*~ Cruising (travel by Waterways) megathread ~*

Thoie

faulty wrote: »

Hi Thoie,
Cheers for your reply, that is very helpful.
One last question, in terms of notifying the cruise ship, would we want to notify them as we are booking the cruise or when we board the cruiser. Suppose when we book?

Thanks

Yes, I'd probably email them before booking, if it's very important to you. If you'd be happy to return to Venice if things didn't work out, then book and try and arrange it afterwards.

hdowney

So I booked myself and the mammy a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise out of New Orleans in September on the Carnival Dream Cannot wait

deadl0ck

Myself, my wife, and 2 kids (4 1/2 and 1 years old in May) are thinking of a week in May round the med with MSC...

coylemj

deadl0ck wrote: »

Myself, my wife, and 2 kids (4 1/2 and 1 years old in May) are thinking of a week in May round the med with MSC...

Most MSC Med cruises seem to be circuits of the western or eastern Med.

Western Med cruises usually last 7 days (so for example Sunday-Sunday) and involve a clockwise circuit around Corsica and Sardinia, they typically include one stop in either Morocco (e.g. Casablanca) or Tunisia (Tunis) plus a few stops in places like Genoa, Rome, Messina or Palermo (Sicily), Palma or Valencia or Barcelona. Most of the western Med cruises involve at most one day 'at sea' i.e. no docking at a port.

Eastern Med cruises are typically for 7 or 11 days, the longer trips involve a run to either Cyprus or somewhere (typically Haifa) in Israel. The 7 day cruises involve a couple of stops on the Adriatic (usually involving Venice) and some Greek Islands with Istanbul as a stop in some of them. A lot of the 11 day cruises involve three days 'at sea'.

With very young kids, I'd keep an eye on the itinerary of each cruise and watch to see if there are days listed as being 'at sea' which means you are on the boat all day cruising. Well and good if you feel you can entertain the kids on the ship with poolside fun and games but just be aware that 'at sea' means that you and up to 3,000 people will be confined to the boat all day.

dinnyirwin

faulty wrote: »

Hey,
It is possible to disembark the ship at an earlier port than the final destination?
Eg, a 7 night cruise with MSC from Venice and returning to Venice, can we disembark in Dubrovnik (on the 6th day) and tour Croatia for a few days.

Cheers

We've done exactly that several times.
Just phone them when you are booking and tell them what you are doing.
They wont mind at all, but they need to know whether you are coming back or not. Thats why you have to tell them.

We've often got on at the second or third port too.

And we once got off in Naples and then drove up to Livorno, visiting relatives on the way while the ship spent a couple of days getting there. Then got back on at Livorno and carried on.

deadl0ck

Booked
Just an FYI for people - currently MSC are doing a free upgrade to a Balcony cabin - apparently this deal runs out at the end of the month (Friday)

deisemum

After reading this thread and having watched planet cruise on tv this week I'm now considering a cruise for my silver wedding anniversary this time next year.

Thoie

deisemum wrote: »

After reading this thread and having watched planet cruise on tv this week I'm now considering a cruise for my silver wedding anniversary this time next year.

I obviously love them, as I keep going back. What part of the world are you thinking? Make sure when booking you let them know it's your anniversary. Sometimes they might throw in a little present on board if they know. It's not guaranteed, but worth a shot.

deisemum

Thinking of the mediterranean and for a week or 9 nights max and it will have to be during the Easter school holidays next year.

irish_goat

Anyone any experience booking last minute cruises? We're considering going on a Med cruise in September and wondering if we could nab a cheap deal by going to a travel agent the week before.

Thoie

irish_goat wrote: »

Anyone any experience booking last minute cruises? We're considering going on a Med cruise in September and wondering if we could nab a cheap deal by going to a travel agent the week before.

I did it once - the cruise was reasonable enough, but I got hammered on the flights. IIRC I ended up paying about €800 for return flights to Rome.

If you have your eye on a cruise, take a look and see now if there are any cheap flights that you wouldn't mind losing the cost if you didn't get a cruise for the right dates.

Also, be aware if going out of Rome that Civiteveccia (sp?) is about 90 minutes drive outside Rome, and a PITA to get to. For preference, the next time I'm doing a Mediterranean cruise I'm going to avoid Rome departures if I can.

maxpower

im getting married in october, was planning to drive around europe for 2 weeks for the Honeymoon, but priced it up and it came to about 3500. so i thought, for that money id be better going on a cruise.

Found one leaving venice 2-3 days after the wedding for 12 nights arrives in Barcelona , its on the Norwegian Spirit, NCL, price is very good under 2400 for a balcony cabin.

