Looking for a anniversary cruise?! So overwhelming!!!

[blessedwithfour]

Hello all! I am new here and DH and I are looking to go on our first cruise for our 10 year annivesary in June 2012. This is sooo overwhelming!! There are so many cruise lines/ships/horrow stories...how do you choose?!

 

We are looking for a 3-4 nighter out of Florida I guess? Also no where we would need a passport.

 

Also...while we are huge Disney fans...something more romantic/less kids than a Disney cruise.

 

I welcome all and any suggestions!! Thanks sooo much!!:D

[cb at sea]

Go to a local travel agency and pick up brochures for whatever cruiselines sail from whichever port you prefer. Look them over. One of the cruiselines is bound to "catch your attention"....and you should pick the one that gives you the best "gut" feeling. In reality, they are more alike than different.

 

Take whatever reviews you're reading with a grain of salt. If some of the cruises were as bad as folks make them out to be, the cruiselines would be out of business!!!

 

We are big Disney fans, too, but they have NO casinos! Wouldn't do a cruise with them unless we had kids going....

 

I'm thinking you'll enjoy RCI, or Carnival the best...Check them out.

[Essiesmom]

The cruise lines I would have suggested will all be off to the Med. and Alaska by June. So, if you want less kids, take a longer cruise. My experience with a short cruise (3 days) is that it was full of extended families, large groups of the types that have matching t-shirts. they are focused on packing as much 'fun' - but not the drinking kind - as they can into three days. The longer the cruise the better. You can't get a feel for cruising on the three day cruise. If you want less than a week, take a five day, preferably one that leaves on a Monday. Cruises that do not sail over the weekend are often less expensive than weekend cruises, because there is more demand for weekends. After all, people have to take more vacation days to sail on a Monday. There are lots of cruises for less than a week - pick some places you would like to visit, and then find the ship that goes there. EM

[tak81288]

I also wanted to suggest that if you are looking for less kids you might want to consider bumping your cruise a few weeks back and sailing the beginning to middle of May (before Memorial Day).

 

End of May-end of August is prime cruising time for families due to kids being out of school. You will find more kids than normal on pretty much any cruise that is a week or less. If June is a necessity though, definitely look at longer itineraries (more than a week), if you can, to lessen the number of kids onboard.

[firefly333]

I think only RCL, Celebrity and Carnival do 3 and 4 days out of FL if you dont want Disney.

 

Celebrity will be a little classier and not much smoking is allowed. Its not allowed at all in cabins.

 

RCL and Carnival a toss up ...one does one thing better, the other does something else better. Carnival in the cheaper categories of cabins, will have larger cabins than the older RCL ships. Only older ships do these shorter cruises. RCL ships are much prettier than Carnival's if you want a beautiful ship, but smaller cabin.

 

I take it back. My sister and hubby are doing Celebrity Millilium out of Miami but looks like the ship stops sailing April 16th and goes to do Alaska or something, so by June it will be gone.

[Friend100]

What about HAL Maasdam sailing from Boston to Montreal (or reverse) for 7 nights?

[Cruisin' Chick]

Definitely go to a travel agency and talk to an agent who specializes in cruising. Talk about what you're looking for. As others have said, you may need to compromise on the date or the length of the cruise. But that may not be a bad thing.

[Sheffie]

If your cruise starts and ends from a US port, you will not have to have a passport. They are highly recommended but not mandatory for a "closed loop" cruise.