Caribbean Cruise?

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6,001
Thinking about a visit to Caribbean in March time. Never done a cruise anywhere (if you don't count Linthorpe Road)
Don't want a massive ship, don't want kids running about.
Does not have to be a Cruise
Do want Luxury
Any help gratefully received
 

D Walker

Member
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9,827
I'm on one now Dave, kids aboard tho. Ours is a TUI one, Cuban Fusion and Pride of Panama.
 

zagatoes30

Member
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20,758
Other than overnight Harwich to Bremerhaven when at school never been on a boat longer than a few hours, happy with that but I know others love it.
 

AT3200AC

Junior Member
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73
I did the Caribbean cruise a few years ago as my folks wanted a family holiday and they had cruised 20 plus times. Have to say it’s not for me. Plus points are the chance to say you have been to 10 islands in two weeks but it’s expensive, as hotels go the ships are not that luxurious and rooms small. Unsurprisingly the boats move and whilst this wasn’t an issue the sea days and strong winds can make you feel sick. The worst thing was it felt like I was watching the Caribbean but couldn’t explore it. Every dock is the same and it’s not accessible independently like a European destination would be.

If you have any desire to experience the actual Caribbean I think cruising is too sanitised.
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
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9,033
We did a Caribbean tour about 15 years ago.
Bored shitless to be honest.
Probably didn't help the majority of passengers were Americans.
Nothing against Americans but it was a bit tiring at 'every' event they had to put their hands together for the retired American servicemen on board.
Okay once, but about 4 times a day.... they could have said 'servicemen', as there was other nationals on board, but no, American, American, American!
If I was an ex serviceman, i'd be standing and saying, 'what about me!' the cruise ship wasn't even American owned.
 
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allandwf

Member
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10,958
I did a cruise years ago, like being stuck in a hotel with folk you don't like! Not for me. A good way to see a lot of otherwise reasonably inaccessible places though. Just have to weigh up the pros and cons.
 

MarkMas

Chief pedant
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8,795
Did one Med cruise a few years ago. It was ok - nice to have your 'hotel' turn up in a different place each day. Loads of good food. Tendency to dock at scruffy ports (eg Piraeus) not beautiful cites (eg Athens), obvio. Coach trips to the sights were ok. Nice mix of nationalities in the Med.

Did a river cruise (Danube) last year. We were the youngest people there (at 59). Nice and restful, with a walk round a city or a little town about once a day. But not exciting. Most stops were in town centre (not Vienna) which was nice. MrsMarkMas has booked again for this year and I will go along with it.
 

Wack61

Member
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8,764
I know somebody who did a Caribbean cruise, they said they wouldn't do it again because all the islands looked the same after the first couple , at least on a european one you get multiple choices of destinations depending on which one you pick, I'd like to go on one with a stop in Dubrovnik though I believe Game of Thrones has buggered that one up
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
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9,033
I'm sure they felt the same ;)

C

Funny we got placed with an American family of 4 for dinner.
The next evening we discovered the same family asked to be moved.
What is it with some Americans when the first thing they say is 'hi, my name is John and my wife's name is Madison, and we don't believe in abortion'...where did that come from from?!!
 

jw38

Member
Messages
130
We did a Caribbean tour about 15 years ago.
Bored shitless to be honest.
Probably didn't help the majority of passengers were Americans.
Nothing against Americans but it was a bit tiring at 'every' event they had to put their hands together for the retired American servicemen on board.
Okay once, but about 4 times a day.... they could have said 'servicemen', as there was other nationals on board, but no, American, American, American!
If I was an ex serviceman, i'd be standing and saying, 'what about me!' the cruise ship wasn't even American owned.

As I'm a retired US Air Force veteran, I read your post with great interest and I can say without reservation that I agree with you 100%. While I appreciate being thanked for serving, I think we've come to a point in the states that it's "the thing to do" to make those who are "thanking" the veterans feel good. It's overplayed, to say the least. I would also have taken great exception that while on an international cruise, only American veterans were being thanked. I was stationed in the UK for 3 years (RAF Lakenheath), South Korea (twice), and Germany, with several deployments to the sandbox and other "tropical" locations. I have tremendous admiration for my international military brothers and sisters, and I think that if folks want to thank veterans, they should thank ALL veterans.

