*~ Cruising (travel by Waterways) megathread ~*

deisemum wrote: »

Thoie that's a great post, thanks for all that useful information. The day tours look good and the tour bus leaves the port at 8.30am. When you're waiting to leave how long are you waiting for your number to be called to get your luggage so I can allow sufficient time to get to the bus stop for the tour?

I suppose breakfast is served very early.

I never really seem to remember the departure morning - I always seem to teleport from my cabin and end up at my transport outside. I think I kind of sleepwalk the bit in between due to tiredness

If you go to guest services early in the cruise and tell them you have an 8:30 pickup they should be able to advise you. When you get off the ship the suitcases are normally grouped by the same number as your ticket, so if you're blue23 (for example), when you get off the ship there'll be a row of suitcases under blue23 and you go get your own from there - that can take a little while for me, possibly because I'm still asleep.

I mostly go for a hoor's breakfast, but I think on departure day breakfast is available from a few places, depending on the ship. I think if you wanted a 7am breakfast you might need to go self-service. If you're on Royal Caribbean, and there's a Café Promenade, it's a good place to grab a cup of coffee and some small sandwiches/pastries.

maebee wrote: »

On cruise No 3. this became a problem for us. Long story, but nearly missed the flight from Barcelona to Dublin (thousands queuing up for taxis. Now we don't leave our cases out the night before, for collection. We just leave in our own time on departure morning- bypassing the thousands waiting for their colour/number to be called.

Maebee, I've never arrived into Barcelona by sea before, but will be this year (April Transatlantic from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona). I'm arranging to be collected from the port and brought to the airport for the 10:50am flight to Dublin. Due to bad back and overpacking, I'd prefer not to self-disembark.

Any tips/tricks for arrival in Barcelona, or what the port is like etc? I'll be on the Allure, so potentially up to 6,500 people disembarking! Though realistically she won't be at capacity for a T/A - I'd take a guess at 5,000 pax max.

maebee wrote: »

Hi Thoie,

If you have collection arranged at the port, you'll be by-passing the thousands queueing for taxis. Have you pre-booked a taxi to pick you up? Have they told you exactly where the pick-up will be?

I think it's only a 15 minute trip to the airport. I remember that we were queueing for over an hour for a taxi and we had to go along the line asking people if we could skip, showing them our flight tickets. Very stressful.

I wonder could you request an early dis-embark?

Someone from cruise critic has arranged a 6-seater for 4 of us with flights around the same time (we're booking a 6 seater to ensure luggage space!) We're booking an 8:30am collection.

My plan is to go to guest services early in the trip (it's a 12 night trip) and ask for the 4 of us (all travelling separtely, dotted around the ship) to be assigned the same departure slot for maybe 8am. If they can't do that, our next plan is for us all to bring our suitcases to one cabin the night before so they'll have all the same tags.

I'm on countdown now, we're staying in Dublin Thursday night as we've a very early flight to Barcelona on Friday. Our last port will be Valletta in Malta instead of Tunis after the terrorist attack 2 weeks ago. The ship we're going on was caught up in that attack, MSC Splendida.

Just a couple of queries. I don't plan on using my mobile phone onboard, if I switch on my phone but don't use it will I be charged or is it only if I phone someone or someone phones me will I be charged?

Can you eat anytime you like apart from either first or second sitting for dinner, we're booked for early sitting?

deisemum wrote: »

I'm on countdown now, we're staying in Dublin Thursday night as we've a very early flight to Barcelona on Friday.

...


Can you eat anytime you like apart from either first or second sitting for dinner, we're booked for early sitting?

Whee - you must be so excited! I'm a few weeks behind you, and already nearly bouncing off the walls!

Spurious already covered the data question. You'll get a daily programme (it will be waiting in your cabin on arrival, and your steward will leave one for the next day each night), and that will tell you what food options are available when. With the exception of around 2-6am you can get food almost anywhere. There's usually one place open all night.

The main dining room will serve breakfast and lunch as well as dinners, but usually only on one floor. There's a coffee bar in the main "street" which has small sandwiches/pastries iirc (I've been on Royal Caribbean ships more recently than MSC).

The cafeteria on deck 14 (pool deck) is open about 20 hours a day, and the food changes with the time of day - outside of traditional breakfast, lunch, dinner hours there'll always be fruit, usually some salads, cakes and a few hot and cold dish options. During more normal eating times there'll be a much bigger selection. Before making a decision, take a walk around, and all the way down the back - there may be something you might like down there (for example, once or twice I discovered omelettes cooked to order hiding somewhere in the cafeteria).

There's also room service (continental breakfast is free most of the time (but always tip the waiter), and you pay for other things on MSC - again I'm having problems remembering, but there was usually a soup, club sandwich type thing and some other cold, snacky items.

deisemum wrote: »

I hate the packing and deciding what to wear. I've started making a list of things to bring and things I need to do before I go. I'll probably forget something.

