Please talk me through how a family cruise works

[MamMamMam]

Dh and I would love to plan a cruise for our holiday next summer, with ds 12 and dd 11. Dh wont fly (sigh) so this is really our only option. We've never been on a cruise ship and have no idea how it works.
I'm assuming it no all inclusive and I've heard people talk about drinks and dinning packages. How do they work?

Also how do the excursions work. Do you pay for them separately?

We'll be sailing from Southampton. Not sure where too yet.

We did one and the food is included, you can buy drink packages our pay as you go. We just did that so didn't drink that much!
The excursions are extra and are often very expensive but if you research your stops you often find you can just do your own thing or book a trip through an external provider.

They're amazing. Usually food is all inclusive and soft drinks/alcohol etc is additional.

The trips are extra and can add up, but generally there are 4 or 5 options that vary in price, so a walking tour plus coach travel is generally a cheaper trip and an activity trip like an escorted mountain bike ride costs more. I love them and think they are great, but we probably spent €1k extra on top of the holiday on trips, drinks and 2 x spa visits. That was for 2 people.

We did a cruise.
Food all in, as well as things like tea/coffee/juices etc

Had to pay extra for soft drinks or alcohol, can do this PAYG or through an "unlimited" package.

There were restaurants that you could pay extra for such as sushi or steak. Bit the included sit down was good enough as well as the buffet options.

Excursions are expenses of f booked through the ship. Best to pre-book with other providers. Theres nothing stopping you doing this.
They may encourage you to stay in port (bit that's because they make money!)

It depends on what cruise line you go with.

Also , watch out for tips! They will often automatically add a service charge to your bill that will need to be paid at the end of the journey. It will be a set amount pp/of
Just make sure you either can/want to pay for it, or ask for it to be removed.

Look at Tui cruises (called marella). They are fully all inclusive - food and drinks and tips.

If you are likely to have more than just a few drinks each day the drink packages will generally save you money. I'm not a heavy drinker but might have a cocktail by the pool in the afternoon, couple of glasses of wine with dinner, maybe another drink in the evening, and that was enough to make it worthwhile.
You should be able to get cabins either adjoining or next door to each other for you and the Dc, the family cabins can be very cramped.
We have done several cruises and never done a ship excursion because of the price, if you do your research online you can usually get public transport from the port into the city you're there to visit, and whilst there can do free walking tours or just explore. In a couple of places we have pre booked tours by taxi through trip advisor which still worked out cheaper than the ship.
We have used "cruise critic" to research about different ships/read cruise reviews/ask advice.
You will have a fab time!

Food is always included and most ships include breakfast drinks (basic coffee). Most ships also have a buffet area where you can access hot drinks and soft drinks plus food 24 hours a day (well there's short closed periods to change over the food). Entertainment on the ship is mostly included and some basic port buses but beyond that you pay, don't feel obligated to book their trips though generally you can do it independently cheaper.

You can buy an alcohol package (and soft drinks for the kids) but we found it very expensive and just bought what we actually wanted, and depending on the cruise line you pay be able to bring a bottle of wine each on board. There's entertainment aimed at teenagers, some did have extra charges.

Southampton port arrangements were great, stay nearby the night before unless you are close and board at the beginning of boarding ignore your slot, extra time to get settled

The other thing to remember when going onshore is that if you are delayed getting back the ship won't wait for you unless you are on one of their excursions. They are expensive - we tend to use them when places of interest are a bit further away, walk or public transport when the port is close by. We had a bit of a hairy moment last year when we went back to a city bus stop last year to find about a hundred fellow cruise passengers also waiting for the same bus. Luckily another came along quite quickly and we had allowed plenty of time but I do find myself clockwatching much more if relying on public transport. Some of the ship excursions are much cheaper than others, worth browsing carefully.

We did our first cruise last year.
It is important to know that cruise companies vary, so any information given may not be applicable to your cruise line.
On our cruise, the food was all included, breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner.
Drinks were extra, but there were various packages one could buy in advance, that would cover drinks, or you can pay as you go.
We were given a specified dining table and time for dinner (ie one could opt for early dining, or late dining, but had the same place each day). But sometimes we ate in one of the other buffet restaurants. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea were buffet style.
However, the initial price does not include any tours at each stop. As the tours are optional and vary in destination, time, then obviously, these were charged extra, according to what was chosen. If you research each port before (and know how long your cruise has booked in, which can be found in advance), then you will know which ports are easy to tour yourself.

Thank you all. You've been really helpful. I think I'll head to the travel agents tomorrow and see if we can find somewhere nice and start saving 😁

OH yes, we just took our own soft drinks on board - our cruise line let you have something like 12 cans per person or something. Check with your cruise line :)

when people say drinks are extra, they mean alcohol or 'branded' soft drinks. Like Coke or whatever

You will get "basic drinks" (water, squash, tea coffee) included.