Cruises - never been on one before and I am interested! Advice / experiences welcome!

[Afterfire]

There would be 4 of us. Me, dh, dd aged 19 and Ds aged 11.

I think initially we’d like to try a short one from Southampton. Been looking at Royal Caribbean ones, msc, and P and O… it’s quite overwhelming all the different options and “brands” - is one better than another?

How does it work if you do a longer one and fly to a different country - are transfers included?

Not a clue what I’m doing…!

Cruised across multiple lines Inc Royal carribean and and p&o. If your kids are very extroverted and like lots of activities and make friends easily at kids club if go for one of those two (id probably go for rc)

If they're quite introverted I'd probably go for a smaller, more upmarket ship like princess and celebrity. Personally I wasn't very social and found the bigger ships over whelming when I was little.

But love cruising and have taken a few friends over the years and converted them all. We are taking our 8 month old on her first ship next month :)

Yes I'm the same

@Afterfire I've never felt sick during a cruise, including sailing through pretty stormy waters in the Caribbean, but I do feel dizzy for a few days when I get off!

Do you realise that for the price of these cruises you could buy your own yacht? Go wherever whenever you want. No booking or messing about. Just cruising. Check out apolloduck and see how inexpensive yachts can be.

@Sarah1667 yes that’s the same as having other people do all the work, cooking cleaning etc 😣

My last cruise cost £2800 for 3 of us for 8 nights. All food, all drinks (excluding alcohol), pools, gym, out door cinema, theatre, golf, climbing, kids club etc. I could go on. £2,500 gets me this. Can’t wait 🙄

The whole lure of a cruise for me is someone else doing all the work - I don’t want to do any cooking, cleaning or whatever else. I do enough of that at home!

Thank you 😊 that’s really good to hear. The dizzy thing sounds interesting! 😆

Thank you everyone 💐

I am now toying with the idea of a short cruise on P and O for 4 nights next summer so we can try it out and if that goes well we could go for a longer / bigger one the following year!

I'm very wary of cruises, especially those which fire-sale tickets when departure approaches and they're clearly under-booked. Friends of mine paid a fortune only to find themselves cheek by jowl with some very 'lively' people who'd got tickets for about a quarter of the price. They were constantly pissed; started fights on the dance floor; went through the food like locusts; allowed their kids to terrorise others people's. Fucking nightmare. Nowhere to go. Had to gut it out.

I do like a cruise bargain.

I have cruised as a single, P&O were very good, coffee mornings, and afternoon tea for single travellers who want to socialise. So never felt like a gooseberry at some one else's party. don't drink so ditch the drinks package and stuck to free tea and coffee on the ship. Great way to travel.

I would say if you are sea sick stay away. The ships are stable but there is still movement I've been on three where the pools have had to be closed as the water was literally being tossed out and shows cancelled as the dancers were falling over. Big ships, but the seas the sea.

😆❤️

Not sure if it has been said of not but on youtube there are some excellent videos on cruise travelling. Alifewellcruised is one I follow

DH and I went this year , I get seasick on the Channel Ferry so I was bit dubious but it was only two days ( I think 2nd full sea day and the same area coming back) that I felt wobbly .

If I did another I'd book one with a propr balcony /own sunlounge area , not the tiny chairs one .
There's zero chance of a sunbed on a Day-at-Sea or if you go out for the morning .

@Afterfire that's what I'm thinking. Try out a short one to see if I like it (& if I feel sick at all!).

I do get queasy on small boats but you don't usually notice it on cruise ships.
Our first cruise was in July in the Med and we hit a storm. It was really quite alarming, you couldn't walk straight, plates flew off tables, the caberet was cancelled. Most people were seasick including me and DS2.
DH and DS1 however were fine and thoroughly entertained by it. They put a comedian onstage who came on to the sound of Titanic theme tune.
Next day the captain said he'd never experienced anything like it in the Med. I thought I'd never get the family on another cruise but I did. None of us has ever been seasick before or since.

The thing I love about cruises is the ability to see lots of destinations in a short time. A day in each. We've done Adriatic - Split, Venice, Dubrovnic and other lovely places. Med - Barcelona, Valencia, Marseille, Monte carlo.
It can be quite tiring if you go full on excursion but none of that is compulsory.

We’ve been on at least a dozen cruises and we love them! All of them have been RC except one which was a Princess cruise. We prefer the RC knew as we have a 14-year-old dd. We like the new, big ships as they have so many activities for kids. On our last cruise, dd spent most of her time on the Waverider. In fact, she’s been bugging us to go an another one soon.

In all my cruising, I’ve only felt quesy once when it was a rough night and we were at one end of the ship. I think the stabilisers are quite effective. I’m not very susceptible to getting seasick but I do infrequently get motion sick on small boats/ferries in rough water.

I would highly recommend cruising. We love it!

I liked the idea of cruising as being a good way to see lots of places, but found it wasn't necessarily the best way to see them.

If the ship docks at 10 and sails again at 4, I found I was constantly looking at my watch to make sure we would be back on time. Also any excursions by coach to see particular sights can be pricey. What it does do is perhaps give you an idea of places where you might like to spend more time. (Or not).

That said, if you look at it as a floating, all inclusive hotel, it can be good value for money. We are doing a Princess Cruise soon with a drinks package including tips and wifi, so no extra spending on top.

@gogohmm did you daughter like Cunard? I've looked at them but wonder is it a bit stuff my for kids?

We did RC in the med. We booked it with them direct and they also booked us two nights in Rome first. Highly recommend this.

We booked the drinks package as as pp says with the water on you way off each day, coffees, orange and drinks it was worth it.

If your 19 year old will want a drink - then the Royal Caribbean ships in international waters are definitely out of the question as they sail under a US flag - therefore drinking age is 21.

you need P&O as a British ship or one of the European lines

@hopeishere

I've not done Cunard with dd when under 21 , we went with marella which is owned by TUI and all inclusive. We were off the ship everyday sightseeing and she loves shows and live music. I've been on Cunard with my dp, parents and dd as an adult. it comes down to taste - classical concerts, lecture series, bands and French (ish) food suited us, but dp likes the look of the water slides on other ships!

Does anyone know what the covid rules are like at the moment? Would hate to spend a week in a cabin if they test during your stay…

I’ve joined a few Facebook cruise groups and I’ll admit the various posts there have worried me a bit! It all seems very complicated with people saying even the crew / companies themselves aren’t too sure what the rules are so they’re getting different responses! 😳

Which would you recommend for secondary school age kids that sails from Southampton?

Also do you stay in the same cabin with the kids?

Nervous about seasickness too as have a history of ferry seasickness.

Re the cabins - they seem to sleep up to 4, with 2 in the double bed or twin beds and 2 on a sofa bed. That’s what I’ve been finding in my
searches anyway!