New York or Seattle?

My girlfriend and I are getting married after 7 years together next summer. We plan on cruising for our honeymoon. We are considering either an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle or NCL out of New York. Any advice or opinions? We are traveling from TN and are not familiar with either city. Thanks in advance.

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My girlfriend and I are getting married after 7 years together next summer. We plan on cruising for our honeymoon. We are considering either an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle or NCL out of New York. Any advice or opinions? We are traveling from TN and are not familiar with either city. Thanks in advance.

 

Huge congratulations to you both!

In terms of your honeymoon cruise, you are talking not only about two very different cities, but two very different cruises -- Alaska v. I assume something down to Bermuda or the Caribbean (or perhaps up to Canada?).

What sorts of things do you like to see or do? Do you want to sit out somewhere on a beach? That won't be Alaska. :) Do you want to see glaciers and stunning scenery? Well, no glaciers in Bermuda...

You can see where I'm going here. My suggestion would be to do some research on the potential itineraries as well as the two cities, and think about what would be the most interesting and fun for you, not for others.

I will say one thing about Alaska, though. While an Alaska cruise is beautiful, spending time on land in Alaska, seeing more of the interior, driving around, is an incredible experience. A cruise can't hold a candle to that. And if the cruise is RT Seattle, you won't even have the opportunity pre- or post-cruise to spend time in the state.

Whatever you decide, have a great trip, and congrats again!

First...CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! Second: Regardless of the departure city, very, very different itineraries. As the above poster stated, Alaska is incredibly beautiful natural scenery but there will be no relaxing on a sandy beach and I don't think the Alaska cruise would be as relaxing and low key all around, compared to Bermuda/Caribbean. If out of NYC, were you considering Bermuda, Caribbean, or (if NCL does them) a Canada/New England cruise? Are you going to spend some pre/post cruise time in the departure city? If so, I would sail out of NYC and play tourist there for a few days, pre or post cruise. Also, if you are from TN, I'm thinking getting to NY would be less expensive (and probably easier) then getting to Seattle. The more I think about it, my first choice would be NY/Bermuda or Caribbean and save Alaska for an "anniversary cruise".

Congrats!!!!! The ships on the Alaska route are usually mid-size, 65,000-100,000 tons and carry 2000-3600 passengers. While the Alaskan trip is scenic, there are also some great excursions, some very active. Remember Alaskan cruises are May to early October.

NCL out of NYC is all year long. I would only go out of NYC from Tenn. if you wanted to spend 2-3 days experiencing NYC. otherwise take NCL or Royal Carribean from Ft. Lauderdale. That way you have more time in the warm Carribean without the extra day at sea going back up to NYC. You will have more ports to explore and more varied beach days.

I also suggest that you do not go during a school break when the ship will be overrun with kids. You may want a more intimate adult experience.

Either. way, a cruise is a terrific way to spend a honeymoon. Lot of luck.

 

I also suggest that you do not go during a school break when the ship will be overrun with kids.

I'm glad you mentioned this. I was thinking about the same point after I posted last night, and should have noted it as well.

Some folks, of course, have jobs that limit them to summer travel. OP, if you don't, just know that cruising when kids are out of school will give you ships full of kids. I am willing to bet the NCL experience out of NY in the summer (at least the non-Canada trips) in particular will be loads of kids. And while there will probably be plenty of kids on an Alaska cruise during the time when schools are out, I suspect it won't be quite the same experience as kids running all over on the pool deck.

I would only go out of NYC from Tenn. if you wanted to spend 2-3 days experiencing NYC.

Well, another very good reason to sail out of NY is that it is simply one of the most magnificent sailaways in the world. Cruising past Manhattan on one side, New Jersey on the other, passing the Statue of Liberty and then going under the Verrazano Bridge -- it's pretty hard to top that. And if you sail to, say, Bermuda out of NY in late September (when U.S. schools are back in session), you're not likely to be in cold weather.

(photo by turtles06, taken during a spectacular mid-October sailaway)

My Alaskan cruise ranks as one of my all time favorites, ever. It is stunning. But it is very port intensive, in that you will absolutely want to be up every morning and do an excursion. And the sea days usually involve seeing glaciers, which you will also not want to miss. It's not a "relax" cruise, which is what you may want for your honeymoon, especially after all the stress of a wedding. My vote is NY, and also so that you can experience NYC either before or after, if you haven't done that before.

Thank you for the well wishes. I am beyond excited. I would love and prefer NYC. My love has mentioned Seattle several times. We are traveling alone as we have planned to be away 2 weeks and the family can not get that much time away from work. It is more so of an elaborate elopement than a formal wedding. We will be leaving TN on or around June 27th and hope to return July 5th.

Ideally, I think a suite on either the Breakaway or Gem would be perfect. We usually just like to relax and go with the flow on vacation.

