Anyone been in a cruise and how was it?

[Tinatheterror]

We are thinking of a Mediterranean cruise to save flying.
Probably be seeing Spain and France mostly.
Just wondering if anyone had been before?

Cruises are worse than flight for emissions
If that's your reason to save flying.

I love them!
I have been on 24 (many different cruise lines) so if you have any questions ask away.

Cruises can be fab, definitely pick your line carefully though! Ones I’d recommend in order of preference:

If you have young kids:
Disney - high quality great theming
NCL - great ships, really good food
Royal Caribbean - exciting activities and mega ships

If you don’t have kids:
Regent
Silversea/Seabourne
Celebrity
Princess

Ones I wouldn’t go on:
P&O - downmarket and food not so good
Cunard - very stuffy/formal
Marella - butlins at sea
MSC - crap food
Costa - crap food

I complete agree!

My starter and I are going on a Msc preziosa Christmas market cruise for my birthday in early December and I am mega excited about it. We paid £1400 all inclusive for two adults and two kids age 9 and 11. Then my DH and I are going to Barbados in April for 14 days. That was £2100 including flights with p and o ( but no drinks). Then taking two grandkids to the Norwegian fjords in June with p and o and that was £1200 not including drinks. It seems brilliant value and an easy way to get a sample of each place without committing to a full week.

Just got off a cruise to Norway and Iceland this morning, really fabulous 2 weeks despite shit weather!

It was our first 2 week Cruise, 4th cruise overall and first from Southampton. It is very easy, sailing from Southampton and we were home this morning 1.5 hours after leaving the ship which is lovely.

Downsides: we missed 2 Iceland ports due to bad weather so a lot of sea days. The weather sailing from Southampton can be unpredictable, even in summer! We had rain all day yesterday for our last day! Obviously going south, the weather is likely to get better!

I love the formal nights and main dining rooms, there are always activities and things to do during the day.

Im not a fan of big ships but some love them.

Overall I love cruising and they are very hygiene aware with hand washing stations and hand sanitizer everywhere and people constantly cleaning banisters. I got Covid-19 after our first cruise but have been fine since!

Glad to hear that. Having ing to dress up for dinner is one of the things that has always put me off cruising as I don't want to dress formally (read "uncomfortably") when on holiday. Shorts and t-shirt all the way for me if going to sunny climes, jeans if cooler).

I might well enjoy a much more relaxed and casual atmosphere.

We were looking at Norway and Iceland as well so good to know.

I keep seeing ads for Virgin cruises - anyone been on one?

@Gowlett I think people who rave about the food, don’t actually go to the best restaurants here. Just be aware it’s plentiful but mass catering.

@Tinatheterror Why not just have a holiday in Iceland? You will see so much more. We are going on a small ship next summer (100 guests) and that can explore the coast by zodiacs. It’s luxury but a mile away from a giant cruise ship with formal evenings and no zodiacs. I think doing a self drive gives you a wonderful expertise too.

Norway is cheaper by huge cruise ship but Hurtigruten is more fun. Again, you will see more.

I went on my first this year and loved it. P&O from Southampton, so easy. We never did formal dining and the one time we tried one of the restaurants, we both agreed we preferred the buffet.

Ours was an adult only cruise and we had a balcony so was very easy to get the peace and quiet we wanted from our holiday. One of my colleagues goes on multiple cruises a year and loves being as sociable as possible, but that wasn't what we wanted.

We're now planning our next cruise.

Some of these comments are annoying. Cruising isn't for everyone, but for others (like me) once you've done it you won't go back to hotels again.

You need to understand what you are looking for and what your budget is. There is a huge difference in price between the options both in cabins eg inside vs balcony and cruise lines themselves and you need to price in drinks and whether to get the drinks package eg p&o is about £5 a pint. On princess it is over £10.

Ignore butlins at sea comments. This is people trying to be smug, smart and snobby. Marella for example attracts the same clientele that would otherwise go on a TUI all inclusive beach holiday. Their ships are fun but is that you? American lines are more expensive. Some lines are aimed at families more than others.

If you want to do norway then as your first cruise i'd recommend p&o iona. Its half the price of celebrity for the same itinerary so if you don't like it you not wasted money. Its almost exclusively British and the ship is impressive.

Lots of people will disagree. You need to do your research. Have fun

I have done cruises. I would only do them where you need a boat to get around. But to get something decent you do pay a lot of money. The cheaper ones also are not that great.

@TizerorFizz I have been on expensive cruises and you can get really good food. What you do not get is to properly explore local food. The local food versions on cruise ships are never that great.
I think cruise ships are for people who can't easily travel around or do not want to. So if you get stressed or anxious travelling around independently, or are disabled and so it is difficult to do so, then cruises are much easier.

