Been on a cruise?
 

Uncle Sam owes me some money. Going to take the wife on a cruise, probably down into Mexico and the Bahamas. Anybody been on a cruise before?

Yes

Yep

Yup

Got to go on a three day cruise with my senior class of 93 to Nassau Bahamas. Prettay prettay prettay fun.

I went on a 7 day from Galveston to Jamaica/Caymans/Cozumel.

I did have fun, but the 4 days at sea where blah, and overall I felt like for the money I spent I got jacked. Should have went to Hawaii and rode motorcycles around the islands like I wanted too!

Thanks for ruining the fun...

Except the plane tickets alone for Hawaii would cost at least twice as much as the cruise. Sometimes doing nothing is a nice change of pace.

But I thought HoneyBadger don't care

http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/a...oneyBadger.jpg

plane tickets cost 12 grand?

I spent around 6 grand total for 2 people. That's the rooms, full slate of expeditions on each stop, lost a grand in gambling, drank like a fish, bought stuff etc etc.

See, I'm not trying to spend as much money as possible. The cruise I'm looking at it is around $500 per person. Haven't checked flight rates in a little while but I'm pretty sure to fly from Missouri round trip to Hawaii would be considerably more than $500.

Just remember, it's not just the cost of the cruise. You've got soda pop that costs money if you want it, as well as booze. Ports, gambling, different shit on the boat. The food is covered obviously, but there is a gratuity that is added that is something like $11 a day per person. Do your homework on trying to smuggle booze on the boat. I know it can be done, but it's a lot tougher than you may think.

It gets you 24 hour room service, but they won't let you off the boat until you pay these charges. There are going to be some additional costs, just be aware of them. Also, it'll probably be cheaper for you to fly out of Branson, than it will from Springtown. Check that out as well.

Yeah...been on 2. Id go to the Bahamas Dom. Repub cruise thru Carnival.

Very pretty down there. Awesome snorkleing. Lots of booze.

Bring the biggest clear water bottles you can find, because vodka is very cheap off shore down there, and you can pour it into the bottles and sneak it onto the ship. The booze on the ship is very pricey.

Bring an appetite. Food is non-stop 24/7

Went to Cozumel,Rouatan,Belieze, in December. Great snorkling in Rouatan, and Belieze. Took Royal Carribean this time around, but prefer Carnival much better! Been on several in the past 10 years, 7 day cruises are too long(too much "fun at sea"time), 3 day may be too short, where 5 day is about right. Left out of Galvaston twice, and Miami area twice. Couple of my favorites was swimming with the stingrays in Grand Caymen, and just lounging around in St Thomas/St Martins area of the carribean.

med cruise twice on the USS Arthur W Radford but I'm not sure they should call them "cruises"

would cruising with a 1 yr old be worth it?

What a coincidence. I got an adventurous notion the other day and started checking the prices for a 5 day cruise for my son and me. Pretty inexpensive imo. Seems the deciding factor will be the airfare to and from the port (because they don't sail out of Kansas)

If I lived in Miami/Ft Lauderdale area I'd go on these cruises once a month if I could.

A lot of times these cruiseliner companeis want to fill up the entire ship so the rooms left over that aren't taken are sold for very VERY cheap at the last minute.

Can't take advantage of that up here in KC because last minute roundtrip airfare basically would make up for the costs you'd save on the actual cruise :/

A floating prison, fitting.

I was looking last night and a 5 day cruise in early august to the Bahamas would run about $300 a person after tax. Roundtrip airfare to Orlando out of Springfield would be about $300 for my son and I.

Id check out all inclusive to Mexico. Fly into Cancun stay 7 nights in Playa Del Carmen Riviera Maya and spend around 1,200 per person with flights included. Been on several cruises and all inclusive vacations blow a cruise away. Both price and fun wise. Remember all-inclusive.

CHIEF

You'd be going during hurricane season just fyi

Lots of other charges involved. Don't go in thinking you will only spend the money it costs for the cruise. You will be very disapoint.

Did a 4 day to the Bahamas, it was fun but I think I would have rather just flown to wherever I wanted to go and spent the extra time there.

I'm actually looking into Sandals resorts not that I found out Airtran flies to a couple of them. Not ruling out a cruise just yet though as the cruise is cheaper but not all inclusive.

August is still a little bit better than September when the big stuff starts flying in.

