Help a Sherbro: cruises

therealdope

therealdope

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I've never been on a cruise. In fact the whole idea of a cruise has always turned me off, but I'm reconsidering my prejudice against cruises. AS part of a family vacation next summer we are thinking about a 1 week cruise of the Baltics to St Petersberg.

I'm hoping sherbros will be able to help me out here. Looking for advice about choosing a cruise line and any other tips you guys might have. We have a 12 yr old an a 15 yr old. I'd prefer not to be running into Disney characters for 7 days straight :eek:

We would prefer a better cruise line (not looking for bargain basement deals). It looks like the nicer cruise lines discourage bringing kids --- someone recommended Cunard to me and it's pretty obvious they want to avoid kids on their cruises.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.
 
I went to the Bahamas from Florida. It was fun as hell. Can't remember what cruise line I took though.
 
therealdope said:
What made it 'fun as hell'?

inb4 hookers and blow
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Just a cool atmosphere on board, good food, drinks and good destinations. Got in some solid snorkeling at all the stops, water was clear and full of fish.

One of the boats out to snorkeling had unlimited rum drinks there and back so you could drink your money's worth.
 
therealdope said:
I've never been on a cruise. In fact the whole idea of a cruise has always turned me off, but I'm reconsidering my prejudice against cruises. AS part of a family vacation next summer we are thinking about a 1 week cruise of the Baltics to St Petersberg.

I'm hoping sherbros will be able to help me out here. Looking for advice about choosing a cruise line and any other tips you guys might have. We have a 12 yr old an a 15 yr old. I'd prefer not to be running into Disney characters for 7 days straight :eek:

We would prefer a better cruise line (not looking for bargain basement deals). It looks like the nicer cruise lines discourage bringing kids --- someone recommended Cunard to me and it's pretty obvious they want to avoid kids on their cruises.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...


Take an Alaska Cruise, Seward to Vancouver, 7 day.

Even you'll dig it.

<HisEye>

Better than Russki-Land!
 
I looked into a cruise before but we decided to go to st. Thomas and spend our time there
 
If you ever wanted to travel to the exotic land of San Diego while being cornholed by Dave Mustaine here's your chance -

megacruise.png


https://www.rollingstone.com/music/...ment-to-headline-megacruise-next-year-735326/

"The cruise will also offer “artist photo experiences,” Q&As with the bands, beer tastings, instrument clinics, “morning coffee jams” a charity auction, a cornhole tournament and “Megadeth themed events,” among other happenings. Prices range from $800 to $4,899."
 
i did a 12 night Scandinavian cruise with royal Caribbean 15 years ago and loved...
england to oslo, stockholm, talin(estonia),st. petersburg, helsinki, copenhagen and back to england.

in st petersburg i just did a few cruise provided excursions.
i didnt have any kids and it was mainly couples in older ages... very few kids... this might vary with time of year.
food was great... shows at night were good... was not alot to do for me during the at sea days on the ship, but it was an older ship.
For site seeing and historical things I enjoyed.
 
I've taken four cruises. I used Carnival and Royal Caribbean. The food on both were good. Carnival was more of a younger crowd and party atmosphere. When booking excursions at the ports, try to book them online with reputable companies. This will save you some money. I would also highly recommend checking out the Cruise Critic Forum. There are so many tips on ships, ports and cruising tips.

Cruise Critic Forum
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/
 
therealdope said:
I've never been on a cruise. In fact the whole idea of a cruise has always turned me off, but I'm reconsidering my prejudice against cruises. AS part of a family vacation next summer we are thinking about a 1 week cruise of the Baltics to St Petersberg. Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...

I've been to 4 cruises. Stay away from Carnival. Stay away from those huge ships. Best cruise lines would be Silversea and Cunard. Smaller ships. Norwegian is also good, not as expensive. Hotel (rooms) and meals are included with the cruise price. That is a big plus. Food and drinks 24/7. The Baltics will be a nice place to visit. St. Petersburg (Leningrad) is beautiful. I don't think a 12 and 15 year old will appreciate the trip, but they will sure enjoy the ship and its activities. Silversea has cruises in the Baltics.

My last cruise was actually the 'KISS Kruise III' with Norwegian. KISS fans had a blast. There are bands that put cruises together and they are always fun to go to if you can get a room. Other three were: Norway, Alaska, and Chile.

