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Taking a cruise after a timeshare stay?

DaveNV

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I wanted to circle back to the earlier parts of this thread. I said I’d booked the cruise from New Orleans after our timeshare stay next year. Today I found out my best friend and his wife, who are more family to me than just friends, are booking the same cruise. We cruised to Alaska together last Fall, and had a fine time. Having them along to share this experience will just about guarantee we’ll have a good experience. And before anyone brings up Carnival’s track record, this will be their fourth cruise on Carnival, so they know exactly what to expect. I’m pretty happy!

Dave
 

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I’m pretty happy!

Dave
That's Super!. Glad your bud's will be along. This far out, you may be able to book adjoining (or at least nearby) cabins.
 

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That's Super!. Glad your bud's will be along. This far out, you may be able to book adjoining (or at least nearby) cabins.

Thanks! If they do like we did going to Alaska, they'll book a stateroom across the ship from us, on the same deck as ours. That way when we pull in someplace, if the view is blocked on one side, we'll go to the other stateroom and see the view from the other side of the ship. It worked great on the Alaska cruise.

Dave
 

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So glad it's working out for you Dave!
 

DaveNV

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So glad it's working out for you Dave!

Thanks! I’m happy too! Now I just have to wait a year till the cruise comes around! ;)

Dave
 

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Awesome that you found great traveling companions. We had some friends who we took along (with their two grade school age daughters) on a vacation to Harborside @ Atlantis had an awesome time. (I don't have kids, but I would take their kids on vacation anytime. Awesome kids!!) Now with their schedules, the girls are older and in more activities, traveling together has been impossible. We're trying out some new traveling companions on our Hawaii trip. I hope it works out. Having someone else around gets me more motivated, otherwise I will lolly-gag around the room until 10 am or later.
 

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I’ve never been much of a lollygagger (is that even a word?) But I agree, having friends along on the cruise will be great. Last year on the cruise to Alaska we’d spend just enough time together to enjoy the event, then split off to do our own things, agreeing to meet at a reasonable hour the next morning for breakfast. It worked well.

I don’t know if it would work as well for a land trip, but I’ll take a cruise with them anytime.

Dave
 

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Thanks! I’m happy too! Now I just have to wait a year till the cruise comes around! ;)

Dave
I know the solution to this. . . . MORE VACATIONS! Or maybe retirement.
 

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We just finished a ten nights Southern Carribean Cruise with Celebrity Cruise Line now we are at the Marriott Beach Towers. Awesome resort with a great view of the Intercoaster Ways.
 
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We are going on a Siene Cruise in October with TUG members. Leaving from Paris. We are excited about this trip. We have done Cruises from Tampa, Port Canaveral and Bayone NJ. All on Royal Caribbean. Never have combined a cruise with a timeshare vacation, but it sounds like something we will do in retirement. I have enjoyed reading this thread, has given me ideas.

Silentg
 

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I'm exploring options for a trip next year, and would like to know if you have experience with this kind of thing. I'm looking for tips, comments about your experience, pro and con, and whether you think you'd do it again.

Traveling far from home for just a week or so in a timeshare is never long enough, and I always like to take a second week somewhere nearby, to extend the vacation, and maybe even get more out of my airfare dollars. For example, next month I'm doing a trip to Hawaii for two weeks, with a timeshare week on two islands. With a multi-city airfare, it's a good use of the time and money.

In this case, I'm looking at New Orleans. For the time just after the timeshare visit, I didn't find other timeshares around there that caught my attention, but the idea of a cruise came to mind. I find there are Caribbean cruises that leave from New Orleans, and return there, that may tie in with the dates I'll be there.

One such cruise is down to the Yucatan, stopping in Cozumel and Progreso (Merida), then returning to New Orleans. I've been to Cancun before, but not out to Cozumel, and I've always wanted to see Merida. This looks like a nice way to do that, without spending a lot of money. I could then fly home from New Orleans, and everything could be tied into a neat bundle.

