First time cruise - help please!!

cclarke12

PreludeForTimeFeelers wrote: »

We've booked up for our first cruise next year, going with Royal Caribbean on their Eastern Caribbean cruise.

I'm a little worried that we might be the youngest (29 and 33) people on it!

You'll be fine. We have done two Royal Caribbean cruises, albeit in Europe and they had a really broad range of ages onboard.

getmore4less

Froggitt wrote: »

RCLL on the other hand is a great choice IMHO......and probably not that much more expensive. I *think* all their older ships (and by old, maybe ten years or so) are getting a makeover.....the first has come back with Ipads in every cabin. Allure and Oasis are the biggest ships on the sea with some fantastic features eg rockwall, zipline, flowrider etc etc etc.

Cruisers are getting younger and younger, and certain lines like RCCL are catering better to a younger crowd. Oldies tend to stick more to the likes of Cunard, Fred Olsen, P&O.

RCCL have a great range of bars, discos, daily activities, sports, excursions every day. You may want to do some things together eg eating, dancing, excursions, and some apart eg him playing in a poker tourney on a sea day, her going to the gym.

Our last cruise, there was an American honeymoon couple that I met at the poker table.....the brits and yanks converged at one end, and the frogs and spics at the other. Few days later we spotted them on the Newlywed Game quiz thing on the shipTV channel....said to them I couldnt believe theyd signed up for that. Bumped into them later on at the Karaoke competition (our daughter entered it)....then later on again at Poker.....but its not really age, its how old you feel and act.

RCCL I dont think youll need to bother with Tuxs etc or formal nights......there are so many different venues that youll be able to skip into if they do have a formal night (I cant remember what their policy is).

I think you mean Royal Caribbean International(RCI) which is the royal caribbean brand.

RCCL, includes RCI, Celebrity and Azamara,pullmarter and CDF Croisieres de France.

Froggitt

COmpare these

After getting a nice dry-dock overhaul, Royal Caribbean’s Splendour of the Seas will feature an Apple iPad in every cabin starting in February of 2012. Passengers will be allowed to carry the iPads around the ship with them. Author Gene Sloan of USA Today said, “Royal Caribbean says the iPads will be programmed to let passengers access the ship’s daily listing of events and activities and to see a personal daily itinerary including shore excursions. The onboard system will also offer access to the Internet, movies, room service and restaurant menus.”
The Splendour of the Seas is a 1,804 passenger cruise ship that will sail from Sao Paulo, Brazil in the spring and from Bari and Venice, Italy in the summer and fall. The ship features a rock climbing wall, a 12 hole mini-golf course, and a 7 story atrium.
In addition to the iPads, cabins will also now feature flat screen televisions, new bathrooms, remodeled interiors, new dining options, and 124 additional balconies. The entire ship will also have WIFI available so guests will be able to connect to their tablets anywhere on the ship.
Royal Caribbean plans to add iPads to at last 5 of it’s 22 hours in the next 2 years went the ships are scheduled to be in dry-docks. The ships are Rhapsody of the Seas, Legend of the Seas, Vision of the Seas, Enchantment of the Seas, and the Granduer of the Seas.

and

So, broken air conditioning, sewage smells and flooded cabins. Surely Thomson were planning to do something about it - and soon? We spoke to one of the most senior members of staff on board, the Cruise Director. We asked him about the complaints and the state of the ship. He told us:
"Nothing's been refurbished. Thomson took this ship on the 12th of April, they sailed it for the first time on the 22nd April and in 10 days we changed the branding, we changed such and such. We installed quite a lot of different sound equipment for example. And we set sail." When we asked him whether a refurbishment was due we were told "No".

So there we have it. Not only is the Thomson Dream 24 years old, according to the Cruise Director, it's not going to be refurbished any time soon, which is something other potential passengers might want to remember when they next see the Thomson Dream advertised.

Froggitt

getmore4less wrote: »

I think you mean Royal Caribbean International(RCI) which is the royal caribbean brand.

RCCL, includes RCI, Celebrity and Azamara,pullmarter and CDF Croisieres de France.

Apologies you are correct

suzymonkey

We have been on Thomson cruises 3 times.Just got back from Red Sea Magic on the Thomson Celebration.Went on the Dream last July.The ships are great.Staff are fantastic and the food is lovely.Sure you'll have a great time.

LondonDiva

ellay864 wrote: »

We've booked now We're on Celebrity Equinox sailing 1 June for 10 nights to the eastern Med. We had to go through Thomas Cook as we've got about £1200 of TC vouchers as wedding gifts, and we also were able to get deals on Celebrity through their holiday club. I have one nice evening dress that set me back the grand sum of £8.50 in a CR UK shop - have already started browsing the chairty shops for this years Christmas cast-offs!

Join cruise critic and find, then join, the thread in the Celebrity roll call for your cruise. >>> http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1394027 For some degree of privacy, the roll call boards are the only ones you won't be able to access it until you join.

You get to know some of those you'll be sailing with in advance through chat and also get the chance to get additional bods if you need to make up numbers for an independent trip.

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=97

NB:

Trips will be significantly cheaper if you plan it yourself than booking through the cruise line. It's worth having a look at the excursions the cruiseline has for a destination and then going on the Cruise critic ports of call board, which has details of all the popular tours (either through ships or at the destination) and also reviews of independent tour companies. I've never booked through the crusieline and tend to save between 20-60% as well as doing things not on the cruiseline's list. http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=75&f=603

Take far less clothes than you think you'll need - I'd suggest half of what you're looking at and then halving it again. I second the suggetion of a dress, black trousers and interchangable tops and ONE (only ONE) pair of sandals or similar for dinner. Gold member on NCL and I still managed to bring back unworn clothes and shoes.

Have to warn you though - cruising is so adictive:o

Polly05

I dont like getting dressed up either, would rather just be comfortable. I've been on an NCL cruise and a Thomsons cruise. NCL are much better, nicer, bigger ship, more choice of food etc. But thomsons is cheaper..?
I would certainly recommend NCL...

Froggitt

So would I - weve been on the Sun, the Jewel and last year the Jade. The informality suits us.