The newest of the Newbie

A good place for you sto start is at:
cruisecritic.com

Let me start by saying that you only live once. If you are 65 now and have medical problem, my advsie is to travel, after seeking your medical doctor's opinion.

With that out of the way, I hope to answer some of your questions and point you to the right direction.

First off. You will need a passport to go anywhere. No passport, no re-entry to the US. End of discussion.

Boston is not a port with a lot of cruise ships choices (if any) travelling to warm places in Winter. Closest one would be New York going to the Caribbean.

As a generally rule, the cheaper the cruise, the more crowded and more rowdy they would be. The $99 cruise from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas is just that, one great big drunken party on a boat.

People called them hidden charges, but I prefer to call them optional expenditures. Although food is included, beverages are not. Tipping is optional but it is expected as that's where the staff made their living.

It really is what you want to do and what you enjoy when you travel. If you have never cruise before and not wanting to leave the ship and see the port, my suggestion is don't cruise.

I am not sure what your expectation is on a cruise ship. If all you want is going to a warm place and wade in a pool, maybe a hotel in Flordia or an all inclusive in Mexico would be just as nice, and a lot cheaper, if not better.

To cruise to the Caribbean from New York return, you will be looking at anywhere between 7 to 14 days. The pricing is based on a number of factors but the length and destination is a big factor. And of course, the longer the cruise, the higher the cost. Time of the year also makes a difference.

For a Balocny, if you can find one for about $100 per person per day, you get a good deal. There are port charges and the tips on top of the quoted price. Port charges depends on where you go and the tips is about $10 per day per person.

Add on your personal expenses like a beer or a glass of wine every once in a while, travel to and from home to New York, probably an over nigt stay at a hotel in New York, that would be about it.

You really should talk to a local travel agent. It doesn't cost you anything to start there.

Good luck on your research!

Adding to excellent advice from the 2 prev posters:

Do not consider any Holiday (Christmas, New Years) cruises
as they are always more expensive.

You can cruise w/o adding extra expense to your own-board account (establish payment when you board by credit card). Other than your per diem service charge per person (anywhere from $9-$12) you can minimize expenses by avoiding the
casino, bingo, spa treatments, ship excursions. 15% automatic tip is added to any bar bills. Daily activity schedule has no-cost events.

Once you have perused cruisecritic.com, get quotes from
www.cruisecompete.com to ascertain what appeals.

And let us know what you choose.

Cruise critic can be over-whelming - I have found it so - and often better for fine-tuning details than for initial search.

You need a passport to go anywhere - so add that to your list of expenses and projects. Even if you promise to stay on board, they make you have a passport.

I suggest a 7 day cruise on Celebrity or Princess - but suggest if you can you go from Florida, realizing that adds the cost and aggravation of flying to port. If you do, make surte you go the day before - things happen with flight schedules. End of January/beginning of February would be an excellent time to avoid kids, which can be more annoying than drunks.

Food - I am a foodie, but certainly not a food snob (as in, I know good food, can cook, but will also eat chain and fast food). I find that if one selects carefully from a menu, listens to suggestions of waitstaff on a cruise (they always tell us what to avoid - in a very discrete way) you can enjoy very good food.

I am in my 50s, hate crowds, noise, drunks, regimented activities. I am not a big partier and also have limited tolerance for hokey shows and comedians on cruise ships. Sounds like I would hate cruises - but we have been on several and I loved almost every minute of them. There is always some place quiet to escape to and when ship is in port it is almost empty - great time to hang out by pool. I have also not found drunks to be a major problem. During the day they laze around by the pool getting burned. At night they hang out in bars.

If you are flexible about dates, destinations you can catch a deal, especially on an smaller/older ship - and the newer ones have things like rock climbing walls and skating rinks that it does not sound like you would be using.

Wow, thank you all for your great advice. Maybe your right a week in Cancun maybe better for us or even Florida. I would go for that but my wife has this thing about going on a cruise, one of her friends does it almost yearly and I guess she just wants to see what it is like. Yes, rock climbing isn't a big draw for me and even in the pool I am more likely to just get wet than actually swim now a days. As nice as you all have been, you have almost convinced me that a cruise probably isn't for us.

Thanks,
Barry

Barry, if DW wanted a cruise, she won't stop the nagging until she got one. Maybe the two of you can tag along on a cruise with her friend who cruise almost yearly?

Barry, go to Expedia website, Cruises, select destination Caribbean, additional options - departure port Boston. This gave me 3 cruises 13-15 nights each. Plus 2 cruises to Bermuda.

