Some advice for a Mum & Daughter cruise?

[EstelleB]

We are not exactly 1st time cruisers, but haven't cruised since the kids were small and so much has changed since then! Past cruises were in the Med with NCL and Ocean Village (remember them) and we really enjoyed them, but just never got back to it as my kids discovered Orlando!

 

I now want to book a Med cruise for myself (early 50s) and my Daughter (early 20s) and I'm a bit lost in terms of our ideal cruise line. We don't really want a ship which is teaming with kids, but many adults only ships seem to cater for a slightly older crowd and I'm not sure that my Daughter would enjoy it. 

 

FYI things that we enjoy are good food (with lots of choice, no traditional dining), cocktails and a glass of champers now and again, some rest days by the pool and the option of some solid entertainment at night. I don't particularly want a mega ship, but we can't have anything too small as my Daughter may get sea sick. Ideally we would like all inclusive, but would consider not if it's the best ship option for us.

 

I have looked at Virgin, bit disappointed that they don't do a drinks package, and a bit concerned that the entertainment might not be to our tastes (we do love our musicals), but possibly they are the closest to what we want? I also noticed someone said that the pools are rubbish, and whilst we don't want to practice for the olympics, I do enjoy a swim and not having to fight for a sun lounger!

 

Itinerary wise we are quite flexible, perfect would be 7 nights with focus on Italy, but happy to do longer and include Spain/France/Greece as well. We will be travelling in the Summer, but can avoid kids holidays by going at the start of July or September. 

 

Big question therefore is who we should be looking at? Virgin? Celebrity seem nice but their packages read as having lots of restrictions (?), NCL have some great itineraries for us but I read some mixed reviews, Princess have a great package but are they catering for a slightly older crowd? What about P&O, we do like a Costa, but are they a bit too traditional? 

 

Final question - book direct or use an agent? I remember years ago the agents seemed to have better prices but not sure now? 

 

Many thanks

[edinburgher]

2 hours ago, EstelleB said:

We don't really want a ship which is teaming with kids, but many adults only ships seem to cater for a slightly older crowd and I'm not sure that my Daughter would enjoy it. 

Could be worthwhile looking at Marella/TUI as their ships are big enough to offer a variety of entertainment and dining options, but small enough that you won't feel overwhelmed.  And they are All Inclusive and you may even be able to fly from a UK regional airport.  May not be for you but worth a look.

[babs135]

Don't rule out Cunard. From what you've said possibly Queen Victoria or Anne might be worth you looking at.

[John Bull]

We have fond memories of Ocean Village 1 & 11 🙂.

IIRC they carried somewhere around 2000 passengers - at that time they were considered quite big.

Today's mega-ships carry 5 - 6,000 passengers.  Those ships have all the whistles & bells and lots of toys. For younger kids their waterslides & water parks rival Disney theme parks. Not our scene, but we have been tempted a few times (P&O and MSC) by cruise ticket prices.

 

Cruise fares in general haven't kept pace with inflation - partly due to mega-ships' economies of scale and partly due to more-and-more money-spinners on-board like some of those toys and premium-pay restaurants.

Remember the restaurant on OV which charged a relatively small premium? Nowadays even small ships have a selection of premium-pay restaurants - and the premium isn't small. Expect to pay the prices that you'd find in excellent restaurants at home,- they're very good and are reasonable value if you ignore the fact that you've paid for your keep in your cruise fare. Sadly they're also a factor in included dining in many ships being poorer than it used to be - probably the worst in this respect is NCL. Since you enjoy good food, the answer is to budget for premium-pay but have a meal or two in the MDR & see what you think. Personally we only splash out on premium-pay for special occasions, usually 0 to 2 times per cruise.

 

Most ships now offer anytime dining, some offer only anytime dining. 

 

Cunard is still quite formal - gentlemen are expected to wear a collared shirt & jacker to dinner every evening. Not our scene - might be yours.

