Best Cruise for 20 somethings

[LostShakerofSalt]

My husband and I will have been married for 2 years this May. We want to go on a week long cruise to somewhere warm, and we'd like the ship to have a lot going on at night. We're not huge drinkers, but we do like a drink or two to unwind. We'd like to pay $500-600 per person to cruise.

 

I'm not a huge fan of Grand Cayman. Other than that, there are so many cruises, we don't know where to begin!

 

Any suggestions?

[GXmanDC]

From my experience and from what I've read on the boards you will find dozens of different choices for Caribbean cruises that do not stop at Grand Cayman. I tend to like the eastern Caribbean.

 

As far as cruiselines, I would imagine that Royal Caribbean, Carnival or NCL would be good choices. They tend to have more night life and younger passengers. Everyone has their favorite line(s). Generally the newer ships (Carnival Dream, NCL Epic, RCCL Oasis and Allure) are the most expensive. The other ships are also a lot of fun and all are well maintained. You'll find that shorter cruises are less expensive and have younger people also. Personally I would avoid cruises during spring break.

 

Read through the boards for these cruiselines, you'll be able to get a feel for the people who enjoy travelling on that line.

[beachchick]

Is that $500-$600/person including cruise fare and drinks, tips, and other expenses? You may find some sweet deals on inside staterooms in May, but you need to factor in other costs. A bare minimum of drinks (including soda, which is not included on most cruise lines) and basic tips would be a good $150/person for $70/person in tips and $80/person in drinks (at 2 or so per day).

 

For lots of night life, you need to look at Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian. Celebrity, Princess, and HAL would probably not give you the environment you're looking for. You should look at the not-newest ships though because, as GXmanDC says, the newest, largest, "everything under the sun to do and then some" ships are the most expensive. Try RCI's Freedom and Voyager classes; NCL's Jewel class; and whichever Carnival ships are the not-quite-newest-not-quite-largest.

 

You'll want to look at Caribbean-Bahamas-Gulf of Mexico and perhaps Bermuda itineraries for the easiest warm weather cruises. Some ships will already be transitioning out of their Caribbean winter ports in the Caribbean to summer ports (e.g., Alaska, Canada).

 

Have fun researching. I hope you find something terrific.

 

beachchick