*~ Cruising (travel by Waterways) megathread ~*

deisemum

When you take the escalator to leave the terminal building at Genoa there's a small roundabout just outside the door and you can get a tour bus from the other side of the roundabout that takes about 90 mins and it cost €10 4 years ago.

At Palma you can get the hop on hop off bus outside the terminal but it's a bit of a walk from the ship to the exit though I saw buses that take you from the ship to the exit.

Thoie

kilkern5 wrote: »

Looking for information on some of the excursions. We are going on our first cruise in April with MSC out of Barcelona. My husband is not able to walk any great distance and the tours that you book with the ship seem to involve walking.

There are usually "accessible tours" listed for each (or most) ports of call. These are generally a bus tour with little to no walking. They may not always be listed on the site (as they try to keep spaces for people who need them), but if you call MSC they should be able to help. Take a look here as well: https://www.msccruises.ie/en-ie/Discover-MSC/Accessible-Tours.aspx

Frozen Veg

Any advice please for booking a Caribbean cruise for honeymoon in 2022?

Any recommended companies to book with or types of packages that are best value? Are food and drinks all usually included in the price.

Any advice on best routes to take also appreciated. Probably looking at leaving from Miami.

All presuming we are in a better place with Covid.

jhegarty

Frozen Veg wrote: »

Any advice please for booking a Caribbean cruise for honeymoon in 2022?

Any recommended companies to book with or types of packages that are best value? Are food and drinks all usually included in the price.

Any advice on best routes to take also appreciated. Probably looking at leaving from Miami.

All presuming we are in a better place with Covid.

Food is always include but drink can vary by cruise line.

What's your budget ?

SweetSand

Frozen Veg wrote: »

Any advice please for booking a Caribbean cruise for honeymoon in 2022?

Hi what time of the year are you planning your honeymoon? Feb-May are the best months in Caribbean, avoid autumn months if you can.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the route sailing out of Miami, all of them will include some fabulous islands. I would keep an eye on the length of the stops though, you def want to avoid ones with short/awkward stops, like 7.30-12, which is too short for any decent time on the island.
Food is always included, drinks are only included in very few, but there are always drink packages you can purchase either in advance or within first 24h on board usually. Is drink package worth for you depends on how much you enjoy your drinks. When on holidays - we like to have few different drinks during the day/night- cocktails and etc so drink package is a must for us. Drinks are expensive on board, think wine starting from $12 per glass, cocktails $14+, beers are just shy of $10. So even if you have just few drinks per day - it does add up. Drink packages are not cheap but totally worth it in our opinion. You would usually get free tea/coffee/water and juice (breakfast only) throughout the day.
As for companies, we sailed NCL twice and MCS from Miami. NCL usually have promotions going on like free drink package, excursions and etc. They are not really free, you still pay tax on them if booked on American market, I think it’s different if booked on UK/EU market, well, you just pay extra but it’s already included in the price.
Our last year cruise with MSC was the best, and I would strongly recommend this option for your honeymoon if budget allows. So we were on MSC Seaside and we booked Yachtclub experience. It was absolutely amazing. MSC themselves market it as ship whithin a ship. You can think of it as first class on the airplanes. It starts with a separate check in area with nice sitting area, drinks and snacks. After check-in you are brought to a separate area in the ship that only members of yachtclub have access to, your cabin is in the same area and you have access to restaurant, swimming pool and nice lounge area writhing yachtclub. You can still access everything else on the ship but you do have exclusive area which truly feels VIP. Drinks were all included in that experience as well. Price wise - it costed us the same as NCL cruise in balcony cabin year before, so not crazy but soooo worth it. We were so impressed - we were going back this year, but never happened ((
Do check out seascanner.com for an idea of prices. We booked with them few times, never any problems.
Royal Caribbean is another great company but we never got a chance to sail with them. Carnival is more party type company
Check out your dates, have a short list of ships you like and then watch YouTube videos about them, great info and will help you greatly with your decision �� Good luck with your search! We can’t wait to be cruising again!

angel eyes 2012

Similar to the previous poster, I can't wait to get back cruising. We were due to go on a cruise in May leaving from Dublin sailing to the Norwegian Fjords - hopefully it will go ahead in 2022. Previously, we went on a Mediterranean cruise in 2016 and to the Caribbean in 2019 taking in Orlando.

We sailed with Royal Carribbean on both trips. I actually preferred the med cruise in terms of sights and experiences, I'll never forget sailing into Barcelona or waking up in Naples port - in saying that I would totally recommend the Carribbean too, maybe because it was our second time cruising, it couldn't top the absolute excitement we had stepping on the ship for the first time. You are offered prosecco/beer as you board and there is a party atmosphere for the first hour or so! We cruised on the RC's Oasis ship when we went to the Carribbean, which was amazing.

