15th anniversary cruise

[ralphf]

I am looking for a cruise for our 15th anniversary. We want to go to the Mediterranean and probably more on the Western side hitting 1 or more ports in Spain.

 

The time period we have for this is departing around 7-14 Nov or departing the first 2 weeks in January. looking for cruise min 7 days max 12 days.

 

We have done a Caribbean cruise before on Princess cruise lines with balcony room and enjoyed it. We would probably do either a balcony room again or maybe even a suite.

 

But first we need help picking out a cruise line/iten and that is where I am looking for help from someone who may have done a cruise like this before. I have looked around on some booking sites, but most of the search criteria aren't the things I want to filter for and I am not familiar with all the cruise lines.

 

Things we are looking for...

 

Good ambiance for our age (35ish) - We liked Princess cruise lines when we took that cruise about 6 years ago, but carnival seems a bit to 'youngish' I think for us. We also don't want to end up on a vessel where the average age is 60+ which appeared to be the case on a couple of ships we saw at ports. We don't really party all night disco dancing etc, but we like activities or shows (not movies).

 

Food / meal times - would prefer something that offers food thoughout the day, but doesn't need to be 24/7 although on our last cruise we would usually spend 3ish hours each meal in the dinning room and didn't eat much at other times. The other thing was flexible eating times. I am not really a big fan of a set schedule ... you have to eat at XX time and at XX table and will always have the same dinner companions. We liked meeting different people at each meal.

 

Ports of Call - While we do want to see stuff, we don't need to have a different port of call every day and are just as fine with just a few ports and more sea days then pulling into a new place every day. We are not planning on shopping much .. my international travel has shown me that most everything is cheaper in the states or thru the internet. Probably just look at the local sites and maybe take a tour at a port or 2.

 

Size / Age of Ship- Newer and larger the better for the most part. Wife gets sea sick and larger ships tend to rock less or we can try to stay near the middle ... although the wrist bands with the wrist pressure point seem to work wonders for her. I think it might be mental myself. I think the larger ships tend to have a larger diversity of things to do and more activities and we like to meet a wide diversity of people.

 

Purpose of the trip - intercourse, Relax, have fun, just spend some time together, and see a few things in that order. We have both been to Europe separately and I have traveled extensively in Asia and we have both traveled in the Americas so we are familiar with traveling etc

 

 

 

So That is quite a bit to read, but I have tried to include everything I could think of that is relevant. If you can offer any advice as to cruise line/iten or just anything else in general it would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[momofmeg]

Ralph this year or early next year? I think most of the ships are gone from the med, except for Costa, and MSC.(of the mainstream lines) Brilliance of the seas may still be there and she alternates the itinerary you want with one that goes to Egypt. Ocean Princess may work for you in November, but she leaves the med in Dec. The only other mainstream line I can find is Norwegian Jade, so your options are limited that time of year for this year.

 

Now if you pick Sept. or October you will have more choices. Or if you pick 2011-2012 you will have more choices as RCI will leave many of their ships in the med winter 2011/2012.

[ralphf]

am looking at 2010-2011 Yea I haven't found much myself. Now I am thinking about doing a south america cruise.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Ralph

[cruiserking]

You might consider Holland America Line, Celebrity and Princess. Your best bet is to try and contact a travel agent and get some advice from them, it won't cost you anything. All of the lines today have an anytime dining option.

 

What would be really special for a 15 year anniversary is if you considered doing a transatlantic. You could look into departures in April or mid May to Europe or September/October back to the US. These are very exciting voyages that give you a chance to visit several ports and then have plenty of time to relax during your sea days.

 

Jonathan

[drd-aus]

This may be a factor as some lines are more restrictive with smoking like Celebrity. My wife and I are looking at a South America cruise next year from Argentina to Chile on Celebrity. There is a good chance of rough seas near the cape so that might be a consideration.