The big thing that seems to be tipping her opinion to Seattle is that we can arrange the marriage license prior to leaving home. This would eliminate any waiting period or having to make multiple trips to the license bureau. This may seem like a silly detail but my honey is all about ensuring the wedding goes without a hitch. I've been dragging my feet on it until now.

Thank you for the well wishes. I am beyond excited. I would love and prefer NYC. My love has mentioned Seattle several times. We are traveling alone as we have planned to be away 2 weeks and the family can not get that much time away from work. It is more so of an elaborate elopement than a formal wedding. We will be leaving TN on or around June 27th and hope to return July 5th.

 

Ideally, I think a suite on either the Breakaway or Gem would be perfect. We usually just like to relax and go with the flow on vacation.

 

The big thing that seems to be tipping her opinion to Seattle is that we can arrange the marriage license prior to leaving home. This would eliminate any waiting period or having to make multiple trips to the license bureau. This may seem like a silly detail but my honey is all about ensuring the wedding goes without a hitch. I've been dragging my feet on it until now.

First, congrats!! :D

Second, I have never done Alaska but it is on the bucket-list. However, from TN it would likely be, as others have said, easier to travel to NY. Of course, you could always sail out of Boston and get married in the first state that allowed it! **A little biased as I'm from Boston! HAHA**

I have done both Canada and Bermuda cruises from the northeast [boston and NYC] and they are decidedly different. Also, a Bermuda cruise is much different from one to the Caribbean. Bermuda is beautiful, romantic, and relaxing. Also, you are ported for 3 days [4 days if you do HAL from Boston in 2015] so you have much more time to experience the port than spending 1 day in each place like a Caribbean cruise. For a honeymoon, I would definitely recommend Bermuda!

That said, I have sailed to Bermuda on NCL Breakaway and it has been my favourite cruise to date. The ship is truly amazing and the FOD [if you care for that] was well-attended with lots of "family" to hang out with over cocktails. I did a quick one-nighter on the NCL Gem and it is a nice ship as well but does not compare with the Breakaway for activities. For Boston - Bermuda it would be the NCL Dawn or HAL Veendam. I have sailed neither but my parents sailed the Dawn and really enjoyed it. HAL is on my list of lines to try as I like their history and more formal atmosphere. Either way you will have a fabulous trip.

My girlfriend and I are getting married after 7 years together next summer. We plan on cruising for our honeymoon. We are considering either an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle or NCL out of New York. Any advice or opinions? We are traveling from TN and are not familiar with either city. Thanks in advance.

 

 

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We just received an e-mail from RSVP, they are doing their 30th anniversary Alaska cruise next August.

It will be on their web page soon for the people who are not alumni.

Congratulations on your marriage, we tied the knot after 26 years in April.

Joe

I posted earlier, but I was thinkin'........an Alaska cruise, though wonderful, is not going to be laid back and restful. Bermuda or the Caribbean would be more so, and I would choose that as a honeymoon over an Alaska cruise. As you are traveling from TN, have you considered sailings out of FLA? Many, many more options and getting from TN to Fla, I would think, would be the easiest and least expensive. Just another option to consider.

We just received an e-mail from RSVP, they are doing their 30th anniversary Alaska cruise next August.

It goes on sale to the public tomorrow.

The big thing that seems to be tipping her opinion to Seattle is that we can arrange the marriage license prior to leaving home. This would eliminate any waiting period or having to make multiple trips to the license bureau. This may seem like a silly detail but my honey is all about ensuring the wedding goes without a hitch. I've been dragging my feet on it until now.

I took a quick glance at the procedure in Washington State and while it says you can apply via mail I did not see anything that specifically said that the waiting period is waved.

In New York there is a 24-hour waiting period between applying for a marriage license and getting married but that can be waived; the website I believe tells you how to do that ahead of time. Even with a 24-hour period it does not take that long (they don't take appointments) and if you avoid Fridays and Mondays you could get through rather fast. You can also start the marriage license application process online (no mailing anything).

I would prefer an Alaska cruise rather than a Caribbean cruise out of NYC but for a honeymoon, the Caribbean may be a better choice. But Alaska is stunning as is the NYC sail-away (and sail-in - yes I was up early for that!).

Found after my original post: it looks like the waiting period starts when they "process your application", not when the license is actually issued. Saturdays,Sundays or federal holidays don't count towards the three days.

I sent an email to the King County Recorder's customer service in Seattle. They responded that the waiting period would begin once they received the application regardless of in person or via mail.

I would really prefer New York. We can be there on a direct flight in just over 2 hours.

Travel between Nashville and Seattle involves at least one stop/plane change and at least 8 hours flight time. We will basically lose most of the day on each end of our trip.

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