Bahamas Cruise - First time cruiser

[volleyballmom69]

We are taking the 4 day Carnival cruise to the Bahamas. It is my 17 year old daughter and her best friend and me and my best friend. I am trying to figure out if booking excursions when at port is necessary to having a good time? If you don't book an excursion are there fun things to do? We are on a limited budget so don't want to spend any more money than I have to. This is true especially because my 20 year old daughter wants our family to do a cruise to celebrate her nursing school graduation next December and those cruises appear pricey!:confused:

[Scrapnana]

Unless there is some excursion that you really, really want to do, you can have a great time on your own. You can walk around town or go to the beach.

[leaveitallbehind]

Knowing which ports of call are involved would help, but if you are on a budget, the above advice is good as most ship sponsored excursions are premium priced. If there is something in particular that you want to do, such as go to a beach, etc., this can usually be done independently at a much lower cost.

 

That being said, many first time cruisers can be somewhat intimidated by touring the ports of call independently, so if your preference would be to do so through the ship, then just see what is offered and choose by your preference and best budget. But as mentioned, knowing your ports of call would be a good start for those wanting to offer advise or suggestions. There are also ports of call boards on Cruise Critic that can offer more insight.

 

Here is a link to the general Ports of Call board:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

 

If your cruise plans for next December include any Holidays, they will be premium priced. Weeks just before or just after are usually much lower priced. As a general rule of thumb, summers, Holidays, and spring break time frames are higher priced. Also the shorter cruises (3-5 days) are more often associated with younger crowds and more of a party atmosphere, in particular around spring break.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic and enjoy your cruise!

Edited January 14, 2017 by leaveitallbehind

[cb at sea]

Get a guidebook from your library..they are in the reference section. Read up on the Bahamas...there is almost NEVER a NEED to do excursions. (And, the ship is open and functioning on port days, which means the pools will be much less crowded!)

[leaveitallbehind]

Get a guidebook from your library..they are in the reference section. Read up on the Bahamas...there is almost NEVER a NEED to do excursions. (And, the ship is open and functioning on port days, which means the pools will be much less crowded!)

 

Or save yourself the trip and google anything you would want to know about any port of call on the internet....:rolleyes: