Would we like a cruise???

@Superhansrantowindsorinteresting! We’ve done several on P&O, Princess and Cunard and overall find them very similar.

Pick your cruise line very carefully. Join the Facebook groups for different ones. There is such a massive difference in quality and experience. Have cruised many times with P&O but they have really gone downhill lately and we now tend to do Princess or Cunard.

Alaska is amazing!

Iceland and Alaska are on my to do list. I think when ds turns 18 it will be easier!

Not on E class unfortunately. On celebrity e class unless we’ve got a proper balcony (sunset veranda) we only sail in suites. Entry level or guarantee suite as I’m never that bothered as long as I have a proper balcony.

More info about who you go with and where you go please!

Oh and on our ship there was a quiet space called The Hideaway, people reading, knitting....and an actual Library...it was so peaceful. I absolutely loved it.

Like many naysayers, I thought I would never go on a cruise...then I cruised Iceland last year and it was life changing!!! I'm going to Alaska this summer!

It's crucial to pick the cruise line carefully: we were on Celebrity: Hugh end, older crowd, not loads of kids, very elegant.

And pick your location: I would never cruise the med or the Caribbean having seen the videos..

The cruises we have done there are generally plenty of ports where you can easily wander in and have an explore. We only tend to do one excursion each trip. Some days we will stay on board because DS loves the quietness to explore the ship.

I was very wary of cruising, fearing a floating Butlins or floating old folks home - but thankfully it’s nothing of the sort. I’ve been on two, just about to go on my third, and the fourth is already booked. The ship is simply a very nice floating hotel, the pool is at the top rather than the bottom and there’s a whole cross section of people.

But the best bit is seeing a different place every day, there are some fabulous itineraries and your accommodation floats along with you. We’ve done MSC and Royal Caribbean (both were really good), we set sail on P&O next week and our next cruise is with Marella.

Top tip - make sure you get a cabin with a balcony, After dinner, we sit on our balcony with a bottle of wine, I read my kindle and DH watches out for pirates! 😃

As an example, there's a 5 night cruise with Princess out of Civitavecchia (Rome) on 10th April, for three people in one cabin, coming in at £1800 with basic drinks package, or £2100 for the upgraded drinks package/speciality dining etc. Still don't know if it includes champagne and lobster though!

But if you sail out of Civitavecchia, you can fly into Rome a couple of days before, and explore the city before heading by train along to the port - very simple to do.

I’d stay stick with the all inclusives you enjoy and maybe review it when your DC gets older .

Yea by short I actually mean 2-4 nights!

A budget of 3K might still be pushing it in the school holidays for the higher end cruise lines, and it also limits the choice of cruises available to you. But if you just want a taster cruise on one of the midrange lines like Royal Caribbean, Princess or NCL, then you should be able to find something in your price range.

Check on a website such as Vivavoyage - you can search by destination, length of cruise, dates etc to see what's available. Bear in mind though that the prices may not include drinks, tips, excursions etc. Best to read each description carefully to see exactly what is and isn't included - don't just look at the base price.

Definitely don’t do a bank holiday 2-3 day cruise with P&O. We went on one, then stayed on for another slighter longer cruise. The difference in clientele and so how the cruise felt was remarkable! We’ve also been on a P&O cruise to the Norwegian fjords. That was a week long one and was lovely.
We’ve also done Royal Caribbean cruises round the Mediterranean - very very American but service was great and fantastic facilities for children. In-laws have done loads of Cunard and that’s very much for your older guest. Avoid MSC and the smaller travel agent led ones too.

You get what you pay for with cruises.

Anthem has my favourite pool set up too.

If you like a high end AI, you’ll be all good with a mid range cruise line!

Pay the extra for a room with a balcony. P&O are very “middle of the road” but have a very good range of destinations in Europe.

I would say Marella, MSC and definitely Costa are below their standard.

Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean slightly above.

Then you have your Cunard and your super high end stuff like Azamara, Seabourn etc. None of which I’d take a 6 year old on.

My personal favourite is Royal Caribbean. For the money, what you get on the ship is incredible and we find on the bigger ships, there’s much more variety of things to do in the evening. For example, Anthem of the Seas is my favourite ever ships- the pool are is split between an adult only solarium style, a normal outdoor pool and a kids splash area. It had a whole indoor gaming area with table tennis, laser tag, go karts etc- this was great in the evenings as usually very quite.

Evenings there was a theatre with your usual selection of musicals (including a full length production of We Will Rock You!), singers, circus acts etc. At the other end of the ship was a super high tech lounge that doubled up a place for quizzes/game show style entertainment but also had a phenomenal laser driven cabaret. In the middle of the ship was a pub that did pub quiz/kareoke/live solo singer type entertainment. Our favourite was the piano bar with just a single pianist taking requests night after night. There was also a night club and evening kids stuff.

Basically it was take your pic with things of varying different vibes in different areas of the ship, which really spread out the different “crowds”- the drinking crowd were usually in one area, the quiet adults in another, families elsewhere. They really catered to all tastes. Similar concept again with the restaurants. Everything from a casual grab and go pizza place, to a huuuge buffet, formal dining room etc!

It also sounds like the ports are important to you- pick one that has a high ratio of port days to sea days and you definitely won’t get bored.

One of my most interesting itineraries was a mix of Turkish and Greek ports, with only one day at sea.

It sounds like you want hot, but a good “first timers” cruise with lots of interesting things to see and do is Norway. It’s generally Day 1- Board in Southampton, Day 2, Sea Day, Days 3-6 in port and then one more sea day back in Southampton. As you’re in the fjords, the scenery is always amazing and the ports really vary- Stavanger is a popular town, Bergen is a full city but you usually also get a few that are a village deep into the fjords with amazing scenery and the chance to see glaciers/snow capped mountains.

I’d avoid Citivechhia (may have spelt that wrong!) for Rome, Venice (they hate cruise ships!) and anything that says Paris or Amsterdam as they are known for being absolutely miles away!

I've been on two cruises - P&O 7 nights to France Portugal and Gurnsey was good, although we had to miss Gurnsey because the sea was too rough for a tender to the port. Ventura was one of their bigger ships and I didn't feel sea sick or anything even though we sailed through the bay of biscay.
I then did a norwegian cruise just this summer gone with Hurtigruten, smaller ship and we had calm waters for most of it, but I was sea sick for one day. Definitely enjoyed it despite the last night the boat kinda broke down and had to limp back to a port, and couldn't reach the final destination.

If you are mostly interested in the ship experience then look at newer ships. Utopia of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) is amazing and Celebrity Apex is lovely.

I think the best thing about cruises is the cruising (as in when the ship is moving) and all the different sightseeing. Would you plan to stay on the ship when it’s docked? Some people do this however the pools are a lot smaller than an all inclusive resorts.
Cruises are really good for quizzes.
I do think you would like the cocktails and wine.

Perhaps a "river cruise" would suit better @Givenup2026

Some options are here, here and here.

Unsure if they'd fit your budget but may offer some inspiration 🙂

No more than £3k for all 3 (ideally we want a short one!) and we care about ship not the destination

Hmm, totally unrealistic budget in my opinion. Unless by short, you mean only 3 or 4 nights, you are very unlikely to get a cruise for three people on Celebrity or Disney visiting the Greek islands, presumably in the school holidays, for under £3K. And especially not if you want Grey Goose, champagne and lobster included! Then there's flights, excursions etc to be added on.