Which cruise line?

[itsbiblical]

Which cruise line would suit a group of adults 50s/early 60s wanting to do an eastern med cruise? Will have no kids and would travel outside of school holidays.

We want decent entertainment on board, good food (I've been on bargain bucket cruises and not had bad food tho, to be fair) and good value for money (some are on a bit of a budget)

Ones I've tried include carnival (great food etc but mega busy) Thomson (cheap but decent value) ocean village back in the day (loved it) Disney (not suitable for an adult only cruise)

Any recommendations?

Princess? Have a look on you tube - tons of cruise vlogs. You’ll probably be able to find one of the exact cruise ship and itinerary you’re thinking of.

I'll have a look at reviews etc - would be good to hear first hand reviews from someone else in the same age bracket with similar requirements 😂

We went on a Marella cruise several years ago - did not realise it was Tui !

Would NOT recommend.

We enjoyed a P&O cruise to Norway, despite being term time the ship was full of children.
We avoided the buffet and ate in restaurants, the food was good.

We have done a few P&O cruises, loved them all.

I do love smaller ships and we avoid the large P&O ships which are Arvia and Iona.

We have been on Azura, Ventura and Aurora which is adult only. Azura and Ventura are sister ships and I’d call them medium sized. Perfect for me in school time, I try and avoid school holidays.

I recommend Princess, it was relaxed with great food. P&O was OK, but more formal in style.

Princess or Holland America

Unfortunately it seems princess doesn't allow you to upgrade to an all inclusive drink package unless you have a suite (which I don't require)

Regent and Silversea would be ideal but you have to get a good deal.

Princess hVe great drink packages, what were you looking for? The only drinks not included are the whiskey ect that are over £20 a glass. The drinks quality is very good

I have been on P&O, Cunard, Celibrity and MSC. I would 100% recommend Celebrity - 90% recommend Cunard but very expensive for drinks and full of older people (70s+). MSC is amazing value for money but has a rather mix customer base (a few chavy families and not great service). P+O are pretty decent for the price.

Celebrity - if you can get a good deal on one of the Edge class ships (Edge, Apex, Ascent, Beyond etc) ideally, we tend to book through Iglu and usually get between £100-£150 off per person.

I've been on Sun Princess admittedly during summer holidays and it was nearly 5,000 passengers. Too many for me. Beautiful ship though.

Edited to add - we had a balcony on Sun Princess and did get the drinks package.

I just want a cruise with an all inclusive package so we don't have to pay for drinks - it came up with cruise prices that it said were basic prices and a table showing potential upgrades - but it looked like you could only add drinks package on to a suite.

If you do the princess plus that includes the drinks package.

i am doing my first princess cruise next year but the princess plus package seems very good value compared to the drinks package on P and O

Princess plus gives you something like 15 all inclusive drinks a day. You don’t need a suite, you can add it on to any room you like.

Just looking at celebrity who do a good 10 day cruise that we fancy - it's an extra 500 for the drinks which I guess isn't bad if you're a drinker. They have some decent offers on at the moment but I don't want to book yet. I'll sign up to their mailing list.

I've got a feeling the Celebrity Classic drinks package isn't as great as it used to be. I think it only includes alcoholic drinks up to $10, above that price you have to pay the difference. Something to check out. I've also found Iglu have sometimes done a better deal on the drinks package than booking direct with Celebrity (I'm not affiliated with Iglu!).

As others have said, Princess Plus is the basic drinks package option on Princess and you don't need to be in a suite to get it. The plus package also includes Ocean Now where you can order food and drinks anywhere on ship and have them delivered to you - I loved that!

The princess plus package can be added to any room, it includes daily tips, wifi, unlimited soft/hot drinks & 15 alcoholic drinks a day.

If you aren't taking children - then would recommend Virgin. Excellent food - all included. They let you do you, you don't have to dress up or do anything you don't want to. Just be you.

We went with celebrity on a Norwegian cruise this year as adults only. The ship was beautiful and food excellent but the constant up selling of drinks, tours, spa packages drove me insane! It is very tip orientated to the extreme. Also a lot of entertainment based around drinking and casino nights which wasn't to my taste.
There was an incident on board where a drunk guest physically assaulted the British comedian mid act on night 1. The comedian was sent off ship and the next port and the guest and his party were allowed to stay. Management was ineffective despite many of the guests feeling uncomfortable around this large party for the remainder of the trip. This was just one of the issues we had on board.

Have you looked at Royal Carribean? We did an Eastern Med route from Rome with them recently and it was excellent, we are late 50s with older teens but there are all ages on board, the kids are mostly in kids clubs, sports courts or around the children's pool so there are lots of quieter places (including an adults only pool area) and entertainment to suit all tastes / age groups. They have drinks packages, you have to be on the ball to buy at a good price but you keep an eye on emails and if you join a FB group for your sailing it all gets discussed.

Have a look at NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line). We really like them, especially their larger ships. Relaxed atmosphere, good entertainment, decent food, can upgrade from basic to all inclusive (drinks, some wi-fi, some speciality meals, excursion discounts) for not much more. I find this really helps, as everything is paid upfront. The only thing to watch for is the service charges added on during the cruise, but these can be removed at guest services if you choose to tip in cash instead.

Silver Sea. Absolutely fantastic.

I'm sure they are fantastic (as they should be for the amount they charge), but they're not really for someone "on a bit of a budget"

Celebrity definitely.