Cruises... love 'em or hate 'em?

[disneysteve]

Dying to try alaska and greece. Only way to see both places.

Alaska is definitely on our list. We'd also love to do a European river cruise which is an entirely different experience than the very commercial mega cruises. They are small, only a couple hundred people. The ships have very limited activities. The appeal is the destinations. The smaller size allows them to go places that the big ships can't, plus sailing the river instead of the ocean means you are typically docking right in town. With a lot of big cruise ships, you may need to take a 30-60 minute bus ride to get to your destination from the pier. With the river cruises, you step off the boat and there you are.

[disneysteve]

Norwegian lets you eat without making a reservation, LOVED this.

I don't want to make this thread about specific cruises but just to comment on this, as I think it's instructive to anyone planning a cruise...

Our last cruise was on Norwegian. We ABSOLUTELY HATED the "Freestyle dining" that FLA is referring to. Not having a set dining time really upset us and greatly diminished our enjoyment of the cruise. We would never consider sailing on Norwegian again for that very reason. I get that some people like it but it just did not work for the way we like to arrange our days when we're cruising. So do your research to try and decide what you will prefer before picking a cruise or cruise line.

OP, and anyone else, the best place to research cruises is cruisecritic.com. That is a message board like this one that has reviews of every cruise in the world, every cruise port, every excursion, etc. It has a wealth of information and lots of friendly people who are very experienced cruisers who will be happy to answer any question you may have.

[FLA]

Of course, on one cruise, we played Bingo and won a free cruise for two which we took the following spring.

.

wow, that's serious Bingo! good for you!

[wjcalderon]

We'd also love to do a European river cruise which is an entirely different experience than the very commercial mega cruises. They are small, only a couple hundred people. The ships have very limited activities. The appeal is the destinations. The smaller size allows them to go places that the big ships can't, plus sailing the river instead of the ocean means you are typically docking right in town. With a lot of big cruise ships, you may need to take a 30-60 minute bus ride to get to your destination from the pier. With the river cruises, you step off the boat and there you are.

I tried the ocean cruises a couple of times and didn't care for it. Too many people for me.
My brother and I have booked a river cruise on the Rhine for next summer. 8 day cruise from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland.
A little pricey, but based on reviews from a couple of friends, it should be great.
I'm really looking forward to it.

[disneysteve]

I tried the ocean cruises a couple of times and didn't care for it. Too many people for me.
My brother and I have booked a river cruise on the Rhine for next summer. 8 day cruise from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland.
A little pricey, but based on reviews from a couple of friends, it should be great.
I'm really looking forward to it.

Definitely check out cruisecritic.com. You can learn all about your cruise and the ports you will visit. You can also join a "roll call" for your specific cruise and meet others who will be sailing with you.

One thing to keep in mind on the river cruises is that the demographic tilts heavily older. A friend of mine who is about my age (50) just sailed on one last week and said that when she and her husband boarded, it lowered the average age to 73. She was joking, but only kind of.

[wjcalderon]

I did check cruisecritic.com and everything else I could find to read before we booked the cruise.
As for the ages, that's fine with me. I'll be 62 and my brother will be 59 when we go.
And I would rather spend time with "old" people than all the drunk 20-something-year-old kids on the last cruise I took!

I'll have to check out that "roll call" feature - that's sounds great.

[disneysteve]

And I would rather spend time with "old" people than all the drunk 20-something-year-old kids on the last cruise I took!

Same here even though we're younger. We were never the wild party type, even when we were 20 years younger. The whole bar/nightclub/dance scene was not for us then or now. We will go to the piano bar onboard and have a drink and sing along but that's about as "wild" as we get.

[FLA]

cruisecritic has so much advice and reviews it can be overwhelming. But knowing pitfalls and how to avoid them, dining reviews, port of call reviews, right down to any type of room you may be considering is incredibly helpful. Like they told me the room I was going to book is over the "disco" and I had little kids. Can't recommend it enough!

[Singuy]

If you are okay with being on a ship for 7 nights, then cruising is the way to go!

Think about it, it most likely cost you MORE per day to live in your own house than on a cruiseship during off season.

Say your mortgage is 1400+250property tax+100HOA+140insurance
That's about 63/day on land without using any electricity/eating food.

You can get onto most ships for less than 60/day (120/day for 2)..you'll have shows/food/cleaning/everything taken care of.

Most cruise ships make most of their money from the alcohol and shore excursions. That's the ink, the actual cruise is the inkjet printer.

[97guns]

check out these guys last minute prices

http://www.vacationstogo.com/