Cruises

lisyloo

How old is your mum?
This might help people give better recommendations.

On some cruises the average age is 75 and they do wartime sing-a-longs, name that tune and bingo.
Others (Easycruise) for example are aimed at the stag & hen party market.

Those are extreme examples, but there are definitely differences and you will get better advice if you can give your ages.

Enigmatic_Me

I think Thomsons and Island Cruises are the only cruise lines where you can get all inclusive (apart from Silver Star 6 star cruises which are VERY expensive) and where your tips are included.

Most other cruise lines will have a "service charge" which is usually so much per day of the cruise to pay which covers tips etc. Some cruise lines will charge a service charge for every drink you buy ie 15% (Costa certainly do this)

I think the best idea would be first decide on an itinerary ie Med, Northern Europe etc then when you would like to go and then price with some of the cruise sites like ideal cruising, cruise.co.uk, gills cruise. Once you know which operators fit in with your plans, you could then obtain the brochure or on line, read the terms and conditions. If you type cruises into Google you will get heaps of sites.

The Thomsons and Island cruises are not to everyone's taste and in my opinion are a bit like Butlins at sea. The ships are not as glamourous as the likes of Royal Caribbean, Princess, P&O. Price wise Thomsons and Island can work out more expensive as you can quite often get some really good deals on the better quality ships.

However our first cruise was on Airtours Carousel (no longer sailing) which was a very old lady of a ship but do you know we absolutely loved that cruise. Our second cruise was Thomsons Spirit and what a huge let down. We have also done quite a few Costa cruises, which are not to everyones taste as the pax are mainly Italian.

Again, there are plenty of websites with cruise reviews, one being Cruise Critic which is mainly American, but you can read alot of reviews on different ships.

weejenny

I have been with several cruise lines and last year took my mother in law on a Thomson cruise.
This is the only line I have used which included tips and I have to admit to being surprised at the level of service.
It really suited my MIL (she is 78 but young at heart)
Compared to the other companies embarkation was a breeze as was disembarking.
All in all I couldn’t fault it but not sure what it would be like during school holidays as the pool areas are small compared to Celebrity/Princess.
We didn’t take the drinks package as we couldn’t have drunk £149 each (the price last year) of alcohol. But the drinks prices were more reasonable that the American ships.

getmore4less

lotto wrote: »

Hi,
My mum has had a stroke and I would like to take her on a cruise this summer, anytime from 11th July - end of August. I have heard stories about hidden costs and would like an all inclusive deal. She will also not be able to fly long haul. Can anyone point me in the right direction please.

Whats the budget that will help with the options especialy cabin choice.

How many are travelling.

How has the stroke effected mobility some cruises are geared to alot of port time some are much more scenic.

roughly where do you live, south, north nearest airport.