Newtocruising74

To: KVickers

It is insane the amount of things I have looked up about all of this, and I am just overwhelmed!! From what I get from everything I have looked at, every single cruise ship has mixed reviews, good and bad. As far as partiers on the ship, you just never know who is going to be on board. I am trying to stay away from the cheapest ones to try and avoid some of this. The Carnival Sunshine looks to have a ton of stuff for kids to do. I am trying to just fine one cruise day and the rest at ports so we can be off the ship the majority of the time during the day. The excursions can be super expensive so I think we are leaning towards a 5 day Bahamas cruise with 1 cruise day and 3 Bahamas stops. I figured we can wonder around the beach for free and relax and not have excursions at every Bahamas stop to save some money!! Of course, I keep second guessing that decision too!! ha!! :D

Thank you so much for all of the responses!!! I keep hearing basically any cruise over spring break will have some college partiers so just choose where we really want to go.

Next question, we are trying to decide between 2 Royal Caribbean cruises, one to Costa Maya and Cozumel, a Bahamas cruise, or Carnival cruise to 3 Western spots, or Bahamas cruise. Will all of the ships have something to do for our kids, ages 10 to 16?? Do I base which one we do off of the actual cruise ship and what all is on board or the actual stops we are going?? The kids really want the Bahamas, but none of the cruise ships look amazing?? I am so torn because we have never cruised before so just not sure how to decide it all!! We would rather not spend a TON of excursions so leaning towards Bahamas cause we can just relax on the island and walk around. Any advice???

Thank you so much!!!

Thanks for the info!! So this is a 5-day that goes to Grand Turk and 2 stops in the Bahamas. Will that be safer to go on than say the 3-night or 4-night Bahama cruises regarding the booze-fest??? Or do we need to splurge a little and do like a Norwegian 7-day????

We would like to take a cruise to the Bahamas over spring break. We have never been on a cruise before. I have heard to stay away from Carnival due to partiers over spring break; however, the cruise we are most interested in is on Carnival Sensation. Should we do a different cruise line?? Our kids are 10, 12, 13. We just want to make sure there is plenty of fun stuff to do on the ship as well as great stop. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!! :D

My husband and I are taking our very first vacation alone together and doing a 5 night cruise. We have chosen Royal Caribbean's western cruise to Cozumel and Grand Cayman. I am overwhelmed!! I have gone through ones of these boards and googled dones of things but would help in answering a few questions!

1. Balcony versus ocean view window. Do we pay the extra for balcony or are their plenty of places to sit outside to eat, drink coffee, etc?? We will be on Brilliance of the Seas.

2. How do you decide what excursions?? We like to walk around and explore but also want to do snorkling, relaxing, beach time. Would love to go sailing and even swim with the dolphins, turtles, etc. I am overwhelmed looking at excursions for both places.

3. March versus July?? Which would be a better month or about the same??

Thank you for any and all advice!!! We just want to make this a wonderful trip for us!!!