*~ Cruising (travel by Waterways) megathread ~*

Thoie

hdowney wrote: »

My NCL cruise had to be postponed until October 2017 . This Octobers holiday will be land based to Paris instead.

I am trying to decide on a land trip for after my April cruise. At the end of April I am doing a 4 day to Cozumel on the Carnival Liberty from Galveston. Trying to decide between heading to Boston or Hawaii when I get back into Galveston.

Shame about the postponement - lots of my "cruise buddies" are sailing all over the place at the moment, and I can't travel until next April.

Difficult call on the April decision. How much do you like/hate flying? If you're anti-flying, then Boston, as then you'll be halfway home. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii (ever since getting a tshirt in Dunnes when I was about 6 with Waikiki on it ), but the length of the flights put me off.

hdowney

Thoie wrote: »

Shame about the postponement - lots of my "cruise buddies" are sailing all over the place at the moment, and I can't travel until next April.

Difficult call on the April decision. How much do you like/hate flying? If you're anti-flying, then Boston, as then you'll be halfway home. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii (ever since getting a tshirt in Dunnes when I was about 6 with Waikiki on it ), but the length of the flights put me off.

I don't hate flying actually. I'll be on my own tho so no one to talk to!!! Yea I have always wanted to go to Hawaii. If I go to Boston my mammy is going to fly over after the cruise and meet me. Never thought I'd get the woman to agree to go to America. Ooh I am torn!!!

Thoie

hdowney wrote: »

I don't hate flying actually. I'll be on my own tho so no one to talk to!!! Yea I have always wanted to go to Hawaii. If I go to Boston my mammy is going to fly over after the cruise and meet me. Never thought I'd get the woman to agree to go to America. Ooh I am torn!!!

How about Hawaii, then home via Boston, picking the mammy up along the way?

Thoie

Because I'm far too excited about your travel plans....


DUB-IAH-HNL-BOS-DUB over the space of two weeks - €1,600 with United


1
Wed, 5 Apr 2017
DUBIAH
1 stop BOS

2
Mon, 10 Apr 2017
IAHHNL

3
Fri, 14 Apr 2017
HNLBOS
1 stop SFO


4
Mon, 17 Apr 2017
BOSDUB
1 stop EWR

hdowney

Hahah I like your excitement. Itl be a little different cos itl be Dub - Houston, down to Galveston for the cruise. Then Houston - Hawaii (quite possibly with a stop over) then Hawaii - Boston for me and Dub - Boston for the mammy and then Boston - Dublin for both of us. Good job I like to plan!!!

hdowney

Wait I think that is pretty much what you just posted. I am brain dead here!!
But itl be the end of April into May but it deffo looks workable

Mairead10

Hi
I want to book a solo cruise in 2017. Any advice please.
where to book...get best deal...as any I have seen the solo traveller seems to have to pay on the double. Preference is Med/Europe

Thanks in advance

Thoie

Mairead10 wrote: »

Hi
I want to book a solo cruise in 2017. Any advice please.
where to book...get best deal...as any I have seen the solo traveller seems to have to pay on the double. Preference is Med/Europe

Thanks in advance

A lot of the Americans use "Vacations to go" to look for good solo deals, but I detest their website and find it impossible to find things there.

Seascanner.com has a "solo specials" page, but it's basically based on a low solo supplement - the starting price could still be quite high.

As another solo traveller, for your own sanity I think the best thing is just not to look at the solo supplement percentage (frequently 90-100%), and just look at an overall price that you can afford/are happy with. Seascanner lets you select 1 person, a general area (e.g. Med) and then sort by price (as well as other filters such as duration, etc).

pmcc1

The now missus and I went on an EasyCruise in 2008.
It was a terrific experience because:
* Zero fuss (cabin was like a nice hostel room - keep it tidy yourself etc.)
* Zero facilities on the boat (get OFF the boat and explore!)
* It was very very cheap
* the boat made only very short hops each night, leaving port at about 2am and arriving at ~9am daily. This was perfect, means you can really enjoy a good long adventure at each stop - even have a skinful, and wobble back onto the boat after a nightclub. Terrific.
* Did, I mention that it was very cheap?

Now. EasyCruise were the victim of a takeover by the competition in 2010, and then shut down. I have never since seen a model like it, I would really like to find one.

Has anyone had experience of anything like this, that they would recommend? Don't care where, so long as its not too hard to get to.

davidom2513

I'm looking into holidays for my parents as a Christmas present

I was thinking a Mediterranean cruise or similar

My budget is €700 (350 per person)

Any ideas where I can find a suitable cruise holiday?

schemingbohemia

You're going to struggle at that price point.

Have a look here
https://www.vivavoyage.co.uk/

spurious

For cruising, you really need to budget at least 100 euro a night, which isn't bad when you consider it's high quality accommodation , all you can eat and in some cases drink too. Plus you need to factor in flights, though sometimes the cruise companies can get these at a discount.
It might seem expensive, but when you work it out per day and compare it with similar ashore, it wins hands down.

