Comments On Young Cruisers And I Have A Question On Princess Cruises In September!

(My question is, “Why are cruise fares cheaper in September for the Caribbean Princess?” but we’ll go a little deeper into that after my intro…)

Hi, Just a little about myself before we get to the question... I'm new here and at the age of 17 and yes, still very young >.< But PLEASE, if you reply me back, don't make me feel inferior, or anything because you are older, wiser and etc. I don't like feeling stupid and I read another 17 year old's replies she received from other people, and I thought it was a little disrespectful to her.

When I first came across the desire to cruise, I researched here and there, and I found it so disappointing because there were age restrictions, practically on every cruise line. I don't blame them because I heard a bunch of dumb things like 18 year olds being disrespectful, getting drunk, falling over board because they were too drunk, went missing, and such... I just want to yell at them and say "STUPID EIGHTEEN YEAR OLDS!" yet; then again I'm being kind of hypocritical because I'm 17 going on 18 in March.

I'm just mad because of their irresponsibility; now some of us who are responsible and respectful have lost our opportunity to go on a cruise. It's not his or her ship, it's for everyone to enjoy. It’s common courtesy. I hope that the Princess Cruise line could still give me a chance in letting me enjoy a vacation on the Caribbean Princess. (Crossing my fingers!)

I recently found out that, out of the most popular cruise lines; there are 2 that do allow 18 year olds… (YES! I’m saying in my head in delight, but those who do have the opportunity, better not take a bad advantage of it. It’s just common courtesy of the ship and other people that are on it. Such a “DUH” kind of a thing.) The two cruise lines that allow passengers of age 18 and so on are the Disney and the Princess cruise lines. (I want to escape completely on the Caribbean Princess.) And if I’m wrong, I’ll call them and confirm it because one person said, “you absolutely can not go.” O_o (Okay… heheheh…)

(NOW FINALLY TO THE QUESTIONS! I’m hoping for at least 3 answers… Any Princess Cruise Experts? >.<)

1. I went on the Princess Cruise website and founded that fares are cheaper in September. Why is it like that? Is it because of the hurricane season? The low season?

2. From which months do the hurricanes occur most? They don’t completely ruin your vacation right? (Well, haven’t heard or seen complaints about it.)

3. Looking at the Princess Cruise website on the excursions, it mentions availability from 9/30 to 5/06, so I’m a little confused. Are those excursions only for that time being or do they also have new lists of excursions after that duration? Hahaha… There are excursions with Princess Cruises from June to September right? Please Help!

I found that this website and forum is really helpful to Newbies and everything. I really appreciate your help and thank you! Reply me ASAP!

I look forward to going on a Western Caribbean Cruise with Princess from September 9th through the 16th! Please enlighten me!

Before I try to answer your questions, permit me a couple of comments

A) For best info on any particular cruiseline, you should go to the board here at Cruise Critic dedicated to your cruiseline.

B) For best answers to your questions, just get to the questions. Adding alot of editorial comments is unlikely to get you better, faster, or more answers. If you don't TELL people you're 17 and get defensive, folks won't KNOW you're 17 and get offensive!

1) Fares are cheaper in September because the kids are back in school (regular and college), so demand is down. And it's the middle of hurricane season (you may have read about Katrina).

2) Hurricane season is from June 1 to Novermber 30, although there was a storm last year just after that. Can it ruin your vacation? If you really wanted to go to Cozumel this year in November, yeah, your vacation got ruined by Wilma. If you don't care where you go ("any island is alright, mon"), then assuming you get to your ship (Fort Lauderdale and Miami airports were closed for a couple days), you'll be fine.

3) All cruiselines have excursions all year. But they change them every now and then, so some future dates might not be published yet.

Hope this helps!

