Cruise ideas needed

[mkcurran]

I know the answer to my question is probably call a travel agent, but I'll ask anyway.

 

I'm thinking about my next cruise. I know it will probably be November 2020. It will be a Caribbean cruise. I have a budget in mind. What I don't have in mind is what ship or even what line.

 

I have cruise NCL back in the old days. My recent cruises have been on Carnival. First one was great, second one was a repeat and I was a little disappointed when the quality went down so quickly. The second cruise just seemed more crowded and had more people every where. Maybe we just avoided them better the first time around? Maybe they cut staffing on the ship leading to longer lines? Who knows?

 

Anyway I think the sweet spot is a ship with less than 3,000 passengers. Assigned dinner seating--we really do love that. Ports--don't care. Haven't been to any in so long it will all be new. Would like to get to Belize, but it's not a must. I would like to not have to dress up for dinner at all--well wearing pants and good shirts isn't beyond us. We are not those people who show up in athletic shorts and tank tops. 

 

Any recommendations on what line or ships to start looking at?

[CruiserBruce]

Holland America. They don't have a ship over 2600 pax. They have assigned dinner seating. No longer a "formal" night.

 

Not sure what ships they will have in the Caribbean then, but if it's one of their newest ships (Koningsdam or N. Statendam), they will have the most choices on everything, including entertainment. 

[davekathy]

Also check out Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Princess. Plenty of ships and itineraries that you could choose from. 

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, mkcurran said:

I know the answer to my question is probably call a travel agent, but I'll ask anyway.

 

I'm thinking about my next cruise. I know it will probably be November 2020. It will be a Caribbean cruise. I have a budget in mind. What I don't have in mind is what ship or even what line.

 

I have cruise NCL back in the old days. My recent cruises have been on Carnival. First one was great, second one was a repeat and I was a little disappointed when the quality went down so quickly. The second cruise just seemed more crowded and had more people every where. Maybe we just avoided them better the first time around? Maybe they cut staffing on the ship leading to longer lines? Who knows?

 

Anyway I think the sweet spot is a ship with less than 3,000 passengers. Assigned dinner seating--we really do love that. Ports--don't care. Haven't been to any in so long it will all be new. Would like to get to Belize, but it's not a must. I would like to not have to dress up for dinner at all--well wearing pants and good shirts isn't beyond us. We are not those people who show up in athletic shorts and tank tops. 

 

Any recommendations on what line or ships to start looking at?

The  RCL Oasis Class with 6500 passengers have been some of the least crowded feeling ships I have been on.  We were on the Carnival Splendor years ago and I remember it being wall to wall people.

[mkcurran]

12 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

The  RCL Oasis Class with 6500 passengers have been some of the least crowded feeling ships I have been on.  We were on the Carnival Splendor years ago and I remember it being wall to wall people.

I just can not wrap my head around being on a ship with more people than the town I live in. 

 

Chances are if we cruise with the grandkids again it will be on Royal. But for this cruise that just seems so big and people-y. 

[Mike981]

See a travel agent. 😉

Good advice above.

[SewMuch]

Regarding dressing for dinner, your preferred dress for dinner would be fine on all the mass market  cruise lines now. No need for fancy dress anymore unless you want to

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, mkcurran said:

I just can not wrap my head around being on a ship with more people than the town I live in. 

 

Chances are if we cruise with the grandkids again it will be on Royal. But for this cruise that just seems so big and people-y. 

Celebrity might be a good fit. Nice ship sizes with your targeted passenger loads with good venue space layout, more of a cruising v amusement park style, good food, good entertainment.

Edited May 23, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[Jimnbigd]

More information from you would help.

What is the budget?

Note that your budget should include all expenses.

Make sure your cruise price include taxes and port charges.

For a seven day cruise, add on about another $100 per person for gratuities.

Add on the often high cost of flying, plus airport parking, ground transport between airport and ship, and shore excursions, and your cruise can become triple or more from the original cruise price.

 

You said November, 2020. Is this flexible? Note that prices are much higher then for USA Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November).

 

How many nights? (Seven is common).
 

How firm is Belize?

Royal Caribbean (my favorite) does not do many sailings to Belize anymore (not sure why).