Just wonder has anyone here been on this before or if not what would you recommond?

also how or when do you purchase the drinks package, and how much can it cost?

thanks

jhegarty

The Spirit is great ship for a first cruise. Spent 9 days on her myself and it was one of the best cruises I have been on.

€1200 each is a good price, just make sure you book your flights early. Venice gets expensive as you get closer.

Buy the drinks package before you go or you will be stung for vat on it. This the is two packages:

(Edit , just noticed you stop in Turkey , so Vat won't apply)


$49.00/day (+15% to cover tips): Ultimate Beverage Package
Enjoy a wide selection of soft drinks, beers, spirits, cocktails and wines by the glass during your entire cruise.

Beverage packages must be purchased for all guests staying within the same stateroom, additional stateroom, adjoining stateroom or travel with.



$44.00/day (+15% to cover tips): Corks and Caps Wine and Beer Package
Enjoy a wide selection of soft drinks, beers, and wines by the glass during your entire cruise.

Beverage packages must be purchased for all guests staying within the same stateroom, additional stateroom, adjoining stateroom or travel with.

Thoie

maxpower wrote: »

im getting married in october, was planning to drive around europe for 2 weeks for the Honeymoon, but priced it up and it came to about 3500. so i thought, for that money id be better going on a cruise.

Found one leaving venice 2-3 days after the wedding for 12 nights arrives in Barcelona , its on the Norwegian Spirit, NCL, price is very good under 2400 for a balcony cabin.

Just wonder has anyone here been on this before or if not what would you recommond?

also how or when do you purchase the drinks package, and how much can it cost?

thanks

I've never sailed NCL, but hear good things about them. These forums may be of use to you:
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=107 (General NCL discussion)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=110 (Look at the "roll call" for the sailing you're interested in).

Drinks packages can usually bought at the same time as your cruise, or up to x days before sailing online, or onboard. There are often some small savings for purchasing in advance.

Different cruise lines have different pricings for drinks packages from MSC's €25 per day per person in Europe (good value) to Royal Caribbeans $65 per person per day. Some of it depends on what you drink - if you only drink beer, for example, you could buy a cheaper RCI package.

From what I gather, NCL's Ultimate Drinks Package works out around $56 (including the 15% gratuity) per person per day, everyone sharing a cabin has to buy it. One thing to check on the price of your cruise is whether that includes tips. You can usually prepay your tips (around $10-$12 per person per day). The first time I cruised I thought "No way, I'm not auto-tipping someone before I've even seen the service", but was persuaded to do so. I was glad I did - the service is always excellent, and that $12 per day is split between all the restaurant staff and housekeeping staff who make your trip so enjoyable. Also note that every drink you buy on board has a 15% tip added to the bar bill when you're signing for it.


I like a few drinks, but don't drink consistently enough throughout my holiday to make an alcohol package worth it for me. For my next cruise (3 weeks away!) I've taken what's called the Royal Replenish package, which is soft drinks, freshly squeezed orange juice, bottled water and fancy coffees (lattes, etc). That was $20 a day, but I'll definitely get the use out of that on the water, coffees and OJ alone, and the soft drinks will be a bonus.

If I do change my mind and decide I want to drink from breakfast all the way through the day, I believe I can upgrade to an alcohol package once on board.

spurious

Going on my first cruise in October. Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas, Seven nights to Croatia and Greece out of Venice.
I like a glass of wine with dinner and I like lattes etc., so I think I'm probably best going with the Royal Replenish and just paying for the wine nightly.
Reading about cruises on another forum, some people seem to plan them like a military campaign.

jhegarty

spurious wrote: »

Reading about cruises on another forum, some people seem to plan them like a military campaign.

Don't worry, you will do the same for your second.

pink100

Booked our cruise for end of June, Med with MSC Splendia, nervous now about this reading all different posts on cruise critic etc etc.
bringing the kids, 12 and 9 so hoping they enjoy it also.
all the usual worries, what to bring, what to wear, tours off the boat, sleeping and sea sickness.

got cruise for good deal but the flights to Barcelona really upped the price. so watch out for that when booking

any tips greatly appreciated

mickman

maxpower wrote: »

im getting married in october, was planning to drive around europe for 2 weeks for the Honeymoon, but priced it up and it came to about 3500. so i thought, for that money id be better going on a cruise.

Found one leaving venice 2-3 days after the wedding for 12 nights arrives in Barcelona , its on the Norwegian Spirit, NCL, price is very good under 2400 for a balcony cabin.

Just wonder has anyone here been on this before or if not what would you recommond?

also how or when do you purchase the drinks package, and how much can it cost?

thanks

drinks package is a waste of time unless you are going to get hammered every day. The price on this is good because October is off peak and the weather wont be great.

