling by the captain.  But you would not find this sort of problem in higher end cruise lines.
> https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/18/asia/cruise-ship-brawl/index.html
> 
> You may want to read Carnival reviews.  Because of inexpensive cruise price, it also attracts many people who just want to drink and party.  People complained about hearing folks shouting and banging on cabin doors going down the corridor in the early hours, presumably drunks.  I am an old fart and I really do not want to hear or see young or older adults behaving like brats.
> ...


There are certainly the party boats. With short cruises, one usually should try to avoid the weekend cruises and go for the ones that sail through the week. Those short three night, Fri, Sat, Sun cruises tend to attract the party boat crowd. We have been on them and we really haven't had any issues with drunks. We tend not to flow with the party crowd. We don't stay up real late and hit the clubs. If you don't run with that crowd, you tend not to see or be impacted by them all that much.

We always carry our own hand sanitize with us whenever we cruise. It really isn't a sure fire way to not get sick and avoiding the buffet won't necessarily save you. You have just as good of a chance of catching it from a door knob or railing.


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## VacationForever (Apr 7, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> There are certainly the party boats. With short cruises, one usually should try to avoid the weekend cruises and go for the ones that sail through the week. Those short three night, Fri, Sat, Sun cruises tend to attract the party boat crowd. We have been on them and we really haven't had any issues with drunks. We tend not to flow with the party crowd. We don't stay up real late and hit the clubs. If you don't run with that crowd, you tend not to see or be impacted by them all that much.
> 
> We always carry our own hand sanitize with us whenever we cruise. It really isn't a sure fire way to not get sick and avoiding the buffet won't necessarily save you. You have just as good of a chance of catching it from a door knob or railing.


I agree... short cruises, regardless of cruise lines tend to attract the party boat crowd.  

We started taking probiotic before travel, during travel and a couple off days after.  The other thing that we have instituted is not touch our food, which means no bread, unless our hands are just washed and hands have not handled anything else like door knobs, doors and menus.  I have horrible contact dermatitis, and unfortunately most hand sanitizers have chemicals that I am allergic to.


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## Talent312 (Apr 8, 2018)

I think it's great to combine a land-trips with cruises.
For a cruise we took from Copenhagen, we went to Iceland first.
For our next cruise from Barcelona, we're touring France+Spain first.
.


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## Icc5 (Apr 8, 2018)

We have done timeshares both before and after cruises many times.  Usually after because I like to relax after a cruise.   We even did a Panama Canal Cruise then spent a week in Florida at one of our timeshares after.
Check the site Vacations To Go on the Internet.  You can find many discounted cruises and probably where you are talking about going.  I'm another one that doesn't waste my time on Carnival.
We have been real happy lately with Celebrity.  Princess used to be our favorite until Carnival bought them and we saw the quality of their cruises go down.


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## moonstone (Apr 8, 2018)

We have done 3 timeshare stays along with a cruise vacation. The first time we did a week at Vacation Village at Weston followed by a Norwegian cruise out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami (can't remember which). We found the drive home (to north of Toronto) very tiring after getting off the ship and getting in the car for the long drive home. The next 2 times we did Carnival (1 out of Tampa, 1 out of Ft Lauderdale) then a week stay in a timeshare to relax. We did not find either of the Carnival cruises to be "party" cruises but we did not go at any school break or holiday time. When we cruise we are so active we prefer to take the week afterward to relax instead of the week before. We booked all our cruises through Vacations To Go and had no complaints at all. We would rather go on 2 or 3 cheap cruises (we get interior cabins) than 1 very expensive one.

Our DS & DiL have cruised out of New Orleans twice and loved it. They were surprised at how long it takes to go down the Mississippi and get out to the Gulf. The cruise stop at Progresso is interesting. They have the longest pier we have ever seen there, it is 4 miles long! The cruise line had buses to take people to shore. From there it is about a 45 minute car or colectivo (mini-bus or van) ride to the old colonial city of Merida.

~Diane


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## dioxide45 (Apr 8, 2018)

Icc5 said:


> Princess used to be our favorite until Carnival bought them and we saw the quality of their cruises go down.


I think overall cruise quality has gone down among the mainline and even premium cruise companies. Carnival owns a lot of brands, from mainline (Carnival, Costa) to premium (Holland America, Princess) to luxury (Seabourn). Each line tends to operate pretty independently.

I am still not seeing many posts from people saying they don't like Carnival that have actually sailed on Carnival. You can post a link to a negative story about a cruise, but what is that, .01% of all cruises that something happens where it becomes newsworthy?


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## Icc5 (Apr 8, 2018)

We did Carnival only once and it was many years ago and took our kids at that time.  Just seemed to us that way too many people seemed drunk on that cruise.  Everything was based around drinking for games,etc.  It was not Spring break or holiday  time but about 2 weeks after Spring break.  Our kids schedule always seemed different then most places.  Our kids were six and eleven at that time.


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## presley (Apr 8, 2018)

I have never cruised on Carnival, but I have a friend who lives just outside of NOLA and she cruises one or two times per year on Carnival out of there. She obviously loves it. She cruises with her whole family as well as just with her husband or just friends. She does not drink. I don't know what specifically she enjoys about it, but I suspect being taken care of and not having to do cooking/cleaning, etc has a lot to do with it. I'm sure some people take that cruise to party - that doesn't seem to put a damper on her cruise at all.

Take the cruise. You aren't a complainer. I'm sure you'll find lots of stuff to be very happy about on your cruise. I've been on cruises where people have complained about the most ridiculous things. If you are a complainer, you'll have lots to complain and whine about. You aren't that type of person. You'll have fun.


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## mtwingcpa (Apr 8, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> For those of you who can't stand Carnival, can you be specific?  What exactly about them do you not like?



My disappointment with Carnival was the food. I'm normally not a picky eater, but the selection seemed poor and the quality was bland. Naturally, this is a subjective issue. ;-) 

And I stepped out of the dining room when they had their way-too-loud dancing waiter event.

I'm not saying I would NEVER cruise on Carnival again, but it would have to be the ONLY choice going somewhere that I really wanted to go.


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## dioxide45 (Apr 8, 2018)

We find the dancing waiters with twirling napkins to be annoying too. We often do My Time Dining and have lucked out the last few times and were able to miss that. They usually only do this a couple nights of the cruise.


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## Glynda (Apr 8, 2018)

Embarkation on Carnival's Magic out of Cape Canaveral week before last (Spring Break) was a breeze! No long lines to a desk to check in and get our room cards. They really handled that well. After security, we paused briefly and were handed a sheet of paper with our information, a bar code, and a zone number. There were seating sections by zone and zones were called in order and according to that zone's "reservation time" check-in. So it didn't pay to get there before your reservation time. Once your zone was called you moved on to the ship...without cabin cards which was new to me. The bar code on the slip of paper could be used to charge drinks, etc. until the cabins were opened, which was at 1:30. Our cards were at the cabin.

The Magic was said to have been built in 2011 and to hold 4,000, yet we found the ship seemed old, gaudy, confusing, low-ceilinged and claustrophobic. For that new of a ship, there was only one electrical outlet in the main cabin and one in the bathroom. Not so uncommon though. They confiscated cords with surge protectors until the end of the cruise. We had plenty of storage space in our cabin. So much that some went unused. Upon first entering, we found sequins in the carpet, fingerprints on the balcony window, and a daily schedule on the floor under the dressing table from 5 days before. When we packed to leave, we found a neon colored child's tote bag with a neck pillow attached and a couple of toys inside that had been missed. That was a first for me! Over the week, my daughter tested our cleaner by sprinkling a few sunflower seeds on the floor around her side of the bed by the balcony, and we checked to see if they were vacuumed. Not till the last day. The walls of our cabin were somewhat thin (we had an adjoining door to someone else's room and could hear her cell phone conversations). Might have been better without that door as her's was the side we heard the most. She was part of a large group traveling together who purposefully booked every other cabin and then proceeded to speak to one another loudly across other people's balconies. It got better as the week went on though. There were little children who occasionally ran down the hallway, feet pounding. While in port, the ship smelled like mold and sewer. It got better as the AC was pumped back up once under way but there was one day around mid-week that the ship's main floor smelled like sewer.  Smoking was allowed in the casino and through it was the main path to other venues. Not pleasant.

Even though it was Spring Break, it really was not a drunken party cruise! Lots of young people. Lots of families with kids. People from most walks of life. Lots of girls in bikinis around the pool (which was surprisingly small) dancing and singing to loud music with drinks in hand, but no one pounding on doors or waking us in the wee hours. Only once did I open our door and see some "neighbors" returning from a day at Margaritaville on Grand Turk, staggering and laughing down the hall. It was late afternoon and no problem! Rude people _were_ a problem. There were always people pushing in from the sides of those of us who diid line up for dinner or an event. They ignored people on scooters, in wheelchairs, families with tired little kids and a stroller. They surged into an elevator pushing ahead of those who had been waiting. And yes, the usual problem of chairs being saved at the pool but unused most of the time.

