If you’ve been on a cruise, did you feel rushed ? And always paranoid about time ?

[Rainbowdeer]

Don’t know if I want to try it this year

How do you mean? We did a med cruise. Norwegian Cruise lines, very relaxing

No I didn’t feel rushed. I kept an eye on the time but I would do that on any trip, including in the UK. I always made sure to be back early.

Do you mean when in port? But no not really, you usually get a full day,and sometimes an overnighter and you are free to wonder off on your own or do a Cruise Excursion or your own excursion with a private company. Though unless you do a cruise run excursion you cannot be late back as the ship will go without you. So if you wanted to see something particular a way out of port - then I would recommend the ship run excursion.

On the ship - you do what you want when you want and to me is a proper holiday IMHO.

Where are you thinking of going?

Not at all. Usually do ship excursions as of late ship has to wait, or wander off to do own thing and back in time. It’s very relaxing, good food and met lots of people. Usually have a club for tots and teens.

Yes sorry I ment in port
so say you are in Mykonos for the day and say it’s 8-5 i don’t know if I’ll be all paranoid about getting back to the ship
in time
esp if we went in our own trip

thinking of a week in the med

what companies are the best ? So far tui is looking like a good 5k for family of 4 in the summer hols but that does inc flights and all inc

any good sites I should be looking at ?

I never ever fancied a cruise for this reason but last year mum asked us if we'd come for dads 70th and we conceded.

I managed by only choosing one thing to do in port, not trying to cramming too much in and in some cases, not straying too far away.

Mykonos is a wet dock, so you'll have clear tender info. If you're at the tender in time, they won't go without you.

I had fancied a full holiday on Mykonos but when I visited, the day was honestly enough for us.

I found that I actually loved the boat! Couldn't wait to get back on and enjoy it!

We concluded that we'd definitely cruise again. We also were on a Tui ship!

No, not at all. We love cruising and find it a really relaxing holiday. You are told what time you have to be back on board so DH and I plan accordingly. Unless we're going a ship excursion we tend to just have a wander round and then head back to the ship so that we're back onboard about 30 mins before we are due back.

One thing I would say is that if your ship has a shuttle bus to take you into the port centre don't leave it to get the last bus back as it can often be quite a scrum!

I think £5k for 4 is a fair price in the school holidays. Have you looked at P&O? Generally a bit cheaper as you can choose not to have the drinks package which is good if you're not much of a drinker. It also has a good reputation with families

I went on one and only went on cruise organised tours (which weren't great for the money tbh). But I wasn't confident enough to organise my own day trips when it was a different country every day! I would have been worried about getting back in time yes. I don't really like cruises in general because I'd rather explore one place thoroughly than get a small glimpse of lots.

It was OK but I wouldn't rush to do it again.

Not at all but we tend to do our own thing not too far from the ship mostly eg jump on a local bus visit town grab a coffee maybe trip to the museum then head back to the ship for a late lunch. If it's a full day excursion then it's booked through the cruise line so they look after the timings

TUI unlike most is all inclusive so no drinks bills. Also it's got more inclusive food options than some cruise lines which we appreciate. It's a good option for a first cruise for a family

Were you not a fan of Mykonos? I’ve never even heard of a wet dock ! So I’ve got a lot to learn

Is costa a cruise company to avoid

Are the soft drinks on the branded so like
coke a cola and Fanta etc

We don’t really drink much alcohol so that would be wasted on us really

I still have nightmares that the ship is leaving and I am miles away. We did a Mediterranean cruise and had a day or several hours at each port. I was very aware of the time. We took taxis sometimes as the port itself was boring and i was watching my watch constantly. We still enjoyed it though. Depends where you go I guess.

@Rainbowdeer They are a hugely organised holiday and the basic price is your starter for 10. Add in drinks and excursions for 4 and the price gets a lot higher. We did a couple when dc were pre teen as they made friends but you will see next to nothing in each country. We found most excursions expensive and half a day because lots of oriole want to be back for lunch. The bottomless pit of average food! You can relax on the boat of course but you are one of thousands on the ship these days. It depends what you want from a holiday.

Costa is cheap and cheerful. Norwegian similar. Princess a bit better but they are all floating resorts. If you really want to see a destination, don’t cruise. If you want everything organised, do it. Dc liked it but have no intention of going as adults!

Same here! I hate being late anyway. I have seen you tube clips of people coming back late from an excursion (probably been propping up a bar!).

We’re going on a family cruise with Tui this year precisely because it’s AI with lots of options so plenty to do and no pressure to find a restaurant that suits everyone. It’s not really any more than an AI resort inland, includes flights and I’m hoping will be a great way to try cruising in a more relaxed way.

Ah ok I get what you mean. To be honest, we stayed on the ship mainly as we weren't overly interested in the destinations. We got off in Cannes, Majorca and Naples and has a wander around. We did our own thing, the trips were expensive. For example the day in Rome was £400 pp and we felt we would rather come for a weekend. When everyone was one for the day the ship was quiet. We don't drink but we had the coffee package and one day we were the only people in the cinema. We watched Paddington and drank hot chocolate, it was lovely

We have been on cruise holidays because we find it works well for our disabled family member, and is also good for kids and teens.

We’ve never done an organised excursion. I do plan a few activities in each port beforehand, we don’t go too far afield usually. We do a gentle mix of exploring the town, lunch out, museum or similar. It really suits us all. We pick cruises with ports we want to visit, we have decided against some before because we felt the stops didn’t really meet our needs.

I keep an eye on the time just in case, but we’re normally ready to head back in plenty of time anyway, it has never felt pressured. I think some people head back to the ship for lunch, then go out again in the afternoon, which I suppose would be more pressured as you’re using up time travelling backwards and forwards. Obviously lunch on board is free, but we like finding a little local cafe.

@Rainbowdeer Mykonos was lovely but having visited, there were other Greek islands that I like more.

We'd previously planned to island hop and spend 5-7 days in different places and covid hit. Now I've been I'd probably say 2-3 days tops and I probably would prioritise. It's also MEGA expensive. We went off the beaten path (usually the best restaurants) and even the hidden gems were £££££££. Think £20 a cocktail in places.

But overall I'd recommend a cruise. I was dead against it before. My fam think it's hilarious 🤣

@Rainbowdeer You have many people on a cruise who don’t give a fig about destinations. I think we realised we do. A lot. Therefore work out who you are as a holidaymaker. Engaged snd interested in where you go, or propping up a bar and not leaving the boat - leaving the boat costs as loads of ports are not near anything interesting at all. For many the ship is the holiday.

I was a bit stressed but we worked out what we wanted to at each port and took it from there. We never went that far afield.

We weren't with RC and I think it was branded drinks but it was that coke that comes from a gun thing at lot of the time. We are drinkers and had the drinks package and it was so worth it for us!! Plus all the coffee and bottled water as you got off and stuff.

Exactly. I think this is key. People who go on cruises either have mobility difficulties (cruises worked really well for my PILs after they got elderly and frail), and/or who aren't that interested in where the ship calls at, as ports are often not that interesting/at a distance from things of interest, and in either case, time there is strictly limited. Same as Dubai, where the hotels are pretty much the destination, as there's not a lot to do otherwise, and no local culture to feel obliged to sample if you're the type of person who just wants to be by the pool.