Anyone ever cruise with CL?

[funnybone]

We've been on a number of cruises, and last year we cruised on Norwegian. They incorporated some CL recipes on the menu (they were marked). Has anyone taken the CL cruise they have scheduled? I was just wondering what it was like.

[kwormann]

Id love to, but they only offer them during the school year...I hope they offer one in the summer soon! Id love to go! I felt so awful after the last cruise..we had to detox after all the fattening greasy food! I love to have healthy TASTY choices on an active cruise (the one I was on didnt even offer an aerobics class!!!)

kim

[Grace]

I just got back from a cruise to the Bahamas. Worst experience of my life. I will never, ever cruise again, no matter how nice the ship, or how good the food! What I hated most was being held captive. If you don't like being there, you can't leave! It was like prison. Sorry CL (and anyone else who likes cruises), but cruising's not for me!

[Julia1Pin]

We went on our first cruise this July and even though we HATED the cruise (Carnival) we still had fun and managed not to gain any weight. I chose the healthiest meals (or tried to anyways) and tried not to eat too late or to snack too often. I think people tend to eat more french fries for lunch, and pizza at 2am, then they would normally do. I guess a good insentive for me was lying around during the day in a small bikini.

As a side note, the food was not all that great on Carnival cruise lines, and I ended up getting food poisining the last night on the boat (the day before my birthday).

[eks]

I am also interested in the Cooking Light cruise. I have cruised on Royal Caribbean in the past and LOVED it!! Unfortuneately, the CL has always been offered during the school year. I will graduate in May and am thinking about taking the one scheduled for December. I would love to hear from someone who has been on a CL cruise before.

[karole]

i agree with eks--went on a jazz cruise on royal caribbean==10 days --wonderful food & EVERYTHING was perfect. even tho i never wanted to cruise--shows ya don't know what's good for ya.

[aka]

I was going to post a similar question regarding the CookingLight cruise. My husband and I went on a cruise end of Jan 2001 and I really enjoyed it. Much more than I thought I would (and I was actually looking forward to it). I found that I was too busy to eat very often. I mean, I ate supper, and usually early lunch/late breakfast. I only made it out to one "late night buffet". I think I only gained 2 or 3 pounds or so (it was a 10-day cruise).

It was on Holland America and they really seem to have fitness push....lots of different classes and you got stamps for participating in different exercise activities which you could redeem for things later. I'm saving mine for a future cruise.

They also had a library which I borrowed books from and a fairly good selection of movies (our room had a VCR).

Some of the other things I did included playing team sports (like Pictionary) with other cruisers and taking tours of the art on board (there was also a cruise of the kitchen I really wanted to go on, but I was seasick that day http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif )

I tried to make the most of it, and I'd love to go on another cruise.

[mb]

i've never been on the CL cruise, but i just have to be a cruise advocate here... i've been on 4 cruises (2 on carnival, 2 on royal caribbean) and just wanted to point out that there are a lot of benefits to cruising (no, i'm not a travel agent, either).

There are usually a lot of activities planned (so you can do as little or as much as you want), you can sample several caribbean islands in one trip without having to unpack/pack etc., and you can just plain take it easy... It's important to take a cruise where you'll be like the other passengers (i.e. if you're 80 years old, i wouldn't recommend carnival, a more 'young' ship). Also, it depends what you want to do on your cruise. Some people may feel trapped, but we don't. We use the 'days at sea' for laying by the pool and reading, and while in port, we opt for more active things like hiking, biking, etc., not shopping.

In terms of food, I think that the quality of food on cruise lines may be decreasing. True, like Julia1Pin mentioned, the food on Carnival is NOT top-notch. I heard that Carnival spends the least amount of $ per person on food expenses. I think Celebrity places more of an emphasis on food. I've even heard that the quality of food has decreased on Royal Caribbean.

This is no surprise - the cruise lines are building more and more ships, and it's getting harder and harder to fill them up, so they charge cheaper prices to attract people. As a result, they have to cut spending in various places (like food).

I just wanted to say that cruising can be a great option for many people. I personally prefer a 7-day cruise over a 4-day (better ports, more time to get into the cruise, etc.) If anyone has any cruise questions, please feel free to email me - I'm happy to share what I've learned! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

mb

[Grace]

Originally posted by Grace:
What I hated most was being held captive. If you don't like being there, you can't leave! It was like prison. Sorry CL (and anyone else who likes cruises), but cruising's not for me!

Just to clarify what I meant by this statement - we had horrible weather while on this cruise. Gale force 8 winds, 14 foot waves. The ship couldn't port at the islands, because the tender boats that take you in were not able to navigate those high seas. Don't buy into that stabilizer bar thing they tell you about either. That ship rocked and rolled like crazy for 4-1/2 days, non-stop. On a cruise, you're at the mercy of the weather. And if you're at Disney World, a crummy hotel, or anywhere else in the world, you have the option of leaving if there's bad weather, the food is lousy, or you're just not having a good time. On the cruise I was just on, we were held captive on that rolling ship for 4-1/2 days. I wanted to jump overboard just to get off the thing. I begged my family (at $8/minute to use the phone) to send a helicopter to come and get me! And there was no laying in the sun or at the pool to pass the time - it was way too cold and windy - you would have been blown off the deck! And the only other "activities" were dorky - bingo, karaoke, nothing I wanted to do while I was trying not to peuk the whole time. Believe it or not, I'm still having bad dreams at night about this trip. AND the food was lousy! But that was the least of my gripes.

