*~ Cruising (travel by Waterways) megathread ~*

I've noticed a few people on here saying that Royal Caribbean are the best to go on a cruise with.
Just wondering why this is?
How do they compare favourably with other operators?
Considering a Caribbean cruise next year so would be interested to hear opinions on that.
Thanks

gaillimh wrote: »

I've noticed a few people on here saying that Royal Caribbean are the best to go on a cruise with.
Just wondering why this is?
How do they compare favourably with other operators?
Considering a Caribbean cruise next year so would be interested to hear opinions on that.
Thanks

Have never been on cruise with anyone but Royal Caribbean, but had such an incredible time that I would not consider any other company. Did Labadee in Haiti, Montego Bay, Cartagena in Colombia, Panama Canal and Puerto Limón in Costa Rica a few years back, sailed out of and back to Miami on Jewel of the Seas. Shore excursions were top notch, food was fantastic, staff went out of their way and in terms of activities, I have to echo what others are saying: floating city. It was the most relaxing holiday, but we still saw so much. Highly recommended, would go with RC again in a heartbeat.

Cape Clear wrote: »

Very informative thread. I am looking to book with an MSC cruise from Barcelona in July but am wondering what is the best website to go with also when can you book the drinks package? Am I correct in assuming that meals are included but drinks are extra unless you avail of the drinks package?

Yes, on most cruises the meals are all included but you pay for alcoholic drinks unless you buy into one of the drinks packages and note that all of the adults in your party typically have to book the same drinks package, that is certainly the rule with MSC and I suspect all of the cruise lines as well.

Most ships have additional speciality restaurants that are a cut above the ordinary and in those you have to pay. I was on a cruise on MSC Poesia and they had a Japanese restaurant onboard.

We've done 6 cruises through here: http://www.e-travel.ie/. Got great deals with them.

Hi, check out http://www.cruises.ie - Irish company with information/ pricing on all cruise lines. Also just looking at an MSC cruise for May and they have free upgrades to balcony cabins!! I travelled with Royal Caribbean two years ago on a Med cruise it was fab, didn't book the drinks package but it I was to cruise with them again think I will pre-book package. Looking at cruise deals at the min for Caribbean! Any suggestions

Hi,

Shore excurions are extra and at every port you have a choice of organised trips or just head off on your own. I think the sleeping arrangements vary depending on which type of cabin you book. MSC currently have a kids offer of Eur130 per child plus flights - just got the pricing for myself!

So much choice!

pink100 wrote: »

so if you are going off the boat all the trips cost extra?????

Shore excursions are a source of revenue for the cruise lines, there will be something on offer at every port but we found them a bit expensive and didn't fancy being cooped up on a coach for several hours. There's also something that infuriates me which is the ripoff whereby the coach will only stop at some poor to average out of town diner where you have no choice as to where to go for a snack, all because the driver and/or courier get a kickback from the premises. Their excuse invariably is that the local town has no coach park close to any eateries which is probably complete BS.

We did a Baltic cruise with MSC, the only port where we docked and were not beside a public street was either Bergen or Stavanger but they provided a free shuttle bus from the port to a spot downtown from where we were able to explore on foot. In most other cities we moored practically in the city centre, it's a weird experience, like a cruise ship tying up at Liberty Hall!

Latest deals:

http://www.e-travel.ie/

coylemj wrote: »

Yes, on most cruises the meals are all included but you pay for alcoholic drinks unless you buy into one of the drinks packages and note that all of the adults in your party typically have to book the same drinks package, that is certainly the rule with MSC and I suspect all of the cruise lines as well.

Most ships have additional speciality restaurants that are a cut above the ordinary and in those you have to pay. I was on a cruise on MSC Poesia and they had a Japanese restaurant onboard.

Royal Caribbean's new drink packages don't have to be bought by all adults in the room, though I feel they're pricier than the MSC equivalents, to the extent that I don't think I'm going to get an alcoholic drinks package this year. RC have started a new "Replenish" package for $20 a day which includes all non-alcoholic drinks (water, soft drinks, speciality coffees (lattes, etc), fresh squeezed orange juice and "virgin" cocktails). I think I'll take that, and just buy drinks as I want. The cocktails aren't included in the cheaper alcoholic packages, so I'd have to pay $65 a day, and I'm going for 14 days, so that's $910! I'm traveling alone, and not inclined to drink all day, so I'll take the free water/coffees/OJ, and buy a cocktail/glass of wine as I feel like it.

