First time cruise advice please

**Fuellady** · 22 Apr 18, 09:46 AM

We're thinking of adding a short cruise onto the start of our Florida holiday, we have never cruised before and have a few questions which we'd be grateful if you lovely dibbers could help with.

We have narrowed down to 2 - 4 night Celebrity Infinity or 4 night Enchantment of the Seas, both Bahama cruises.

Any information on either of these ships, or the cruise lines would be appreciated.

There are a lot of Carnival cruises available but we have been put off of them by a colleague who used to work for Cunard and tells me they are a floating Butlins. However, i realise this is only one persons opinion, so if anyone can provide their thoughts on Carnival that would be great.

There doesn't seem to be internet included on any cruises, and no prices online - is this expensive?

Any thoughts on the potential stops on our cruise, depending on which we choose - Nassau, Coco Cay and Key West?

Any other advice/tips/info would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance for any help

billbarbara229 · 22 Apr 18, 09:54 AM

Carnival use their oldest ships on this route and was the worst Cruise we have ever been on the cabin was filthy and the ship needed to go to scrap They do have adults only quiet areas and the noise is there if you want it they try to cater for everyone We much prefer RCI ships though
Bahamas was disappointing because we thought it was a well off place The people are very poor we found it very distressing The palms hotel is out of the city on a spit total luxury at odds
The islands are beautiful and the old colonial buildings still there
I think cocoa key is a beach day , not sure
Key west is good we did that on another cruise you can walk about yourself no trips needed it's neat and clean with chickens wandering freely lol
Forgot to say you can use a US Travel company called affordabletours.com

**Fuellady** · 22 Apr 18, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by billbarbara229

Carnival use their oldest ships on this route and was the worst Cruise we have ever been on the cabin was filthy and the ship needed to go to scrap They do have adults only quiet areas and the noise is there if you want it they try to cater for everyone We much prefer RCI ships though
Bahamas was disappointing because we thought it was a well off place The people are very poor we found it very distressing The palms hotel is out of the city on a spit total luxury at odds
The islands are beautiful and the old colonial buildings still there
I think cocoa key is a beach day , not sure
Key west is good we did that on another cruise you can walk about yourself no trips needed it's neat and clean with chickens wandering freely lol
Forgot to say you can use a US Travel company called affordabletours.com

Thank you for your reply, I think we'll be avoiding Carnival then. I'll have a look at affordabletours.com.

Can anyone help with my internet question? Also, it seems we have an option to pre-pay gratuities, is this worth it? How do the staff know it's pre-paid already?

Thank you for any more help anyone can give, we're so uncertain about this!

bonnies mum · 22 Apr 18, 06:13 PM

Hope you enjoy whoever you book with but I just wanted to say that we have had many enjoyable cruises with Carnival and have found standards and behaviour onboard no worse than on RCI.
Our only reason for not booking with Carnival would be that they have cut back on the standard of the live shows. No onboard orchestra and fewer performers.

mskitty · 22 Apr 18, 07:02 PM

Internet on cruises is notoriously expensive and rubbish. This is due to the fact you are out at sea and the only way to connect is very very expensive satellites (I think). However once ashore follow the staff who are getting off the ship and you'll be guaranteed to find the nearest free WiFi!

In terms of gratuities, they are paid as a lump sum on your "account" at the end of the cruise and are set at �x per person per day. You are also free to tip individuals in cash but again this is usually done at the end of the cruise and isn't expected after each meal or each time you order a drink.

**Fuellady** · 22 Apr 18, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by bonnies mum

Hope you enjoy whoever you book with but I just wanted to say that we have had many enjoyable cruises with Carnival and have found standards and behaviour onboard no worse than on RCI.
Our only reason for not booking with Carnival would be that they have cut back on the standard of the live shows. No onboard orchestra and fewer performers.

Thank you, it's good to get another view of Carnival. We're just worried that we book something we don't enjoy because it's our "tester" cruise to see if we like it!

Originally Posted by mskitty

Internet on cruises is notoriously expensive and rubbish. This is due to the fact you are out at sea and the only way to connect is very very expensive satellites (I think). However once ashore follow the staff who are getting off the ship and you'll be guaranteed to find the nearest free WiFi!

