japslapr

Looking to take a cruise for a few days. Never been on one. Anyone have any advice on things to buy or bring, places to shop for them, best places to go, etc...

Can I bring liquor onboard?

~Josh

no on the liquor, but i did a 7 day one to the virgin islands on carnival and it was the most fun ive ever had. deff best vacation for the money.

Newbsauce

1> Do excursions
2> BRING LIQUOR. Drinks are 8 bucks a pop and having your own supplement in your room is helpful. We packed ours in a listerine bottle.
3> If you are going with a wife/girlfriend I would recommend Royal Caribbean if you could swing it. The ships are nicer and it has less kids. RC also tends to be a bit higher class (and higher cost). Carnival is cheaper and still nice, but not as nice.
4> Always book your room as "to be determined." You will get the best room possible at the lowest rate possible. This cannot be done online, as online makes you pick a room. Ive seen people get window deck rooms for the price of a level 1 interior.
5> Use lots of sunblock.

Joker.

good luck bringing liqour. they check yours suit case really good. you will be screwed because they will find it. hell they found my eye solution that was open and delayed me getting my luggage. they made me go down there and do all this shit just because of my open eye solution container. didnt see the listerine bottle.. that might help but if its open they might give you a hard time. guess it all depends on who looks at your crap.
i went on a norwegian ship last year. its nice being free style and being able to do what you want. We are going on the same ship this year because we liked it. The best cruise line that i have been on by far would have to be royal carribean. I have been on probably 7 or 8 royal carribean cruises and never had a problem. Carnival is nice if you like being over crowded. They are always crowded and dont expect to get a spot at the pool or anything unless you get out there early. I have been on around 12-15 and will keep on going. love them. do excursions like he said above.

MORE IMPATIENT

went on a 13 day italy/croatia cruise in march of this year. awesomest thing ive ever done. Royal carribean is who we went through. My advice. DO NOT DO THE EXCURSIONS. some of them are ridiculous expensive and you miss out on pretty much all the cool local stuff. we walked everywhere, took cabs, buses etc. we got to see the real italy and croatia just doing our own thing, they will have a map of the port your going to and the surrounding areas. most places are not hard to navigate, However, if its a questinable place than i would suggest taking a tour or something, we never did and had the best time ever doing it. One i remember most is a 3 hour walk through Venice, the best experience to take in the culture is to walk and eat at local spots, not the tourist places. We had drinks and food in the little local bars and restaraunts and saw stuff that you dont see on the "excursions" like the small local marketplaces and stores, we had lunch with a family in Pisa who closed down the restaraunt and it was really interesting to see, you wouldnt even get the chance to do that on an excursion. Most of the excursions charge you an awful lot of money to do things you are entirely capable of doing on your own for like 5 bucks.

As far as alcohol is concerned, the best thing to do in my opinion is to by a bottle from the store and bring it back to your room. they have pretty good deals on things. youll save a butt load of money not spending 6 dollars a drink every 20 minutes.

....AJ....

i went on the virgin islands carnival cruise. it was fun. we did not do excursions. we checked the places out ourselves. it ended saving us money.

Newbsauce

I will revise my statement. When I say excursions, I mean local excursions. For example, in Cozumel Mexico, we found a local place that rented dune buggies. It was 80 bucks all you can drink WHILE DRIVING. They took us snorkeling, to a tequila factory, etc. The rest of the stops we rented scooters and went on other local excursions. I would not recommend CRUISE BOUGHT EXCURSIONS

JudyChop

I went to the Bahamas on Royal Carribean. Had an absolute blast! I would agree with not purchasing the ship excursions. There will be plenty of local things to do when you port. I wouldn't even try to sneak alcohol on the ship. No point in ruining your whole trip if you get caught. The drink prices weren't THAT bad, pretty much the same prices you would pay at a club/bar. Just pick a bar on the boat, make friends with a bartender and perhaps you'll get a hook up. I can't suggest anywhere to go other than the Bahamas, but that was a blast. I'm pretty sure anywhere you go, you'll enjoy it. Have fun if you decide to go on one!!

Lord Humongous

How about moving this to the right forum?

japslapr

Sounds like a general discussion to me.

Thanks for the input fellas. I found a 4 day trip to the Carribean for 1200 for the two of us including air fair online. I'll check out a travel agent to see if they have anything better or any more advice.