mufc99

Is it a great place to spend a few nights pre & post cruise?

Obviously we will be booking at least 1 night in a hotel pre cruise, and because we are heading to Vegas after the cruise we are going to do another night because we miss the early morning flight and the other 2 are in the evening - dont want to hang around with 2 suitcases!

We live in a warm climate next to the ocean, so sea/beach activities aren't something we will be indulging in.

Are the Everglades tours a must do?

Is Las Olas Boulevard the main place to head to for bars & restaurants?

Anywhere else?

Are there any dodgy areas to stay away from?

Is a trip to Miami a must do or is there enough to see in FT Lauderdale?

Thanks!

We have a room at the very back of the ship - hopefully this will give us a bit of a view at every port......will it? :-)

Sad again ...but we have 'Flightracker' on our phones so we can follow any plane flying anywhere on the planet! So we should be able to schedule things based on what's happening down there!

We did consider the Southern Carribean cruise, but after 3 long flights just to get to FL we didn't fancy a 4th one to San Juan!

Banff & Whistler followed by an Alaskan cruise was our first option, before my wife threw the spanner in! Think that will be the next one though, should we get the opportunity.

Hey we have the KLM landing on our pc wallpaper - yep sad again! :-)

We had Canada on there the other week! :-) Till we changed our minds!

We are at St Maarten on the Tuesday so that would be great if it does make a show.

This will be the first time on a Carnival cruise.

We did the NCL Pride of America twice around Hawaii.

Hope the Conquest is at least similar to that.

Though I think the sea days could be challenging - there's only so much sun & alcohol you can soak up during the day.

Certainly wont be putting much money into the casino - I could imagine it ruining your holiday if you lost a bit of your spending money!

Pride of America didnt have one, plus we didnt have sea days!

Well we've taken the plunge...I always do that! :-)

Just booked with Carnival on the Conquest for April next year.

Ft Lauderdale (Pt Evrglds), FL ---- 4:00 PM

Fun Day At Sea ---- ----

Fun Day At Sea ---- ----

St. Maarten, NA 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

St Kitts, WI 7:00 AM 5:00 PM

San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:00 AM 2:00 PM

Grand Turk 9:00 AM 5:00 PM

Fun Day At Sea ---- ----

Ft Lauderdale (Pt Evrglds), FL 8:00 AM ----

My wifes dream at St Maarten will now come true! :-)

Quite a good price with Carnival, so we will probably swing in to Vegas on the way back!

Thanks for all the input - gonna have to learn alot more between now and then, but atleast we have made a start!

Did you do it on a cruise?

If so what other islands did you go to?

Thanks. :-)

One other thing, we also Youtubed a couple of other places that seem to be included in some of the itinerarys, eg, St Kitts, St Thomas.

Must say we weren't too impressed with what we saw!

Mainly shot from tour buses going around the islands, many spots looked pretty run down.

As for beaches, some not as good as the beaches where we live.

St Maarten & St Lucia looked good though and are now wondering if there are other islands which would be a must do, so that we could choose the best cruise.

With Maho, we must have watched Youtubes of it many times - maybe we are sad?:-)

We like the idea of spending the afternoon in a bar, at the beach, on a hot sunny day watching the planes come in!

You are planning a Caribbean cruise from Australia to stop at Maho to see the planes because your wife "Likes watching planes!" Are you James Packer? Oh wait Mariah would never sail commercial. :eek::D

Hahaa Our to do list is getting pretty short!

Canada/Alaska was an option, then she said it would be too cold! :-)

Hey, we liked the Hawaii cruise tho....twice.

The only reason St Maarten is on the to do list is because my wife wants to go to that beach! Likes watching planes! :-)

Otherwise we would probably be heading somewhere else!

Must say, the Southern Carribean looks a bit more interesting, even though we wont be on one of the biggest ships in the world - that was another draw card!

Will have to check out these southern cruises.

Thanks for all the great info!

The only reason we picked May/Jun was to avoid the hurricane season and it gives us time to save up! :-) 2016 is out of the question.

Plus we like leaving the Australian autumn/winter seasons to go to warmer climates.

Actually saw a Youtube of Nassau & it didnt look too impressive.

I did spot San Juan as an option for a sail away - I will have to check out the cost of the extra flights - its a long way from Western Australia! :-)

Did you have any sea days?

If so, is there plenty to keep you busy?

Dont want to climb walls, buy things or sun bathe for more than 2 hours! :-)

Because we would probably only do the Carribean once, because we are traveling from the other side of Australia, we liked the idea of going on one of the biggest ships in the world, just for the fun of it.

However, the itinerary that we looked at has it only going to 3 places and one of those was Haiti - we saw that on a docco and wasn't too impressed, as it was just a beach that has been set up for the cruise ship.

Had a quick look at a couple of ships that do a slightly different itinerary, though they were a lot cheaper, they got a few average reviews.