In terms of gratuities, they are paid as a lump sum on your "account" at the end of the cruise and are set at �x per person per day. You are also free to tip individuals in cash but again this is usually done at the end of the cruise and isn't expected after each meal or each time you order a drink.

Haha, good tip about following the staff! That's good to know about the gratuities, I was concerned if we pre-paid, the staff wouldn't know and would be hovering about waiting for tips and we would have to explain every time that we had paid already

There's a lot to think about with this cruising lark!

redspottyowl · 22 Apr 18, 08:51 PM

We cruised with NCL and would highly recommend!

**Fuellady** · 22 Apr 18, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by redspottyowl

We cruised with NCL and would highly recommend!

Norwegian? They're not coming up as an option for our dates or ports. Unfortunately, we have quite a specific date/port/cruise length so it's limiting our options. I have heard good things though, so maybe if we like cruising and decide to go again we can make it the main holiday rather than an add-on which will open us up to more cruise lines and places to visit.

ryanlaur · 22 Apr 18, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by Fuellady

We're thinking of adding a short cruise onto the start of our Florida holiday, we have never cruised before and have a few questions which we'd be grateful if you lovely dibbers could help with.

We have narrowed down to 2 - 4 night Celebrity Infinity or 4 night Enchantment of the Seas, both Bahama cruises.

Any information on either of these ships, or the cruise lines would be appreciated.

There are a lot of Carnival cruises available but we have been put off of them by a colleague who used to work for Cunard and tells me they are a floating Butlins. However, i realise this is only one persons opinion, so if anyone can provide their thoughts on Carnival that would be great.

There doesn't seem to be internet included on any cruises, and no prices online - is this expensive?

Any thoughts on the potential stops on our cruise, depending on which we choose - Nassau, Coco Cay and Key West?

Any other advice/tips/info would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance for any help

We did Enchantment of the Seas for 4 nights prior to Easter, followed by 2 nights in Fort Lauderdale and then 7 nights on Celebrity Silhouette.

Enchantment of the Seas is an older ship so it was looking a little tired in some areas. We had heard that it was more of a party ship but we certainly didn't find this. We had an outside cabin on deck 3 which was spacious, very clean and quiet. Service on board was excellent. All the staff were exceptionally friendly and very attentive... couldn't fault them at all. We bought a refreshment package prior to the cruise which meant we could have any non alcoholic drink. eg. Starbucks lattes/cappuccinos, non alcoholic cocktails such as virgin pina colados, coke, freshly squeezed orange juice etc. The onboard price was $26 a day each person for the package although my husband had spotted a really good deal online with RCI and managed to get the package for $13.50 each. It was excellent value and saved us a fortune on buying drinks onboard. Food was really good with plenty of choice. On sea days, staff were constantly walking round on deck, offering to get drinks. We always ate in the main restaurant for both breakfast and the evening meal as we prefer to be served our meals rather than than eat in the buffet restaurant.

We visited Nassau and did a tour of the island which my husband had arranged online with an independent company... really enjoyed this and was good value too. Our visit to Coco Cay was cancelled as they couldn't tender to shore which obviously was quite disappointing! Key west was lovely ... we did the Conch tour train and can definitely recommend it as it was really informative. We then meandered along Duval Street browsing the shops. Really loved Key West!

On Celebrity Silhouette we were in a balcony cabin on deck 8. The cabin was of a better standard than Enchantment as it was obviously newer and more modern and fresh. We have cruised before on Celebrity Equinox and have found Celebrity to be that next step up from RCI. Food was definitely of a much better quality and better presented than RCI. Service on a few days in the main restaurant for breakfast was really slow with the servers seeming disinterested! However our servers for the evening meal were excellent and we really couldn't fault them. The buffet restaurant had everything you could think of, with a really wide and varied selection of food. We had a classic drinks package on board so could have most alcoholic drinks. Full sea days could sometimes be slow for getting served drinks on the outside decks.

We didn't opt for Internet on either cruise as we managed to get free wifi when ashore.

Generally we didn't have as high expectations for Enchantment, however we thoroughly enjoyed it and without hesitation would certainly do the same cruise again.

We have also cruised Carnival and would cruise again with them too... we did a back to back 14 night cruise around the Caribbean (which was our first ever cruise) and also a 7 night Caribbean cruise on Carnival Breeze. Thoroughly enjoyed cruising with Carnival.

