Cruises: Beats any package holiday...

missk_ensington

I cannot believe people are still doing the package holiday. I can't believe that eveyone isn't cruising for their hols. It's overall cheaper (or as cheap) you see a different country everyday, it has cheap babysitting facilities and extensive kids clubs all day. And thats before Ive even mentioned the food, the english speaking staff/fellow travellers and the absence of certain nationalities that hog sun loungers (you all know who I mean!!).

Okay this is how I see it. Just based on a couple who would normally go to Benidorm. You're not gonna get much change out of £400 each for a 3* Hotel in summer that includes some food/HB. Thats before you've even started on drinks and lunches and snacks! (and it adds up, in Egypt a couple of years ago before I discovered cruising, we spent more money on drinks and snacking than anything else). So whats the comparison?

Well, you can easily get a good quality (easily equilvalent to a 4* Spanish hotel) cruise, visiting France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, etc etc in Summer for £499 (often less! and definately less out of school hols) if you book about 7 weeks before you plan to go-go to websites and lick on 'Deals of the Day'. I went to the Caribbean for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year just gone with Ocean Village and had the most wonderful time imaginable, I went to the rainforests of Dominica, swam with dolphins in Venzuela, saw Antigua, St Kitts, St Lucia, Grenada etc etc, and this included ALL my food 24/7. What did it cost? just over £900 each(This is over Xmas and New Year!) And to make things even better, I somehow ebded up with a window when I'd paid for an Inside cabin!

It was a wonderful holiday, and cost peanuts. We met a friend who had paid £600 for a week, which wehn you consider where you're visiting and all the food you get, you'd spend that much in a Spanish aprtment for a week!

I'd rather have the Caribbean anyday for the same price!!!
(And you don't have to wait in Passport control or collect your luggage, you go from plane-boat without even going into Barbados airport!)

PM me for all the best tips and info if you have kids,

Nikki

crazyhazel

I totally, totally agree. This year we had our fourth cruise. The first one was about 20 years ago on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, which was lovely but you had to dress up for dinner every night in tux n whatnot so not so good with the old sunburn. Then we had two cruises with Airtours - just around the canaries - we had to leave from Teneriffe sailed to Lanzarotte, Madera, Gran Canaria, Agadir (yuk) etc - we made friends with the cabaret staff and had a really great time then this February we flew to LA and myself, him who must be obeyed and DD joined the Norweigen Star for a cruise to Mexico. We did book a stateroom with a veranda and after having inside rooms or windows, will never look back. We had the most fantastic time. NCL don't limit your dinner reservations so there is none of this eat at 6.30 or 8.30 milarky. You have more than several dining rooms to choose from you can eat when you like and if you fancy something a little extra special maybe a nice big New York Steak or some Japanese Sushi you can make a booking at an alternative restaurant for as little as $10 a head. As for the 14 yr old daughter - well thanks to the fantastic youth club and several similarly aged youngsters we hardely saw her for the entire cruise - had to drag her to the organised tours and trips. We are looking at booking NCL again - hopefully this summer - I can thoroughly recommend them!!!!!:D

crazyhazel

Missk_ensington, would you recomend the Eastern Caribbean or the Western Caribbean and if you choose one, why? I havent sailed those waters for 20 years and would love some info.

whizzkid_3

would you be kind enough to tell me just how many hours a day you are actually on dry land (on average)?

we have never really fancied a cruise as i've always imagined that you are stuck on the ship for much longer than you would like!

saveapenny

whizzkid ...it all depends on your port but an average is docking in the morning at around 8am and leaving again around 5-6 pm. Some ports are later leaving around midnight or even an over night inports so you get to spend 2 days int he same ports. Caribbean cruise's its usualy the first 8am-5pm.
On a 1 week average cruise you get 1 full day at sea

nelly_2

whizzkid wrote:

would you be kind enough to tell me just how many hours a day you are actually on dry land (on average)?

we have never really fancied a cruise as i've always imagined that you are stuck on the ship for much longer than you would like!

the boats are great anyway their like a floating city.

We did a cruise this chritmas and they are good.

nelly_2

and it cost 90 quid per day including food and entertainment 4 star thats virtually impossible to beat

richardw

Don't forget there is https://www.easycruise.com as well

springtide

Oooh I've been trying to get my husband to consider a cruise for ages!!! Which websites do you use to book these cruises? A few years ago I blagged my way on a french cruise ship in Aswan to Luxor and had a great time and it cost me peanuts!

missk_ensington

Id recommend Going Places, they have a Cruise section called 'The Cruise Store' if you then click on DEALS they have some great offers, even greater if you don't care when you're travelling. For cruises I'd actually say the best deals sometimes come from the windows of travel agents! Id book 8 weeks before or later if you can.

Eastern Caribbean is best, you usually start off from Florida which is wonderful in itself if you have time to look around. My favourite cruises are the one that incorporate a bit of america (Usually Miami, Boston, New York) and then the Bahamas/Caribbean. You can get 10 nights for £1100 including flights etc, that little over £100 a day for your acoomodation, food (and trust me there's plenty of it! I put on 2 stone in a week this year)and the trips are often reasonably priced too (We paid £80 to swim with dolphins in Venezuela and got a good hour in the water and they danced with us individually, and dragged us across the water etc etc it was worth every penny!)

NCL are the best, (especially if you ave kids aged 2-3 as they are one of the few boats which will accept kids from 2 in the clubs. They give Mum a Pager and beep you if your child needs a nappy change!) If you have older kids (Aged 8+) I'd swear by Royal Caribbean (they even have an ice rink on board certain ships!)

As Ive already mentioned, to get the best deal, get a few brochures of the voats you like, pick a route, a date a ship, eveything, then wait until 8-10 weeks before departure and monitor it online. Eg, if you wanted to go to Caribbean on 3rd Dec for 1 week with Ocean Village from the brochure, wait until late October andgoogle 'Hot Cruise Deals Ocean Village' and go from there. Or, going into the travel agents and ask them to search for the best price, then if they come up with anything over £600-700 for a week (some exceptions apply here) tell them you can get it cheaper elsewhere. The chances are they'll try and match your "deal".

Rachie_B

ive always fancied the idea of a cruise but wasnt sure about taking the kids

now they are older 10 & 4, maybe we will consider it