What is the best vacation/cruise you ever went on?

Wow, not a whole to of ocean near Oklahoma. I'm not sure where you would want to cruise out of, you're sort of in the middle of things. I know there are cruises out of Corpus, and, of course, lots on the east coast. Many of them offer air fare; it may be more expensive than getting airline tickets separately, but if you have plane delays. if you got the ticked through them, they will pay to catch you up to the cruise. They will also meet you at the airport and provide transportation to the cruise ship. $5000 buys a lot of cruise. The most I've ever paid was about $1000 per person. I'd be willing to bet that for about $1500 or less, you can get something out of Corpus or FLORIDA, AIR FARE INCLUDED. What you want to do is research cruise lines and specific ship through such sites as cruisecritic.com, trip adviser, and the travel sites (travelocity, expedia) also have a lot of reviews. You can tell a lot from reviews, some people ***** about anything, some people are easily satisfied. I'm in the middle. I've been on Carnival, Royal, Norwegian, and Celebrity. My favorite, by far is Celebrity, mainly because the food is so good. I wasn't impressed at all with Norwegian, and Carnival and Royal are all over the map. I wouldn't touch Disney with a 10 foot pole. I know a lot of people who really like them but I'm not nuts about being cooped up with a load of spoiled kids for a week. Carnival tends to be a bit party-party, Royal is more mellow. I've heard Holland America is primarily old people. There are tons of resources on line that will give you median age, number of kids (but not the number of rotten ones), that sort of thing. The cruises out of Baltimore are decent, depending on the time of the year. There's something cool about walking onto a boat in 80 degree heat with a reggae band playing and being handed a mai tai. Baltimore is a bit too far north for that sort of thing. Anther thing to consider instead of a cruise is Key West. We have been alternating vacations for the past couple years, Key West, then a cruise, etc. Depending on how ahead you book, you can fly right into Key West, this last time I got tickets for $370 each, but I bought in July. The farther out you plan, the better the deal. You can fly into Miami a lot cheaper but then you have a 4 or 5 hours drive. It's an interesting drive, but i only needed to do it once. Oh, if you are homophobic, don't go to Key west. Anyway, you don't need to rent a car, you can walk everywhere, and it's about $20 to get pretty much anywhere on the island from the airport. You can rent little electric cars and bikes, or just walk like we do. If you look into it, I would STRONGLY recommend the Santa Maria Suites. It's a small place with large, beautifully appointed suites, and a great oriental-influenced courtyard with a great pool. It' right on the edge of the crazy part of Key West but really peaceful. I travel a lot, and this is hands down the best hotel I've ever stayed at. Anyway, I hope this helps, if you have any questions make me a contact and ask away. I can also tell you about Hawaii. I live for vacations. r

My best vacation was a 7 day cruise up to Alaska combined with a 7 day land package (- Anchorage - - Denali - - Fairbanks, and then flying home) << may be within your price range, but not allotted time. You could just do the cruise part. An all-inclusive resort on the Mayan Riviera (Cancun and south) can be very relaxing, and fun as you take in some of the some the tourist sites and activities, alternating with laying around on the beach or playing in the water. {I call it a cruise on land.} Hawaii is also great, but may be a bit pricey for you flying from OK. Tour Washington D.C., or New York, or whatever you want. {Disneyworld is sophisticated enough to appeal to adults as well as children!}