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*~ Cruising (travel by Waterways) megathread ~*
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I'm looking for some real experiences here ... for the last couple of years I have been to France for the family holidays .. driving over and staying in small gite/ farmhouse accommodation and have loved it. Next summer out two kids will be 5 and 3 and we decided that we wanted a change from France and something a little more relaxing for ourselves rather than worrying about cooking, cars planning days out etc.
So we jumped the gun and have booked a Med cruise with Royal Carribean for next july .. ex. Barcelona on the Vision of the Seas.
So really what I want is some reassurance that I haven't shot myself in the foot ... realistically what is it like on a cruise ship with two small kids? Is there enough on board to keep the kids entertained / active throughout the day .. i'm not too worried about the days that we are docked as they are both quite adventurous and enjoy walking around and finding stuff
Have you checked Cruise Critic ? There is a thread on Royal Caribbean where you can ask questions but think you need to register on the website.
I have been on 5 Caribbean cruises with RCCL ( without kids )
& am sailing on Oasis next year. I have never found fault with RCCL and at this point I don't even look at the rest as I know what I'm getting. 0 -
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Hi Guys be great if I could get a bit of advice. Going on a cruise next summer for honeymoon and have the choice between an MSC Poesia or the Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas.
The Ocean View room on the Poesia looks small and it comes in around the same price as an interior room on the Royal Caribbean cruise. I suppose what Im asking is has anyone any experience of both and which one would you go with? There seems to be more amenities on the Royal Caribean would this be right? We would obviously like an Ocean View room on that one but feel it is not worth the extra 1200 when the interior room actually looks bigger than the Ocean View room on the MSC Cruise.
Any help greatly appreciated
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I like both MSC and Royal Caribbean. The rooms aren't small, but personally I wouldn't bother with an ocean view room. They're just a window that doesn't open, so it's neither this nor that. I generally go for either an interior or a balcony. Most cabins are a decent enough size - you're not going to spend a huge amount of time just walking around your cabin
RCI interior staterooms range from 132-164 square feet on the splendour, whereas the Poesia Oceanviews are around 170 square feet. They're probably just laid out differently/different angle photos etc. I wouldn't let size guide you, but think more about whether you really want a window.
Interior cabins are completely dark with the lights out (which is great for getting a lie in, or taking a nap) - I usually bring a small torch with me. The oceanview stateroom will have a window, usually behind the head of the bed. It doesn't open, and it's not something you can usually sit looking out of easily, so it's a bit of a waste for me (though you may disagree).
If I liked both itineraries and everything else, and it was just down to the room, I'd pick interior. If you're going around the Mediterranean, then MSC are cheaper for drinks packages, and have more light opera style entertainment. RCI are more expensive for drinks packages, and the entertainment veers more towards musicals/comedians.0 -
I have had a balcony room a couple of times with RC, but only because at the time of booking or due to offers, it was very close to the price of an interior room. I certainly wouldn't pay a lot of money extra.
Most of the time you will either be on deck, eating, drinking or on an offshore excursion, so you probably won't spend long in the room, then again I wasn't on honeymoon. 0 -
Suarezistheman wrote: »Hi Guys be great if I could get a bit of advice. Going on a cruise next summer for honeymoon and have the choice between an MSC Poesia or the Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas.
The Ocean View room on the Poesia looks small and it comes in around the same price as an interior room on the Royal Caribbean cruise. I suppose what Im asking is has anyone any experience of both and which one would you go with? There seems to be more amenities on the Royal Caribean would this be right? We would obviously like an Ocean View room on that one but feel it is not worth the extra 1200 when the interior room actually looks bigger than the Ocean View room on the MSC Cruise.
Any help greatly appreciated
Hi, we've cruised with both companies and in our opinion, RC is streets ahead of MSC. There's definitely more amenities on RC. You may be better off booking through an agent, as I discovered this week. We've just booked an Alaska cruise for next June, which includes flights from Dublin to Toronto, Toronto to Vancouver, 7 day Alaska cruise with Holland America (room with balcony), $200 on-board credit, return flights from Vancouver to Toronto & Toronto to Dublin. We got a price of €2220 p.p. from Trailfinders in Dublin, which includes gratuities. When they sent me the quote, I went online and priced the exact same flights & cruise etc. (thinking I could knock off a fair whack by cutting out the agent and doing it myself). Wrong. Booking it myself would have cost €2668 p.p. That's a saving of nearly €900 for the two of us. I was very surprised. Hope this is of some help to you.0 -
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I think the travel agencies have some sort of deal with the airlines. They seem to always get very good flight prices.
They definitely have. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this.
We had an inside cabin on Splendour of the Seas this October out of Venice and it was fine. We didn't spend long in it.
