Suzanne Elise

East Rutherford seems to have a good collection of hotels because it’s near a sports stadium. There’s a huge touristy mall nearby too.

I will admit we could have used an extra free food venue. At night it was a pain to go all the way to the atrium for free pizza which got old. I would love to see something like an automat that could have little sandwiches and maybe fruit cups. Even if the bars had some basic snacks. Also e since we had dinner at 8 we sort of had to do buffet in the afternoon.

I look at icon ant it looks like a minivan packed with toys! We were lucky to be on a fairly uncrowned cruise too.

I recall last year Lyft had access Uber did not.

Adventure has a pretty chapel on the top floor

With the big ships and their costs being in the public eye, I just wanted people to know there are options.

I hear you. You don’t want to feel like you are marching through an amusement park. We had so much space on Adventure of the season the decks. I look at pictures of Icon and it looks like a minivan packed with toys to me. That being said I might enjoy more food choices and seeing the design.

when I watch figure skating the ads are definitely targets to people my age with remarkable precision. Please don’t stop watching the news. We will never be able to cruise again. I’ll explain. We did our budget cruise in part because my husband was laid off from a news network, then 9 months later I got laid off too. It’s tough times in the news industry.

Thanks, My only other cruise cruise 20 years ago was a big one on a different continent and I brought a gown. We just wanted this to be a laid back easy trip. Since we had a car I bought an extra beachy dress at Walmart the night before and that was super useful. I’m a big fan of a beach coverup with a little detail or sparkle, it really can do double duty .

Im sure that’s true, all the commercials are for the big ships. I just wanted people to know it’s possible to check out cruising with less of an investment. I think part of our success was incorporating Galveston as part of our vacation that included a shorter cruise. A big part of that was there were TONS of flights to Houston and it made the while thing doable. BTW we also loved the Houston farmers market and Buck-ees.

We went on our first cruise in 20 years last year and I just thought I would share what we learned. You don’t need a huge fancy ship on a long cruise to see if it’s a good fit. A smaller older ship has plenty of sun, sea, music and new things to experience. Do grab any available discounts (in advance on the royal website) for things like drink or water packages if you can get them. The offers do go away. Rookie mistake in waiting. if you are doing a shorter budget cruise you will be just fine without premium dining. This may vary from port, but we toured Cozumel on our own and were really glad we did that. There are lots of beach clubs you can do on your own or go into town. I am glad we rented a car. I’m not glad we got a parking ticket. In Galveston we did a hotel with a shuttle but it was a SLOW process, might not have made that a priority. An air b and b and an Uber booked ahead would have probably done the trick, though do plan for parking. We made the trip to the port and the port stay an important part of our vacation, we stayed 2 nights before and that helped us feel less stressed embarkation day and we loved Texas. if you don’t have a passport BRING YOUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE! Our travel agent never mentioned this and thank heavens we had backup documents. There are beer buckets on board but we didn’t really budget enough for drinks. We did bring soda and water on and grabbed more in port. The ship has plenty of food but grabbing a quick snack isn’t always easy, not the worst idea to bring a few nibbles. It can be cold and hot and everything in between. Layers are great. Talk to people, make friends, we got to interact with all sorts of folks from all over. Try things you would not normally do, trivia, shuffle board, hide ducks, dance class, ICE SHOW. We ate a lot of Indian food on board. We avoided crowds by doing everything on the late side, later meals all day. Grab a paper cruise compass. Don’t worry about keeping up with everyone else. We didn’t have all the magnets or sparkle water bottles or fancy outfits but we had a great experience.

Interesting. When we went last year, flights to Houston from NY were impressively low. That was a big part of the reason we were able to try a cruise. We rented a car and made visiting Texas and Galveston part of the adventure.

We loved going to Buck-ees. A year later my husband still talks about it.

We actually really enjoyed visiting Galveston a lot, and it was one of reasons we decided to cruise. We may just go back there for a vacation.

I didn't go but people on my cruise did. The people who paid through the ship for an excursion liked it, but it rained and they didn't get full value. I think you could save a lot by just taking a cab and paying at the door but probably isn't all inclusive.