Cruise to Florida

Has anyone gone one out of NY? We are plainning to go to Fl, Great stirrup cay and Bahamas from NY. We are thinking about doing this in the summer. Any tips? places to go off ship? We are looking at NCL.

Re: Cruise to Florida

We did NCL last year and are no longer going on cruises. It was priced right but the food was not great and the service was lacking. It really went down hill from the past few years. If you do go, I would not waste your money to do the disney excursion. It cost a ton of money and we only were able to go on 5 rides. I would do disney as a separate trip. We did like the private island but got horribly burned. My mom has marks on her almost 9 months later. I also felt the atlantis was not a good excursion for families with kids in strollers. I would do that as a separate trip as well. Search for my name and atlantis. I wrote a review. They do have a nice kids club. I did not like their pools. Over all it was not worth the money we spent.

Re: Cruise to Florida

I'm going on the Norwegian Jewel in February that leaves from NYC. I have never cruised Norwegian before so I'm a bit nervous about some of the negative reviews. But we are still going. We booked the Disney Excursion and Atlantis Aquaventure. I will definitely post a review when I get back.

Re: Cruise to Florida

Re: Cruise to Florida

We did the same itinerary as LSP - and yes there is a reason why NCL is so cheap. The food sucks and it feels like second class service when you compare to Royal and Celebrity. But I say its still better than being at my desk at work.

In Nassau we did the Blue Lagoon Beach Day excursion... if I remember properly it was 1/4 the price of Atlantis and we had a great time.

We had no problems on the private island. We actually got off the ship later (2 hours) and still was able to get chairs in the shade.

I agree also on the Disney/Universal excursions, if I remember properly you spend 2+ hours on a bus just to get to/from the port.

Message edited 1/7/2012 5:22:41 PM.

Re: Cruise to Florida

Re: Cruise to Florida

Re: Cruise to Florida

Message edited 1/7/2012 9:46:19 PM.

Re: Cruise to Florida

Re: Cruise to Florida

Re: Cruise to Florida

What are the ages of your party? I would go on cruise critic and ask there. They have a lot of experienced cruisers. FWIW we did the Universal Fast pass one and that was fun.

Re: Cruise to Florida

Posted by MommyTeffi

Posted by BargainMama

Posted by LSP2005

Posted by MommyTeffi

I'm going on the Norwegian Jewel in February that leaves from NYC. I have never cruised Norwegian before so I'm a bit nervous about some of the negative reviews. But we are still going. We booked the Disney Excursion and Atlantis Aquaventure. I will definitely post a review when I get back.

I would look at my reviews. We did this cruise with those excursions. I would pick different excursions. Sorry to be so negative. I had such high hopes and honestly hope you will save your money for a different excursion.

I would not do Disney as an excursion if you are going President's week. You will be waiting in lines all day. It's very busy around that time.

Thanks for your concern. But our Feb break is the week before in CT.

Re: Cruise to Florida

Posted by BargainMama

Posted by MommyTeffi

Posted by BargainMama

Posted by LSP2005

Posted by MommyTeffi

I'm going on the Norwegian Jewel in February that leaves from NYC. I have never cruised Norwegian before so I'm a bit nervous about some of the negative reviews. But we are still going. We booked the Disney Excursion and Atlantis Aquaventure. I will definitely post a review when I get back.

I would look at my reviews. We did this cruise with those excursions. I would pick different excursions. Sorry to be so negative. I had such high hopes and honestly hope you will save your money for a different excursion.

I would not do Disney as an excursion if you are going President's week. You will be waiting in lines all day. It's very busy around that time.

Thanks for your concern. But our Feb break is the week before in CT.

Even so it might be busy. I would check crowd calendars to see. I know the Princess Marathon is around that time too. www.easywdw.com has a crowd prediction calendar you can look at. We go to Disney very often, and you just won't get to go on or see much if it's crowded. Especially with the travel time involved, and even moreso if you aren't there for rope drop.

Re: Cruise to Florida

Posted by MommyTeffi

Posted by BargainMama

Posted by MommyTeffi

Posted by BargainMama

Posted by LSP2005

Posted by MommyTeffi

I'm going on the Norwegian Jewel in February that leaves from NYC. I have never cruised Norwegian before so I'm a bit nervous about some of the negative reviews. But we are still going. We booked the Disney Excursion and Atlantis Aquaventure. I will definitely post a review when I get back.

I would look at my reviews. We did this cruise with those excursions. I would pick different excursions. Sorry to be so negative. I had such high hopes and honestly hope you will save your money for a different excursion.

I would not do Disney as an excursion if you are going President's week. You will be waiting in lines all day. It's very busy around that time.

Thanks for your concern. But our Feb break is the week before in CT.

Even so it might be busy. I would check crowd calendars to see. I know the Princess Marathon is around that time too. www.easywdw.com has a crowd prediction calendar you can look at. We go to Disney very often, and you just won't get to go on or see much if it's crowded. Especially with the travel time involved, and even moreso if you aren't there for rope drop.

Thanks. I'm well aware. This isn't our first trip to Orlando. We have already been to all Disney Parks, Seaworld, Universal and Kennedy Space Center. My kids love the Magic Kingdom. They asked to go specifically there for the day. As someone who goes often....you should know the feeling I'm talking about. It is what it is.

Now time to let this post back to the original question about cruising to Florida. Not my February break.

Re: Cruise to Florida

not Fan of NCL...

but would def do it out of NY if it was another cruise line!

Also since I have never done it out of NY - I cannot comment myself...but I heard if you go in the winter the front 1 or 2 days are a wash as welll as the last day or two bec of the cold weather...If I did it would have to be in the warmer weather..

just another thing to think about!