Summer 2013 advice please

[sotong]

I note there are a lot of American based posters on here reflecting that the majority of the Princess fleet are in the US for the winter. We are booked on the Grand this summer around the Med from Southampton where we live.

However starting to think about summer 2013 and would quite like to do the theme parks in Orlando and then 7 ish days cruise.

 

With all the expertise on this board wondered what people would suggest, which intinery, which ship etc?

 

Thanks Gillian.

[dmwnc1959]

During the summer your choices are going to be a lot more limited than if cruising out of Florida during the winter/spring as a LOT of ships out of Port Canaveral, Tampa, Port Everglades, and Miami from Princess Cruises (entire fleet), Celebrity (entire fleet), Holland-America (entire fleet), and even RCI (most of the fleet) redeploy to the summer destinations.

 

The BIG two still in Florida are the Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas out of Port Everglades and you can expect their prices to be the highest right there along with the two new giants Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy out of Port Canaveral.

 

Carnival Cruise Lines has the most ships for the summer months (dominating the Florida market) which will be doing 3-8 night cruises to the Bahamas and Caribbean. I think RCI is still in the process of announcing their summer 2013 Bahamas itineraries.

 

I guess you have to decide on how LONG of a cruise you really want to combine with your park visits, what are your preferred cruise destinations, then start narrowing down your search.

 

Good luck!

.

[sunsetbeachgal]

If you want to do theme parks then the closest port is Port Canaveral-about an hour or less from Orlando. Princess does not sail out of there at all...we are on Royal Caribbean this May as we are sailing with folks who wanted this time period for a cruise so Princess was not an option as they don't have any Florida departures then... Good luck!

[hubofhockey]

If it were me, I would get down to Fort Lauderdale and book RCI Oasis or Allure. Of course, Disney ships are much closer to Orlando.

[wilson4]

Hi

We did something similar during the Easter school holidays last year and it worked really well. We flew Gatwick to Orlando and spent 6 days there before travelling to Port Everglades (about 3.5 hours). We went on the 10 day Ultimate Caribbean on Celebrity Equinox before flying home from Miami - it was all fantastic!:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

You have 2 threads on the same subject.

I answered you on your other thread.

[5326jan]

Disney may have some kind of Sun and Sail package. Years ago we got a 3 day ticket to Disney World and a 4 day cruise package. The food on Disney wasn't very good and there were way too many "unattended" children.

 

We much prefer Princess! There are shuttles and rental cars available, so getting to FLL is easy and there you will have many more choices. I can highly recommend Ruby Princess. We recently sailed on her to the Eastern Caribbean and had a great time. There were children on board, but they were much more well behaved than our experience on Disney. Luck of the draw, I suppose.

[hubofhockey]

Disney may have some kind of Sun and Sail package. Years ago we got a 3 day ticket to Disney World and a 4 day cruise package. The food on Disney wasn't very good and there were way too many "unattended" children.

 

We much prefer Princess! There are shuttles and rental cars available, so getting to FLL is easy and there you will have many more choices. I can highly recommend Ruby Princess. We recently sailed on her to the Eastern Caribbean and had a great time. There were children on board, but they were much more well behaved than our experience on Disney. Luck of the draw, I suppose.

 

OP asked for summer recommendations out of Florida and will be in Orlando. That pretty much excludes Princess and Ruby is a great ship. But it will be in the Med in the summer of 2013.

[5326jan]

So right! My apologies to the OP!

[DonnaK]

Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas does 7 day Caribbean itineraries out of Port Canaveral year-round. Closer to Disney, and usually a lot less expensive than Oasis/Allure, but still a mighty big ship with tons of amenities.

[dmwnc1959]

Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas does 7 day Caribbean itineraries out of Port Canaveral year-round. Closer to Disney, and usually a lot less expensive than Oasis/Allure, but still a mighty big ship with tons of amenities.

 

I don't remember, but does the Freedom of the Seas have the Dreamworks characters board?

[suekay]

Hi

We did something similar during the Easter school holidays last year and it worked really well. We flew Gatwick to Orlando and spent 6 days there before travelling to Port Everglades (about 3.5 hours). We went on the 10 day Ultimate Caribbean on Celebrity Equinox before flying home from Miami - it was all fantastic!:D

Wilson4- would you mind emailing me at suekeelan at hotmail dot com? - I don't want to hijack this thread. Thanks a million:)