Last-Minute First-Timers Planning Carnival NYC to Nova Scotia August

[Leo Jay]

This past weekend, my girlfriend and I just decided we should try to get away before the summer's out, and neither of us have cruised before, so we thought this might be the time to try.

 

We can't take too much time away, so we thought the Carnival Triumph's 5-day to Nova Scotia would be good. Plus we figured that by going North, we could not only avoid hurricane worries, but figured we'd be less likely to encounter a 'twenty-something partygoer' crowd (no offense). But does anyone have any sense about that from experience?

 

Since we already know which cruise we want, is there any reason to go through an agent? I'll call a few just to check their rates, but besides that, is there really anything significant they can provide?

[goaliemomsr]

my family did this cruise last August. It was a last minute put together for 18 people - celebrating lots of birthdays for the group. I had never been a cruise before and my brother and his family live in florida and have cruised a zillion times flew up to New York for this cruise. Our group had 3 Kids (15,13 and 10) - 11 of us from age 35 - 45 - 3 people aged 60-70 and then my grandmother who celebrated her 90th birthday on the ship.First, it rained everyday but the first sea day (which is when I got my sunburn) and the day the shipped docked back in New York. That's all the bad news! We had an absolutely wonderful time. It was just enough time to spend with your family. The food was very good - the ship was filled to capacity with something like almost 1000 kids on the ship - you couldn't tell that there were that many. The rooms were plenty big enough - there were 3 in my room. It was the trip that convinced me that this was the type of vacation I would like to take every year - I leave in 11 days on the Miracle out of Tampa.

[Leo Jay]

Thanks for the mini-report. Well, while my ideal cruise would have mostly 40-somethings and older... better to have younger kids travelling with their families than the older ones who drink and party all night.:rolleyes:

[goaliemomsr]

you didn't even know the kids were on the ship (even the ones with us) - I would say that the majority of the passengers were between 30 and 60 - we met alot of really nice people and really enjoyed the trip.

 

The (3) older ladies with us cannot walk long distances - my grandmother (the 90 year old, whose birthday we were really celebrating) has a bad knee. They opted to do the pub crawl excursion in Halifax - I will tell you that the 3 of them were very very intoxicated when they returned to the ship - they had a terriffic time with the guy in the skirt (actually a kilt, but they kept calling him the guy in the skirt) none of them made dinner that night.

 

My brother came in second place at a black jack tournmant in the casino.

[CaptData]

Hurricanes down south does affect the weather up here in Canada too. This is the second best time to go. The best time is in the fall when the leaves are changing colour.

[Boo's Mom]

Leo Jay..... Have you tried *****.com? It's NOT a travel agent. It will...however, farm your specific cruising request out to several agents...and they will bid on your business.

 

It's fun, a free service...and a reputable company.

[Boo's Mom]

BTW, I just returned from a cruise to Halifax. Don't miss the opportunity to visit Peggy's Cove. Very nice place.