In the wake of September 11th, many cruise lines and tour operators have altered their policies on cancellations, at least for the time being.  

We encourage you to read reviews, and to ask around about what ships are worth the money.

Please note that we haven't always gotten good
advice from agents. I'll always remember the
disappointment that mother had on her second
cruise when it didn't repeat the enjoyment of her
first, and the travel agent didn't warn her about any of the negative problems encountered, and should have because they weren't an industry secret.

So our word of advice is to do research, and then
do more research before booking your cruise!

• The Cruise Diva's Tips for First Cruises. | more cruise articles here.
• Cruise Guide 2003 from CruiseReviewsOnline
• CruseChat BBS
• Cruise Critic | ABC's of Cruising | Message Boards | Reviews | Polls
• Cruise Critic Editor's Picks for Best Food at Sea
• Cruise Direct lists Travel + Leisure's "World's Best" Awards
• Cruise Direct lists Conde'Nast Traveler Magazine's 70 Best
• Cruise Diva Reviews of Cruises and Cruise Lines
  Make sure you read Cruise Diva's reviews.
  
• Cruise Mates Member Cruise Reviews
• Cruise Opinion
• CruiseReviews.com
  
• Cruise Ratings at WePlanet.
  Rating pros and cons, and it's nice to see they give some
  mixed and even bad reviews to some cruise ships, which
  is always a hopeful sign that the site may be on the up
  and up.
• Cruise FAQs 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
  All Cruise FAQs are Rah-Rah Sis-boom Bah pages. You won't
  find a whole bunch that try to convince you to skip the cruise
  experience. Cruise Faqs are meant to put you in the mood to
  buy into taking a cruise. Cruises can be great, and worth the
  money you spend. However, It's important to realize that all
  cruises don't give you the same value or the same enjoyments.
  All cruises are not equal or even similar. Research your cruise
  before you book it. Deja-vous on the advice, but it's imporant!
• CruisingInfoGuide's Cruise Review Archive
  Not everyone cares so much about the ports that cruises dock in,
  but for those people who never get to travel much, we think it's
  terribly important to book cruises that also visit wonderful ports of
  call. This is especially important for those you who don't think you'll
  have a lot of time to travel in the future. Book a cruise that visit ports
  that offer things you want to see, and offer stuff you are interested in.
  Life is short. Do it right, and have more fun. Don't just settle on what
  your travel agent picks for you. Pick crusis that visit ports of call that
  YOU will enjoy.
• Google Cruise Discussion Groups
• PaknGo Ship Reviews
• PORT Reviews
  We think that for those people who never get to travel much, it's more
  important to book cruises that also visit wonderful ports. Book a cruise
  that visit ports that offer things you want to see, and offers something
  your interested in, be the right kind of shopping or special kinds of
  sight-seeing. Life is short. Do it right, and have more fun. Don't just
  settle on what your travel agent picks for you.
• Ports of Call from Cruise Diva
  Some very useful comments on a wide range of ports of call from
  Alaska to South America, with a lot of the commonly travelled to ones also.
  
• Port Reviews PaknGo
  
  Worst Cruise - Opinions:
• Travel Message Board: worst cruise
• Cuse Mates: Disney Wonder
• Costa Cruises
• What can go wrong: The Bad Cruises Newsgroup from MSN
• What can go wrong: Cruise Diva presents: Ship Happens
  
• What can go wrong: CruiseNewsDaily: Out of Drydock on time?
• What can go wrong: LiveableOldTown: Events at Sea
• What can go wrong: well.com Alaskan Cruise: The Good, the bad ...
  
  Cruise Lines (Not an endorsement, just a listing):
  
• American Hawaii Cruises
  The annoying popups are not created by the Quaker Bonnet.
  In general we don't like popups and don't use them for advertising,
  only for displaying links (and even then, we use them sparingly.
  
• Anmerican Hawaii Cruises
• Carnival Cruise Lines | Just Carnival Cruises - Destiny
• Celebrity Cruises
• Cunard Line Cruises QE2, Royal Viking Sun, Sea Goddess, etc.
• Discount Cruise Network
• Holland America
• Norway - Norwegian Coastal Voyage
• Nworway - Norwegian Coastal Voyage Inc. - Bergan Line
• Norwegian Cruise Lines  
• PRINCESS CRUISES
• Royal Caribbean Cruises
• Seabourne Cruise Line
• Small Ship Cruises
• Windstar Cruises
• San Juan Shuttle Express- see whales, dolphins - beautiful islands
• Victoria San Juan Cruises - see whales, dolphins - beautiful Islands
• ZOË'S Cruises and Tours - fundraiser cruises
  
  
• How not to gain weight on a cruise!