For those who have done this kind of thing (cruising before/after a timeshare stay), or who have done that specific cruise, what can you tell me about it? The cruises I'm seeing are on Carnival. I'm not much for partying, so a lot of the events on such a ship will likely not be used. But a nice ocean trip on a nice ship seems like it'd be fun. And seeing a bucket-list place like Merida, even for just a few hours, would be nice. We could then decide if we'd like to return another time for a destination visit.

What can you share with me?

Dave
My disappointment with Carnival was the food. I'm normally not a picky eater, but the selection seemed poor and the quality was bland. Naturally, this is a subjective issue. ;-)

And I stepped out of the dining room when they had their way-too-loud dancing waiter event.

I'm not saying I would NEVER cruise on Carnival again, but it would have to be the ONLY choice going somewhere that I really wanted to go.
 

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We just found finished a ten days Southern Carribean Cruise with Celebrity Cruise Line now we are staying at the beautiful Marriott Beach Place Towers. Awesome resort with a great view of the Intercoastal

Food on a cruise ship is so subject especially in the MDR; in my humble opinion... I feel most cruise lines are catering more & more to suite guests and are adding more revenue speciality restaurants to increase their company profits.:(
 
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We were on an internal exchange at our home resort in the Mayan Rivera at a 5 star resort. We had decided to extend our vacation aboard a cruise, which was offered though a Florida tour package, and Timeshare resort, as part of their gift for taking a timeshare presentation with them. We stopped in Fort Lauderdale, Florida when we arrived and were informed that our cruise to the Bahamas had been cancelled due to damage to the ship running ashore. As we were not informed of this before arriving in Florida, the operator arranged for us to take a 5 night cruise aboard a Carnival Cruise, back to Cozumel, close to where we had started our journey. I must say, I was not thrilled about cruising aboard Carnival, as I had heard negative comments about them, knowing that they catered to family style cruises with children.

We were also offered in addition, cruise back to the Bahamas at a later date, that would be available once the tour operator purchased initiated new service to the Bahamas. This would require an additional airfare for our return to Florida.

Having no other options, my wife and I accepted the offer.

Once onboard we found the service on Carnival to be acceptable, although not up to the quality and luxury of either Celebrity or Royal Caribbean Cruise line, which we have been using for many of our cruise journeys. The noise and family atmosphere, were not present, but the ship atmosphere was clearly, party style. We enjoyed our time aboard Carnival. The food quality, while not top notch, was quite acceptable and the ship crew was lively and entertaining.

Once we arrived in Cozumel, the only negative was that we were limited in our ability to journey afar from the port, without taking one of the optional tour packages offered by Carnival. We decided not to take the optional tour, as we had just come from that area during our Timeshare in the Mayan Riviera, and had been to Cozumel as well, previously. We walked around the port area, which was mostly set up for local shopping; jewelry, local wares, and a few bars and restaurants. This is the typical fare that I find that most cruises offer, which, if you are not interested in shopping, is a downside to cruising. If you are new to cruising, you may enjoy the shopping, but after taking many cruises, you may find it boring. I would prefer to experience something new and exciting, such as what we experienced on our cruises to Turkey, Greece and the Baltic Countries. We also completed cruises to Australia and most recently South America, including the Panama Canal. But even these more exotic cruises contained the usual local shopping fares, and required you to book local tours to see things of interest. I find most of the tours to be over hyped and may not meet your expectations.

The cruise back from South America bought us back to Miami aboard the Norwegian, Sun, which was in place of flying home to New Jersey, directly. We did have to take an additional three hour flight back to Santiago, Chile from Lima, Peru. and arrange a 1 1/2 hour transportation to the small out of the way cruise port. Our choice of Cruises and Cruise Line limited our choices, which coincided with the end of the land portion of our Tour Package, but that is another story.

To conclude, adding a cruise to your timeshare exchange is a good idea, but needs to be worked out in conjunction with the availability of the exchange, cruise ship departures and additional air flights at the conclusion of the cruise. So plan ahead early, for some of the best offers.
 

