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I recall reading some posts a while back when one or two forum members mentioned that they always fancied going on a cruise. Well, my wife and I are fairly seasoned cruisers and if anyone is genuinely interested and wants to ask any questions I would be very happy to assist.
By way of background, we have only cruised with one cruise operator – P&O Cruises – but they are the biggest operator from the U.K. We have done 14 cruises with them and have another 4 booked over the next year or so. We have also done comprehensive ship visits to Cunards Queen Mary 2 (QM2) and visited (and stayed overnight) on two Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV) ships.
Since my wife’s disability became a major issue (she now has to use a wheelchair) she will only consider cruises for overseas holidays. They are incredibly disabled friendly and my wife enjoys every element and aspect of them as a result. There are many reasons for this and, as I say, if anyone is considering one but is wondering how they would cope there are countless tips I can provide. The only thing I can’t help you with is paying for them!
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That’s lovely which cruise has been your favourite so far ? We have never been on a cruise we enjoy nice hotels but a lot of people have told us once we have been on a cruise we will be hooked ?
My wife really wants to go on a cruise, but she hates the water -in fact if you want to hide anything in our house, hide it under the soap, she’ll never find It?
It’s our 50th this year, and the £500 savings we have made on the Tiguan AP is going towards our first cruise, which will likely be embarking from Southampton and heading south – somewhere warm!
Must admit, since your iceland cruise i was looking at one for next year and p&o from southampton came up, 14 night cruise on Britannia around the med. But then i started pricing the extra’s and i got confused and started looking at 5* all inclusive hotels in turkey. lol
I’ve done a fly-cruise with thomson years back, was manic every day a different port, only had one day at sea – and i was young burning the candle at both ends i,e partying with staff when the disco closed and getting up early for next day excursion…. yeah so learnt if i go again, more days at sea.
If i come back round to the idea i’ll post here Glos, thank you
Mike – my favourite itinerary is the Baltic’s. All quite varied. They all do a couple of days in St Petersburg which is spectacular. The cruise into Stockholm is stunning, passing an endless archipelago of islands with lovely holiday homes on them. Tallin in Estonia is a lovely historic city. The best approach to any city is always by sea (assuming that they are on the coast, of course)!
The Med is always the safest bet for a first cruise. There are very good 14 night round trip itineraries from Southampton. You can manage Barcelona, Rome, Monte Carlo, Florence & Pisa and around 3 other places within that time. You will have a couple of sea days at the beginning and end (to and from the U.K.) to get to know the ship (outward) and recover after a busy itinerary (return).
Some people do the Canaries for a first cruise. I don’t recommend that. Madeira (en route) is lovely but the Atlantic can be very choppy, which can put some people off. Also, they are not as interesting and varied as the destinations in the Med.
It was actually Norway Trev, but Iceland is on the ‘to do’ list! Cruises are fairly all inclusive (accommodation, food, entertainment etc) but you do pay for drinks and optional excursions (although most places can be done on a DIY basis). Britannia is a lovely ship and attracts a lot of first time cruisers. She doesn’t have a promenade deck but, other than that, has fantastic facilities. P&O are building 2 new ships, even bigger than Britannia, to be introduced in 2020 and 2022.
Sorry about that Glos, not sure why i said iceland lol
When i lived near southampton i went to see some of the inaugural events for Aurora, their biggest cruise ship at the time, bet she’s been passed by a few by now.
Yeah think i had costed £40 per day each for drinks and extra’s, basically another £1k on the cruise price – then the port calls, but like you said had worked out doing those diy i.e catching train from the port to rome.
The soft drinks packages looked good to me as we hardly drink…. well apart from when on holiday 🙁 And i heard Asda sell a very reasonably priced tux!… you can see why i started getting lost in it all now. lol
We have three grandchildren living in Scandinavia so we visit quite often, in fact my wife is in Copenhagen at the moment, ( where it has been sunny & nice today, but snowed quite a bit yesterday), so I think that we will head South ( in October ) & probably with P&O , but we haven’t yet decided, but thanks for the suggestions?
