Any cruise experts?! I need help!

[Pleasegotobed]

Looking at booking a 10 night med cruise for the summer and I feel a bit overwhelmed by all the options!

Do I need the all inclusive option? It’s me and 3 kids age 10, 12 and 15 so obviously only me drinking! I do like a cocktail and a glass of wine but I guess it’s best value if you’re all drinking alcohol and doesn’t seem to be an option to just buy it for one person. it’s a lot for what is basically juice and lemonade for the kids. BUT: I hate not knowing how much to budget for extras, the good thing about holidays for me is not stressing over spending so the kids being able to order what they want is a big draw. I don’t want to be caught out by everything being extra!

We would definitely use the inclusive a la carte meals part of the AI option and that’s something we would really like.

we have three favourite options:

• NCL - this is our favourite itinerary and the cheapest with “free at sea” included. But tips are extra and that only seems to cover the first two people which seems bizarre?! So probably ends up being more expensive than option 2!
• MSC - middle price for AI but that includes tips
• Princess - cheapest option for cruise only but when you add the AI package it becomes the most expensive.. all the cruise sites say they are really good at not charging for extras though.

help me! I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit looking at this and I’m going round in circles 🤣
I wondered about booking cruise only and then putting the 1k or whatever it is into a bank account solely for drinks and extras so that I don’t stress on the trip.. any tips would be so gratefully appreciated!

Re the “ see next to nothing” that’s true. Some places like Barcelona or Florence are better for visiting properly. However all most people want to see in Pisa is the Leaning Tower isn’t it. Or to see Pompeii but not shell out for a week in Italy.

I go back to Villefranche every year because I did it on a cruise and loved it. I wouldn’t have found it otherwise.
Likewise the Fjords would be really expensive to do normally and obviously you fantastic views from the water.

Well yes. Cruising along fjords is pleasant but that’s countryside. It doesn’t take you to mountain passes, little villages, stave churches, orchards, museums, restaurants, or anything Nordic. You just stay in a 3000 person bubble. It’s cheap though and I’ve done it!

Otherwise you have described why we don’t go on big cruise ships any more. People who just want a quick trip out because all they want is the Leaning Tower or a quick look via a coach trip making sure they’re back for lunch, and don’t value anything else much, (food, culture, architecture, etc) and don't read guide books to find the best places doesn’t float our boat these days. Glad you found Villefranche but a tour of the Cote D’Azure and reading up about places opens up many more wonderful holidays.

Cruises are cheap holidays but the price paid is seeing very little. As long as passengers want that they are undoubtedly happy. It suited us a few times with Dc. We now do expedition ship cruising which is entirely different. Got two holidays booked for 24 and 25.

Unless the prices are massively different, then go with the ship that suits your kids best, and gives the best itinerary.

We love NCL, as it suits us best. We like the freedom to eat when you want, not have to share tables etc. P We always do take the Free at Sea, as we like to have a drink, and know that we've pre-budgeted for this, and we like the speciality restaurants included. The prices for buying drinks separately really add up, plus you pay gratuities on drinks when buying separately, but you don't with the package. With our kids, there was the option of a soda package - I think at about £8 per day. We bought this for two of the kids, but it wasn't worth it, because we had the free at sea for us, bartenders were happy to just give us sodas for the kids free of charge. In your case you'd get the drinks package for you and a soda package for one of the kids included in the Free at Sea. There would be no need to add any other drinks on top.

The only thing to watch for when buying drinks is that sometimes there's an added sales tax (local to the country you are docked in) added to your bill. But it should be advertised when buying, and it doesn't usually add up to more than a few pounds over all.

We took our kids on NCL Getaway when they were roughly the age of your kids. They loved it! The bigger ships are better for kids in my opinion, some of the smaller ones don't have to much for kids to do. Watch for added extras though - some charge for go-karts etc which can add up. Things like climbing walls, ropes courses, waterslides tend to be free.