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To conclude, adding a cruise to your timeshare exchange is a good idea, but needs to be worked out in conjunction with the availability of the exchange, cruise ship departures and additional air flights at the conclusion of the cruise. So plan ahead early, for some of the best offers.

Great comments in your whole post. Thanks! I know there are many levels of cruise lines to pick from. If we were planning to book a "great" cruise, I would certainly explore all my options. In this case, I'm doing it because it's "there," and I expect it'll be fine. And my larger goal of seeing the area around Merida will be realized.

Dave
 

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We love to cruise. We are in our 50's and we do use Carnival alot. We are not party people. It is what you make of it. There is plenty to do if you want to do it. We have sailed on Disney and Royal Carribean as well. We did go on the RC Omni and ship was beautiful, but not at ton to do. We go for the relaxation and to see the islands. You need to try and decide what you like!
 

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I'm exploring options for a trip next year, and would like to know if you have experience with this kind of thing. I'm looking for tips, comments about your experience, pro and con, and whether you think you'd do it again.

........
For those who have done this kind of thing (cruising before/after a timeshare stay), or who have done that specific cruise, what can you tell me about it? The cruises I'm seeing are on Carnival. I'm not much for partying, so a lot of the events on such a ship will likely not be used. But a nice ocean trip on a nice ship seems like it'd be fun. And seeing a bucket-list place like Merida, even for just a few hours, would be nice. We could then decide if we'd like to return another time for a destination visit.

What can you share with me?

Dave

We've done it once, in September 2014.

We cruised Royal Caribbean's Radiance of The Seas from Vancouver BC to Hawaii, then 4dys in a rental condo on Maui (Koa Lagoon) followed by a week at our timeshare on Kaanapali beach (Marriott). Cruise was ten days, five sea days then five days island hopping. Excellent trip, would happily do it again.

We have cruised Carnival once, in December 2013, five days out of Galveston. It was fine, more like Royal than not regarding food, service etc. We've got a Carnival cruise booked for this coming New Years Eve out of Galveston and looking forward to it. Royal pulled their second ship from Galveston this year so CCL is the only choice for anything other than a 7dy trip. The 2013 Carnival cruise was to Progreso and Cozumel. There's nothing much in Progreso but it is an excellent jumping off point for Mayan sites, in fact our guides on a tour of Dzhibilchaltun(sp) were of Mayan descent and had Spanish as a second language. The other advantage to going in December is the temperatures, very pleasant at that time of year.

You might like to checkout Cruise Critic https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=215

So after all that, to summarise - DO IT !!
 

DaveNV

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We've done it once, in September 2014.

We cruised Royal Caribbean's Radiance of The Seas from Vancouver BC to Hawaii, then 4dys in a rental condo on Maui (Koa Lagoon) followed by a week at our timeshare on Kaanapali beach (Marriott). Cruise was ten days, five sea days then five days island hopping. Excellent trip, would happily do it again.

We have cruised Carnival once, in December 2013, five days out of Galveston. It was fine, more like Royal than not regarding food, service etc. We've got a Carnival cruise booked for this coming New Years Eve out of Galveston and looking forward to it. Royal pulled their second ship from Galveston this year so CCL is the only choice for anything other than a 7dy trip. The 2013 Carnival cruise was to Progreso and Cozumel. There's nothing much in Progreso but it is an excellent jumping off point for Mayan sites, in fact our guides on a tour of Dzhibilchaltun(sp) were of Mayan descent and had Spanish as a second language. The other advantage to going in December is the temperatures, very pleasant at that time of year.

You might like to checkout Cruise Critic https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=215

So after all that, to summarise - DO IT !!

Thank you. As I've said, I have no false impressions of what to expect. Progreso isn't the goal - I want to get into Merida to see it first hand, to decide if I want to go back there as a destination vacation. I expect I will.