Since you are planning to cruise next year, are you looking to cruise in September because just because when you check the rates, the rates are cheaper? (I see you will be 18 in March)

If it is because of the rates, then rather than cruising in September, considering joining our August 19, 2006 Cruise Critic group cruise on the Caribbean Princess. We have great group rates and group amenities, including shipboad credit and a photo voucher. There will be a sailaway party and a meet and mingle and an opportunity to share shore excursions. But you don't have to do anything with the group you don't want to do--it is completely up to you. Also, there is no group dining, so you dine on your schedule. This would give you an opportunity to meet some people on the group board before the cruise, so when you get onboard you will know some people.

You can click on the links below in the banner for pricing/info or feel free to email me at kacruiser@ev1.net.

Are you going to travel solo or are you going to cruise with someone else in your stateroom? This affects your rates too.

Bad weather can occur anytime and can affect your being able to go to a particular port, so you need to be flexible about this if it happens. Many people do travel in December and the early winter to avoid the possibility of hurricanes. If you are looking for the absolute cheapest rates, usually this in in very late November (after Thanksgiving) and early December (before Christmas).

As far as excursion dates, the cruiselines enter into contracts with the excursion vendors for a set period of time. The dates usually reflect the dates of the existing contract. However, usually these contracts are renewed unless there is a problem with the vendor. You can be assured that the cruiselines will offer lots of shore excursions for your cruise, as this is how they make lots of money.

If you do post on the Princess board, I would also suggest not revealing your age in your post. This way you will avoid the criticism you might otherwise receive.

If you are travelling alone then double the price (it will tell you how much you will pay). I travel single all the time, sometimes there are specials for single's but not often. Also, I agree, go on the Princess board for more answers.

ood luck and enjoy your cruise.

Hurricane season runs from June to Nov. Sept and Oct are cheaper months to cruise because that is the height of the season.

Go woth the flow and be ok with any changes. Some people get all flustered when planning a cruise and then something changes-- this can ruin a whole week for some people.

Excursions-- visit the port of calls board to get a feel of what can be done in various ports. Rememer to be on the ship 30 minutes before sailing time. and note any time differences in the port compared to the ship time. Sometimes a port can be an hour behind what the time is on the ship.

The only reason you see limited availabity is the Cruiselines sign deals with vendors and the contract may only go to the date you specified.

Book a cruise based on the ship- not the ports. Booking during hurricane season your ports can change to places completly different..

You didnt mention if you will be sailing with a friend--if not this could be an expensive undertaking for you. The price you are seeing is based on two people in the cabin.. if its only you-- subtract port and tax and thats the price you pay

2.From which months do the hurricanes occur most? They don’t completely ruin your vacation right? (Well, haven’t heard or seen complaints about it.)

Hurricane season runs from June to October. YES, they CAN COMPLETELY RUIN your vacation if you are caught up in one. First, they will reek havoc with your flights. Second, they will cause the water to be rough which can cause seasickness. Third, they can alter your itinerary; if you had your heart set on a port you may not go there because it's too dangerous or if the port was destroyed by the hurricane. Fourth, they can cause you to only experience bad weather. If it's raining w/ high winds you won't be allowed on deck. Because of those risks & because of school schedules the fares are cheaper.

I'm flabergasted by your comment that you haven't seen or heard complaints about cruising hurricane season. To me that statement indicates that you haven't looked.

Go to the board for every major cruise line. Use the search feature & type in the word hurricane. You will get an education quickly. This issue was all over the news this year! Where were you?

• Read about the rogue wave that hit the NCL Dawn.
  
• Read about the RCI cruise diverted from Bermuda to Canada & all the people upset about that.
  
• Read about the fact that the Port of New Orleans is closed indefinitely since Katrina.
  
• Read about all the people who can't go to the private islands or to Cozumel because of the hurricanes.

Once you have actual information, then you can make a decision about your upcoming choice of vacation. At 18, personally, if I was you, I'd rather go a land based all-inclusive resort. I would have hated a cruise at that age & consider myself to have been very mature then (I was a sophmore in college).

