I am interested in a cruise for my honeymoon. I have never taken a cruise before and don't know much about the different cruise line. Which cruise line would be the best.(less kids, more adults, good excursions) It would be for a week or so and my budget is open 5-10k. Any response would be appreciated. Late December and early January will be the time of year.

The Christmas/New Years cruises are particularly attractive to families because they are during school vacations.

If you start at cruisecritic.com you should be able to find cruise ships that do not have facilities for children, (e.g. all Oceania Cruises, Prisendam, Windstar.) Then, once you have decided on an area for your cruise, (Caribbean, South Pacific, South America) you should select a few cruise specialist travel agencies, interview them by phone and, after a check of references, select the agency that seems most responsive to your needs.

This may seem like a lot of work, but it will be worth it to make your first cruise a good experience. As you narrow your choices, it is a certainty that you can get further advice here.

We always cruise in January...in fact we're going next week. Very few kids at that time of year. As other poster said, avoid XMas/New Year. What are your interests? What type of activities interest you? My husband and I enjoy the big ships on RCCL because we like shows, dancing, working out and having tons of things going on (wine tasting, trivia contests, etc) If I wanted a quiet experience I'd do a resort (we went to Tortola for our honeymoon and did island hopping)

I'd recommend looking at Regent cruiseline. There will be very few (probably none) children and they're sooooooooo nice. If you want to splurge and don't mind the longer flight, the Paul Gauguin makes for a wonderful honeymoon the in the French Polynesian islands (Bora Bora, Tahiti, Moorea), If you want to stay more local, I'd still look at Regent. Their cruises are first class and very personalized with lots of fun & interesting passengers. The cabins and food are also great and they're all inclusive so no $urprises at the end.

We do not like the big ships nor are we fond of the mass market cruise experience. We prefer to sail without kids aboard and very good food and service are important. We also dislike announcements and tacky gold by the inch sales, not to mention people coming to dinner in shorts and ball caps. .

Regent is a wonderful cruise line, very upscale, sophisticated passenger mix, amazing cabins, all inclusive and great itineraries. Unlike the monster ships, there are no lines and port times are longer. The high quality cuisine and open dining are huge pluses and service and ambiance are elegant.

Since Regent does not offer much in the way of Caribbean sailings, we are trying SeaDream for the first time this spring. Ultra luxurios, all inclusive and just 55 couples. There is marina platform and lots of water toys to enjoy and the port times are very extensive. Also, they offer ports not accessible to the monster ships which means no tourist masses when you do get into port. And the staff to passenger ratio is one to one.

I would suggest you look to the luxury lines as you have the budget for it and it is your honeymoon. On the other hand, if sharing space with 4000- 5000 other people (passengers and staff) is appealing and you love nightlife and lots of activities, perhaps you should take a look at Celebrity's new Solstice. It will be sailing by then, you can book an Aqua Class cabin (private restaurant and deck is for adults only) and get a more luxurious experience on a mass market ship. Be prepared for kids, though, on any of the bigger ships. These days parents pull their kids far more often than they used to and we have seen lots of them at times of year when in the past it was still an almost all adult crowd.

Your budget is more than reasonable and could easily purchase the premium plus lines such as Oceania or Azamara and the ultraluxury lines. I agree with LLindaC that early, after New Year, is the time to go. Fares are down and values are up.

Oceania Regatta has a lovely 10 day cruise out of Miami to the Eastern Caribbean starting 1/02/09. Seabourn Legend leaves Ft. Lauderdale for 14 days through the Panama Canal 1/02/09. If you are young and like huge, booking a suite on any of the biggest Royal Caribbean ships will give you an excellent honeymoon. Congratulations in advance!

I would suggest Regent cruise line. They have an 80 percent retention of staff across the board. What this says to me is that Regent treats its staff in a way that makes them happy and encourages them to stay with the cruise line. This is the reason you get such a caring treatment by the staff toward the guests. All of the staff are friendly and helpful and the cruises are amazing. The cruises also now include an open bar.
Additionally you always see the staff cleaning, straightening up and painting, which results in a very clean ship.