I like your idea of sailing to Hawaii from Vancouver. I live an hour away from Vancouver, and will have to explore that option. I enjoy open water sailing, and Hawaii is a favorite destination for me. Could be a great option for the future. :thumbup:

Dave
 

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I wanted to circle back to the earlier parts of this thread. I said I’d booked the cruise from New Orleans after our timeshare stay next year. Today I found out my best friend and his wife, who are more family to me than just friends, are booking the same cruise. We cruised to Alaska together last Fall, and had a fine time. Having them along to share this experience will just about guarantee we’ll have a good experience. And before anyone brings up Carnival’s track record, this will be their fourth cruise on Carnival, so they know exactly what to expect. I’m pretty happy!

Dave

Really- it will be awesome unless there is some kind of unforeseen nightmare that occurs.

When we were on the Carnival Cruise back in the ancient days, we were paired/assigned with a honeymooning couple at dinner. We ended up spending a lot of time with them on the shore excursions and casino and shows and so on and had a blast.

Our cruise was out of Miami and went to Jamaica, Cozumel and Grand Cayman.

Have a great time and let us know how it works out!
 
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We have cruised a number of cruise lines (not Celebrity or Holland)......but we LOVE Carnival & one of our best ever cruises was in Europe on Carnival Vista......I would have awarded the ship, itinerary, entertainment, and staff 6 stars if I could. We chose the ship due to the ports (we'd cruised Carnival before); but we really wanted to do a one way cruise & hit as many ports as possible; starting and ending in different countries. LOVED IT! Go with a good attitude.......of course, I honestly don't think I have EVER had a bad vacation....
 

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We have cruised a number of cruise lines (not Celebrity or Holland)......but we LOVE Carnival & one of our best ever cruises was in Europe on Carnival Vista......I would have awarded the ship, itinerary, entertainment, and staff 6 stars if I could. We chose the ship due to the ports (we'd cruised Carnival before); but we really wanted to do a one way cruise & hit as many ports as possible; starting and ending in different countries. LOVED IT! Go with a good attitude.......of course, I honestly don't think I have EVER had a bad vacation....
We also did the cruise on the Vista in the Mediterranean. A great cruise and ship.
 

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A lost of posts already, but I just wanted to add in that we are going to a Southern Carribean Cruise on RCL out of San Juan in August and then immediately flying to Orlando and staying a week at HGVC at SeaWorld. We originally hoped to cruise from Florida to save the flight between San Juan and Orlando, but from money to itinerary, the San Juan made so much more sense.

As for cruise lines, we started out cruising only on Disney, but we got bored after a while as they only have 1 ship worth going for a week long cruise and we got tired of it. I am sure we will try them again when the new ships come out.

However, for our next cruise we tried the Carnival Breeze with a lot of friends and family. The consensus was the ship itself was ok, the snack food on the deck (burgers, pizza, burittos,etc.) was outstanding. However the dining room food was gross. If we wanted a sit down meal each night, the pay restaurants are the only decent option. The entertainment was SERIOUSLY lacking. The main theatre shows are a joke, the production values are about the same as I would find in the local high school production (maybe an insult to the local high school production). Nightlife is non-existent except for drinking. Some nights they might have a comedian in the comedy club or have karaoke. Some night they might have a piano player in the piano bar. They did have a disco and one night we decided to go dancing. We were they for a couple of minutes when a fight broke out and I mean a FIGHT. Puddles of blood on the floor. Maybe that is why they have no night life. My wife and I were 46 at the time, just a year and half ago. That was the last straw, we were too old for this stuff. We would never sail that line again.

We sailed RCL on the Anthem for the first time this Thanksgiving. What a difference. Beautiful ship, TONS of nightlife, nice quality of people (made some friends), great entertainment and fabulous Manhattan quality cocktails. Now the food in the dining rooms were ok, and the snack style food was lacking, so not everything perfect. We will see how the Freedom of the Seas is this summer.