Thank you for your comments, I found them very helpful. Yeah, I shouldn't reveal my age, yet I wanted to see how you guys would reply me back. Sorry for my ignorance, >.< I don't watch the news often and never heard people talk about cruising problems. Those kind of things around here aren't much of a talk, so how I was I to know? that's why I can come here and ask ^_^. Thank you again. I'm still going to go cruising!

You didn't explain why it is that you want to cruise in September. Also, whether you will be traveling solo or with one or more other people. This information would also help us to be able to offer some other suggestions for you.

My apologies, I was trying to get back to you, yet I guess I'll reply you here, and I've decided I'll cruise in September because I checked out the CC group cruise, and it's in the Eastern Caribbean, and I plan on going to the Western Caribbean. The rates are also more affordable for us "Youngsters" ^_^ plus I'll risk this one through rain or shine because I received some feed back from people who also cruised around that time and said they had a wonderful time.

I'll be going with my boyfriend from Sept. 9th-16th, and we are booking our own flights with Travelocity because it's a $150 cheaper than what Princess is offering, plus the other websites don’t have our airport location, so we can’t book a flight from them and we'll fly in the night before the embarkation, which should give us more than enough time to get to the port. Well, from here and on, we'll keep planning. Do you have any tips, or anything I should know before hand? Sorry for the trouble ^_^ and thanks!

I dontthink you are reading the pricing correctly-- Princess does not give price reductions becuase of age. the first 2 passengers pay the going rate for the week.. with the 3rd and 4th passenger paying less.

I suggest looking at other sites for airfare also. Plus check the individual airlines for their prices and save the fee that travelocity charges. Please know that when you get flights using travelocity.. they are usually non cancellable.

Yes--you can get airfare for lots cheaper then what the airlines sell for.

I suggest going down the day before- this way you have a lead way in case a problem developes. Use www.biddingfortravel.com to see how priceline works. I am sure you could probably get a hotel room for under 100 for the night.

I trust you shopped around for prices. Most online agencies will give you a much lower cruise rate than Princess, or if the cruise price is the same, they will offer free insurance or excursions, etc. Please get insurance since you're cruising during hurricane season. ;)

Thank you for your comments, I found them very helpful. Yeah, I shouldn't reveal my age, yet I wanted to see how you guys would reply me back. Sorry for my ignorance, >.< I don't watch the news often and never heard people talk about cruising problems. Those kind of things around here aren't much of a talk, so how I was I to know? that's why I can come here and ask ^_^. Thank you again. I'm still going to go cruising!

For a moment you confused me, but I think you misread what I typed, ^_^ It’s okay though, I’ll enlighten you with what I meant. I was replying back montgomeryfamily with answers about what I planned to do and I’ve decided to go cruising in September because their fares are much cheaper. I know they don’t give discounts to younger people and being 18 is at an adult age right?

Being at that age is still pretty young, and so most of us would still be working at minimum wages, so what I meant is that it would be more of a benefit for my boyfriend and I (us youngsters ^_^) to go with something less expensive because we'll be working at not such a great job, going to college, paying tuitions, and etc. We want to get away for a while, get pampered, and go on an adventure at an affordable price because we deserve it.

And with our choice of cruising in September, I thought about it some more and I started having a change of heart about booking our own flights. I live in the Denver area, so our airport’s pretty major, but after I graduate, I’ll be moving to Wisconsin. The closest airport is very small, and checking with a many websites, they can’t seem to find it on the map =P (Central Wisconsin Airport) It would always be some other airport 2-4 hours away. (E.g. Green Bay and Milwaukee, when we’d be living in the middle of the state.)

I checked with Travelocity and found flights with CWA. I knew the fares were nonrefundable, and with September being the big hurricane month, I changed my mind and I just plan on calling Princess Cruises to work something out, and make sure we’ll be flying from CWA to FLL, and when a tropical storm does come down, we’ll be covered, because I’ll purchase the Princess premium traveler protection/insurance.

