That's me. I've been on several cruises.

So here's the skinny: Royal Caribbean is the best and newest line, but also the most expensive. Carnival and Disney are very family oriented, so lot's of kids stuff and lots of children screaming and rooning adult time. Never been on a Disney cruise, but they are as expensive (or more) as RCCL and just brimming with screaming 8 year olds and Aladdin cosplay.

So our only options are RC and Carnival, really. RCCL has the best locations and the biggest, coolest ships. 5 night cruises out of Galveston are $600 per person, the ones leaving from FL are 7 nights closer to $1000.

Carnival is get what you pay for. There are really cheap cruises for 3-4 nights. But they are on the 25 year old ships. Dingy, and the people are more likely to be.... the... um... how do you say it without being rood.... on the more Trumpier side of the spectrum? Not politically, but more socially? I have taken a cheap cruise with Carnival. I am not keen on doing it again.

The main difference between RCCL and Carnival is that on RCCL you're getting a lot more as part of your ticket. On Carnival it's a select number of cafeterias and the main dining room that are part of your ticket, but on RCCL you get a lot more free meals--the caveat is that at some of the restaurants have a seat reservation fee instead of paying for the meal.

I'd highly recommend RCCL. But I understand if $600-$1k per person is too much for people. It's really the new badass ships that are what cost more.

I really want to go on the Allure of the Seas is what I'm saying. But those are the 7 day cruises and cost way more. I'm tryna floss tho.

Also, those of us that travel single will want to double up unless they want to double the price, because staterooms are one cost whether there's one or two and the costs they quote you are for two people in a stateroom.

I'd be down with a RC cruise. We have a year to put money aside for it and Rob would be going with me. My only thing is, is that I would prefer leaving from Baltimore so that we didn't have to pay for airfare on top of the cruise. If there's enough interest on this side of the country, perhaps the hub could be Baltimore because it's generally a central location for most people.

This is something else we would need to look into.

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I'm on their website and I'm already drooling over Cococay.

(August 17, 2018 at 8:08 pm)mh.brewer Wrote:

(August 17, 2018 at 12:02 pm)Tiberius Wrote: I'd be up for it as long as it's affordable now we've bought a house.

Congrats new property slaves. Details please!

4 bedroom, 2500 sq ft, huge basement, 2 car garage, 1.4 acres. Lovely property. Moving in next week

The only ship RCCL runs out of Baltimore is Grandeur of the Seas which is their oldest, smallest ship -- 25 years old. Carnival Pride is out of Baltimore as well, but that is the ship I went on in 2005. It was brand new then (only three years old or so) and still dingy, out of Port Canaveral.

Carnival only runs the 1 week and 2 week cruises from B'more. RCCL has 5 day cruises, but they're still $500. Where they get you out of Bmore is the port fees. An extra $150 per person, twice as much as the other ports.

Yes but compared to round trip airfare, from BWI to Orlando, the cost for the port fees are better from Baltimore.

(August 17, 2018 at 12:02 pm)Tiberius Wrote: I'd be up for it as long as it's affordable now we've bought a house.

.. and money for kibble. Apparently you're expecting puppies! Oh I hope I haven't spoiled a surprise.

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(August 17, 2018 at 10:39 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote: Also, those of us that travel single will want to double up unless they want to double the price, because staterooms are one cost whether there's one or two and the costs they quote you are for two people in a stateroom.

I can't imagine Mr Milk Chocolate not finding a sea wife for the trip.

I've been on one cruise and my god is there a lot of eating and booze involved.  Plus I doubt if they have a deck reserved for playing fetch with your dogs.  Guess I'll have to beg out.

Maybe. But for an extra $50 difference or so on Southwest you can get a ship that's 20 years newer and is bigger and has better amenities.

I'm sure we'd have fun on Grandeur but I have been on those cruises. Believe me, the extra cost of airfare for the bigger ports is more than worth it.

Also, if we don't really care about the destination, waiting to book pays off big time. About 90 days before the cruise when people cancel, they want to fill those staterooms.

Okay, well how about we figure out who would be interested in going first. Depending on where everyone's from, we can talk about destinations at that point. I've never really planned anything like this so I'm open to suggestions. Or help. Help is always good.