All inclusive Lines

[Womble99]

21 hours ago, cruisermsoon said:

Mention also a certain e-site which offers Azamara packages including air at competitive prices.

Yes I will have to look into those

[Kangakid]

Womble99, just recently returned from a Azamara cruise (my 2nd).  My husband hadn’t sailed on them previously but we have completed a few Oceania Cruises.

Azamara would definitely be on my list.  My husband loved the small ship experience.  Our cruise only had 480 pax out of a max of around 695.  We found the crew great, food good to very good.  The drinks that are included are certainly more than enough for us my husband drinks beer predominantly and found he didn’t have any problems with the beers included.  I love a cocktail and found the included drinks fine.  I have also recently completed a Viking cruise.  Enjoyed that very much as well.  Ships very sleek, staff very welcoming.  Food was good, not fantastic.  Wine is included with meals at lunch and dinner.  We love the smaller ships.  But saying that we have never not enjoyed a cruise, just some more than others.

[NSWP]

Azamara would be my pick, not been on them, but know some who have. Very happy.

[Mareblu]

On 9/14/2023 at 5:28 PM, Aussieflyer said:

We like Silver Muse - the size suits us well (530+ pax) and there are lots of places for dinner (only 2 are extra cost). The included restaurants - Atlantide and Indochine (instead of one large barn of a MDR)  that are quite different in menus and ambience, the outdoor Grill, buffet which becomes Italian in the evening, pizza, jazz club. Food is particularly important to me so I love the choices - some need pre-booking but others are walk in. 

We also like being able to try different drinks and if one is not to our liking can get something else. 

We don't always do the included excursions - depends where we are and if we want to mooch around ourselves but it is good to have the option.

A lot of the posters on the Silversea board are long time US cruisers who are unhappy with any changes (and let's be honest, there have been cuts on all lines). The dress thread on SS rivals the Cunard one for vehemence and passion! 😃

 

We’ve only cruised with Silversea once, but truly loved it.  We were happily ensconced in a Silver Suite on Silver Spirit.  Sublime. Our most enjoyable experience in all our years of sailing was, and remains to this day, a b2b on Seabourn Quest in 2014.  We still reminisce about every component of that cruise, from the dedicated, efficient and friendly staff, delivery of service, superbly professional entertainment, to exquisite cuisine.  Having said that, we also absolutely love Oceania, and next April we’ve booked a 3-week cruise from Rome to Trieste on  the new Oceania Vista.  We have always found Oceania’s cuisine delectable, and it’s one of the main reason we keep returning.    To sum up, I completely agree with my fellow Canberran, Aussieflyer:  I’ll happily pay that extra amount for a all-inclusive, comfortable and enjoyable experience.

[Mareblu]

14 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

We’ve only cruised with Silversea once, but truly loved it.  We were happily ensconced in a Silver Suite on Silver Spirit.  Sublime. Our most enjoyable experience in all our years of sailing was, and remains to this day, a b2b on Seabourn Quest in 2014.  We still reminisce about every component of that cruise, from the dedicated, efficient and friendly staff, delivery of service, superbly professional entertainment, to exquisite cuisine.  Having said that, we also absolutely love Oceania, and next April we’ve booked a 3-week cruise from Rome to Trieste on  the new Oceania Vista.  We have always found Oceania’s cuisine delectable, and it’s one of the main reason we keep returning.    To sum up, I completely agree with my fellow Canberran, Aussieflyer:  I’ll happily pay that extra amount for a all-inclusive, comfortable and enjoyable experience.

Oops:  AN all-inclusive

[arxcards]

Just be aware that 26th October 2025 sailing of Scenic Eclipse II will not be AN all-inclusive cruise.

 

Apparently, clothing is not included.

[gogo65]

On 9/14/2023 at 12:28 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

No, although the name of the ship is similar. He's on a ship called Explora 1 operated by Explora Journeys. It sounds excellent.

We saw explora 1 in Greenland last year, the ship was stunning. We spoke with a few passengers and they loved it. We would definitely consider them.

We have done two Ponant and one silversea (all expeditions), we preferred Ponant from an expedition perspective, however I think SS would be good on a normal cruise on one of the slightly newer bigger ships.

We have booked Azamara Greece intensive for August next year, we have no sea days, the basic alcohol package will probably suffice although we would happily upgrade, the azamazing evenings get great reviews.

You can pick up an Azamara for about $300/night all inclusive, so pretty good value. We are looking forward to trying them due to their interesting itineraries.

We still have a significant credit to spend on SS so will likely book something in the near future.

[Aussieflyer]

On 9/28/2023 at 8:34 PM, gogo65 said:

We saw explora 1 in Greenland last year, the ship was stunning. We spoke with a few passengers and they loved it. We would definitely consider them.

We have done two Ponant and one silversea (all expeditions), we preferred Ponant from an expedition perspective, however I think SS would be good on a normal cruise on one of the slightly newer bigger ships.

We have booked Azamara Greece intensive for August next year, we have no sea days, the basic alcohol package will probably suffice although we would happily upgrade, the azamazing evenings get great reviews.

You can pick up an Azamara for about $300/night all inclusive, so pretty good value. We are looking forward to trying them due to their interesting itineraries.

We still have a significant credit to spend on SS so will likely book something in the near future.

It is interesting that you preferred Ponant for the expedition cruises. We sailed Ponant to Antarctica and thought Silversea would have been a better choice (based on our experience in the Arctic with them). The food was not what I would have expected (fish was excellent but any red meat was a disappointment). On the other had alcohol was very good!. The main problems we found were a) with high number of French speakers on board, lectures were presented in French and then an English version, which suffered greatly from lack of familiarity with the language. As well the number of lectures and briefings were reduced in comparison to SS b) the quality of the expedition staff was not up to the SS standard (no university lecturers etc) and c) cabins were very small (though this was minor really in the scheme of things). We have spoken to others who sailed Ponant in the Kimberley and they loved it and didn't have the issues we faced.