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Tips needed for a cruise i'm planning |
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#26 |
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Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 1,457
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That's why I won't go on a cruise
If the rich fat cats won't pay their staff a decent wage, why should I supplement it? |
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#27 |
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Join Date: Feb 2015
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If it is MSC, tipping is around 7.50 Euros per person per night and is automatically added to your bill.
Excursions are expensive and are often cheaper to arrange once in Port, typically look at around £30-£50 for half a day and £50-£70 for a full day, based on a typical standard excursion. Food isn't great anymore, at best average...this due to the rise in the number of specialty restaurants onboard which are available at a cover charge, why give you something really good for the included fare for when they can charge you extra. If you are prone to sea sickness then go for an inside cabin, lowest deck as close to the middle as possible, your cabin is mainly used for sleeping, washing & changing...generally you are not in it long, so don't waste money by going for a balcony cabin. I am not familiar with either Genoa or Cagliari but ports I have visted often leave you enough opportunities to explore further afield using buses and trains. When anchored at Villfranche, we took the train to Monaco and then the bus back along the coast to Nice, very cheap and allowed us plenty of time to make sure we were back on board on time. It isn't until you take a couple of cruises or seek advice from others that you discover all these little tips. I held out for over 2o years not agreeing to a cruise but when I finally did, I never regretted it, had one of the best holidays ever, we just used the cruise liner as a convenient hotel waking up each day in a different place was brilliant, Breakfast and off exploring as early as we could and getting back just before it sailed enjoying the food and drink in great little places onshore. |
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#28 |
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Join Date: Feb 2015
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The food isn't good...edible at best...though they did do nice pizza. When we did ours with MSC, we didn't bother with excursions, most places you could walk in (if not using the tender), if it wasn't possible to walk in they offered shuttles at a cost of approx 12-13 euros per person for all day use (they went back & forth all day).
Bar prices are higher than what you pay in the UK, and don't forget it includes all drinks not just alcoholic ones...you can get free water & coffee (coffee is awful) from the buffet throughout the day, and free juice at breakfast. As the entertainment is poor (think primary school children production's...though that isn't really fair on the children), there isn't much you can do at night other than drink, gamble or sleep....so the drinks package maybe worth it. Service onboard is poor & slow, majority of staff are miserable, and the majority of other guests are just plain rude. |
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#29 |
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Utopia
Posts: 10,162
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Remind me to come back to you for advice on which cruise liner not to use. I have only been on two and both were brilliant including guests and food. The first cruise was on the Marco Polo before it changed hands and I agree some guests can be, well lets say overpowering, on the first night we sat with a group that included a New Zealander and he was loud and complaining. On the second night we met up with really nice guests and stayed with them each evening at dinner and shared what we had done that day and other topics, they were brilliant. The second cruise was the Grand Princess and this time we had a table to ourselves which worked out well, the food wasn't as good as on the Marco Polo but was okay. But to be honest we had enough on shore we only eat lightly on board as I posted earlier we used the liner as a place to sleep, shower and change and relax in the evening with a movie, never caught a show.
And again the larger companies tend to spend less time in port, in order to save costs these days as well. For drinks the best ones for prices tend to be those ones that use sterling as onbaord currency, the US Dollar ships tend to be the most expensive. MSC are poor in most aspects, but they do have some wonderful ships & great itineraries, you just have to weigh that up against everything else...personally I loved the ship & itinerary...Kotor & Dubrovnik are two of the most fantastic places you could visit. There are a variety of cruise lines depending what you want:- Luxury Silversea Regent Seven Seas Seabourn Crystal Cruises Seadream Windstar Azamara Hebridean 5* Celebrity Cunard Princess Disney 4* P&O Fred Olsen Royal Caribbean NCL 3* MSC Costa Thomson Cruise & Maritime Carnival Something different Star Clippers Hurtigruten Lectures Voyages of Antiquity And several I have probably missed. |
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#30 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Look out your window.Thats me!
