Cruises?

Narwhal

What are the best cruise lines for the money?  How horrible would it be to cram 4 people in one room?

catemeg

If you splurge for a suite, it's not so bad to put 4 people in a room - I did it as a teenager with my parents and brother, and we had a great time.  Sure, it's a bit cramped, but you already know that.

Trying to fit 4 people in a small interior cabin would be horrible.  My boyfriend and I had a hard enough time for just the two of us.

As far as discounts, it depends on what you're looking for.  Carnival is more of a 'party cruise' and lower budget on food.  Royal Caribbean has nicer ameneties and food, and you can sometimes get really good deals.  Norwegian is sometimes the same or slightly nicer than Carnival - my friends went on one and hated it since it can't make up its mind between a party boat and a relaxing family cruise.

We decided not to go cruising again unless it's with a bunch of friends, but we felt like we were 'nickle and dimed' for every drink and pushed to do excursions and play bingo - anything to get extra money from you!

Check out cruisecritic.com for honest reviews of each boat!  See what people say about the specific boats you're looking for.  Orbitz often has good cruise deals.

Penny66

I have been on 2 cruises. Both of them were with Royal Caribbean, but I have been looking into Carnival. Their cruises are more reasonably priced and I have heard that the bars/ clubs/ restaurants do not close at 1am. I stayed in a room with 2 other people and it wasn't too bad because they had the king sized bed and a pullout. It think the pull out is only a double.
 
It only felt tight when the couch was pulled out as a bed because that took a lot of the room but other than that it will be fine. They have big closets and even some dresser drawers so you don't have to worry about where to store your clothing. If you have any questions Narwhal, please feel free to PM me.

rickylee244

Its really not so terrible to cram 4 people into an interior cabin. - We did it my senior year of college for spring break - two rooms, 4 girls each.  It was two bottom beds, one bunk, and the 4th was a pull out matress on the floor.  It was a ton of fun and we were rarely in our rooms.  If you plan on being off the ship on excursions or enjoying the ship for most of the day, its not bad.  We only spent time in the cabin to sleep, change and take naps. 

Norwegian in one of the cheapest.  Its relatively nice the only difference with them than most other cruise lines is that dinner is not at a specified time.  There is a range where it is served in the restaurants and you show up, first come first serve seating rather than having a reserved table. 

notquiteblushing

I've never been on a cruise.  I sort of want to go but I know already I would be annoyed at some of the things I've heard about them - especially not having enough time to see the stops.  But I still want to try one.  Maybe an Alaskan cruise, I heard those are awesome.

loves2shop4shoes

FI and I have been on 2 cruises.  I would never try to squish 4 people into an interior room, but if you get a suite it might be doable.

I really enjoyed my cruising experience, but I think we'll be taking a hiatus from cruising.  We were really nickel and dimed on our last cruise and I think it kind of ruined it for us.  It got to the point that I wanted to wear a shirt that said "I'm a person, dammit, not a walking ATM machine!"

GreenPepperBurger

All cruises try to nickel and dime you. I am going on a Norwegian cruise in May, and we are cramming 4 people in a room so I hope it's not too bad. For the four us, the entire fare was a little under 3K.

[Deleted User]

I'm probably not much help in the cruise dept. The only cruise I've been on was when I was 14 - I did a student tour group thing through Europe (3 weeks - it was amazing) and it included a week-long cruise through the Greek Islands.  The Love Boat is was not.  The ship was called "The Romanza".  It was actually a former Hitler hospital ship that they had converted into a cruise ship.  There were no flat doorways anywhere, they had left everything with the lip, so that was really annoying. 

We had like the lowest floor possible rooms and there were 2 bunk beds in each room and one small closet thingy - we had enough room to slide 4 suitcases under the 2 bunks.  The "best" part was the bathroom that made us wish we were in an RV - we had to put the toilet into the wall in order to shower and the sink probably held about 2 cups of water (that was fun trying to do our laundry in).

My parents have taken an Alaskan Cruise - Princess, I believe, and they loved every minute of it.  I still think it's going to be a very long time before FI is able to convince me that a cruise will be an enjoyable vacation.

HobokensFury

I've been on a few cruises.  Inside cabins are pretty small so they may be tight for 4 people.  I would get an outside cabin because they're a little bigger and have a window.

rosacea

I had posted in this thread too.

Did anyone see it?  I wonder how long I was talking to myself today.

Hazel_B

My family used to go on cruises 4 to a room. It wasn't too bad. We were barely ever in the room just to sleep and to change clothes. You'll be fine with that many people.