Are you allowed bring a travel iron onboard?

No - travel irons aren't allowed

maebee wrote: »

p.s. They want you to use their laundry service - i.e. they don't want you doing your own ironing.

It's also a fire hazard so in fairness they have a point!

I'm starting to get excited now. I'm calm for now.

SweetSand that's good to hear, did you do any of the excursions? I haven't really looked into them yet. Does the ship dock close to the cities if you don't do the organised excursions or would you need a taxi? I know Rome is about 90 mins from the port so we'll probably do that excursion.


I don't normally suffer from seasickness between Ireland and UK but what's it like in the med?

deisemum wrote: »

SweetSand that's good to hear, did you do any of the excursions? I haven't really looked into them yet. Does the ship dock close to the cities if you don't do the organised excursions or would you need a taxi? I know Rome is about 90 mins from the port so we'll probably do that excursion.


I don't normally suffer from seasickness between Ireland and UK but what's it like in the med?

If you don't get sea sick on Irish Ferries, you'll probably be OK on a cruise ship. The only time I've ever felt vaguely seasick was between Rosslare and Cherbourg in relatively calm weather, whereas I've been through a force 11 on a cruise ship without a bother. I always pack some tablets just in case, but have never used them yet.

sporter1 wrote: »

Are the cruises suitable for single people? I am 40 male and wondering if it's easy to mingle or do people keep to themselves, maybe there is a particular cruise for single people?

All mine have been single (similar age to you, but female). Keep an open mind about the ages of people you meet - if you only want to talk to 25-40 year olds you may be disappointed.

I've found that less port-intensive cruises are better for meeting people, as people are around the ship more and you're more likely to run into the same faces again. Taking a set dining time at a large table, going to various events are also good ways to meet people as well. Also sign up for your "roll call" on cruise critic - gives you a chance to get to know a few people in advance. They'll often have sailaway parties etc arranged, where you can meet some people on the first day. You won't necessarily like everyone on your roll call, and that's OK - you're not glued to them for the trip.

Watch out on the cruise critic site for the difference between solo and single. Solo usually has connotations of a person travelling alone for any reason, whereas single is often taken to mean "looking for love". On the other hand, don't avoid the "singles lunches" either. I did at the beginning, but it turns out that it's not a weird awkward dating thing, just lunch

I've only ever travelled with Royal Caribbean so can't give an objective answer to that but the three Caribbean cruises I did with them were great - my own preference would be to steer clear of Oasis & Allure and go for a slightly smaller ship as the itineraries tend to be a bit more interesting, but for your first time any of the islands are going to be amazing!

^ that tip about NCLs single cabins will be stored in the mental bank in case my mother doesn't get a kick out of cruising (which I hope she will). I never did make it on my Carnival Caribbean cruise due to unforeseen illness.

I am looking at a cruise for July 2016 (2015's holiday is already booked to Lake Garda so...). So far I have looked at Celebrity, didn't draw me, RCL, a couple 'kinda did' and NCL, where a cruise from Venice for 7 days round the Greek Island's on the Norwegian Jade ticked many boxes. Still have to look at MSC and Princess to see what they offer.

Anyone been on NCL ships tell me anything about their experiences with NCL? Anyone been on the Norwegian Jade specifically? She seems like a small/mid-size ship. about 2000pax so not in the superclass ship. Anyone done a Greek Island's style Itinerary?

Cheers

When we disembarked at Barcelona we went to collect our luggage from the conveyer belt and spotted a man at a portable desk taking passengers luggage to mind for the day and deliver it to their hotel, train station or airport. We left our luggage with him, it was €10 per bag and meant we were luggage free to spend the day sightseeing in Barcelona as our flight wasn't until 10.45pm. We got the T3 post bus into the Christopher Columbus statue and then did the hop on hop off tour of Barcelona and a tour of the Nou Camp. We got the airport bus out to the airport and collected our luggage which was already on a trolley ready for us.

It was a great holiday and everything was so well organised.

I keep checking seascanner.com or cruise companies own websites, ebookers.ie have some good deals as well.

www.holidaypirates.com/cruises sometimes have special deals at the start and end of the holiday seasons.

hdowney wrote: »

Hey Thoie who do you use for cruise insurance? Or any of ye Irish folks for that matter?

Just back from my cruise too - too exhausted to detail it yet (too much fun!). I also disembarked in Barcelona for the first time, and was impressed with the setup - very smooth (even if I did stand at the wrong belt for a while).

I'm with GloHealth at the moment, so using their annual holiday insurance. The health insurance part covers medical worldwide, so the holiday add-on is really just for missed flights/luggage/delays etc, so it's only about €50 a year (or less). Think it's underwritten by Allianz.

