This thread is for anything and everything cruise related.

Post cruise line recommendations, experiences, tips, what to avoid, favorite routes, best times to sail, etc.

>what to avoid
2-4 day cruises that disembark from Florida

>>2784630 (OP)
>what to avoid
cruises

Random things:

On how busy it is:
>Megaships tend to get packed, even if the have a good sqft/crew number:passenger ratio, there are always bottlenecks (the buffet)
>Going off peak affects the price, not how busy it'll be,ships almost always get close to filling, they keep reducing price until it fills
>If your cruising in cooler months the decks will be unusable so more people will be using the indoor facilities
>you get what you pay for

Add ons and extras
>Hate tipping and bullshit fees? Go on a British cruise line or one targetted at brits. Either won't have them or they'll include them with the drinks package
>every port will have a shuttle bus that's cheaper than getting a full excursion, these may also get included in extra packages.
>Work out how much you'll drink to see if the package is worth it. Generally it works out at 5-6 premium drinks a day. If you don't plan on drinking many cocktails, it's not worth it. If one person in your cabin doesn't drink much, it's not worth it. Some cruise lines don't let you use drinks packages in some restaurants (MSC for one)
>wifi is expensive and firewalled to the extreme (couldn't even do my gacha dailies) but... they're constantly playing catch up to VPNs and can't block them all, loads of free VPN apps on Android, one of them is bound to work.

clientele and luxury
>short cruises are booze cruises
>cheap cruises attract trashy passengers (generally but not always)
>Looking at the conditions for the formal/gala nights is a good way of getting the level of passengers. The stricter the dresscode enforcement, the better
>You generally get what you pay for in terms of the pricing for the cruise lines (Disney aside)

Solo cruising
>Standard is that going on your own increases PP costs by around 90%.
>Most cruise lines do special solo breakfasts to let the singles mingle and you can go on a shared table in the main dining rooms
>some lines, like NCL do special solo cruise cabins at "reduced" rates. this sell out early

>>2785117
- Main restaurant dining times and show availability are more crucial than the buffet.
- Keep the onboard Wifi to a minimum. Get your music, podcast, movies downloaded to your devices, keep enough space for photos and videos. Upload/Download stuff when in port. For a EU cruise look into getting a EU sim card.
- Routes depend on your taste. Alaska and Northern Europe will have more old people and families, booze cruises will have different clientele.
- Don't be in a rush. Embarking takes a lot of time, no way around it. Bitching won't help either. Debarking is fast if you carry your own luggage. Restaurants get busy at times. Either reserve early and have a drink before or, if you are hungry, just drop by the buffet.

Aren't cruises just for old cunts?

>>2784630 (OP)
The west exchanged military displacement for fun vessels. Sad.

>>2785175
Hasn't been the case in 3 decades anon

>>2785175
Really depends on your cruise line. Virgin has a younger party crowd. Disney is for families obviously. Big lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival get people from all walks of life.
>>2785117
+1 for Norwegian solo cabins. If you’re going to cruise solo NCL is the way to go. Other lines you’re paying for a 2nd person. Also agree on the drinks package. Waste of money unless you’re going to have 6+ drinks every day of the cruise, which is too much alcohol to do 5+ nights in a row

>>2785175
Luxury cruises target old people. Most of the mainstream cruise lines have been targeting families for a while now. Even Cunard, the last company operating ocean liners targets families way more than they used to.

>>2785405
>6+ drinks every day of the cruise, which is too much alcohol to do 5+ nights in a row
speak for yourself. and keep in mind sea days.

>>2785521
>Luxury cruises target old people
nah
highly depends on the destination

did the Antarctica / South Georgia cruise with Quark Expeditions
majority of people was in their 40s/50s (which isn't surprising given the price),
but not many 60+ and with a fair share of 30s and even some 20s (me included, was 29 at the time)

>>2785523
Yeah, on paper it sounds a huge amount because you imagine yourself drinking them all in a bar at once.

>proper coffee or redbull in the morning
>*go into port*
>coffee or mocktail after coming back
>cocktail after getting changed and meeting up for the evening
>wine and other drink with meal
>cocktail to bring into theatre show
>go to a bar rest of the evening, have a couple of cocktails

At cruise prices, that's ~$70 (plus tip). As I said in the other post though, the value plummets if you drink beer/cider as that'll go down to about $50

>>2785117
>free VPN apps
Genuinely terrible advice. Either get any one of those gorillion $10 for 3 month deals on a reputable provider or set up your own tunnel to a server you trust, those shitty "free" VPNs range from extremely skeevy data harvesting ops to legitimate malware and you're better off just going in raw.

