Your cruise experiences- good and bad and anything inbetween

[mummysmagicmedicine]

What are your cruise experiences? Which ship and where did you go? What did you love/hate? Would you do it again or was it a holiday from hell?

Genuinely curious, have never been on a cruise yet but everyone seems to either love or hate them and I am curious as to what your experiences are?

Honestly your best bet is to type whatever cruise you’re interested in into you tube. Cruise vlogging is a MASSIVE thing and you’ll find lots of different ones. Some give reviews of the ships, some are more like a diary of whatever happens on their holiday etc. Cruise with Ben and David, Brogan Tate, and Travel Vlog Jamie are all good channels to start with.

I love them. Huge variety of destinations and no packing or unpacking. Lots to do or not each day, depending on your mood. CruiseCritic is a great website to help hone down your line and destination.

Not sure if this applies, but don’t assume that because it is in term time your ship will be child free. Last time we cruised term time, the kids onboard caused lots of issues and they eventually had to put a shipwide announcement out about no children in the evening entertainment unaccompanied. We also had kids knocking on cabin doors late evening and running away etc. Not too bad but annoying as we had booked assumed 99.9% of kids would be in school.

Emma Cruises and Fraser at Sea have some good stuff on YouTube for people thinking about a first cruise

Been on 2 and loved them. Both med cruises, flew into Barcelona and sailed from there. Love the mix of exploring new places each day then returning and chilling out by the pool or in a bar late afternoon, choosing where to eat and what entertainment to watch in the evening, then waking up somewhere brand new the day after. I've only been with teen dd and looking forward to going just with dp soon, it will be different again.

I’ve been on several cruises over the years and enjoyed all of them.

Carnival - was a massive ship and was hard to get near the pool due to the number of people, but the food and service was excellent. We found quiet decks with sun beds on sea days and chilled out there instead with a book. We were lucky enough to get a cabin that was bigger than usual (just by luck, it was next to some storage cupboards so was almost twice the usual size as it had the extra space behind the cupboards)

Thomson - cheap as chips, got a January canaries deal that was all inclusive. Was full of pensioners and the cabin was tiny but comfortable. Food/service was still very good and we had a laugh.

Ocean village (years ago!) really casual but again great food and service. Not a huge ship and despite it being in august still managed to get near the pool on sea days.

Cruise and maritime (don’t think they’re going anymore either) we had a cruise around the British isles with them and really enjoyed it. It was actually the same ship we’d been on with ocean village years before, so not too big or crowded. Good food.

Plan to go on another cruise next year as we haven’t been on one for ages.

I’ve been on 3, all with Celebrity which I picked after a lot of research: I was trying to find my sweet spot between the noisy, crowded mega-ships and the ones which are too expensive.

What I love: the service, the food, the drink package, sailing into beautiful places in the early morning and out again in the evening, sunsets at sea, sitting on a balcony or deck watching and listening to the waves (and occasionally spotting dolphins and whales).

What I hate: when the ports are over-whelmed by the numbers of tourists from the cruise ships. They aren’t all - some manage it well or are big enough to cope, but some are being spoilt by the cruise ships (Santorini, for example).

Went on our first cruise this year. Loved it. The food was amazing and we really enjoyed the destinations. Believe it or not they actually are quite an active thing to do.
id go on another one but in a couple of years time

I have been one three. Two were pre children (which I’d didn’t love, as wanted more flexibility in my travel) and one with children (which I loved).

agree with pp that YouTube is your friend for looking at different ships and itinerary’s.

Here’s my lowdown:

1. P&O - a fairly good all rounder, although a tad dull and the food very British. Im not in a rush to go on another.
2. MSC - really good all rounder. I found the food here to be the best that’s included in cruise fayre.
3. Royal Caribbean - my favourite with children. Relaxed vibe and colourful with lots of activities. However, included food is the worst of all three IMO and next time I’d budget extra to eat in the speciality restaurants each night.

I’ve been on 34, the biggest ship in the world and one with 56 passengers.

I love how every day is different and each person you speak to do has had a slightly different cruise. Some stay on the ship, others stay up late, others up for the sunrise and a yoga class, some are off on adventure type excursions each day, whilst others have never booked an organised trip.

I’ve done three with another booked. Twice to Norway and once to France,Scily Isles, and Guernsey. Went with Saga (I’m over 50). As people have said , have a look at Emma Cruises, Paul and Carole Love To Travel, also Doris Visits. All on YouTube and worth a look.