WeCruiseToo

Thanks for the list. Too bad they aren’t all like Royal Caribbean and Celebrity so you could get “credit” for all of your past cruises in their loyalty programs!

Great tips Paul – thanks! On most cruises, depending on the ports-of-call, we’ll do a fairly even mix of ship-sponsored excursions, third party tours, and just exploring on our own. One tip: on the first couple of days, anytime you’re in your cabin (like while you’re getting changed for dinner) tune the TV to the shore excursions channel – you may get some great ideas, even if it’s for your next cruise! (After the first day or two we tune the TV to catch any of the on-board entertainment we may have missed, but that’s a whole different topic!)

Oh yes, the shopping! Amy got a couple of really nice diamonds in St. Maarten (Michael typing here) and I got a lot of good scotch and free internet while we made our decision! (Note to jewelry shoppers: a lot of these places have a separate room where they take very good care of you if they think you’re serious about buying. We haven’t abused this yet, but someday we’ll probably go shopping and decide not to purchase in the end! ) After visiting St. Maarten a few times we now mostly opt for the water taxi to the nearby beach and a relaxing day in the sun!

"The “Taste of the Danube” itinerary makes for an excellent introduction to rive cruising!" Click here to view the cruise review

Welcome back! So glad to hear you had another wonderful cruise!

Have a fantastic cruise! We’d love to hear all about it when you get back!

Have a fantastic cruise - or cruises! We’d love to hear all about it when you get back!

Seems like this should be all about the people who jumped and really has nothing whatsoever to do with the cruise line. From the way it’s described this could have just as easily happened from the balcony of a resort hotel – something we heard about with surprising regularity when we lived in Las Vegas.

You’ll be building up in no time!

Our favorite embarkation port? That’s easy – wherever our next cruise is departing from! Most convenient = Port Canaveral, just 45 minutes away. Easiest to fly into = Vancouver, super-smooth customs at both the airport and cruise port. Nicest surprise = San Juan, Puerto Rico – we’ve found that it’s far easier, takes about the same time and doesn’t cost much more for us to fly there as opposed to driving to Miami. Plus you can get some really awesome itineraries!

Welcome to CruiseCrazies! We all love cruising and this is a great place for help planning your next trip and talking about past adventures!

Welcome to CruiseCrazies! We all love cruising and this is a great place for help planning your next trip and talking about past adventures!

I see in your profile that St. Maarten was your favorite port. Can you tell us why?

You’re right – one of the considerations when designing a ship (cruise or otherwise) is always if it will be able to fit through the Panama Canal. The maximum size a ship can be and still fit is called Panamax. Royal Caribbean’s Radiance-class ships were designed with this in mind and they fill the current canal locks to within inches of what’s allowed!

We’ve cruised in Europe four times so far (number five is booked!) but they’ve all been river cruises. We’re really looking forward to a big-ship European cruise (several actually – there’s so much to see) it just hasn’t worked out yet. But as much as we like sailing with Carnival in the Caribbean, we never really considered them for Europe – more likely Celebrity, Princess or Royal Caribbean. This article is absolutely right though: the high cost of airfare is incredibly prohibitive!

We’ve only been on five Princess cruises but we have some friends who are Elite and we’ve gotten to ride their coattails and enjoy some of the benefits – great perks!

This sounds awesome – should be a big hit!

Nice review Mary – thanks for sharing!

No doubt about it Carol – cruising is the best vacation value around!

Welcome to CruiseCrazies! We all love cruising and this is a great place for help planning your next trip and talking about past adventures!

Welcome to CruiseCrazies! We all love cruising and this is a great place for help planning your next trip and talking about past adventures!

That’s amazing Paul – how did you answer with a straight face?

We haven’t experienced any of the Carnival ships that have gotten the full Fun Ship 2.0 treatment yet but we’re looking forward to trying every one of those new venues someday soon. Here’s hoping that the Carnival Triumph can return to service without much of the stigma from her recent past still attached…

Hi Jerry! We all love cruising and this is a great place for help planning your next trip and talking about past adventures! On your singles cruises, have you tried any of the studio rooms on Norwegian or Royal Caribbean for solo travelers?