I'm not a big drinker these days but we still opted for the drinks package as I like the odd cocktail and I don't like scrimping when I'm on holiday, so it's definitely better paying in advance and relaxing throughout the week.

Food is included, some ships offer specialist restaurants for a supplement in addition to the standard food but we didn't bother really, food has always been good in the standard restaurants (too good if anything).

Hope that answers some of your questions.

Frozen Veg

jhegarty wrote: »

Food is always include but drink can vary by cruise line.

What's your budget ?

Don't have exact figure really. Open to suggestions on best value.

Frozen Veg

Thanks guys for replies above. So helpful.

Any suggestions on routes or must sees in the Caribbean?

SweetSand

Frozen Veg wrote: »

Thanks guys for replies above. So helpful.

Any suggestions on routes or must sees in the Caribbean?

Funny thing, that’s the main reason I think Caribbean cruise is a perfect idea for the honeymoon. Like I said, route is really not that important as there isn’t huge amount of history around. What you are going to see at every stop is white beach and beautiful sea, some nice gift shops, local bars and restaurants. I think it’s great for honeymoon because you don’t need to book loads of excursions and stress out about seeing everything possible. Caribbean is all about being relaxed and if you don’t get off the ship on one or two stops - you are not going to miss out on anything. That’s what we did few times, stayed on board when everyone was gone so we had ship almost just to yourselves You can not do that in Europe as there is so much to see/do in every port.
Another thing to remember- most cruise lines have their own islands and that will be 1 stop in your itinerary. It’s a great thing because they have everything set up there: restaurants, bars, activities and etc.
We did Bahamas first, then Mexico and we did have a stop at Cayman Islands on the last cruise and it was great, we went swimming with sting rays, which was amazing.
Can I ask you what age group are you in and what are your interests? Are you
planning to stay for a week in Miami and cruise afterwards or just fly in, go on a cruise and fly straight back. What do you enjoy doing together?

SweetSand

Frozen Veg wrote: »

Don't have exact figure really. Open to suggestions on best value.

Very hard to advise on best value as it is different for everyone. I thought our last cruise was a great value but it wasn’t that cheap. If you are looking for lowest price - Carnival would be one of the most reasonable ones. Their main market though are students and boozy short cruises like 3-4 nights in average. I think you might get a great deal on MSC as well, don’t book through Irish MSC though, I made that mistake on our first cruise, we definitely overpaid. One of our cruises I booked through vivavoyage.co.uk, great experience.
I strongly suggest looking at seascanner.com first with your dates just to see rough idea of prices and ship sailing on your dates and then watch YouTube on the ship you liked.

SweetSand

I had a quick look at random options for 2022 this evening. Virgin voyages might be worth having a look at. Adults only, some drinks included, brand new, prices seem to be very reasonable. If it’s anything like flying Virgin - could tick a lot of boxes for honeymoon. Generally anything Virgin is good, solid quality.

Frozen Veg

SweetSand wrote: »

Funny thing, that’s the main reason I think Caribbean cruise is a perfect idea for the honeymoon. Like I said, route is really not that important as there isn’t huge amount of history around. What you are going to see at every stop is white beach and beautiful sea, some nice gift shops, local bars and restaurants. I think it’s great for honeymoon because you don’t need to book loads of excursions and stress out about seeing everything possible. Caribbean is all about being relaxed and if you don’t get off the ship on one or two stops - you are not going to miss out on anything. That’s what we did few times, stayed on board when everyone was gone so we had ship almost just to yourselves You can not do that in Europe as there is so much to see/do in every port.
Another thing to remember- most cruise lines have their own islands and that will be 1 stop in your itinerary. It’s a great thing because they have everything set up there: restaurants, bars, activities and etc.
We did Bahamas first, then Mexico and we did have a stop at Cayman Islands on the last cruise and it was great, we went swimming with sting rays, which was amazing.
Can I ask you what age group are you in and what are your interests? Are you
planning to stay for a week in Miami and cruise afterwards or just fly in, go on a cruise and fly straight back. What do you enjoy doing together?

We are early 30s.

We would be looking to do some water activities e.g snorkeling, scuba diving.

A couple of days on day trips or viewing attractions off the ship would be good too.

Not looking for mad parties but would still like places with nice atmosphere and music etc in the evenings for a few drinks.

