Where / How Do I Begin?

[ColoradoSweetheart]

I am trying to plan our first cruise for the Eastern Caribbean next spring ... or February ... Where do I begin? Do I use a TA or online? Which ship do I choose? Do you pay it all off or down and then payments? HELP!!!!

[JoeyandDavid]

Hi ColoradoSweetheart,

First and foremost you did the right thing coming here to CruiseCrazies...Welcome glad you stopped by..

The first thing you do is......TAKE A deep breath....

NOW

DECIDE WHERE AND WHEN YOU WANT TO GO.

Once you have determined that you have a few options, most tend to turn their inquiry over to a TA who will make all the arrangements, then there are some of us that like to plan everything ourselves and manage our own account.. Depending on the type of person you are will dictate which way you go.

Ask a lot of questions...listen to what they say ..if you don’t understand don’t be afraid to say that you don’t...and ask the question again.. Remember "bottom line..its your vacation. know what you are buying"

If I personally can help let me know.. there are a lot of seasoned cruise people here and a few TA's also .. all more than willing to help if we can..

Once again Welcome to CruiseCrazies.. and good luck with your planning! :grin:

[hamster92256]

Listen to Joey - Just keep asking questions as you will get many responses, and as we always say "There is no such thing as a dumb question". Also we all have our own ideas on how to achive nirvana(cruise :grin: ).

Personally I like to plan everything out myself, first by figuring where to go, then how much I want to spend. Since we don't live close to any major ports airfare is a consideration in the overall plan.

Welcome to Cruise Crazies!!! and what part of Denver? My DIL is from Littleton!

[GottaCruz]

Welcome aboard, ColoradoSweetheart. We're so glad that you found us. Joey and Chris have given you excellent advice, as they always do. We love new members and we want you to feel free to ask away. That's what we're here for. Hope to get to know you and hope to see you posting often.

[ColoradoSweetheart]

I live in Denver, up North near Thornton, did live in Littleton for 8 years, in fact I work at Littleton Hospital.

Thank you for all the good advice. I have a huge binder full of tips and hints and stuff I've printed off. It's mind boggling, but I love it.

[Shari2]

Welcome aboard, ColoradoSweetheart!

Good advice from Joey and Chris. For my first cruise I used a travel agent that came recommended by friends. It's really a big help to have a TA when you haven't cruised before. After the first cruise, it's much easier to plan things on your own if you wish to for the next cruise. I would recommend going with a travel agent for the first time.

As Joey said, have your dates picked out and an idea of what you are looking for in a cruise, so you can pick out the right cruise line for you... such as, if you like to stay up late and party, you might like Carnival, or Royal Caribbean; if you are looking for something more quiet and a bit dressier with great food, you might like Celebrity or Princess or Holland America.

If you have any questions for us on dress, tipping, ports, certain ships, or just about anything...ask away.

[KarenUK]

Firstly WELCOME ColoradoSweetheart

If you have already decided on the East Caribbean you need to find out which ships will be doing that itinerary on the dates you want to sail & then my advice would be to go onto the Cruise lines web site to check out the ships, you should get a good idea if you like the look of the ship from their & also from what info your TA gives you. - Good luck!!

[sewut51]

Hi and welcome to Cruise Crazies. I used to live in Commerce City, CO. My daughter and her family still live there. When we went on our first cruise we were living there and we used a travel agent from Thornton on 104th St. right near Red Lobster. I don't know if they are still there, that was 11 years ago. Once you've cruised, you'll be hooked. I'm suffering from PCD (Post Cruise Depression) right now. I'm waiting for my husband to provide the cure, book another cruise!

Sewut

[Mebert]

ColoradoSweetheart,

Welcome to CruiseCrazies. Everything that everyone said is absolutely true. I would just add that you should know yourself and how you like to plan.

Are there specific islands you would like to visit or are you interested in the cruise experience for its own sake.

Are you open to suggestions about cruises to the Eastern Caribbean or do you want to do your own research?

If you visit some of the sites for cruise lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Holland America, Princess, and many others, such as some of the luxury lines, you can enter certain criterion and generate a number of cruises that fit it. Don't book with the cruise line right away. Make note of the price and then see a TA who is a cruise specialist or go to Orbitz to get a ball park figure before you shop. Use your search engine to find some cruise specialists. If you go to cruisecompete.com and tell them which cruise you're interested in several cruise TA's will contact you with the fare from their company. After you start cruising you may get special fares from the cruise line that are far below their listed fares.

Just keep asking questions. No matter how simple or how complicated they may be. The answers are important to you and we would be glad to help if we know the answers or have suggestions.

Good luck.

[Joanandjoe]

Welcome to Cruise Crazies, Colorado Sweetheart. All of the suggestions have been good, but they don't really get into WHY it's usually worth extra money (if necessary) to use a Travel Agent (TA) for your first cruise. Once you have a general idea of dates and places for the cruise, you need to choose a cruise line. Here there are many variables, such as: size of ship, size of cabins, flexibilty of dining (some people like fixed times and places, others like to be able to choose times and places each meal), degree of luxury, age group of fellow passengers, activity level onboard (ranges from "party" to "dignified", with everything in between), etc. It sounds complicated, but it isn't. If you have a TA who knows you, he or she can steer you in the right direction.

Example. W're both around sixty, spend more time in our cabins than most people, are not night owls, hate glitz, don't like crowds, and prefer a genteel atmosphere. For us, Holland America and Celebrity are the most appropraite mainstream cruise lines, and we'll go upscale to that when we get a good price. If our 31 year old son tried a cruise (which he hasn't yet done), he'd want a high activity level, lots of late night activities, and an active atmosphere. He probably wouldn't spend much time in his cabin, so cabin size would be less important to him than to us. He might enjoy Carnival or Royal Caribbean, with Princess also possible.