Help me pick a family cruise Please!

[Honey518]

Hi All, I want to plan a family cruise March 2011(yes spring break) LOL...
This will be our first time cruising and I am not sure which ship would best suit our 5 kids. Here is a little about the kids and what they like:

17yr old Girl- moody,text & internet junkie,I think she has an IPOD growing out of her ears
15yr old Boy- basketball, ex-box 360, and girl crazy
14yr old Girl- Loves movies-Hannah Montanna,High school musical etc..
12yr old Boy-skate board, bike riding,swimming pool, veggin' out in front of the T.V
7yr old Boy -besides annoying his brothers. He's a fish-loves the pool,movies, and just keeping busy.

(These are the ages they will when its cruise time)

Since this is our first time, I was thinking of a 5 day western caribbean or a 4 day Bahama any thoughts?

Also, any way to cut or keep costs down? Hubby and I are your "average working class" family and I am all for deals, discounts and coupons! lol. Any suggestions on the best way to book the cabins? Directly w/carnival or via travel agent? We are traveling from Chicago, have not decided if we want to cut the air fare cost and drive to Tampa,Mobile or Orlando.- I REALLY don't want to do that but air for 7 people is pretty steep. Has anyone else taken that drive with a car load of kids?

Any help/reccomendations will be greatly appreciated!

[JaniceW]

I have driven from NY to Orlando. You may or not save if you drive vs paying airfare depending on the airfare you can get (spring break will probably mean high fares) and how many nights you will spend driving down to Florida. We usually take two nights as one night is pretty brutal driving-wise. I book rooms on Priceline and usually pay between $38 & $45 per night for each room (2 1/2 -3 star hotels). Read the Priceline forums so you will know what hotels you might be getting and what price bids are most likely to be accepted. Remember that you cannot get a refund for Priceline rooms and you have to take whatever hotel accepts your bid. This may or may not be acceptable to you. As for the cruise, I prefer the Western Caribbean. Just personal preference I guess. The Western Caribbean has some nice beaches and you don't need to take a ship excursion to enjoy those plus your daughters might enjoy bargaining for silver in Mexico. As for the cruise, you can save money by taking inside cabins or one inside and one outside cabin. Three in one cabin and four in the other. Remember when booking that an adult (over 21 I think)must be booked in each room so technically your husband will be in one room and you in the other. You can book early but make sure that your travel agent will adjust the cruise price without penalty should the cruise price be reduced. You've got a while to go before you need to book, have fun planning.

[sprockie]

Search for airfare. We got $142 flights from Rochester to Orlando last winter.
Pick a cruise with half moon cay. It's fabulous and can cost you $0 to enjoy the beach all day.
Try to swing the 7 day IMHO, 4 or 5 days is a tease, you barely get the know the ship and have to get off. If you can get a great deal on the 7 day - go for it.
Book the cheapest cabin(s) that will work. Up until recently, we always had inside cabins and thoroughly enjoyed our time.

[oakleys]

Have a look at dream, your kids are getting older, but it will have more to do & a bigger waterpark slide etc.

[CurlyQ132]

Originally Posted by JaniceW

I have driven from NY to Orlando. You may or not save if you drive vs paying airfare depending on the airfare you can get (spring break will probably mean high fares) and how many nights you will spend driving down to Florida. We usually take two nights as one night is pretty brutal driving-wise. I book rooms on Priceline and usually pay between $38 & $45 per night for each room (2 1/2 -3 star hotels). Read the Priceline forums so you will know what hotels you might be getting and what price bids are most likely to be accepted. Remember that you cannot get a refund for Priceline rooms and you have to take whatever hotel accepts your bid. This may or may not be acceptable to you. As for the cruise, I prefer the Western Caribbean. Just personal preference I guess. The Western Caribbean has some nice beaches and you don't need to take a ship excursion to enjoy those plus your daughters might enjoy bargaining for silver in Mexico. As for the cruise, you can save money by taking inside cabins or one inside and one outside cabin. Three in one cabin and four in the other. Remember when booking that an adult (over 21 I think)must be booked in each room so technically your husband will be in one room and you in the other. You can book early but make sure that your travel agent will adjust the cruise price without penalty should the cruise price be reduced. You've got a while to go before you need to book, have fun planning.

IMO - Eastern Caribbean cruises have stops that allow you to get off the ship and go to a beautiful pool or beach within minutes. For example cruises that stop at Grand Turk (get off the ship and walk straight to Margaritiville) and Half Moon Cay (Carnivals own private beach). Thereby you can control some of your excursion costs or not pay for excursions at all.

[MamaParrotHead]

Pick a western caribbean itinerary, with lots of exciting things to do (swimming with stingrays or dolphins, zipling, cave-tubing, etc.).

Don't even think about driving. By the time you get to FL to start your "vacation", you'll be sick of one another and that isn't a great way to start a much-anticipated trip, IMO.

Good luck!

[JRock59]

Try looking at the Destiny she has nice port stops and does different routes so you may be able to get a B2B on her for what you would pay for a 7 day on other ships. Maybe a 4 & 5 night combined?

[tsj]

Have you considered sailing from New Orleans? We did that a few years ago, we took my mom and her husband along and they don't fly. New Orleans was a shorter drive (we are also from Illinois).

[Honey518]

Thank you everyone for your input...Got any tips for keeping costs down? Is it better to book direct with Carnival or Travel Agent?

