Specifically Caribbean – and enjoyed it?

More specifically, anyone who is in their early 40’s with a teenage daughter.

Note – I despise holiday camps and cabaret, so thinking a cruise might not be up my street, but the ships look fantastic and I’ve heard they are a lot better for ‘younger’ people these days.

Imagine being trapped on a desert island with all your neighbours, and workmates, being fed continuously, looking out to sea,and not being able to escape from them.

and if youre unlucky, the captain may ask you to sit at his table and chat to you about boats and places hes been for hours.

But then some people would like it.

We are doing this one in May and we cant wait

http://www.pocruises.com/a412?Search=true

Did a cruise in November 2012 and its one of the best holidays we have ever done. loved visiting different places/countrys, food was supured and great entertainment through the day and night.

We were going to do a Carribbean cruise in march at first but you were only in the Carribean itself for 5 days of the 13 day cruise and than sailed back to southampton and at this time of the year the weather wouldnt be as good as going away in May.

There are a lot of different “products” out there.

Each cruise line has a specific market and each ship is marketed for different people.

e.g P&O – Daily Mail/Express readers; Carnival – Small scale Las Vegas and dozens of others.

Personally I don’t like the Caribbean much anyway but there are some good ports over there.

Do a bit of research and choose the ship and itinerary that you like.

By the sounds of it you are more interested in the ship, then Royal Caribbean Line might be more fun, some impressive kit and good for teenagers.

Remember, a lot of packages seem cheap but the drinks and tours are a lot more expensive than some with more up front cost. Also, a lot of them expect “mandatory” tipping for your stewards and stuff.

squiff – apologies for my generalisation on P&O 😳

By the sounds of it you are more interested in the ship, then Royal Caribbean Line might be more fun, some impressive kit and good for teenagers.

Not really, although obviously would want it to be a pleasant environment.

More interested in spending a few different days in some beautiful places

I imagine if you’re over 60yrs old and don’t like moving very fast or very often they might appeal.

More interested in spending a few different days in some beautiful places

Don’t go to the Caribbean then! 🙂

If you do, include Barbados, British Virgin Islands and the Dutch Antilles if possible.

If you want something interesting, try the Baltic or Norway.

don’t like moving very fast

The QM2 does 35mph, 24hrs a day.

That is 720 miles per day, 5040 miles per week.

Apart from flying which form of transport is quicker?

we did one withRCI Did the canaries in oct.

Yes old people, lots of mobilty scooters and zimmers. However there were lots of young families kids from months to teenage yrs. My 2 boys 17/14 never really mixed with other kids as the said they were too “chavy”. there was things for them to do but they opted not to do many of the things.

cant fault the ship/food/staff/cleanliness everything 1st class.

Bit like a slow bus tour.

Went on a cruise to Norway a couple of years ago. Got a little bored whilst sailing once I ran out of things to look at or do. But saw some great sights and places…drank plenty of beer too, food was lovely and I made a pig of myself…Over all I enjoyed it

We did thailand malaya singapore area a few years ago, it was probably one of the best hols we have ever had (and we’ve been around a bit)

I am 37, wifes 32 and our is son 7, so not old, we saw loads of young familes about the cruise ship

You should have booked this cruise

http://monstersofrockcruise.com

She has

Not been on a cruise but have been to where the boats pull in on numerous Carribean islands.
They all tend to be shit holes.

Went on one with Royal Caribbean over Xmas with the gf.

From Sydney up to New Caledonia and around two other islands. 9 nights with three days on shore.

We liked the three day stop offs, but unless you booked a trip there wasn’t a lot to do on two of them, but the trips we did were excellent.

All the staff were excellent, majority from India or Malaysia, overall very good standard of English spoken and very helpful. Ship was cleaned immaculately 24hrs.

Didn’t like the two day travel between Sydney and NC. Too long for the limited entertainment on board for people our age (late 20 early 30). Once you have done most things once you wouldn’t do them again so towards the end of the holiday you were a little lost, mini golf, cinema, climbing wall, etc etc. Good gym on board, with classes available at extra cost… Spin bikes only to be used in classes so I had to make do with the standard crappy exercise bike, I wasn’t paying $15 for a group spin class.

