Booking Your First Cruise

[Mauretania]

Many JWE members have cruised before and are a wealth of information.

CruiseCritic is a go-to place for Cruise info but I've seen plenty of mis-information there too.

My personal pet peeve are people that book "a great deal", and THEN start asking what to do, what to expect etc....

My advice:

What destination have you dreamed of visiting? Chances are a cruise will take you there.
That's where you should start your research.

[dvandentop]

This will be a good to read I am considering booking my mlife platinum free cruise for maybe in the fall

[TheSaltyBaker]

That's a great tip Monica! Love cruising and my travel agent (Angela) handles all the booking details! HHH dvandentop I know you'll have a wonderful time and that you'll take lots of pics for all your jokers!

Amber

[seemoreroyals]

As Monica said, cruisecritic.com offers a wealth of knowledge about the different cruise lines, the different ships within each cruise lines, the ports that each ship will stop at, the food and restaurants on board each cruise ship, the entertainment options aboard each ship, etc., etc., etc. And best of all they have reviews from people that have taken the cruises that you are considering. Therefore you know what to expect. And if you are a planner like many of us are, it takes away the potential for unexpected surprises.

[Nhcris]

Yes, you will find lot of good info on cruise critic, but if you are interested in the casino angle at all, the info there is weak. Between us, I think we have cruised on almost every line out there, and many of us love talking about, so please ask questions here!

[seemoreroyals]

Whenever we take a cruise, which is on average about once a year or less because Sassycat likes land bases casinos so much, we tend to stay away from the casino part of the cruise ship. There is just so much else to do on a cruise ship such as the nightly shows and the live entertainment, the pool and ports during the day. And the casinos seem to be the last place on the ship where people can still smoke. Which is great if you like to smoke but not so great if you don't smoke. But I do recommend anyone going on a cruise to check out cruisecritic. There is a wealth of information on their website.

[Mauretania]

This will be a good to read I am considering booking my mlife platinum free cruise for maybe in the fall

If you do book it, please post what you booked here. I know I would be interested!

[Mauretania]

That's a great tip Monica! Love cruising and my travel agent (Angela) handles all the booking details! HHH dvandentop I know you'll have a wonderful time and that you'll take lots of pics for all your jokers!

Amber

Amber,
How convenient to have an in-house travel agent! HHH!

[Mauretania]

As Monica said, cruisecritic.com offers a wealth of knowledge about the different cruise lines, the different ships within each cruise lines, the ports that each ship will stop at, the food and restaurants on board each cruise ship, the entertainment options aboard each ship, etc., etc., etc. And best of all they have reviews from people that have taken the cruises that you are considering. Therefore you know what to expect. And if you are a planner like many of us are, it takes away the potential for unexpected surprises.

My point was that sometimes dedicated sites such as cruisecritc (and Disboards!) can be daunting for some folks. Almost too much information and threads that turn into arguments.
I was throwing it out there for our small group, some that may be contemplating going on a first cruise, to ask questions here.

[Mauretania]

Whenever we take a cruise, which is on average about once a year or less because Sassycat likes land bases casinos so much, we tend to stay away from the casino part of the cruise ship. There is just so much else to do on a cruise ship such as the nightly shows and the live entertainment, the pool and ports during the day. And the casinos seem to be the last place on the ship where people can still smoke. Which is great if you like to smoke but not so great if you don't smoke. But I do recommend anyone going on a cruise to check out cruisecritic. There is a wealth of information on their website.

I agree, I rarely visit the casino (or the pool areas) too!

[Nhcris]

And I am a cruise casino whore! So we can cover all the bases right here at JWE - HHH!

Seriously though, if you do play on the ships, some lines offer excellent comps & perks so it is worth it to be informed.

[Evoni]

This will be a good to read I am considering booking my mlife platinum free cruise for maybe in the fall

We enjoyed the two we took though we ended upgrading each time it's still a great deal. Think I'm going to skip this year though, but perhaps will use it again next year.

I love Cruise Critic been using it for 16 years!