MSC has some, but I have heard it is not the best. (Others might differ.)

Carnival has the most to Belize, but as you found out it can be crowded. (More passengers per tonnage.)
 

Do you want a lot of ports?

If so, consider flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and doing a Southern Caribbean.

 

As others said, dressing up is not what is used to be. A nice shirt and slacks for men and a nice pants suit or dress for women is fine.

 

If you can sail other than November, 2020, this opens more doors.

The Liberty of the Seas from Galveston April 12, 2020 (Easter Sunday) goes to Belize and has a good price. Note that is can be somewhat expensive to get from the Houston airport to Galveston. Hobby (the south airport) is usually a better choice, and Southwest flies into Hobby.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Jimnbigd

[mkcurran]

32 minutes ago, Jimnbigd said:

More information from you would help.

What is the budget?

Note that your budget should include all expenses.

Make sure your cruise price include taxes and port charges.

For a seven day cruise, add on about another $100 per person for gratuities.

Add on the often high cost of flying, plus airport parking, ground transport between airport and ship, and shore excursions, and your cruise can become triple or more from the original cruise price.

 

You said November, 2020. Is this flexible? Note that prices are much higher then for USA Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November).

 

How many nights? (Seven is common).
 

How firm is Belize?

Royal Caribbean (my favorite) does not do many sailings to Belize anymore (not sure why).

MSC has some, but I have heard it is not the best. (Others might differ.)

Carnival has the most to Belize, but as you found out it can be crowded. (More passengers per tonnage.)
 

Do you want a lot of ports?

If so, consider flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and doing a Southern Caribbean.

 

As others said, dressing up is not what is used to be. A nice shirt and slacks for men and a nice pants suit or dress for women is fine.

 

If you can sail other than November, 2020, this opens more doors.

The Liberty of the Seas from Galveston April 12, 2020 (Easter Sunday) goes to Belize and has a good price. Note that is can be somewhat expensive to get from the Houston airport to Galveston. Hobby (the south airport) is usually a better choice, and Southwest flies into Hobby.

Budget is around $2-3K for the cruise itself. This includes gratuities, taxes, port charges, ect.

Flight and hotel along with transportation are a separate budget and have been considered. From where I'm at San Juan is a cheaper flight than Miami. But the budget has been set at Miami levels.

 

The vacation window is the last week of November into the first week of December. Flights on Thanksgiving are showing up as surprisingly affordable. 

 

Looking at the 7-9 night length for a cruise, would like to not have more one sea day at a time. Two in a row and the hubby gets a little stir crazy. 

[George C]

I am also a big rccl fan I think voyager class would be fine not to big or small. We love flying on thanksgiving cruises right after thanksgiving are pretty cheap much cheaper than thanksgiving. We have flown that day a lot this year we flying the day after and that’s normally reasonable. 

[MicCanberra]

I think looking at the cruise lines with smaller ships may help, but as mentioned some of the larger capacity ships actually feel less crowded than the smaller capacity ones (except for embarkation or debarkation times). My advice is look at cruise timetables for the itinerary you want and when you want to go. Then you can check out each ship and it's capacity, price  features, etc, with the cruise line direct or a TA to narrow the scope.

[SRQbeachgirl]

Which Carnival ships did you sail on? The ships can make a lot of difference. Both the Breeze and Magic go to Belize and have a really good layout.

[MicCanberra]

Personally I prefer X but they tend to be a more expensive compared to Royal and Carnival.

[dkjretired]

16 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Celebrity might be a good fit. Nice ship sizes with your targeted passenger loads with good venue space layout, more of a cruising v amusement park style, good food, good entertainment.

 

Agree and you should not discount going to Bermuda.!Go out of NY or NJ and spend  three days in Bermuda which has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world

 

Sorry didn’t catch November, not going to get a cruise to Bermuda in November.

Edited May 24, 2019 by dkjretired

[leaveitallbehind]

3 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Personally I prefer X but they tend to be a more expensive compared to Royal and Carnival.

Probably when compared to Carnival, yes.  But not necessarily the case with RCI in our experience.  Depends on ship and itinerary (as with most cruise lines).

