Cruisin'

[msmemory_archive]

We're thinking that maybe it's time to try a cruise instead of a resort for vacation at the end of May. Any experiences to relate, good or bad, with specific cruise lines or packagers? Especially, comments on the food and the noise/chaos level. :) Other cruising advice? (I've already read Ian's message from this spring.)

ETA: when I say "noise/chaos" I'm thinking of all types, from young exuberant children, to packs of mall-rat teens, to geezers who think that 6 a.m. is "sleeping in." It's not (just) about young kids. :)

Comments

[radegund-lj.livejournal.com]

I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise last year at the end of September with my parents and some of their friends. It was a fall cruise that left from Boston, went up the coast of New England, and into Canada. It's basically a big floating hotel. There were some kids on board, but not many since school had started; I imagine there would be more in the summer. I don't recall noticing much in the way of noise problems; in fact we had to open the cabin door in order to clearly understand announcements coming out of the speakers in the hallway.

The food was good, and each night there were several selections to choose from. For breakfast and lunch we went to the buffet rather than the sit-down restaurant. Drinks other than water were extra -- not just alcohol but also soda. I'm a Diet Coke fiend so I paid for a "soda pass" that let me get all the soda I wanted for one price, which was about $50. Yeah, that's a lot in the real world, but for what the ship would have charged for the amount of soda I tend to drink in a day, it worked out. There was one formal dress night, which my parents say is standard for cruises.

I can get travel sick but only had one bad evening when things were particularly choppy. I find that those anti-seasickness pressure wrist bands work for me, and then my mom and I sat and played "name that tune" at the piano bar which served to distract me from the motion of the ship. ;) We spent several nights at the piano bar, it was fun.

The one thing I got really ticked off about was that I went to their Internet center to get an email fix and the connection was horribly slow. Of course they charge by the minute regardless of how fast the pages are loading. It wasn't worth it -- I should have logged off and just lived without email for the trip.

You are expected to tip your cabin attendant and the guys who serve your sit-down dinners. The cruise left us a document with oh-so-convenient suggested tip amounts. ;)