Archive for October, 2008
Where can I find a cheap 7 day cruise to Hawaii, that is scheduled for December 07 or January 08, for 3 people. I know I heard on the news the other day that January-March is "wave season" where the cruise lines give out great deals but how do I find them? I've tried, Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruise Lines, Norwiegan (sp?) Cruise line, and Carnival and I haven't found a 7 day cruise yet. Anyone know of a travel agency online that could help or where to go for a great deal?
Thanks
Anyone have any use-able suggestions? Other than "You'll be looking for a long time" Oh and cheap is if possible no more than 1000 per person, I live in California so maybe a departure from LAX or a Flight included into the price to Hawaii for the departure.
NCL America (a subsidiary of NCL) is the only cruise line that offers 7 day cruises of Hawaii. These are typically round trip from Honolulu. Every other cruise line offers 10+ day sailings around or to Hawaii, but they do not offer 7 day Hawaii sailings.
However, NCL America only offers Sunday and Monday departures and the dates you list are a Saturday and a Tuesday.
Booking this far out for Hawaii is actually a VERY good idea. Hawaii is very popular so it becomes harder to find sales as you get closer to the departure date on Hawaii itineraries.
However, what is going to make it difficult for you is the hard dates you've set. In your case, you need to shift your departure dates either one day forward or one day back in order to even find a sailing. However if you an add a little more flexibility you may be able to stumble on a terrific deal. Many times, the same itinerary can be several hundred dollars cheaper if you can sail a week earlier or later than you were first looking at.
Call a travel agent that specializes in cruises and they can help you out. I recommend Cruise Planners at 888-286-9827 over an internet site since you'll be talking to a live person, plus there's not service charge for dealing with them!
My daughter seems to think that every other cruise line, has just restaurents you pay for, no free buffets, ice cream bars etc.
I have been on almost 20 cruises and many of them have been on NCL ships with the freestyle cruising. There is little or no difference between freestyle cruising and cruising on any other cruise line with respect to food. The price of your cruise regardless of the cruise line includes your cabin, ALL meals (except the specialty restaurants), all shows and entertainment, and use of all facilities on ship. ALL cruise lines have a buffet area that is open from breakfast to dinner time and a main dining room that is open for dinner and some days lunch also. All of these eating places are always free on all ships, and all ships have 24/7 free room service food.
On NCL ships the major difference is that you do not have to select a time for dinner as you must on most other cruise lines. You just go to dinner when and where you want to go. On Norwegian there are places where you can eat free 24/7. There are places where you can eat free 24/7 on EVERY other cruise line. NCL has some "speciality" restaurant, like French, Sushi, Italian, where you must pay a fee ($10 to $20 per person each visit) to eat. All other cruise lines also have one or more specialty restaurants that charge a similar fee. NCL tends to have more of these alternative eating places.
After you pay your cruise fare the things that you will have to pay for are:
GRATUITIES: They will amount to about $10 per person in your cabin per day; about $70 each for the week. When you check in at the pier they will set up an on-board charge account for you to cover any and everything you may buy on ship. They will issue you a "cruise card" which will also serve as your room key and pass to get on and off the ship. At the end of the cruise they will add the gratuity to your tab and you can pay with a credit card or cash, your choice.
ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND SOFT DRINKS: Coffee, tea, milk, juice, and lemonade and punch will be provided free but you must pay for drinks (alcoholic beverages) and they will add a 15% gratuity to each drink of soft drink order. You can save on drinks by ordering them in a plain glass rather than the souvenir glasses they often use. You can also save money if you can by taking a six-pack of bottled water and soft drinks with you in your carry on.
PHOTOGRAPHS: Cruise lines will take plenty of photographs of you all over the ship, in the dining room, and as you exit the ship in ports. These will cost a lot, like $15 to $20 for most. Skip them and save yourself a lot of money. Take your own camera and have the other passengers photograph you on and off the ship.
TOURS/EXCURSIONS: These are listed on your cruise line web site and you can reserve them well before the cruise and pay for them also. If you wait until you are on ship to book tours they will be charged to your on board account (then you can pay cash to settle your account on the last day)
SOUVENIRS: Anything you buy on ship from a gift shop or duty free shop goes on your on board account. Things that you buy on shore you pay cash or credit card for.
