Questions on cruise out of Philadelphia

[Odilia]

My sister wants to take my Mom on a cruise, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips. They prefer to leave out of Philadelphia, although I don''t think they care too much what the destination is. Something like Bermuda would be nice, but I''m sure they''d be open to lots of options. (My sister is in her mid-forties, and my Mom is 78.)

What are the best cruise lines? What are ones to avoid? What''s the best way to book them?
Any info. you have would be helpful!

 

[Kaleigh]

I think this is the link, www.cruisecritics.com Or use google. You can search for threads on here as that's where I had heard of this a while ago. HTH, good luck.

 

[Sundial]

The cruise line equivalent of pricescope is actually www.cruisecritic.com and it has a wealth of information. They have ship reviews and a forum for each cruise line and destination. I would recommend one of the smaller cruise ships for your sister and mother. They have less of a "party boat" atmosphere with generally better food and more attentive service.

 

[gailrmv]

We went on a royal carribean cruise a few years ago. We were unimpressed with the food and service and rooms - it seemed like a floating dorm cafeteria. We thought we did our homework ahead of time but obviously not enough. Oh, we got that terrible stomach flu too. Bummer! So i don''t recommend the Soverign of the Seas boat I''m sure your family will have a much better time if they do their homework, and I think you do get what you pay for.

 

[Cailet]

Cruisecritic is defiinitely the way to go.

In order for you to be able to pick the right cruise you need to figure out a couple of things first:
1. What is the most important thing to you for the cruise? (must have a balcony, must stop at a certain location, must have certain amenities on board?)
2. What is your budget?

Everyone is going to have different opinions about different lines (as you''ll notice on the cruisecritic website!)

I think if you pick a newer boat you might get a better experience. I have been on 2 cruises and both boats were fairly brand new - not the largest in the fleet - but not the smallest either. We never felt crowded - the stops were nice - we could usually find deck chairs -- the food was pretty good (when you are feeding a couple thousand people nonstop the food is not going to be gourmet) -- and the staff was amazing.

On the food point - if you want gourmet I think that these days your only options are eating in the fee-restaurants on board or going on one of the more elite cruise lines.

On the room front: unless you get a suite your room will be small. My bf and I are fly by the seat of your pants kind of travellors so the small rooms did not phase us -- you don''t really spend a whole lot of time in your room anyway -- just naps/taking showers/getting ready/sleeping. The whole point is being on a boat on the water right? Get out and enjoy it

If you don''t want a party boat I''d steer clear of Norwegian and Carnival. If you don''t want kids I''d stear clear of those 2 plus Royal Carribbean and Disney. Although the kid thing can be avoided if you pick a non-vacation time to go (no spring break, no thanksgiving, no christmas)
From what I have heard Princess and Celebrity lines are both geared toward older clientelle (read: no party college kids)

We have actually gone the second and third weeks of December and so far that has been perfect -- it has been a crowd of mostly couples or older families (read: barely any grade schoolers - mostly older kids if any) and you are past the hurricane season but not quite in the holiday vacation season.

Good luck!!

 

[Odilia]

Thanks everyone for the tips, and Cailet, thanks a lot for the detailed ideas!! That will help a lot.

 

[MsP]

I''ve been on quite a few cruises. I''m young(still in college) but I''ve been on 17 cruises. Most of them were 7 night, two were 5 night, and then one was 18 day and one was 14. I''ve been on Carnival, Princess, Cunard, Costa, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Radission, and Star Clippers. You are going to get the service and accomadations that you pay for... it''s that simple. I find that Holland America is the best all around for *budget friendly* cruises, and I loved Star Clippers for it''s uniqueness. Costa is terrible IMO. Princess and Royal Caribbean try to nickel-dime you for everything but the newer ships are pretty nice. You will have really limited options if you limit your departure port to Philly and you may find that it would be cheaper to pay the airfare(and ground transportation) to Florida and go out of cruise from there.