First Time Cruise Advice plea

I have not cruised for 20 some years and would love to jump back in. Need suggestions on which cruise line and length. The trick is I'm dragging my husband with me who is not a fan of cruise life but is up for the challenge with the hope of loving it this time around. His concerns in the past were formal dining times and dress. And lack of enough events/activities to keep his ADD at bay. I was considering either Allure of the Sea (or similar type boat) or a Celebrity Solstice class. I know they are different but they both appealed to me for different reasons. Best time for us is Feb or March 2015. Anyone out there have a strong opinion on what would be the right move for me. We live in California. Late 40's. Kids in college so it would be just us (its about time!). We are extremely social and hoping to find like minded others to meet, mingle and have a blast with. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all so much. :D

Dining can be what you want with my time dining and specialty restaurants

Both ships are great. Classes that is

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I have not cruised for 20 some years and would love to jump back in. Need suggestions on which cruise line and length. The trick is I'm dragging my husband with me who is not a fan of cruise life but is up for the challenge with the hope of loving it this time around. His concerns in the past were formal dining times and dress. And lack of enough events/activities to keep his ADD at bay. I was considering either Allure of the Sea (or similar type boat) or a Celebrity Solstice class. I know they are different but they both appealed to me for different reasons. Best time for us is Feb or March 2015. Anyone out there have a strong opinion on what would be the right move for me. We live in California. Late 40's. Kids in college so it would be just us (its about time!). We are extremely social and hoping to find like minded others to meet, mingle and have a blast with. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you all so much. :D

Welcome to Cruise Critic! The ships have changed A LOT in 20 years, and believe me, boredom will NOT be a factor here...one word of caution about your cruise dates: March is often Spring Break, which means LOTS OF KIDS, and a lot more $$ for the cruise..February would be much better..I am both a cruise agent AND avid cruiser ( next month on Oasis will be my 30th cruise ) on all but Costa & MSC..I would recommend 3 cruise lines for your age group + lots of activities AND less formal dining times & dress..they are RCI ( all Freedom Class & Oasis ships), Norwegian ( Getaway, Breakaway & Epic) and the Celebrity Solstice class ships ( there are 5, all 122-126,000 tons)..

I think these are good choices because 1) All these ships have "my time" or "freestyle" dining options..that is, you CHOOSE what time you want to eat and often, where...as for dress codes, there are still formal nights on some, BUT, unlike before, there are many options to choose as to where you can dine w/o dressing up...some cost $$ because they are "specialty

restaurants that carry a fee of anywhere from $10-50 pp..they have ( IMO) much better food, great service, and most important- the "ambiance" is quieter with low lights, soft music, much more romantic..on many of these ships ( except Oasis/ Allure) you can get a table for 2 OVER-LOOKING the sea by a window...very nice!!

As for activities & entertainment, RCI & Norwegian would be top 2 choices IMO...Allure has the amazing diving show in the Aquatheater, Ice-skating shows with Russian, Canadian & US skaters, Zip-line, Flowrider surf simulator, Central Park ( my fav, fantastic at night..), mini-golf, an adults only pool area called the Solarium, and more..the new Norwegian ships have LOTS of entertainment like the Blue Man Group, Illusionarium ( a magic / dinner show) , Latin dancing dinner show, Legally Blonde play, lots of comedy & jazz, plus about 20 bars & lounges..Celebrity ships are elegant & very classy, tend to attract slightly less families & young people than RCI & NCL, but they have great bars & lounges, and service & food are really outstanding, though they have fewer dining options than the former two..The Reflection is their top rated ship and friends have told me she is magnificent...another possibility would be Princess..they are more like Celebrity, high end & nice ships, but some say they close down at night a bit earlier than RCI & NCL..you also must look at itinerary- you didn't say if you have a preference on WHERE you want to go..Eastern or Western Caribb? Southern usually leaves out of San Juan...Eastern is often 3 days in ports, and 3 sea days..Western is usually 4 ports and 2 sea days ,and Southern can be 5 ports & 1 sea day, so to some that is a consideration because more ports mean more activity, less ports means more time to relax on the ship...any questions/ comments let me know..those are my recommendations for you & hubby...

Big Al

Both Allure (bigger, more varied activities) and Solstice (more sophisticated, less children) are great! You can't go wrong with any.

Pick your itinerary, and enjoy!

Sent using Tapatalk. Sorry for typho.

I was considering either Allure of the Sea (or similar type boat) or a Celebrity Solstice class. Late 40's.

 

We are or were late 40s & thoroughly enjoyed the Solstice cruise in 2012. There was no way to be bored, plenty of activities &/or entertainment. The food was second to none & service could not be faulted.

 

We are headed of on her again October 5th...

To get my husband on a ship.....the first thing he asks is.......total number of paaengers?

More than 1,000 is a no go for him!

We are going on Crystal Symphony in november

Last year was Azamara

Viking river cruises was the 2 years befor that

Princess small ships to the holy land was 5 years ago

He does not appreciate the mega ships because too many kids.....loss of intimacy.....crew is just a little less invested.....loss of connection between passengers and so forth!

He is a people person in smaller settings.

Thank you all for the amazing amounts of advice, I can't tell you how helpful you've been. Thanks a million for your time and suggestions.

:)

We went on the Allure a few years ago. Bf and I are late 30s. Allure was his first cruise in many years after a disastrous booze cruise from LA before we met. I chose Allure bc I thought there would be lots for him to do and not get bored. We didn't do a lot of things bc they are mostly geared towards kids. Even though we are kids at heart, we didn't do ice skating, zip line was very tame (lame actually). We did love the Flowrider but hard to get a hang of. But the food and service was awesome. The diving show at the Aqua Theater was better than most Cirque du Soleil shows I've seen. One of the bigger minuses for Allure is the price is always high. Also if you want a balcony, make sure you get the one in the category you want. Some balconies face inward and you can't see the ocean, which is kind of pointless to me.

We will be sailing on a Celebrity S class in a few weeks. So I can't comment yet. Though I imagine it to be more "classy" vs RCI is more "fun". I hear Celebrity is a lot more dressy, so if he hates dressing up I would suggest RCI or even Norwegian.

Oh another thing. Maybe you know this already, but since you haven't cruised in 20 years.. Make sure you fly in the day before. We also fly out of LAX. When we sailed Allure we flew in the day of (well red eye the night before and arriving at 6am). We were SO tired from lack of sleep that the first day was basically wasted sleeping.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :)

If more activities and more relaxed dress is important to your husband, Oasis/Allure OTS would be a good choice.

LuLu

If your budget will allow, an itinerary of around two weeks (e.g., California --> Hawaii round trip or Panama Canal full transit) will reduce the number of spring breakers and families considerably.

I have not cruised for 20 some years and would love to jump back in. Need suggestions on which cruise line and length. The trick is I'm dragging my husband with me who is not a fan of cruise life but is up for the challenge with the hope of loving it this time around. His concerns in the past were formal dining times and dress. And lack of enough events/activities to keep his ADD at bay. I was considering either Allure of the Sea (or similar type boat) or a Celebrity Solstice class. I know they are different but they both appealed to me for different reasons. Best time for us is Feb or March 2015. Anyone out there have a strong opinion on what would be the right move for me. We live in California. Late 40's. Kids in college so it would be just us (its about time!). We are extremely social and hoping to find like minded others to meet, mingle and have a blast with. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you all so much. :D

Welcome back.

First I would pick a month to cruise, then the location where you want to cruise out of.