Caribbean Cruise advice please

Stephb1986_2

Hi all im looking to take my dad on a caribbean cruise for his 50th next year. we've never been on a cruise before so i dont have a clue what im talking about.

We want to go at the end of june next year want 5* liner ect ect there are 4 of us possibly 6 of us not quite sure just yet.

We are in northwest england so able to go from manchester or liverpool.

Not really got a budget

any advice welcome

Steph xxx

richardw

A cruise in the med would be good at the end of June and cheaper, and no Jet lag.

Fenella

You can find out all about cruises on:
www.cruisecritic.co.uk

There you will find official reviews of ships and members reviews too. Also in the forums you can see many questions answered.
A Caribbean cruise usually means flying to America (Miami or Fort Lauderdale) to start your cruise. If you book with a UK specialist cruise agent flights, overnight accommodation and transfers are included. If you want to arrange this yourself American cruise specialists such as vacationstogo.com offer cruises at incredibly low prices.
One tip is if you are going on a large ship (over 1000 passengers) to book cabins midship or you will have to do a lot of walking along corridors.
When budgeting for your cruise remember there are extras. Most cruise lines expect you to pay a certain amount in tips to waiters, cabin-staff etc. Alcoholic drinks and shore excursions are extra too also any spa treatments, laundry and hairdressing have to be paid for.
Some of the luxury cruise lines like Silversea and Regent include tips and alcoholic drinks in their prices.

moonrakerz

richardw wrote: »

A cruise in the med would be good at the end of June and cheaper, and no Jet lag.

If at all possible get a cruise that starts and ends in the UK. Flying to and from a cruise absolutely ruins it - unless you want to spend lots more and fly Business Class !

Caz3121

you won't find many UK ships over in the Caribbean during our summer - I have been Dec/Jan/Feb and it is great - most come back to do Med or Baltic and tend to start over there again around October time so will be the big American ones and flights - Princess, Carnival and Royal Caribbean look like the main options

lisyloo

Well firstly, checkout when hurricane season is.
I think you should be looking to go between october and April.

You might like to look at princess cruises.
I haven't been with them before but we have been on lots of cruises and I've heard from loads of people that they are very good.

The plus point are that they currently have 45% off (until end of november I think).
They have some direct flights from Manchester.
You can also pay £199 return for a better seat.
This includes champagne, choice of meal, better seat and dedicated check in.
The flights are charter with someone like thompson, first choice, monarch etc.
We think that's very good value for money.

getmore4less

To give you an idea of what you can pay the Nov Dec trips for this year are <£1kpp for the basic cabins that would be 2weeks cruise.
Ocean village is now under £900pp.

June is really off season for UK cruisers but there are cruise available.

I would research what sort of cruiseline/ships you would like.

Why the caribbean? the ports are not much lots of beaches.
Med, Baltics and Norway offer much better ports.

Forget the brochure price and the 50% off stuff it's the bottom line you are looking at.

You could look at trying to fit in a cruise to see what they are like, to give you a better idea for the family trip. Plenty of deals leading upto Xmas and for Jan/ Feb next year

If you want to bring the trip forward there are some great prices for very good cabins(suites) on NCL Jade trips to the Med and the canaries Jan-April

MrsCH

We live in the North west and have been on Princess Cruises in the Caribbean several times. The cruises are fine although we find it a bit quiet after about 10.30 at night. The main problem is getting flights direct from Manchester. We have often booked what we thought were direct flights then months later we get flight details going via London. I would not recommend flights to Miami/Fort Lauderdale. It is much better to fly to somewhere like Barbados/Jamaica/Dominican Republic as you get off the plane straight onto a coach to the port and on the ship without picking up your luggage or going through immigration. We have also done Ocean Village which we enjoyed but there is no waiter service at meals so definitely not as formal as Princess. We are going this Christmas on Thomson Destiny, smaller ship but with very good atmosphere,

Saint_Chris

we did a cruise and stay

5 nights in the dominican, then we boarded our ship, the carnival cruise liner, we did 6 islands in 7 days.

then we did 2 days back at the dominican

i have nothing but praise for carnival, there ships are massive and beautiful, the food was fantastic

jetboy

I've done loads of cruises from Miami and it was a breeze. Great selection of cruises from there too but as was said previously our summer is off-season in the Carribean. The weather is much better there from Nov-April. Have a look on www.cruisevalue.com. They price in USD but it gives you a good idea of whats available...even the UK sailings. I see RCI are doing 5 day cruises from Malaga next summer..good for somebody wanting to 'test the water'. My preferred Cruise Line would be Carnival... mainly because they cater for all tastes and are more laid back than the more traditional lines. Most of their sailings in Europe next year are from Rome. Cheapest seems to be around £750 plus flight in summer so far (12nights)

Stephb1986_2

My dad has always wanted to visit the caribbean so the med wont do. We have seen a few in june and a few in september, Money doesn't really matter its a special birthday.

The one in june we have seen is with the royal caribbean

you fly to miami

then go to mexico

jamaica

haiti

and a few other places that I can't remember then back to miami after 7 days on the boat for 3 days in a 5* hotel in miami for £1300 each full board

I think we are going for that at the moment

Steph xx