@AvrielFinch Yes. I think that’s correct, but when we go on holiday we make a lot of effort to go to top notch restaurants. Cruise food, on large and small ships doesn’t come close. I’m not talking about a decent steak or “high street” food. That’s readily available and just fine. On holiday we like somewhere special and location and ambience matter too. Impossible on any cruise ship. However if guests don’t want that experience, that’s fine. We recently went on a cruise around Sicily. Wonderful meals off the ship!!

We love cruising! Have done more than 20 and sailed on 10 different lines, not loyal!

I love to wake up in a new place to explore, mixed up with relaxing days at sea. Also love that the ship gets us to places I would probably never visit otherwise (Alaska for example).

Choosing the right ship / cruise line for you is key, just like picking the right hotel for you. Can you tell us more about what you like / dislike in a holiday - that will help guide. Are you bringing children? Do you like lots of activities? Do you mind crowds? Like dressing up or prefer casual? Prefer to mix with Brits, Americans or noone?! Budget? Drinker? etc.

Well I am a 19 year old girl who has done a few of the holiday islands with family and friends so we fancy a change
We enjoys shows and some sport. We enjoy some competitions and don't mind mixing a little.
Our party would vary from 16 -42 years of age but we all get on well, although we do our own thing sometimes and meet up later.
We like a few drinks without going over the top.
Hope that helps

We went with MSC and barely anyone dressed up for dinner. A few did, but most were "smart casual" which was absolutely fine and no one cared. Probably not if you wanted to go to a formal restaurant in a t-short, shorts and sliders, though you'd be fine in the buffet restaurant even in swimwear!

Depends on your budget,but i would rather not cruise if it were on Marella/P&O/Royal/MSC/Princess, but each to his own and we are fortunate enough to be able to do small lux lines.

Hi OP, @Tinatheterror , have you had a look at any YouTube reports? Again there seems a plethora of them, as varied as the cruise lines. Personally I go from Southampton as very local so convenient for me. Have neen on about half a dozen cruises over two decades, mainly P&O, which has suited me but like everything seeing the changes, different market/demographic aimed for. Cutbacks by companies and customers wanting more for their money. I have tended to do my thing in port rather than excursions. As previously said it can be a big difference if you can walk into the town or city from the port rather than getting a shuttle bus or taxi. I never bother with drink packages which seem heavily promoted/pushed - I could never consume £50 of drinks a day so happy to pay for a wine or g&t as I go. Beware of the drink packages, all passengers in the cabin have to have it so not one opt in and one opt out (in case of sharing I guess). Not sure how that works if a big group across several cabins. Just to be aware and research.
From your update it sounds like a cruise could suit your big party, range of ages.
As said it is a case of researching and choosing the right cruise company/size of ship.
I like YouTuber EmmaCruises myself. Many more out there. I like the variety of ports: Baltic & St Petersburg (off limits now obviously), Norway fjords, several Med including with a disabled care client a few times (Rick Gannon, a property/BTL guy has posted his experiences with his family including his son, a full time wheelchair user, on P&O). I did 80 day round the world cruise 20yrs ago but that was on a 1,600 passenger & 800 crew ship which probably looks like the tug or tender for the newer 5/6k passenger ships like Iona or Arviva.
It is very much a personal thing but I can understand the 'butlins at sea' comments and other sterotypes.
Hopefully you find something to suit you all. Bon voyage. C x

@@TizerorFizz

Absolutely agree about Hurtigruten - best cruise I've done. I recommend the 12 day Norwegian classic from Bergen to Kirkenes (apparently pronounced Chirkenes by the locals - who knew?) and back.

Not true re the food in our case, we often go to
Michelin star restaurants in the uk and have been to a good few around the world (sorry I don’t know how to phrase that without sounding braggy). We are not buffet people but have found some of the speciality restaurant on NCL and celebrity to be excellent standard, certainly AA rosette quality or Michelin plate (not star). I have heard the food on Disney and princess is also very good. Royal I think is more hit and miss but more aimed at kids so food not the main focus.

Well good for you. That's really helped the OP as small luxury cruise lines sound just the sort of thing she is after. Not.

Be aware if you are a wheelchair user that not all port excursions are accessible. They usually use ordinary coaches.

Absolutely agree. On the P&O cruise I mentioned above, the wheelchair users had awful experiences...most ports seemed like they weren't accessible, one family got stranded as the accessible minibus left them in the heat and didn't return, one of the ramps off the ship was higher (very steep) on one particular port so a man couldn't self wheel off - one of the P&O staff (without asking consent), spun the man's chair around and tipped him swiftly back at a 45 degree angle the way you would with a luggage carrier and sped him down the ramp backwards,
roughly. The man's wife started screaming, because he had a spinal injury and a shift in his vertabrae of just a few mm would be enough to kill him. It was really sickening and the pair of them looked very shaken and upset.

Another elderly couple found that in most of the ports they had to go straight back onto the ship due to all the streets being cobbled and uphill and their chair not coping very well.

Cruises, if you want to get off the ship, really aren't always the accessible holidays people expect them to be.