BUCKET LIST--New York at Christmas time

We had so much fun in New York City.  We stayed right in Times Square so everything was really close.  We walked, took the bus, taxi's and Subway!

 If you have never been to New York city at Christmas time you need to put it on your bucket list.  We had been there once before but this time was very different.  

1. There were chestnuts roasting on an open fire (okay so they were on the gas grills but they smelled good)
2. Jack frost was definatly nipping at our noses! (with the wind chill is was about 15 degrees--we all had to buy hats and scarves--but this was not problems since they are on every street corner
3. Yule tide Carols were even being sung by a choir (at Rockefeller center a group of girls suddenly broke out into a few Christmas Carols.  They were very good!)
4. Folks dressed up as Eskimos- (we were defiantly bundled tight especially on the open double decker bus that sounded like such a good idea at the time)

We had such a good time.  Here are a few of the pictures from that weekend.
 

Yes--This is Dum Dum from "Night at the Museuem."  We stopped here for about an hour.  We were overwhelmed with the size of the Museum.

The subway was our friend when we need to get somewhere quick.  Everyone was so nice in pointing out which line we needed to take.

The windows at Macy's were unbelievable!

Top of the double decker bus.  This one was covered but not all of the ones we got on were!  Very cold!

Ellis Island!

This is right before we went up to the statue of Liberty with our friends David and Xenya

We hiked to the crown.  They only let a limited amount of people up there each day.  We had pre-ordered our tickets so we got to take the very narrow spiral staircase to the top.

Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center

Roger's first experience iceskating in Rockefeller Center

One in lifetime experience--mainly because it was so expensive!

 There was so much to do and see.  We ate at several fun places that we would just pick as we walked by.  The Jewish deli's were my favorite.  The rule was we could not eat at any chain restaurant or anything we could get back home.  

We defiantly want to go back!

Outside of the "Today Show"

We went to the top of the Empire state building and were met by King Kong!

New York --CHRISTMAS TIME

Roger and I are headed to New York the beginning of December with some friends. It is usually an expensive place to go and we are staying downtown times square. Here is what we are doing

1. Roger is flying out there with work so we tacked on a trip--His flight was paid for so I only had to pay for mine. I got it for $149 one way and $129 back. I booked early to keep the price down.
2. Our first night will be in White Plains for work. We get to expense that night
3. No Rental Cars--who wants to drive in New York anyways
4. Cashed in our Hilton points. We didn't have quite enough so I did buy a few extra points. But because we are Gold with Marriott, I called Hilton and they upgraded us to Gold status which means free breakfast for us! Rooms at that time are $350/night and we will be there 4 nights! quite a savings.
   
5. Bought all of our show tickets early. I searched out some coupon codes which saved us a ton of money. We are taking the tour bus for three days so we will have hop on/off transportation. We got our statue of Liberty tickets with crown pass early as they sell out. We are seeing a Cirque Du Soleil and the Rockets. We will also be ice skating in Rockefeller Plaza. Lastly we have scheduled some time for all the tourist stops on the bus!
   

Home from the Disney Cruise

Well we are a week home from our Disney cruise! What a fun time we had! Everything was perfect. This picture is of some of us getting on the boat! Disney really knows how to make a cruise exciting.

something I learned from this cruise
1. I DO NOT like the early dining on the east coast. Our dining time was at 5:45. So first off--it is really hard to get three meals in. We would get back to the boat about 4:00 after our excursions and everyone was starving so they ate. That meant no one was ready for dinner at 5:45. Second we had to get back on the boat early to get ready for dinner. Now we could have skipped dinner but that is really part of the fun. I like the fine dinning!

Here are a few other pictures. Next cruise is in February to Southern Caribbean. We set sale out of Puerto Rico!

Disney Island--Castaway Cay

Renting our jeeps in Cozumel

Key West

Sisters!

The whole Gang on Formal Night

We spent Halloween night on the cruise. Funnest Halloween ever! Everyone was dressed up. That is Robbie with the black eyes!

