Summer cruise: P&O or Princess?

[DarkForces]

I've never been on a cruise before and was hoping for some advice. Dh and I are in our 40s and dd is 12. We like Butlins for the shows and dd loves beige food and I'm missing exploring and a cruise looks like a great way to see a few locations and relax.

Im looking at Norway or Northern Europe, nowhere too hot in August. P&O and Princess have trips that look good, sadly Disney is out my price range. Does anyone have any tips or experience to help me decide?

Also, consider royal caribbean or celebrity cruises

They are very strict on age groups for insurance and child/adult ratios etc.......

NCL are charging Free at sea for £99 on offer ATM. It's a one off cost per person for whole cruise. I believe Princess charge £39 per person per day so far more expensive.

Ah. Thanks. Definitely something to bear in mind. She's not hugely into stuff like that and I don't think she'd like being in with lots of little kids. Maybe next year would be better 😭

We have been considering either of these too. If you haven’t already been watching them there are lots of very informative videos about the actual cruises themselves and the ships on You tube - we’ve seen lots by Ben and David and also TravelvlogJaime - they’re both really good at showing you what to expect. Travelvlogjamie in particular does a lot of the P and O ones - he’s done a 2 part Iona Fjords vlog which really helped us.

Part one here for example -

Are you really sure you want to be ploughing up and down these beautiful ffjords in your gas guzzling ship? I don't understand how you can countenance that in 2024.

Thanks for starting this thread. Also thinking of doing a cruise this year.

I've had one short haul holiday in over a decade. I think I can live with myself

@caringcarer
You have to pay additional service gratuity on top of the NCL free at sea and the Wi-Fi package is very limited so they are not like for like packages. We have just come back from an NCL cruise and the basic Wi-Fi package was rubbish; much less favourable than the unlimited one we had with Princess last year.

P&O were awful. Celebrity - I did the Norwegian Fiords trip and it was lovely - but August they are well in to Autumn and many views were obscured by fog.

newer ships are being made to run on LNG which while not perfect is a lot better than the alternatives.

The issue with cruises is that it really depends on what you want.

I would put a list down and then go through each company and check out the reviews.

As PP says the packages and ships vary so much between each line you need to make sure you are comparing like for like.

For example P&O don't really do an AI package but they have different drink packages. We worked out it was not for us. Tips are not mandatory and drinks on board were not particularly expensive.

Princess packages seem expensive until you look at what they include e.g wifi (single or multiple device), tips (expensive), photos, drinks etc. We worked out getting a package which included every thing when we booked saved us a lot of money than getting one or two of the individual ones on board or not at all. But then WE also prefer not to have a bill at the end of the cruise.

As for your DD I would list what the different companies provide for the age group and then check out the reviews to see which she likes the best.

If that’s what you think modern cruising is then you need to do some research. Lots of eco friendly and carbon neutral ships being made. Too much to go into here but you can google it all.

Oh ok, we got 300 minutes but only used them overnight as used our ordinary WiFi on our package at ports on med. We still had over 100 minutes left we didn't use at the end of 12 days. Gratuities were extra but the initial prices were cheaper. The free at sea is part of a bigger package with money off excursions $50, speciality dining I got 3 times for over 11 days, all alcohol free. I thought for a £99 one off charge each that was excellent value for money. I've been on a Princess one but many years ago, I did a P&O one but not as impressed with entertainment.

Of the 2 we found Princess a bit more grown up. But had a good time with both.
The buffet on Princess was more American, so lots of cheese but no crackers for example, but the restaurant food was good on both with lots of options for children.

It certainly implied it had a fixed itinerary with timings etc but maybe it was just an example

All cruises have a fixed itinerary, including MSC (bad weather/port problems excepted). But on some cruises, there are various ports that you can start and finish your cruise ie you might have some passengers join at Barcelona, some join at Rome etc. But the cruise you book will call at the ports stated in the itinerary that you book, they don't just wing it.

You have to pay additional service gratuity on top of the NCL free at sea and the Wi-Fi package is very limited so they are not like for like packages. We have just come back from an NCL cruise and the basic Wi-Fi package was rubbish; much less favourable than the unlimited one we had with Princess last year.

You don't have to pay the service gratuity, it's optional, you can choose to remove it and tip as you go. Although most people will pay the gratuity, as it goes towards behind-the-scenes staff as well as those you see.

I agree that the included wi-fi is a bit rubbish, it's enough to log on to check and send emails etc, but not much more than that. That said, I'm quite happy to spend a week without wi-fi at all, we've always had minutes left at the end of the cruise, so poor wi-fi is not a deal breaker for me. Teenagers are a different matter though, and we upgraded on our last cruise so that our DD could facetime her boyfriend. The wi-fi was fantastic, but expensive - about £25 per day.

The best thing to do is decide on which ships/itineraries you like, then price it up, including all the things that are important to you. For us, that's a drinks package and access to a few speciality restaurants. We find that NCL gives the most bang for our buck, but it does, or course, depend what you are after. At the end of the day, you tend to get what you pay for, and you need to go with realistic expectations.

We did a two week p & o cruise in October with our 12 yr old dd. We all loved it. She had an amazing time. It was a really fun experience.
We were on Arvia. The food choices were so varied. She’s a very fussy eater, but always had things that she liked.
The shows and ports were so good. I’d highly recommend. We’ll be going again.

Thanks for clarifying.

@budgiegirl I hear you on being realistic. I'm definitely going to have to look at how much we can afford and cap it as there's so many options that sound great but quickly add up! Swaying towards NCL at the moment. The Virtuoso looks like it has amazing facilities (although not all included) and the kid's club is 12-14 which is perfect for dd. The bar queues sound awful though, but hopefully we'll be able to include some table service if we compromise elsewhere

I think the other thing you need to consider is does your ship sail from Southampton or another British port for example or do you need to fly and join the ship elsewhere

@MidtoLon only looking at ones from Southampton as I want to cruise to avoid the hassle of flying

Fred olsen go from Liverpool and do Norway. Not been on them but might be one to have a look at as well.

P&o of you're budgeting, princess is a nicer cruiseline. Also consider royal caribbean to the fjords, they have fun facilities for kids on their ships. I haven't tried ncl but heard they are good too.
Don't worry about being too casual, there are all sorts of people that will be sailing, most aren't wearing dinner suits 🙂