When I talked to Carnival they said I needed to pay $200 down per person. Now the listed cruise price was only $369- So I should pay half?? I've heard if you use and agent, you can put a smaller deposit down, like $50 per person.. Whats your experience with putting down a deposit?

[kaykels]

What ship are you looking at? The newer ships are much nicer. What time of year are you going?

[firefly333]

Originally Posted by Honey518

Thank you everyone for your input...Got any tips for keeping costs down? Is it better to book direct with Carnival or Travel Agent?

When I talked to Carnival they said I needed to pay $200 down per person. Now the listed cruise price was only $369- So I should pay half?? I've heard if you use and agent, you can put a smaller deposit down, like $50 per person.. Whats your experience with putting down a deposit?

I personally would rather book direct with Carnival. It is rare that Carnival allows a reduced deposit and very few TAs can arrange it.

$200 deposit is only for a 5 day, if you do a 7 day the deposit will be $250 and Iv seen prices $389 and lower, and for the 3/4 person in a cabin, their prices will be even lower than that, so you wouldnt have much to pay at final payment. Iv had several final payments where I owed less than $200 total. The deposit is based on the # of days of the cruise, not a percentage as you mentioned.

You can spend very little or a lot. Do cheap things and dont sign up for excursions as those are what really adds a lot of $$ to the cost of your trip. Tips will be an additional $10 per person per day for everyone. So a 5 day X 7 X $10 plan on them adding daily tips of $350 additional. Just budget for it. The service is worth it.

Other than tips, there is nothing you have to spend.

[cathyoo]

Originally Posted by Honey518

Thank you everyone for your input...Got any tips for keeping costs down? Is it better to book direct with Carnival or Travel Agent?

When I talked to Carnival they said I needed to pay $200 down per person. Now the listed cruise price was only $369- So I should pay half?? I've heard if you use and agent, you can put a smaller deposit down, like $50 per person.. Whats your experience with putting down a deposit?

Unless you are hooking up with a group it generally is hard to get reduced deposits. In my limited experience the reduced deposits are only available when booking two people into a cabin. Have you thought how many cabins you want? Four and three to a cabin? Two, Two and Three?

I actually like be forced to make the larger deposit. Bite the bullet now and it makes it so much easier later. (at least for me)

Has your family traveled long distances before? Don't forget in addition to the 7 of you there will be all that luggage. But the air fare for seven (even getting deals) is going to put a dent in your budget.

It will be a wonderful family vacation and I hope you have the best of times.

[Honey518]

Cathy00...

We are getting two cabins-1 ocean view and 1 interior directly across.
We have had smaller vacations like driving to Wisconsin dells (3hrs from Chicago) and driving down to Baton Rouge Louisiana(14 hrs), but this will be the first big family vacation for us.

I just want to be sure we are getting the best 'bang for our buck" and are trying to make this economical AND enjoyable. That is why I am planning so far in advance. It has been a huge toss up between a cruise and a land-all inclusive vacation and I'm still weighing the pro's and con's of both.

[BaseballMomof4]

I travel with 3 DS's who this year will be 12,15, and 18. Our first cruise they were 8, 11 and 14 and we did a 7 day Western to Ocho Rios, Cozumel, Grand Cayman - our second they were a year older and we did a four day to Key West and Calica.

Look carefully at airfare right now, there are some real deals to be had. Calculate the fuel, food, hotel costs and see if you can find airfare that is comparable - also consider the parking fees in that that can add $100+ to your travel expenses depending on length of cruise and port city.

I agree with the 7 day cruise being a better choice than the shorter ones. We have an excellent deal on a 7 day in December, if you cruise the week before the Holiday cruises, you can get some great prices.

We have so far done Western Carib cruises and had a fantastic time each time. Cozumel is great for the kids - there are many beach excursions that include non-motorized water sports to be had at a great price. Grand Cayman has excellent beaches as well, Ocho Rios has the phenomenal park, Key West is fun just walking around and going to Mallory Square, Calica we did Xcaret and the justification for the price is simply that there is something for everyone there. We intend to go back to Xcaret during our port in Cozumel this time because we enjoyed it so much and weren't able to do everything we wanted to the last time.

Any cruise can be the adventure of a lifetime - and you don't have to break the bank doing it. Avoid ship sold excursions when you can as they are more expensive, and don't try to do everything at once!! Have fun and let us know what you decide!!

[BlueJacketsFan1]

I don't think you can go wrong with a cruise vacation. Any one that you go on your family should have a great time.

[luvtovaca]

We chose Inspiration 5 day for our first familly cruise and were not disappointed! Kids were 13, 13 (boys) and 10 (girl). They loved it and found much to do. The boys pretty much ditched us for kids club anytime we were on the ship! Daughter loved the slides and pool, as did DH and I! 5 days was perfect for us. Cozumel we did Paradise Beach for $10 pp wristbands to use the water toys, plus we ate and drank some, but all in all not too expensive. We "splurged" on the stingrays excursion in Grand Cayman and all of us loved it. Check airfares from Chicago to Tampa on Southwest. We did really well with them. Fares dropped over time before our trip and DH and I had enough to fly to Orlando and cruise again this fall! Although, SW doesn't list their flights too far out. We booked directly through Carnival. Anytime the price dropped prior to final payment, I called and got it reduced. (This happened twice, I think) Good luck, whatever you choose, you'll have a blast!