Of the cruises we have done, we feel Celebrity was that bit classier but that is just our personal opinion. I'm sure you would thoroughly enjoy either cruise whatever you decide!

**Fuellady** · 23 Apr 18, 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by ryanlaur

We did Enchantment of the Seas for 4 nights prior to Easter, followed by 2 nights in Fort Lauderdale and then 7 nights on Celebrity Silhouette.

Enchantment of the Seas is an older ship so it was looking a little tired in some areas. We had heard that it was more of a party ship but we certainly didn't find this. We had an outside cabin on deck 3 which was spacious, very clean and quiet. Service on board was excellent. All the staff were exceptionally friendly and very attentive... couldn't fault them at all. We bought a refreshment package prior to the cruise which meant we could have any non alcoholic drink. eg. Starbucks lattes/cappuccinos, non alcoholic cocktails such as virgin pina colados, coke, freshly squeezed orange juice etc. The onboard price was $26 a day each person for the package although my husband had spotted a really good deal online with RCI and managed to get the package for $13.50 each. It was excellent value and saved us a fortune on buying drinks onboard. Food was really good with plenty of choice. On sea days, staff were constantly walking round on deck, offering to get drinks. We always ate in the main restaurant for both breakfast and the evening meal as we prefer to be served our meals rather than than eat in the buffet restaurant.

We visited Nassau and did a tour of the island which my husband had arranged online with an independent company... really enjoyed this and was good value too. Our visit to Coco Cay was cancelled as they couldn't tender to shore which obviously was quite disappointing! Key west was lovely ... we did the Conch tour train and can definitely recommend it as it was really informative. We then meandered along Duval Street browsing the shops. Really loved Key West!

On Celebrity Silhouette we were in a balcony cabin on deck 8. The cabin was of a better standard than Enchantment as it was obviously newer and more modern and fresh. We have cruised before on Celebrity Equinox and have found Celebrity to be that next step up from RCI. Food was definitely of a much better quality and better presented than RCI. Service on a few days in the main restaurant for breakfast was really slow with the servers seeming disinterested! However our servers for the evening meal were excellent and we really couldn't fault them. The buffet restaurant had everything you could think of, with a really wide and varied selection of food. We had a classic drinks package on board so could have most alcoholic drinks. Full sea days could sometimes be slow for getting served drinks on the outside decks.

We didn't opt for Internet on either cruise as we managed to get free wifi when ashore.

Generally we didn't have as high expectations for Enchantment, however we thoroughly enjoyed it and without hesitation would certainly do the same cruise again.

We have also cruised Carnival and would cruise again with them too... we did a back to back 14 night cruise around the Caribbean (which was our first ever cruise) and also a 7 night Caribbean cruise on Carnival Breeze. Thoroughly enjoyed cruising with Carnival.

Of the cruises we have done, we feel Celebrity was that bit classier but that is just our personal opinion. I'm sure you would thoroughly enjoy either cruise whatever you decide!

Thank you so much for your detailed reply, this is very helpful. I really appreciate you taking the time to give your review of the different lines and ships

22 Apr 18, 09:54 AM	#2
	22 Apr 18, 09:54 AM billbarbara229 Imagineer
billbarbara229 Imagineer Join Date: Aug 07	Carnival use their oldest ships on this route and was the worst Cruise we have ever been on the cabin was filthy and the ship needed to go to scrap They do have adults only quiet areas and the noise is there if you want it they try to cater for everyone We much prefer RCI ships though Bahamas was disappointing because we thought it was a well off place The people are very poor we found it very distressing The palms hotel is out of the city on a spit total luxury at odds The islands are beautiful and the old colonial buildings still there I think cocoa key is a beach day , not sure Key west is good we did that on another cruise you can walk about yourself no trips needed it's neat and clean with chickens wandering freely lol Forgot to say you can use a US Travel company called affordabletours.com Edited at 10:07 AM.

22 Apr 18, 06:13 PM	#4
	22 Apr 18, 06:13 PM bonnies mum Imagineer
bonnies mum Imagineer Join Date: Apr 09	Hope you enjoy whoever you book with but I just wanted to say that we have had many enjoyable cruises with Carnival and have found standards and behaviour onboard no worse than on RCI. Our only reason for not booking with Carnival would be that they have cut back on the standard of the live shows. No onboard orchestra and fewer performers.