booking a cruise last minute

[onthemoveyetagain]

Hi there, Hubby is wanting us to book a cruise for September or October. I suspect we have missed the boat ;) We have four small children so getting a room big enough will be difficult.

Think we are wanting to go RCL or NCL. Did consider Disney but the ports don't seem that great for small children. Does anyone have any recommendations of agents who are great at checking out last minute deals? I rang a couple but they all said I had to have an itinerary in mind.

Also, any schedules of ports which are particularly great for toddlers and small children? Could either go med or as far as USA/Canada. Would really appreciate your time - thanks everyone!

You are not too late. Here are a couple of websites to check:

www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-holidays/last-minute-cruises/

www.1st4cruising.com/late-cruise-deals.html

Darn. Sorry, forgot to convert the addresses to links. Let's try that again:

www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-holidays/last-minute-cruises/

www.1st4cruising.com/late-cruise-deals.html

Thank you!! Will take a peep. Do either of them do a search for you or do I need to know exactly what we are looking for? Appreciate your time.

The agents at cruise critic are incredibly helpful and the last minute deals are amazing. There are so very many deals out there it may be useful to know where you want to sail from/budget etc but if you look at cruise.co.uk and search for offers you will have a choice of very, very many. I would recommend RCI or P and O with young children but having just seen you have 4 I would have thought your only option would be big cabin which will be considerably more expensive. We have two sons and usually get two cabins but this year managed to escape ourselves for the first time. By the way, I wouldn't worry about the ports for the children. OUrs never wanted to leave the ship. Some ships let you leave the children on board when you go ashore, some don't - just check it out before you book if that is important to you.

Having cruised for about 10 years we have only booked 3 weeks before for the last 4 years and saved a fortune, well we couldn't go unless we did this as its so much cheaper.
One year paid £1200 each with a balcony for 2 weeks on celebrity's brand new ship, it was two weeks old and fantastic, this was £2500 each if we booked a year in advance.
Last year week around the med on a refurbished Royal Carribean ship with flights £550 each.
I feel you should do it no problem, what was wrong with the ports for kids?

Hi I am on a stand by list with P&O as my husband apparently is entitled to a discount. Just faxed across our preferred dates etc, no nothing about their ships so wondered if any of you experts can tell me abit more. They are Azura/Ventura/Aurora and that's the order of our preference. Thank you.

You will get all the info you need from the P and O website but also look at cruise.co.uk and cruise.com for reviews. Addictive reading. We have only be on one P and O ship - Aurora. P and O are brilliant for childcare. Zumo - didn't mean there was anything wrong with the ports just our boys love the ships so much they would much rather stay on with their friends then wander round the ports with us.

Boo hoo can`t see us sailing anywhere this summer. P&O say its highly unlikely we will get an offer, phoned loads of companies today and all say the same thing..................nothing! Its finding 2 cabins thars the problem, esp the 3 berth. I had really got my heart set on cruising !

Hi nothing at all for Aug, just been offered a 7 night cruise in Oct half term from Venice with RC on Splendour of the Seas. Anyone sailed on her? Price quoted was £2,638 for 2 inside cabins. What do you experts think? We have three 15yr olds. Probably wouldn't be brilliant weather?

Hi triplets, we've just come back from an 8-night Mediterranean cruise on Splendour of the Seas and had a fantastic time. The only downside for me was that the weather at the ports was so hot that none of us had much energy for sightseeing. I'd actually liked to have gone in May or Sept/Oct time, but it's not feasible for us wrt school holidays (DC don't have half-term). I suppose the weather is a little more unpredictable then, but I went to Greece in October years and years ago, and the weather was actually quite pleasant (warm but not hot).

We also have three DC (younger than yours) and had two interconnecting cabins, and paid significantly more than you did. It was an amazing holiday, though; the DC loved the ship (DD2 was especially taken with the climbing wall!), the food was great, service excellent. If you have any more specific questions, just ask!

Www.smartcruiser.com

Prices in us dollars and generally cheaper than the UK websites! I have only done Royal Caribbean, their facilities are unbeatable I think but my mum loves NCL and I think they are cheaper than RC for kids