The food was mediocre but there were a few stand-outs, among appetizers mainly. We did not eat in specialty restaurants. The Lido buffet had long lines at times but finding seating was not a problem. Breakfast was OK but the rest not to my liking with the exception of Guy's Burger Joint's fresh hot french fries! Burger wasn't bad either. There seemed to be very few workers at the Lido who would ask if they could get you a drink or anything, for that matter.  Service at Any Time dining was just so so. Mid-week we found a head waiter we liked and tried to request her each night. Still, it seemed as if we had to wait long times between courses if we had been seated near tables who were ahead of us by course. Coffee was forgotten until after dessert was served, if even then. It was very difficult to get a soft drink at all eating venues. We had a package. Bars were crowded and bartenders seemed to pass us over for those more likely to tip extra. There's no doubt that automatic tipping has lessened service on all lines I've traveled.

My biggest disappointment was our cabin steward because of the lack of cleanliness mentioned above and an incident where my daughter hurt her ankle in San Juan and the medical center told us to elevate it with more pillows. I approached our cabin steward in the hall and asked for two more pillows and he said to give him 15 minutes. The pillows arrived 24 hours later. I've always had great stewards before. This the first time I went to the customer service desk and complained.

WiFi was awful. I purchased three premium packages for the "best and fastest" but it took forever, if at all, to load a page. I think I was able to pull my email 4 times during the week. Complained about that too on the last day and they refunded the packages, which, by the way, were a lot less expensive than packages on Celebrity!

One thing I LOVED on this cruise was the Carnival Hub app. It worked really well to keep us up on time, temperatures, port arrival and departure times, "What's Happening Now" calendar (You could favorite an event and keep up with where you wanted to go next without scrolling through the whole calendar). "Where to Eat Now," including menus. The photos that Carnival's photographers took of us were available on the app very quickly, saving all that paper and trips to search a wall for them. There was a chat feature for $5.00 total to keep up with one another while on board. That worked sporadically, however, was very helpful keeping up with our teenager.

The entertainment wasn't great.  Same singers and dancers every night in theater.  Comedy club seating only if you came 30-45 minutes early.

Our two Carnival excursions were pretty seamless. But we got more for our money with fewer people on our two private excursions.  Carnival even waited for us when we were an hour late from a private excursion but that's an even longer story and this is so lengthy now.

Bottom line, not our best ship, food, service or entertainment but a great itinerary, better price, and our best bet all things considered for that week.


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## Glynda (Apr 8, 2018)

Oh, and speaking of older smaller ships...I would say our experience on Carnival's oldest ship, The Ecstasy, out of Charleston was better than this newer larger one.  The food, though not up to Celebrity's standards, was even better.


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## majkirk (Apr 8, 2018)

VacationForever said:


> We enjoy cruises but we just cannot do Carnival.  It is on the low end of all cruise lines, and as such, generally the demographics that go with it and not people that we want to be around.


My are we snobs not wanting to be with Carnival cruisers.


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## Passepartout (Apr 8, 2018)

TravelTime said:


> We have enjoyed many Windstar Cruises all over the world. If we were to do cruises in the future, we would consider Viking Ocean Cruises, Oceania or Seabourne. We will also consider a Disney cruise, but that will be a one timer just for the kids. Viking started the ocean cruises not that long ago and they are getting superb reviews.





dioxide45 said:


> Unfortunately, not all of us have the budgets for these types of cruises. Other than Disney, you are talking $3000-$4000 per person for the lowest category cabin in off season. These are luxury lines, far from the mainline cruise lines.


These are 'Premium' or higher end luxury cruises, but they often include extras that add to the 'nickel and dimeing' of main stream cruise lines. Like drinks, or shore excursions, or 'premium dining rooms' or laundry. We have Windstar under our belts and enjoy them very much. By noon of the first full day aboard, I was addressed as 'Mr. Jim' by the crew, and we had a private tour- just the wife and I through the galley conducted by the head chef. In the dining room we were often offered seating with senior ship's officers. And if one watches the specials (every week I get an email with 7 specials good for a week to book), you can often get a week for $2,000pp.

One difference with the small ship- luxury cruises that differs from the big ship, mass market ones is that they generally are slower. In a week, the bigger ships will regularly travel 2,000 miles. A 200 mile overnight voyage is commonplace, so passengers can access several 'major' ports in a week. For instance the above referenced NOLA-Cozumel-Merida-NOLA in a week. That's really covering a lot of territory- or a transatlantic cruise that transits in 6 days. By comparison Windstar takes 3 weeks to go from Rome to Lisbon or a week to do a Panama Canal transit from Costa Rica on one ocean to Colon Panama on the other. There are lots more stops, but they may be just teens of miles apart instead of hundreds.

In the end, there's something for every taste and every budget. Unfortunately The high end service and the low price don't seem to be one of the choices.

Jim


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## VacationForever (Apr 8, 2018)

majkirk said:


> My are we snobs not wanting to be with Carnival cruisers.


Of course I am.  Everyone can choose where to spend their dime.


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## DaveNV (Apr 8, 2018)

mtwingcpa said:


> My disappointment with Carnival was the food. I'm normally not a picky eater, but the selection seemed poor and the quality was bland. Naturally, this is a subjective issue. ;-)
> 
> And I stepped out of the dining room when they had their way-too-loud dancing waiter event.
> 
> I'm not saying I would NEVER cruise on Carnival again, but it would have to be the ONLY choice going somewhere that I really wanted to go.



Thank you.  I'm kind of in the same boat, no pun intended. 

Dave


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## DaveNV (Apr 8, 2018)

moonstone said:


> We have done 3 timeshare stays along with a cruise vacation. The first time we did a week at Vacation Village at Weston followed by a Norwegian cruise out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami (can't remember which). We found the drive home (to north of Toronto) very tiring after getting off the ship and getting in the car for the long drive home. The next 2 times we did Carnival (1 out of Tampa, 1 out of Ft Lauderdale) then a week stay in a timeshare to relax. We did not find either of the Carnival cruises to be "party" cruises but we did not go at any school break or holiday time. When we cruise we are so active we prefer to take the week afterward to relax instead of the week before. We booked all our cruises through Vacations To Go and had no complaints at all. We would rather go on 2 or 3 cheap cruises (we get interior cabins) than 1 very expensive one.
> 
> Our DS & DiL have cruised out of New Orleans twice and loved it. They were surprised at how long it takes to go down the Mississippi and get out to the Gulf. The cruise stop at Progresso is interesting. They have the longest pier we have ever seen there, it is 4 miles long! The cruise line had buses to take people to shore. From there it is about a 45 minute car or colectivo (mini-bus or van) ride to the old colonial city of Merida.
> 
> ~Diane



Thank you, Diane.  That is very good information. A four mile long pier must be impressive as heck to see!  It has to be due to the depth of the water. That must have been quite the engineering feat to build.

Dave


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## WinniWoman (Apr 8, 2018)

We took one cruise in our lifetime-3 Caribbean stops- out of Miami- weren't timeshare owners then. It was a Carnival and it was like 35 years ago.

Was a lot of fun- hey we were young. A lot of food is what I mostly remember about the ship itself. I gained 10 lbs. 

We liked getting off the boat the best. After that- we never cruised again because we like being on land. We wouldn't mind a day boat excursion somewhere, but that is about it.


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## DaveNV (Apr 8, 2018)

presley said:


> I have never cruised on Carnival, but I have a friend who lives just outside of NOLA and she cruises one or two times per year on Carnival out of there. She obviously loves it. She cruises with her whole family as well as just with her husband or just friends. She does not drink. I don't know what specifically she enjoys about it, but I suspect being taken care of and not having to do cooking/cleaning, etc has a lot to do with it. I'm sure some people take that cruise to party - that doesn't seem to put a damper on her cruise at all.
> 
> Take the cruise. You aren't a complainer. I'm sure you'll find lots of stuff to be very happy about on your cruise. I've been on cruises where people have complained about the most ridiculous things. If you are a complainer, you'll have lots to complain and whine about. You aren't that type of person. You'll have fun.



Thank you.  I agree, I am not a complainer.  I'm not one of those "lumpy pillow syndrome" people we all read about.  But I'm also not a pushover - if something is out of line, I'll do whatever I can to get it fixed, rather than dealing with it.  I also am one to make my own entertainment most of the time.  Privacy and respect go a long way in my book.  Playing games-for-drinks events on the ship is probably a lot of fun for some (my brother comes to mind - he loves that sort of thing) but not so much for me.  I'm the definition of the light drinker.  

I can also find great satisfaction spending time on board ship walking the decks, enjoying the weather, watching the ocean going by, and just relaxing.  I'm not a gambler, especially in a captive situation like a cruise ship casino filled with smoke, so I wouldn't be using that either.  Give me a nice bed, a hot shower, a decent meal (doesn't have to be five star, as long as it tastes good), and treat me with courtesy, and I'm going to be pretty easy to please.  Publicly humiliate me, make fun of me or those with me, single me out for your asinine touristy drunken rave BS, and you will never see me again.  The rest is just details. 

Dave


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## dioxide45 (Apr 8, 2018)

majkirk said:


> My are we snobs not wanting to be with Carnival cruisers.