4 More Days Until DISNEY

Well we only have 4 more days until our Disney Cruise. The kids are very excited. Just though I would post a few things that are last minute items that sometimes we tend to forget. Some of them are not essentials but certainly make the trip fun!
1. Okay--not a last minute thing but I since we are taking the kids out of school, we looked up the date the semester ends (which happens to be Friday). This way the kids are trying to play too much catch up before final grades get posted. They start a new quarter on Monday and have plenty of time to get missed work in. Thanks to Becky for thinking of this.
2. We are bringing cheap blow-up tubes for Grand Cayman and a travel pump. Last time we were there we decided since there are little waves, this would be fun for the kids to float around in!
3. Goggles. My kids think pool water is acid to their eyes. Most of the time the pools on the boat are salt water, but Disney is a fresh water pool.
4. Extra sunscreen. Caribbean water is salter and you tend to need more sunscreen than usual.
5. Books to read on deck! This sounds wonderful. I am headed to the library tomorrow.
6. I am packing a lunch for the plane ride there. We only have 45 minutes in Vegas--not enough time to eat, not to mention expense. I am also packing a gallon bag of treats for the way home since we will not have time to buy anything before we get to the airport and it is soooo expensive at the airport.
7. Don't forget all your charges. I have a bag just for all the IPOD, ITOUCH, phones, shavers, camera's.
8. Multi-plug outlet is very helpful too.
9. travel alarm clock--there are usually no clocks in the rooms. If you have an inside cabin you can never tell what time it is.

7-Day Southern Caribbean Cruise

St. Thomas

Well we just got another cruise booked and we are excited. We are going with our good friends Ryan and Heather Johnson. It is a Southern Caribbean which departs out of Puerto Rico, San Juan on Feb 27. It will hit:

St Thomas
Dominica
Barbados
St. Lucia
St. Kitts
St. Maarten

These look to be all lush "Hawaiian like" islands.

We booked through the Carnival site directly for this one. They have a new way of booking which I hope will give us some perks. I will try and explain it.

When we called they had two different rates. Ones was for $419. This was just a regular rate. We would put a deposit down and if they price went down (which they most often do) we could submit a repricing form and they would take the difference off our total bill. The catch was you can only do this until the final payment is due, which is on Dec 14. You could also cancel this and get all of your money back before Dec 14.

The other price was the early saver price which was $429. This was a nonrefundable rate. If the price goes down you have until 48 hours before the ship leaves to get the price difference. It will come in an onboard credit. Which works out good since you still need to pay your gratuities which for a 7 day amounts to $140 for 2 people.

We chose the $429 price. And since that same room class was being offered for $419 we immediately submitted at price difference form and it knocked the rate down to $419. So we know have $20 of onboard credit!

Now for the flight. Flying to San Juan is expensive. About $600 round trip. I didn't really want to pay this amount so I started to get creative. Since Southwest doesn't fly into San Juan, we will be using our free tickets to fly into Orlando. From there we will catch a flight directly to San Juan which is $238 round trip. Much better!

LONDON on a DIME!

Leslie & Becky at the Thanksgiving Point Luau 2009

So I thought I would share with your our latest adventure/deal we got. Roger and I along with Becky and her husband are going to London/Paris next June. Becky has a time share Marriott that we were able to book in Paris on the Disney property. So we will stay there 1/2 the time and we are using Marriott points and BOGO coupons in London. But what I wanted to share is how we snagged $488 round trip tickets from SLC to Heathrow.

Last year we were going to go to Hawaii and things fell through. But, Roger and I both signed up for a United Visa Card. We never used the points since we did not go. We only had 25,000 points which usually does not get you very far. In order to keep the points from expiring, I would go to the United site buying portal and purchase something from Kohls. This kept my points active since I would still be adding points to it.

On some United flights you can use miles for part and pay for part. We found several flights that were using 25,000 points plus pay $315 for the ticket. After taxes and security fees, it came to $488 per ticket. The regular price on this ticket if paid in full was $1500.00! That is a huge savings.