Just got off of one last Saturday morning. I prefer to do cruises in the winter. Kids are in school so there are fewer rugrats on board and it's also a nice change from the weather.

Depending on where you're going from in Missouri, why not just drive to Galveston or New Orleans?

Went on my first cruise last fall. Drove down to New Orleans. Five day cruise to Yucatan and Cozumel. It's not that much, really. It's not too difficult to go five days without soda. You can have water, juice, coffee, etc. I typically just bought one of whatever the drink of the day was. Any alcohol you purchase gets sent to your room the night before you get off the boat. I made sure to buy a couple pints at one of the ports. That last morning before getting off the boat was killer...lol. Yeah, save some money for ports and extras. I ended up getting some pictures done, and that's what cost me. The gratuity is automatically added, but you can go to customer service and have it taken off. I took off some of mine, but left some extra cash for the people in charge of our room.

Yes and leaving Saturday the 26th on our next one.Always go Holland America,this trip is San Juan PR,St Thomas VI,Grand Turks and Half Moon Cay.And you can put 1/2 gallon booze bottles in your luggage we always do.Its a blast and the service is excellent.

I went on a 7 night cruise and I think I spent like $50 on the ship... you'll spend more if you want to drink, and of course they give you ample opportunities to spend your money, but it's not like they hold a gun to your head. They'll gouge you on the excursions, but we mostly went out on our own. They were charging $150 for one excursion, and we basically followed the excursion's plan, took public transportation, and did it for about $30.

I know some people could just stay on the ship the whole time, but I personally got far more out of the ports, and probably wouldn't spend that kind of money to just relax on the ship. Granted, there was a lot to do, and the endless supply of food was nice, I got kind of restless during the days at sea. Probably just me though... doing nothing on a balcony of a ship is great for 15 minutes or reading for an hour is nice, then I wish I had an internet connection or ps3. :D

So with Holland you can bring your own? Just has to be the big bottles? Limit on that, or can you bring as many as you want?

I've been on a few and love em! Booze is expensive on the ship so make sure you bring enough money for that, gambling, and tipping. It really adds up quickly.

Lol, that is why I discuss such things

Five days without internet. Five days. Somehow, I survived. I'm really not sure how. I missed it more than I missed my phone, but that isn't saying much.

I enjoyed roaming the boat. There was always something going on. Of course, I enjoy me time, so I had no problem walking around, sitting down, reading, taking a nap, etc.

No it's not their policy either (had to look it up though).
I assume what he's saying is just to pack it in your luggage and it will often get through. I know that's what we do with Carnival. I've only been on two, but on both we put a couple of bottles (750s, not 1/2 gallons) in each bag and I figured if it got on, great, if not, I'd get it back at the end of the cruise since I left it in the original containers.

Last week we got all six bottles in. You can also carry on two bottles of wine if that's your thing.

Also, when you're leaving a port they tell you to check your liquor, but they don't always pay real close attention to if you go to the check in table or not. Leaving Cozumel last Thursday, I carried a 3L bottle of Jack Daniel's straight to the room.

So they won't kick you off or anything if they catch you not checking it? They'll just take it and give it back at the end? Shit. I'd take my chances.

I know, right?
I look back at the trouble we went through to hide booze in mouthwash bottles and just laugh.

Been on 7. Not really looking to go anymore (at least for now) but #8 will be this spring since it's a family thing.

What are the checks? They actually go through your luggage? If so, how do they not see a bunch of bottles of booze? Color me confused.

Only on Chiefsplanet.

Let's go on a CRUISE and then see what we can do to pinch every last penny on incidentals.

:D

'Merica! **** yeah! But freedom isn't free. Naw there's a hefty ****in fee. And if you don't sneak on your booze, someone else will. Freedom is bringing booze on the boat!

If you're on a Mediterranean cruise, just let me say this:

Having lived there, I can tell you that your smuggled American booze is horse piss. The stuff you can get on-shore is WAY better.

:)

I'll keep that in mind, because the Mediterranean cruise is on my list of musts. And it's damn near at the top. I'll bet that was gorgeous. Got any pictures? I know we're not supposed to post vacation pics on here and whatnot, but let's make an exception. ;)

I don’t know that they do anything more than pass it through an x-ray like at the airport.
IIRC, we checked in our luggage, got our safety briefing and the luggage was delivered to our room.

They're in a scrapbook somewhere. It was in the mid-90s so it was all done with a film camera. Oh the horror.