After doing 14 with the kids.
Plan what you want to do in each port, its often cheaper to sort out your own trips.
Princess, Royal Caribbean and Holland America are good for kids
Celebrity is the best we have been on
P&O is like Butlins at sea, average to poor food grubby ships but they are cheap.
Look on Cruise critic forum, its very good for loads of info

But what are the expectations of a cruise? Most people are pleasantly surprised to find how nice it is to just be on the water. How exciting it is to see the land getting closer and to pull up in a foreign harbour.
Not sure anyone expects anything but an interesting day out when they go ashore. But it’s like anything. You get a spark and that leads to the repeat visit to the churches, villages, little bars and restaurants.

I always though the south of France sounded either a bit flash or full of dull middle class wanky types. I’d never had bothered without the cruise.

We've done a 14 night Mediterranean cruise with MSC and had an amazing time.

We didn't have a drinks package as aren't big drinkers. We bought a couple of drinks in the evenings and spent no more than £250 over the two weeks. There's plenty of options for juice, tea, coffee etc available.

It was busy, but if you work out where it's quiet, it can feel like a completely different ship. We enjoyed sitting at the back of the ship and using the back of the buffet where it was so much quieter and less crazy! The evening entertainment was brilliant and our teens had the best holiday ever.

We went to the dining room for breakfast on some of the days, which was a nice experience and also ate there in the evening.

The ports we stopped at were:
Cadiz - parked on the heart of the city and easy walk around and to the beach.
Malaga - parked 10 minute walk from beach and a bit further into the city.
Alicante - the city provide shuttle from ship to edge of the city and right next to the beach.
Palma de Mallorca - we got a taxi to a beach and also went into Palma city.
Toulon - We took a little boat to the town. It was a Sunday, so shops were closed unfortunately, but a nice place anyway!
Barcelona - short shuttle busy provided by port to the main areas.
La Coruna - parked right up next to the city and short walk to beach.

I really think cruises are amazing value for money. We loved the ports and loved the time on the ship too and looking to booking another cruise soon.

@lightisnotwhite Thats very narrow minded of you. I guess I quite like flash! I also research places I might like. I don’t pre judge an area if there’s something I want to see. I don’t care what other people might be like if I spend little time with them: I’m not on holiday with them. Unlike a cruise ship. I do like the water and we’ve been to the Antarctic, The Arctic, Scotland, Alaska, the Galápagos Islands and the Great Bear Rainforest on boats with around 100 passengers or, for the last three, 12 passengers. I can confirm there are “wanky types” on boats too.

So rude. And as for narrow minded….
People who just want a quick trip out because all they want is the Leaning Tower or a quick look via a coach trip making sure they’re back for lunch, and don’t value anything else much, (food, culture, architecture, etc) and don't read guide books to find the best places doesn’t float our boat these days.

Honestly why bother writing on a post for a first time cruiser? Cruises are cheap holidays but the price paid is seeing very little.
God forbid anyone actually enjoy a “cheap” holiday 🙄

@Pleasegotobed Sorry Op. Didn’t mean to derail with an argument.

Listen to the advice from other posters and go with it. Of course throwing money at a holiday gives you more choices but really a cruise is great value whether you do a drinks/ plus/ free at sea or just the basics.

I'm going to go against opinion here and say that our cruise with NCL was dire. Poor entertainment (verging on the non-existent on sea days), average food, full of American pensioners who seemed to disapprove of anyone under 50 being on-board.

Hopefully you won't have the same experience if you choose them OP.

Shameless placemark!

We've done just one cruise, pre-Covid, with MSC - I was highly sceptical but it was pretty amazing.

Food was incredible, both the (almost) all day buffet and the formal dining room.

We didn't take a drinks package, it would have involved buying it for all 4 of us. I hardly drink, DC are happy with water and DH wasn't that bothered about it. We occasionally bought a cocktail on board. DH liked to try a beer in the port if we found a bar on our way back to the boat. Drinks package would have been completely wasted on us as we left the boat almost every day.

