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

Re bidding for an upgrade - a few weeks / days out from your cruise they email asking if you want to bid you can then say how much more you would be willing to pay for a nicer cabin.

We bid on NCL for an upgrade. I think a few others do the same but it's the first time I've done it. We bid £200 each for spa as we would pay that anyway for the spa access.

Word on booking a cabin : a good tip is the have cabins above and below and to each side. You don't want to be above the theatre or below the pool deck. Also check it's not an interconnecting room (cruise deck plans)

There is lots you will pick up as you book. There are hundreds of cabin grades. So Balcony might be aft or forward or midship, low middle or high deck and they are all priced accordingly. Then there might be a deluxe balcony or mini suite.

I've used iglu cruise, cruise nation and cruise kings to book with before and out local travel agent.

Cruise nation do good smart packages that have two or three nights pre or post cruise. CI did a great package with iglu to the states. Both of these have separate sales and Aftersales department.
The local travel agent was the most responsive. Just booked with cruise kings who seem really good at the moment .

We are cruise addicts and have sailed Celebrity (most frequent), HAL (2nd most), Princess, Royal Caribbean, MSC (in YC), Oceania, Azamara & Seabourn. The last 3 are smaller lines and definitely better food and service, less crowded and generally more exclusive/ boutique feel. I wouldn’t sail RC or MSC again, both were too big and noisy and queue-y for us. Never fancied Norwegian (too big) or P&O (too British). Our next cruises are planned on Azamara (for a short, warm, luxury break) and HAL (for a great itinerary but with older cruisers and less focus on entertainment).

We have travelled all over the world on ships and love to unpack once and wake in a new port. We also love sea days, too many port days are tiring.

We book via an agent, usually with a few hundred £ off the price booking direct.

I’d be wary of relying on an upgrade, firstly it might not be offered, secondly there is too big a chance of a poor location on ship.

I love P&O cruises, Britannia is probably my favourite, but I do love Ventura also. There are a couple of formal nights but it's not as strict/formal as it used to be and the other nights are smart casual. Lots of different itineraries to choose from.

Royal Caribbean has some really impressive ships, less formal but some people do dress up still. Drinks are very expensive so drinks packages worth it even for just the soft drinks package.

I’m watching this thread with interest, I’m doing my first cruise on p and o Azura around the canaries in February.

We have booked a balcony cabin for the outside space.

Are drinks packages worth buying, we have £££ of on board spends.

Also are the ports in Tenerife and Fueteventura near to any towns/beaches. Thanks.

We didn't do the drinks package on our most recent cruise but we were quite close to it being worth it, if we had gone in the summer we would have as would have drunk more. If you have on board spending then probably not worth it. You can find drinks menus online to calculate it but they are basically mid price pub prices so not expensive at all.

Re finding local beaches and towns to ports we just googled the ports in advance (you'll be able to find out exactly which ports they stop out online) and researched the nearest/best beaches. They usually put on a free shuttle to the most local town in most ports if you don't want to do a full excursion. This info should be on your online cruise planner.

The Azura is fab, we have been on her a few times.

P and O don't have cheap drinks / all inclusive like princess plus or free at sea (ncl) so they are quite expensive.

I'd use OBC unless you want massive drink sessions all day everyday!

Although I find what tots up is the soft drinks so sometime I just get a soft drinks package and pay for alcohol.

There are website that compare and someone has done an excel spreadsheet.

Be wary of assuming you don’t need a drinks package just because you don’t drink alcohol. Often the free drinks are very limited and even things like bottled water, cola and cappuccino are charged extra.

I've been on quite a few cruises and me and my husband are both in our 30s. We've done Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean. They're both very good, relaxed atmosphere with plenty of entertainment if that's your thing! We're going on an MSC next year and it's a slightly cheaper cruise line so will be interested to see what that's like. Cruise YouTubers like Ben and David and Emma Cruises might give you a better idea of what to expect! Good luck. Cruising is fab.

For that budget MSC Yacht Club is worth a look. Beautiful ships, decent choice of itinerary and excellent service (in YC). I have friends who swear by standard MSC but it's a bit busy for me in the pool and bar areas.

Which agent do you book through usually?

Good to know, will make sure we get a soft drinks package

I have never got a drinks package. I just had water with dinner (and boyfriend had wine). Then coffee. Juice is included with breakfast and you can always get tea and filter coffee in the buffet (not fancy lattes)

But we like port heavy cruises so I drank cokes and wines when in ports at lunch and was tired in the evening.

P&0 is pretty good for drinks price -London pub prices - so £4.50 a pint -but you can find prices on places like cruise critic.

Floating petri dishes! Don't do it!!

