We are on the fence about this cruise and I am hoping someone can help me out.

We are on a very particular timeline since my mom flying in to babysit our 8mo old son. This will be our first vacation since having the baby! We live CT and departure in New York would be very convenient. We are looking at Carnival to New England on Jun 30 cruise. Would you recommend it for relaxation? And if so, we are seeing the same prices across the board. Are there any websites that have deals?

I took that cruise on Carnival in September 2006, on the Triumph. Ports at that time were Boston, Portland, ME, Sydney and Halifax, Nova Scotia. We enjoyed it very much. There was a mix of all ages on the ship and the Triumph is big enough to offer entertainment of various types. I can't imagine any cruise that I've been on that I couldn't recommend for relaxation. You can do as much or as little as you want.

I check with a number of online travel agents and Carnival directly and didn't find big differences in price at the time I booked.

You might want to check out the message boards at www.cruisecritic.com for more specific info on that cruise.

You can read many reviews of the ship and experience on cruisecritic.com.

Yes this is a very nice itinerary. Have you also considered Bermuda?? Wonderful, wonderful island with PLENTY of great stuff to see and do.

Bermuda in July? What is the weather like?

The cruisecritic reviews left me a bit concerned. Maybe we won't go.

Do it and don't listen to whiners. You don't know what you are missing.

We did Boston-Bermuda cruise in July 2 years ago. Great weather, great time. Bermuda is not really tropical - think NC/SC weather rather than Cairibbean. We chose because of Boston departure (they also do NY), and cost of flight, hotel, meals in Bermuda was about same as cost of cruise.

Figured we could drive to New England anytime.