Now Becky did not have any points but she signed up and within a few days they sent her the card. She called them up and asked to move her due date up as soon as possible and made the required payment to earn the points. Within about a 10 day period, she had the points deposited into her United account.

Our trip is not until June 2011 but a little advance planning has save us a ton of money!

The Knecht's and Sherwoods

Airboat Tour in the Everglades

Sydney at the Alligator Park--Yes they are real and they are not fenced in!

Well I am going to backtrack a little bit to explain were we have been this year.

In January we decided to go to Fort Lauderdale. We were ready for a break from the cold and were in search of warmer weather. We left on Jan 29 and came home Feb 5. We stayed in Pompano Beach which was about 10 minutes from Ft Lauderdale. We also drove down to Miami a few times and played at the beach, did an Airboat tour and Alligator Tour. We took the kids into Fort Lauderdale and took a water taxi to dinner one night.

Here are some of my tips we used for this trip:

Lodging:
We used my mom's timeshare. She has three weeks a year. Last year I bought a additional year and tacked it onto her time share. If you don't have a time share--there are so many that do. Go to www.homeaway.com. I have used them several times when we didn't have access to the time share. Our timeshare (Global) traded with the Wyndham in Pompano Beach which is were we stayed.

Go with friends. First off--it is just so much fun. Secondly--you get to share the cost of the condo. We rented a two bed, two bath condo for the 10 of us. It slept 8 and we brought two twin size blow up mattresses with us for the other kids to sleep on. It had a full kitchen, 3 pools, waterslide, tennis courts, volleyball court, miniature golf, kids room with games, free daily games.

We were able to cook breakfast, pack lunches for our outings and make dinner. We went out a few times but mostly cooked at the condo. This saved us a ton of money!

Total Coast for our family for the week was $200 plus about $100 in groceries.

Flights:
This is going to be your most expensive part of the travel. I highly recommend Southwest Airlines. Here is what I do to keep my prices low;

1. Get a Southwest Visa (you will get 1 free flight upon opening an account)
2. Book early--and then watch the prices. You can rebook and take the credit if the price goes down. If it does, you have 1 year from the purchase date to use it. THE PRICE ALWAYS GOES DOWN. I usually have quite a bit of credit to use on any give flight since previous ones have gone down. The passengers name does need to be the same on the credit and flight now.
3. Pay all your bills on your visa (that is if you pay everything off every month). You will be surprised at how fast you will earn free flights.

Car Rental:
Book early. Most car rental places have coupon code that you can do a search for. It can bring down the price dramatically. Also, you don't have to put a credit card down when booking so keep an eye on the prices.

Transportation

Ryan Jumping of the pier in Roatan, Hondurus!

We are getting excited and ready for our Disney cruise in October. I just looked at the Disney site to make sure the price had not gone down (yea right) before I made my final payment. Once you make your final payment--you cannot make any changes to passengers, or prices. This why you NEVER make your final payment until it is due.

We also got our transportation all sqared away. The cruise lines will offer you transportation but I have found that to be very expensive. If you are cruise out of Cape Canaveral the cheapest transportation I have found is The Happy Limo. They have great prices for large groups. We have scheduled 1 bus and 1 van which will fit all of us. They are picking us up at the hotel and taking us to the port and then they will be there once we get off to take us to the airport.

We also found a hotel (Fairfield Inn Orlando Airport) that offers free airport transportation and a free breakfast in the morning. So that is all taken care of!

Cozumel

Jodi and Aaron relaxing at Chankanaab

Our good friends Ryan and Heather at the ruins in Cozumel

I have been to Cozumel twice. The first time we had the kids with us and we went to Chankanaab which is a National Park. Very clean and very nice. We took a taxi there and I found some coupons online that got us in for cheaper. They have a nice area with chairs and a fresh water pool. You can also see the people swim with the dolphins. A great family place to go.

