r/Cruises

My father in law is 90, limited mobility and dealing with the typical afflictions of a nonagenarian. But he loves cruises and he's been relentlessly asking to go on another one (its been a few years - that cruise was to alaska and did not go well). His wife has no interest in going. We have agreed to take him along with another sibling/spouse. Now we just have to figure out what to do. What boat/cruise line do you recommend? They live in the mid atlantic area - maybe NJ to Bermuda to limit the ports? But then I'm worried about how much he could do off the boat. Are there itineraries where there is a lot to see from the boat? That was the hope with Alaska but it rained the whole time and he was sick in his room for much of it. ALso are we insane??!! I feel so badly, he just wants a trip to look forward to.

Hi, for those who do sinus rinse, how do you deal with getting hot water to prepare the solution? On my last cruise, I used distilled water then warmed it up with a hot water bath. This worked fine.

However, for my next cruise, I'd like to stay for a few days on land after the cruise. Normally at the hotel, I'd use a portable travel kettle, but since I can't bring a kettle on to the cruise, any ideas what I can do here? Can you have cruise staff hold on to the kettle for you until it's time to disembark? I'd rather not use hotel kettle, thank you!

My family and I just got back from our first cruise and we absolutely loved it! Since it was our first time, I wasn't very familiar with how cruises worked, so I booked all of our excursions through the cruise line (Royal Caribbean). Now I'm wondering if that was a rookie mistake and if we should book things on our own next time.

The reason I'm asking is because it seemed like the excursions we booked mostly just provided transportation and we didn't get much time at our destination. For example, we were in the Caribbean and booked a beach day through the cruise line. It included transportation to and from the beach and that was it. I had to pay separately for snorkeling gear, beach chairs, umbrellas, and food and drinks. Additionally, we only had 4hrs and 15min there before we had to head back to the ship. We were back onboard by 1:30pm, which felt so early!

At every port, I noticed taxis everywhere. It had me wondering if we could've just grabbed a taxi ourselves, stayed at the beach as long as we wanted and saved a lot of money since the excursion was charged per person. Maybe that's just a Caribbean thing though? Are taxis this easy to find at pretty much every cruise port, like in Greece or Italy too? Or does it really depend on where you're cruising?

I know one of the biggest advantages of booking through the cruise line is that they guarantee you'll make it back to the ship on time. But besides that, are there other benefits I'm missing?

For those of you who cruise regularly, what do you usually do with your family? Do you book excursions through the cruise line or do you plan things on your own?

What are some of the weirder cruise questions you’ve heard?

I’ll go first:

“Are the balconies above the water line?”

I’m too old for the teen lounge and not old enough for the adult clubs since I’ll be 18 when I’m on Legend Of The Seas next year so I’m wondering if anyone has any advice?

I really don’t know anything about cruises and wanted to try one out for the experience on a quick 3 day Bahamas trip out of Miami and looking at the giant RC ships (Icon/Oasis class) makes me go “wow”. I see smaller and cheaper cruises with RC or NCL for maybe $100 less but what’s the point? If I’m going with one of those cruise lines isn’t bigger better?

Has anyone here ever gone on one of the big ships and then preferred riding on the smaller ships?

Edit: I will add I was comparing Oasis vs NCL Getaway (the small ship in this situation), is there a big difference between those 2?

bf (30) and I (25) are going on norwegian in about a week. We’ve been debating excursions, we would like to stay on the cheaper side but okay spending if it’s an absolute must do. We like doing things over just seeing things usually. also any suggestions about through the cruise line or not? any spots we should just go with the flow or where we should definitely have something planned. never been to any of these places. TIA!

Cozumel
Roatan Bay Islands
Harvest Caye Belize
Costa Maya Mexico

I am traveling on the Encore on the Oct 18th Mexican Riviera Cruise. I am with a friend and her mother who uses a walker.

She cannot walk far and I am convinced that we will need a wheelchair or perhaps rent a scooter. My friend thinks a walker will be fine. I have not seen her mom walk a 100 yards. Any advice from seasoned travelers would be appreciated. 💙🚢🤔

This would be a scenario of going on a cruise mainly for transport from Point A to Point B, when “Point B” is a port/country before the final disembarkation.