Your drink tastes better when you think you’re cheating “the man”. ;)

LMAO That's pretty awesome though. I'd have to take a shit ton of pictures on a cruise. It's not like I'd remember any of it. :D Well, the Med cruise I wouldn't drink a ton on. I'd want to remember that one.

Your drink tastes better when you know it's the finest drink on the face of the earth. ;)

I think it's handled the same as in airports. Maybe just random checks. They do check the soda you can bring on board. They slightly open your 12pks. There were quite a few that had carefully opened them and stuck beers or limearitas inside. It was quite a pile at the soda check in table...lol.

Just went on my first one this year. Went to Atlantis...incredible but not enough time at Atlantis. It was a 7 day cruise, enjoyed the time at sea, but it got a little long on the specific boat we were on and the other two stops were a little boring. Next cruise, I will do 5 days out of Florida with a 2-day stay at Atlantis where I will rent a room to get full access to the Park for much cheaper than my $700 one day with a family of six. Atlantis is one of the most awesome places on earth, but I would advise going in the winter or offseason, much cheaper, less crowd at the stops. Also, the excursions (Carnival at least) are more expensive than you can work out on your own. Have fun!

I figure it's a no brainer to try to get a bottle or two on board. If they catch it, I get it back anyway. I've found that a 750ml bottle can fit inside a shoe.


I can only speak for Carnival, but

Copied from their liquor and beverage policy:
http://www.carnival.com/core/faq.aspx?faq=liquor
All alcohol/hard liquor/beer (sealed, unopened bottles/cans), wine/champagne over the allowable 1-bottle per guest (sealed, unopened bottles) or excessive quantities of non-alcoholic beverages (over 12 per person, sealed, unopened bottles/cans) will be confiscated and stored for safekeeping until the end of the voyage. The retained item(s) will be available for collection onboard in a designated location on the morning of debarkation. Unsealed liquids that are prohibited will be discarded, as well as any unclaimed items left after the voyage, and no compensation will be given in either case.

went to bahamas on carnival boats, not my idea of fun, only thing to do was gamble no shows except to buy jewlery, aint happening ! food was good, bahamas was just ok, kinda boring, even took a jeep tour kinda lame. best part of trip was going to the kennedy space center in florida, best day of the trip by far.

As far as them catching it, it's hit and miss, but I suspect more gets through than doesn't.
You figure that from the time a ship pulls into port (8:30 am give or take normally) until they take off again (4pm ish) they have to not only unload thousands of bags, but also scan and load a few thousand more. There's no way in hell they're going to catch it all.

You went on the crappiest kind of cruise: short trip to the Bahamas.

I've been thinking about just skipping the cruise and JUST going to Atlantis. It looks like a lot of fun for a family...

To clarify, you may only bring aboard 1 bottle of wine (not liquor or beer) per guest over the age of 21.

You can do better. The Bahamas are pretty lame.

I have two pre-teen kids. Pretty much every family vacation destination is lame.

The kids want to go to Hawaii, FWIW.

This thread has way too much emphasis on sneaking in alcohol and not enough on cruises.

I'm not a drinker, so I have to ask. I thought half the fun of drinking is going down to the bar and hanging out and meeting people and getting in drunken fights where you hit people with chairs and throw them through windows. If you're sneaking liquor on board, don't you miss out on all that fun?

No. You get happy for less in your stateroom then, already happy, travel to the bar, get happier and meet people.

I've done everything from the 7-10 day Caribbean trips to the 21 day Mediterranean/Middle East cruises, and the biggest lesson I've learned is to avoid the ship sponsored excursions at all costs. They absolutely bend you over with their pricing. I go out on my own. (this may present some safety issues depending on where you go and how comfortable you are with the idea) Hire local taxis to take you where you want to go. Hire private boats to take you outside the congested reefs that all the ships bring people to. Research ports online at places like cruisecritic .com. You can usually find others on your same cruise looking to hook up with small groups for the tourist spots. The advantages are usually a much more reasonable price, local knowledge and info from your guide and a more relaxed time compared to the ships excursions where they load up 40 or more of you on a bus and haul you around like sheep. It can also greatly open up the opportunities available to you. On one trip to Cozumel, we weren't super excited by the typical local excursions, so we pre-arranged to get a flight at the local airport to take us inland to go to Chichen Itza. Figuring it may be the only time I'd ever be in the area, it was well worth the extra $ and planning to see such an amazing site as opposed to a 4 hour snorkeling trip that pretty much everyone else on our ship did.