The second time we went we were going to go to Tulum. These are ruins on the mainland. So you have to take a hour ferry over to the mainland, 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Tulum and then back again. I have heard they are awesome, but we docked a little late and got a little spooked by our time limit. We decided to go the to ruins on Cozumel and went to take a taxi. The taxi was $100 round trip. I noticed that there were car rental companies across from the taxi's so we checked them out first. We were able to rent a Jeep for the day for $60! We were able to go to the ruins--which were small and hot, but interesting and then we found a beach for the rest of the day. The funnest part was the jeep which was very "rustic." It didn't always start and the seat had a hard time staying in place. But we had fun.

We rent a jeep again when we have the kids with us in Oct 2010!

Belize

By far this is one of may favorite excursions. We booked this on our own after some online research. We booked through cavetubing.com. We had to take a tender to the city once we arrived in Belize. We then met our bus at a certain pier. We took about a 45 minute bus ride to the caves. We hiked up to the caves through a rain forest which was incredible. They then hooked about 10 of us together and took us through caves which were sometime pitch dark. (which is why we have head lights on) Water was cool but if felt good. They then drove us back to a picnic area where they fed us lunch. They entertained us the entire time.

Some are probably fearful of booking outside the ship. I was too at first. But this is their job. They know what time they have to have you back to the ship. I have never had a problem with an outside excursion.

Freeport, Bahamas

Lucayan National Park

Roger and David walking to the Beach

Ben's Cave

I have been to Freeport Twice. Once you dock, you either have to rent a car or take a taxi. There is nothing at the port. The first time we took a taxi to the main part of town, did a little shopping and played on the beach. It was okay.

The second time, we did a little more research and found a place called Lucayan National Park. It was quite aways from the ship so we decided to rent a car. It is always good to travel with someone so we could share the expense. The are was bout $100 for the day but we were able to split it. The rental company picked us up from the port and took us to our car. We drove about 45 minutes out to the Park. The first thing we saw were the bat caves. They are closed at time when the bats are in them.

We then took a little hike to get to the beach. It was a trail about a mile long through pine trees, mangrove swamps and caves which opened up onto to the most beautiful beach. Not many people there since you really had to know about it before you left. Water was crystal clear and warm! We stayed there for a few hours and then headed back. We ate at the local burger king before getting back on the ship.

A funny note--in Freeport they drive on the opposite side so it took all of us to keep our car on track! Be prepared for that if you rent a car!

Nassau Bahamas

My best friend Heather on our girls cruise. We took a moment to relax at the "One & Only" hotel in Nassau

The Pier at Love Beach

Eating at Compass Point

David showing off the Bus Stop at Love Beach

Excursions--They can be really fun but kinda pricey--especially if you have a big group with you. I have had a few people ask what we have done on the islands. So I will break it down for each Island.

On our first cruise, we did not do any excursions. We were a bit overwhelmed! Sometimes I like to book through the boat and sometimes I like to do it on my own. Whatever you decide be prepared to do a little research.

I have been to Nassau several times. I have done something different each time. I have been to the Straw Market. A lot of cheap knock-offs. Be prepared to be haggled. Kinda fun but everything starts looking the same.

I have also been to the Atlantis Hotel and into the Aquarium. The first time we went there, our ship stayed overnight at this port. We had heard if you go after 7:00 pm you can walk through the Aquarium for free. This usually runs about $40 per person. This is exactly what we did! We took a car-taxi over there and we had plenty of time to walk through.

When we were on the island again, we took a tour through the ship. It was defiantly not worth the $50 we paid.

On a different occasion I was with my friend Heather and we had heard that Cabbage Beach was great! So we decided to head over there. We took a water taxi over to Atlantis and walked to Cabbage beach from there. It was a nice beach but the drawback is that 4 other ships had docked that day and that is were everyone went. It was very crowded. If you go there walk a little further down the beach and it will get less crowded. If you stop in front of "One & Only" hotel you can use their bathrooms.