Activities were aimed at either kids, or retired people IMO. Card games, bingo, dancing etc
Lots of pool activities for the kids and the crapper games, best bellyflops competition etc.

There was a show every night, but these didn’t appeal for us. Excellent range of dining with 6 or 7 different restaurants, most come at extra cost, but the inclusive dining was very good, and the extra cost was only $75 as a package for 4 of the restaurants.

When you get on board they try to fleece you to buy a drinks package which are a daily rate of something insane. Buying drinks on their own was very reasonable, water, orange juice, cordials were all included, coke and alcohol wasn’t, $6.50 approx for a beer which is comparable to Australian pubs.

You could tell it was very americanised, quite a lot of pay to play things, casino, video arcade, lots of activities you had to pay for too. Also all the pricing on the ship was done in USD, so you had to multiply by 1.15 and then add 18% service charge which pissed me off! just show me a price.

They also took your card at the start and said they would charge your account at the end of the cruise which was fair enough, I knew what we had budgeted and could move money about if required on the day as I would have mobile coverage near to land. What they didn’t tell you was they keep preauthorising your card daily wiping your account out. Getting a letter on Xmas day to say my card had declined and could I come see them riled me up, no way of checking my balance unless I wanted to pay to use their internet at almost $2 a minute… they ended up over charging me in the end, and over 8 days later I’m still waiting for some of my preauthorised money back!

Overall I would possibly do one again, if it was around the Med or somewhere which stopped off at a different location every day so you used it more like a moving hotel then it would be better, depends on the clientele.

Not been on a cruise, but work on a supply boat….

Few trips ago we visited Newcastle, Aberdeen, Peterhead AND Buckie !

Didn’t cost me a penny either 🙂

Father in law just did one having done some river cruises in europe before, it was only a short one (Sydney-Hobart-Melbourne) They enjoyed the time off the boat (didn’t do the tour and met us instead in Hobart) but was not that impressed with the cruise, a lot of sailing and a lot of way to lighten your wallet 🙂 The river cruises allowed you to get off and cycle along, get ahead or catch up the boat if you wanted to stop and see something.

We were in Hobart at new year when one rolled in, I think they must have put geriatrics on special alert…

Need to pay me to go to Buckie, like I was the last time.

Got up this morning all grumpy (as usual) but then saw wysiwyg’s post. Cheers for that, you made me laugh out loud for the first time on a Monday morning for a very long time 😆

I did a couple as a teenager, and ms njee20 and I have done a couple more recently (mid-late 20s). I enjoy them, we just do nothing frankly! Tend to have a go at things like the rock climbing/ice skating/surf simulator etc, but don’t get involved in any of the activities

Been with Royal Carribean who have separate pools with no kids which are nice and quiet. Nice place to lounge around all day, get off and go and lounge on a beach when you get to one. We got taxis to go and visit more remote places on a couple of the islands – St Maarten and St Lucia, plus trying a couple of excursions which are good, if a bit expensive. Frankly I enjoyed it as a teenager too, but I’ve never needed much to keep me entertained, happy to read, swim and relax. And eat.

Who’s that girl in the photo?

Katie Holmes, formerly Mrs Tom Cruise…

Did a 12 day cruise on he Queen Victoria down to Spain last month. Mainly went because Mrs Jerseychaz’s daughter was dancing in the shows 😀 hoght I’d hate it but: apart from a couple of sea days down to Cadiz we had a port virtually every day, you choose your company and don’t have to be herded around, the shows were very good (I’m biased)service impeccable, drinks expensive as are most of the add ons but, £50/night for bed, breakfast, lunch, dinner and transport has to be a bargain and that was in a balcony stateroom and wasn’t crew price. Oh and did I say we had perfect weather 😀

We have been on 4 cruises and enjoyed them we have got 2more booked for this year..Baltic
Day 1 SOUTHAMPTON
Day 2 CRUISING
Day 3 OSLO
Day 4 COPENHAGEN
Day 5 CRUISING
Day 6 TALLINN
Day 7 ST. PETERSBURG
Day 8 ST. PETERSBURG
Day 9 HELSINKI
Day 10 CRUISING
Day 11 CRUISING
Day 12 BRUGES
Day 13 SOUTHAMPTON

And a 4 day one we are both enjoy waking up some wear different every day.