Off on my first cruise next month. Anyone else been on one?

[Publius Ovidius]

Not done it before, but thinking about doing one next year. Any recommendations for first-timers, probably for a week (with some shore time before and after) ? Would want decent weather throughout (happy to fly to a start-point say Miami for example), decent (outside & large-ish) cabin, not overly formal ship, 2-3 interesting shore visits.

Well, to start with I would ask yourself who do you think to cruise with. If it is purely Brits, then PandO is the one for you and on some princess ships. If you want more cosmopolitan cruisers, try celebrity, Royal carribean or holland america. If you want a cheap as chips type experience, but still good, NCL is a very good choice.

To give you some idea, we are flying from Heathrow to Madrid then Miami on Friday before Easter ...our own booked flights, cruise companies flights are ridiculously expensive...arrive at Miami and transfer to hotel for one night in Fort Lauderdale ...transfer to ship...7 nights Caribbean, HAL Neiu Amesterdam...balcony, drinks package, couple of meals in speciality restaurant, transfer off ship back to FL...two nights in decent hotel...transfers back to Miami hotel...direct flight to Heathrow. All in all 11 nights...around £3k all in. ...this is in school holidays..cheaper outside those dates.

Celebrity is a tad more expensive, but if you want to push the boat out so to speak, fly to San Juan and do14 night back to back around the western carribean on the summit or one of them...only a couple of days at sea as you are right there when you land...it may cost you around £4 to £5k. But you see 12 islands and is quite brilliant.

I'll have a look and see what is around ...let me know what time you want to go and what you are looking for.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Surf's Up]

Seriously considering a Northern Lights cruise going up the coast of Norway organised by a company like Hurtigruten with scientific/educational talks included but only on a smaller boat. The idea of being on some massive 12 storey gin palace with 3000 other punters fills me with horror.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Well, to start with I would ask yourself who do you think to cruise with. If it is purely Brits, then PandO is the one for you and on some princess ships. If you want more cosmopolitan cruisers, try celebrity, Royal carribean or holland america. If you want a cheap as chips type experience, but still good, NCL is a very good choice.

To give you some idea, we are flying from Heathrow to Madrid then Miami on Friday before Easter ...our own booked flights, cruise companies flights are ridiculously expensive...arrive at Miami and transfer to hotel for one night in Fort Lauderdale ...transfer to ship...7 nights Caribbean, HAL Neiu Amesterdam...balcony, drinks package, couple of meals in speciality restaurant, transfer off ship back to FL...two nights in decent hotel...transfers back to Miami hotel...direct flight to Heathrow. All in all 11 nights...around £3k all in. ...this is in school holidays..cheaper outside those dates.

Celebrity is a tad more expensive, but if you want to push the boat out so to speak, fly to San Juan and do14 night back to back around the western carribean on the summit or one of them...only a couple of days at sea as you are right there when you land...it may cost you around £4 to £5k. But you see 12 islands and is quite brilliant.

I'll have a look and see what is around ...let me know what time you want to go and what you are looking for.

Cheers

Dave

I have to say I love seeing people so enthusiastic about something. Out of interest, and being damn nosey, what will you do with your business start up?

 

[mrhairy]

Yes it is now not true that all cruisers are old. However, the average age goes up by the length of the cruise. So for a very long cruise such as a world one over 100 days then the cruise line would expect to lose up to 10 passengers from natural causes due to their age. The mortuary is generally not shown on the deck plans. Further, over 20 people go overboard each year either through fooling around, foul play or suicide. Last night a passenger from a P&O ship went overboard in the Channel, now presumed dead.
Yes, I love cruising but I did write a novel Wife Overboard which begins in Brighton and does feature many real life incidents and deaths which gives another viewpoint on the biggest growing holiday sector that is the cruise industry. Anybody interested it is on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. However, it is only meant to be a light holiday read.