Our last time in Nassau, we wanted to do something different. We researched beaches that were not so popular. Love Beach was were we wanted to go this time. Once you get off the ship, there a tons of taxi drivers trying to get you into their cars. They charge quite a bit. And their answer to everything is "yes." I wanted to talk to someone who was not trying to make money off of me. We went into the Hilton hotel and spoke with the man at the concierge desk. He told us the Taxi's would charge us up to $100 to take us to love beach, wait for us and then take us back. He suggested we take the city bus out there. It would be about $2 per person each way. He showed us were to pick it up. Once we arrived at the bus station we spoke with one of the locals to make sure we were in the right place. We told him what we wanted to do. When the bus came, he spoke with the bus driver letting him know where we wanted to go. We would be his last stop as it was very far north on the island. He dropped us off right in front of Compass Point hotel which opened up to Love Beach. It was a private beach, but I had read that if you eat at the restaurant, they will let you use their beach. When we asked, they were more than happy to let us through! We ate lunch there and had a great time. By the way--we were the only ones on the beach! The bus driver told us were to catch to bus back and we made it in plenty of time!

By far, this was the funnest adventure I have done on Nassau!

DISNEY CRUISE October 2010

We just finished finalizing our Disney cruise and here is my advise! BOOK EARLY! I booked our 10 rooms through cruise.com about 1 year ago. The lady I am working with said the price has doubled since then and it is almost sold out. We don't leave for another 214 day--yes we have a count down--but Disney sells out quick. Their ships almost always leave port full to capacity. We are doing a 7 Day Western Caribbean visiting Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and the Disney Island. My kids are so excited to get back on the Disney boat and all it has to offer! Although a little pricier than the other, defiantly worth the extra attention and detail they give to the kids. We are not going to do any "official" excursions as Roger and I have been to all these island and know our way around. My kids favorite thing to do is "beach it." They will be thrilled to be in the clear warm water of the Caribbean!

Which cruise line?

I get asked "which is my favorite cruise line" all the time. Simply put--the one that gives me the best deal. As of right now I have been on 4 different lines and there are pros and cons about each of them. Here is the breakdown

• CARNIVAL

1. usually the cheapest.
2. you can save tons of money with their early saver program. You book pretty far out. But be cautioned that these are non refundable prices. If you change your mind, all you can do is switch itineraries for a different ship/time for a nominal fee. They will not give your money back.
   
3. tends to have a younger crowd--which I like sometimes
4. shows are entertaining but the opening show is the same on every cruise. And some times the shows are the same on different ships.
   
5. has a lot of itineraries
6. Food is good but it is exactly the same from ship to ship. Which may be a good thing.
7. Some of their shorter itineraries are on smaller ships. Their older ships are very "Vegas Style" with lots of color and sparkle.
8. Great workout room--yes I work out everyday if I am going to be eating that much!
9. Have a private island--my favorite so far
   

• DISNEY

1. These are the ultimate ships for families and you will pay for it. But it is worth every penny. By far, my kids favorite ship. They give you a pager for the kids and if they need you they page you. They have just made some new improvements on their kids program which is going to be awesome.
2. They only have 2 ships right now. One more to set sail in 2011 and 2012. They send on ship overseas for the summer so you must book early! A year out is what is suggested. Then you can start making payments on it too.
3. They have their own private island which ever Caribbean itinerary makes a stop at. They have also make improvements to their island which sound fabulous. Make sure to bring your pager on the island since they have a place for the kids also.
4. Lots of kids on the boat! It is Disney--what did you expect? But there is an adult area only. My parents and 3 other adult couples went on a 7 day and had a great time!
5. Shows are top notch--probably the best in the industry. Broadway type shows in an amazing theater!
6. Rooms are larger than most other lines.
   
7. Food is an experience. Disney chefs are unbelievable. Make sure to try something out of your comfort zone. Plus you rotate dinning rooms every night and your server comes with you. My kids wanted to take JoJo home with us. I did too!
8. Only line with a night time fire work show.
   

