Cruise novice needing advice

[Amion68]

Originally Posted by Bartswife

Top right there is a link to boards. I originally joined it for our first cruise but later found dedicated Facebook pages, get a lot more information from there. Trip advisor has dedicated cruise forums too. Personally I think I would go package route as obviously can be tailored around sail dates although direct booking may give you more option to choose cabin and dining options. Only sailed P&O so don’t know if other cruise lines work the same way🙃

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Cruise118 have quoted me on a full Florida itinerary package with cruise, flights, car hire and hotel stops on the mainland

[Amion68]

Originally Posted by duchy

We always cruised as kids (Mum wouldn't fly) and I always wanted to do it as an adult but somehow never got around to it. Finally last year we did it .
I found booking separately through a US agent was cheaper .
I have a very old friend who adores everything Disney and is very comfortable , they have always cruised and have now retired to south Florida and the location was chosen in part to make their three times a year cruises easy (lucky dogs) . They always used to use Disney cruises but her opinion now is that Disney are roughly thirty percent more than Norwegian and Celebrity and they don't really offer anything more for that (and less interesting ports too) . They still do Disney if taking their very small grandkids for the characters but not the ten year old .
I used to be a travel agent and used to issue a standard warning to first time cruisers, it's very addictive , you do one, you'll almost certainly get hooked !
We are going back to do a second cruise a year after our first , we'd have probably done it next year but all the cruise companies offer discounts to repeat passengers and we found an offer we couldn't resist !
We always DIY Florida, one thing I noticed is that if you book a U.K. package the price is fixed , book through the US and if the cruise price drops you can ask them to reduce your invoice to the new price .
There's no shortage of hotels near the cruise ports. And most offer shuttles to the ships or just grab a Lyft or Uber (our preference often the same cost or less) so it's easy to DIY.
Every cruiser tends to have their favourite cruise company so you'll get a huge range of opinions some very strong.

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Thanks for sharing your experience. I am liking the look of the Royal Caribbean cruises as they look great for kids!