I have sailed Norweigan and found them good

carolinespring

We have booked the 12 Canary island cruise for October with Royal Caribbean. We have cruised many times and love it. I would suggest anyone who is doing a second RC cruise signs up to its C&A. You get a few little extra depending on what level member you are.

finbarrk

pink100 wrote: »

Booked our cruise for end of June, Med with MSC Splendia, nervous now about this reading all different posts on cruise critic etc etc.
bringing the kids, 12 and 9 so hoping they enjoy it also.
all the usual worries, what to bring, what to wear, tours off the boat, sleeping and sea sickness.

got cruise for good deal but the flights to Barcelona really upped the price. so watch out for that when booking

any tips greatly appreciated

We did a Med one with MSC last Summer with our kids, 13 and 10. We had a great time. Didn't bother with any of the tours when at port. Just got a taxi into the cities and explored for a bit of the day.
If sea sickness or any illness occurs the medic on board is great.
Get the drinks package also, it's around €500 for the week for 2 adults and 2 kids.
You don't need to overpack as you can wash clothes yourself and dry them on the balcony.

coylemj

pink100 wrote: »

Booked our cruise for end of June, Med with MSC Splendia, nervous now about this reading all different posts on cruise critic etc etc.
bringing the kids, 12 and 9 so hoping they enjoy it also.
all the usual worries, what to bring, what to wear, tours off the boat, sleeping and sea sickness.

got cruise for good deal but the flights to Barcelona really upped the price. so watch out for that when booking

any tips greatly appreciated

Keep an eye on the weather forecast for the places you'll be visiting on websites like www.foreca.com or www.accuweather.com and remember that any forecast that's more than 10 days out is pure guesswork. If you have a smartphone, install the Accuweather app and store the places you'll be visiting in the order that you'll be visiting them, that way you can watch the forecasts as the week progresses and you can plan on what to wear the next day, especially if going ashore.

For the end of June in the Med. it's likely to be warm/hot and dry for most places you'll be visiting so chances are you'll need warm summer clothes and one light weatherproof top per person.

Don't worry about posts in cruise critic etc., these tend to be people who had some minor problem unresolved, they stew on it, let it ruin their holiday and when they get home they decide to 'get at' the cruise line by posting a negative review, just like what happens with hotels and B&Bs on Tripadvisor. Cruise lines rely big time on repeat business and recommendation by word of mouth, they wouldn't last long if the service or (especially) the food was substandard.

Was on a cruise last week on MSC Fantasia which is a sister ship (same size) as the Splendia, it was full of kids having fun thanks to the Easter holidays but I found it depressing to see people drinking beer and cocktails at 11 a.m. - don't buy a drinks package is my advice. It was by no means a 'booze cruise', there was zero pubic drunkenness or raucous sing-songs but it occurred to me that there was definitely a few people who felt the need to drink all day, pity them.

Service in the bars is relatively slow and relaxed, in most cases you can only get a beer by sitting down away from the bar counter and ordering from a waiter/ess. There is a large selection of wines in the range of 20-30 euro per bottle in the restaurant for dinner. For me they are the two reasons why I wouldn't buy a drinks package, it is not an environment for a heavy drinker (probably deliberately so) and you cannot bring booze onboard. Last week was my second MSC cruise and if I was going again next week I wouldn't buy a drinks package.

Unless you get motion sickness in an elevator or on a moving walkway in airports, you have nothing to worry about in regard to seasickness. The ships have stabilisers so there is no roll whatsoever and the length of the ship (Splendia is 333m long) means no pitching either. You will sometimes feel gentle bumps from gusts of wind and rough seas but nothing that would keep you from walking about or otherwise enjoying yourself.

Thoie

pink100 wrote: »

Booked our cruise for end of June, Med with MSC Splendia, nervous now about this reading all different posts on cruise critic etc etc.
bringing the kids, 12 and 9 so hoping they enjoy it also.

As others have said, while cruise critic is a great resource for many things (they have some great tips on there), ignore the bad reviews. I was worried about booking MSC last year as well after reading some of the things about the food and service. Having used them last year, I think a lot of the complaints are from Americans, who are basically complaining that MSC isn't American.

The food was lovely - I'm a picky eater and always found something I liked. The service at bars etc is discreet. You won't wait long for a drink, but they don't come dashing up trying to be your best friend the second you walk in, which some Americans seem to want.

I also heard a lot of Americans complain about the fact that announcements are made in multiple languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Italian iirc). It's not a big deal, and it's nice for other nationalities to know what's going on. You'd swear the Americans were being held at gunpoint and being forced to do something. Some of them seem to get really offended by the fact that the entire world isn't English speaking.

coylemj

Thoie wrote: »

The service at bars etc is discreet. You won't wait long for a drink, but they don't come dashing up trying to be your best friend the second you walk in, which some Americans seem to want.