VacationForever said:


> Of course I am.  Everyone can choose where to spend their dime.


For opposite reasons, you probably won't ever see us on Windstar, Azamara, Cunard or Seabourn. We don't want to be among other people who somehow think they are better than us.


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## Passepartout (Apr 8, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> For opposite reasons, you probably won't ever see us on Windstar, Azamara, Cunard or Seabourn. We don't want to be among other people who somehow think they are better than us.


People who can afford to cruise on the premium lines- or for that matter timeshare at Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton et al don't consider themselves 'better' than anyone else, they just choose (and are able) to afford the higher end of the spectrum. I'm sure you associate with co-workers, or friends who don't timeshare or vacation at all- or maybe they use an RV or a tent. You don't consider yourself 'better' than them, do you?


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## VacationForever (Apr 8, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> For opposite reasons, you probably won't ever see us on Windstar, Azamara, Cunard or Seabourn. We don't want to be among other people who somehow think they are better than us.


It is not about whether someone feels that they are better than someone else.  It is about being in an environment where they are more comfortable.  You own at Marriott and Vistana and so do we.  Someone who stays at Motel 6 can say the same about people who choose to spend their $ on Marriott and Westin.  Everyone has to decide how and where they want to spend their money.  It is never about whether someone is better than someone else.


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## DaveNV (Apr 8, 2018)

I completely see the points of view expressed above about those other cruise lines.  I think they exist for their target demographic passenger, and they all have their place.  I have nothing against those higher-end lines, and I'd love to do some of those boutique cruises sometime, and someday I just might.  I know which shining silver fork to use, but I also am not against disposable flatware - depending on the environment I'm in.  Kind of like the different seating sections available on an airline - it's about the experience, and you tend to get what you pay for.

In the case of this particular cruise I'm considering, it's the location and opportunity, combined with being the only cruise available that takes me to a place I'd really like to see.  The price is a nice factor, but it's not the deal breaker for me.  I'm weighing whether the very affordable price would give me a satisfying cruise experience to a place I'd like to see.  I know the time will pass quickly, and after I'm home, how will I remember the cruise?  Will it be for the positive things I most enjoyed, on and off the ship, or will it be for the annoyances on board I know I won't like?  That is the dichotomy I am trying to resolve.

My current feeling is to follow Dioxide's and Presley's suggestions, and take the cruise.  It's only a five day trip, two days of which are In Port to places I've never been.  The two days at sea would likely be very enjoyable to me, for reasons I've already stated, and how I enjoy spending time on the open water.  The potential positives outweigh the potential negatives.  The fear factor of the horror of traveling with the unwashed masses isn't so much of an issue.  As a career Navy man who has been in some extreme conditions, I know I've survived worse.  

Thanks, everyone.  I sincerely appreciate this discussion.  You folks are awesome.

Dave


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## moonstone (Apr 8, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> Thank you, Diane.  That is very good information. A four mile long pier must be impressive as heck to see!  It has to be due to the depth of the water. That must have been quite the engineering feat to build.
> Dave



We could barely see land from the ship!  I think originally the pier was built for commercial shipping and not for passenger ships, and yes the area is very shallow (as it is along the coast all the way down to the south end of Belize) so it's length allows ships to dock.  There is a large parking lot/ storage area at the sea end but no gantry cranes like we have seen at other commercial ports.

We haven't been to Merida yet but friends in Belize have been several times and love it. They say its a beautiful old colonial city. A lot of Mexicans living in Merida & nearby areas have summer vacation homes in, and along the coast from, Progreso.

~Diane


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## DaveNV (Apr 8, 2018)

moonstone said:


> We haven't been to Merida yet but friends in Belize have been several times and love it. They say its a beautiful old colonial city. A lot of Mexicans living in Merida & nearby areas have summer vacation homes in, and along the coast from, Progreso.
> 
> ~Diane



That's a big reason for wanting to experience Merida.  I know in less than 8 hours I won't get it all, but it'll be enough of a taste to decide if I'd like to go back there as a destination for a full-on vacation.  I expect I will, and this is an opportunity to see if I'm right.

Dave


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## Glynda (Apr 8, 2018)

Having read all this thread and knowing my own reasons for choosing Carnival recently are similar to your's, I think you should take it too! I will remember both the good and the bad as I recall our Carnival cruise through the years, but would do it again for the same reasons.  Go for it! And be sure to let us know how it went!


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## DaveNV (Apr 8, 2018)

Glynda said:


> Having read all this thread and knowing my own reasons for choosing Carnival recently are similar to your's, I think you should take it too! I will remember both the good and the bad as I recall our Carnival cruise through the years, but would do it again for the same reasons.  Go for it! And be sure to let us know how it went!



Well, as it happens, I decided you and others are right: I booked the cruise.  If plans change, I can cancel with no penalty, but at least now I have something I can build on.

Thanks again, everyone, for your candid comments.  I've learned from this thread, and now have even more ideas for future trips.  

Dave


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## donnaval (Apr 8, 2018)

Take the cruise, Dave!  I've sailed Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Princess, Holland American and have good and bad things to say about all of them.  We were actually kind of disappointed that our first Carnival cruise wasn't the party-hearty mayhem we'd been led to believe it would be (we were young then lol).  We've done about a half dozen on Carnival and enjoyed them all.  Most recently we sailed the Carnival Breeze, a big beautiful ship with lots of stuff to do, the food was decent, the entertainment okay, the service pretty good.  We never ran into a drunk.  The kids on board were having a good time but generally well-behaved. 

I look at cruising kind of like timesharing.  I do love to stay in a Marriott or Hyatt or a Wyndham, but I have just as good of a time when I am in a pretty bare-bones place as long as I'm somewhere where I want to be.  For example, on a very recent trip to Florida I could have picked up an exchange at a Marriott in Orlando, or a no-big-deal timeshare on the beach in New Smyrna.  I went to the beach and had such a good time, with views that took my breath away.  So what if the furniture was Big Lots versus Ethan Allen.  So what if my kitchen counter was formica rather than granite.  So what if I didn't have a walk-in shower with 15 different shower heads, but had to hop into a regular old bathtub with a regular shower head.  When I go out to eat on a timeshare vacation I'm not looking for a Michelin star quality meal - some do, but I'd rather have just good basic food at a reasonable price and spend my money on experiences.  I've never had worse food on a Carnival cruise than I would get at a moderately priced restaurant, and it is often much better.  We always gain weight after a cruise...maybe we'd be better off if the food were worse lol.

I would sail Carnival again without a second thought.

Edited to add:  I see you did book the cruise.  Congratulations, and have a wonderful time!


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## DaveNV (Apr 8, 2018)

donnaval said:


> Edited to add:  I see you did book the cruise.  Congratulations, and have a wonderful time!




Thanks! I'm now working on my best friend from high school and his wife, who are great friends who cruised to Alaska with us last August, to see if they'll come along.  They've cruised on Carnival three times, and say they'd be happy to do it again. Cross your fingers.  I figure it's a good chance the four of us can make our own fun, and leave the crazies on the ship to themselves. 

Dave


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## VacationForever (Apr 8, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> Thanks! I'm now working on my best friend from high school and his wife, who are great friends who cruised to Alaska with us last August, to see if they'll come along.  They've cruised on Carnival three times, and say they'd be happy to do it again. Cross your fingers.  I figure it's a good chance the four of us can make our own fun, and leave the crazies on the ship to themselves.
> 
> Dave


Yes.  Please do report back.  We hope you have an enjoyable time.


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## JudiZ (Apr 9, 2018)

We have cruised on Princess, Carnival, Norwegian and Disney. Disney was our most recent cruise with extended family and, fairly, can not be compared to what I see as typical cruise lines. We have sailed Princess twice, NCL twice and Carnival once. While there is no doubt that from our first cruise nearly twenty years ago to the most recent, of those first three lines, the food has definitely changed. In no small way, I attribute this to specialty restaurants available on all ships now.

I think that I can say with complete honesty that were I to win a cruise on Carnival, I would donate it to charity. Our cruise was not a nightmare punctuated with some of the indignities some have suffered (as seen on media) but instead, an uncomfortable experience that left me dissatisfied. I work hard for my vacation time. We went into a Carnival cruise knowing that this was not the Cadillac of cruise lines but I was unpleasantly surprised.

Our first night on the cruise had us meeting about a dozen embarrassingly drunk young people (21???) at the pool - I am referencing their behaviors and speech, not my value judgement on their state. It would have been a shrug from me except that two of the young men left and came back with two more "buckets" of beer. Obviously, they were still being served despite the fact that they were very, very drunk. The following night, I was watching a movie on the outside screen when a young woman wandered up, fell into a seat, ordered more beer and then proceeded to be sick on herself, the deck and the chair and then fell asleep. The waiter who returned with her beer woke her up, had her sign the check and left. A friend of hers came by a few minutes later and led her away. Had her friend not arrived, I probably would have waited. I was afraid for her health and safety.

