Me and 4 of my high school buddies get together for some kind of trip the week after new years. Last year we went snowboarding and the year before roadtrip to the west coast stopping at Arizona/Vegas and etc. We are trying to decide between couple of options and would like some opinions. Our Budge is about $700-$900 per person. Dates are 1/5/13-1/12/13 Option 1: Fly to New York and drive around the Northeast. (D.C, Niagara Falls, Boston, Philly, Pittsburg etc) Option 2: 7 Day cruise to the Western Caribbeans. I have never been on a cruise and neither have my friends so we have no idea what to expect. Option 3: Fly to Vegas and go to California from there. (Cheapest way, we want to go to Vegas as well) This time we will spend more time in Cali since we only spent day and a half last time. Input is appreciated. If you have better options, please do tell.
Which cruise company is it thru? I went on a cruise to W. Caribbeans a few years back thru NCL (Norwegian) and loved it. It made 4 stops (Samanah, BVI, USVI and a private island in the Bahamas) the ship had excursions you could sign up for at each stop, we did one at each location except USVI, we had to reload our smuggled alcohol collection and did some shopping. My roomate wants to do it, I'll go again even if its the exact same stops, there was so much more you could do. The first option seems pretty cool too.
Go west young man. Or to the carribean...though i'm a bit biased against cruises. Seems like a cheap sham compared to the real thing of actually going somewhere.
I like option 3 the best because you might have to deal with weather conditions with option 1 and with your price range, you might have to go with a lame cruise line like Carnival if you go with option 2. Do you plan on going to any theme parks of any sort if you go to California? If not, you could forego going to San Diego and go from Las Vegas->Los Angeles->Yosemite->San Francisco->Napa Valley (if you like wine).
FYI, if you plan on driving around, cheap gas is $4.30 in CA. It has dropped about $0.30 in the past two weeks but you never know how it will be in Jan. And the reason I bring it up is because SoCal has no public transportation system.
I went on the 7 day western carribean cruise from carnival in august. I loved it, but 7 days was pushing it. I really enjoyed my time, it was my 1st cruise, but I was happy to be home when it was over. They sell bottles for cheap and tax free on the ship, but you don't get it until the last evening (Saturday around dinner time). We had a great time at all 3 ports (Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel) and I would definitely do it again. If you do the cruise, get the cheapest room available. The balcony views are nice, but you're not spending much time in your room, so I'd go for the cheapest available and use the savings at the ports. Also, you can go to cruisecritic and find out about great excursions for cheap, along with reviews and pictures.
you'll blow your budget if you go on the cruise. You spend most of your money once you're onboard....drinks, excursions, tips...
Cruise would be Carnival if we go that route. I thought doing the cruise would be the easiest to project cost. None of us drink much, so I don't anticipate that being a big cost. The cheapest cruise room available right now are $600 per person tax included. Between 5 people we would have two rooms. I just don't want to be stuck on a ship for 7 days if I end up not liking it after the first couple of days, that's my biggest concern.
The trip for West Coast would be. Fly into Vegas then >Lake Tahoe (snowboard)>San Fran>L.A>San Diego> Vegas
Sounds good. Protip: In Las Vegas, the Chevron across the street (Flamingo) from the Palms has relatively cheap gas.
Go to an East European country and stay at one of their hostels. make sure to mention that you're American the whole time there. It's also cheaper because you'd only need to purchase 1-way tickets.
