Cruises

DH and I are thinking about taking our honeymoon next June. We were thinking about Italy, but I got in my mind the idea of a Mediterranean cruise. I have never been on a cruise and I've never really considered myself a cruise person, but I thought it might be a good way to see a lot of places in a short period of time. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts of good cruise lines, trips, excursions, etc?

Thanks!

I used to work for Royal Caribbean on the Vision of the Seas, and I think cruising can be fun depending on what sort of vacation you like to take.  If you like all-inclusive, structured activities like games at the pool or dance classes, or if you like Las Vegas or ESPN Zone or the Hard Rock Cafe, then you'll probably like cruising.  You can definitely go off on your own and do your own thing, but they make a big effort (on Royal Caribbean, anyway) to provide stuff to do all the time.

If you don't enjoy getting to know the the people around you, or you just want to sit quietly by the pool without having to watch a belly flop competition or a calypso dance class, cruising is probably not for you.  If you're the sort of person that likes to explore on your own and take time to get to know a place, cruising is not for you.  You're usually only in each port for a day, and sometimes as short as 5 or 6 hours.

On Royal Caribbean, the shorter the cruise, the younger the crowd.  A 3 or 4 day cruise was pretty much a booze cruise with tons of people in their 20's.  A 5 or 7 day cruise would be a mix of families and young couples, and a 10 or more day cruise was mostly old people.  (I remember a 14-day Panama Canal cruise that had 3 children on board out of 2,600 passengers.)

I've cruised twice as a passenger to visit friends that are still working on board ships.  One of those was a 10-day Med cruise.  We went from Spain to Sicily, Turkey, Greece, and Malta on the Navigator of the Seas.  It was nice, but DW and I are more of the explore on our own type, so I wouldn't pick cruising as a first choice.

Hope that helps.  I was on the Vision for almost 3 years, so feel free to ask me anything. 

When I was travel agent I sold boucoups of cruises, camoscato is right they are good for everything. Have been on 6 cruises now too...

We went on a med cruise in June 06 for my 40th bday and we did Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) and they do Freestyle Cruising which means you can do what you like when you like. There is no dressing up for dinner if you don't want to. We were on the Jewel and the ship was a year old. This went around Italy as well. We saw Pisa, and Pompeii, Rome and it was fab..the only down side was the heat..the day we went to Rome it was 42 degrees..hot hot HOT!

Our first cruise was with P&O (Oct 2003) and it was a repositioning cruise from the med to the caribbean...so we were on board for 2 weeks and there were 4 formal nights. Had a great time on that one.

We did Celebrity cruises last April for our anniversary..that went from San Juan to San Juan..and did the Caribbean islands...that did have a few dressy up nights.

My one tip is to book the excursions with the cruise line..cause if you book independantly and you are late back to the ship they can and WILL cruise without you. But if you are on a cruise line excursion they have to wait for you.

The plus of booking with a American company as well is anything onboard is paid in $'s as well as the excursions. I book all my cruises with my sisters travel agent in Houston now and pay in $'s for my cruises and book my own flights to the cruise. I do pay for my transfers with the cruise line as well AND the bonus is that in the USA if you change your mind and don't go you get your deposit back...not like here in the UK where you don't get it back.

Happy as well to answer any questions...

Wow! Awesome advice, thanks!

Camoscato, you have described why I'm afraid we are not cruise people. But, MeShell's description of the Freestyle Cruising on the NCL around Italy doesn't sound so bad. I thought if we did a longer cruise it might mean more time in various ports to explore, but the one cruise line just had the same number of ports, just more days cruising.    It would be nice though having a gym, spa, and pool to use while on board as these are things we would like.

I'll take a look at the Freestyle Cruises and see if those might be a nice match. 

K - my cousin, who is only a year older than me, has done a few cruises. His were Caribbean but I know he enjoyed them and he's not the type to calypso by the pool. I'll ask him what he looked for when he booked his.

There are small ship cruises available too... however they are going to more expensive, but boat sizes can be as little as 6 up to 200-ish. 

I'm including a couple of links just to give you something else to look at.


http://www.alvoyages.com/mediterranean-cruises/

http://www.seafarercruises.com/Greece_Cruises.htm

http://www.noble-caledonia.co.uk/sections/small_ship_cruises.asp


It's always something I've wanted to do too!!!


PS- How was the broccoli casserole?

Another cruise line is
Ocean Village .. they are known as the cruise line for people that don't do crusises.
My mum,aunt and I went on one a few years ago.. We loved it.. smaller ship.. no hoity toity stuff.. You could go off the ship to do the things in port that were already organised or you could spend the time on your own or spend it on the ship..
Very casual easy going cruise.. folks of all ages..
They only had one ship back then .. now they have two.

www.oceanvillageholidays.co.uk

Just another line to think about.

Oh forgot to add....

When we start looking at possibly booking a cruise I go on Cruise Critics forum and start researching about whatever cruise line we are looking at and also what ship is doing the trip we want to do...

it's very helpful....have learned loads of tips from it...and once you decide on a cruise and book it there is generally a roll call forum and you can start getting to know those that are going to be on same cruise..this might not be your thing..I like it tho...
One of my FB friends is a lady I met on the Med cruise we went on. Her daughters friend that was with them...her dad is one of the writers and producers of Lost...my kids were well impressed....

We went on one in April and like you I was I thought not a cruise person however we both loved it everything at your finger tips spas, discos, fantastic bars and restaruants, (shops ok) and when you dock you can go off and see the place you docked in without being board because you have done everything you can for the week in one place.

Its cheaper also as most things are paid for so no extra surprises.

We are in our 30's so I would say go for it.

Thanks everyone! We're really warming up to the idea! This is kind of a stupid question, but the rooms are air conditioned, right? We're thinking of going in June and like MeShell pointed out, it's really hot in Italy at that time of the year! I don't mind exploring in the heat, but I don't do well sleeping in it. For me, this is a benefit of taking a cruise over booking hotels in Italy where there's a good chance they won't have a/c.

Plus, that fact that there is a spa on board is totally selling it for me! 

Thanks everyone! We're really warming up to the idea! This is kind of a stupid question, but the rooms are air conditioned, right? We're thinking of going in June and like MeShell pointed out, it's really hot in Italy at that time of the year! I don't mind exploring in the heat, but I don't do well sleeping in it. For me, this is a benefit of taking a cruise over booking hotels in Italy where there's a good chance they won't have a/c.

Plus, that fact that there is a spa on board is totally selling it for me! 

Yes, the rooms are all air conditioned.  It's like a hotel that floats. 

If you don't enjoy getting to know the the people around you, or you just want to sit quietly by the pool without having to watch a belly flop competition or a calypso dance class, cruising is probably not for you. 

I have to respectfully disagree.  Hubby and I are more "people watchers" than "joiners" and we LOVE cruising! Yes, there are tons of activities but you don't have to join in if you don't want to. If you want to sit and enjoy a drink without getting up and joining in the dancing/karaoke/etc then you can still have a fun time.

We've cruised Cunard, P&O and Carnival lines. We've done 4 day up to 14 day cruises. If you've never been before you probably would want a slightly shorter one - 14 days is a long time if you aren't sure you'll like it. I think our favourite was P&O as it was a mid-size ship and the service was excellent. We even had a kettle with tea in our room (surprisingly Cunard doesn't do this)

I also second Cruise Critic website for your research. This came in really handy when picking the excursions for our Canaries-Spain-Portugal-Madeira cruise through P&O. A lot of the people on there cruise frequently and are really helpful.