On other cruise lines "formal" is now much more relaxed than it used to be - smart casual is the norm.

For our last MSC cruise (out of Southampton, very good value) we were told that there'd be a "black & white" night so we took formal gear. It turned out to be a "white night" & not particularly well-observed, Fortunately I'd taken a white DJ & was pleased to abandon the dickey-bow in favour of an un-buttoned collar. 

P&O are more our speed - only on formal nights is there a smart dress code in MDRs and some bars. Some unfairly complain that the MDR serves "pub food" but altho pub favourites are on the menu there are also more up-market options. But yes, the average age on their "adults only" ships is about 110 😉

NCL you'll already know have no dress code, we haven't sailed with them for some years because of their "nickel-and-diming" - it's more about that attitude than the actual add-on costs. Others like NCL

Princess is a favourite of ours - like P&O but with more style. We don't see the adult age-range as much different to other lines. Holland-America and Fred Olsen are more-geared to older folk.

We don't rate Marella (formerly Thompson's) as being amongst the best altho' their (still hand-me-down) ships are much smarter & more modern than the standards of their past ships. But their fares are no longer budget, and altho they're drinks-included on one overly hot cruise a couple of years we got through an awful lot of cocktails and still walked in a straight line. Some more-interesting itineraries, and we've always found their passengers very friendly.

RCI has fun ships, your daughter would probably approve. You'll probably like too, as long as you avoid things like the belly-flop competitions and "Quest" (don't even ask 😄)

Celebrity is RCI's more refined stable-mate, years since we sailed with them.

 

Sailing from Southampton is so much less-stressful at the cost of fewer port days.

 

But if you plan to fly to the Med stick to Brit cruise lines - on most US and especially Italian ships there's a big mix of passengers with consequent language difficulties. Announcements are multi-lingual, cruise directors drone on in half a dozen languages and I'm sure they say more than they need because they want to show off their language skills. And conversations with your European cousins can be quite stilted.

Take that from someone who  knows 🤔

Chartered fly-cruises are cheaper and easier than booking your own flights.

 

Bear in mind the itineraries, including hours in port. No ships go to Rome or Venice or a few other cities which are inland. And except for very small ships ignore "Venice", which some continue to put on their itineraries, because they are not permitted up the Giudecca Canal & into Venice. They now have to port in places like Ravenna or Trieste, over an hour away 

 

Any idea where you want to go ?

 

Best to use a cruise-specialist travel agent, sorry CC rules don't permit naming names. Google "Cruise agents UK" , peruse their websites, then when you have an idea of what cruises you have in mind phone them. You'll get a feeling for which one is most helpful, then phone them and ask them to match or beat the best offer you've been given. Up to you whether you are truthful. Remember offers can be freebies (parking, travel-to-port, drinks, etc) as well as discounts. And Thomson/TUI travel agents will naturally favour Marella cruises. Marella is the one cruise where we've never gotten a better price from agents than direct. 

 

Have fun choosin', have fun cruisin'

 

JB 🙂

 

 

[EstelleB]

Thanks everyone, this is so helpful. 

 

My instincts were that Marella and the Italian lines might not be for us, but I will have a look. My instincts were leaning towards Princess or Celebrity but I will have a good look at the others as well. 

 

It is a shame about NCL, I remember really liking our cabin with them but not being overly impressed with the food! I really liked some of their itineraries, particularly as some stay overnight in Livorno, but it would get on our nerves if we are constantly being charged extras. 

 

For itineraries, I would love to do Livorno/La Spezia as my Daughter has never been to Florence, and not too fussed about Greek islands as we've done that before. Other than this we are pretty flexible. We were lucky in the day that we were able to sail into Venice so not too disappointed that we can't do that now!

[KellyCz]

My daughter and I match your ages and some of your interests. We enjoyed sailing on Celebrity last year (Caribbean itinerary). If you can find an itinerary you like, I think Celebrity will check many of your boxes in terms of onboard experience.