 

[Jim Van Winkle]

I'm on for just over 6 months, so that's not too bad. Started in Alaska and Canada, then did a few weeks in LA and San Francisco (3 over nights there which was great) and now heading towards the Panama Canal through to the Caribbean.

Sounds fabulous. Have a good contract.

 

[Jim Van Winkle]

Yes it is now not true that all cruisers are old. However, the average age goes up by the length of the cruise. So for a very long cruise such as a world one over 100 days then the cruise line would expect to lose up to 10 passengers from natural causes due to their age. The mortuary is generally not shown on the deck plans. Further, over 20 people go overboard each year either through fooling around, foul play or suicide. Last night a passenger from a P&O ship went overboard in the Channel, now presumed dead.
Yes, I love cruising but I did write a novel Wife Overboard which begins in Brighton and does feature many real life incidents and deaths which gives another viewpoint on the biggest growing holiday sector that is the cruise industry. Anybody interested it is on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. However, it is only meant to be a light holiday read.

Way to lighten the mood. Do you do kids parties?

 

[mrhairy]

Way to lighten the mood. Do you do kids parties?

I actually love cruising and do several a year. They are great value . However, there is a dark side to cruising that the big cruise lines chose to ignore. Sorry to upset the mood but if 20 people a year disappeared from Disney World it would make headlines.

 

[dazzer6666]

Well, to start with I would ask yourself who do you think to cruise with. If it is purely Brits, then PandO is the one for you and on some princess ships. If you want more cosmopolitan cruisers, try celebrity, Royal carribean or holland america. If you want a cheap as chips type experience, but still good, NCL is a very good choice.

To give you some idea, we are flying from Heathrow to Madrid then Miami on Friday before Easter ...our own booked flights, cruise companies flights are ridiculously expensive...arrive at Miami and transfer to hotel for one night in Fort Lauderdale ...transfer to ship...7 nights Caribbean, HAL Neiu Amesterdam...balcony, drinks package, couple of meals in speciality restaurant, transfer off ship back to FL...two nights in decent hotel...transfers back to Miami hotel...direct flight to Heathrow. All in all 11 nights...around £3k all in. ...this is in school holidays..cheaper outside those dates.

Celebrity is a tad more expensive, but if you want to push the boat out so to speak, fly to San Juan and do14 night back to back around the western carribean on the summit or one of them...only a couple of days at sea as you are right there when you land...it may cost you around £4 to £5k. But you see 12 islands and is quite brilliant.

I'll have a look and see what is around ...let me know what time you want to go and what you are looking for.

Cheers

Dave

Thanks - hugely helpful. Possibly looking at June.......great to be at the point where the kids aren't actually kids so not tied to school holidays any more [emoji3]

 

[Publius Ovidius]

I have to say I love seeing people so enthusiastic about something. Out of interest, and being damn nosey, what will you do with your business start up?

Well it's just something Karen and I were thinking about. We have advised many people on cruises we thought they may enjoy and up to now not had any " that was duff information"!

There are lots of people who post on forums much like this, cruisecritic, cruise.co.uk , cruise mates etc . and they can advise, although certainly on cruise, if you criticise P&O for example you are torn to shreds by the real die hard, even if you are only reflecting on what you have experienced.

One of the things we do as regularly as we can is " ship visits". That is where the cruise line will take people around a ship in port and wine and dine them. All the main lines do them...we had a 7 course meal with wine, cocktails and specialised coffees on the MSC Opera in Southampton and it only cost £20! We were doing this on a particular ship and the person showing everyone round was clueless, so we took 10 people each...after agreement..and showed the areas of the ship that they would most use...bars, cafes, main dining room and theatre and of course the outside decks. We then showed people lots of cabins that were affordable as the cruise lines like to show you the owners suites, which are about £10k a week! There will only be a minority of people who can afford that...and they would normally go to regent or silver seas anyway.

