Cruises First time. Any advice?

NoodleDoodleMan

This is exactly the point. They are quite happy to lie to you about visas, presumably thinking that people are apprehensive about getting an independent one at considerable cost.

After I had read advice on Cruise Critic it wasn't the cost of a DIY visa per se that was the main concern (although they were costly compared to most other visas), more the challenging nature of the administrative procedures to obtain one.

The other issue was timing - if you didn't have a visa, or a pre-booked organised tour with an external tour agency then it was too late after having boarded, resulting in a take it or leave option from the ship's excursion desk.

VALM

We love cruising and are going on our fourth in October. We have stuck with Royal Caribbean as we love the ships and are now part of their loyalty programme so we get a few little perks each time. I'll probably end up posting a few times to quote other forumites and add my two penneth worth.

zagfles wrote: »

Think about the type of cruise you want - formal where you have to dress up for dinner every night or more relaxed where you can leave your dicky bow and suits/cocktail dresses at home.

Watch out for cruises that look AI but where you have to pay for drinks (which can be expensive, and they even search your bags to make sure you're not bringing any aboard!) and sometimes they want you to pay up front for tips (seriously!).

Check excursion prices, these can be horrific, but look into how feasible it is to do your own thing in port.

Definitely check whether the cruise will be more family oriented if it is just you and your husband cruising as the ships can be full of kids if its a school holiday.

Our first two cruises were on the Med and we found that we did not want to buy the drinks package as we did not want to drink the quantity it felt you had to to get the value. However our last cruise was in the Caribbean and the drinks package was worth it then as the cost of the drinks was very high. Cruise critic is definitely a good place to check this out.

A lot of the Med ports are doable from the port via the sightseeing buses or on foot. Definitely do your homework on this one.

VALM

Neil49 wrote: »

More information on where you would like to sail from and too would be appreciated and whether a fly cruise would be considered. Sailing from the UK adds on sailing days if you are heading south to the sun but not if you want to head north. If you want the sun then a fly cruise can give you extra sunny days rather than sailing through the Bay of Biscay.

We have said that the next time we do a Med cruise we will fly somewhere first as those first few days are no fun really. Found the Bay of Biscay to be choppy on both occasions. If you think this will be a problem it's worth seeing your GP for him to prescribe a patch you wear behind your ear which really helped me with motion sickness.

VALM

PompeyPete wrote: »

Marella also do a lot of one week cruise then one week stay, and visa versa.

Last year we stayed in Orlando for a week and then cruised the Caribbean for a week. Doing same trip this year but different itinerary. We really enjoyed it as it gave us a fun first week (we love Orlando) followed by a very relaxing second week. Only problem was had was that it was still hurricane season and we had to reroute for part of the itinerary meaning we were at sea longer than anticipated. Am glad in some respects as it made me realise I would not enjoy a transatlantic crossing.

cyantist

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

The captain will wait for guests on a delayed return which is part of the ship's official excursions - not sure if that holds true for external independent tour companies.

On our first cruise a couple were late back from an excursion with an external company, and even though they could have boarded as we hadn't actually left port yet, the captain wouldn't let them on.

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

My understanding was that the cost of the visa was included in the overall cost - regardless if you choose the ship's excursions, or go with one of the independent outfits ?

Unless the Russian state issues group visas free ?

I suppose that's academic really, because trying a DIY visit to St.Petersburg is in practice very difficult due to the administrative difficulties of arranging a visa by yourself.

BTW - I would endorse joining Cruise Critic - it's a great source of information etc.

We DIYed St Petersburg 2 years ago. It was really easy to sort out the visa (but I think this is entirely because we live in London).

If you are a cruise passenger going to St Petersburg it's not that visas are included, there is no visa required at all (as long as you're staying less than 72 hours and only go ashore with either a state endorsed excursion company or on the ship excursions).

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

We've had a mixture of cabin types - we found we didn't spend much time in the room so have often wondered whether a balcony is worth the extra expense - though sometimes being in an inside cabin does make you wonder if you're in a cupboard lol.

