New / Future cruiser

[curmar1]

Hi we are planning our first cruise for our 30th anniversary. We want to select a cruise to hawaii ( we live near San Francisco ) How do you go about selecting the right cruise line. The right ship.

Do most of you book online or go through a TA ?

Are upgrades common? preferred or dangerous (gamble)

See basically WHAT THE HECK DO WE DO TO GET THIS GOING heheehe

:huh:

Looking forward to hearing your comments!

[JoeyandDavid]

Hi curmar1,

First and foremost welcome to Cruise Crazies!! Glad to have you aboard! Secondly Congratulations on your up coming 30th Anniversary!

I tend to start my research for a cruise alomost a year and a half out, there are others that will book last minute and have no qualms, so....

Many people have different opinions as to which cruise line to cruise with, whether or not they want a balcony or an inside cabin, whether or not they enjoy a party atmosphere or a laid back expierence.

For me those are the first questions to be answered, then comes the budget, how much do you want to spend from the time you leave your home till you put the key back in the lock on your front door upon return.

I would suggest doing a basic Hawaiian search on one of the major travel sites.. Travelocity, expedia, Orbitz ..etc.. and get an idea of what’s available for your time frame.

Once you make that decision .. get hold of a reliable TA, if you don’t have one already, there are a couple of members here that would be glad to help you out ..no doubt.

For us the bottom line in any Vacation, is tailoring it to meet OUR expectations.

Hope that gives you a start.

Good luck

[cruisetarp]

Welcome to Cruise Crazies and the wonderful world of cruising. One word of warning - after your first cruise you will be hooked like all of us and looking to book cruise #2.

I think the most important thing is to decide how active a cruise you want and what ports you really want to see. The web has tons and tons of information to help you decide and you have a lot of friends here to help with information. Once you decide on a cruise line, set a realistic budget and begin to plan. The most important thing is to find a reliable TA and let them make suggestions to get you through the planning stages but don't let them talk you into anything you don't want.

Another important thing is the buy Insurance to cover your trip. Hopefully you will never need it and it will be a waste of your money, but should you need it for any reason it will be invaluable.

Enjoy planning your first cruise and as questions come up - ask away. We are here to help.

[KeithnRita]

Hi curmar1

Congratulations on your upcoming 30th anniversary. You're received some good advice so far. The only thing we can add is what ever cruise line or ship you end up on will be at least a good cruise. There is no bad cruises, but there is some great ones!

We remember back to our first cruise and half the fun is the planning and anticipation.

As far as an upgrade, we like to pick our stateroom and don't seek one. We would suggest you find a good Cruise Travel Agent and let them do most of the leg work.

[rogue]

Hi, and welcome to CruiseCrazies. Congrats on your anniversary. A cruise is possibly the best way to celebrate any special occasion. We went on our 1st cruise for our 20th anniversary and will be going on our 7th cruise next summer.

We went to a travel agent that we trust for our 1st and she did a great job steering us to a great cruise. We have gone through her for all of our subsequent cruises. If you don't know a travel agent, there are pleanty around who specialize in cruises. I really think that this is the way to go, especially for the 1st cruise.

We were upgraded on our 1st cruise from an ocean-view cabin to a balcony. We were thrilled and it really work out great on that cruise. Unfortunately for us, we will never cruise now if we don't have a balcony cabin. I think that you'll find quite a few cruisers who do the same. These days, it seems that there is not very much upgrading going on. Even if you do get upgraded, it usually means that you go up to a higher deck in the same type of cabin.

Feel free to ask us all the questionsyou have. Believe me, we all love to answer them. Enjoy the anticipation of the cruise.

:grin:

[hamster92256]

Curmar1 welcome to Cruise Crazies, our first cruise was for our 25th and we were planning our second before we disembarked :grin: We are like Joey, plan far in advance and do as much research as possible, it really is the best part.

Just keep asking questions here, you will always get an answer!!!!

[JohnG]

The only cruise line that can offer 7 night Hawaiian cruises from Honolulu with 100 hours in ports and over night in Maui and Kauai is NCL America, with all US crew. However, you must fly to Hawaii. They offer Freestyle, which includes up to 10 restaurants, never more than 4 with cover charge and including two traditional dining rooms. Due to Hawaiian state law, they have no casinos or bingo aboard. Currently they have two ships there, Pride of Aloha and Pride of America, and a third one due in 2006, Price of America. They are more casual in dress and approach, with only one optional formal night.

The other cruise lines that visit Hawaii originate in North America in ports such as Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego, or even Ensenada Mexico. However, due to a law, they must visit one foreign port before returning to the US. These are necessarily longer, in the 12-18 day range. The longer the cruise, the more it costs, and the older the crowd. Ships typically spend 4 days sailing there and 4 days sailing back, and if they don't visit Ensenada or Vancouver, they have to sail off to Fanning Island for a beach day just meet the requirement. These cruise lines tend to have traditional dining, perhaps a specialty restaurant or two with cover charge, and multiple formal nights

The cruise lines can be divided into categories: Mass Market includes Carnival, Norwegian (NCL), and Royal Caribbean. Premier Lines include Princess, Celebrity and Holland America. Niche lines include Oceania, Cunard, Windstar. The Luxury lines include Crystal, Radisson Seven Seas, Silverseas, Seabourn, and SeaDream, and those middle three are all inclusive with open bar. Price, again goes up as you move from mass market lines on up to Luxury.

Hope this helps.

[curmar1]

thank all of you for the nice welcome and input. I am sure that we will have lots more questions and we are really happy to find you; you will surely be a valuble resource for us ...thanks again !!!

[Shari2]

Welcome aboard curmar1!

Everyone here has given you excellent advice, so I won't add to it, but I will say that I have a review in the review section here of Celebrity's "Infinity" that I took to Hawaii last December if you are interested in reading it.

It was a 15-day cruise round trip from San Diego. If you're interested in a longer cruise, this might interest you. If you've never been to Hawaii before, you might like NCL, like John mentioned, because you can fly to Hawaii and stay for a couple of days before you board the ship and have a lot more time in the islands. Good luck with your decision!