Thoie

davidom2513 wrote: »

I'm looking into holidays for my parents as a Christmas present

I was thinking a Mediterranean cruise or similar

My budget is €700 (350 per person)

Any ideas where I can find a suitable cruise holiday?

MSC has a few that will fit the bill:

http://www.seascanner.com/mediterranean-cruises?dauer=6-8&preis=-400&sortierung=7,1A

Watch out for the start/end ports - some are a lot easier to get to than others from Ireland. Barcelona is usually the simplest, and it's an easy taxi ride from the airport to the port (€20-€30 ish iirc).

Civitavecchia (Rome) is about 90 minutes from Rome itself. There are train options etc, but they require multiple changes, so it depends on how much luggage they have, and how comfortable they'd be with that.

You can generally book a bus transfer to whatever port when you're booking - not necessarily the cheapest, but it means you meet someone at the airport, drop your luggage in a specific spot, and don't see it again until you get to the ship (so be sure to bring hand luggage with immediate necessities like togs, medication, etc).

Watch for timings as well - all aboard is usually 60-90 minutes before the departure time, so depending on flight timings they may need to fly in the night before and stay in an hotel - an additional cost.

TL;DR : While you can find a cruise for €350pp, the additional costs are

• Tips (approx $12pp per night - €144+)
• Flights
• Travel to/from airports
• Drinks (other than tea, coffee, water)
• Maybe an hotel (and extra travel costs going airport - hotel - port)
• Shore excursions (optional)

sonnybill

Can anyone recommend a good company or package that won't put the saddle on me for the honeymoon ?

deisemum

Have a look at this site, it will give you a good idea of where to go and how much it will cost.

http://www.seascanner.com/cruises

Also http://boards.cruisecritic.com/

wicklowwonder

sonnybill wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a good company or package that won't put the saddle on me for the honeymoon ?

NCL at the moment have a deal that offers:

FREE Ultimate Beverage Package
FREE Speciality Dining Package
FREE 250 Minutes Internet Package
FREE $200 on-board Spending Money per stateroom

Book a Studio or Inside Stateroom and choose 1 of above; an Ocean view or Balcony Stateroom or Mini Suite, choose 2. Book a Suite or The Haven and you get all 4!

Saves a good few bob on the UBP anyway!!

76544567

My God. I just looked at cruises and the prices have rocketed in recent years havent they.
I used to go on every year until 2012. The very same cruises on the very same dates are now double what they were in 2011 and 2012. Add to that that we have a young pre-schooler in tow now and the cruise option is far more expensive these days.

MrsMcSteamy

Hi folks. Heading on the msc splendida in may for a week. Really looking forward to it but looking for people's input on the locations we are stopping at, if anyone has any recommendations.

Leaving from rome, heading to palermo, then cagliari, then valencia, palma de mallorca, marseille and then genoa.

Plenty of excursions on the ship itinerary but hoping some cruise regulars will be able to give tips on things we can organise for ourselves and save a few euros. Thanks in advance for any info.

deisemum

MrsMcSteamy wrote: »

Hi folks. Heading on the msc splendida in may for a week. Really looking forward to it but looking for people's input on the locations we are stopping at, if anyone has any recommendations.

Leaving from rome, heading to palermo, then cagliari, then valencia, palma de mallorca, marseille and then genoa.

Plenty of excursions on the ship itinerary but hoping some cruise regulars will be able to give tips on things we can organise for ourselves and save a few euros. Thanks in advance for any info.

I've been on the MSC Splendida, it's a lovely ship. The ship's excursions are very expensive but you can do much cheaper doing your own excursions.

This is what we did at some of the ports you're going to visit. I got great tips on here before we went.

Marseille: We followed the green footpath, you'll see it when you come out the terminal main door, there are green pedestrian symbols drawn on the ground, we followed them and got the free port shuttle into the old part of the town. We just pottered about and did some shopping. It was lovely and sunny but there was a strong breeze down by the port.

Genoa: we liked Genoa and when you exit the terminal and take the escalator up to street level there were tour buses so we did the tour, it was €10 each. There was a large market that we spent some time browsing, there was even a Guinness stall.

Palermo: The first thing you see is the sea of hawkers, they'd follow you up the streets. We did a tour on the tourist train that goes from outside where the ship has docked, it was €10 each. We enjoyed that, the architecture is lovely but it's so dilapidated, most of the buildings need painting. We were told that most people cannot afford the maintenance.

They're the only ports on your itinerary that we visited on that cruise that we did.

MrsMcSteamy

deisemum wrote: »

MrsMcSteamy wrote: »

Hi folks. Heading on the msc splendida in may for a week. Really looking forward to it but looking for people's input on the locations we are stopping at, if anyone has any recommendations.

Leaving from rome, heading to palermo, then cagliari, then valencia, palma de mallorca, marseille and then genoa.

Plenty of excursions on the ship itinerary but hoping some cruise regulars will be able to give tips on things we can organise for ourselves and save a few euros. Thanks in advance for any info.