One day at the pool, I went to the restroom. I opened the door, stepped in and my flip-flop clad foot hit about an inch and a half of water on the floor. The bathroom was flooded. I pulled my foot out, told a member of the crew and went back to the cabin to shower. I washed the flip-flops in water as hot as I could get it with soap. I am no germophobe, but this really freaked me out.

Our friends and we ordered drinks in the lounge one evening. I ordered a vodka martini. The waiter brought me a martini made with gin. Hard to miss the difference in smell. I said that this wasn't vodka but gin. The waiter said I was mistaken, it was vodka. I shook my head but he once again said it was vodka. My husband signed the check and I went to the bartender. I told him I had ordered vodka, he sniffed the drink and said that I was right, it was gin. He made me another drink. This was not rocket science, nor was I asking for anything but what I had ordered.

While there were certainly lovely members of the crew, our cabin attendant was not one of them. She was unfriendly for most of the cruise. This woman did absolutely nothing above the bare minimum. She was brusque with us. I don't need to be fawned over or treated like royalty but I am a friendly person who always offers a greeting. When I spoke to this woman, she barely grunted back.  The day before the cruise ended, we tipped her the suggested gratuity. I never even considered giving her less; I know how much the crew depends on tips and, honestly, what do I know of her life? That evening, she went from unfriendly to scowling and, in a language I did not know, obviously discussed me with another attendant. I guess I will never know what the issue was but nor do I care.

There were other annoyances but I won't bore you. For some (and I met many on that cruise), Carnival is what they enjoyed. Mostly the gambling but I do think the all-inclusive and someone taking care of you is appealing on any cruise. But Carnival is not for me. I had never thought of timeshare+cruise but I like it and will definitely give it more consideration.

Judi


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## VacationForever (Apr 9, 2018)

I want to add that Carnival is the only cruise line reported that has a policy of limiting to 15 drinks per day on their alcoholic beverage package.  

I had also read one Carnival review where someone complained about a Carnival cruise which she was on and some guy was "clearly not drunk" but was refused to be served another drink due to reaching his limit.


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## Talent312 (Apr 9, 2018)

Carnival is not my favorite or cruiseline of choice (I prefer others), but I've been on enuff of their cruises (~3 or so), that I would say that JudiZ's experience may well have been ship-specific. Carnival ships may have more drunk-kids and overused bathrooms than other cruise lines (Princess, NCL, RCL), but I've not seen it.  Then again, I tend to avoid places with rowdy crowds. I'm just sayin' that poor experiences can be had anywhere and I wouldn't generalize it across the brand.
.

.


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## DaveNV (Apr 9, 2018)

I appreciate these comments, and I'm sorry you had such negative experiences.  That must have been terrible.  It is definitely something I will watch for, and WATCH OUT for.  

But I have no unrealistic expectations of this five day cruise.  It will be what it will be.  But I'm not much of a drinker, I don't usually gamble, I don't use hotel or ship swimming pools, and especially not their hot tubs ("human soup" is not for me.) I will decide what foods to eat, and what not to.  I expect I will have a nice time - maybe not a five star experience (I'm not naive), but I'll make it as fun as possible for my friends and I.  

And this may all be a moot point anyway - if I can't book the timeshare time I want, the cruise will be cancelled. No harm, no foul.  

Dave


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## Passepartout (Apr 9, 2018)

Talent312 said:


> I would say that JudiZ's experience may well have been ship-specific. Carnival ships may have more drunk-kids and overused bathrooms than other cruise lines (Princess, NCL, RCL), but I've not seen it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## JudiZ (Apr 9, 2018)

And I should have said that mine was a personal experience - I have no stake in this game. Mine may very well be an isolated experience but it was still mine. It's sort of like when you read a review of a timeshare/restaurant/motel and wonder if you all stayed/ate/slept at the same place. Obviously, if everyone had my experience, Carnival wouldn't be in business.


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## LannyPC (Apr 9, 2018)

We did this once about seven years ago.  We stayed at a TS resort for a week in Orlando then took a week-long cruise departing from Tampa.  We had no issues.  In fact, I liked the idea of being on land close to the departure pier well before departure.  We can then get a number of things ready there for the cruise.


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## DaveNV (Apr 9, 2018)

LannyPC said:


> We did this once about seven years ago.  We stayed at a TS resort for a week in Orlando then took a week-long cruise departing from Tampa.  We had no issues.  In fact, I liked the idea of being on land close to the departure pier well before departure.  We can then get a number of things ready there for the cruise.



Thanks, Lanny.  That's a big part of why I'm going to do this cruise.  The departure port for the ship is ten minutes from the timeshare.


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## Passepartout (Apr 9, 2018)

We did a TS stay just outside Barcelona, followed by a Westbound transatlantic. When you can make  'em work, they're just about perfect. I prefer the TS first because at the end of the cruise, all your laundry is dirty and you've been out 2-3 weeks and are ready to get back to home,the pets, and whatever passes for life as you know it.

Jim


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## DaveNV (Apr 9, 2018)

Passepartout said:


> We did a TS stay just outside Barcelona, followed by a Westbound transatlantic. When you can make  'em work, they're just about perfect. I prefer the TS first because at the end of the cruise, all your laundry is dirty and you've been out 2-3 weeks and are ready to get back to home,the pets, and whatever passes for life as you know it.
> 
> Jim



That makes a lot of sense.  I'd rather do a cruise afterwards, too.  Otherwise you relax first, and then get all active at the timeshare.  Not a great way to chill out on vacation.

BTW, I was in Barcelona a very, very, very long time ago, courtesy of the US Navy. (~45 years ago... <ackk!!> I've always wanted to go back.

Dave


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## VacationForever (Apr 10, 2018)

So far we have not done timeshare + cruise but we have been toying with it.  It has been SPG & Marriott hotel stays (5-night packages) before and after cruise.


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## Passepartout (Apr 10, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> BTW, I was in Barcelona a very, very, very long time ago, courtesy of the US Navy. (~45 years ago... <ackk!!> I've always wanted to go back.


Its a great city. But I imagine traveling as a sailor would be sort of like my former life trucking. I saw a LOT of America, but much of it was the seedier parts, and through a bug splattered windshield. Much better as a tourist. Like getting to use the front door of restaurants instead of the loading dock.


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## DaveNV (Apr 10, 2018)

Passepartout said:


> Its a great city. But I imagine traveling as a sailor would be sort of like my former life trucking. I saw a LOT of America, but much of it was the seedier parts, and through a bug splattered windshield. Much better as a tourist. Like getting to use the front door of restaurants instead of the loading dock.



Yep.  Pretty much.  But if you want to know the seedier places to go, I took notes.    The problem with Navy ships is they're either too big to fit in many places, or they're nuclear powered, and aren't allowed in the middle of the port.  Either way, after the ship is moored, the sailors *all* hit town at about the same time.  It tends to color the response from the townspeople, until they're dispersed to the four winds.

In Barcelona, we were tied up somewhere near the Christopher Columbus statue and replica of the Santa Maria, not too far from the Ramblas.  We were in port two weeks, so I got to see a fair amount of the city - without being in a constant crowd of sailors. 

Dave


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## alexadeparis (Apr 10, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> And therein lies the problem.
> 
> For those of you who can't stand Carnival, can you be specific?  What exactly about them do you not like?
> 
> Dave



Went on one Carnival cruise, on the Vista, for the most part similar to the other basic tier cruise lines, EXCEPT the demographic ( and unfortunately most things on ship were geared to the demographic) was VERY much blue collar, likely lacking formal education, mid to possibly even low income people. I am not trying to be condescending here but I am simply in a different economic sphere and have nothing in common with that demographic whatsoever and certainly don’t want to spend my hard earned vacation time with them. Perfect example was staff walking around the Dining room offering Jaegermeister and Fireball by the shot. (!) Not my cup of tea. We prefer Celebrity. It felt like being forced to take a greyhound bus when you are used to car service. We made the best of it because we were in the spa rooms and hid in the spa on sea days and ate at the Chefs table as well as specialty dining several times. Not for us, but not completely unbearable. The only good thing they had was the guy fieri poolside burgers at lunch, similar to a five guys. Ate that as an early dinner 2 days to avoid the dining room. I would go again if it was literally the ONLY exact itinerary I wanted, and I would stay in a suite probably, and stick to ONLY burgers for lunch and ONLY specialty dining for dinner to avoid the riff raff on the ship.  Also, it was the only cruise I have ever taken where the activities man got on the PA and begged (more desperately every day) for a bag to be returned, and finally just asking for the son’s dog tags to be returned from the bag, no questions asked, for the sentimental value to the mother that had lost the bag. 

However, if you know going in what to expect and you are fine with it, take the cruise, you will still have fun. I definitely had fun on the cruise with Carnival even though I would not be eager to repeat the experience.


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## DaveNV (Apr 10, 2018)

alexadeparis said:


> However, if you know going in what to expect and you are fine with it, take the cruise, you will still have fun. I definitely had fun on the cruise with Carnival even though I would not be eager to repeat the experience.