Here is the 'Queen Elizabeth' -- Cunard line. A classic ship and line. Great ship for a Transatlantic trip. Not many people know this, but the British Navy has a submarine that follows the ship for security reasons -- hostage situation. Military onboard.
queen-elizabeth-at-sea.jpg
 
Last edited:
Phr3121 said:
I've been to 4 cruises. Stay away from Carnival. Stay away from those huge ships. Best cruise lines would be Silversea and Cunard. Smaller ships. Norwegian is also good, not as expensive. Hotel (rooms) and meals are included with the cruise price. That is a big plus. Food and drinks 24/7. The Baltics will be a nice place to visit. St. Petersburg (Leningrad) is beautiful. I don't think a 12 and 15 year old will appreciate the trip, but they will sure enjoy the ship and its activities. Silversea has cruises in the Baltics.
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Noted.

Cunard is pretty much for adults, Seabourn is apparently even more so. We are debating the northern route and the Fjords vs the baltics. My 15 yr old was the one who said she preferred to see Leningrad.

Right now Royal Caribbean has the dates that our schedule. We checked cruisecritic and trip advisor, the comments are all over the place making it hard to make any conclusions. Someone advised we look at the age of the ship. Newer ships (we're told) make for a more enjoyable vacation.

THanks for your comments.
 
Chesten_Hesten said:
Take an Alaska Cruise, Seward to Vancouver, 7 day.

Even you'll dig it.

<HisEye>

Better than Russki-Land!
Click to expand...

If this cruise works out, the Alaska one is on the list. Just the idea of an Alaskan cruise makes me feel old :/
 
MrPaigeVanZant said:
I've taken four cruises. I used Carnival and Royal Caribbean. The food on both were good. Carnival was more of a younger crowd and party atmosphere. When booking excursions at the ports, try to book them online with reputable companies. This will save you some money. I would also highly recommend checking out the Cruise Critic Forum. There are so many tips on ships, ports and cruising tips.

Cruise Critic Forum
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/
Click to expand...

+1, we've been looking at cruise critic.
 
Winter-John said:
If you ever wanted to travel to the exotic land of San Diego while being cornholed by Dave Mustaine here's your chance -

megacruise.png


https://www.rollingstone.com/music/...ment-to-headline-megacruise-next-year-735326/

"The cruise will also offer “artist photo experiences,” Q&As with the bands, beer tastings, instrument clinics, “morning coffee jams” a charity auction, a cornhole tournament and “Megadeth themed events,” among other happenings. Prices range from $800 to $4,899."
Click to expand...

Jesus. What's worse, speed metal as a Vegas show or on a cruise? I'm sure that's what the Megadeath guys were thinking when they were 18, "someday, I'll be playing a cruise ship!".
 
I’ve wanted to do a Baltic cruise for over a decade, but just haven’t pulled the trigger (mainly due to having young kids). I’m no cruise expert, but I’ve done a Mediterranean cruise on the Norwegian Jewel and we were pleased with Norwegian. We felt like we had more freedom to eat when and where we wanted (decent food), with no forced grouping for dinner (and no formal dinner bullshit that some cruises force on you).

It’s an efficient way to see multiple cities in a short period of time, with fairly low stress. The only stress involved is how far you want to push your limits on the allotted time you have at port. For example, seeing Rome in a day can be a whirlwind. We nearly missed our bus back to the ship because we decided to hit so many places.

My guess is that you’ll like the cruise well enough, but that it won’t be a regular thing for you. You may go 10 years without doing another one. After all, it’s just a big hotel on the water. Sure it’s got perks, and you certainly don’t want to end up on one with all retirees or some shit, but the port cities make the trip for me, not really the ship. Admittedly, at the ages of your kids, they may see more value in the ship itself than you do.
 
We did 2 cruises somfar. First one in the caribbean when our son was a teenager. That was with Carnival cruise lines and i didn’t like it as much. Carnival had assigned seating for meals, and the boat was overrun with kids whose parents were too drunk (or didn’t care) to look after. When 8 year olds are running in the corridors and screaming at 1 am, you get the drift.

Last year my wife and I did a 15 day from Australia to Singapore with Norwegian. That one was outstanding on every aspect. The big difference was that the majority of passengers were retirees, and there were barely any kids on board. Very quiet and civilized.
Also Norwegian does freestyle dining, meaning you sit wherever you want for meals and don’t have to share a table with strangers like you do sometimes on Carnival.

Biggest tip though is that it is well worth paying extra for a cabin with a balcony. Having your own space is heaven.
 
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