We may go to Miami for a few of nights beforehand, probably not a week tho. Likely that we will fly into Miami having visited an other US city first. Will probably be away for 3-4 weeks in total.

spurious

If you are doing day trips at destinations, always check out local 'self organised' ones. You pay a very large premium to book the ones organised by the cruise line. The big plus of the cruise line organised trips is that if you are delayed they will hold the ship for you, but honestly, you would need to be a right donkey to miss the departure.

The local tour organisers are well aware of the cruise line policies re being late and will make sure you are back. A little cop-on goes a long way.

There is a section on cruise critic where people give recommendations for each port.

k123456

https://www.facebook.com/TomsPortGuides/

Definitely better to self organise your port trips, or use public transport,

How do you get from Rome to the cruise port?
The most economical way to get from the piers to the center of Rome is by train. Figure on a one-way trip costing €5 to 16€ (one-way), and taking about 45 minutes (Intercity trains) to 1.5 hours (Regional trains) between Civitavecchia Station and Rome's main railway station, Roma Termini.Jan 23, 2017

I docked in Naples twice
visit one, use the cruise organised tour, quiet expensive , took ages getting everyone to board the coach, part of the trip included a visit to a large gift shop, which im sure got a back hander from the cruise co

visit two , less expensive : Chauffer driver merc 8 seater, , more comfortable, saw much more

fitzparker

Sailed on MSC Seaside out of Miami in 2019 for honeymoon excellent cruise, staff and food, although you iwll read alot of americans complaining ( nothing new there)

My advise finding cruises is definitely shop around, as poster above stated MSC ireland is a rip off, USA not far behind, MSC UK site seems the best prices.

We were going to book onto MSC seashore for 2022 but ended up booking 10 day Med cruise on NCL Escape for August 2022 ( 2 adults + 2 Kids )

It will be the first one with our kids, and it looks like it has alot for them on this ship.

For NCL we saved nearly €1000 compared to NCL site by shopping around

Seascanner & Expedia give good prices for cruises

I ended up booking with a canadian travel agent (on facebook as rob's cruise deals)

He is brilliant to deal with, got us the 5 deal package NCL was offering (even after the deal finished)

He also put me wide to a cruise first offer NCL are doing, basically you pay $150 for a voucher but its worth $300.

I bought this, gave him the voucher code and he did all the booking, I was apprehensive for obvious reasons but booking came through straight away and I don't need to pay anything else until final payment is needed in May 2022.

Everything is fully refundable with him until final payment date and he is constantly looking out for price drops, so if one does happen he will contact us and when agreed cancel our booking and rebook to get the savings.

again because he is just using the voucher as a deposit iv nothing to worry about.

Strumms

Found better deals with MSC by booking with a travel agent here... savings were reasonably significant when we compared with going MSC direct and they managed to throw extras in probably as we’ve been booking with them for 25 years so I’d shop around as the couple of hundred per head could go a ways towards spending money.

Also we booked flights and hotel the night before with them. They send out itinerary, all paperwork, luggage tags for cruise etc..boarding passes.

I’d recommend with cruises to arrive at your port / city of embarkation the day before.... get a hotel, rest, relax, stroll about... much more chilled then stressing if flying same day, whether flights will be ok, if there is a luggage delay etc... flying in same day as departure can be a stressfest.

MIRMIR82

Hi guys,

Just looking for advice from anyone that has done a Caribbean cruise from New Orleans?? Has anyone on here done one before and if so, did you stay in New Orleans before or after and also how did the flights work out for you? We are thinking of booking for next year and have never been in the US before so all help would be greatly appreciated.

Frozen Veg

Traveling on MSc seashore next month.

Should we book excursions/activities in advance or wait until we get on the ship?

eabhaniamh

We are a family of 5 hoping to spend a week in Orlando followed by Carribean cruise for 5/6 nights next July. Have looked at Royal Caribbean and Norwegian from Port Carneval and Celebrity Cruises from Fort Lauderdale. Celebrity Cruises seems to be a little cheaper even after paying for gratuities and drinks package. But really just looking for advice as to which people would recommend for family with 16,14 and 12 year old girls. We have never cruised before but have been doing some research and would love opinions from those in the know!

fitzparker

I think Celebrity are more geared to adults than kids

Girls that age will need Wifi, make sure its a decent package!!

NCL can include everything in their deal - drinks, specialty restaurant, wifi etc

Have a look at MSC, usually decent packages that include drinks/grats

We sailed them from Miami and found them very good

Try sites like MSC usa/MSC UK/Expedia cruises/Seascanner/iCruise

you will notice the difference in prices on each

deisemum

Has anyone been on a Princess cruise? I've seen a cruise on the Discovery Princess - newly launched going from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Monterey, San Diego, Escenada in Mexico and back to Los Angeles for next Easter.