That's the bottom line here.  For this port, at this time, and under these circumstances, Carnival is the *only* option.  I want to get to Merida to find out if I want to go back for a full-on vacation there.  I have no delusions about the cruise, or of what may or may not happen. I've chosen a nice balcony stateroom in a reasonably quiet(ish) part of the ship, and I will pick and choose my exposure to the riff riff. Everything else, as I said before, is just details. 

I think I might even have fun while I'm at it. That's my nature, and what I expect from my daily life.  I'm like the kid who is standing in the horse stall, up to his rear end in manure, shoveling for all he's worth, while shouting, "There MUST be a pony in here somewhere!"  

Dave


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## Talent312 (Apr 10, 2018)

BTW... A useful piece of cruising advice I read was how to deal with self-printed, paper luggage tags when staying at a hotel or T/S: You can buy plastic cruise tag holders (picture below), or more cheaply:

When printed (cut or folded), wrap them in clear packing tape (to laminate) and on the backside, attach a thin extra strip of tape with a little pull-here fold at one-end, which you can use to bind the ends of the tag (with or without a stapler).


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## DaveNV (Apr 10, 2018)

Talent312 said:


> BTW... A useful piece of cruising advice I read was how to deal with self-printed, paper luggage tags when staying at a hotel or T/S: You can buy plastic cruise tag holders (picture below), or more cheaply:
> 
> When printed (cut or folded), wrap them in clear packing tape (to laminate) and on the backside, attach a thin extra strip of tape with a little pull-here fold at one-end, which you can use to bind the ends of the tag (with or without a stapler).



Great idea! I have free clear tag pouches from Alaska Airlines that I used last fall on a cruise to Alaska. They worked great. Print the passes, fold, insert, and zip closed. No staples required.

Dave


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## geist1223 (Apr 10, 2018)

I guess I am lucky and will never have any of these problems. Patti gets sea sick standing on a floating dock and large ships. She even has problems on the larger snorkel/dinner cruise boats and has to pre-medicate. So we will never cruise. She does ok on Zodiacs.


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## DaveNV (Apr 10, 2018)

geist1223 said:


> I guess I am lucky and will never have any of these problems. Patti gets sea sick standing on a floating dock and large ships. She even has problems on the larger snorkel/dinner cruise boats and has to pre-medicate. So we will never cruise. She does ok on Zodiacs.



That must be annoying for her.  I don't get seasick, as a rule.  (Well, there was that one time on that old sport fishing boat in Hawaii - the one with the terrible engine that leaked diesel fumes into the cabin...). But overall, I'm good to go.  I think experience has a lot to do with it for me.  

Dave


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## Talent312 (Apr 10, 2018)

My ex would get motion-sick riding in a car on a hillside street.

How does she do on rollercoasters?


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## VacationForever (Apr 10, 2018)

Talent312 said:


> My ex would get motion-sick riding in a car on a hillside street.
> 
> How does she do on rollercoasters?


A titbit that I read recently is that fear of heights and motion sickness are closely related, i.e. related to the same part of the brain.  The same person would most likely have both.

Your ex was lying. LOL


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## Talent312 (Apr 10, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> ...There was that one time on that old sport fishing boat in Hawaii - the one with the terrible engine that leaked diesel fumes into the cabin...



Ah, yes. The SS Minnow...


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## vacationhopeful (Apr 10, 2018)

Taken 2 cruises ... a trans-altantic one way crossing from NYC to England on the QE2 and an Alaskan cruise on Norweigen for 7 nights RT Sealtte.


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## Germanyboy (Apr 10, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> So it sounds like you've done this a fair bit.  If it was a cruise line you weren't enamored with, (based purely on presumed reputation), but it was the only game in town for the cruise you wanted to take, would you still do it?
> 
> Dave


We have cruised only Celebrity 6 times, and like them very much. Probably won't try any other lines, too spoiled


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## VacationForever (Apr 11, 2018)

Celebrity has consistently won cruisecritic's annual recognition as the best "premium" cruise line, which really is a "premium" mass market line.   Having said that Celebrity's prices are going up by 30 to 50 percent.  Many long time Celebrity's customers are looking elsewhere as the price of Celebrity is now greying into the true premium lines like Oceania, which is a step below luxury cruise lines.


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## alexadeparis (Apr 11, 2018)

I am trying out the Edge in early December on the pre-inaugural test cruise and I can't wait. I love Celebrity.


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## Talent312 (Apr 11, 2018)

_Why dinosaurs weren't included on the Ark...
_


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## Glynda (Apr 12, 2018)

VacationForever said:


> Celebrity has consistently won cruisecritic's annual recognition as the best "premium" cruise line, which really is a "premium" mass market line.   Having said that Celebrity's prices are going up by 30 to 50 percent.  Many long time Celebrity's customers are looking elsewhere as the price of Celebrity is now greying into the true premium lines like Oceania, which is a step below luxury cruise lines.



I hate to read that! We love Celebrity but if they become as expensive of Oceania, we would most likely choose Oceania. One nice thing about our recent Carnival cruise was that in addition to the fare being less expensive, so were the drinks packages and wifi, though wifi was lousy and they refunded my three premium wifi packages!


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## Glynda (Apr 12, 2018)

Some good points have been made about cruising last. Wish I'd read this sooner. It's too late for this summer as we are already booked for a week's cottage rental in the Cotswolds and four nights in London AFTER our two week cruise to Ireland and Iceland with another couple. We may be sick of each other by the end of the cruise, though we've traveled with them before and they are very willing to do their own thing. We will have a washer and dryer at the cottage though most likely one of those tiny machines that both wash and dry and are usually under a kitchen countertop!


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## DaveNV (Apr 12, 2018)

I wanted to circle back to the earlier parts of this thread. I said I’d booked the cruise from New Orleans after our timeshare stay next year. Today I found out my best friend and his wife, who are more family to me than just friends, are booking the same cruise. We cruised to Alaska together last Fall, and had a fine time. Having them along to share this experience will just about guarantee we’ll have a good experience. And before anyone brings up Carnival’s track record, this will be their fourth cruise on Carnival, so they know exactly what to expect. I’m pretty happy!

Dave


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## Passepartout (Apr 12, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> I’m pretty happy!
> 
> Dave


That's Super!. Glad your bud's will be along. This far out, you may be able to book adjoining (or at least nearby) cabins.


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## DaveNV (Apr 12, 2018)

Passepartout said:


> That's Super!. Glad your bud's will be along. This far out, you may be able to book adjoining (or at least nearby) cabins.



Thanks!  If they do like we did going to Alaska, they'll book a stateroom across the ship from us, on the same deck as ours.  That way when we pull in someplace, if the view is blocked on one side, we'll go to the other stateroom and see the view from the other side of the ship.  It worked great on the Alaska cruise.

Dave


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## Glynda (Apr 13, 2018)

So glad it's working out for you Dave!


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## DaveNV (Apr 13, 2018)

Glynda said:


> So glad it's working out for you Dave!



Thanks! I’m happy too! Now I just have to wait a year till the cruise comes around! 

Dave


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## SandyPGravel (Apr 13, 2018)

*Awesome that you found great traveling companions. * We had some friends who we took along (with their two grade school age daughters) on a vacation to Harborside @ Atlantis had an awesome time. (I don't have kids, but I would take their kids on vacation anytime.  Awesome kids!!) Now with their schedules, the girls are older and in more activities, traveling together has been impossible.  We're trying out some new traveling companions on our Hawaii trip.  I hope it works out.  Having someone else around gets me more motivated, otherwise I will lolly-gag around the room until 10 am or later.


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## DaveNV (Apr 13, 2018)

I’ve never been much of a lollygagger (is that even a word?) But I agree, having friends along on the cruise will be great. Last year on the cruise to Alaska we’d spend just enough time together to enjoy the event, then split off to do our own things, agreeing to meet at a reasonable hour the next morning for breakfast. It worked well. 

I don’t know if it would work as well for a land trip, but I’ll take a cruise with them anytime.

Dave


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## Passepartout (Apr 13, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> Thanks! I’m happy too! Now I just have to wait a year till the cruise comes around!
> 
> Dave


I know the solution to this. . . . MORE VACATIONS! Or maybe retirement.


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## DaveNV (Apr 13, 2018)

Passepartout said:


> I know the solution to this. . . . MORE VACATIONS! Or maybe retirement.



Next year (fingers crossed) and I’ll be able to tell you. 

Dave


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## pedro47 (Apr 13, 2018)

We just finished a ten nights Southern Carribean Cruise with Celebrity Cruise Line now we are at the Marriott Beach Towers. Awesome resort with a great view of the  Intercoaster Ways.


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## silentg (Apr 13, 2018)

We are going on a Siene Cruise in October with TUG members. Leaving from Paris. We are excited about this trip. We have done Cruises from Tampa, Port Canaveral and Bayone NJ. All on Royal Caribbean. Never have combined a cruise with a timeshare vacation, but it sounds like something we will do in retirement. I have enjoyed reading this thread, has given me ideas.