Posts: 1,260
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Hi,
I've found a short/cheap Mediterranean cruise that I like the look of and was after some advice. It's only 3 nights but it sails from Genoa and we'll depart at Cagliari so the plan is also to spend a day or two in both places. It's through Thomas cook and these are these detail . (Sorry if the page doesn't load properly, it's not working for me either). So the questions I have are: 1. £308 for the cabin seems very cheap to me (even for 3 nights). I''m not expecting much but as long as it's equivalent to a 3 star hotel that would be fine with me. Does anyone have experience with something similar? 2. I've never been on a cruise before but have heard a few stories about having to spend a lot of money once on board. Is this likely? 3. Like I said, we'd need to fly into Genoa and out of Cagliari. Does anyone know whether there's much to do or see in these places? It's it worth spending more than a day? Is there anything else I should be aware off. Thanks 2. If you get a drinks package, you probably won't spend any money at all. 3. No idea. We went with NCL on our cruise and the tips had to be paid up front. A bit odd i thought, but apparently the norm. Excursions are well expensive! For what we spent we could have had another weeks holiday. Americans. They are everywhere. |
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#31 |
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,046
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If you look at cruise lines for Food, you are best doing the smaller ones, the ones that don't have speciality restaurants at extra cover charges...the cruise lines want to make money out of you onboard, so the food on these larger ships tends to be downgraded in the main & buffet restaurants.
And again the larger companies tend to spend less time in port, in order to save costs these days as well. For drinks the best ones for prices tend to be those ones that use sterling as onbaord currency, the US Dollar ships tend to be the most expensive. MSC are poor in most aspects, but they do have some wonderful ships & great itineraries, you just have to weigh that up against everything else...personally I loved the ship & itinerary...Kotor & Dubrovnik are two of the most fantastic places you could visit. There are a variety of cruise lines depending what you want:- Luxury Silversea Regent Seven Seas Seabourn Crystal Cruises Seadream Windstar Azamara Hebridean 5* Celebrity Cunard Princess Disney 4* P&O Fred Olsen Royal Caribbean NCL 3* MSC Costa Thomson Cruise & Maritime Carnival Something different Star Clippers Hurtigruten Lectures Voyages of Antiquity And several I have probably missed. We've been on two Cunard cruises (QE2 around the med, QM2 around the caribbean) and one H&A cruise (Ms Oosterdam around the med). Cunard are better, but H&A for me aren't too far away from them. |
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#32 |
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,454
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What you must take in to account on the drinks package is that both of you must take it, thats £80 a day. This is to stop one person getting the drinks for all the cabin etc. It's probably not worth it, if you don't have any days at sea.
Another thing I hated was they confiscate your duty free. I had my Heathrow duty free in my suitcase and had asked my attendant where is my case , finally found that it had been confiscated by Security because it had "contraband" ie 2 bottles of Rum. They scan all cases onto the ship and the ones with contraband booze were seized . So if you expected a wee half un in your room it was a no no. After that I refused all tips on my account and didnt pay a penny. I also boycotted all RC Tours doing or own thing instead. ( Along with many others who had planned well ahead). But other than the above I enjoyed the cruise. |
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#33 |
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Utopia
Posts: 10,162
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Yeah, Holland & America. I'd place them a strong 4-star.
We've been on two Cunard cruises (QE2 around the med, QM2 around the caribbean) and one H&A cruise (Ms Oosterdam around the med). Cunard are better, but H&A for me aren't too far away from them. |
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#34 |
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,046
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Yes...forgot Holland America, probably a 4* +...and Cunard could possibly fit in to the luxury category depending on which standard of cabin you are in.
, it's still a very nice experience!
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#35 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: South
Posts: 10,847
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So just how poor should I expect the food on the MSC to be? If you could compare to a UK restaurant - even if it's only Weatherspoons - that would be helpful.
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#36 |
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Utopia
Posts: 10,162
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So just how poor should I expect the food on the MSC to be? If you could compare to a UK restaurant - even if it's only Weatherspoons - that would be helpful.
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, it's still a very nice experience!