• ROYAL CARIBBEAN

1. Beautiful ships. I really like the layout of the ship I was on.
   
2. Ton of activities all the time.
3. They usually have a big activity on their boat. A skating rink, rock wall, flo rider, zip line or something along those lines. My boat had a rock wall. My friend, Heather and I were out there everyday. I had never done that before and we were both hooked!
4. Food was wonderful! I would say above average.
5. Older ships have very small rooms.
6. Shows were entertaining. They hire different acts so they are going to be different from ship to ship which was nice.
7. Have a private Island
   

• NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINES

1. I was on a very small ship but I know they have some larger ships. I didn't love the layout as there were no lounge chairs by the pool. Just on the upper deck. I am sure their other ships are layed-out better.
2. This particular ship had the whole starboard side as a smoking section. Not sure if this is true on all other ships.
3. They have some great prices if you are willing to hunt for them
4. Rooms are about the same size as the other ships
5. Loved the dine anytime program! We sometimes had to wait a little for a seat but usually no more than 15-20 minutes. We were also able to request a certain server.
6. Food was outstanding! Fun experience.
7. They had lots of activites to keep you busy at night.
   
8. All of their shows were also outside contractors so there are not repeating shows on their other ships.
9. Have a private Island
   

Cruise Web Sites

Here is a list of the cruise websites that I look at frequently:

• www.cruisecritic.com--they have a great section of postings on everything
• www.cruise.com--this is where I start when looking for a cruise
• www.travelocity.com
• www.orbitz.com
• www.southwest.com
• www.vacationstogo.com

What to bring with you

As we were heading to South Carolina for our port there, I leaned over to my friend and asked her if she had remembered her birth certifiate. She had forgotten it! With much panic and some quick thinking we were able to get her birth certificate overnighted to the hotel before we left for the port the next day. We called the cruise line to see what their policy was and she would have not been allowed on the ship without it!

So....once you get your cruise booked--put together a folder. As you come across things you will need--put it in there. You mind will be so busy once you pack you will forget to bring things you need. A passport or birthcertificate is crucial. As of right now, if you have a birth certificate you are fine. However, I strongly recommend a passport. If for some reason you miss the boat (which I have come close once) and you are stranded, you cannot get out of a foreign country without a passport. You can only cruise in and out with birth certificates. It is just a good idea!

Here is a list of handy things that I like to bring with me:

• Travel clock. There are usually no clocks in the rooms. If you are in a dark room it is imposible to tell when morning comes.
• Removeable hooks--the sticky kind. I like to put these up in the closest to hole jewelry, hats, sweaters and such. They come right off when you are done.
• Collapsible laundry bag
• Sweater for up on deck at night
• Hat--it can get really windy outside
• Bug repellent (for shore excursions)
  
• Extension cord or multiplug. They usually on have two outlets.
  

Inside, Window, Balcony?

This is always a question of debate amongst all cruisers. So I will give you my feelings. We ALWAYS choose and inside cabin and here is why:

• It is the cheapest! I would rather go on 2 cruises than 1. It is usually about $200 more per person for a window and goes up from there for a balcony. Save your money for shore excursions.
  
• I did not go on a cruise to sit in my room. To us it is a place to store our belongings, get ready and sleep. We always cruise with family or friends and we want to be up on deck with them.
  
• When we do sleep--it is very very dark. This has been some of the best sleep of my life.
• You more centered in the boat and don't feel it rocking as much.

My favorite room is inside middle. I don't really care which floor. The rooms are all the same usually. (Except for the bottom floor in some ships which have bunk beds) The lower you are the more stairs you have to go up to get to the deck. But usually the lower floors have better access to getting on and off this ship.

They do have rooms that are called guarantee rooms. This just means you can't pick your room. They will pick it for you and you might get an upgrade. We did this on our first ship. We were upgraded to a port hole room at the very front of the ship. We could hear the anchor every time it went up and down and the water as the ship cruised along. It was also a little more rocky up at the front. It is not my favorite catagory of room type but I would probably do it again. Since we were cruising with friends, we did request that we be put close together and they honored that.