You (and everybody who goes with you) must have a passport to get on the ship - every ship goes to another country at least for one stop, this is the law.

The tips are approx. $10 per day per person - with your wife you'll have $20 additional expenses per day - they will put it on your credit card if you don't want to tip more.

Royal Caribbean starts $121 per night w/balcony - and as a retired person you will get a discount.

It is doable not to incur any addtional charges besides tips. Food/coffee included, the shows are free.

Six months ago, I felt exactly like you. However, DH and I had talked for years about trying a cruise, so I did a bit of research, decided what we might enjoy most, and when one came up at the last minute that seemed a bargain, we nabbed it.

Because I actually like to see things, I was afraid I would feel trapped on the ship, and we didn't want a party ship, so we chose to fly to Puerto Rico and take a seven day cruise of the Southern Caribbean on Princess. We had six days in ports and only one day at sea.

We loved it so much (even the day at sea) that we came home, and two weeks later, booked a 14 day Trans-Atlantic, departing two weeks after that from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome, on another Princess ship, with 7 or 8 days at sea.

Both of our ships were the mega ships. I thought I would hate that, but because they are so big, they never felt crowded, and there was never a wait to get off the ship or to use elevators. Also, because they are so big, they had more to offer: seven different pools for example, some adult only that were quiet.

And, another advantage of a big ship: A Doctor on board with pretty advanced medical facilities. Ours even had dialysis available. Choosing a cruise where you are never really far from a port (Caribbean, for example) might also make you feel more confident.

A cruise is, IMHO, much, much better than a resort, though very different from spending a week or two in one country or city and really getting into the culture and and visiting the historic sites. After a day or two at a resort, I am ready for a change, but never felt that way on the ship.

I am sure on some ships and some cruises, you find the party loud crowd. That was not the case on either of our cruises. We met so many interesting and really nice people and are staying in touch with some of them, hoping to visit or travel with them again. If you thoughtfully choose a ship and a cruise with more of an itinerary, where people want to see things, (even if you do not), you can avoid the loud, party style.

Of course, our ships had casinos, bars, etc., but you don't have to go. The shows on the Caribbean cruise were outstanding. The ones on the Trans-Atlantic weren't so good. Food was very good on both cruises.

We took the cheapest room (inside) and it was fine because we spent nearly all of our time out on one of the decks. There is a lovely promenade deck (always nearly empty) with deck chairs everywhere, so having no window just while we were sleeping was not a problem at all, and saved a lot of money.

Check out vacationstogo.com. We booked through them, got rock bottom prices and good advice about the ship. Watch the prices of the cruises you are interested in, and book when they go on sale. Vacationstogo is also a good, and easy to navigate, website for just getting acquainted with what is out there.

For a first cruise to someplace warm in winter, I recommend the Caribbean. I also highly recommend flying to a port where you can get the best, most interesting cruise and going the day before, to be rested and make sure you get to the port.

We still like traditional sightseeing travel, but are already looking at another trans-Atlantic or Med cruise, either this Fall or next Spring.

Perhaps you can try it just once. Who knows? You may also become a convert.
Hope this helps.

Warning - most public insurance (Medicare, for example) does not cover you outside US (some Medicare supplements have this as a feature, but most do not). Check yours out carefully. You can cover yourself with trip insurance - which is probably a good idea anyway. Insuremytrip.com is a website recommended here that I have used. All sorts of insurance options - many with features you may not want. As far as which is best company - very few of us actually have to collect on trip insurance - and that is really the only factor in judging quality.

WHAT A BUNCH OF HOGWASH!! We are from outside of Boston and are far,far older than you are..We did/do cruise out of Boston and just recently flew to Florida to pick up a cruise ship, but normally now as we will do in October we will fly to Rome for a 13 day cruise and a pre-cruise in Rome.. No, Parrot Pop has all sorts of aches and pains, walks with a rollator, etc. etc. but we go.. You will look into travel insurance...for any p roblems.. pre-existing conditions are another story..Sassafras is right.. yes, there are "hidden" costs like the tips, excursions. You can most likely fly out of Portland or N.H. to Florida. You need p assports for everywhere now including Canada.. You have received some fabulous advice here.. go for more than 7 days.. As for the food.. unless your a gourmet diner..you will love the choices and the food on a cruise ship and if you have nutritional requirements, diabetic, etc.. you just need to tell the cruise ship ahead of time and they will go way out of their way to provide you all the assistance you need. As for drunkeness.. no we haven't seen it.. we usually cruise Celebrity and most ships have TWO pools and in the case of the new Soltice class of Celebrity an indoor pool with jacuzzis....