I am planning to give a gift of a cruise to the Caribbean. The individual is single,45, gregarious and enjoys good company and fine dining. My question is ... from your experience, which cruise line would you suggested? I have never been on a cruise so I have not the slightest idea. I thought this type of a trip might be good since it would put him into a friendly people enviorment.

You are more likely to get responses at:

http://www.cruise-addicts.com/forums/

Go to top of this forum where it says change forum hit it and click on cruises. Lots of info there...

Check out Celebrity Cruises, they are a middle of the line (in terms of cost) cruise company with a reputation for fine dining.

I have taken 3 cruises so far, and Celebrity was definitely the best in terms of ship quality, service and value for money. I'd like to take another of their cruises. I hear that Crystal is even better, but the prices are lot higher, too.

Why don't you take your problem to a travel agent . . . they'll have the CORRECT information and be able to save you some money to BOOT!

Another good site is cruisecritic.com

I suggest that you check the yellow pages for a travel agent who specializes in cruises. They should know the ins and outs of the various lines and can direct you to the approrpiate one. Trust me there is nothing worse than putting yourself on a cruiseline that isn't the right one for you.

Another option is to give a gift certificate to a travel agency if you think the person would be better off picking their own cruise.

Either way, what a nice gift to give someone.

Don't need a travel agent. Cruisecritic.com is excellent, as are some fodorites on cruise board.I like Royal Caribbean, but only for 7 day cruises on newer ships. If you go on a 3, 4 or 5 they are on older ships. They are cheap- and watch me get flamed- but they attract a lot of Bubbas. Guys in dining room with baseball caps and grandmothers with tatoos.

Our favorite is Windstar - great food, great company - but now that I think of it, it is mainly couples. A single would be out of place, sadly, because it is a gorgeous sailing ship. It is smaller and sails into more out of the way ports.