+1 If you want to sit in one of the bars and listen to the piano player without buying a drink, that is not a problem so the staff do not do the US 'Hi, I'm Sandy your waiter' routine. Instead they will pass by with a tray and discreetly attempt to make eye contact but if you make no attempt to place an order they will go away and leave you alone.

deadl0ck

Heading to Barcelona tomorrow and the sailing out on Friday for 1 week med cruise with MSC - really looking forward to it. I'll post back when we get back (Myself, my wife and 2 kids, 4 years old and 1 year old)

Cape Clear

deadl0ck wrote: »

Heading to Barcelona tomorrow and the sailing out on Friday for 1 week med cruise with MSC - really looking forward to it. I'll post back when we get back (Myself, my wife and 2 kids, 4 years old and 1 year old)

Enjoy! We are booked on the same cruise in July.

mimihand

Hi all,

We are thinking of going on a cruise this summer, however I will be almost 5 months pregnant by then. Can anyone tell me is a cruise a good holiday option for someone if they are pregnant?

Also, what is the food like? I am coeliac & must have gluten free food, do they cater well for dietary requirements?

Thank you in advance,
mimi

Thoie

mimihand wrote: »

Hi all,

We are thinking of going on a cruise this summer, however I will be almost 5 months pregnant by then. Can anyone tell me is a cruise a good holiday option for someone if they are pregnant?

Also, what is the food like? I am coeliac & must have gluten free food, do they cater well for dietary requirements?

Thank you in advance,
mimi

Yes, yes and yes. Warning - I just got back on Saturday, and am already making plans for another.

The cruise can be as hectic or as calm as you want. There are usually gyms if you want to be super active, there are pools, jacuzzis, etc that might help if your back is starting to get sore. They're air conditioned, so no worries about over-heating.

They cater very well for special diets. Someone I was dining with is coeliac, and each night the waiter would bring them a menu to pick from for the following day, so that their food could be prepared specially and safely in advance. You will probably still be offered bread rolls every 30 seconds until they learn not to, but you can always say no

As long as you don't have any unusual medical requirements during the pregnancy, I'd go for it. Can you bring me with you?

coylemj

mimihand wrote: »

Also, what is the food like? I am coeliac & must have gluten free food, do they cater well for dietary requirements?

I can only talk about MSC which I've been with twice. On each cruise, a member of our party who is a coeliac received excellent attention and was most impressed with the way she was looked after.

Each night we sat down to dinner and while our regular waiter was taking the order for wine and we were reading the menu, a supervisor guy came over to our coeliac friend and talked her through the items on the menu that were gluten-free or which could be ordered with a gluten-free option (e.g. no sauce/gravy). He also gave her a gluten-free bread roll to have with her soup and usually came back midway through the meal to make sure that she was happy with the food.

Note that the dinner menu consisted of usually 5 courses with 3-4 items per course so being told you couldn't order this or that didn't have a huge effect on your choices.

You're be more or less on your own at other times of the day because for example a lot of the staff on the food buffet counters on our last cruise had poor English but most coeliacs can figure what they can and can't eat when looking at a food buffet.

twowheelsonly

mimihand wrote: »

Hi all,

We are thinking of going on a cruise this summer, however I will be almost 5 months pregnant by then. Can anyone tell me is a cruise a good holiday option for someone if they are pregnant?

Also, what is the food like? I am coeliac & must have gluten free food, do they cater well for dietary requirements?

Thank you in advance,
mimi

You might want to check with the cruise lines and inform them beforehand.,
Royal Carribean for instance won't take anyone over 24 weeks pregnant.

http://bookings.royalcaribbean.co.uk/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&faqId=313&faqSubjectId=333&wuc=IRL

coylemj

twowheelsonly wrote: »

You might want to check with the cruise lines and inform them beforehand.,
Royal Carribean for instance won't take anyone over 24 weeks pregnant.

http://bookings.royalcaribbean.co.uk/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&faqId=313&faqSubjectId=333&wuc=IRL

Same for MSC which is (as with RC) that you cannot be on or after the 24th week at any stage during the cruise.

Can I travel while pregnant?

Yes, provided you do not reach or exceed the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy during the trip. Regardless of the stage of pregnancy, before going on a cruise it is advisable to consult a doctor who will be able to establish whether the guest is fit to travel.


http://www.msccruises.co.uk/uk_en/An-MSC-Cruise/Special-Needs-FAQ.aspx#msc18