>>2785786
Plenty of trustworthy ones offer data limited trials that you can at least stick with until it runs out and decide if you want to pay or not. No point in signing up to a paid VPN only to find they've blacklisted every server you try (VPN access is a 'feature' of the stupidly expensive premium wifi packages)

Help use pick a cruise line. This would be our first cruise.

Looking for the one with least kids and mob fights at the buffet.

>>2786881
Any cruise that’s 5+ days will have a less trashy crowd. Princess will be your best bet out of those options. Older, higher end crowd. Norwegian would be good too.

>>2786893
Thank you!

>>2785117
>>Hate tipping and bullshit fees? Go on a British cruise line or one targetted at brits. Either won't have them or they'll include them with the drinks package
I was taken (note deliberate use of passive voice) on a P&O cruise, a mid range bong cruise line. can't compare to other cruises as I haven't been on any but the whole experience seemed was fine. food was pretty good for mass produced slop I thought. we were by far the youngest passengers who weren't literal children but they were friendly enough. and no tipping at all

wouldn't go on a cruise again until I am in my fifties I think

>>2786968
If you don’t mind a lot (and I mean a lot) of gay men, Virgin is adults only and I’ve heard good things about it from couples. I wouldn’t go solo on Virgin because it’s like 40% gay men

Going on a Norwegian cruise soon. Any suggestions?

I'm considering getting the thermal suite pass for the week too. Thoughts?

i wanna go on silversea alaska to tokyo, and explora italy to greece

>>2786881
Seconding NCL and Princess. NCL also have the advantage of a suprisingly good value "all at sea" package (drinks, wifi and a scattering of small benefits).

The cheaper you go and the bigger ship you go, the more you're going to get a lot of kids (Disney always being the exception)

best cruise line for a first time cruise couple? we’d prefer a younger crowd, though we don’t want a crazy party ship

>>2789691
Carnival or RC

>>2789699
>we don’t want a crazy party ship
>suggests the two crazy party lines

Fuck cruises and the dipshits who take one you're all worthless

>>2789724
A crazy party ship would be the Scarlet Lady.

Carnival and RC ships are lively but not crazy especially when you go 4+ nights. Crowd ranges from young to old and everything in between. If you want a boring cruise full of old timers go to Alaska.

>>2789813
Rude
>>2789850
Lol there are brawls on carnival cruises every month. It’s easily the lowest class most trashy cruise line full of troublemaking passengers

There are a few solid cruise YouTubers who post good content with honest reviews and rankings

https://youtube.com/@emmacruises
https://youtube.com/@jshiplife
https://youtube.com/@profmelissa

>>2789888
>Lol there are brawls on carnival cruises every month. It’s easily the lowest class most trashy cruise line full of troublemaking passengers
It's really not, middies who have never cruised before just parrot what they've heard. 4+ nights filters out the lowlifes on any line

>>2790421
There’s literally a monthly brawl on carnival

>>2784786
kek

>>2784630 (OP)
I’m consider the inside passage to Alaska from Vancouver.
Has anyone done it?I will be doing it solo and don’t drink so preferably good food and not too much of a young party scene.

>>2786893
true. longer cruises = less trashy people. the longer the better, because only well off people are able to spend like 2 weeks+ on a boat

is carnival really as bad as everyone says it is

>>2792675
No, it's fine as long as you're not going with their 3 or fewer night cruises. Going out of a major port helps too, but it's good overall as long as you avoid their cheaper cruises.

>>2792675
Avoid the cheap booze cruises and they're much better. They're still among the lowest tier cruises but they're more comparable to MSC.

>>2789850
alaska is beautiful, you should go. other than that, you are correct.
virgin is great though, it's only a party if you go party. i'm pretty intoverted and we still had a blast. mid-30s here
>>2790421
short, cheap cruises attract the brawlers. and for some reason, the port of tampa lol
>>2791462
i've done it, HAL koningsdam. it's amazing, highly recommend any itinerary that includes glacier bay national park and not icy strait point (it was too windy for us to make it into skagway, so we had to settle for icy strait point and it suuuucked). we're also pretty young, especially for the alaska scene, and don't drink. catch some music at the rolling stone rock room and just chill.

>>2786893
spending 5 or more days on a boat sounds horrible for a first cruise.

start with a 3 day cruise and see if you like it, then your next one can be a 5-7 day.

>>2794526
>start with a 3 day cruise and see if you like it
Hell no those are the shittiest ones

No one do this

>>2794526
absolutely terrible advice.

>>2794526
3 day cruises are shit, i'd say 5-7 day is a good starter length.

Then if you really like them you can book more, or try for a 9-14 day cruise.

As a single 30s man, how is the sex opportunities with milfs?

>>2796043
All of the attractive women will be with their SO. Your only chances will be to cheat when her husband gets hammered and passes out, or to find a mid single 42yo divorcee.

