Newbies thinking about a cruise
 

My husband and I (29 and 32, no kids) are thinking about taking a short cruise. I've always wanted to try cruising, and my husband is pretty much game for anything. I've been checking prices and they are really reasonable.

We are in California, so we are thinking that a 4 night cruise to Baja California out of LA would be a perfect introduction for us. And since we can drive to LA, we wouldn't have to include airfare in our budget.

Carnival has a 4 night cruise that departs from LA, visits Catalina and Ensenada, and then returns to LA.

We are thinking about November since I will be turning 30 and I think it would be fun to go on vacation for my birthday.

Any thoughts?

Hello,

Cruises are great! I am a cruise specialist/travel agent and I will never get tired of going on cruises because I can relax and see a lot of places at the same time. It is very addicting! There is something for almost everyone to do and they compare well to a land vacation because it includes most of your meals, most non-alcoholic beverages, daily activities and entertainment, but a land vacation doesn't often cover those items.

If you're going in November, look at going on a 7 day cruise. A 4 day cruise seems pretty short because there is so much to do and it isn't much more expensive to do a 7 day cruise. There are several excellent cruise lines that sail out of Los Angeles. The cruise line will even throw a birthday celebration for you on the ship if you tell them its your birthday!

Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions!

Best Regards,
Julia

I agree with jelzie re the longer cruise... find a good TA who knows about cruising (who has actually cruised before) and talk to them, ask them lots of questions. I'm sure they will find some really good cruise bargains for that time of year for you. Holiday seasons are more expensive (Thanksgiving, Xmas, New Year, Spring Break) but there are some extremely good bargains at all other times so you should be able to go on a seven night cruise for not much more than a four night, and believe me it is worth it!
Do lots of research yourself by looking on the web, there are lots of online cruise web sites out there.
Feel free to post more questions as cruise fanatics love to answer them :-)

JC..In this particular case, I agree with the other posters about the 7 day cruise.The 4 day from LA leaves Monday afternoon.For all practical purposes,assuming you work M-F,you have taken the entire week off anyway.My objection to the 4 day is that in reality it is a 3 day.....You are out Tues/Wed/Thurs and dock early Friday morning.I know many people who have done this exact cruise and their first comment was that they wished they had done the 7 day..Just as they were getting into the cruise, it was time to go home.Just my thoughts!!

I hope you follow everyone's advice and take a 7 night cruise. It will still seem too short. You need at least 7 days to find out all the wonderful aspects and secrets of each ship, not to mention knowing your way around.

Thanks for the advice about the 7 day cruise - I will look into that as well.

J_Correa: We had similar thoughts and booked our first cruise (5 days) out of New York (we live in New York) to Bermuda. That was back in the 1980's. Have been on many cruises since, but thought a short cruise without airfare made sense as a tryout for our first cruise.

Although I'm sure you will eventually go on lots of cruises, there are people who just don't care for cruising. Keep in mind that bad weather and rough seas can give you a very different impression of cruising. Just be sure to take Bonine or some other motion sickness medication before the ship leaves port. Nothing will swear you off cruising faster than a bad case of sea sickness.

Having said that, cruises are our favorite form of vacation.

Have a great time.

Like others I'll chime in and say don't do a 4 day...they're just not the same. Wait till you have the time/money for the 7 day.

We too live in So. California and are going on the Radisson Mariner on November 12 out of Los Angeles to Matzalan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. There are lots of us going (some I've met but most I haven't) It sounds like you'd fit in perfect!! How about joining us? The Mariner is a fantastic ship and every cabin has a balcony. It is also a 2 for the price of 1 sailing. Please feel free to email me if you have any interest: [email protected]

J:

If you just want to get your toes in the cruising waters (so to speak), there's nothing wrong with taking a short cruise. However, I would do the 3-night (which goes over a weekend) vs. the 4 (which eats up a whole week's vacation.)

Cheers!

Thanks for the additional advice.

I've got a cousin who has sworn off cruising due to bad weather on his honeymoon cruise - they went to the Caribbean during hurricane season, so go figure :)

I'm not too worried about sea sickness, but would probably take some medication with us just in case. Neither my husband nor I are prone to motion sickness at all - we are both the kind of people who will eat a big dessert while standing in line for a rollercoaster at an amusement park - LOL.

The 3 night over the weekend rather than 4 nights during the week for a short cruise is a good idea.

petlover - thanks for the invite. I will look into that cruise.

My children call me the cruise lady because I've been on so many. To get your feet wet, a 3 to 4 day cruise is fine. You'll know within 24 hrs if you're up to cruising. Additionally, it's hard to go back to a shorter cruise once you've taken a longer one. My longest one was 11 days, so a 7 day cruise is the shortest that I want to take now. It's addicting. :-)