Booking my first cruise - help please!

[Bearblue26]

DH and I (both early 30s) have decided we would like to go on a Mediterranean cruise in 2023. Ideally we’d like to go for 10 days or so (but happy with anything 7+).

I’d love to receive some recommendations from seasoned cruisers please based on our requirements below;

• we don’t drink so no need for drinks package
• ports which aren’t too far away from the resort
• decent entertainment
• not too formal
• budget of up to £1900 per person

I've never been on a cruise so can't help with any advice bar advising you to watch cruising with Jane Macdonald. Might give some ideas.

Not a seasoned cruiser but I took mum on a med cruise a few years ago with NCL on the Norwegian Epic and it was perfect. Not stuffy and formal at all, and mixed age range clientele. Lovely restaurants, spa was super relaxing and entertainment was just brilliant. I'd definitely recommend as a relaxed cruise line. I was aged mid 30s at the time.

For the not formal and younger vibe, and with your budget, I’d recommend one of the newer Celebrity ships - I think they are called Edge-class.

For destinations not far from ports, I’d suggest Greece & Greek Islands and/or Eastern Europe to include Dubrovnik.

These usually start in Athens, Rome or Venice (though I think the bigger ships have been banned from Venice now) so you can add on a day or so at the beginning or end of the cruise to give you a chance to see those cities properly.

We went on a European cruise with Princess Cruises, setting off from Rome and around to Montenegro and then a few Greek islands, flying home from Athens. We loved it and have booked again for next year, going around the Med from Barcelona to Rome.
There was plenty of entertainment on board which catered for everyone, day and night. Meals could be as formal or informal as you like. We're not the dressing up types and certainly weren't the only ones.
Have a look on Cruise Critics, they have a section with info on how far the cruise terminal is from the actual place. As an example, in Crete there were buses waiting to take us into the nearby town. In Solerno we walked 10 minutes to where we needed to be. We went off by ourselves rather than paying for their organised off board trips.

Hello - NCL might be worth a look as i don't think they do formal nights and do some good 10/11 night itineraries. I also reallly like Princess Cruises (they do have formal nights but these arent shipwide so you can avoid them). Check out Cruise with Ben and David on YouTube. They have some really good information videos and ship tours.

I've done loads of cruises and my favourite was NCL escape last summer around the MED for 10 days.

Do not go on Marella. (My opinion having done 10 plus cruises)

NCL has free at sea which is basically really cheap drinks package which is popular, but bars were only busy in the sea day. We did the upgrade where you bid on an upgrade and got a spa balcony which was absolutely brilliant and we had unlimited access to thermal suite which is so beautiful. Drinks package included soft drinks so worth it for that alone as it's so cheap and you get wifi etc. I think it's £149 for 10 nights for 5 benefits (drinks, wifi, 2x dining, shore excursion credit and something else)We flew to rome.

I'd also do a a P & O from Southampton. More attractive as there no cheap drink packages and no flights but colder sea says in the way there and back. I've done a P AND O fly cruise. Advantage is it's in sterling.

In fact my first cruise was a PO CRUISE AROUND ITALY and it was fabulous. Can be a quite dressy on elegant night. Food was great.

Loved princess cruises for the food and service. Royal Caribbean is ok too. MSC is ok but I'd avoid for a first cruise.

I'd try celebrity as they are also a premium luxury line but not done it yet.

NCL and RCI are classes a premium resort ships. No posh nights. Fun atmosphere. Still luxury.

Get a balcony. Ensure tips are included and included on a drinks package. Have fun. I'm going to Alaska this year 🚢 🐋

Most days we get off and walk about have drink and snack and get beach on board!

Go for a newer ship. Escape isn't the newest but it was beautiful.

There are tonnes of cruise you tubers. Sometime the don't give a balanced view as they do it as a job they get paid for so don't want to slate the cruises (even if they do pay for the cruise, the content pays their living).

When I say newer ship one launched int he last 10 years.

Another vote for Norwegian Epic.

Add on some days beforehand in a nice city to rest and explore (eg Barcelona - the port is really close by)

Excursions from other ports can be done more cheaply by booking yourselves online (rather than the more £ ship offerings)

Some ports you can get a lift into town and then get your own bus tour and explore on foot.

I think you can start and finish where you want, basically the ship is going round and around the Med on the same circuit, people embarking and disembarking at every stop. So for example you could choose to start in Palma Mallorca, Civitavecchia Italy etc - and have a short break there before you go.

Facebook, Cruise Critic.

Go on cruise critic.

We are regular cruisers on celebrity as it fits us well. However the new E class ships have infinity verandas which the blurb tells you is like a balcony. It isn’t. It’s an oceanview with a window that opens.

As a pp check out cruise critic they have boards & reviews on all lines.

Sil sails on RCL, Disney, celebrity, princess & once on NCL to which they said never again!

Most shops don't have rolling embarkations most have a embarkation days and disembarkation days.

Except MSC Embark and disembark at every port.

Have you been on one of the new infinite verrandhas?

DH is keen I am dubious but the ship looked amazing.