It’s worth paying the extra few hundred dollars, so booking a flight with Princess, we’ll be there on the embarkation day, and so a hotel won’t be needed. We should feel secure and enjoy our vacation as much as we can. Going all the way with Princess is just a safer and better way to go. ^_^

(Excuse me for my mixed-up verb tenses-)

Thank you for your nice comment! ^_^ Yes! Other places do offer some cheaper rates, but I'm going to book a cruise straight from Princess cruises because they do have cheap rates in September too. I'll be sure to puchase the premium insurance so I won't be at a loss in the end! ^_^ Can't wait!

Ya seem to have your bases covered and VERY good reasons to book the air through the cruiselines. Yes booking the whole package is a guarantee to keep the stress off of you while enjoying your vacation.

What princess ship are you looking at?

We are going for Presidents week in 2007 on the Caribbean Princess. Its my first time on Princess.

I live in Wisconsin so I can give you some hints about flights. Your local airport probably has flights to Milwaukee, so that would be a good starting point. Don't bother with Green Bay or Madison because if you get to those airports, they make you fly to Milwaukee for any decent flights to Florida. The other problem with Milwaukee is that they don't have many direct flights to Florida. Midwest does have a direct flight from Milwaukee to Ft Lauderdale. Another choice is Northwest which flies out of MKE to Detroit, and then on to Ft Lauderdale (I've taken that flight many times for cruises and it works well---as a matter of fact, I'm taking those NWA flights in three weeks for a Celebrity cruise). I would avoid Chicago at all costs. That airport is too nutso and their flight arrival and departures are the worst of any airport in the country. You are not going to find any flights out of the Central Wisconsin Airport that will take you directly to Florida. They will make you fly to Milwaukee or Chicago O'Hare and connect to flights there.

You also need to be aware that not many people in your age group will be on that cruise. Most people your age are back in college by then and aren't cruising. You'll probably find that most of the other cruisers are much older than you, so be prepared for that. And despite what you might have heard from others, it can be tough to book a cruise in September. It's the height of the hurricane season and it can ruin a vacation. It's the main reason why the prices are so cheap---and since this was such a terrible hurricane season, the veteran cruisers are shying away from September/October cruises.

Don't feel overly secure about flying in the day of your cruise. Most of us who are experienced cruisers always fly in the day before to avoid the problems of arriving late. With you coming from Central Wisconsin, and considering that there just aren't many flights to Florida, I would be concerned with potential problems. Just because Princess books your flights, doesn't mean they will wait for you if your flight is delayed. During the winter of 2004, we had a 10 day cruise booked and were only flying in the day before the cruise (big mistake and we will never do that again--in winter we will book flights two days before the cruise). We knew the storm was coming so we hurried and booked flights and a hotel at the last minute and flew from MKE to FT Lauderdale two days early. Good thing we did because literally hundreds of passengers, from many cruise ships, didn't make the cruise because of canceled flights and airports that were shut down from the snow---all the Midwest airports including Milwaukee and Chicago were shut down for nearly two days. All those passengers were out of luck. Now, I'm not saying that it's going to snow in September, but what if a hurricane shuts down the airports in Florida, just like they shut down for three days in Miami and Ft Lauderdale after Rita this past October? You're out of luck.

Kitty9 offered you some excellent advice. While I understand you want to cruise in September because of the cheaper rates, you might also look at the Caribbean Princess rates in early December, as these are the same price as in September. This is after hurricane season ends. But you might have a problem with snow in Wiconsin that affected the airport travel, so you would still need to be concerned with that potential.

I also suggest that you also join the roll call of whatever cruise you book, so you can get to know some of the people who will be onboard with you and also many are experienced cruisers who can answer questions and provide additional information for you.

You indicated that you really wanted to go to the Western Caribbean. Is there some excursion or activity that you are really interested in doing? We might be able to provide some insight on that. I understand that you realize that you might miss the ports due to bad weather and will be flexible. That is the right attitude--I'm sure you'll have fun regardless. Just be careful if you book through a private tour operator that the booking is fully refundable if the ship is not able to go to the port, especially in September, when the ports may be changed due to hurricanes or other bad weather.