Are cruises as good as they seem? Any recommendations welcome!

[CruissellaDeCruise]

I have never been on one but my recently bereaved mum and I want to go on one this year. Circa £2000 each. 7/10 days

She wants a room with a balcony - didn't want to have to share but think we will have to.

What are the pros and cons? Any recommendations for good companies much appreciated! Not sure where to start

Quite flexible as to where we want to go, and when, but May/June would be good.

Thank you!

We’ve been on quite a few Cunard ones, would thoroughly recommend. My parents and sister have been with other cruise lines too but they say they just aren’t the same standard as Cunard.

Virgin Voyages. They’re adults only! They’ll sail from Barcelona or Athens from May.

Highly recommend P and O. Go for a smaller, adults only ship. You will easily get a balcony room with your budget. We did the bigger ships (Iona and Britannia) and they were good, but very busy and more family orientated. All tips included, and great food.

Go on You Tube and find the channel “cruise with Ben and David” - they’ve been on just about every ship and cruise you can ever imagine and their videos cover everything. They really helped us to know what cruise to book / what to do.

Best fucking holiday of my life

Depends whether you like formality?
I don’t so I avoid some companies. I like to have everything included and no formal dress codes.

Great thank you all! Forgot to say (quite an important point!) that it has to go from UK - preferably Southampton.

But lots to look at thank you.

Not overly fond of formality tbh. A bit of dress up would be fun, but not every night if am honest

They are fantastic, the only time in my life when I don’t do a thing from morning till I go to bed! It’s all done for you, heaven!

We have done most of the major lines, favourites are Celebrity which to me had the nicest ships, Royal Caribbean has the best entertainment, but they are all good. We prefer fly cruises and although I liked P and O and Tui I prefer hearing different languages on board as it makes me feel more “ on holiday” than just hearing British voices. You might want to go from Southampton if it saves you from flying.
Cruise critic website is helpful and you can look up the ports, I like Med ports where you don’t need to travel hours to get to them so ones like Villefrance, Santorini , Mykonos, Barcelona, Malaga etc they are all close to where the ship docks.
Some may be tendered in , which is when you go on smaller boats to get off but it doesn’t take long and they run back and forwards all day.
I have yet to have a bad cruise, hope you and mum manage to go and enjoy it all.

Even formal nights can be ‘skipped’ so don’t let that put you off.

I’ve done numerous and they’re my dream holiday. Loads to do on the ships, and you can choose where to get off and explore and when to stay on the ship. Amazing food, the best service of your life.

No ships require dressing up every night these days. Most have one ‘formal night’ a week. Some dress up then, some don’t bother and avoid the main dining room and theatre.

I have been on several Celebrity Cruises (I think they have some that sail from Southampton) and one with Azamara Cruises (much smaller ships 200/300 passengers). I preferred Azamara, but did really enjoy Celebrity too. DH and I actually prefer luxury land holidays as we can experience do much more of destinations. Nevertheless, cruises are great holidays. Covid put us off though - seeing all those poor people stranded at sea for for a month because no port in the world would accept them since Covid was on the ship. Many of the passengers and crew were very ill. Many of those without Covid were running out of regular meds and had various problems being unable to get home. Given all that my advice would be, never book a cabin without a balcony. In such times, it may be the only thing stopping you going stir crazy.

Just read your last post, No need to dress up every night at all, I might dress up once but after that I suit myself and even if you wanted to not bother there’s plenty places to eat that you don’t need to dress up , It is usually just two of the so called formal nights on a 7 night cruise, and over the years I’ve found them much less formal, more just nice dressy nights, or just avoid the main dining room and go to the buffet and don’t bother.

We usually go on TUI cruises (Thomson). They are cheaper than the big American cruise lines and have medium sized boats.

We like the British entertainment, and the fact that almost everything is included so no surprises at the end.

We got a balcony for this first time this year and it was amazing. I used it to the full. We had a Junior Suite, which I think cost £3500 for both of us which included flights and premium drinks.

Personally, I am happy to have nice food and then read my book. DH is more into the entertainment and casino. We go off at every port, and happy to do DIY.

P&O on one of the family ships. Its brilliant you will love it!

Adult only ships i mean

If old fashioned elegance is something you want Cunard is your best bet, classical music plus 60's/70's band, lectures and plenty of no fly options out of Southampton for your budget but remember to allow for drinks (London prices) and tips ($12 per day) cheaper but we enjoyed is tui's cruise line called Marella, all inclusive including connecting flights from regional airports. There's many American cruise lines which tend to have flashier entertainment and huge casinos on board.

We are booked on a Cunard trip in 2024 and a marella trip to the Caribbean next year

Oh and Cunard has 2 formals per week, on other nights a summer dress suffices

Ahh thank you all so much!! Amazing tips and so much help!

Mum had said no to Celebrity cruises but am going to look into those too. Am getting more excited now with all the positive views.

Am just happy with a book and a massage now and again but will really throw myself in to it as it wont happen again. Didn't know about the lectures Cunard did!

Thanks again everyone xx

I have been on two cruises a week one around the Norwegian fjords and a two week Med cruise stopping at 5 countries. Both had a formal night but they also had another restaurant so you did not have to go, we did and enjoyed them.

We had a room with a balcony, we had some dance lessons and liked the quiz nights and loved the cocktail bar with pianist.