Help Us Non-Cruise People Pick a Cruise
 

I just found out I am pregnant (we have 1 year old twins) and since we will have to postpone our dream trip to Peru my husband has agreed to go on a vacation in January or February next year without the kids and before I have our third.

Anyways- we've always steered clear of cruises because we loved to explore the places we vacation at. Cruises always seemed too commercialized for us.

But - I am thinking of a cruise for comfort issues. Can anyone help recommend a cruise that isn't too commericialized? We don't drink/party/gamble and would really like to have a great experience.

We've visited Hawaii, St. Thomas/St. John, St. Martin, and Key West already so looking for different islands.

Thanks.

Without kids and for an upscale experience (great service, food, cabins) you should try Regent, Oceania or even Azamara (in that order). The ports are more interesting on these high end lines and they offer open dining and country club casual dress as a rule.

For my money, I want a virtually kid free vacation with ultimate dining flexibility. Regent is tops for that.

If these are too pricey, I would personally choose HAL or Celebrity. While the ports will be standard issue, these two lines are IMO, a step above the other mass market lines.

You might checkout windjammer cruises --smaller ships that can dock at a lot of the smaller islands the mega cruise ships can't.

http://www.windjammer.com/index.html

Also be sure to check rules on how many weeks of pregnacy before they deny you to cruise. Might be differnt for the various cruise lines!

I think kfusto gave you good advice... I don't know where you live, but I went on a Panama Canal cruise in January - we did very low key things (NO ZIP LINING FOR YOU!!). The best part of the cruise (actually, I think the only reason to go) is actually going through the locks in the cruise. Some ships do, and some ships don't. I would also stick with a bigger ship (like Celebrity/Hal,etc) because there tends to be more room. We had several pregnant women on the cruise we went on last month to Alaska. I think most cruises have rules about when in the pregnancy they will let you board - usually last trimester is forbidden - so you should be fine in January.

You mentioned islands, how about Tahiti, or is the plane trip too long? Regent's Paul Gauguin is hard to beat. We've done it twice. The cabins aren't as luxurious as Regent's other ships, but they are very nice. The food and service are excellent. And French Polynesia is beyond belief. Be glad to send you a long review of our last cruise: [email protected].