Silentg


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## ksb1 (Apr 14, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> I'm exploring options for a trip next year, and would like to know if you have experience with this kind of thing.  I'm looking for tips, comments about your experience, pro and con, and whether you think you'd do it again.
> 
> Traveling far from home for just a week or so in a timeshare is never long enough, and I always like to take a second week somewhere nearby, to extend the vacation, and maybe even get more out of my airfare dollars.  For example, next month I'm doing a trip to Hawaii for two weeks, with a timeshare week on two islands.  With a multi-city airfare, it's a good use of the time and money.
> 
> ...





mtwingcpa said:


> My disappointment with Carnival was the food. I'm normally not a picky eater, but the selection seemed poor and the quality was bland. Naturally, this is a subjective issue. ;-)
> 
> And I stepped out of the dining room when they had their way-too-loud dancing waiter event.
> 
> I'm not saying I would NEVER cruise on Carnival again, but it would have to be the ONLY choice going somewhere that I really wanted to go.


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## pedro47 (Apr 14, 2018)

pedro47 said:


> We just found finished a ten days Southern Carribean Cruise with Celebrity Cruise Line now we are staying at the beautiful Marriott Beach Place Towers. Awesome resort with a great view of the Intercoastal



Food on a cruise ship is so subject especially in the MDR; in my humble opinion... I feel most cruise lines are catering more & more to suite guests and are adding more revenue speciality restaurants  to increase their company profits.


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## ksb1 (Apr 14, 2018)

We were on an internal exchange at our home resort in the Mayan Rivera at a 5 star resort.  We had decided to extend our vacation aboard a cruise, which was offered though a Florida tour package, and Timeshare resort, as part of their gift for taking a timeshare presentation with them.  We stopped in Fort Lauderdale, Florida when we arrived and were informed that our cruise to the Bahamas had been cancelled due to damage to the ship running ashore.  As we were not informed of this before arriving in Florida, the operator arranged for us to take a 5 night cruise aboard a Carnival Cruise, back to Cozumel, close to where we had started our journey.   I must say, I was not thrilled about cruising aboard Carnival, as I had heard negative comments about them, knowing that they catered to family style cruises with children.

We were also offered in addition, cruise back to the Bahamas at a later date, that would be available once the tour operator purchased initiated new service to the Bahamas.  This would require an additional airfare for our return to Florida.

Having no other options, my wife and I accepted the offer.  

Once onboard we found the service on Carnival to be acceptable, although not up to the quality and luxury of either Celebrity or Royal Caribbean Cruise line, which we have been using for many of our cruise journeys.  The noise and family atmosphere, were not present, but the ship atmosphere was clearly, party style.  We enjoyed our time aboard Carnival.  The food quality, while not top notch, was quite acceptable and the ship crew was lively and entertaining.  

Once we arrived in Cozumel, the only negative was that we were limited in our ability to journey afar from the port, without taking one of the optional tour packages offered by Carnival.  We decided not to take the optional tour, as we had just come from that area during our Timeshare in the Mayan Riviera, and had been to Cozumel as well, previously. We walked around the port area, which was mostly set up for local shopping; jewelry, local wares, and a few bars and restaurants.  This is the typical fare that I find that most cruises offer, which, if you are not interested in shopping, is a downside to cruising.  If you are new to cruising, you may enjoy the shopping, but after taking many cruises, you may find it boring. I would prefer to experience something new and exciting, such as what we experienced on our cruises to Turkey, Greece and the Baltic Countries.  We also completed cruises to Australia and most recently South America, including the Panama Canal.  But even these more exotic cruises contained the usual local shopping fares, and required you to book local tours to see things of interest. I find most of the tours to be over hyped and may not meet your expectations.

The cruise back from South America bought us back to Miami aboard the Norwegian, Sun, which was in place of flying home to New Jersey, directly.  We did have to take an additional three hour flight back to Santiago, Chile from Lima, Peru. and arrange a 1 1/2 hour transportation to the small out of the way cruise port.  Our choice of Cruises and Cruise Line limited our choices, which coincided with the end of the land portion of our Tour Package, but that is another story.

To conclude, adding a cruise to your timeshare exchange is a good idea, but needs to be worked out in conjunction with the availability of the exchange, cruise ship departures and additional air flights at the conclusion of the cruise.  So plan ahead early, for some of the best offers.


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## DaveNV (Apr 14, 2018)

ksb1 said:


> To conclude, adding a cruise to your timeshare exchange is a good idea, but needs to be worked out in conjunction with the availability of the exchange, cruise ship departures and additional air flights at the conclusion of the cruise.  So plan ahead early, for some of the best offers.



Great comments in your whole post. Thanks!  I know there are many levels of cruise lines to pick from.  If we were planning to book a "great" cruise, I would certainly explore all my options.  In this case, I'm doing it because it's "there," and I expect it'll be fine.  And my larger goal of seeing the area around Merida will be realized.

Dave


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## Maureenk1 (Apr 15, 2018)

We love to cruise.  We are in our 50's and we do use Carnival alot.  We are not party people.  It is what you make of it.  There is plenty to do if you want to do it.  We have sailed on Disney and Royal Carribean as well.  We did go on the RC Omni and ship was beautiful, but not at ton to do.  We go for the relaxation and to see the islands.  You need to try and decide what you like!


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## pspercy (Apr 15, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> I'm exploring options for a trip next year, and would like to know if you have experience with this kind of thing.  I'm looking for tips, comments about your experience, pro and con, and whether you think you'd do it again.
> 
> ........
> For those who have done this kind of thing (cruising before/after a timeshare stay), or who have done that specific cruise, what can you tell me about it?  The cruises I'm seeing are on Carnival.  I'm not much for partying, so a lot of the events on such a ship will likely not be used.  But a nice ocean trip on a nice ship seems like it'd be fun.  And seeing a bucket-list place like Merida, even for just a few hours, would be nice.  We could then decide if we'd like to return another time for a destination visit.
> ...



We've done it once, in September 2014.

We cruised Royal Caribbean's Radiance of The Seas from Vancouver BC to Hawaii, then 4dys in a rental condo on Maui (Koa Lagoon) followed by a week at our timeshare on Kaanapali beach (Marriott). Cruise was ten days, five sea days then five days island hopping. Excellent trip, would happily do it again.

We have cruised Carnival once, in December 2013, five days out of Galveston. It was fine, more like Royal than not regarding food, service etc. We've got a Carnival cruise booked for this coming New Years Eve out of Galveston and looking forward to it. Royal pulled their second ship from Galveston this year so CCL is the only choice for anything other than a 7dy trip. The 2013 Carnival cruise was to Progreso and Cozumel. There's nothing much in Progreso but it is an excellent jumping off point for Mayan sites, in fact our guides on a tour of Dzhibilchaltun(sp) were of Mayan descent and had Spanish as a second language. The other advantage to going in December is the temperatures, very pleasant at that time of year.

You might like to checkout Cruise Critic https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=215

So after all that, to summarise - DO IT !!


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## DaveNV (Apr 15, 2018)

pspercy said:


> We've done it once, in September 2014.
> 
> We cruised Royal Caribbean's Radiance of The Seas from Vancouver BC to Hawaii, then 4dys in a rental condo on Maui (Koa Lagoon) followed by a week at our timeshare on Kaanapali beach (Marriott). Cruise was ten days, five sea days then five days island hopping. Excellent trip, would happily do it again.
> 
> ...



Thank you.  As I've said, I have no false impressions of what to expect.  Progreso isn't the goal - I want to get into Merida to see it first hand, to decide if I want to go back there as a destination vacation.  I expect I will.

I like your idea of sailing to Hawaii from Vancouver.  I live an hour away from Vancouver, and will have to explore that option.  I enjoy open water sailing, and Hawaii is a favorite destination for me.  Could be a great option for the future. 

Dave


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## WinniWoman (Apr 15, 2018)

DaveNW said:


> I wanted to circle back to the earlier parts of this thread. I said I’d booked the cruise from New Orleans after our timeshare stay next year. Today I found out my best friend and his wife, who are more family to me than just friends, are booking the same cruise. We cruised to Alaska together last Fall, and had a fine time. Having them along to share this experience will just about guarantee we’ll have a good experience. And before anyone brings up Carnival’s track record, this will be their fourth cruise on Carnival, so they know exactly what to expect. I’m pretty happy!
> 
> Dave



Really- it will be awesome unless there is some kind of unforeseen nightmare that occurs.

When we were on the Carnival Cruise back in the ancient days, we were paired/assigned with a honeymooning couple at dinner. We ended up spending a lot of time with them on the shore excursions and casino and shows and so on and had a blast.

Our cruise was out of Miami and went to Jamaica, Cozumel and Grand Cayman.

Have a great time and let us know how it works out!


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## Paumavista (Apr 15, 2018)

We have cruised a number of cruise lines (not Celebrity or Holland)......but we LOVE Carnival & one of our best ever cruises was in Europe on Carnival Vista......I would have awarded the ship, itinerary, entertainment, and staff 6 stars if I could.  We chose the ship due to the ports (we'd cruised Carnival before); but we really wanted to do a one way cruise & hit as many ports as possible; starting and ending in different countries.  LOVED IT!  Go with a good attitude.......of course, I honestly don't think I have EVER had a bad vacation....