OK...off of my soapbox...

I also think that you'd be bored shitless on a Caribbean cruise. My wife and I have taken 3 of them on smaller ships, and after each one, we've said never again. The last one we took was 7 years ago. If your desire is to go to the Caribbean to relax, my suggestion is to find an all-inclusive resort that doesn't allow children. We've stayed at Couples Negril in Jamaica several times and we think it's an outstanding resort. Everything you could ever need is right there and if you want to do some sightseeing outside of the resort, they will take care of all the planning. There are quite a few other resorts on the West coast of Jamaica (we don't like the East coast), and there are a lot of other, adult-only resorts, located through our the Caribbean.
 

D Walker

Member
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9,827
It's mainly ok. However as its TUI it's mostly British which means the pool bar can be like Wearherspoons on Water, I've named it the wow zone, but there are plenty of spaces to mix with less boisterous/ drunk people abusing all inclusive. But on the whole it's been a great time so far. Some Americans, Canadians, Jamacians on board. But realistically the staff make this holiday. Excellent. We upgraded our cabin tho.
Presently having a beer in Panama, Colon, haha, and can see Chelsea are playing Newcastle. Just been to see the Panama Canal extension. Amazing engineering. I could have stayed all day.
 

D Walker

Member
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9,827
Just to say I won't go on holiday anywhere where you are gated. We have mostly booked tours to see things we want too. It is a bit like a locked in floating hotel. But I'm on my 5th book in 10 days. After the year I have had since May I just needed to chill a bit. And this sort of fits the bill.
 
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1,687
Swap your bucket and spade for a mop and bucket.

This norovirus malarkey happens a lot more frequently than you might imagine. No cruise line would seem to be immune.
See what I did there ;) I've read about it striking on smaller ships as well as the largest ones, so I'd guess its hard to guarantee
avoidance, unless you go for the best ship / line you can afford and take plenty of hand sanitiser.

Sounds like you want a clipper ship or windjammer or whatever they're called these days. Smaller. More exclusive. Some may be adult only. Especially appealing if you grew up watching the Onedin Line ;) I didn't. Principle is the same as the bigger ships. New port most mornings. I think that they tend to concentrate more on getting the essentials right. Like accommodation. Food. Think Small Luxury Hotels of the World, but afloat. Preferably a line with US / European / British officers. I believe that these cruise lines tend to target higher net worth passengers. Because they're sometimes smaller ships, they can get into ports where the biggest ships can't. I read an account recently, of a typical day in one of the smaller Caribbean islands, which typically had two or three enormous ships docking a day. At the same time, or over lapping. Sounded like every Boxing Day sale day on Oxford Street, all rolled into one.

I was sent on an educational cruise when I was 15. On an old British and India Line steamer called SS Uganda. Stopped at Gibraltar, Canaries, Madeira, Coruna and one or two other places I've forgotten. Was great fun at that age. Kids from all the developed countries. All tightly kept in check by the Masters at Arms. (ex-RN petty officers) Sailing across the Bay of Biscay was a bit like being on a fairground roller coaster and nearly all the passengers were seasick. I wasn't, so I enjoyed the huge seas. But, it was obvious that being that ill at sea was a miserable experience. I made friends from the US and Canada on that trip that I kept in touch with, hosted and visited for years afterwards.
A year or so later, SS Uganda was dodging Argentine bombs in The Falklands as a hospital ship and a year or so after that, she was scrapped. I did a transatlantic cruise once into New York from Southampton on the QE2, which was a fabulous way to arrive in New York. Very few kids. Relaxing.

If I was booking something again, it would either be a Cunard ship, or much more likely, one of the smaller windjammer type ships and I'd go as up market as possible.
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
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9,033
The ship we where on was an ex. Transatlantic liner so not one of those modern cruise ships.
Problem was to get ashore they had to use big tenders, too shallow.