CASINO: If you plan to gamble on ship you will need cash for that.
OTHER: If you want/need to have your hair done, get a massage or wrap, or any services from the spa, you will have to pay for them. You can use the gym free but the spa stuff cost big bucks. Ships now have internet cafe and some have WiFi but the there is a fee for internet access and it is very expensive (like about $50 to $60 an hour). You cabin will likely have a minibar with soft drinks and munchies; you have to pay for them (but there is free room service 24/7).
My best friend and I are both single and in our late 20s and are trying to plan a cruise vacation. Which cruise line is best suited for people in our age range?
I have been on about 20 cruises on 4 different cruise lines and so here's what I say based on my experiences. The cruise lines that have many people your age group would be Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and Carnival.
First you should know that all of the cruise lines give the best price for early bookings that are a year or more in advance. So its good that you are starting your cruise search process now. Cruise lines also list specials on their web sites so do look for those. The specials can many times save you a couple hundred per person over the price for the exact same cruise on a different date.
Second you should know that all cruise cabins are sold based on double occupancy and the prices listed will be per person and based on at least two people going on the cruise. The price you pay will depend mostly on the type accommodations that you choose. There are 4 basic types of cabins on ships;
- inside (no window),
- outside (a window or porthole),
- balcony/veranda, and
- suites.
Royal Caribbean has some inside cabins on its Freedom and Voyager Class of ships that have a window overlooking an inside promenade mall.
The "FROM" prices you see will always be for an inside cabin.
I have listed below the web sites for the medium priced cruise lines which operate from US ports. These are the cruise lines that most people use. The lines that I have listed below will have cruises starting in the range of $800 to $1,000 per person for a 7 day cruise, again depending upon the date and type cabin you select.
CELEBRITY:
http://www.celebritycruises.com/home .
ROYAL CARIBBEAN:
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/gohome.d…..
NORWEGIAN:
http://www.ncl.com/
PRINCESS:
http://www.princess.com/index.html
CARNIVAL:
http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/
I have been on Princess, Celebrity, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean ships and can vouch that they are good cruise lines. However, there are some differences.
- Princess, and Celebrity have great ships are more classy and reserved than the other cruise lines. If you want a better cruise experience for your money go on one of these cruise lines. The difference in cost of these two over the others is not that much.
- Holland America has more senior citizens cruising on its ships. It has great ships and service but the majority of the passengers will be about twice your parent's age, and more. You may want to rule them out.
-Carnival is the budget cruise line that has more first time cruiser and young people (20 to 35 age group) who want to party, party, party. If that is what you are looking for then Carnival is the cruise line for you. Carnival is family oriented to an extent and will also have a good number of kids and also some older passengers.
-Norwegian cruise line is good and I have been on many of their cruises. Its the line that you want to go on if you want to be informal for pretty much your whole cruise. They have formal nights like other cruise lines but they do not stress dressing up; the call it "dress up if you want to" night. In my experience their passengers tend to be a mixture of young and middle aged people.
-Royal Caribbean caters most to families and has the most and best on-board activities. Many Royal Caribbean ships have things like ice skating, roller blade track, rock climbing wall, mini-golf course, full sized basketball courts, and adults only pool and hot tub area called 'Solarium", surfing on ship on the "Flowrider", pool tables.You cannot go wrong with RC.
Regardless of which cruise line your parents select, the things that are included are pretty much the same. The price of your cruise includes your cabin, all meals (including breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks and free room service)(you do pay to eat in the specialty restaurants), all shows and entertainment, and free use of all facilities on ship. You will have to pay your gratuities, for drinks, photos, tours and a few other things that are optional like using the internet.
My suggestion would be for you to look at going on one of RC's cruises and specifically on a Freedom Class ( http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruis… ) or Voyager Class ( http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruis… ) ship. I have been on both of these class ships and they are great and I think you will enjoy them. The Freedom Class is a larger version of the Voyager class and it has THE most things to do. The Voyager Class is slightly smaller and has all of the on-board activities except the Flowrider. Take a look at the features on RC's web site.
These class of ships also give you a lot of cruise options and itineraries. Right now one of these ships, the Mariner of the Seas, leaves out of Port Canaveral (we sailed it last year). The Freedom class ships sail out of Ft Lauderdale and Miami.