So to answer your question, I think we can bring our experience to bear when people want to chose something that they actually want as opposed to what the brochure would try to sell them. I am sure we wouldn't make money out of it, or want to really, but if we can help someone have a great time , then we are happy to do so. Certainly showing people around ships is something we enjoy and as we are not company employees we can give impartial advice, like we do during the meal we all attend.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Thanks - hugely helpful. Possibly looking at June.......great to be at the point where the kids aren't actually kids so not tied to school holidays any more [emoji3]

I would really think twice about cruising the Caribbean in June. It is really hot and sticky weather and if anyone suffers from insects, then if the ship is in port during an evening, you could end up been eaten! It is regarded as out of season! The season tends to be after hurricane time, which is November to March..possibly hanging over to April.

There are ships at that time of the year but not that many as a lot of them head to cooler climates in Europe.

If you find something you like, please let me know and we will have a look and pass on any help we can. Certainly do not pay the brochure price...be necessary and hawk it around..you will get on board credit and drinks packages thrown in.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Yes it is now not true that all cruisers are old. However, the average age goes up by the length of the cruise. So for a very long cruise such as a world one over 100 days then the cruise line would expect to lose up to 10 passengers from natural causes due to their age. The mortuary is generally not shown on the deck plans. Further, over 20 people go overboard each year either through fooling around, foul play or suicide. Last night a passenger from a P&O ship went overboard in the Channel, now presumed dead.
Yes, I love cruising but I did write a novel Wife Overboard which begins in Brighton and does feature many real life incidents and deaths which gives another viewpoint on the biggest growing holiday sector that is the cruise industry. Anybody interested it is on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. However, it is only meant to be a light holiday read.

I have a friend whose partner works for a line who specialised in old age cruisers and she said that it is getting to the stage where families all go with aging nanny or grandad as a last celebration with them! Seemly this criuse line actually has started vetting family groups, but how you enforce it must be nigh on impossible. On one Baltic cruise, 4 went overboard!

 

[gregbrighton]

That is a sobering thought. It certainly beats crowding round a sterile hospital bed....

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Well it's just something Karen and I were thinking about. We have advised many people on cruises we thought they may enjoy and up to now not had any " that was duff information"!

There are lots of people who post on forums much like this, cruisecritic, cruise.co.uk , cruise mates etc . and they can advise, although certainly on cruise, if you criticise P&O for example you are torn to shreds by the real die hard, even if you are only reflecting on what you have experienced.

One of the things we do as regularly as we can is " ship visits". That is where the cruise line will take people around a ship in port and wine and dine them. All the main lines do them...we had a 7 course meal with wine, cocktails and specialised coffees on the MSC Opera in Southampton and it only cost £20! We were doing this on a particular ship and the person showing everyone round was clueless, so we took 10 people each...after agreement..and showed the areas of the ship that they would most use...bars, cafes, main dining room and theatre and of course the outside decks. We then showed people lots of cabins that were affordable as the cruise lines like to show you the owners suites, which are about £10k a week! There will only be a minority of people who can afford that...and they would normally go to regent or silver seas anyway.

So to answer your question, I think we can bring our experience to bear when people want to chose something that they actually want as opposed to what the brochure would try to sell them. I am sure we wouldn't make money out of it, or want to really, but if we can help someone have a great time , then we are happy to do so. Certainly showing people around ships is something we enjoy and as we are not company employees we can give impartial advice, like we do during the meal we all attend.

Interesting stuff. Good luck with venture.

 

[BensGrandad]

My nephew worked on cruise liners and he reckons the best value is to fly to Miami, having a cruise in mind from the internet, but not booked and then book and go from Ft Lauderdale. He suggests looking at vacationsgo.com for different cruises at different prices and destinations

 

[Colossal Squid]

Although I probably wouldn't do one today, as I prefer to build my own holidays and do my own thing, outlaying as little as possible, I did actually enjoy a cruise round the Aegean many moons ago. The trip came about because the cruise company had balls'd up somehow and the on board casino had no pound coins for the fruit machines so they were desperately looking for somebody to fly out from blighty with a fresh supply. Enter yours truly.