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## dioxide45 (Apr 15, 2018)

Paumavista said:


> We have cruised a number of cruise lines (not Celebrity or Holland)......but we LOVE Carnival & one of our best ever cruises was in Europe on Carnival Vista......I would have awarded the ship, itinerary, entertainment, and staff 6 stars if I could.  We chose the ship due to the ports (we'd cruised Carnival before); but we really wanted to do a one way cruise & hit as many ports as possible; starting and ending in different countries.  LOVED IT!  Go with a good attitude.......of course, I honestly don't think I have EVER had a bad vacation....


We also did the cruise on the Vista in the Mediterranean. A great cruise and ship.


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## joestein (Apr 16, 2018)

A lost of posts already, but I just wanted to add in that we are going to a Southern Carribean Cruise on RCL out of San Juan in August and then immediately flying to Orlando and staying a week at HGVC at SeaWorld.   We originally hoped to cruise from Florida to save the flight between San Juan and Orlando, but from money to itinerary, the San Juan made so much more sense. 

As for cruise lines, we started out cruising only on Disney, but we got bored after a while as they only have 1 ship worth going for a week long cruise and we got tired of it.  I am sure we will try them again when the new ships come out.

However, for our next cruise we tried the Carnival Breeze with a lot of friends and family.  The consensus was the ship itself was ok, the snack food on the deck (burgers, pizza, burittos,etc.) was outstanding.  However the dining room food was gross.  If we wanted a sit down meal each night, the pay restaurants are the only decent option.  The entertainment was SERIOUSLY lacking.  The main theatre shows are a joke, the production values are about the same as I would find in the local high school production (maybe an insult to the local high school production).   Nightlife is non-existent except for drinking.  Some nights they might have a comedian in the comedy club or have karaoke.  Some night they might have a piano player in the piano bar.   They did have a disco and one night we decided to go dancing.  We were they for a couple of minutes when a fight broke out and I mean a FIGHT.  Puddles of blood on the floor.   Maybe that is why they have no night life.   My wife and I were 46 at the time, just a year and half ago.  That was the last straw, we were too old for this stuff.  We would never sail that line again.

We sailed RCL on the Anthem for the first time this Thanksgiving.  What a difference.  Beautiful ship, TONS of nightlife, nice quality of people (made some friends), great entertainment and fabulous Manhattan quality cocktails.  Now the food in the dining rooms were ok, and the snack style food was lacking, so not everything perfect.  We will see how the Freedom of the Seas is this summer.

Joe


Joe


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## Glynda (Apr 16, 2018)

joestein said:


> A lost of posts already, but I just wanted to add in that we are going to a Southern Carribean Cruise on RCL out of San Juan in August and then immediately flying to Orlando and staying a week at HGVC at SeaWorld.   We originally hoped to cruise from Florida to save the flight between San Juan and Orlando, but from money to itinerary, the San Juan made so much more sense.
> 
> As for cruise lines, we started out cruising only on Disney, but we got bored after a while as they only have 1 ship worth going for a week long cruise and we got tired of it.  I am sure we will try them again when the new ships come out.
> 
> ...



Agree with a good bit here. Food in dining room not great while Guy's burgers & fries, pizza and the Deli were better. Every show on our recent Spring Break cruise on Carnival Magic featured the same group of dancers and singers who were not nearly as good as we are accustomed to on a cruise ship. Just a different theme each night that became boring and by mid-week we would leave within minutes of learning it was more of the same. However, there were from two to four comedy shows a night.Two PG and two R, one I'd say X. But unless you got there 45 minutes early, there was no seating. They had a country bar and a piano bar that drew a lot of people. There was a disco and another venue with a band near it. Numerous other bars on various levels of the ship. And yes, Karaoke. Two outdoor movies a night. So, all in all, it was enough night life.  Just not what we are used to in the main show. Didn't see any fights! Yikes!

RCCL Freedom of the Seas had the WORST entrees in the main dining room that we have ever had but yes, better entertainment, nice ship, etc.


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## Paumavista (Apr 16, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> We also did the cruise on the Vista in the Mediterranean. A great cruise and ship.



We really wanted to do this cruise again we enjoyed the ship and itinerary so much but Carnival isn't sending a ship back to Europe     Vista only sailed one season...we went the last week in June from Athens to Barcelona and stayed a few days at either end.  Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did; the cruise director was great (and our favorite entertainment were the electric violin players; although we also enjoyed the Havana Bar & lounge).  It was the trip of a life time for my daughter and I (l would have loved to take my husband and son next time if Carnival were still sailing....& with this itinerary!).


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## dioxide45 (Apr 16, 2018)

Paumavista said:


> We really wanted to do this cruise again we enjoyed the ship and itinerary so much but Carnival isn't sending a ship back to Europe     Vista only sailed one season...we went the last week in June from Athens to Barcelona and stayed a few days at either end.  Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did; the cruise director was great (and our favorite entertainment were the electric violin players; although we also enjoyed the Havana Bar & lounge).  It was the trip of a life time for my daughter and I (l would have loved to take my husband and son next time if Carnival were still sailing....& with this itinerary!).


We went in September and had a great time. We went from Barcelona to Athens. By the time we went on our cruise, they had cut the stop in Izmir Turkey from the itinerary, so there were some issues with VAT being added to purchases on board, but other than that we had a great time. We did five nights in Paris followed by two more in London after the cruise before we returned home. It is amazing all the different things we were able to see on this single cruise.


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## joestein (Apr 17, 2018)

[QUOTE="

RCCL Freedom of the Seas had the WORST entrees in the main dining room that we have ever had but yes, better entertainment, nice ship, etc.[/QUOTE]

I hope you just had a bad experience as that is the ship I am going on in August.   We shall see regardless.  Maybe I will buy that BOGO 2-night dining package.

Joe


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## Glynda (Apr 17, 2018)

joestein said:


> [QUOTE="
> 
> RCCL Freedom of the Seas had the WORST entrees in the main dining room that we have ever had but yes, better entertainment, nice ship, etc.



I hope you just had a bad experience as that is the ship I am going on in August.   We shall see regardless.  Maybe I will buy that BOGO 2-night dining package.

Joe[/QUOTE]

Well, I hope it's improved for your sake but I've heard and read of others having the same experience on RCCL in general as well as on Freedom of the Seas. Carnival food wasn't very good but RCCL Freedom was worse.


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## joestein (Apr 18, 2018)

Glynda said:


> I hope you just had a bad experience as that is the ship I am going on in August.   We shall see regardless.  Maybe I will buy that BOGO 2-night dining package.
> 
> Joe



Well, I hope it's improved for your sake but I've heard and read of others having the same experience on RCCL in general as well as on Freedom of the Seas. Carnival food wasn't very good but RCCL Freedom was worse.[/QUOTE]

I would say that the food on the Anthem of the Seas in Nov was OK.   Not Disney cruise line quality, but WAY better than Carnival.   The pay restaurants were excellent.  We ate lunch every seaday at Jamies because we like the food so much.  It didn't hurt that they offered a 2-cource $15 lunch.

Joe


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## VacationForever (Apr 18, 2018)

When my travel agent enticed us to join him on Royal Caribbean cruise next year, with the ship being Serenade of the Seas (2K+ passengers), he said MDR food is terrible and wants to make sure that we buy specialty dining packages so that we can avoid MDR.  This ship does not have Coastal Kitchen.  He cruises regularly on Royal Caribbean and is Diamond Plus.


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## Glynda (Apr 18, 2018)

VacationForever said:


> When my travel agent enticed us to join him on Royal Caribbean cruise next year, with the ship being Serenade of the Seas (2K+ passengers), he said MDR food is terrible and wants to make sure that we buy specialty dining packages so that we can avoid MDR.  This ship does not have Coastal Kitchen.  He cruises regularly on Royal Caribbean and is Diamond Plus.



I think it's a shame that we pay what we do for a cruise and then have to buy specialty packages to get a good dinner! The only specialty dining we did on RCCL Freedom of the Seas was Johnny Rockets for a burger and fries lunch. I don't recall it being anything special, but I do recall waiting outside on the deck in a long line of exhausted, fussy and hungry children and their parents and, once in, the staff being short-handed, moving about a bit frantically and probably on their last nerve! I know I was before we got out of there! It took forever to get service and when we did get our meal the fries were lukewarm.  

That said, one of the top two meals I have ever had in my life was on Celebrity's Eclipse in the specialty restaurant Murano!  They prepared a lobster dish at our table with a sauce and it was to die for. I live in a "foodie" city and have had some wonderful meals here and all over the world but that one, on my birthday, sailing out from St Petersburg, Russia, with my husband and granddaughter moved all but one other, an Australian Ribeye at 78 Prime Seafood & Steakhouse in the Intercontinental Hotel in Nanjing, China, down the list. The view from both was spectacular but the 78th floor in China takes the prize.

I have found that sea day brunches in cruise ship dining rooms are usually pretty good! Maybe a late brunch on RCCL and just appetizers for dinner would work for you on those days!


