Janice

Family wants to get together and go on a cruise in March 2001. Probably about 10-12 couples. I'm coordinating it (I'm the lucky one since I'm not working). I have not been on a cruise. We think we would like to do the Caribbean-should it be eastern, western or southern? We want somewhere warm, some sightseeing/shopping. Would like your opinions. Also, would like to hear your preferences as to cruise lines. We don't want the most expensive ($$$$$) nor the least expensive ($)-somewhere in the $$$ range would be good. Looking for a cruise that leaves a lot of satisfied customers! If I go through cruise line will they coordinate and price airfare?

steve

Janice: i am a part time TA. I live in Fl. i would suggest the Royal caribbean Enchantment of the seas. it is a mid range price but great cruise package. Enchantment does both the eastern(ST MARRTIN, ST THOMAS, Nassau) and western caribbean(Cozumel Grand cayman, jamica) . Also don't leave out Premier cruises. they use older and smaller ships, but i've never had better service, or cruises with them. they have a midsize ship selection.(31000-38000) the Big red boat IV (actual name Rembrandt) is a beauteful 38000 gt ship. it goes from port canaveral (1 hr east of orlando) to san juan, st thomas, st john and nassau from jan 2001-mar2001. they are an economical cruise. i was just on the rembrandt for a tour and i think it is one of the niceest ships i've seen. by the way. most cruise lines will let you set up a group cruise if you need 8 cabins or more. for every 16 cruiser(8 cabins) you get 1 free cruise ticket. we did this with my daughters wedding. we had 16 cabins and they refunded us 2 tickets prices AFTER THE CRUISE(about 3 wks) your best bet is to goto a travel agent or a wal-mart(they have agents now) and pickup the FREE brochures for royal carib, premier, celebrity(a bit more costly) costa(the itilain cruise line) norweigian, ect. if you need more help e-mail me.

Janice

Thanks Steve!

Paige

Janice, I had the same chore you have on planning a cruise for five couples this past year so I know how challenging it is to try and find something for everyone. We cruised on Feb. 27th on Celebrity's Mercury to the Western Caribbean. We chose this line at the recommendation of our travel agent and because two of the couples had previously cruised on Carnival and we wanted something more upscale. We were very pleased with Celebrity and the Mercury. We booked our air with Celebrity as I feel you get more consideration if your flight is delayed or some other mishap occurs if you book the air with the cruise line. We were also trying to go to ports where none of us had been before, but this was hard with this many people. I thought we had a good mix of shopping, sightseeing and relaxing. Once we had decided on our cruise, I printed out info from this sight as well as sealetter.com and cruiseopinion.com to pass on to others as to what to expect from our ship and our ports.

Janice

Thanks Paige! Did you book everything through your travel agent? Which places did you stop at? Did you do any of the excursions through Celebrity or did you sightsee on your own? I appreciate any input!

maggie

My daughter and I were on the Grand Princess for the March 12, 2000 cruise to the Eastern Caribbean...it was wonderful... <BR> <BR>The ship was fully booked however did not seem crowded. We saw many groups. When we docked in St. Thomas everyone was looking at our ship. When we got back to the ship, the cruise director (Alister, for those of you who've been on the Grand Princess) said "Don't you all feel just two inches taller after seeing all those people looking at your ship?" Of course, all laughed. <BR> <BR>We had an inside stateroom (all I could get since we booked late (four weeks earlier)...it was sufficient, although I would have loved to have a balcony room. <BR> <BR>A few suggestions no matter what cruise you take...try to get there a day early. Our flight was cancelled by Delta (two flights actually that morning because of a fire and mechanical problems)...that left us without a flight, believe it or not. Delta didn't blink an eye. They shipped us all to Atlanta and let us fend for ourselves on standby no less...(From Boston)...some people missed their ships (seriously)...Even though my daughter and I thought we were leaving early enough (8:10A from Boston) to make a 7:45 pm sailing, we didn't get to Fort Lauderdale until nearly 6:30 pm!!! I was a nevervous wreck. If it wasn't for Princess taking our luggage off the luggage rack (thank God I had tagged it) and their kindness in letting us on their bus (we had NO transfer with them since I had assumed I could get a cab) we would NOT have made it. MAKE SURE YOU TAG YOUR LUGGAGE WITH THE TAGS THE SHIP GIVES YOU. I wasn't going to since I thought I could do all this on my own...Princess (I'm sure all the ships) take the luggage and bring it to their ship(s) <BR> <BR>This was not a quirk in scheduling as there were over 200 others catching ships that were in the same boat so to speak. <BR> <BR>Again, I advise getting to Ft. Lauderdale or wherever it is your ship leaves from a day early...the cruise brochures recommend this...it is crucial in my opinion as IT DID HAPPEN TO ME! Again, we did not do any of this because we booked too late and all the hotels were booked solid. <BR> <BR>Have fun...Princess did everything in their power to make us feel at home. I would go with Princess again in a minute. Delta Airlines...I'm not so sure of ;(

Paige

Hi Janice, <BR>We booked everything thru our travel agent. Since I was "in charge" I wanted a travel agent for the accountability and recourse I felt she offered. We booked the air with the cruise as I felt that the ship would be more likely to wait on the eight of us if we had flight delays. If I was booking my own air I would do as Maggie suggests and arrive a day early. We only did one shore excursion thru Celebrity; the Stingray City in Grand Cayman. You can book this on your own, but I thought it more convienent to book with the ship. In Calica, some of our group went to the ecological park. I can't recall if they did the ships tour or on their own. They loved it! I thought the admission was a little high and opted to stay on board, but now wish I had gone. In Cozumel we rented a day room at the Hotel Presidente Intercontintal (got the idea from another poster on this forum). Splitting the cost between four couples made this economical. We had a nice beach and pool for relaxing all day and took a cab into town for lunch and shopping. My favorite port was Key West. Did not do any ship excursions here either. I visited the Hemingway House on my own and really enjoyed it. We had lunch at Sloppy Joes, which was fun, and did some shopping and sightseeing around town. As far as which is best; Eastern, Southern or Western - that's hard to decide! Last year we did the Southern; San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Croix. I did not like San Juan at all, but that could be because of the awful ship's tour (Carnival) billed as shopping and sightseeing - don't do that one! St. Thomas was my favorite port on that cruise (lots of shopping and other things to do) and St. Croix was fine too. Our first cruise was a three day on Carnival to the Bahamas. I wasn't too impressed with Nassau, but casinos don't interest me. We went to a hotel/casino and hung out at their beach.

Janice

Thanks Maggie & Paige! Will start putting things down on paper! I can't keep track if I don't. I'll probably have more questions after I digest what info I've got.

Gary T

What a big job you have. I just returned from my 2nd cruise, both on the Grandeur of the Seas in the Eastern Carib. The first was with 4 other couples and the last was with the kids. I like RCCL a lot and would go again in a minute. In addition I would not have a problem looking at Princess or Celebrity. We picked the eastern route because it went out of Miami vs. San Juan for the Southern route (we hope to do the southern route at some point) We stayed away from the western routes because we did not want to go to some of the stops, especially with the kids. <BR> <BR>I stongly agree that you go down the day prior and we have had great luck with the RCCL sea and air package. I have never looked at price savings, just looked at the ease of a package and one stop shopping. <BR> <BR>I would suggest that you, if you have not already, stop into a travel agent and just ask for some books, these spell out everything you need. Once you pick were you want to go and on what ship, call around for the best deal. <BR> <BR>Good luck and have fun.