I've been on the MSC Splendida, it's a lovely ship. The ship's excursions are very expensive but you can do much cheaper doing your own excursions.

This is what we did at some of the ports you're going to visit. I got great tips on here before we went.

Marseille: We followed the green footpath, you'll see it when you come out the terminal main door, there are green pedestrian symbols drawn on the ground, we followed them and got the free port shuttle into the old part of the town. We just pottered about and did some shopping. It was lovely and sunny but there was a strong breeze down by the port.

Genoa: we liked Genoa and when you exit the terminal and take the escalator up to street level there were tour buses so we did the tour, it was €10 each. There was a large market that we spent some time browsing, there was even a Guinness stall.

Palermo: The first thing you see is the sea of hawkers, they'd follow you up the streets. We did a tour on the tourist train that goes from outside where the ship has docked, it was €10 each. We enjoyed that, the architecture is lovely but it's so dilapidated, most of the buildings need painting. We were told that most people cannot afford the maintenance.

They're the only ports on your itinerary that we visited on that cruise that we did.

Thanks very much it's most appreciated.

Thoie

Depending on how much time you have, a nice trip is to take the tramvía from Palma de Mallorca to Sóller where you switch to a tram into Port de Sóller. From there you can catch a boat to Sa Colobra and walk along to the Torrent de Pareis.

The boats are weather dependent, but you get great views of the coast. Getting back on the tram in Port de Sóller can be very busy, and there's no real queuing system, so allow yourself plenty of time. I did the trip in the opposite direction, but I wasn't on a cruise that time, so time was less of a factor for me. I think the boat took about an hour each way, the train was about half an hour each way, and I can't remember how long the tram took but it wasn't ages, but to be safe allow an hour in total.

MrsMcSteamy

Thoie wrote: »

Depending on how much time you have, a nice trip is to take the tramvía from Palma de Mallorca to Sóller where you switch to a tram into Port de Sóller. From there you can catch a boat to Sa Colobra and walk along to the Torrent de Pareis.

The boats are weather dependent, but you get great views of the coast. Getting back on the tram in Port de Sóller can be very busy, and there's no real queuing system, so allow yourself plenty of time. I did the trip in the opposite direction, but I wasn't on a cruise that time, so time was less of a factor for me. I think the boat took about an hour each way, the train was about half an hour each way, and I can't remember how long the tram took but it wasn't ages, but to be safe allow an hour in total.

I must check out the time schedule and see if this is a possibility for us. Thanks for the input

gypsylee

Good morning. Looking to book MSC Meravigilia in September.

Price with Sea Scanner is a lot lower than MSC have just quoted me on the phone.

Has anyone used Sea Scanner to book a cruise? Any problems, issues etc.?

Thoie

gypsylee wrote: »

Good morning. Looking to book MSC Meravigilia in September.

Price with Sea Scanner is a lot lower than MSC have just quoted me on the phone.

Has anyone used Sea Scanner to book a cruise? Any problems, issues etc.?

I used them a few years ago, and had no problems. All was smooth and good. They're a German company iirc, and occasionally emails can be in slightly "weird" English, but they're a proper licensed, registered travel agent.

gypsylee

Thoie wrote: »

I used them a few years ago, and had no problems. All was smooth and good. They're a German company iirc, and occasionally emails can be in slightly "weird" English, but they're a proper licensed, registered travel agent.

Thanks for the information Thoie. I went into a travel agent yesterday afternoon and got a good deal with them so I wont be using Sea Scanner.

sonnybill

hi ya,

i booked msc fantastica 7 night cruise out of dubai.. any recommendations/tips /past experiences of this ship/cruise?

thanking you in advance

Balmed Out

sonnybill wrote: »

hi ya,

i booked msc fantastica 7 night cruise out of dubai.. any recommendations/tips /past experiences of this ship/cruise?

thanking you in advance

Nice ship, we had an outer room no balcony and was very spacious. Few years back now I remember that breakfast, lunch etc can be had in sit down restaurants as-well as the buffet and were better.

sonnybill

Balmed Out wrote: »

Nice ship, we had an outer room no balcony and was very spacious. Few years back now I remember that breakfast, lunch etc can be had in sit down restaurants as-well as the buffet and were better.

Never on a cruise before and it's our honeymoon so went for the balcony one !

What about excursions? She wants to do Ferrari one ?

Balmed Out

sonnybill wrote:

What about excursions? She wants to do Ferrari one ?

Didnt do it but unless a very particular interest and its hard to organize on your own I wouldn't bother with them.
I'd normally just head into the city center of whatever port on my own steam. Quicker, cheaper and more flexible.

rambo9

Hi all, looking for some advice from frequent cruise goers. I'm on the Harmony and they have some great deals on Citizen watches and I have my eye on one of them. They are currently offering 35% off and I am just wondering if I wait, will the discount increase later on in the cruise? I have been told to wait until the final day to buy anything as they offer better deals but I'm not sure if this will apply to watches. Any help is kindly welcomed. Thanks.