I owe the wife a vacation. We have never been on a cruise, and I have no idea where to start. I'm thinking a seven day trip to the Caribbean. Should I try a travel agency, or go through the cruise line ? Any advice on do's and don'ts is appreciated !

Have you been to costa rica ? If you have not a highly suggest going to costa rica . I would not use a travel agency and I would plan and book my travels inside the country myself . You could actually just pick a pre planned vacation offered by another travel agency and call each hotel and book your stays there you can wheel and deal with each hotel yourself and save money . I loved that place so much I'm considerig selling everythmg I own and retiring there when I'm older. The place is amazing and I suggrst renting a 4 wheel drive suv for your stay and renting a GPS . Actually if you go around end of March to beginning of May and just go, don't book anything until you get there, just find a place to stay where ever you drive, just hit the attraction towns I can promise you you will have a blast .. You will save a ton of money . The country is very safe and friendly. Only word of caution, if your a poor driver I would book transportation. The main highways are fine , but they got some mountainous dirt roads for sure and they are curvy with no guard rails . They enforce security in there country better than anywhere in the world , but they are pretty laxed on traffic laws .

My son went to Costa Rica with a good friend, whose dad owns a vacation home there. He said it was absolutely amazing ! He said he would retire there one day ! I may just look into that.
Thanks Ron !

You've got to wait until summer, but an Alaskan cruise blows the Caribbean out of the water. I've done both, and have no desire to do the Caribbean again (not that it isn't nice, but been there done that) now that I know what is possible.

To me the biggest difference were the days when all you do is cruise. With the Caribbean all you see is water, On the Alaskan, you can almost always see beautiful scenery and when you can't you still see plenty of whales and dolphins.

I want to go to Alaska next . I've never been. I have been all over the Caribbean and it's ok , Costa Rica on the other hand is a different world , a lot of people confuse it with being like other places in the Caribbean like Jamica. Not even close to the same . If you decide to go to Costa Rica you can PM and I can give you a couple of suggestions on places to look into staying. I don't know your budget but . You could visit 3 different towns and exsoeience 3 diffrent Ecosystems in close proximity to each other . One town I recommend is Lafortuna. I stayed in a motel that was around 60 a night . It had a big sliding glass door that you could see out of whilr laying in the bed . It was built on the side of a mountain with a view across a huge lake at a volcano . Me and my wife laid in bed each night for the three nights we spent there and watched lightning storms strike the volcano. You could watch the steam coming out and building the storms around the volcanoe. It rained every evening we were there for 10 days generalky would start ariund 30 min to an hour before dark . But it was beautiful clear skies every morning and through the day . We went first of May. We went swimming in this pool . I forget how high thid waterfall is but it's pretty high a few hundred feet .. I tried to swim into it . I could only make it about 10 ft from shore . It's got so much force . I could go on and on of things to do and see in Costa Rica .

I have a suggestion...

... Go to an all-inclusive resort instead. I've done both and there is no comparison.

$$$$ I have too , and them bikini girls waving palm leaves ain't cheap .

I'm with you. I have no desire to get on a boat with a bunch of other people and catch some virus.

Get on a plane and fly to an island and relax.

Alaska in July, I've been fortunate enough to see most of the world but for a vacation cruise that's the one hands down

We've tried a couple and Royal Caribbean seems to fit us best. I love cruises. Get the room with a balcony, spend the extra bucks, it's worth it.
The Caribbean is nice, but honestly if you see one port, you've seen them all. Still, we are booked for a Western Caribbean cruise this June. The water is beautiful. Lots of day trips at the different stops are available. Good luck

I have two on Carnival coming up. One the end of April and one the First of November. They are both 5 day to the western Caribbean. The on in November is the first one out of Mobile now that they are back. We love cruises and carnival is the most bang for the buck for us. We are thinking about the all inclusive thing, just have to find one that somebody can vouch for.

My wife and I have been on several...sadly none within the past two years since we've started having kids. That being said, our favorite cruise was one out of Fort Lauderdale that stopped at Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Grand Turk. St. Thomas is by far our favorite port. If it wasn't so expensive, we'd just go there for a week for our next vacation.

We've also been on other cruises that stopped at the following locations (with a brief opinion of each).

Key West - awesome place, probably our second favorite port.
Cozumel - been there 4 times, stayed on the boat last time. Too touristy for us.
Grand Cayman - meh, but we hit it on a rainy day. Not much there to do.
Ocho Rios - Horrible. Very pushy locals. I will say that Dunns' River Falls was beautiful though.
Belize - Great. This is a relatively new stop for cruise ships. Went snorkeling there and it's awesome.
Honduras - A little better than Cozumel.

We've used Carnival for every cruise we've been on and have had no issues with them. Now that I've built up rewards with them, I doubt I'll switch providers. Enjoy your vacation Sharpshooter!

especially if you partake in alcohol or like to eat a lot. I basically make money at an all inclusive resort

Couples Negril is pretty dang good for the money.

Our daughter and son-in-law did the island cruise last summer and they said they would not go back. Described it as a tourist trap to nasty locations.

Having done cruises, all-inclusive, resorts, and rented houses, cruise would be my LAST choice. All-inclusive is nice because you don't have that "how much are we spending" cloud hanging around, and you can just relax and do whatever you want. Renting a house and a jeep is probably my favorite, but think my wife enjoys the "aminities" (read: being pampered) of a resort.

We've done three, all with Carnival; two to Mexico and one along the east coast to Canada in the fall. Of the three we enjoyed the fall one the best, other than there was NO HEAT on the ship. We flew into New York city several days early and toured the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Times Square, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty... I didn't expect to like NYC, she had to talk me into going, but it was a one of our top five trips!