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?

The original question (which i was responding to),was asking about Mediterranean cruises, but thanks for your input. Idiot.

We holidayed on the Lapad peninsula a few years ago, opposite the port where the cruise ships dock. They were hideous - like floating giant blocks of council flats.

I have been on a mini cruise in Indonesia but the ship had a maximum capacity of 150 passengers. It was absolutely brilliant. I wouldn't want to be on one of the huge monstrosities we saw in Croatia. It must take ages for disembarking and boarding for a start.

I have been on a mini cruise in Indonesia but the ship had a maximum capacity of 150 passengers. It was absolutely brilliant. I wouldn't want to be on one of the huge monstrosities we saw in Croatia. It must take ages for disembarking and boarding for a start.

I have been on very small ships (56 passengers) and massive ones with over 5000 passengers and enjoyed them both.

Luckily we are all different otherwise there’d be a bin fight for French gites.

I would take TizerorFizz's comments about the food with a pinch of salt as I know she regularly eats at high end/Michelin starred restaurants.

We like to eat well but don't have that kind of budget.

Why, no budget has been mentioned, OP was asking for advice about Mediterranean cruises, do you know OPs budget/tastes/desires etc?

Go on You Tube and watch all the cruise vlogs- there are SO many, you’re almost guaranteed to find a vlog for the exact cruise you’re considering going on. Particularly recommend Cruise with Ben and David, and TravelblogJaime. The former does the larger ships like Princess and RC (although they’ve done just about every cruise you can think of) and the latter does a lot of P and O etc.

So do we though and we’ve still had some excellent food on NCL and Celebrity. Regent I have heard is even better!

Would recommend NCL for you then, they often have really good deals with drinks packages. Just make sure you get on one of the newer ships as they have slides and various other fun stuff that would suit a 16 year old.

Celebrity is also very good but a bit more “adult”.

They arnt small they are huge. You wouldn't even know you were on a ship it's like a massive hotel.

We have just been with Royal Caribbean in the Mediterranean. We took our kids age 12, 16 and 19. All three of them had a great time and met people their age. The food was good. There were lots of different things to do. Drinks were expensive. We enjoyed the ports mostly independently. There was one place we went which was a tiny village and it really didn’t cope with the whole cruise ship wanting to have lunch there but otherwise the crowds weren’t an issue except perhaps around the pool especially on the sea day. Getting on and off the ship wasn’t difficult even on the tender port days.

I really like cruising, as do the kids. My husband is less keen although he did enjoy this holiday. He feels you don’t spend long enough in any of the ports.

I'm here to add a more positive view of cruising in a wheelchair albeit that I am not a full time wheelchair user but I do have limited mobility and use a mobility scooter to get around. We did our first cruise with MSC last year and hired a powered wheelchair for me to get around as we had been advised that my particular scooter might find some of the corners and gangways quite tight and I was so glad I did. It was my first time abroad in over 10 years since becoming less mobile and I actually burst into tears my first time ashore "abroad" again.

We chose MSC Virtuosa and unknown to us when we boarded we found out she was full so over 6500 passengers, I won't deny that this wasn't without its irritations but after a day or so we had worked out the best places to find seats etc and which routes around the ship were less busy. Because of my restrictions I'm a huge preplanner, so before booking I'd used the whatsinport website to work out which itinary would be best for me to be able to go ashore and not have to use the shuttles or excursions, and which ones the gangplanks were likely to enable me to get up and down in the wheelchair as obviously the ship rises and falls with the tides and in some ports that affects how steep the gangplanks are. MSC were really helpful with that and allowed me to board via lower decks on occassion going through the crew areas which made a huge difference.

My husband hadn't really fancied cruising before the first one but he absolutely loved the main dining, we both enjoyed the food, and we also enjoyed the buffet - again its a question of timing, being patient, and working out where the quieter areas are (down the very back furthest from the buffet). We had breakfast and lunch in the buffet and main dining in the evening, we ate in one of the speciality restaurants (Hola Mexican) on one occassion and that was superb. My "happy place" was sitting out on our balacony watching the porpoise leaping over the ships wake - I don't sleep well due to pain so I ended up out on the balcony at 3 or 4am just chilling out watching the ocean and feeling so relaxed. We loved it so much that I booked our next cruise in MSC Euribria within a week of getting home.

The second cruise was even better than the first as we knew a bit more about how things worked and so we booked some excursions - one of the excursions we'd prebooked as a wheelchair accessible trip ended up being changed to non accessible the day before we were due to go on it, this was not the fault of MSC who were really good at refunding us immediately and we chose to take a chance using the shuttle instead and that worked out well so we used the shuttles a few times. We are now booked for our 3rd cruise (MSC Virtuosa) early next year to the Fjords which I am really looking forward to.

Pricewise I find cruising exceptional value for money we always book the premium drinks package, not because either of us are big drinkers, but DH likes a glass or 2 of wine with his meal and I get very dehydrated due to my medication (and the aircon on board does dry me out as well), so I drink a lot of virgin cocktails, soft drinks, fruit juice and bottled water. We feel that we get more than our moneys worth from the drinks package and I like just being able to have whatever I fancy without considering the cost.

The ships are huge, gorgeous and have loads of things to do, you can be as gregarious as you want or choose to stick to yourselves, I cannot manage the pools or hot tubs but thats a problem I have at home too so doesn't really bother me.

If you are new to cruising I probably wouldn't recomend a "taster cruise" 2 or 3 nights as they can often be more booze cruisy with a lot of stag/hen partys and won't give an accurate representation of a longer cruise.

It's still my idea of hell.

The key to enjoying cruising is to do your research and pick your cruise line/ship to suit your needs. There is a cruise to suit most people but pick the wrong one and you will hate it!