Also be prepared to haggle. It's accepted practice to negotiate taxi fares, tourist items at shops etc...

Know what type of vacation cruise you really want. Personally, I hate the days at sea. I'm not much for lounging on my balcony or at the pool for hours or days at a time. I'd prefer my vacation being spent doing something. Others though love the days at sea and the ability to mingle and do nothing. Pick your cruise accordingly.

Time of year, length of trip and the cruise line you choose all impact the type of people you'll find on your ship. A cheaper cruise line such as Carnival will usually give you more of a younger group. Lots of families and that typically means kids running around the ship and being loud. Whereas companys like Princess, Celebrity or Oceania are genarally more expensive and tend to be an older bunch.

Longer cruises also tend to raise the average age. My first cruise was as a 21 yr old with my parents on a 10 day Southern Caribbean on Princess. Most of my shipmates were about 60 plus. While I had an amazing time, I missed having the younger crowd that I was expecting in the night clubs and social events. Typically the shorter cruise length finds more people in the younger age brackets either due to financial means or ability to have time off from jobs or school.

Time of year can have an effect on whether or not kids are out of school, hence more families on board. Also the weather comes into play.

Cruising is a great get away. Just research where you want to go, what you want to do and the type of atmosphere you're looking for. And as others have mentioned, prepare accordingly for all the additional monies you'll spend on top of the cruise price and airfare. To an extent you're nickle an dimed the entire way' but you can have some control over that with proper planning.

Way better, cruises are for chicks. Horrible really.

I'm actually a fan of cruises. I guess you can make what you want out of them, but for me they're a chance to just melt and get away from everything. You don't have to worry about anything. I just wander somewhere and eat, go to the gym and exercise, and then hang out and read or whatever. I actually like the days at sea because then I don't feel pressure to go wander around some city being stressed about when I have to get back to the ship.

I think I'm less common in that attitude. I suspect that most people like the more social aspects of cruises like the shore excursions and the shows and drinking in their stateroom before going to the bar. For me, oddly, a cruise is actually a great place to be solitary, either with my spouse or by myself.

I would rather do a inclusive vacation or an Alaskan cruise.

I'd prefer a high pressure colonoscopy with large grain sea salt and pop rocks in a boiling habanero solution...

I've been on several cruises. All for free. Ask me how, or go to:

http://www.navy.com/

Did the week long Mexican Riviera cruise two years ago. Left from San Diego, went down to Acapulco, then up to Zihuatanejo (for all you Shawshank fans) and a few other places.

It was AWESOME!!!!!

1. Being a boat rules.
2. All you can eat of some mighty tasty food
3. Have to pay for your booze, but meh it was worth it. Word of advice, don't buy their "specialty" drinks of the day, way too expensive.
4. Zihuatanejo is amazingly beautiful. There is an all inclusive resort right on the beach that I might take the wife to sometime.
5. Your hotel moves with you. Basically you get on the boat, unpack and you're done. You get to go to all these places and be a tourist, and then back on the boat to the next location, it's pretty sweet.

I highly recommend it. Plus, if you get a balcony room, the wife will be very "excited" all the time.

me too.
but the chicks were ugly.

and they would only port every 4 weeks or more lol

Watch your cornhole, bud.

LMAO.

I did. constandly.

Pass...

:) I figured you'd catch that.

It's amazing; your "Would You"? list becomes quite large when out at sea for 8 months.

You certainly develop an appreciation for women.

....then you pull into port in San Diego, and slap yourself in the face asking yourself "WTF as I thinking"

...any port in a storm. Just sayin'.

australia had the most beautiful women I've ever seen. they were everywhere.
it was glorious. and, they were super Nice. I couldn't believe it.

from Dumb and Dumber:
"...I mean. She actually TALKED to me man"

I've heard this..

I've also heard they love American men?

Are you asking for you of for me? My boy is almost 2 and would be staying with his grandparents during our cruise.

Wrong, I don't have to hide the prune wine I make. Also they don't force me to make license plates. Oh and I can have all the food I want. I'm not stabbing anybody in the eye for another piece of cake (not that I've done that).

LOL, someone actually neg repped me for this thread. Of all my posts, this one somehow drew his ire. I guess my Rich Gannon avatar was just the last straw.