For example, if there is a 6 day round trip from New Orleans and on day 4 it stops at a port in Jamaica, are we allowed to get off without any intent to return to return to the ship? And if so, is there some procedure for doing this?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I’ve never been on a cruise before and never really even thought about it- but when I’m crunching the numbers and comparing airfare to cruise deals, if this is an option it might be a no-brainer!
Especially if we are flexible.

Thanks for any input, I appreciate it!

I’m trying to book a honeymoon cruise for me and my wife. The two best dates/locations we found were between Norwegian Prima for 7 days and Royal’s freedom of the seas which is 9 days. I’ve only done Norwegian so I was originally leaning towards that since I had an amazing time but royal is an extra 2 days and a couple $200 cheaper. We’re both young and love food so does anyone have any experience with these two ships as far as complimentary food and activities go? As well as the price of excursions. Any input helps a lot thanks!

Teenager going on cruise with a friend and friend's family. I've told her about the usual safety rules. What are other things to be aware of? If she has a problem, is there a ship employee she can ask for help?

I finally have time to be spontaneous and take advantage of cruise sales. I would be sailing out of the Los Angeles area. Are there websites or other places where sales are posted or do I need to sign up on the different cruise websites or go looking on websites?

I'm in my 60s, what cruise lines would work for a non-party person?

Thank you.

Every time someone says they enjoyed MSC, Carnival, or Norwegian…

Someone immediately shows up to explain why they’re wrong.

It’s vacation.

Not college football.

Why do people become so tribal about cruise brands?

I’ve been exclusively cruising with Princess for the last 5–6 years and am totally spoiled by the Medallion system and Princess Plus. It’s been ages since I’ve been on another line. I vividly remember the old days where every single drink order meant handing over a plastic card, waiting for the server to return, and signing two paper receipts leaving you with a pocket full of paper by the end of the day. With Princess, it's seamless. Is it still a paper-receipt nightmare on other cruise lines, or have they caught up to a digital, tap and go system too?

going on a first time cruise as a couple! all of these ships leave galveston port, are 7 days and priced for 2 people with a chosen balcony (excluding excursion costs). They all leave around the same dates in january next year. We are most likely going to splurge for drinks and wifi as well.

I would love to hear any opinions on both of these as well as personal experiences, on both ships, ports and opinions on the weather that time of year. this is all the notes i got so far from my own research but i’d love to know if that extra cost for norwegian is worth it.

Norwegian Viva
- $2740 with free at sea (not including service fee)
- $250 deposit until sept 18
- price includes unlimited alcoholic/nonalc drinks, 3 speciality dining meals, wifi, and $50 excursion credit
- cozumel, roatan, harvest caye, costa maya
- newest ship by far (2023)
- not as much variety in free dining but the speciality dining meals make up for it
- least party boat feel, looks like it has the best bathroom

MSC seascape
- $2040 (includes drinks and wifi but not service fees)
- $400 deposit due by oct 18
- costa maya, roatan, cozumel
- can get a slightlyyy larger balcony/room for same price as regular balcony
- least variety in dining options, but supposedly best quality (and known for the best pizza)
- seems like mostly mediocre reviews online

I am planning a cruise with my husband, we are in to 40-50 range. Our kids are grown or late teens, so this is a special just us vacation. We are social drinkers at best, and we both have some physical health issues like bad backs and sore knees 🤣. We LOVE a good resturaunt. We aren't grumpy and boring but we also aren't going to the club at this point in our lives. What line is best for us??

This has happened about a year ago when I was on a week-long cruise. I will remain vague, as I don't know whether that crew member could be tracked down and be disciplined in any way.

On an evening I went to a counter (not bar) in a place that hand gotten quiet and handed my room card to the crew member. I was wearing a ring with a rainbow (thicker stainless steel ring with seven coloured lacquered bands) to give hints to whomever cared to look for them; I'm otherwise a pretty "grey" middle aged guy.

The crew member lit up and stared complimenting me on how pretty the ring is and whether he could see It a bit more, touching the my hand and my ringfinger (and I went along). There were no other passengers close by and only another female crew member behind the counter that was smiling at the interaction.

While I was very tempted to take it further, I just thanked him very much for the compliments and said that I was happy he liked it until the conversation needed to come back to the transaction.

As I said, I was very tempted and have been thinking back to this quite a few times... So I wanted to ask: did I do the right thing by not taking it further? Would the crew member have been in trouble? Would I have been in trouble? What could have happened? Anybody can shed some light on a situation I've been going back an forth on for some time now?