So, while I will agree that the cruise could have been somewhat fun had the weather been nice, I don't like the idea that my vacation is completely dependent on the weather.

OK, I feel better now. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif Maybe I can quit dreaming about this stupid trip now! Sorry to be so negative (usually, I'm really quite positive minded and optimistic!!), but I can tell you that I wasn't the only one who came off that ship saying "Never again!"

[mb]

Grace,

can i ask which cruise line you were on? also, sometimes if you write a letter of complaint, they will reward you nicely with a voucher to come back for a free cruise... however, if you had a bad time, i could understand why you wouldn't want to do that...but honestly, your experience is not the norm... i don't know if that makes you feel better or not! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

mb

[funnybone]

Grace, when were you on your cruise. We sailed on Royal Carribean "Majesty of the Seas" from March 5 to 9th and had to miss an island. It was cold, but enjoyed myself anyway. I prefer NCL's cruise last year though. However, the food on both was excellent!

[LauraEllen]

To all of you who are wondering about the Cooking Light Cruise I can shed a little light. I have been on 4 of them because our company produces it. Actually it was sort of my idea - my husband was talking about producing another food & wine cruise (we've done several) and I said "I always gain too much weight - why don't we do a spa cruise or something". Then I gave him one of my CL magazines and suggested he contact them. This was back in 1994, and we've been doing them ever since.

The reason we do them in late autumn is because that is after hurricane season, which in the Caribbean runs from July to October. There is so much to do on the cruise, nobody ever complains of boredom - they usually complain that they can't choose between all the options.

Cooking Light sends 4 or 5 of their editors - all names that I am sure you would recognize. The editors produce a week full of special seminars and classes: Cooking demos, aqua aerobics, wine tastings, a peek behind the scenes at the magazine, just to name a few. There are 20 or more of these events. All of the special events are available only to those who join the CL group, although other people on the ship are usually envious.

Additionally, there is a special beach party for our group with a lunch of local cuisine and water sports included. Then there are the optional CL shore excursions - these are short enrichment tours such as hiking through a rainforest with lunch of local island cuisine, or snorkeling with marine biologist guides.

One of the most exciting element that came out of our relationship with the magazine and the cruise line is the addition of Cooking Light recipes on all of NCL's ships and itineraries. I can definitly vouch for the food quality.

You can view the online brochure for the cruise by clicking on the link on the CL website, or you can access it directly at www.cookinglightcruise.com. (http://www.cookinglightcruise.com.) It is tremendous fun - we have had several people join us two or three times.

Laura Martin

[Gail]

Thanks for the insight, Laura! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[judyf]

The cruises always look interested and fun,but why is the Cooking Light special fare approx. two hundred dollars more than the price on NCL website? Is the extra money worth it, does it include port charges?
Judy

[Gail]

Judy,

Having at one time worked with group cruise packages myself, I was intrigued by your question and went to check it out for myself. Regretfully, by the time I got to NCL's web site, they'd closed down for the night. So, offhand, let me suggest these things to you. Are you sure you're comparing apples to apples? That is, are you comparing cruises on the same itineraries, same cruise dates, same ship, same cabin categories? Is the cruise line itself offering some early booking incentive which may affect rates? If everything does appear to be identical, you may wish to pose a question directly to HMS Travel or e-mail Laura for information.

Oh, by the way, I did verify that port charges are not included, which at least back when I was in travel, was standard for the industry.

Sorry I couldn't help more.

[Gail]

Ok.

Judy, since I was able to view this information this morning, I was able to verify that what I thought was true. HMS Travel is showing category J as the least expensive cabin category offered at their special group rate. NCL does, in fact, offer less expensive cabins booking through the line itself, but such cabins are going to be smaller or in some manner less desirable. Those lower cabin categories are typically offered by cruiselines as come-ons to potential buyers, and though they do exist, they are usually the first to sell out. What HMS is offering you, category J, actually retails for over $500 more per person if purchased through the cruise line or individual travel agent, so that in fact you are saving money booking at group rates if purchasing any of the cabin categories listed in the CL ads.

Did I clarify things at all or only make it more confusing??

... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif It's actually kinda fun researching this kind of stuff after all these years...

[laden]

My SO and I went on a CL cruise two years ago and had a blast! I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys cruising. There was plenty to do, the CL menu options were better than the regular options. The CL staff was great!

We did choose several of the special outtings with CL...local food market trip, hiking trip, etc.

So much fun! We'd love to go again.