I think it depends where you are going as to whether you need a balcony. Our first cruise we had a tiny inside room but there would have been nothing to see from a balcony most of the time anyway. The second time we had a suite with huge balcony and spent a lot of time there and saw almost as much from our balcony as we did when ashore!

travellerboy

Like most thing in life you get what you pay for !

There are so many cruise lines, I can assure you they are not all the same. P&O rank one of the lowest, maybe above TUi but can't compare with Celebrity, Holland America, Princess or Royal Caribbean.

Check out the reviews, make a judgement based of an average cross section. If you can and not too concerned on choice of cabin the best advise is wait, wait, wait - prices always drop the closer to sail date. Remember many of the cruise ship are dealing with thousands of passengers so the food in the Main dining rooms are general low quality, not the best unless you are prepared to pay a little extra for the fee paying restaurants onboard.

NoodleDoodleMan

Remember many of the cruise ship are dealing with thousands of passengers so the food in the Main dining rooms are general low quality, not the best unless you are prepared to pay a little extra for the fee paying restaurants onboard.

Can't agree with that.

We've never experienced low quality food on any of the 3 different cruise lines we sailed with.

gettingtheresometime

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

Can't agree with that.

We've never experienced low quality food on any of the 3 different cruise lines we sailed with.

But can I agree with you?

PompeyPete

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

Can't agree with that.

We've never experienced low quality food on any of the 3 different cruise lines we sailed with.

Nor us, albeit we've only been with Thomson [Marella]. Looking forward to our 5th trip with them, this time on EXPLORER at the end of October.

BarryBlue

PompeyPete wrote: »

Small ships are best.....avoid all the big ship chaos and confusion.

Tour companies don't dictate who can disembark first, when and from which gangway. From what I've seen long queues are normal, and if it's necessary to use a tender then you might as well just stay onboard and enjoy the bar and swimming pool.

The small ship/big ship debate is a personal thing. We prefer bigger ships with more and better facilities. The small ships also tend to be older and rather dated in our experience. Their advantage is that they can get into smaller ports.

You are right that tour companies don't decide who disembarks first, but I think you missed my point. When we have done St Petersburg they tell you to disembark as soon as formalities are complete. This is invariably before the ship's tours which are mustering on the ship. Therefore you miss the queues at immigration. It works perfectly.

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

The other issue was timing - if you didn't have a visa, or a pre-booked organised tour with an external tour agency then it was too late after having boarded, resulting in a take it or leave option from the ship's excursion desk.

That is true, you need to do your homework before any cruise, but especially for St Petersburg. I don't know if it is possible to book online from the ship, but our tours were booked weeks in advance.

travellerboy wrote: »

Like most thing in life you get what you pay for !

There are so many cruise lines, I can assure you they are not all the same. P&O rank one of the lowest, maybe above TUi but can't compare with Celebrity, Holland America, Princess or Royal Caribbean.

Check out the reviews, make a judgement based of an average cross section. If you can and not too concerned on choice of cabin the best advise is wait, wait, wait - prices always drop the closer to sail date. Remember many of the cruise ship are dealing with thousands of passengers so the food in the Main dining rooms are general low quality, not the best unless you are prepared to pay a little extra for the fee paying restaurants onboard.

We rather like P&O, especially as it is not full of Americans, and they offer good value if you want to cruise several times a year. I agree that Princess are higher quality, but more expensive. However, we did our first Celebrity cruise in January and they were disappointing. The ship was tatty and neglected, and the service poor and inconsistent. We won't be using them again. We don't think Royal Caribbean are for us. As you say, they are certainly not all the same!

Food in main dining rooms varies from ship to ship even within the same cruise line. We have noticed P&O show great improvement of late, whereas Celebrity was quite poor. That may be down to them catering mainly for the Americans, but many British passengers thought as we did. I have never seen so many meals being sent back on any ship.

Pricing is also a conundrum. We do generally monitor prices and book late. But in a few recent cases the best price has been a year or so in advance, which has really surprised us. That is especially true for 'off-season' cruises such as pre-Christmas. Lots of bargains in November/December.