NE Wildlife if you're asking about Mexico I personally like Cancun. To me you get more bang for your buck there. The resorts are all inclusive and my wife likes RIU resorts so quite often that's what she books. We did get a smoking deal at Fiesta Americana one year that we couldn't pass up. We stayed at the Sun Palace once in Cancun as well. As far as excursions, we've went to Isla Mujeres last time we were there. It's a cheap ferry ride over and that's a big reason why my wife wanted to do it for the boat ride. There's shopping there and places to eat if you want. I don't see the point in eating or drinking somewhere other than the resort because you're already paying for it there. We did a tour to Tulum and that was interesting seeing the Mayan ruins and the history. Overall we like Mexico, of the places Cozumel is the only place we have no desire to go back to.

As far as safety concerns we haven't had an issue. We don't go downtown at night and hang in the bars, there's plenty of booze at the resort. We're not much for drinking but I know some are. Our travel downtown is done during the daylight. One time we went just down from the resort we were staying at after dark to look at the shops to get a souvenir for a friend but it was right by the resort and we felt safe. Don't be stupid, if something doesn't feel right get away from it trust your own gut. That goes for during the daylight as well. You'll be able to see where you should be stopping at as far as downtown goes. A little ways past Senor Frogs is about it. It gets sketchy the farther you go although it has been cleaned up and new development is happening with new stores. If you got a baker in your family don't forget to get some big bottles of pure vanilla. It's pretty cheap down there. My wife packs them in gallon ziploc bags and puts them in the checked luggage. You can wait and get it at the airport if you've got carry on bags instead.

Thanks for the info, we have stayed at the the riu resorts in the past but in the Dominican and Costa Rica. My sister regularly goes to isla mujeres and loves it there. She usually gets a Airbnb and loves it but has done all inclusive there. I suppose I should try Cancun one time and see how we like it.. just always avoided Mexico in general because of the safety concerns.

Might have to try Venezuela one of these years lol

My favorite place is Belize. Cozumel is nice if you’re there long enough to get out and enjoy it. We rented a Jeep first time we were there and toured the island. The wife had a private guide we would use in Belize, not affiliated with the cruise lines, and this guy knew the entire country. Ole boy crossed the border in Guatemala one trip we took.
As far as cruise lines, I don’t recommend Carnival. Royal Caribbean or MSC aren’t bad. I prefer Royal though. As far as counties or places, all ports are basically the same…third world. Leave the ports to see the real country.
Personally I don’t care for them, but the wife likes them and takes 3-4 a year and I get roped into one every year it seems.
We took a Christmas cruise and had 50-60 knot winds the entire trip. I could’ve made millions selling Dramamine, lol. The wife had packed a lot and we’d have folks knocking on the door for it. She was on some cruise forum on FB or something and let the world know she could take care of them, lol.

I have been on a bunch of them, Miami is good to go out of, I have been on Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Celebrity Cruise lines. I prefer Royal Caribbean by far. The Dominican Republic was one of the places that stands out to me, we did a zip line tour that was very cool. They had filmed part of Jurassic park there. Jamaica is someplace I would prefer not to go back too. Constantly being approached to buy drugs or buy trinkets we don’t need. Very aggressive. The Dunn River rock slides were fun but not worth the crazy people. I forget which island it is, St. Thomas maybe, we rented a four wheeler, you can ride all around the island, half of it is Dutch I think. We found really nice secluded beaches, then all of a sudden nude beaches. Mostly old people you don’t want to see naked. Puerto Rico is Ok, we just hiked around the old forts that protected it.

As far as cabins I have done interior and ocean view and balcony. The balcony is worth it. Nice to be able to sit out and enjoy the ocean. I don’t get sick so know nothing of that other than it looks terrible.

PM me if you want more info.

I’ve been on a couple of cruises. Not really my thing. I much prefer to go somewhere and stay and not be on a ship thee entire time. Plus the whole experience felt like a hog trough. Constantly feeding and offering beverages. I have however found some really good flights from RDU to San Juan for great prices. Jet blue a,d Frontier typically have a cheap flight at least once a week

Thanks for all the responses.

I'll try to answer as many thoughts/concerns as possible.

