Cruise_Rookie_2010

On the subject of the ports being visited, I've found a website called Whats in Port (not sure if I can post the link itself, just remove the spaces and add dot com) is very helpful.

Have a great cruise, you'll really enjoy Arvia, first day is always mental and tempers get frayed when they really shouldn't (it's a holiday after all). She's a big girl, no worries about getting your steps in.

We're going on Iona (G312), this will be our 3rd time on board her. Definitely wouldn't be concerned about getting into shows, the theatre is large enough that if you are a little flexible about when & where you'll get to see everything you want to. Same goes for the restaurants, but if there's something you particularly want to try (e.g. Epicurean) then you can book now before you board. Even if the P&O excursions offered are full, you should be able to find independent operators doing the same excursion, these ports are used to having large ships and from the research we've done it appears they cater for them very well. We prefer to make our own way around, all the ports look very walkable. Weather will be what it will be, take layers, you could need an umbrella, or a parasol. Same situation with the ports, nothing is guaranteed, but in that regard Britannia may offer more certainty. Keep your fingers crossed & hope for the best, if you can't get off the ship then Iona (in our opinion) is by far the better place to be stuck in. At these prices, treat it as a sampler, you can always do it again. Hope you enjoy the cruise, whatever you decide.

I caved and booked a Norwegian fjords, at these prices how could you not?

Currently it feels like 2023 will go down in history as one of the best times to book a cruise, we're just back from a T/A (Arvia) which, including flight, cost us less than £100/night per person all in (parking/insurance/on-board spend included). We've another med cruise booked for October which will be similar, if not less (depends on how much we drink), and I'm very tempted to try an squeeze in a Fjords cruise this year with the deals that are currently floating around. I can't remember anytime in the past 10 years when cruising offered such great value. I travel a bit with work and would struggle to find accommodation alone at the rates we're being offered for an all-inclusive cruise.

I'm also not the best sailor so completely understand you're concerns. It's all about degrees really, if the ship is moving everything is moving regardless of where you are, but some areas are slightly better than others. We've found that anything above deck 10 or 11 can be a bit worse but not by much, I tend to avoid the Crows Nest in rough weather, anything mid-ships (Forward or Aft) will be the most stable and deck's 4 & 5 the least affected when the ship is rolling. Unless you are exceptionally sensitive you shouldn't worry too much, Arvia & Iona are very large ships and I've found traveling on larger ships mostly nothing to worry about, our last two cruises we had deck 5 first then deck 12 & I didn't notice much difference in overall movement, just take something along with you in case of need e.g. travel sickness tablets / bands / etc.. Some will swear having a window helps, but I find it tends to make things worse, so traveling in an inside cabin, something we do more often than not, can be a blessing.

We've done Iona out of Southampton twice and found disembarkation to be a pain free process. The planning which obviously went into making the process so smooth shows, room to car park in about 10-15 mins.

We came back across BOB on Iona last March during a force 10 storm, the ship was incredibly stable, there was movement but nothing like as much as we'd expected being up on deck 15. Being on such a large ship is a huge advantage (Arvia being slightly larger than her sister) compared with smaller alternatives. I'm not the best sailor but I found it tolerable, the rest of the cruise was fantastic, you'd never have known you were moving. Never tried Sturgeon but I find Kwells have always worked for me when things start rocking.

Don't look would be my advice, I paid £12.30 each and thought they were cheap at the time. The shareholder benefit is helping soften the blow ( a little).

Can't say I completely disagree with the new CEO, current pricing of some cruises makes you wonder how on earth they are making anything on them. We've enjoyed 2 cruises this year and paid approx £50 per night (pp). Show me any similar holiday that could match that kind of value, no doubt it's to ensure customers keep sailing during the uncertain period we've just experienced, but if this continues & people start to think any increase is unjustified the whole industry is in trouble. Before C19 we would budget between £80-120 pppn (inside/balcony) and felt we got incredible value for money. With all the new ships being launched it's going to be a buyers market for the next year or so, unless cruise lines cut capacity by phasing out older/smaller ships earlier than planned. Until then I'm booking as many bargain cruises as I can without being sacked.

If you paid by credit card, in the event of bankruptcy, you're protected. You simply claim against the credit card company. There's not a great chance of that event happening, the share price has absolutely no effect on the operation of the company, it's cash (or access to further borrowing) which determines whether the business continues to operate. All major cruise companies shares are trading at many times less than their historic highs at the minute (Norwegian down approx 80% vs all time high, Royal Caribbean down 70%), Carnival is simply the worst of the bunch right now. Being the biggest player, should sentiment change on the future of cruising, it's also possible it'll bounce right back.

Market sentiment still appears to be quite negative on cruising, share price (CUK) now a smidge over £5, for anyone not yet a shareholder & with a couple (or more) 14 day cruises booked might be worth a punt given the £150 OBC for each cruise (for cruises up to Jul 2023). Not financial advice just an opinion.