Cruises

[Gelsons Dad]

That is the sort of cruise I would enjoy.

Taking your boat with my missus, I mean — I don’t want to take on the expense of having my own. ;-)

I bet your missus is more expensive than my boat ;-)

 

[Bill Walker]

Me and the wife went on a cruise of the med with MSC. We enjoyed it but not sure I would go with MSC again. They say that English is the first language on the ship but this wasn’t true- the food was Italian, most of the guests and staff are Italians so was the entertainment. Few tips...

if you can afford it buy the premium drinks package. Especially if you like a drink.

if you’re buying any excursions buy them before you sail for the discount. Try to read up on where you’re stops are to assess if the trips are worthwhile.

if you can afford it buy an outside cabin. We didn’t and you wake up in the morning in complete darkness - plus it feels claustrophobic

check the cruise company policy on gratuities. Some charge them automatically after a couple of days

Never been with MSC but have heard they're good in some ways and not so good in others.
Friends of ours are currently doing a 117 night World Cruise with them I haven't heard how it's going yet.
I've been with Princess cruises, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and P&O.
Not keen on Carnival or P&O but like the other two, Royal Caribbean being my favourite. The food on both ships is excellent as is the service.
Your tips are good but people should bear in mind that's a lot of cruise ports are in cities and towns so they can simply walk off the ship and leisurely stroll around town enjoying the atmosphere of an entirely new place.
We did this with all the recent Port days in last week's cruise of New Zealand.
In Auckland for example the cruise ship stops right at the bottom of Queen Street which is the main shopping street in Auckland, many ports are likethis and you don't need a ship's excursion to enjoy your day.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Look there have been horrific incidents involving cruise ships, but on the whole they are working extremely hard to reduce pollution. I think you will find that the merchant shipping fleets are far worse, do you want to do away with them? Most of my cruises are from Southampton, but I am also guilty of going on fly cruises especially to the Caribbean. I get far more upset when I am sat at traffic lights in my car pumping out pollutants whilst I wait for the pedestrian lights to go red, when there is no pedestrian to be seen anywhere.

cruise ships should be banned completely from Venice.
They should be forced to dock in Mestre.

I was in Lucca last year for a few days enjoying a stroll around the town when someone came “power walking” down the street. Hearing me speak English she breathlessly asked if I knew where the Puccini museum was. I was able to direct her and she told me she was on an Italian cruise and had an excursion to Lucca that gave her half a day there.


Half a day!

what’s the point of that?

 

[SebastianBlue]

I bet your missus is more expensive than my boat ;-)

How very dare you!

 

[bluevillain]

Last cruise I did was a 6 month one. Around the straights of Hormuz,Indian Ocean and Red Sea. All inclusive on one of Her Majesty’s grey war canoes named Manchester. Full chat on 2 Rolls Royce Olympus engines 30+ knots no better sound.

 

[KnaresboroughBlue]

cruise ships should be banned completely from Venice.
They should be forced to dock in Mestre.

I was in Lucca last year for a few days enjoying a stroll around the town when someone came “power walking” down the street. Hearing me speak English she breathlessly asked if I knew where the Puccini museum was. I was able to direct her and she told me she was on an Italian cruise and had an excursion to Lucca that gave her half a day there.


Half a day!

what’s the point of that?

I love Lucca so I would fuck the cruise off and spend my time there instead.

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

Never been with MSC but have heard they're good in some ways and not so good in others.
Friends of ours are currently doing a 117 night World Cruise with them I haven't heard how it's going yet.
I've been with Princess cruises, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and P&O.
Not keen on Carnival or P&O but like the other two, Royal Caribbean being my favourite. The food on both ships is excellent as is the service.
Your tips are good but people should bear in mind that's a lot of cruise ports are in cities and towns so they can simply walk off the ship and leisurely stroll around town enjoying the atmosphere of an entirely new place.
We did this with all the recent Port days in last week's cruise of New Zealand.
In Auckland for example the cruise ship stops right at the bottom of Queen Street which is the main shopping street in Auckland, many ports are likethis and you don't need a ship's excursion to enjoy your day.

we did a Caribbean cruise with RC last year on Harmony of the Seas. It was excellent but quite expensive. Do you know if the yanks pay much cheaper prices that us Europeans ? There were some quite large American families who must have paid an absolute fortune for cabins with their 3 or 4 kids and 2 adults.....I convinced myself many of them couldn’t afford it if they were charged similar rates for cabins as us.

best things imo were upgrading to ‘the key’ which gave a few perks equivalent to diamond club members; expedite embarkation, and first off at ports, better seating at shows...a few other benefits which made it worthwhile (as a first time cruiser).
The shows were all great. We took the premium drinks package....but noticed they were selling this half price on day one on board. We booked excursions in advance and got the discounts, so I would also recommend that.

trying to decide where we go next....quite fancy a Singapore cruise to coincide with the F1.

 

[Saddleworth2]

cruise ships should be banned completely from Venice.
They should be forced to dock in Mestre.

I was in Lucca last year for a few days enjoying a stroll around the town when someone came “power walking” down the street. Hearing me speak English she breathlessly asked if I knew where the Puccini museum was. I was able to direct her and she told me she was on an Italian cruise and had an excursion to Lucca that gave her half a day there.


Half a day!

what’s the point of that?

Agree about Venice. What a wonderful City it is and then you get one of these fuck off massive cruise ships that completely dwarf the place. What damage they are doing to the fabric of the city god alone knows.

 

[Gray]

cruise ships should be banned completely from Venice.
They should be forced to dock in Mestre.

I was in Lucca last year for a few days enjoying a stroll around the town when someone came “power walking” down the street. Hearing me speak English she breathlessly asked if I knew where the Puccini museum was. I was able to direct her and she told me she was on an Italian cruise and had an excursion to Lucca that gave her half a day there.


Half a day!

what’s the point of that?

Completely agree with you. Venice is a beautiful city, I have only taken cruises that stop there for a full two days. Buy a two day vaperetto ticket and tootle around soaking up the atmosphere.

 

[Bill Walker]

we did a Caribbean cruise with RC last year on Harmony of the Seas. It was excellent but quite expensive. Do you know if the yanks pay much cheaper prices that us Europeans ? There were some quite large American families who must have paid an absolute fortune for cabins with their 3 or 4 kids and 2 adults.....I convinced myself many of them couldn’t afford it if they were charged similar rates for cabins as us.

best things imo were upgrading to ‘the key’ which gave a few perks equivalent to diamond club members; expedite embarkation, and first off at ports, better seating at shows...a few other benefits which made it worthwhile (as a first time cruiser).
The shows were all great. We took the premium drinks package....but noticed they were selling this half price on day one on board. We booked excursions in advance and got the discounts, so I would also recommend that.

trying to decide where we go next....quite fancy a Singapore cruise to coincide with the F1.

I don't know about European prices as I am in Australia, I know that we pay about the same as the Americans.
It's worth getting to diamond level on RCI, we get free drinks, internet and the other perks you mentioned.