Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Vacation Cruise....

I went on one. I couldn't get off the ship fast enough.

on one of the cruises i went on the ship stopped and we all went to the island of Jamaica,bunch of drugged people who just begged and wanted money

Like MN.

Yes. I have been there! Lots of winners there!!!

Hate to hear that.

There's lots of factors with everything. The more control "they" have over us, the more red tape and factors there are.

Don’t get off the boat in Mexico.

I've been on carnival a few times. I enjoyed it but it was definitely not a high class event. I'd like to go again on a nicer cruise line. The carnival lines seemed more geared towards budget minded partiers and inner city people. Carnival is a good name for it.

I enjoyed cruising, set your own schedule, do what you want, and a few lazy days at sea. I hope to find a nice line next time. I'll probably have to take the kids on a Disney cruise soon.

Bb

Where? When? What line?

It sounds like you didn't do your due diligence.

Wife and I have been on several, different lines, different destinations:

- Norweigen - Greek Islands in the Med
- Celebrity - AFter the "land" portion of Alaska, cruised Seward to Vancouver
- Carnival and Royal Carribean to east and west Carib, different islands etc
- Carnival: short Bahamas cruise

Don't worry to much about the Carnival "party" reputation. We really didn't notice to much diffrence in the people, but the ships, RC is "fancier" than Carnival, but both are nice.

Carribbean, really depends on the stops. Loved St. Martin, St. Thomas, Cancun, didn't care for Mexico, though we did get to see the ruins in Mexico which was cool. Mexico and Jamaica seem to "funnel" you to street vendors more.

Alaskan stops, at least that we did were much more "low key" and relaxing.

Greek Islands, the stops were AMAZING, but more costly.

things you will find that are different than the brochures: If you want to hang out in a pool. FORGET IT. Way to many people, not enough chairs and if you have a chair in the sun, ITS HOT. We tended to find an out of the way chair on a deck somewhere an read or nap for the days at sea.

Dinner: endless food, you can order everything on the menu etc. You already paid. Norweigan has "open dining" meaning you go when you want, but they also had "up charge" for restaurants outside the main dining room. Also you don't have to go to the dining room, there's food EVERYWHERE.

If you are a drinker, GET THE DRINK PACKAGE, THEN UPGRADE IT (note a travel agent can probably get this for you for free, not the upgrade but the base). If you have more than a glass of wine or a beer or two a day, its worth it.

Pictures: Everywhere you go, especially on "dress up night" there are photographers trying to take your picture, they actually do a good job and the taking is free. The pictures then show up in the gallery and you look, if you want them you pay, if you don't you toss them in a bucket to make room on the wall. You can get some nice pictures of the family this way.

They are people moving experts in ports. If you do excursions through the ship, the ship won't leave without you and they have been checked out by the cruise line. If you do your own thing, it can be cheaper and more options, but if you're late, the ship will leave without you!

Cruises are a great way to see lots of places quickly. It's probably the only way I would go Hawaii for the first time, the "hotel" bounces island to island. Gets you a view of lots, but not alot of time on anything.

You people must live in terrible places in [bleep] towns to want to get get on a floating outhouse , and eat food prepared by people that wipe their azzes with he same hands that they prepare your food with, and doing this with the intent of arriving at a third world country to be met by bandits, whom's life goals are to rape your lady folks, and rob you in order to maintain their drug habits, yep sounds like a great time to me !

I'm thinking I'll be starting a "Flossing shop for feral cats " to finance my next cruising vacation !

I've been on a bunch of cruises. This is my take.

They all have good food. The drink packages aren't worth it unless you're planning on drinking from noon to midnight. I bought it once and analyzed the cost. I broke even and felt like I had to drink more to get my money's worth. Choose "Any Time Dining" so you can eat dinner when you want. Pick an itinerary that takes you to as many islands as possible. I prefer the Eastern Caribbean. Get an outside room with a balcony. Don't get a room on the next to the top floor under the Lido Deck. You'll hear all that noise above you with people walking around and rolling carts. The best time to go is October when the kids are in school and the weather is warm and the rates are low. August isn't bad either. It's cooler down there than it is here. The best port of Ft. Lauderdale, then San Juan. In Ft. Lauderdale, the airport is about 5 minutes from the cruise terminal.

Cruise lines.

Carnival: Bottom of the bucket in my opinion. It's a fun time with a lot of partying. The passengers are a younger group with trailer trash and other lower life forms mixed in. I don't recommend getting in the pools or hot tubs.

Disney: Top of the line, but way too many little kids for my liking.

Royal Caribbean: Pretty good and middle of the road. The last one I took was on one of the Oasis Class Ships. A total feat of engineering. It's a floating city. I think it'll haul about 3000 passengers. Still a fair amount of kids and families, but not too bad.

