Only cruises - cruise deals for all

getmore4less

General alert.

HAL have some cruises with kids places for £1.
DYOR for total cost, it's not just the kids places that make it a deal.

tressls

Hi all!

I am here as someone on another thread seemed to think I could get a family cruise (myself, OH, 2 kids aged 4 and 7) in Sept 2013 (or Aug 2013 although I guess prices are a lot more then)... for cheaper than trying to fly abroad for an AI hol?

Never looked into cruising before- where do I start? Is it cheaper to go from a UK port so no flights? Where do ships sail to from the UK (looking for hot weather!). ?

Froggitt

1. What cruise line suits you.......eg formal = Cunard/P&O, relaxed=NCL/RCI/Carnival, cosmopolitan=MSC/Costa, chav=Thomson.
2. Where to go sailing from UK - broadly north (Iceland, fjords, Baltic, UK) or south (med). Med and Baltic will be usually 10-14 days as they are further to sail.
3. Cruises generally FB rather than AI
4. Out of school hols will be cheaper
5. Inside cabin will be cheaper

Go to cruise.co.uk and enter September, and click "from the UK" and see what comes up. Carnival had some stonking deals this summer, from Dover I think. Often cheaper to fly Ryanair or Sleazy to Barcelona or similar, and pick up a one weeker there.

poet123

tressls wrote: »

Hi all!

I am here as someone on another thread seemed to think I could get a family cruise (myself, OH, 2 kids aged 4 and 7) in Sept 2013 (or Aug 2013 although I guess prices are a lot more then)... for cheaper than trying to fly abroad for an AI hol?

Never looked into cruising before- where do I start? Is it cheaper to go from a UK port so no flights? Where do ships sail to from the UK (looking for hot weather!). ?

It depends on what you want, and to a degree whom you book with. We have just booked via a US TA and got a lot of offers that were not easily available to UK bookers. They also do price drops, and no fee cancellations up to final payment date.

That said, lines such as MSC (mainly Italians and Europeans onboard) are doing free drinks packages on some sailings and kids sail free up to age 17. So, there can be signifcant savings to uaing them if you have kids.

I would go online look at a cruise destination which takes yoru fancy and then get a lot of quotes for that specific cruise. Look at the costs of booking with the cruiseline direct as opposed to using Travel Agent, but then approach a TA as they often offer on board credits, free tips, free shore excursions etc. If you can go in September or late August it will be cheaper.

If you narrow it down to an area/cruise line/date come back and we can see if we can get the price down.

This link gives details of the all inc packages available on each cruise line. Some you will pay for, some you may get free as part of an offer if you are lucky.

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=1470

coupon_collector

Hey folks just booked the following:

Royal caribbean(UK site) Legend of The Seas 17 June from Marseille for £306, 7nights, guaranteed inside cabin.

Gatwick to Marseille with easyjet - £102.98 for 2 adults sharing one piece of hold luggage

Marseille to Stansted with ryanair - €116.98 (£100.09 ) for 2 adults sharing one piece of hold luggage

Total fly cruise price about £407.50 each

In true MSE style Transfers can be bought at the old airport terminal from €8.50 each way for a special bus/metro ticket (RMT). Alternatively a taxi is €50 plus.

Flights are just about do able to make this a deal. Ryanair fly in from stansted to Marseille far too late on 17 June. Therefore you will have to fly from somewhere like Gatwick with easyjet to get you there early enough.

On return flight ryanair have good times in to Stansted.

Royal Caribbean insides have been low as £288 for june sailings. These seem to be lower than T/A prices at the moment including vacationstogo but that can change.

Prices have been fluctuating wildly on royal caribbean's site the last few days so if you want a good deal don't think about it too long as the flights will go up.

HTH guys

getmore4less

coupon_collector wrote: »

Gatwick to Marseille with easyjet - £102.98 for 2 adults sharing one piece of hold luggage

Marseille to Stansted with ryanair - €116.98 (£100.09 ) for 2 adults sharing one piece of hold luggage

Total fly cruise price about £407.50 each

Thoe flight options make it very messy for most people.

FBaby

I've just come back from my first RCL and am totally hooked and can't wait to do it again! I didn't expect to like that much and actually, was a bit overwhelmed on the first day and thought it wasn't for me, but by the next morning, I was on another planet. That 7 day one from Marseille is absolutely perfect, especially as my parents live only 1/2 hour away so could fly a couple of days before and visit them. We are already going there this summer, but definitely one I will look for in 2014. Makes me feel already a bit better being back!!

getmore4less

NCL is discounting the Star Baltic runs.

Starting from £260 for 9 nights 3 June cruise only.

They are from Copenhagen so need a search for suitable flights.

jaydeemdm2013

Costa Cruises have some cracking £199 prices for 7 night med cruises on the new ships so may be off with them again. Was on MSC Cruises who are surprisingly good and Cunard who are surprisingly not as good as they should be.

jaydeemdm2013

MSC Cruises let kids travel free all year round on all ships. They just pay taxes and port charges of about £99. Been on MSC last month and the kids clubs are the best on offer out of all the cruise lines having been on Royal Caribbean, Costa, P&O, Cunard, Carnival to name but a few Costa though have some brilliant deals round the med. Use AVIOS for flights and they include free flights in the UK to Heathrow if like me its great from Leeds Bradford and costs just £30 return taxes plus your avios points.