When our children were mid teens we went on a couple of cruises on large family orientated ships (Royal Caribbean and NCL) that we chose for the variety of activities on offer this suited us at the time as the kids could go off and do their own thing on sea days but knowing where to find us if they needed us. However be prepared to queue and accept that the food/drink quality reflects the numbers that are being catered for.

Now the kids have grown up we prefer the smaller ships which have far better quality dining experiences and visit smaller ports of call. We did an Azamara cruise that included both the Monaco and Spanish F1 races great experience as only 650 passengers. We have also done two Seabourn cruises one to Alaska which was an amazing experience as being a smaller ship with 300 passengers the itinerary visited the smaller ports and we have also done a Caribbean with Seabourn on one of their larger 600 guest ships which was again a fantastic experience where the service and food/beverage offering were top notch including a stop in St Kitts where a fully catered event with unlimited champagne and caviar was laid on at a private beach.

However I would not have done a small ship cruise with children as no real facilities for them and equally so we would not cruise again now on one of the larger mass market offerings.

I reckon the OP should look at Virgin, NCL and Royal Caribbean.

Just back from MSC World Europa and had an amazing time with our 2 16 year olds. So much to do on the ship and great stops.
Re food we took a dining package where we had a la carte meals 4 night out of 7 in steakhouse, Mexican, teppenyaki etc and food was amazing! The other night we had a designated table in a restaurant with waiter service and good menu wine included etc . We only used buffet restaurants for breakfast.
Cabins were well equipped and spacious.
We had a premium drinks package too which was great.
Highly recommend

We have cruised with p and O many a time and have found them to be very helpful with disabilities. Yes it takes some planning for port days but it is doable. We tend to avoid tender ports and enjoy quieter days on ship instead which works for us.

But even on ports where you can get straight off the ship using a wheelchair, you can very rarely go on any excursions.
Cruises can be fine if you use a wheelchair and just want to stay on the ship. Although be aware not all cabins sold as accessible actually are. They are rarely a good choice if you want to explore places.
Cruises are good for people with poorer mobility. So if you can walk fine, but not that far, they can be great.
Sorry but saying a cruise line is good for people with disabilities is not that helpful. There are many disabilities/ P and O specifically say if you are a full time wheelchair user you cant go on their excursions alone. Even though plenty of people do go on holiday alone.

If you look on Youtube there's very helpful advice, on all aspects of cruising, from Cruise Critic and lots of other reviewers. Absolutely everything is covered.

I'm interested in a cruise to Norway but I'd never go near P.&O. primarily because of the treatment of their crew. Remember, not long ago, they fired each and everyone of them by zoom and immediately replaced them with staff at a much reduced wage. This is disgusting treatment so, on principle, I'll avoid.

That was P&O ferries - it's a totally different company to P&O cruises.

I went on a P and O cruise and did not find them very good.
Cruise Critic is very good.

We have been on a few with with P&O. One of us has mobility difficulties but not a wheelchair user.

It’s worked well for the whole family. Crew are always helpful.
Food has been enjoyable, not stellar, some hits and misses but everyone is usually happy with it, and DC really enjoy dressing for dinner and choosing from the menu and trying new dishes, and having freedom to explore the ship.

We don’t do port excursions, as they aren’t really suitable, and they are expensive. But we are very happy doing our own thing, exploring the port, doing a bit of shopping, visiting a museum, having lunch, then returning to the ship. The one or two occasions the ship was docked quite far out they have laid on complimentary coaches. Other times we walked if it was close, or got a local bus.

The evening entertainment is enjoyed by all.

We never get a drinks package, but find individual drinks very reasonably priced, and spend far less than a drinks package would have cost us.

It's always been easy to find somewhere to sit out on deck, or inside, and we've never had to queue for anything, except for checking in at the start.

Tbh we initially chose to go because it is easy with a disability. But we all really enjoy it, and always look forward to the next time.

Glad you enjoy your cruises. If you are not a wheelchair user, just cant walk incredibly far (the person can obviously walk a bit if they can manage getting off at ports without needing a wheelchair and get around the ship), then you don't really need any special accommodations. I personally found the walk from cabin to getting off ship on a port could be a fair way.
As I said it is fine for people like this. You wouldn't go a hiking holiday, or stay in a hostel with only top bunks available. But an ordinary holiday is fine.
For people with disabilities that really limit what they can do, a cruise is rarely a good option. We have found fly drives, especially to places with good disability access, to be much more accessible.

This. If you want to save carbon get the train. Most places in France are easy connections via Paris or Lille. You can also get to Barcelona very pleasantly with just one change in Paris. I did it last month for work.

I definitely agree with checking out Emma Cruises. She would be very relatable for a 19 year old and their friends and family.

I imagine you would want the polar opposite of me, as I either go with my daughter or my totally blind cousin. I love Cunard & P&O Britannia, going to the Fjords or Northern Europe rather than the Med. I'm less keen on P& O Iona, Ventura, Azura and RCI, but they all filled a purpose at the time.

Cruise threads on here always get folk frothing at the mouth OP.

We enjoy cruising. We’ve done several. We decide based on ports of call rather than the actual ship. Once we’ve decided on rough itinerary, we then research who sails there. Regular lines for us have been Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. We’ve got those we won’t sail on but, as everyone is different, I won’t say who they are. Just because we don’t rate one cruise line doesn’t mean other won’t rave about it.

Id say give it a try. If it’s not for you then that’s fine. You’ve tried it once and it will be an experience. If you love it, book again.

Once you’ve booked you can find your actual cruise usually within a Facebook group and a roll call on cruise critic. You tube is a great source of information too.