Joe


Joe
 

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A lost of posts already, but I just wanted to add in that we are going to a Southern Carribean Cruise on RCL out of San Juan in August and then immediately flying to Orlando and staying a week at HGVC at SeaWorld. We originally hoped to cruise from Florida to save the flight between San Juan and Orlando, but from money to itinerary, the San Juan made so much more sense.

As for cruise lines, we started out cruising only on Disney, but we got bored after a while as they only have 1 ship worth going for a week long cruise and we got tired of it. I am sure we will try them again when the new ships come out.

However, for our next cruise we tried the Carnival Breeze with a lot of friends and family. The consensus was the ship itself was ok, the snack food on the deck (burgers, pizza, burittos,etc.) was outstanding. However the dining room food was gross. If we wanted a sit down meal each night, the pay restaurants are the only decent option. The entertainment was SERIOUSLY lacking. The main theatre shows are a joke, the production values are about the same as I would find in the local high school production (maybe an insult to the local high school production). Nightlife is non-existent except for drinking. Some nights they might have a comedian in the comedy club or have karaoke. Some night they might have a piano player in the piano bar. They did have a disco and one night we decided to go dancing. We were they for a couple of minutes when a fight broke out and I mean a FIGHT. Puddles of blood on the floor. Maybe that is why they have no night life. My wife and I were 46 at the time, just a year and half ago. That was the last straw, we were too old for this stuff. We would never sail that line again.

We sailed RCL on the Anthem for the first time this Thanksgiving. What a difference. Beautiful ship, TONS of nightlife, nice quality of people (made some friends), great entertainment and fabulous Manhattan quality cocktails. Now the food in the dining rooms were ok, and the snack style food was lacking, so not everything perfect. We will see how the Freedom of the Seas is this summer.

Joe Joe

Agree with a good bit here. Food in dining room not great while Guy's burgers & fries, pizza and the Deli were better. Every show on our recent Spring Break cruise on Carnival Magic featured the same group of dancers and singers who were not nearly as good as we are accustomed to on a cruise ship. Just a different theme each night that became boring and by mid-week we would leave within minutes of learning it was more of the same. However, there were from two to four comedy shows a night.Two PG and two R, one I'd say X. But unless you got there 45 minutes early, there was no seating. They had a country bar and a piano bar that drew a lot of people. There was a disco and another venue with a band near it. Numerous other bars on various levels of the ship. And yes, Karaoke. Two outdoor movies a night. So, all in all, it was enough night life. Just not what we are used to in the main show. Didn't see any fights! Yikes!

RCCL Freedom of the Seas had the WORST entrees in the main dining room that we have ever had but yes, better entertainment, nice ship, etc.
 

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We also did the cruise on the Vista in the Mediterranean. A great cruise and ship.

We really wanted to do this cruise again we enjoyed the ship and itinerary so much but Carnival isn't sending a ship back to Europe :( Vista only sailed one season...we went the last week in June from Athens to Barcelona and stayed a few days at either end. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did; the cruise director was great (and our favorite entertainment were the electric violin players; although we also enjoyed the Havana Bar & lounge). It was the trip of a life time for my daughter and I (l would have loved to take my husband and son next time if Carnival were still sailing....& with this itinerary!).
 

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We really wanted to do this cruise again we enjoyed the ship and itinerary so much but Carnival isn't sending a ship back to Europe :( Vista only sailed one season...we went the last week in June from Athens to Barcelona and stayed a few days at either end. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did; the cruise director was great (and our favorite entertainment were the electric violin players; although we also enjoyed the Havana Bar & lounge). It was the trip of a life time for my daughter and I (l would have loved to take my husband and son next time if Carnival were still sailing....& with this itinerary!).
We went in September and had a great time. We went from Barcelona to Athens. By the time we went on our cruise, they had cut the stop in Izmir Turkey from the itinerary, so there were some issues with VAT being added to purchases on board, but other than that we had a great time. We did five nights in Paris followed by two more in London after the cruise before we returned home. It is amazing all the different things we were able to see on this single cruise.
 
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