Cruise Critic forum
For a first cruise go for a newer wow factor ship - don’t book a small ship
Royal Caribbean Oasis Class from Barcelona
or Anthem from Southampton.
Micro manage, plan and research every port.
Never assume you can just walk off ship and be in the place the cruise lines say you will be.
I will never forget the couple we met onboard who were bitterly disappointed with Rome - Nothing to see but containers 🙃
You will miss out so much restricting yourself to ports not to far from ‘resorts’
Lisbon would work if you wanted to step straight off ship
Barcelona too
And Santorini
Rome and practically the whole of Italy definitely not

I booked my first cruise after randomly stumbling on a cruise YouTube channel and got hooked on them.

have a look at Emma Cruises, Cruise Buoys, Cruise with Ben and David and Paul and Carole Love to Travel. They’re all British cruisers who aren’t affiliated or sponsored so you get an honest review. Emma Cruises is about 30, cruised with her boyfriend or family. Cruise buoys are mid to late 30s gay couple with a 9 year old, both a bit more budget conscious- MSC, NCL, bit of princess. and David are also mid to late 30s and tend to go for a lot of Royal Caribbean. Paul and Carole are about 60 and tend to favour Celebrity and Princess.

I personally love MSC especially for the Med. Big new shiny ships at a great price.

We were on Apex in October.

Fantastic ship (loved Eden restaurant) but embarkation was a bit too busy for us. Prefer S class.

I’ve seen the IV but not sailed in them as we had done move up & got a sky suite. We saw an IV on our CC cabin crawl.

The biggest complaints from the people on our ship was about the IV especially on the days the captain closed the windows due to winds or cleaning.

I like a proper balcony so wouldn’t sail in one & would always opt for a suite or sunset veranda on E class.

I bloody love cruising! I’m mid thirties and find Princess and Celebrity have a good mix of ages on board.
I have done Cunard, but it IS formal… very much so in the evenings, although that is changing somewhat this season. The clientele is much older on Cunard, and the ‘experience’ on board is visibly tired - lots of corners being cut etc, which makes it feel very overpriced at the moment. I’ll wait and see what the new Queen Anne is like before writing them off completely , but honestly can’t see myself booking another Cunard at the moment.

Princess is glitzy, and luxurious and very ‘American’ feeling. I went on their latest ship the Discovery Princess this year and had the best holiday ever. I also love the Celebrity Edge and Apex, which are modern and have a more minimalist/Scandi feeling. I’d highly recommend both.

Another to consider for a young, adult only, luxury experience is the Scarlet Lady onVirgin Voyages. They have some great itineraries and the ship is fabulous, I was a bit skeptic all that it would be like club 18-30s at sea, but it was actually lovely - very fun, but definitely adult oriented rather than kids on water slides! There are some great offers at the moment too.

I personally hate NCL and Royal Caribbean because there are too many kids on them for me - it’s like a floating family resort hotel - noisy, screamy near the pool, queues for ice cream etc… just not for me. But lots of people love it! I prefer adult only hotels (eg Sensatori type hotels rather than big family ones with water parks) and o prefer ships geared to adult passengers, but I totally see what others see in them. I just think it’s good to know how their target market differs when you’re new to cruising.

Finally - book via an American travel website called VacationsToGo - they’re pretty unbeatable when it comes to price!

We are early 30s no kids and would recommend going P&O on one of their adult only ships or simply in term time. They have 2 x formal nights per cruise but these are optional and the dress code doesn’t apply to all parts of the ship, so if you don’t fancy it, you just go to the buffet instead of the formal dining room for example.

I think the people recommending NCL etc are definitely recommending floating resorts but P&O still feels like a cruise ship- beautiful decor, elegant spaces etc, but with a fun relaxed atmosphere, cruising traditions but not overwhelming formalities.

They will also have a good choice of itineraries for 10 days in the Med in summer.

my tip would be if you want to dock close, chose a small ship as these will get closer berths than big ones e.g. Arcadia/Ventura over Britannia.

Have sailed 3 x on Britannia though and she is a beauty!!! Your budget on P&O would get you a balcony room or possibly even a small suite for 10 days. A lot of the other cruise lines people mention are more budget but you seem to have a healthy spend so I’d be looking in the P&O/RCI/Princess/Celebrity bracket, rather than MSC, TUI or NCL.

also do you want to cruise from Southampton (amazing convenience, holiday starts day 1) but you have several sea days to get to the Med, or do you want to fly cruise - more hassle but you will get more ports and less sea days.

@MissMarpleRocks that excellent thanks. I did think it look like an outside with an opening window.

I also recommend virgin voyages, great food options. I did a uk staycation with them summer 2021.

Else pick a ship with lots of ports you want to visit, you'll be tired by evening!

Celebrity is nice, great buffet but lots of extra costs for fancy restaurants. P&o is okay, but an older 60+ crowd mostly.

Thanks so much for the great advice, very helpful and lots to think about.

This is going to sound so silly but say for example the cruise ship docks at a port that’s quite far from the resort ie Civitavecchia for Rome, how do we go about getting from the port to the resort? Is it a paid for transfer or excursion?

For Rome you can either sort it yourself or pay the cruise line. We embarked at cittavecia and it's quite a drive from Rome.

Rest of the ports were easy to either walk / bus / Uber to the centre.

We did RC - Rome, Cartagena within walking distance, Palma - bus, Corsica - walking distance, Portofino- walking distance and Barcelona where I think we got a taxi.

There are five options for Rome

Get a bus or taxi to train station and go on the train it's around 45 minut journey.

Get s cruise shore excursion

Get an independent shore excursion

Stay in the shop

Explore civitavecchia

What's in port is a handy website m. It's quite simple but it gives you the best ways to get to an attraction.

Honestly have a look at Cruise Critic lots of useful information. Look at the roll call once you’ve decided when & whom you are sailing with. Roll call is specific for your sailing so more useful info from the people you’ll be with.