Never been on a cruise
Mar 20th, 2003, 01:34 PM
#1
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Never been on a cruise
We have never been on a cruise and of course are overwhelmed by the choices. We will have 2 couples in our early-mid 30s, 17 year old boy and 4 year old boy. We are thinking we would like to go out of Tampa. We live in Chicago but the other family is close to Tampa. We would like to go for 4 or 5 nights and think we would prefer the Western Carribbean - not really interested in doing alot of shopping. I know there are MANY choices and many different opinions but just curious what others would suggest is best for us in regards to which line and ship and why. Thanks for any input!
Mar 20th, 2003, 01:54 PM
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A 4 or 5 day cruise out of Tampa will limit your choices-You'll have more choices with a 7 day or more.<BR><BR>You are going to have to go to a TA online or otherwise, if you don't want to research the lines one by one.<BR><BR>Maybe the Port of Tampa can help narrow it down. Don't know about their website or not.<BR><BR>If you have a choice, pick a Carnival,NCL,RCL or Princess. They are geared for your age group, IMHO.
Mar 20th, 2003, 02:59 PM
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Here is a starting point--www.icruise.com<BR>In the middle of the page look for Search by: Departure point<BR>Click on that area. It will bring up a box that you will scroll down until you find TAMPA. Put in month and year, also. It will bring up your choices and number of nights, etc.<BR><BR> This is a good site for lots of researching info. I have never used them for the actual booking though.<BR><BR> Hope that helps, at least a little.<BR>Happy cruising!!
Mar 20th, 2003, 06:17 PM
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Thanks. We know we will be limited but curious about which lines people think would be best for our group. We were leaning towards Carnival and Royal Carribbean but have heard some negatives about both. We have also heard if we start getting into the other lines there are a lot more older people and not as kid friendly.
Mar 20th, 2003, 07:23 PM
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We sailed out of Tampa on the Celebrity Horizon. It was a 7 night cruise, but it was wonderful. We took our kids 19, 13 and 6 year old twins. The kids loved the kids program by the end they wanted to be there instead of with us. The 19 year old just hung out with us, but had a great time. The food was wonderful and we got a great rate on the cruise.
Mar 26th, 2003, 01:24 AM
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As a veteran of 15 cruises I agree with the response that you'll hear negatives about every cruise line depending on who is doing the talking. My one suggestion would be to definitely consider booking ANY cruise through a discounter...do NOT even think about paying the so-called "brochure price" as the cruise industry is very heavily overbuilt and if you pay full price you will definitely have paid TOO MUCH.