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## Glynda (Apr 18, 2018)

joestein said:


> Well, I hope it's improved for your sake but I've heard and read of others having the same experience on RCCL in general as well as on Freedom of the Seas. Carnival food wasn't very good but RCCL Freedom was worse.



I would say that the food on the Anthem of the Seas in Nov was OK.   Not Disney cruise line quality, but WAY better than Carnival.   The pay restaurants were excellent.  We ate lunch every seaday at Jamies because we like the food so much.  It didn't hurt that they offered a 2-cource $15 lunch.

Joe[/QUOTE]

Right. But it's too bad that they have lowered the standards so much that one feels they must pay extra for good meals. That can add up, depending upon how many in your party and how many meals you eat at a specialty restaurant. Add all the rest of the extras and it can be a very expensive cruise when there are are other lines that have higher fares but no necessity to pay more for meals.


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## VacationForever (Apr 18, 2018)

Glynda said:


> That said, one of the top two meals I have ever had in my life was on Celebrity's Eclipse in the specialty restaurant Murano!  They prepared a lobster dish at our table with a sauce and it was to die for. I live in a "foodie" city and have had some wonderful meals here and all over the world but that one, on my birthday, sailing out from St Petersburg, Russia, with my husband and granddaughter moved all but one other, an Australian Ribeye at 78 Prime Seafood & Steakhouse in the Intercontinental Hotel in Nanjing, China, down the list. The view from both was spectacular but the 78th floor in China takes the prize.
> 
> I have found that sea day brunches in cruise ship dining rooms are usually pretty good! Maybe a late brunch on RCCL and just appetizers for dinner would work for you on those days!



We love good food too.  Unfortunately I have serious gastritis issues and need 3 square meals at the same time everyday, otherwise I live in pain for weeks.


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## Glynda (Apr 18, 2018)

VacationForever said:


> We love good food too.  Unfortunately I have serious gastritis issues and need 3 square meals at the same time everyday, otherwise I live in pain for weeks.



Oh dear!  That does make being spontaneous tough, doesn't it?


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## Ken555 (Apr 18, 2018)

I always find it amusing that any question about cruising almost immediately turns to the quality of food. FWIW, the best food I've had on a cruise was on Windstar (for comparison, in the last few years I've also been on RCL, NCL, and Princess).


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## joestein (Apr 19, 2018)

Glynda said:


> I would say that the food on the Anthem of the Seas in Nov was OK.   Not Disney cruise line quality, but WAY better than Carnival.   The pay restaurants were excellent.  We ate lunch every seaday at Jamies because we like the food so much.  It didn't hurt that they offered a 2-cource $15 lunch.
> 
> Joe
> 
> Right. But it's too bad that they have lowered the standards so much that one feels they must pay extra for good meals. That can add up, depending upon how many in your party and how many meals you eat at a specialty restaurant. Add all the rest of the extras and it can be a very expensive cruise when there are are other lines that have higher fares but no necessity to pay more for meals.



While I understand your point, once you look at the costs, you might look at it different:

I paid $2,250 total for 2 connecting promenade staterooms, which are 160sq ft each.  This way my wife and I have our own room and our girls have theirs, the only way I will cruise.  Even I go out on a limb and purchase the ultimate dining plan for each of us, that would $500 plus tax and gratuity ($625??) for the cruise.  Which I am not doing.  I will probably buy the $40PP BOGO dinner for the first two nights and pay for some lunches.  We could have purchased connecting Junior Suites for $4000, but since their is no coastal kitchen on the Freedom and limited benefits to a JS, I decided it was not worth the money.

The Disney Fantasy for the same time and length (which had a good itinerary also) was $4,361 per CABIN.  That would $8,722 total for the week.  While the dining room food is good, we would still probably have brunch twice during the cruise (Hard to pass up Remy with the champagne pairing) at the pay restaurants.   That is a difference of $6,472 without taking any extra dining into account.

The flights to San Juan and back to Orlando were about the same price as flying direct to Orlando, so that had no effect on the cost.

Joe


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## Glynda (Apr 19, 2018)

joestein said:


> While I understand your point, once you look at the costs, you might look at it different:
> 
> I paid $2,250 total for 2 connecting promenade staterooms, which are 160sq ft each.  This way my wife and I have our own room and our girls have theirs, the only way I will cruise.  Even I go out on a limb and purchase the ultimate dining plan for each of us, that would $500 plus tax and gratuity ($625??) for the cruise.  Which I am not doing.  I will probably buy the $40PP BOGO dinner for the first two nights and pay for some lunches.  We could have purchased connecting Junior Suites for $4000, but since their is no coastal kitchen on the Freedom and limited benefits to a JS, I decided it was not worth the money.
> 
> ...



When 3 of us cruised for 7 nights on RCCL Freedom of the Seas out of Cape Canaveral over Spring Break 2016, we stayed together in one balcony stateroom. Our ports were Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. The total before sailing was $5,192.19. (But who's counting? ) That probably includes the two excursions we took via RCCL, soda and wifi packages and pre-paid tips. Add gas & meals to Florida & back, 1 night's hotel room, dinner and shopping at Ron Jon's Surf Shop for pricey bathing suits for my granddaughter and it increases. I just wouldn't want to add any more to that cost by feeling forced to pay for speciality meals because to eat elsewhere onboard is to eat mediocre at best food. We shouldn't have to!

Sounds like you got a great deal and can add those specialty dinners! Next time, I'll pay a bit more for Celebrity. I haven't been on a Disney cruise since Premier's Big Red Boat, my first cruise, and that is no comparison to today's Disney Cruise Line I'm sure!


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## joestein (Apr 20, 2018)

Glynda said:


> Sounds like you got a great deal and can add those specialty dinners! Next time, I'll pay a bit more for Celebrity. I haven't been on a Disney cruise since Premier's Big Red Boat, my first cruise, and that is no comparison to today's Disney Cruise Line I'm sure!



I would have loved to try Celebrity.   However, this cruise was not our original plan.  We had an exchange to Cancun for the week we are cruising.  With everything that is happening recently, my wife insisted on canceling the trip.   Luckily, the airline made a big change to my flight, so I was able to get a full refund of the both my arriving and departing flight for Cancun.  

But, we had to fit the cruise into the dates that work for the rest of the vacation.  There were not many cruise itineraries that we were interested in that would be Sat - Sat.  Most were Sun - Sun.  Maybe next time we will look at a celebrity cruise.  But that is next year.

I understand that points earned on celebrity count towards Crown and Anchor and vice-versa for Celebrities program.

Joe


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## VacationForever (Apr 20, 2018)

joestein said:


> I would have loved to try Celebrity.   However, this cruise was not our original plan.  We had an exchange to Cancun for the week we are cruising.  With everything that is happening recently, my wife insisted on canceling the trip.   Luckily, the airline made a big change to my flight, so I was able to get a full refund of the both my arriving and departing flight for Cancun.
> 
> But, we had to fit the cruise into the dates that work for the rest of the vacation.  There were not many cruise itineraries that we were interested in that would be Sat - Sat.  Most were Sun - Sun.  Maybe next time we will look at a celebrity cruise.  But that is next year.
> 
> ...


Points earned on RCL C&A and X Captain's Club do not go to  directly to the other.  They only do a status match for some levels.


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## Glynda (Apr 20, 2018)

joestein said:


> I would have loved to try Celebrity.   However, this cruise was not our original plan.  We had an exchange to Cancun for the week we are cruising.  With everything that is happening recently, my wife insisted on canceling the trip.   Luckily, the airline made a big change to my flight, so I was able to get a full refund of the both my arriving and departing flight for Cancun.
> 
> But, we had to fit the cruise into the dates that work for the rest of the vacation.  There were not many cruise itineraries that we were interested in that would be Sat - Sat.  Most were Sun - Sun.  Maybe next time we will look at a celebrity cruise.  But that is next year.
> 
> ...



Right!  Same reason I had to chose the 2016 RCCL Freedom Western Spring Break and the 2018 Carnival Magic Eastern Spring Break cruises! Exact dates, embarkation port and all new excursion ports to us. I don't think that the points work quite like that.


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## IRMO (May 2, 2018)

We combined a cruise (on RCCL -- the High Seas Rally, which was a full-ship charter benefiting kidney dialysis and comprised primarily of bikers and friends) with a timeshare stay afterwards -- it worked out super well.  We stayed at Worldmark Ocean Walk in Daytona Beach.  Got off the ship in Tampa about 8:30 am.  Rode the shuttle out to the airport, and picked up our one-week minivan rental.  Leisurely drive to Daytona, great week in Daytona, then drove the car back to TPA and flew back to Washington (state).


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## IRMO (May 2, 2018)

Passepartout said:


> We did a TS stay just outside Barcelona, followed by a Westbound transatlantic. When you can make  'em work, they're just about perfect. I prefer the TS first because at the end of the cruise, all your laundry is dirty and you've been out 2-3 weeks and are ready to get back to home,the pets, and whatever passes for life as you know it.
> 
> Jim


We actually found the opposite to be true (for us) -- after a week of cruising, it was nice to get to the timeshare and do a few loads of laundry, and be all set for the next week without paying $5/item on the ship . . .  YMMV


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