I got some very odd looks going through customs with a rucksack full of pound coins, and it was bloody heavy to boot, but well worth the free week's holiday I got out of it. I didn't even have to pay for the flights as they managed to squeeze me into the cockpit of an A320 bound for Athens (this was pre the 2001 trade centre attacks whereafter cockpits became out of bounds to the general public).

There was a generally mixed age range, including several school parties.

The boat itself wasn't very big but it was perfectly pleasant and I never found it too busy, although I've no idea whether it was at capacity.

The real beauty of the trip however was just how much stuff I got to pack in. From starting in Athens we sailed to Rhodes and saw the Acropolis, then went on to Cyprus where we docked in Limassol and enjoyed the old town and the medieval castle. Next stop was the Syrian port of Tartus (which I doubt would make it on the itinerary of any current Med cruises) from where we took a day trip to see the fascinating preserved crusader castle of Krak de Chevaliers, and then the next stop was the Israeli port of Ashdod which was our landing point for a trip to bathe in the Dead Sea. Then we sailed into Port Said and got a coach down to Cairo for some time with the Sphinx and the Pyramids before one day at sea and then arrival in our final port of call, Kusadasi, which came with a trip to the stunning ancient Greek city of Ephesus (in Turkey).

Admittedly there was limited scope to do your own thing but at the same time I really didn't want to miss out on experiencing any of these major global landmarks, and they're all things I've got in my bag as ticked off now.

You'd need to do your research and make sure you picked the type of cruise that's right for you obviously, but if you wanna experience some of the World's wonders in a nice convenient round trip a multi port cruise could be just the ticket.

 

[Bozza]

Yes, I love cruising but I did write a novel Wife Overboard which begins in Brighton and does feature many real life incidents and deaths which gives another viewpoint on the biggest growing holiday sector that is the cruise industry. Anybody interested it is on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. However, it is only meant to be a light holiday read.

In one of those bizarre coincidences (or maybe not), your book turned up on an email I received from Amazon yesterday.

It's here, should any NSCers want to take a read: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00V5M06VA/ref=pe_1994851_84210021_em_1p_0_ti

 

[gregbrighton]

Evening Standard

[h=1]The moment a fight breaks out in the queue for burgers on a cruise ship[/h]
A brawl broke out between a group of women on board a cruise ship in what is believed to be a row over a burger.
The moment two women launched themselves at another was captured on camera by a fellow passenger on a Carnival cruise ship, which was on a journey around the Caribbean.
It is thought a woman may have pushed into the queue for the Guy’s Burger outlet and others did not take kindly to having to wait longer for their meal.
Shocked onlookers made themselves scarce as punches were thrown and others rush to break up the fight.
A man is seen running towards the brawl before he picks up a woman in a blue dress and carries her away from the scene.



Hope I don't encounter anything like this.

 

[nick007]

Not been on one, But I’ve booked for the Islands of New England cruise voyage on the Grande Caribe next year and really excited to have my first small ship cruising experience. I’ve never been for a small ship cruise and this is going to be my first voyage. Good luck on your cruise and hope you are having a great time.

 

[gregbrighton]

Not been on one, But I’ve booked for the Islands of New England cruise voyage on the Grande Caribe next year and really excited to have my first small ship cruising experience. I’ve never been for a small ship cruise and this is going to be my first voyage. Good luck on your cruise and hope you are having a great time.

Sounds fun.

My cruise was great. i want to go on another one.

 

[Hillian1]

Not been on one, But I’ve booked for the Islands of New England cruise voyage on the Grande Caribe next year and really excited to have my first small ship cruising experience. I’ve never been for a small ship cruise and this is going to be my first voyage. Good luck on your cruise and hope you are having a great time.