Cruise for First Timers

rosewhite

I think a med cruise is a great way to explore and was definitely my holiday of choice before I had children. I used Thomson and they were obviously fine although I must admit to preferring the casual buffet dining experience rather than waiter service.

One tip I would give is to do some research beforehand on what excursions are available from the boat and which you can do independently. Although life on board is very reasonable with drinks at uk prices or cheaper they do certainly make their money on excursions.

niceday999

def... check out the cruise forums...cruise critic etc .... alot of the cruise destinations you can do on your own.....
totally loved The med ones...rome florence pisa monte carlo and rome.....brilliant.....that was years ago but def stands out....

ailuro2

Norwegian Cruise Lines do freestyle dining, which means you don't have a set dining time and can sit wherever you like.

you do need to wear long trousers in the main dining rooms at night if you're a bloke, smart shorts are allowed for kids 12 and under.

However, these rules are apparently loosely enforced.

Read through what's included in the price before you book.

Some can add on drinks packages, others, like NCL don't offer this option - so it depends on how much you want to drink, amongst other things.

Balconies come highly recommended too for people who want to sit and watch the scenery from their room, whereas party folks are told to take an inside cabin as they don't mind so much and can sleep late without any sunshine disturbing them.

We're going on our first cruise this summer, didn't realise how popular they are, it's a pressie for my 40th birthday, dh is 40 too, DD will be 11. So not quite half a mile an hour yet. Half a mile wide after all the food on boasrd maybe...:rotfl:

cclarke12

Go for it – you’ll have a fab time. If you want casual I would recommend Ocean Village as they have casual buffet dining but also a couple of other restaurants with a small supplement of you want a waiter-served meal and the chance to dress up a bit more. They also don’t charge tips on top of your cruise fare and the on board currency is £ and the drinks are very reasonably priced. The beauty of OV is that they are fly cruises so you start sailing from somewhere sunnier and they are very port intensive, compared with sailing from the UK where you might have a couple of days poor weather and more sea days. Ocean Village is a great choice for a first cruise but this is their last year of operation. Ocean Village will be almost 100% British onboard.

I haven’t used Thomson’s but I understand they may be a bit more laid back too. Just avoid the Island Escape ship as the reviews have been horrific in the last few months (and people have pictures to back up the stories of overflowing toilets etc!).

We did a short cruise with NCL. Again they are laid back but I wouldn’t rush back (just personal opinion). They say they are freestyle but you need to pay a supplement for nearly all the restaurants and we found it hard to find a table in the main dining room even though you were supposed to be able to turn up when you want. The balcony cabin was very small compared with other ships (but the bed was really comfortable and the bathroom the nicest we have had on a ship). Drinks were more expensive because in $ and a 15% tip added on to all bar bills. Also they make a lot of announcement to come to bingo and art auctions etc. so it gets annoying after a while. Tips are automatically charged to your account each day.

We enjoyed Royal Caribbean sailing out of Barcelona. This was a large ship and the pros of all the facilities on board outweighed the slightly pricey drinks etc. and the daily tips added to your onboard account. The shows were excellent, particularly the ice-skating. The buffer restaurant was pretty good and the main restaurant (whilst not gourmet was pretty good and always plenty of choice). The cabins were a good size on Royal Caribbean and the balcony cabin we had was at least 40% bigger than NCL. There are a couple of formal nights on Royal Caribbean but if you really don’t want to join in then you can eat in the buffet restaurant and dress informally. We really liked Royal Caribbean. It was a real mix of ages and nationalities.

A seven day cruise from somewhere like Crete, Palma, Malaga or Barcelona is a really good way of trying out a cruise for the first time. Remember that if you are sailing from somewhere like Spain it will usually be cheaper to buy your own flights and just book the cruise buy itself. For Palma and Barcelona the cruise terminal is only about 30 Euro in a taxi from the airport, and I think Malaga is similar.

We have booked with Cruise Kings this year. They seem very helpful and will match prices I have had from calling other agents.

As someone else said research your ports in advance as it is always a lot cheaper to do your own excursion, e.g. for Rome most of them charge about £100 per person for the trip but you can actually get the train yourself for about 10 Euro return.

getmore4less

Whats the budget pp not including drinks and shoreside spends.

Do you want to fly(a must for 7n) or cruise from a UK port.

Any particular area of the med(western, eastern) or a must see city.

Are you prepared to DIY a trip or want a package.
Some cruises are much cheaper booked through the US.

Are you flexable on dates?

izzitme

getmore4less wrote: »

Whats the budget pp not including drinks and shoreside spends.

Do you want to fly(a must for 7n) or cruise from a UK port.

Any particular area of the med(western, eastern) or a must see city.

Are you prepared to DIY a trip or want a package.
Some cruises are much cheaper booked through the US.

Are you flexable on dates?

Not sure of budget yet, prob around £1100 pp.
Fly cruise looks best option.
Western Med but no particular cities to see. Open to recommendations.
Package as it will be our first time.
Dates of travel are last week September or thereabouts for 7 or 8 days.

Thanks.

cclarke12

You should definitely consider a cruise only and buy your own flights (unless with Ocean Village or Thomson which use charter flights). The likes of Royal Caribbean will charge you upwards of £250 for a flight to Spain as part of a package (when you could pick them up yourself for less than £100 in September). Also they don’t always go from local airports, e.g. Luton and Stansted and they are well known for sending people on the cheapest route which can mean getting to Spain via Amsterdam etc. However, if you are doing your own package fly in a day early in case of any delays. Barcelona is a great place to have a couple of days before going on a cruise (Royal Caribbean and Celebrity sail from there), or even Venice (Royal Caribbean and NCL are sailing from there).

In September 2008 we sailed from Barcelona (3 of us in a balcony cabin) with Royal Caribbean and it cost us about £1700 in total for the cruise, flights, a couple of nights in a hotel and the taxis to and from the port/airport

Give a few agents a call, or try the Thomas Cook or Cruise.co.uk websites as they are really good for searching which ships sail from where and when.

getmore4less

Some agents will package up with easyjet flights

To get an idea of whats on offer try a few on-line agents and once you narrow down you can do a price hunt or if you can take a risk and are flexable on ship wait for a last minute deal.

There was a deal in Nov on NCL that got a suite for 7n at £600pp for the cruise

www.cruise1st.co.uk
www.cruise365.com
www.cruise.co.uk
www.cruisekings.co.uk

and loads of others to look at.

sign up for the eamil alerts this is a great way to get notified of deals.

£1100pp will be fine for a weeks should get a decent cabin for that and still have money left over for drinks and trips.

looking at the cruises that might work between Sept 20 - Sept 30.

26 Sept NCL Jade 7N Barcelona or Palma(25th)
25 Sept RCI Adventure 7N Malaga
25 Sept NCL Gem 7n Venice(eastern)
There are other RCI cruises.

Here is an example that cruise365 have

8 Night Mediterranean Treasures Fly Cruise, Norwegian Jade

24th sept
Fly UK to Palma, Majorca and stay 1 night in a central Palma hotel. The following day join Norwegian Jade at the Port of Palma, cruise visits:
Palma, Majorca
Barcelona, Spain
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy
Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy
Naples, Italy
Palma, Majorca
Disembark Norwegian Jade at The Port of Palma and fly back to the UK

From £599 will need to add about £100 for tips and speciality meals(optional but worth it), balcony would be around £850

or DIY US price start at £440 same cruise from BCN. so £150pp for flight hotel and transfers.