We shared a dinner table with another couple in the formal dining room, they had children younger than ours. They got the drinks package and stayed on board most days, I couldn't see the point. We didn't have much in common and they did the official cruise Pompeii guided tour, it was about the only thing we had to discuss. Once or twice they didn't come to dinner and we enjoyed it much better with our them.

We didn't do any of the arranged "guided tours". Genoa; docked in city, walked up to the Cathedral for magnificent views, did a cinema museum tour, fabulous lunch. Naples; got off the boat, taxi to Pompeii, driver waited in car park whilst we explored. Sicily; docked in Messina got to see the clock at the Cathedral - magical, explored on foot and came back to the Cathedral and climb the clocktower. Malta; docked in Valetta up the steep ramparts and did a palace tour, a history movie at a visitor centre, a toy museum.

Entertainment on board was amazing, we did at least one show every night, sometimes two, Cirque du Soleil and cabaret type entertainment. Really high quality. There was stuff like Casino and Sports Bar which we didn't go to. Also, decks parties weren't really our scene but we went one night and the music was decent enough.

The service staff work really hard and you will see the same faces pretty much every day. One chap at the buffet made me a lovely omelette at least 6 days. Our waiter looked after our cabin too.

I don't think I'll ever cruise again but certainly I saw places I'd like to return to for a full holiday, looking at you Malta and Sicily.

I would really investigate if either all inclusive or a drinks package would work out for you. If you are the only one drinking, would you be drinking during the day or just the evenings. On the cruises I have been on, I just paid for the drinks I bought through my account, the last cruise I went on was 10 years ago & my full account total on a 10 day P & O cruise that included drinks, gifts, duty free, magazines & books was £550, I drank soft drinks during the day except for a glass of lager with my lunch, had a bottle of wine at night & then drinks from the bar. The drinks packages started at £300, we were full board so the only thing we had to buy was drinks, things like tea & coffee, fruit juice & soft drinks at breakfast or the self service buffet were included in the full board.

I'm going to go against opinion here and say that our cruise with NCL was dire. Poor entertainment (verging on the non-existent on sea days), average food, full of American pensioners who seemed to disapprove of anyone under 50 being on-board

Thats a real shame, and not our experience at all - I’ve been on 10 cruises with NCL and have loved every one. There’s always entertainment going on somewhere - whether it’s trivia quizzes, game shows, demos, art auctions, a band playing by the pool etc. Larger ships have better entertainment in the evening I’d say - broadway musicals, amazing bands, comedians, duelling pianos etc - we found it hard to fit everything in! Whereas on smaller ships we didn’t bother with theatre shows as they were more of the ‘juggling acrobat’ style which doesn’t interest us so much. There were still plenty of musicians dotted around the ship though.

We’ve never found the other passengers to be a particularly older demographic. It’s certainly quite dominated by Americans, especially when cruising out of the US, but on the whole, it’s been a younger group than some of the other cruise lines tend to attract. It can depend when you cruise - out of school holidays and longer cruises tend to attract an older demographic- but this is true of all cruise lines

We shared a dinner table with another couple in the formal dining room, they had children younger than ours. They got the drinks package and stayed on board most days, I couldn't see the point. We didn't have much in common and they did the official cruise Pompeii guided tour, it was about the only thing we had to discuss. Once or twice they didn't come to dinner and we enjoyed it much better with our them

Ah, this is what I’m not so keen on with cruises. I’m quite an anti-social creature at heart, and I hate being forced to have dinner with people I don’t know. So I only go on cruises where table-sharing can be avoided.

Cruises are cheap holidays but the price paid is seeing very little

I’m not sure a cruise could really ever be called cheap (unless you manage to book a real last minute bargain). Good value, for sure, but cheap? Hardly ever. Especially since Covid, when prices really seem to be on the rise.

We haven’t done table Sharing on a cruise for years! Much prefer not to.

Argh wrote an extensive response and deleted it all!

