Need Cruise Advice - A good line for a late 20s/early 30s girlfriends trip
 

I really want to take a vacation this summer. I will finish graduate school in May and want to have a small hurrah with my friends before I dive into a credentialing program in the Fall. We considered doing an all inclusive Mexico/Caribbean trip but I'm starting to think a cruise might be the better value. They seem to be cheaper. Also, we live very close to NYC, where many cruises depart from. This negates the hassle and expense of flying.


This is what we are looking for (as many of these as possible)

-lots of lounge/bar areas.
-Niceish restaurants
-very clean rooms (my friend cannot stand oldish dingy hotel rooms)
-all inclusive (We should need no more than $200-$250 cash ie tips and stuff)
-Night life (ie not one of these cruises where the ship is dead after 10 pm)
-Some dancing/parties/entertainment.
-A reasonable number of people our age
-A mingley crowd, not a cruise where everyone keeps to themselves. It will probably only be 3-4 of us so we hope to meet "vacation friends" onboard.
-Not too many kids and kiddy stuff (We dont mind seeing some kids so long as there are adult areas and stuff for us to do).
-Ship departs and returns to NYC



Do you guys have any experiences with cruises good for a younger single crowd? We're not necessarily looking to binge drink and hook up but want some activities for people our age and do not want to feel out of place on the boat.

Thanks

We had a great trip on carnival cruise!

I agree that Carnival is probably a good one to start with. It is known as the "Fun Ship". I just booked my 11th Carnival cruise and every time has been a blast. There is always lots of activities and lots of night life and everybody is always friendly and in vacation mode. Once you know which ship you will be going on, you can go online and check it out. I hope this helps and enjoy your cruise.

Note that most cruises are not all inclusive. They do not typically include alcohol (although you can purchase an optional pass to have alcohol included, it is typically pretty expensive) and shore excursions cost extra as well.

We had a great time on Celebrity, but we were after a different kind of experience (more relaxing/peaceful than partying).

70,000 Tons of Metal is probably going to be wild...

I will say I'm generally not a fan of cruises or the idea of cruises. A lot of people love them though. I personally like to spend more time at a destination than on a ship.

I went on a Carnival cruise in the Caribbean because it was cheap and my friend wanted to go. It was definitely a younger crowd. Sometimes loud and obnoxious crowd as well but it wasn't a bad cruise. I'd never go on a Carnival cruise again though because even though I'm not a cruise person, it isn't much my style. I like more laid back/relaxed/etc.

LOL! That looks awesome! That's my kind of cruise!

Too many gross 19 year old boys for my liking, but maybe 7 years ago I would've been all over that. My friends are going from England to see Subway to Sally and I'm super jealous...but not of the cruise.

Agreed about the young boys, that or older men. I'm married so it probably wouldn't be as much of an issue. I'd rather save and go to Wacken though. ;)

Back to the topic at hand. ;) My MIL has always going on Royal Caribbean and from what I understand it's maybe a middle aged to slightly older group. As others have said, I think Carnival is a slightly younger clientele.

I've only been on one cruise - it was on Carnival. Here's my take on your specific list

-lots of lounge/bar areas. Yes, plenty of bars and lounges, and cocktail service pretty much in all of the public areas, so if you are just sitting on deck or by the pool relaxing, someone is going to be around to take a drink order

-Niceish restaurants I thought the food was better than most catered food, but not as good as a high quality restaurant. Meaning it was good, but not super special (although a few items were, particularly the soup pretty much every day was really amazing). There are specialty restaurants on most ships, where you pay extra, and from what I've heard, they are supposed to be excellent but I didn't try any myself.

-very clean rooms (my friend cannot stand oldish dingy hotel rooms) Absolutely. Stewards are in your room 2-3 times a day. I'm fairly fussy about noticing things that don't look clean, and I was happy. Normal wear and tear of course, but definitely clean.

-all inclusive (We should need no more than $200-$250 cash ie tips and stuff) As Mandalinn pointed out, cruises are not completely all inclusive, but you don't need to carry around a lot of cash. You get a card which is your room key and also keeps your account so drinks, gambling at the casino, giftshop purchases, fancy coffees, etc. that are not included in the fare get charged to your account, and it gets charged to the credit card you've set up ahead of time. Most people do carry around a bunch of single dollars for tips for drinks, etc. The main tips (for cabin stewards and dining room staff, etc.) are generally pre-paid on your fare.

-Night life (ie not one of these cruises where the ship is dead after 10 pm) -Some dancing/parties/entertainment.
yes, all kinds of activities going on throughout the day and into the night

-A reasonable number of people our age a mix of people from kids through seniors but definitely younger people (20-somethings)

-A mingley crowd, not a cruise where everyone keeps to themselves. It will probably only be 3-4 of us so we hope to meet "vacation friends" onboard. I wasn't really looking for this (traveled with a large family group), but people generally seemed friendly and looking to have a good time with fellow passengers.

-Not too many kids and kiddy stuff (We dont mind seeing some kids so long as there are adult areas and stuff for us to do). There are definitely a lot of kids, and in the main areas, you are going to see them around. But there are a few adults only areas too. And most of the planned activities are separate and the kids aren't going to be at most of the things you would go to, they have busy schedules of their own

-Ship departs and returns to NYC I think Carnival has this, but agree that it definitely makes sense to leave locally, although that will increase your time at sea vs. being in port. But sea days are fun and relaxing IMO, so I don't know if that's really a problem.

I have gone on 2 cruises, and am going on another one in the beginning of March. These cruises are concert cruises (311!) so there are definitely different from your regular trip. However, I can tell you that the boat was very nice. We have done Carnival twice and this time around it is Norweigan so we'll see how that compares. The rooms are small if you don't have a balcony (I definitely suggest springing for the balcony room, it is so nice to have your own private outside space), but they are comfortable. The bathrooms are also small, but it's not as though you need a giant space. The food is delicious. Carnival had some nice fancy restaurants, and then a buffet that was open for each meal. There's also late night pizza, chicken fingers and fries, as well as unlimited soft serve ice cream :) (Whoops, forgot this is a diet board!).
As for all inclusive, no ship includes alcohol or soda. However, food and non soda drinks like iced tea and lemonade are free all day long. You don't need a lot of money unless you plan to be hammered the entire time. On the 311 cruise, people will spend thousands on alcohol, but its a massive party cruise.
Overall, I think cruises are fun, but you have to like that kind of vacation!

Thanks for the advice. As usual you guys were very helpful ;).

The general consensus makes me much less wary of the larger lines such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean. I now realize I can have an adult vacation on one of these lines. Also these seem to be the cheaper ships. So this is probably what we are going to go with.

In my research I found alot of cheapish 2 day cruises "to nowhere" out of NYC where you spend 3 days/2 nights on the boat. This seems like it would be the perfect mid semester pick me up, without the guilt. It would also be a test run for taking a longer cruise.

My fiance and I did Royal Caribbean, although we were in the Mediterranian Sea. Definately not youth friendly, tons of retirees! I would look into those singles cruises or the "John Mayer" or band type theme cruises.

There are 7 day cruises to Bermuda out of NYC but not in the winter. Check those out if the timing is right for you. One or two sea days going there and coming back, and the rest of the time you are in port. Bermuda has gorgeous beaches and lots of things to do. It is very safe to go around by yourself there. You are in port some nights so there is opportunity for night life off the ship. I can't recommend a cruise line because I'm much older than you, and some of the cruises I've been on have made me feel young since there are so many very old people on them. That being said, there is always a mix of ages from young singles to oldsters but the ratios probably vary by cruise line.