[Hlitner]

After reading the OP's comments we think that Celebrity might be a good fit.  While their Solstice Class ships are still a bit on the large size, we never feel crowded on those vessels except sometimes on the pool deck.  Not sure I would recommend HAL in the Caribbean for multiple reason (and we have more than 500 days on HAL).  HAL has eliminated their Production Shows and the entertainment situation seems to leave a lot to be desired (no telling what they will do next week or next month).   HAL ships also do not have a great Caribbean "vibe" as you are more likely to hear a band playing Glenn Miller then Bob Marley.  

 

The down side to Celebrity is that they have cut-back on many things while increasing their pricing.  If you are going to book Celebrity you should carefully shop around and analyze their pricing/promotions.  Their pricing system is a bit complex (with different options) and, in many ways, meant to obscure the real cost.  Consider that Celebrity charges about $75 per passenger day for their Premium Drink Package.  That amount is ridiculous but simply plays into their promotions where they can use that kind of "value" to inflate the real worth of their price. 

 

Hank

[CruiserBruce]

Hank...as I suggested,  the two newest HAL ships have many more entertainment options, and you definitely won't be hearing Glenn Miller. I think broad brushing HAL with that 40s music smear is unfair, and particularly on their new ships, flat out wrong. And we have over 200 days on HAL ourselves. 

[TNcruising02]

I would recommend RCL Liberty of the Seas.  It's a nice size ship and didn't feel crowded at all.  The shows and food were very good.  All in all, one of my favorite cruises.  If you look at the size ship it is and the passengers it holds, you will see that there is a lot of space.  We usually stick with Carnival because of the frequent comedy shows and a few other things, but if it weren't for that then RCL Liberty of the Seas would win in my book of best all-around cruise.

[leaveitallbehind]

31 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I would recommend RCL Liberty of the Seas.  It's a nice size ship and didn't feel crowded at all.  The shows and food were very good.  All in all, one of my favorite cruises.  If you look at the size ship it is and the passengers it holds, you will see that there is a lot of space.  We usually stick with Carnival because of the frequent comedy shows and a few other things, but if it weren't for that then RCL Liberty of the Seas would win in my book of best all-around cruise.

Keep in mind that if you a basing this on a specific ship that Liberty is one of the Freedom class of RCI ships, of which Freedom and Independence are sister ships.  So the experience on them would essentially be the same as that with Liberty.

 

That being said, the RCI Voyager class ships are very similar to Freedom class ships only smaller with less passenger load. (Freedom class ships are often referred to as Voyager class ships on steroids). By your description, those ships (Voyager, Navigator, Mariner, Explorer, Adventure) would also provide a similar experience to Liberty and would likely fit the bill as well.

[mkcurran]

13 hours ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

Which Carnival ships did you sail on? The ships can make a lot of difference. Both the Breeze and Magic go to Belize and have a really good layout.

Splendor, twice. Fell in love with the spa, which made the ship tolerable. 

[mkcurran]

6 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Personally I prefer X but they tend to be a more expensive compared to Royal and Carnival.

I'm leaning that way but I haven't found an itinerary I like yet. If the Summit was sailing out of PR a week sooner it would be the top pick...I think. 

[mkcurran]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

The down side to Celebrity is that they have cut-back on many things while increasing their pricing. 

Well aware of that. Also from my research they seem to be a line that's cheaper to book through a TA than directly through the company. But I'm such a control freak and picky, I'm not sure I'd get along with most TAs. 

[mkcurran]

2 hours ago, dkjretired said:

 

Agree and you should not discount going to Bermuda.!Go out of NY or NJ and spend  three days in Bermuda which has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world

 

Sorry didn’t catch November, not going to get a cruise to Bermuda in November.

Yeah, not going to sail out of anywhere that has a possibility of snow. 🙂

[leaveitallbehind]

15 minutes ago, mkcurran said:

Well aware of that. Also from my research they seem to be a line that's cheaper to book through a TA than directly through the company. But I'm such a control freak and picky, I'm not sure I'd get along with most TAs. 

Only if the TA is booking you into a block of rooms that they are selling as a group or is offering perks out of their commission, as the base fare offered by the cruise line is the same as that offered by a TA.  Celebrity (and most mass market lines) does not allow discounting of fares by TA's.

Edited May 24, 2019 by leaveitallbehind