We are looking at the Norwegian epic or escape - I kind of prefer the itinerary for the escape but it’s a bit more expensive. A mini suite with balcony on the epic is a similar price to the inside cabin on escape. Do you think it’s worth paying £400 extra for the mini suite - mainly for a bit more space and a balcony? Inside seems like it could be a bit of a squeeze and no air!

Partly it’s hard to know what’s included with the different lines - princess includes speciality coffees, juice bar and the “premium deserts” (ice cream sundaes!) which I imagine the DC would get a lot of use out of!! NCL just seems to be alcohol and soft drinks and then you pay extra for everything else - Starbucks etc. Which is okay I think because we’re going to Italy - we can get gelato in port! But makes it hard to work out. The drinks package seems to be £375 extra for all of us with NCL - which seems like it would be worth it?

But then princess seems to have better reviews on cruise critic (great tip by the way - thank you!!) but the drinks package “princess premier” is like £1800 and room upgrades are £££ too.

Definitely interested to hear the differences in entertainment between lines - I do think we would like to go to the shows so it would be great if they were good quality.

Not been on NCL so can’t comment on ships.

However having caught pneumonia, on last few days last year on my cruise and ending in my room a lot resting, I so appreciated a balcony. I’d have done my head in an inside.

Ridiculous but you had to isolate if you had covid but I didn’t with pneumonia so sort of kept myself to myself!

Honestly, it's a lot of money to be spending and you'd probably be best going to an independent travel agent to discuss your needs. Ours did a great job.

We are looking at the Norwegian epic or escape - I kind of prefer the itinerary for the escape but it’s a bit more expensive. A mini suite with balcony on the epic is a similar price to the inside cabin on escape. Do you think it’s worth paying £400 extra for the mini suite - mainly for a bit more space and a balcony? Inside seems like it could be a bit of a squeeze and no air!

I've been on both and preferred the Escape to the Epic, although both are fab ships. The Escape has the Waterfront - a promenade that goes all the way round deck 8, and has bars, restaurants, sofas etc and can be a great place to spend sometime away from the top deck, which can get very busy on both ships.

If you can stretch to a balcony cabin on either ship, or even an outside (with a window) on the Escape, it might be worth having. It's a risk at the moment that if you caught covid on the ship, you might be quarantined to your cabin, and this would be a much more pleasant experience if you have a window or balcony. Inside cabins would be a bit miserable in this situation.

I wouldn't personally pay extra for a mini-suite over a balcony - not much difference for the extra price in my opinion, but we do always try to go for a standard balcony if we can. Family Oceanview can also be quite nice - we had two adults and 3 teens in one of these, and it was fine.

Definitely get the balcony if you can.

There is a YouTuber called EmmaCruises and she offers a booking service on her website. I've never used it but she is very knowledgeable and I assume her team would be the same. https://emmacruises.com/book-a-cruise/

I think Emma endorses a website that brings expert cruise travel agents together? My cousin is one and he is on it. The travel agents have access to better prices and packages as the cruise lines gives them incentives.p. They need to sell all the cabins to make the profit as it’s mostly fixed costs. You can’t lose all your crew for a week just because the ship is only half full.

Don’t worry about “space”. It will be cosy if there’s 4.
A balcony has other advantages..drying stuff from the pool, a glass of wine in peace whilst the kids are chilling inside.

Make sure the Epic configuration works for you. It has the loo and shower separately with the sink in the cabin. Might be ok for a family group. Not so great for romantic couples.

@lightisnotwhite do you know the website please?

Wanting to find a good cruise travel agent in the U.K. and on cruise critic you can’t give recommendations so if anyone has recommendations for a good cruise travel agent please?

This is the website Emma Cruises recommends
https://www.travelcounsellors.co.uk
I don’t think I’m allowed to recommend my cousin Hamish but he’s won several awards this year. TA’s are really good for advice such as suitability if each ship, pros and cons of itineraries etc.
Other than that Bolsover Club get frequent mentions

If you want the cheapest package ( so hotels and flights but maybe not transfers i) Cruise Nation and Cruise 1st are a couple of hundred quid cheaper than booking direct.