The main thing to confirm with any insurance company is will they cover the cost of getting you to the next port if you miss the ship for some reason. Not all do. Mine covers me only if I'm delayed on public transport.

A rather haphazard cruise review, missing all sorts of details. Ask questions if there's something major I've missed!

Flew DUB-JFK-FLL and stayed in a motel on the night before the cruise. Rodeway Inn and Suites. It was cheap and cheerful, but primarily provided both airport and cruise transfers, and had a little gift shop for last minute purchases, as well as a bar that served burgers etc.

You can get the free shuttle the next morning, which is quite well organised, but involves a certain amount of standing around in the heat waiting for your shuttle (pretty much everyone in the hotel is waiting for a shuttle, so you may be waiting up to two hours). I paid an extra $5 for a "specific time" shuttle at 1pm which meant I could loiter elsewhere.

Due to my comparatively late arrival at the pier (my boarding time was for 2:45pm or something, but everyone seems to ignore that and turn up around 11am), there were hardly any queues. The longest delay was a couple in front of me who had apparently never been through a security x-ray/metal detector before, and made a hames of the entire queue.

Walked straight onto the ship and headed straight to my cabin (which was open by then), mainly because I should have gone to the toilet before we left the hotel Dropped hand luggage, then went looking for food. I was on the Allure of the Seas transatlantic from Fort Lauderdale to Málaga, then on to Barcelona. The Central Park was close to my cabin, so went there for a "pick your own salad" in the Park Café.

The Allure is huge (currently the biggest cruise ship at sea). At max capacity it can take something like 6,500 passengers and another 2,500 crew. From deck 6 upwards it splits in two at the aft, leading to a variety of "neighbourhoods" - a boardwalk (carousel, aquatheatre, hot dog stand etc); Central park (a live, growing park in the middle of the ship, lined with shops and restaurants); 4 different pool zones (kiddies, sports, beach, and other) as well as a solarium; Royal promenade - bars, shops, guest services. There's ziplining, rock walls, flowriders, mini golf and a whole bunch of other stuff I didn't try.

Despite 10 days at sea, I never even explored huge portions of the ship, it's just that big. The entertainments were fine - never really my thing. The aqua shows were worth watching. Chicago (which was finishing up) did nothing for me. I ended up missing many of the other shows, including Blue Planet which I'd really wanted to see.

From around 7am to 11pm each day there were a whole variety of activities taking place. I mostly did "trivia" (mini pub quizzes, prizes, if any, are generally things like key rings, but they can get very competitive!), but there were zumba classes, aquarobics (which I kept missing), arts and crafts type things, the occasional movie (I watched X-men Day of Future Past in 3D one night) and a host of other things.

For the sea days my routine was generally stagger out of bed, go find breakfast, head up either to the pool or to a trivia game. Invariably would meet people and start chatting and miss lunch! There were a few days where I managed to miss both breakfast and lunch, but there were always places on the ship where you could grab a sandwich/pastry at all hours.

Afternoons there were "progressive trivia" games, where you had the same team for the entire trip, and points built up from day to day. These were really popular, and you needed to turn up at least 30 minutes early to get a seat. After the trivia, myself and my team mates would often sit around chatting, or go off to other activities, or else I'd take my book up to the pool and dip in and out of the pools/jacuzzis.

I'd taken the Ultimate Drinks Package (unlimited alcohol, water, specialty coffees, fresh OJ), which I wouldn't normally do. It costs $55 per person per day, +18% "gratuities", so it's bloody expensive. I normally take the Royal Replenish (same, except without alcohol) for about $20 per day. Details of the packages. When I booked there was an offer on of a "free" Select Package. The difference in price between the Select and Ultimate was the same as the Royal Replenish would normally cost, so I upgraded.

Having got it more or less for free, I made good use of it, but I don't think I'd have broken even if I was paying for it all myself. The Royal Replenish does me well - I'll start the morning with a fresh OJ and a cappucino, grab a bottle of water or a soft drink here and there throughout the day, have another coffee at some point, San Pellegrino at dinner, and maybe a decaff latte on the way to bed. With the Ultimate Package, some of the soft drinks became a bit less soft, and there were cocktails by the pool, but I doubt I got $65 a day's worth out of it.

After the pool, I'd generally head back to my cabin around 6 or 7pm to have a shower and get ready for dinner. A group of us from cruise critic had linked our reservations for a large table of 10 at 8:30 each night, and that worked out well. Once I was showered, I'd often head to the casino while waiting for dinner, as you can smoke e-cigs there (and real cigs too) on one side. Sometimes I'd just sit with a drink and my book, other times I'd play the evil poker machines (and win, win, win then lose lose lose it all again).

After dinner, depending on what was suggested I'd usually end up back in the casino, or out on deck (chatting/playing cards) or sometimes going to a show).

All very casual, and possibly not most people's idea of a holiday, but it suits me