Cruise starter tips

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Would love to do a 7 day Europe cruise, Italy especially. No idea where to start, saw marella cruises with Tui but some not good reviews, saying it was butlins at sea.

Just me and partner, would consider taking our late teens if we think it would work for them.

We loved Celebrity , have done a few cruises with them
Hardly saw our teens ( 13 & 15 ) when we took them , there was so much for them to do on board , that was on a Southampton departure school holidays cruise down to the Med
Would also highly recommend Norway , beautiful place

We've cruised marella 4 times. Def not butlins at sea - whatever that means 😬. Amazing staff and service, all inclusive food and drinks. Fabulous holidays.

we cruise 2 or 3 times a year, our first cruise was with marella, and we were worried because we had heard about this 'butlins at sea' thing. it was fine, nice ship, lots of choices food wise and it was cheap BUT marella are not cheap now.

we have recently cruised with P&O and again it was fine and actually reasonably priced.

the problem with cruising is it has a reputation... the older cruisers will describe marella as 'butlins at sea' because they disapprove of the younger generation with their 'all inclusive' all day drinking and their casual clothing, where as P&O get a lot of bad press from the younger generation for being stuffy and out dated!

we were not sure cruising was for us, so did just a cheap 7 days with marella and we loved it so much we only cruise now. don't listen to people, book it and do it and make your own mind up.

We have recently cruised with royal carribean from southampton on anthem of the seas. First ever cruise and we loved it. Everything was spot on. We're in our late 30s with an 11 year old. I would definitely consider booking marella. Check out Emma Cruises on you tube. I would also consider celebrity too. P&O seem a little too formal for me.

These are my favourite cruise lines from best to worst.

Scenic
Disney
Celebrity
NCL/RC
Marella
P&O/Carnival

I have been in about 17 cruises with tweens/terns/early 20’s and almost 10 more with just my DH.

Scenic is a different league to all the others.

the problem with cruising is it has a reputation... the older cruisers will describe marella as 'butlins at sea' because they disapprove of the younger generation with their 'all inclusive' all day drinking

I’m early 30s and I think that, it’s not about the casual clothes and the all day drinking as we love NCL and RC which have both of those, it’s more about the quality of food (poor IMO) and entertainment (also very poor IMO) and overall just more downmarket than others. It really reminds me of a TUI resort just on water, which is fine if that’s your thing. On other lines we’ve had really good food and touring theatre level entertainment!

You are best to speak to a cruise specialist who will guide you. For a first time cruiser it can be a bit of a minefield. From choosing the cruise line, the ship size and your cabin, let alone the different type of packages available and of course the cruise itinerary (days at sea, days in port).

I love cruising, being pampered, waking up in a different port everyday, great entertainment, you can be as involved as you want or just simply relax. It's favourite type of holiday.

Look at the MSC Virtuosa sailing from Southampton - it's a really modern beautiful ship.

Lots of great tips thank you. I might watch Susan caman and Jane McDonald re runs, I love a travel binge watch