Cruise advice needed

[stevers]

Going on my first cruise to Eastern Caribbean, Grand Turks, St. Thomas, Tortola - can anyone tell me some don't miss this places? Also, just plain old good advice from an experienced cruise traveler? Thanks!

[hotmike98]

Check out the message board section at www.cruisecritic.com. No membership fee to register and ask questions. Check out the section under ports of call. I think there is also a place for new cruiser questions. Bon voyage!

[stevers]

Thank you!

[Judy]

St. Thomas is best for shopping, or going to the beach - Megan's Bay, I think it's called. Or you can take a ferry to St. John and snorkel on the underwater trail. Take your National Park pass to St. John if you have one and save on admission to the underwater park.

Grand Turk is great for SCUBA diving. If you don't dive, there are bound to be snorkeling and boat tours. The only other choice is to spend the afternoon in the pool and bar at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, right at the cruise ship dock.

In Tortula, take the tour to the Baths at Virgin Gorda.

[riverside]

Originally Posted by stevers

Going on my first cruise to Eastern Caribbean, Grand Turks, St. Thomas, Tortola - can anyone tell me some don't miss this places? Also, just plain old good advice from an experienced cruise traveler? Thanks!

We have a cruise coming up to the same locations. Are you on the Holland America Zuiderdam by any chance?

[stevers]

We are back from the cruise on HOlland America Lines, Zuiderdam and had a fantastic time! Will be trading my timeshare for more cruises in the future. My best advice to ANYONE going to St. Thomas is to book a tour of the island with Sunny Liston Tours..he has a website....sunnylistontours.com or something like that. There were 25 of us in an open air bus. Sunny played party music and laughed and we sang alone in between narrations of the areas. We went to lookout points for picture taking. The tour was 3 hours shopping, 2 hours tour of island and 3 hours at the beach (we went to Saphire Beach which was actually warmer than Megans Bay and beautiful!). Saw 3 huge, wild iguana. The cost for a day with Sunny was $25/person...he picks you up at the cruiseship.

[stevers]

I wonder if we were on the same ship! We were gone from December 1-8. Had a blast!

[Moosie]

Okay, probably in the wrong place to ask this question.


How do you exchange your week to a cruise, and hoe much do you end up having to dole out? Is this through RCI?

I'm sure I've read about this here before, but I guess just having ome brain freeze.

[Judy]

Moosie,
There have been several threads on TUG about exchanging a timeshare for a cruise through II, RCI, Worldmark, etc. With only one or two exceptions, everyone says that you can do much better by booking a cruise yourself and using your timeshare for something else.
There is a "sticky" at the top of this page about cruise booking websites. I've always found the best deals by going through vacationstogo.com or directly through the cruise lines, never by exchanging my timeshare for a cruise.

[Moosie]

Thanks Judy, didn't notice the sticky, but I will check it out.

[PStreet1]

I agree. www.Vacationstogo.com is a teriffic site. I've also booked through www.skyauction.com with a great price.

[Mimi39]

Sorry to add to the endless cruise questions, but has anyone used www.cruise.com ? They seem to have the best rate for the cruise we want.

[TravlGrl]

I typically book my cruises direct with the cruise line though we used a TA on our first cruise. I get better deals direct through the cruise line, and am able to manage my booking 100% on my own, which I like. Guess I'm sort of a control freak that way.

[JackieD]

I have been shopping cruises lately and decided to call Costco (you have to have a membership number). I had to hold for quite some time (20 min) but was very pleased with their service & prices. The guy told me that they don't work on commission so there was absolutely no pressure and he spent alot of time with me. I have since compared the same cruises and cabins he quoted with other companies (cruise.com, vacationstogo, cruise411 & travelocity & Carnival's website). It may be worth your time to check them out too but you have to call for rates.

[pointsjunkie]

after i compare prices on all the internet sites and make cpoies of the lowest ones than i go on the airline sites and co to their cruise section and they will match the price from the internet and give me miles as an incentive. starwood does this also for starwood vacation owners.it's like an extra present when i get home.

[Judy]

Careful! Some of the airline cruise booking agents charge fees that can cost more than the miles are worth. This happened to me a couple of years ago with AAdvantage Cruises. I know some travel agents charge booking fees also, but mine doesn't and either do the cruise lines' direct booking agents/sites that I've used.

[mssuzan]

I've used cruise.com with no problems. Documents were in order and we were placed in the room selected. I am taking a cruise out of Barcelona in May that I booked after finding the rate on cruise.com. I called my travel agent, gave her the information and she was able to book the same rate. So if you have a travel agent that you normally work with perhaps you could try booking with that agent.

[davhu1]

Originally Posted by Mimi39

Sorry to add to the endless cruise questions, but has anyone used www.cruise.com ? They seem to have the best rate for the cruise we want.

We just came back a cruise book thru cruise.com. No problems. It was $40 less per person than elsewhere we searched. It addition, when we checked in our cabin, we found an $26 onboard credit, a bottle of wine and chocolate coated strawberries with a note "Complementary from your travel agent and NCL".

Originally Posted by Judy

St. Thomas is best for shopping

But know what you are buying and what they are worth. We found electronics were more expensive. Some of the jewerly do not appraise when you get back to the States. Liqours were cheaper.