Pros and Cons of a Cruise

[SamSpade]

Thanks for all the comments. Very helpful. I've had an unbalanced share of negative comments from people I've spoken to so far, so it is very good to hear from those who really enjoyed it, as well as, the cautions.
Thanks also for the info on the buffets. One of my hangups with a cruise was that I've been told you have to eat when they tell you to eat, and sit where they tell you to sit. That's a negative for me.

On the two we went on, that's only partially true.
If you wanted the formal dining experience with a predetermined list of guests - you can on some cruises, pick who all your table guests will be - you do need to go when they tell you.
But it's not like, hurry and finish. It's more like, do you want to be on the early dinner or the late one?

IF you choose not to eat formal that night - you can go to the informal dinner place(s)/buffets. And they have long hours.
We went on one for our honeymoon, and it was 11 days long. I think we went to the formal dinner MOST nights, but we definitely skipped a few. We liked our dinner companions, and they were from all over the place and world.
Our second cruise, we were with a LARGE group for my brother in law's birthday - so at least, we knew we would all eat together.

 

[luvmygdaughters]

We've been on 4 cruises. One on Carnival (didn't like) 3 on Royal Caribbean (loved it). I highly recommend a cruise to anybody. You unpack once and see some beautiful places. The service is great and the ships (Royal Caribbean) are spic and span. The food in the buffet was satisfactory, however, the main dining room was delicious. Also, we did dinner at Chops steakhouse on the ship...it was to die for and only cost an additional $ 20.00 per person. Highly recommend that. The next one we want to go on is leaving from Puerto Rico and going to 6 different islands. Cant wait for that. Also, I think all the ships offer a kids club type of thing. Keeps the kiddos busy and happy while Mom and Dad enjoy some quality time together.