Princess: My favorite. Very nice with an older group of passengers. Excellent. I highly recommend it.

Norwegian: Also very nice. Very similar to Princess.

Eastern Caribbean Islands.

Puerto Rico: I've only been to San Juan and it's OK.

St. Thomas: It's OK, but if you have enough time, take the ferry to St. John. The beaches are better. They drive on the left side of the road, but they're a US territory. WTF is with that?

Jamaica: It's a third world schithole. Watch your ass and don't trust anybody. If you go ashore, take a shore excursion to a closed resort and stay there.

St. Lucia: Third world schithole but absolutely spectacular. If you're on a cruise ship, you won't have enough time to go up to the Pitan's. The people were really nice.

St. Kitts: Another great island, however, go to the eastern end of the island. It's the best part.

St. Martin/St. Maarten: One of my most favorite places in the world. It's half French and half Dutch. The Dutch side is better. They drive on the right side of the road. The last time I was there, we rented a jeep and drove around the island and went to a couple of different beaches. I love this place.

Barbados: Pretty good, but a little bit off the beaten path.

Martinique: It's OK, but it's mainly French speaking and it can hard to communicate with the people.

Antigua: Really nice little island and people are nice.

Nassau, Bahamas: Pay for a shore excursion to the Atlantis. Pretty spectacular resort. The people are nice but don't go into town after dark.

Dominican Republic: Another third world schithole, but the people were very nice. The beach we went to was beautiful.

Very accurate!!

If they would slow down to a proper trolling speed and let me mount a couple of down riggers I might just reconsider !

Jimy's description is humorous, but inaccurate. If it were anything like that, the cruise industry would have gone out of business long ago. The ones I've been on were scrupulously clean, the food excellent, the crew fastidious and polite to the extreme, and the entire process perfected to the last detail. From 2007 to 2018, cruise passenger annual numbers have rocketed from 15.6 million to a projected total of over 25 million this year.

Those cruise lines are doing something right. Actually, a whole damn lot right.

Some folks can be miserable doing just about anything. Got a buddy like that. Spent big bucks to go on a high dollar cruise, and nit picked and complained his way through it. Drove his wife crazy and ruined it for her. Dude is incapable of just relaxing and having a good time without succumbing to the need to criticize everyone and everything. Tough way to go though life.

We went on Amawaterways for a Rhine River cruise. Very laid back and relaxing. I'm not fan of crowds and it was the perfect fit for us.

Sounds like nothing butt Sh~ts and giggles to me !

Jan. 11, 2019, 5:08 PM EST
By Minyvonne Burke
The number of people hit with a gastrointestinal illness on a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship has swelled to nearly 500, a company spokeswoman said Friday.

The increase to 475 people comes a day after the company said 277 passengers on the Oasis of the Seas had initially fallen ill.

Travelers on the cruise ship — which according to Royal Caribbean’s website is a 1,187-foot long vessel and was voted the best cruise ship 2014 by Travel Weekly readers — started feeling sick after the ship departed from Port Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida, on Sunday.

We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise a few years ago.
Food was good, not great.
Rooms nice but small - definitely get a balcony.
Pool was small and very crowded, people reserved seats before breakfast.
Our stops were Bahamas (no desire to go back to Nassau), St. Maartin (great - would go back) and St. Thomas (would go back). Problem was debarking with 3k of my closest friends every time, not ideal from my perspective.
My biggest issue was being on someone else's schedule for meals and excursions. We enjoyed our time on St. Maartin and St. Thomas but had to rush back.

I would not do another Caribbean big boat cruise but would consider one for Alaska or a European river cruise.

On the other hand, we with 3 other couples chartered a crewed catamaran in the BVIs. Best vacation ever & would do that again in a heartbeat.

So many people seem to be so quick to pay Foreign-Owned companies stacks of American earned dollars to haul their azzes outta the country to spend more American earned dollars in other countries, what the hell?

Plenty to see here is the USA, plenty of warm beach's and good food, what's wrong with spending vacation dollars in our own country?

The USA thanks you for all your support you bunch of hypocrites.............

Do you guys ever research these companies you spend your money with?

Carnival Corporation has reportedly been paying wages under $1.50 per hour to employees with low-to-nonexistent benefits, such as holidays or minimal vacations. Monthly salaries of the high-paid workers are around $1,300. Employees report strenuous working conditions such as 14-hour shifts with no days off. Retirement benefits were revoked in October 2013.

April 2019, Carnival Corporation was accused of violating probation rules. The allegations include 800 incidents from April 2017 to April 2018. A federal judge has threatened to impose severe fines which may increase tenfold . The judge also stated that Carnival ships may be temporarily banned from docking in US ports. The final verdict will be announced in July 2019 at the hearing