We did a cruise on Splendour in 2012, from Messina to Greece and Turkey. It was a smaller ship than most of RC's ones, I think. It was fab though. Like you said spurious, who spends time in their cabin? We just fell into it every night
and up and away the next day 0 -
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It's not full price, but it's not a kid's price either. There's usually a "3rd person in the cabin" price, which is cheaper than the first two people. Sometimes there's "kids go free" promotions, but bear in mind they still have to provide food, and there's kids clubs and things like that. Tips ($10-$12 per person per day) and port taxes/fees still have to be paid for a toddler.
I was just checking out a few and couldnt figure out why they charged so much for him.
We used to go on a couple of cruises every year until he was born, but looking at the prices now for a 2 year old I think our cruising career is over
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lovelystuff wrote: »that's brilliant, how did you decide on trailfinders? There seem to be so many companies and options! Not til 2017 unfortunately, just trying to put everything into the budget. I'd hope to be able to afford a decent room,maybe with a view if it's not too expensive!
A friend recommended them to me a few months ago. I asked them to quote me for flight Dub-Toronto (staying there a few days), flight Toronto - Vancouver (another few days there), cruise to Alaska, flight from Vancouver - Toronto, Toronto - Dublin. They came back with a quote of €2,200, which includes upgrade to Verandah stateroom on the cruise + $200 spending money onboard. All gratuities are included.
When I received their quote, I went online and priced the exact same flights and cruise (thinking I could do it cheaper myself). Wrong. It came to €2,650 :eek: I was very surprised. That's a massive saving of €900 for the 2 of us
Whoever you book with, check if gratuities are included as they can add a few hundred to your final bill.
This will be our 7th cruise. This one will be the first with Holland America. We've cruised with Royal Caribbean the most and couldn't find fault with them.
I heard the Travel guy on Newstalk last week saying that the prices of cruises have come way down and that they are quite affordable now.
Any other questions you have, ask away.0 -
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lovelystuff wrote: »I've been looking through these cruises, thanks so much for recommending Trailfinders! The "Vancouver Stay and Alaska Cruise" looks absolutely perfect for us, it finishes in Seattle so I might even see if we could add on a few days there too (may as well go for broke!). One question which may be silly, I get sea sick on ferries like the sea cat or HSS, would a cruise ship be big enough to be stable-ish? I usually only get sea sick if it's very rocky. The ship looks quite big so fingers crossed! Also I see there is one formal night, but the rest looks casual enough (we're late twenties!). Thanks for your advice!
I've been through a force 11 on a cruise ship, and didn't see anyone being ill, and the dining room didn't look any emptier than usual It's possible all the unwell people were away in their cabins, but generally it's not an issue (walking in high heels when drunk and the ship is pitching in all 4 directions is a challenge though!).
I always get a prescription for some strong seasickness tablets before I go (just in case), but haven't ever had to use them.
Alaska and whale watching sounds wonderful. We came across a pod of whales completely by accident last year - they were a bit far away, but it was fantastic even still.
Formal nights can be fun, but if you don't want to dress up for some reason, there are usually alternative places to eat on Formal night where you can wear what you want.0 -
lovelystuff wrote: »I've been looking through these cruises, thanks so much for recommending Trailfinders! The "Vancouver Stay and Alaska Cruise" looks absolutely perfect for us, it finishes in Seattle so I might even see if we could add on a few days there too (may as well go for broke!). One question which may be silly, I get sea sick on ferries like the sea cat or HSS, would a cruise ship be big enough to be stable-ish? I usually only get sea sick if it's very rocky. The ship looks quite big so fingers crossed! Also I see there is one formal night, but the rest looks casual enough (we're late twenties!). Thanks for your advice!
Ours finishes in Vancouver but there are many that finish up in Seattle. I'm not sure when you're getting married but we were advised that mid June to mid July is the best time for Alaska - daylight up to 2/3 am. That will be strange
You won't have the sea-sickness problem on the cruise ship. You'd hardly know you were moving.
You don't have to do the formal night but I would recommend that you do, for your first cruise. It's something different. Really nice. We did it for the first few cruises but didn't bother for the last few. There will be plenty of other restaurants to dine in.0 -
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Suarezistheman wrote: »Just booking a Royal Caribbean cruise. The drinks package works out as an extra €900 for the 2 of us so I don't think it is really worth it. Anybody experience of how expensive drinks are on-board?
Yea, the drinks package on RC is quite expensive. On our last few cruises we "forgot" to take our bottles of duty free Smirnoff & Jameson out of our suitcases when we boarded and they weren't taken off us. Also, one of our party bought a bottle of vodka onshore in one of the stops and he poured it into his Ballygowan water bottle which went through the scanner, no probs when he re-boarded. 0 -
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lovelystuff wrote: »Not getting married til Sept,but we didn't want to our honeymoon straight afterwards anyway,so we might do it. If following June and just do a mini holiday after the wedding. Have you decided on what tours etc you'll do? The ship looks amazing! Thanks again!
Sounds great. I'll let you know all about it in July
Haven't even looked at the tours yet. We only ever did 2 or 3 of them as they're quite expensive. We did them for Pompeii and St. Petersburg, which were well worth the money.0
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