The main reason we aren't doing an Alaskan cruise is we both want to go somewhere warmer in the winter. We are thinking about going to Alaska in the next few years. Plus we have a friend the did one a few years ago. She has cruised all over the world and felt it was one of the lamest cruises she went on. Said if she had to do it over again she would forego the cruise part and just go there. She said they stopped at a couple little islands but didn't really get to see or do much.

We're thinking either Celebrity or Royal Caribbean lines. Been told to avoid Carnival if possible, because it is more of a party line vs a nice relaxing one.

I'm not worried about crowds. I thrive in large crowds. We are old and decrepit now so we probably wouldn't venture to far from the ship. I'm a picture taking fool so most of my pics would be of local "wildlife". I've been known to take 100 pics of a butterfly just to get the right shot.

I have talked her into parasailing and possibly ziplining. She's not a risk taker by any means. So I may have to push her off the zipline tower. We've basically decided that when pull into a port to get off the ship, buy a trinket, go to a beach, each some local cuisine, maybe tour around for a bit, and get back on the ship for our naps. I know from other cruises that we would like to be mid-level and midship for our room. The first one we did we where lover down in the ship and all you heard were the engines. Then another we tried to get as far away from the sound as possible. You feel the movement of the ship more. It's amazing to me how much those big ships sway and move up and down in even the smallest of waves.

One of our cruises (I think it was Greece) I booked myself. I didn't read the description of what type of cruise it was. It was a smaller (less people) cruise. We were on the ship and the first night went great. We met some folks from PA and had a good time. The next night is when things started seeming funny to us. We went to get dinner and the atmosphere seemed off. While walking back to our cabin we kept passing these cabins with magnets and drawings on their doors. Turns out I had booked us on an upside down pineapple cruise. For those that don't what those are look up the symbolism of the upside down pineapple. If you're not part of the group, they leave you alone for that aspect. It's fun to tell people that story and leave out certain parts. My wife gets so mad at me. She'll turn about 50 shades of red and tell me to tell them the rest of the story. Needless to say I read the descriptions of the cruises more closely now.

Celebrity, Princess, NCL, RC. We’ve been on pretty much all of them even Carnival. I’ve never been on a bad one yet. However my last choice would be MSC. I’d find an itinerary that hits the best spots. Leaving from PR, has benefits and the airfare isn’t too bad. In fact, my wife and I are booking a cruise for April and the airfare for Minneapolis to Puerto Rico round-trip is less than $300 per person. The island of St. Thomas is one of the islands you want to visit. You can spend the day on St. Thomas or take a little ferry boat to the island of St. John’s, which is only five minutes away. Trunk Bay in St. John’s is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and really not that crowded. St. Thomas also has some beautiful beaches, Megan‘s beach is very popular, as the whole island is beautiful and a lot cleaner than the rest of the Caribbean islands being its part of the United States. Also being in the southern Caribbean, leaving from Puerto Rico the islands of Saint Martin St. Lucia, Aruba, Bonaire are worth visiting. I almost forgot to mention the island of Tortola, which is near St. Thomas. It’s another beautiful spot. i’d stay away from the island of Dominica, it’s a toilet. Also, Barbados is another nice spot and a good place to pick up rum. We stopped doing seven day cruises a long time ago and opt for at least 10 or more days. Money wise it’s about the same price. I always go for a balcony room, it’s worth the extra money. The balcony rooms aren’t necessarily any bigger, but with a big sliding glass door looking out to the ocean, it makes it feel roomier plus it’s a lot more peaceful.

We stopped at the island of Saint Martin on a cruise stop and were pretty impressed. So the following year we took our winter vacation and spent 10 days on the island. As with most stops, it’s hard to get a feel of anywhere and just one day. But Saint Martin does have airport Beach or the proper name is Maho Beach. It’s pretty crazy to see these big jets come in directly over your head only 100 feet from the ground. And watching them take off is even crazier. They back up to an old crappy 6 foot tall, chain-link fence, which is right by the road that runs right in front of the small beach. The jets back up to the fence before takeoff. You would never believe how much air gets pushed through the turbines to get those big boys off the ground. I’ve seen idiots holding onto the chain-link fence and get rolled across the street as the Jets takeoff. Look it up on YouTube.