Hi from CaptHook …

Hi,
I have been on other cruises and have had the opposite experience. I have not been on American Cruise Line, but it is definitely not like that on all cruise lines.

There are always good reviews of Disney Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise, and Royal Caribbean (plus some others).

American Cruise Lines are smaller ships with (if memory serves) primarily US destinations. While there is something to be said for small ships, unless you are on an absolutely mammoth ship, you probably won’t notice it being too crowded. (We usually do things on "off" times – e.g. wake up a little earlier than everyone so we do things before mostly everyone else is up.) Some ships can just be too crowded, but those are usually the less expensive cruises where they are packing people on at a lower prices vs having fewer people at a higher price.

Likewise, a lot depends on your destinations. You didn’t say were you went, but I am one for more of the ‘exotic’ destinations – Caribbean, Alaska, Med, or South America for example. I’m not a big fan of something like "the rivers of Florida by cruise ship," but that is just me and I live in Florida so it wouldn’t be a big treat. Obviously some people love that.

Which ship did you go on? What were the destinations?

Do you enjoy the Caribbean? SCUBA? Snorkeling etc? A lot of the answers depend on what you like.

I’m very new to cruising, having only taken a 1 week cruise in June 2008 with American Cruise Lines. However, the food, service and overall atmosphere aboard this cruise was so incredibly bad that I’m here trying to find out if I should risk so much money again ($7,000+ for 2 people). I had always thought I would love cruising, but my husband and I both came away from this experience saying, "Just shoot me." Thanks in advance for any tips. [/quote:389q0l8z]