The MSC Allegrissimo package at €25 is much better value for the alcohol.

I've used http://www.cruiseescapes.com/ for the last few years, and am very happy with them.

This year I "foolishly" decided to go through the travel agent, and also let Royal Caribbean manage all the flights/hotel/transfers and cruise. I won't do that again. The cruise and transfers are grand, but you get no choice of hotel, and they keep messing around with the flights. If I'd just taken the cruise and transfers, I'd have got my choice of hotel and flights for the same price.

They've changed the flights twice already, and can keep changing them up to 10 days before departure.

pink100 wrote: »

this is great thread as my head has been buzzing last few days looking for a cruise for July. First time to book one so confused.
going with 2 kids, 13 and 10, what is the situation with sleeping arrangements for a family does anyone know.

so if you are going off the boat all the trips cost extra?????

finbarrk wrote: »

Our cabin on the MSC cruise slept the 4 of us comfortably. A double bed for us and a pull out one for the kids. Wouldn't have been comfortable with the kids in a separate cabin.

There are a variety of sleeping arrangements possible - the pull out bed, as finbarrk mentioned (essentially a sofa bed), or some ships/cabins have fold down bunks in the ceiling (during the day your cabin steward will make them up and fold them away).

Another alternative that I'd probably go for if I had kids of that age (and the money/choice) is to get two adjoining cabins. Double bed in one for parents, twin beds in the other for kids. The advantage is that you have 2 bathrooms (as the bathrooms usually aren't large enough for 2 people at once).

You can keep the connecting door open most of the time, but you can close it if the kids are asleep and parents want to watch some television.

A tip if this is your first time cruising: your room cards also act as a wallet of sorts, so the kids can charge things to the room just by swiping their cards. I've heard of problems in the past with kids running up huge bills on the video arcades. By going to customer services it's possible to limit the kids' cards to a daily spending limit. Or you can pre-load their cards with cash, so they can never spend more than that amount, or you can set a limit on their cards for the entire cruise.

If the kids have been saving for holiday spending money, you could load their spending money onto the card at the beginning (with maybe a top up if you feel generous ). If it's not spent you can get it back at the end of the trip. You can also monitor spending on each card from the tv in your stateroom.

pink100 wrote: »

got a price today for the MSC Splendida, seems good, kids free apart from taxes in a balcony room.
unsure about drinks package as we don't drink a lot but yet if the drink is expensive it might be worth it.
good tip re card swipe for kids.
Barcelona is the port going from

I did a transatlantic on MSC last year, and will see if I can dig out the drink prices. The Allegrissimo package wasn't available out of the US, but I remember it would have been worth it for me if it had. I generally had a few soft drinks (water/coke/OJ) during the day, a cocktail in the afternoon, and a glass of wine with dinner, with the odd drink after dinner depending on what was going on.

MSC also offered vouchers which were 12 drinks for the price of 10 - I think they were cans of soft drinks, or cocktails. You could share the vouchers with people (unlike the drinks package). I think they had something similar for beers as well, which were obviously cheaper than the cocktails.

pink100 wrote: »

got a price today for the MSC Splendida, seems good, kids free apart from taxes in a balcony room.
unsure about drinks package as we don't drink a lot but yet if the drink is expensive it might be worth it.
good tip re card swipe for kids.
Barcelona is the port going from

The allegrissimo drinks offer will cost you €70 per day. That 2 adults and 2 kids. You wouldn't feel spending that over the day if you didn't have it, so I think it's worth getting it so you know the bill can't be over €490 at at the end of the cruise.

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

The answer is "sometimes" - you need to agree it with the cruiseline well in advance. The main reason why you couldn't is that certain ports aren't set up for passenger customs and immigration. As well as that, the cruiseline needs to prepare your final bill separately (and manually) rather than as part of their bulk run on the final night.

If the customs and immigration piece is in place (which depends on the country and port), then the cruiseline will generally oblige, but they can't force the country to accept you. I think the lines get fined if the passenger manifest is incorrect (ie, you just jump ship), and if you don't tell them in advance it's a huge inconvenience for the entire ship.

I would imagine an email to the company should make it work out for you.