I did one of Norwegians solo cabins expecting a young-ish crowd and a chance to get laid with some slutty solo traveler chick. I was the second youngest person there at 31. It was mostly 50s and older. Gave the solo meetup thing one chance then did my own thing the rest of the cruise and did not get laid.

>>2796045
>>2796043
if you're somewhat in-shape/attractive you'll potentially be invited to be a bull for a couple doing cuckold shit.

What cruise line do I need to go on to have filthy, shameful, animalistic sex with Emma Cruises

>>2796056
Some people put upside-down pineapple stickers on their cabin doors to indicate they’re looking to fuck. Carnival banned the pineapples recently lol

>>2798645
Generally the pineapple is specifically for swingers, but yes it was a common thing on cruises for decades.

>>2798644
great chassis on her but that bird lip muppet mouth is too weird for me. she’s an extreme butterface

>>2798663
Come on she’s cute. I’d take her home to meet the parents

>>2798644
Buy a Captain Hudson, you poorfag.

Thoughts

>>2800214
fucken lol. i wonder who this is aimed at

>>2784630 (OP)
As a single guy, aren't cruises an excellent places to have milfs galore?

>>2800589
If you like fat 47 year olds, sure

>>2784630 (OP)
have taken the queen mary 2 transatlantic 8 times ama

>>2800665
>8 times
Unless you were working on the boat, why?

i can see doing it once or twice, especially for one of their special event cruises, but more than that? Seems like a waste of time.

>>2800589
GMILFS sadly, very few swinger cruises with under 50s

Any cheaper cruises in Europe, including river cruises?

>>2800830
Yes

>>2800214
Can’t imagine how bad it must have been to make these rules

>>2800830
>>2800849
>euro cruizes
Yeah which ones are good?

>>2800849
>>2800366
Plz reccomend nigger free cruizes. While I do love laughing at nigs being nigs, i dont want to be out to sea with them

>>2800881
Avoid MSC (nice ships, overfilled to the extreme and mediocre food) and Costa (bad in general). I like the Northern Europe cruises, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Bruges, Amsterdam, French and English ports (don't trust them when they say it's paris/London, they're 3 hour coach drives away). Ones sailing from Southampton will be primarily brits, as will P&O or Cunard (will obviously have more Americans for their transatlantic trips)

>>2800740
don't like flying, and a week of excess on a cruise is pleasant when I live an otherwise abstemious lifestyle

>>2801075
Fair enough, I've done the trip twice personally but I enjoy flying enough that I wouldn't take QE2 just for crossing the pond unless I were travelling with someone who had never done a transatlantic cruise and they wanted to do it.


The only long cruise i'd want to do at this point is a transpacific crossing from Seattle to Japan, or a polar/antarctic cruise, but those are stupidly priced.

>>2800881
it's easy. the more expensive the cruise, the paler the sailor
>>2800830
river cruises are more expensive than ocean cruises. there's really only one river to cruise in the united states. a european river cruise is going to blow even an expensive american ocean cruise out of the water.

>>2801097
>a european river cruise is going to blow even an expensive american ocean cruise out of the water.
Yeah let me do a fucking European river cruise instead of hanging out in the Caribbean

>>2801105
Not to mention that river cruise will be on a boat 1/6 the size with nothing to do between ports and it will cost 4x more than a caribbean cruise aboard a floating city

>>2801216
It seems to be $100 a day, do Caribbean cruises cost $400?

>>2801417
bait, there's no european river cruise in existence that costs $100pppd.

>>2801417
>>2801678
I've seen some last minute deals for river cruises that were around that price, but it's hardly the norm.

i'm a terrible planner and travel impulsively last-minute. is it possible to find a decent solo cruise deal like 1-2 weeks before embarkation?

>>2802608
Yes, I almost did a transatlantic trip two months ago, 9 days for ~$750 last-minute solo cabin.

You just can't plan ahead of time for it as those deals only really show up when the cruise is getting ready to go and they've still got a bunch of solo cabins left unfilled.

>>2800214
>15-drink daily limit
I mean how do you even approach that without being an actual alcoholic
>hip-hop and rap appear to be quietly removed
unless they now actively promote funeral doom metal their music selection still sucks

>>2802639
>I mean how do you even approach that without being an actual alcoholic
Easy, be an actual alcoholic

Wake up at 8am, get a drink, 2nd drink by 9, 3rd and 4th drinks follow shortly, by lunch you're probably on your 5th or 6th, then the afternoon rolls by and you hit your 10th drink just before heading to dinner where you have 2 more drinks, then head clubbing until midnight-2am where you can easily drink another 3-6 drinks.

Start all over the next day.