Greek Islands cruise

[Meredusoleil]

We are hoping to do this next summer 2025 when dd1 has finished her GCSEs. However, as a teacher myself and a younger dd2, we have to go in school holidays.

Looking at 10 days ideally, for 4 of us (16 + 13 yo). It will also be my 50th in July, so hoping to celebrate away! Budget and itinerary are most important factors. Must include a stop on Santorini for dh.

Any suggestions for cruise lines that have the best value itineraries please? And when is the best time to book?

PS we went on a P&O cruise around the med in 2016 and loved it. But want to avoid sailing in the Bay of Biscay this time!

Royal Caribbean would be my preferred cruise line with teens your age. Loads and I mean loads for them to do. They are so well catered for. I’ll have a wee look and see if I can find what I would book in your shoes. Are you happy to share a cabin or would you prefer 2 interconnecting?

Royal have a 9 night cruise including Santorini in August next year. Departs from Rome. Only 2 sea days which we really like. All 4 in an inside cabin starts at £958 pp. Balcony is £1096 pp. Definitely do a balcony if you can, particularly if you are all sharing.

If budget allows, interconnecting rooms, 2 in each starts at £1237 pp going up to just over £1300 pp for a balcony.

2 bathrooms would be ideal for 4 of you if you can do interconnecting.

This is available to book now on their own website but I’d always chat with a cruise agent and research myself to see what deals can be had.

Thanks for your reply!

To answer the question, we are happy sharing if it helps to keep the costs down. Also happy to fly to wherever from London to board the ship. Prefer to keep the flight time to around 2-2.5 hours though, so would rather not fly all the way to Greece.

Would aim for the last week of July if possible (as then might be on board for my birthday). But either way, would have to be back by 20th August ish for dd1 to get her GCSE results.

We had 2 inside cabins next door to each other on the P&O cruise (not interconnecting) and although tiny, they were fine for sleeping which is what we used them for. We split one adult one child at that time, as children were much younger.

We have done NCL escape Greek isle and it was fab - as great we are going again this summer.

The benefit of this cruise line is that "free at sea" means that drinks, tips, speciality, dining WiFi, and discount in excursion is included for a small fee (£99 per week)

Look for a modern ship too. Just back from Azura and it's looking but jaded!

Just looked at the RC website. Prices and itinieries look good. But are flights included or do we need to book them separately ourselves?

Yes - flight separate or a package the best deals are through travel agents - usually

I've used Iglu, cruise kings and cruise nation. Cruise kings are the best for bespoke or cruise only imho but cruise nation do great pre built packages.

You should consider p&o again then if you enjoyed them previously. They've now changed their set up, as well as sailing from Southampton, you can fly to Malta to board the ship there. Prices include flying out to Malta and transfers too. They've also done away with tipping too so all in all, really good value!

I've had a quick look at their website and didn't find a 9 or 10 night Greek island cruise end of July that wasn't over £1500 each! Have they put their prices up a lot, or is that standard for summer?!?

Is that all four of you in the one cabin or 2 cabins? I think if it's 2 cabins for 10 nights, it seems ok but for 1 cabin, it's a bit too much. I usually only go for 7 nights though so costs a bit less.

I think the RC cruises sound good. Just worried about booking the flights separately. Do RC not do packages like fly cruises?

Yes, I just did a dummy booking for next year and it appears there are no discounts for 3rd and 4th guest in cabin. Whenever I've gone with them, this has been offered and brings the price per person down a bit.

The cruise I looked at was 14 nights and was working out around £2000 each with 2 cabins as there would be no point sharing if you don't get a discount.

I've booked on royal caribbean for next summer. 3 of us in a cabin. 7 nights med but not Greece. Cruise price is just under £1000 each for an inside but by the time I add in flights to the ship, transfers, and tips, it's probably going to be around £1400 each. So yes, I still think p&o are good value!

I think royal caribbean can organise a flight for you but you have to call them up. I did it once back in 2018 over the phone and the flights were with Jet2. It might be a bit early for them to do this for next summer though, I think flights go on sale 11 months before departure.

That's good to know. Thanks. We aren't quite ready to book yet anyway, as dh can't request his AL until 11 months beforehand. So will have to wait until August. Might give RC a call just to get an idea of how much to expect 🤔