How much is it going to cost?

I recently went to a travel show in Los Angeles and they said that you will get most bang for you buck with cruising! I agree. On our first cruise we were still a little unsure what we had paid for and what was included! Once you first get on, they push fun looking tropical drinks! These are not included. Since we don't drink, it was not an issue

Cruise price:

1. cruise
2. Port fees (usually--some sites list prices without these included so make sure).
3. food (except if there are some speciality restuarnts abourd. More ships are adding these--I stay away from them since the food is usually great in the regular restaurants. And yes, you can order as many things as you would like at dinner)
   
4. shows

Cruise price does not include:

1. taxes
2. tips (from about $10-11 per person per day--these are usually added on automatically and the end of your cruise. It is for your room steward and your waiters.
3. alcoholic drinks
4. soda (you can bring soda on, or buy a soda card. I think this is expensive and I can live without it for a week but there are options. Disney cruise line does not charge anything for soda).
5. shore excursions

Hopefully this helps you know what you need to save for.

How to find a great deal!

This is the question that I get asked the most is how do I find such great deals?

A LOT OF RESEARCH!

The first thing you want to figure out is "about" when you want to go. Be flexible. Also know that any holiday time is going to be more expensive. Try to avoid those times!

September is going to be your cheapest month. It is high hurricane season. I have gone the last 3 Septembers and have had beautiful weather. It is a bit of a risk. If there is a hurricane they will most likely go to different ports. It is very unlikely that your cruise will be canceled. But keep in mind there are still risks.

My favorite site for when i am starting out is www.cruise.com

You can search by where you want to go--when--length--cruise line. I recomend putting in as few parameters as possible so you can see what is out there. You can narrow down your search.

Once you have figured out what itinerary will work for you, go directly to that cruise website. Sometimes cruise.com has the best price, sometimes the cruise line will have the best price. You will also want to check out travel sites for that particular cruise. Such as Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia. See which one is going to offer the best deal. Once I booked a 4 day cruise for $169 per person through travelocity because they were offering a $50 cash back if you booked with a Master Card. It doesn't matter who you book through but what you get out of it. So look around.

Now keep in mind, this is probably NOT the lowest price you will pay. Infact, I have always paid a lower price on every cruise than I originally booked it for (with the exception of the first Disney cruise). How you ask--Read on......

You are ready to book your cruise. I always like to call directly to do this process rather than do it online. You will be asked to put a deposit down. It is usually $250 for a 7 day and $150 for a 3-4 day. ONLY PAY THE DEPOSIT! Even if you have all the money saved. You will need to make your payment in full usually 45-60 before you set sale. That is when you want to pay the balance and here is why.

If you cruise goes down in price, all you need to do is call whoever you booked with and they will adjust your price to the lower price. You just need to make sure your type of room is still available. Once you make your final payment, they will no longer adjust it. I check the prices every couple of days to see if they have changed. Each cruise line does it a little different--some will change it over the phone, and some will have you do it online. Every cruise, except Disney, has gone down in price from about $50-120 per person!

Now if you have made your final payment and the price goes down within that 45-60 days out, simply call the cruise line and see if they will upgrade you. This happened once to me and they upgraded me to a higher floor. This just means not as many stairs to walk up and down! (And yes, you do need to take the stairs everywhere if you are going to eat what they serve you at dinner!)

Where to go????

I have had several people ask me where the best place to go is. My personal preference from what I have done so far is the Caribbean. So far my favorite port has been Roatan, Honduras.

Why?
1. It is usually warm year round
2. The water is unbelievably clear and warm
3. There are tons of itineraries.
4. The price is usually the cheapest. There is a lot of competition there.
5. Living in Utah makes me want to visit warm, topical places when I vacation.

But with that being said, cruising is great anywhere. I am not a super big fan of cold weather cruising, but to me a cruise is bathing suits, swimming, being out on the deck! Cold weather cruises don't offer too much of that.