Thomson Cruise

IvanOpinion

JJ, by 'departing anywhere in the UK' do you mean the cruise (i.e. a no fly option which generally means Southampton (from which many cruise lines sail) or do you mean 'flying' from any airport? What sort of interests do your folks have ... are they party people? are they adventurous? do they like bus trips? do they like lazing on beaches etc.

The onboard trips to many of the Med towns (especially the likes of Pisa, Rome etc. can be very expensive and are apparently just as easy to do by yourself. a couple of other points of contact I can recommend is www.crowsnestonline.net (the forum consists mainly of P&O cruisers who are very helpful) and you may also find more info at www.cruisecritic.com (it is more Americanised but the forum does have a section about ports)

Ivan

getmore4less

For cruise info and deals

www.holidaytruths.co.uk. go to the cruise pages

Don't forget teletext online for UK brands like thomsons, OV, island(pg 227,228,262)

For an idea of pricing on US ships in europe use US sites they are usualy cheaper(a lot)

www.vacationstogo.com has a good engine as a starter allyhough sometimes others do ahve cheaper prices or other deals like onboard credits. most need you to register for best prices due to cruiseline restrictions.

GlasgowGal

If you get the option pre-book your cabin. We were on the Spirit this year, did not pre-book, and ended up with a cabin near the engine. All the cabin fitments shook and for the first night I could not sleep at all. We did manage to get a change as someone missed their flight out to connect with the boat. I think mid-ship may be the best area....or others may be able to advise. Enjoy.

getmore4less

jonnyjackov wrote: »

Thank you Pinkfluffybabe, that info is very useful.

My mum and dad, and their two friends (All around the age of 60), have asked me (because they keep hearing about all the cheap holidays I get with the help of this site),to look for a cruise for them around the med, and I didn't know where to start as I know nothing about cruising The description you gave sounds ideal for them to be honest, do people around their age do this cruise?

Also any ideas where to look for any cheap deals, I'm pretty sure they could leave it till the last minute if they thought they could get a good deal.

Thanks for taking the time to help. John

If they are fully flexable on dates then just waiting for a deal is the way to go, ex uk(no flying tend to be a bit more expensive) but if they are willing to go slightly off season and fly then there are some stonking deals but does involve DIY flights with lowcost airlines usually.

The first thing to do is identify the cruiseline that would fit for the more mature Fredolsen may work, any of the mid stream majors, celebrity,Princess,P&O,RCI,NCL would work, then there are the UK budgets thomsons,Island,OV. They need to get the brochures and have alook through to see what they fancy.

For easy flight options look a Barcelona as a base plenty of flights and cruises.

At this time for next year you can get at the following cruise only, rough prices
EX-UK £900 14n in June
EX-BCN £500 12n in May
cheap flight to BCN are a round £50-£100pp return depending when booked

Loads of other options


For this year how about, 12n 12Oct from Rome round the greek islands for £600ish + flight/transfers.

For ex UK next year to the med best deal at the moment for a 2share is probably(for 4share P&O have the best deals)

NCL Jade 14n 20 may at around £850pp

If prepared to fly one way there are some great deals on repositioning cruises.

jonnyjackov

Lots of brilliant info, thank you very much.