Cruise holiday

Kauto0709

Hi,

It's my partner's 30th this summer and he's mentioned wanting to go on a cruise before. I want to book us one for his 30th but I haven't a clue about cruises. I've been to cruiseholidays.ie and royalcaribbean.com but really I haven't a clue what I'm looking for. I don't know whether to go Mediterranean or Caribbean and then which actual cruise to choose, I'm hopeless. Can anyone recommend any? I have heard that a Mediterranean cruise can be more for older people, I'm 25 and he's 30 so would a Caribbean be better?

Thanks in advance

dingding

Hi,

Your budget would be important, the carribean would be more expensive due to the cost of the flights.

Depends on what you are into. I would for a first crusie in your age group a would recommend a royal carribean crusie from florida.

Bannerman7

As you have not been on a cruise why not push the "boat" out and go to the Caribbean. I have never done a Med cruise but have been on 5 Caribbean cruises with Royal Caribbean. If you decide on a Caribbean cruise you can go from Port Canaveral or Fort Lauderdale in Florida with http://www.royalcaribbean.ie/ Port Canaveral is 1hr from Orlando and Aer Lingus fly into Orlando 2/3 times a week.
Royal Caribbean offer 7 night cruises to Eastern or Western Caribbean, you can see http://www.royalcaribbean.ie/ for all the info. Cruise price depends on type of cabin and time of year, best price is Sept/ Oct because its hurricane season.
More info on cruises at http://www.cruisecritic.com/

coylemj

The travel section of the major UK newspapers is a good source for cruise info. For example, a few years some members of my family were about to book a cruise with a UK line called Fred Olsen. A quick bit of research and I found that even the Daily Telegraph travel correspondent found the Fred Olsen experience 'too British' so we eliminated them, I'd say the same probably applies to Cunard who have dining rooms with names like 'Queen's Grill' and 'Brittania' etc.

We ended up doing a Baltic cruise with MSC in July, there was a good mix of ages and nationalities and none of the destinations were too hot, that's why we avoided the Mediterranean which would probably be good for a Mar/Apr or Sept/Oct cruise.

You need to suss out the following....

1. The ambience on board, this is largely determined by the staff, the age profile of the passengers, the cruise line and the type of activities on board.

2. The size of the ship, big means you can wander around and find a quiet corner if that's what suits you. In a small ship you'll be bumping into the same people all the time.

3. The destinations and the time of year. I'd recommend you do a small piece of research on the ports of call as you need to be able to go ashore independently in at least some of them, otherwise the whole holiday will be ship/coach/ship/coach etc. and official shore excursions are sometimes expensive for what is basically a bus tour with a local guide where you stop for a break at remote bars and cafes (so you can't go to the wrong place) which give the driver free food and the courier a kickback, happens all over the world.

4. The typical age and nationality mix for cruises with that line, on that particular cruise and at that time of year. Obviously during school terms you're going to get mostly an older gang on board.

Check out the Telegraph travel webpage here, click on the tab 'Cruise Latest' and you'll see an article called 'Choosing the right cruise' which has loads of advice for a cruise newbie.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/

Kauto0709

Thanks guys! That's all been really helpful!:)