@Bearblue26 I book direct or have used planet cruise (online) or bolsover cruise for more complex things.

I found the included drinks fine - take a water bottle and thermos mug, fill up in the buffet. I don't like fizzy drinks though. Some cruise lines allow you to take on drinks for your cabin (Cunard are particularly laid back, we had wine and gin!)

@Yoloohno

I don't book the drinks package on p&o or Cunard as they are expensive, we take some drinks on (allowed) and use the buffet to get soft drinks and hot drinks, paying for others as we go which works out cheaper because the price per drink isn't as much as the American cruise lines

DH and I did a western med cruise on Norwegian Epic a few years back in our late twenties and loved it! It was our first cruise. Flew to Barcelona and embarked there.

We didn't do any ship excursions as they were a fortune! I booked trips through a company recommended on the Cruise Critic forum and it was a hell of a lot cheaper. They picked us up either at the ship, or we took the free ship bus to the edge of the port and met our bus there. Worked very well for the likes of Rome and Florence.

We've used Iglu and Cruise.co.uk but we've also booked direct. Depends what you're looking for - we often find it better to sort our own flights (also Scotland based) as they often seem to struggle to offer reasonable times/prices from regional airports.

We use Sovereign mainly but have also used Iglu and others, and have booked direct too. I haven’t found a great deal of difference between the agents.

Almost always do our own flights and transfers too.

We rarely take ship excursions, too expensive and I dislike being ferried about with 50 others on a coach. We use cruise critic and sometimes do small group tours with others from there. We do spend quite a lot of time researching ports and choosing what we would like to do there, it is very much part of the enjoyment for us, but I know others who would find this a chore and prefer to wait until they are onboard and see what’s on offer as they exit the ship. The only time we use a ship tour is if the price is comparable and it is a small group, or it is a bit of a ‘dangerous’ location or if the time to return to ship is very tight. We always plan to return at least an hour, usually 2-3 before the departure time.

There is a lady called Emma on you tube who has been on a whole number of different cruises Do a search for her.

Forgot to say she has a channel full of stuff. All the ships she has been on, the menus, entertainment, room types etc etc.

You pay for an excursion. You can do DIY with local trains and taxis if you are keen to save money, but there are plusses and minuses.

Civitavecchia to Rome is about 90 minutes, IIRC, by coach. You get a commentary on the way out, and are dropped off outside St Peter's.

When we did this, we had plenty of time in Rome, and saw the main sites - a good feeling of the lie of the land should we go back for a longer stay.

We always go TUI/Thomson. They have medium sized boats rather than the horrendous mega ships. They can dock in most ports, so there are fewer tender transfers. Their itineraries also give you longer in port.

We did a Canaries + Madeira cruise last March. It was our first without children, and we got a suite with balcony.

TBH, the itinerary was not great, as there wasn't a lot of diversity between ports. A lot of seasoned cruisers didn't even get off.

Tenerife - the cruise port is the capital, Santa Cruz, which is quite industrial, and the cruise terminal is quite a big walk from the town. If you are flying into Tenerife, you have an hour's coach transfer and then your check in (up to an hour). When we did this last year, our flight was a bit late, and Tenerife airport was crazy (Covid and Brexit), so we didn't bother with the town.

Fuertaventura - they drop you off at the capital, Puerto del Rosario, which had absolutely nothing to offer last March. We managed a couple of sangrias, before returning to the boat for lunch. Apparently, there are lots of brilliant excursions in Fuertaventura.

Lanzarote - the cruise terminal is near Arrecife. There was a long queue for the coach transfer, so we jumped in a taxi, and the driver convinced us to go to Puerta del Carmen, which was a good move. It had a mile long strip of shops and restaurants on one side of the street, and a beautiful beach on the other.

Grand Canaria - the cruise terminal is in Las Palmas, which I think is the capital. It's a modern city with lots of businesses. It's a 20 minute walk to the main beach area. We had a lovely paella lunch there. There is a modern shopping mall in the cruise terminal area.

La Gomera - you are dropped off near the capital, San Sebastian, and it's a 10 minute walk into town. There really isn't a lot there, so this is one stop where you can save your money and have lunch on board. There are excursions for those who like the outdoors, eg cycling up mountains.

Madeira - noticeably different from the Spanish islands. Don't get the ship's excursion for the cable car - just pay your own way, and remember to get a return. The fish market is amazing with never seen in the UK fish/eels. We had a traditional lunch in an alleyway nearby.

Yes I came back with pneumonia from our October cruise. Still hasn’t put me off. And I ended up in hospital 😁😁

@MissMarpleRocks You are a glutton for punishment! 😄