Are there any islands that would be a must do, or are they all pretty much the same?

Somebody recommended Grand Turk & also wasn't impressed with Nassau.

We would be travelling in May or June.

They might have all been using E-Cigarettes!

Dont report them - you will look silly :-)

Before I spend the next week trolling thru a hundred posts, which cruise would be recommended to take in St Maarten?

We would be willing to go on a cruise up to 10 nights.

Have been looking at the 7 nights on Allure, but just wondering if there would be a better option?

I know a guy who really recommended Grand Turk and have noticed Carnival cover both places in their southern cruise!

Even though I'm a non smoker I know a common thing the smokers do, is flicking the ash in a glass of water and putting it out in the same water is a common trait - so the chances of starting a fire, on a balcony, on a mainly steel ship is a billion to one chance.

Making people hide and smoke inside the cabin obviously does increase the risk!

I think rudeness on a cruise is the biggest annoyance! (ok some will say smoking is rude) :-)

We booked a balcony room on deck 10 nine months pre cruise.

With six weeks to go we could have booked a balcony room deck 10 for Aus $1,600 cheaper!

With the north bound it is still an option, though with the extra options when we get off I was just thinking what would we really miss out on if we didnt do this or didnt do that? :-)

Same with Hubbard - would we really be missing something?

It would be great if we were retired and had tons of money, then we would do everything possible, but that isnt the case, so we were just wondering if there was a certain cruise and itinerary where most bases would be covered.

I suppose its a difficult question, like doing a tour of the US - do you go to La, New York or Miami?

The travel agent was a young girl so probably hasn't much of a clue about HAL! :-)

That 4 or 5 day tour sounds interesting, and would be less hassle than renting a car.

The travel agent mentioned HAL, but then said they usually cater for over 65's so we have not even looked at them! Not that there is anything wrong with over 65's! :-) I will check out their itinerarys though.

Not looked into Vancouver, apart from the place to get on the cruise - we live in a big modern city which is on the banks of a beautiful river, so we would be less likely to be too impressed - could be completely wrong! :-)

So I realise there are so many options with all the different Alaskan cruises, there are a number of factors which will make us decide what to do.

Coming from Western Australia, travel time is the first - its a bit of a haul just to get over to the USA.

My wife isn't too keen on being cold, when we have other options like an Asian or Caribbean cruise.

I can sway her where that is concerned :-)

With us going to Whistler & Banff pre cruise - hopefully that will cover plenty of scenic stuff - would anybody here really recommend just one cruise & itinerary over the rest.

We are in our 50's but young with it! :-)

Thanks for the extra suggestions.

Their Jasper experience was when they walked into a bar and the place went quiet and everybody started looking at them till they left! They haven't got 2 heads btw! :-)

With the NCL ship do they have plenty of shows on at night?

Are outside bars on the ship open at night or is it too chilly?

My son said just do 2 nights in Whistler because its like a small version of Banff.

He also said don't stay overnight in Jasper - he reckons some of the locals are strange! :-)

One of my sons has travelled a bit in Canada, and thats where I have gotten some advice from.

Because we will be travelling from Western Australia, the plan was for one night in LA - arrive in Vancouver and rent a car to Whistler for the 2 nights - drive back to Vancouver - Fly to Calgary, rent a car to Banff for 4 nights - drive back to Cal & fly to Van.

After the cruise, eventually one more night in LA to break the journey up.

Thanks zqvol for even more temptations - our costs look like they are also gonna go north! :-)

It will be a one off trip so we will try and do as much as possible.

We are mainly there just for the sights & not activities, but if anywhere offered twin seat quad bike I would go for that! Wife would be too dangerous riding one by herself! :-)

Thanks for the info!

We were thinking of doing Whistler 2 nights & Banff 4 nights pre-cruise.

Not even looked at accommodation yet!

The way its looking we mights just hand it over to a travel agent and see what they come up with! :-)

The cost is something we are certainly wary of.

By doing a return cruise, it wouldnt be a real big loss would it missing out on certain spots that a one way would see?

Im starting to learn a bit about these Alaskan cruises.

Below is the itinery of the NCL 7 day NB cruise.

Do you think we would be missing out on something?

Also with Seward, are there any problems with disembarking there? I suppose to get back home in Australia we would have to get to Anchorage!

Day Cruise Ports Arrive Depart

Mon Vancouver, British Columbia (EMBARK) --- 4:00 pm

Tue CRUISE INSIDE PASSAGE --- ---

Wed Ketchikan, Alaska 7:00 am 4:00 pm

Thu Juneau, Alaska 11:00 am 9:00 pm

Fri Skagway, Alaska 7:00 am 8:00 pm

Sat Cruise Glacier Bay --- ---

Sun Cruise Hubbard Glacier --- ---

Mon Seward, Alaska (DISEMBARK) 5:00 am ---