Who's been on a cruise, your thoughts about the experience?
Discussion
Well me, the girlfriend and our son have booked a cruise for june.
Going with P&O on ventura, doing a 12night canary islands cruise.
Just wondering on peoples experiences and thoughts on the whole thing really.
Any sort of watch outs or tips would be good as we have never been on one before.
Cheers
Adam
Going with P&O on ventura, doing a 12night canary islands cruise.
Just wondering on peoples experiences and thoughts on the whole thing really.
Any sort of watch outs or tips would be good as we have never been on one before.
Cheers
Adam
You will enjoy it, in June there should be plenty of kids clubs as P&O do cater more for families in the summer, you will hardly see your child!
Food is excellent and so is the service. You'll have a couple of days at sea as you leave the UK, plenty of time to explore the ship and relax. Loads of good entertainment and food in the evenings...enjoy!
Food is excellent and so is the service. You'll have a couple of days at sea as you leave the UK, plenty of time to explore the ship and relax. Loads of good entertainment and food in the evenings...enjoy!
LuS1fer said:
My sister went on a Costa cruise. I think the Titanic was more successful and she is pursuing compensation.
The cruise industry has been expanding like mad for the last 30 years so the majority of punters must be enjoying the experience, there is always the person that this may not suit for whatever reasons seasickness/foriegn food etc. I think with cruises you definatly get what you pay for, isn't this the company that string vests are acceptable on formal nights.
LuS1fer said:
My sister went on a Costa cruise. I think the Titanic was more successful and she is pursuing compensation.
Italian run, says it all really. You'll enjoy the Ventura. I worked for P&O/Princess for a while and sailed on several of her sister ships. P&O is more formal and a little 'older' than Ocean Village, but still fun, and Ventura is billed as a family ship (some of their ships are adult only).
If you haven't experienced these ships up close before you'll be blown away by the size!
We did a transatlantic passage on the QM2, with 2 kids. It was stupendously good value, the kids facilities were small but appeared excellent, however our kids refused to go - we still had a blast - 6 days at sea, no stops.
might consider cruising again, based on the strength of that.
might consider cruising again, based on the strength of that.
I did a 2 week Caribbean cruise on the Ventura at Christmas 2009.
If was fantastic - one of the best holidays we've ever had.
The staff and service on the ship is superb. The food was astounding and drinks (which is the only thing you pay for on board with the exception of things like spa treatments) are at UK pub prices.
I went with family and was assured it wouldn't be full of zimmer frames and blue rinse. They were right and there was a mix of ages on board.
We had a balcony cabin, which was fantastic, but tbh the inside cabins looked great aswell.
I'd go again tomorrow if I could.
If was fantastic - one of the best holidays we've ever had.
The staff and service on the ship is superb. The food was astounding and drinks (which is the only thing you pay for on board with the exception of things like spa treatments) are at UK pub prices.
I went with family and was assured it wouldn't be full of zimmer frames and blue rinse. They were right and there was a mix of ages on board.
We had a balcony cabin, which was fantastic, but tbh the inside cabins looked great aswell.
I'd go again tomorrow if I could.
Aydogflipper said:
Well me, the girlfriend and our son have booked a cruise for june.
Going with P&O on ventura, doing a 12night canary islands cruise.
Just wondering on peoples experiences and thoughts on the whole thing really.
Any sort of watch outs or tips would be good as we have never been on one before.
Cheers
Adam
AdamGoing with P&O on ventura, doing a 12night canary islands cruise.
Just wondering on peoples experiences and thoughts on the whole thing really.
Any sort of watch outs or tips would be good as we have never been on one before.
Cheers
Adam
I went on a Med cruise on the Ventura in July 2009, wife and 2 boys, 3 and 4 at the time.
My mother and father in law have been on the ship 4 times now!
The best tip I could give with kids is don't worry about going off the ship, it costs alot, you feel rushed, your always worring about making it to the ship before it leaves, better to just sit back and chill.
24hr babysitting facilitys, so, if you want, you could drop your child off as you board and pick him up when you leave, lol, my kids would cry when I came to pick them up they were having such a good time.
Ohh and my last tip is bring trousers with elastic waistbands, I put on 13lbs in a 14 days.
I've done a river cruise, but the experience i'm about to share, I think, can apply to any cruise situation.
Cruises are brilliant, simple as.. but..
They are filled with old people,
so no young totty
not even any nice MILF totty
the worse part is that after a couple of days you start thinking 'how old would I actually go for a 1 off?'
Cruises are brilliant, simple as.. but..
They are filled with old people,
so no young totty
not even any nice MILF totty
the worse part is that after a couple of days you start thinking 'how old would I actually go for a 1 off?'
Carl_Spackler said:
Ohh and my last tip is bring trousers with elastic waistbands, I put on 13lbs in a 14 days.
This. After your massive breakfast, you'll go for lunch around lunchtime with the intention of having something small.
But you'll have 2 plate-fulls there, because you can't resist.
Then there's the temptation of the burger bar onboard (all 'free' don't forget) and the pizza bar.
Then there's your 5 course meal in the evening.
A few more days and they'd have had to roll me off the ship like a barrel.
I've been on 2, both round the caribbean.
One sailed from Miami - it was my first cruise. Really enjoyed it. All my previous reservations about cruising were gone within a few hours.
Second one sailed from Noo Joisey - f
king pish. The majority of our fellow cruisers were loud and ignorant.
One sailed from Miami - it was my first cruise. Really enjoyed it. All my previous reservations about cruising were gone within a few hours.
Second one sailed from Noo Joisey - f
king pish. The majority of our fellow cruisers were loud and ignorant. SWMBO and I took a cruise with Princess last August. Departed Ft.Lauderdale, went round the Eastern Caribbean and back in 7 days. It was better than I expected, the boat (Emerald Princess) was absolutely immaculate from one end to the other. Service was excellent. Food was so-so if you are used to high quality hotels, but given you are on a floating thing in the middle of nowhere it was very good. One of the excursions we went on was utter crap. We complained and Princess just didn't want to know, other than that it was great.
Would I do another cruise...? No, not unless pushed. It was good but the price overhead for floating about the place vs. being in a nice hotel is a lot. Would I recommend it...? Yes, but go with a good outfit like Princess or Royal Caribbean...
Would I do another cruise...? No, not unless pushed. It was good but the price overhead for floating about the place vs. being in a nice hotel is a lot. Would I recommend it...? Yes, but go with a good outfit like Princess or Royal Caribbean...
Muzzer said:
Carl_Spackler said:
Ohh and my last tip is bring trousers with elastic waistbands, I put on 13lbs in a 14 days.
This. After your massive breakfast, you'll go for lunch around lunchtime with the intention of having something small.
But you'll have 2 plate-fulls there, because you can't resist.
Then there's the temptation of the burger bar onboard (all 'free' don't forget) and the pizza bar.
Then there's your 5 course meal in the evening.
A few more days and they'd have had to roll me off the ship like a barrel.
It got to the point where I'd eat a cooked breakfast, washed down with a muffin, eleven oclock snack, then pizza, then a burger, some chips, then something at 4 ish, followed by a 7 course dinner.
I'm about 5'11 and 12 stone by the way, I wasn't when I waddled off the ship.
sussexjob said:
The cruise industry has been expanding like mad for the last 30 years so the majority of punters must be enjoying the experience, there is always the person that this may not suit for whatever reasons seasickness/foriegn food etc.
I think with cruises you definatly get what you pay for, isn't this the company that string vests are acceptable on formal nights.
Far more than that. The ship had been torn open like a can opener prior to boarding so there was a delay of days for that to be fixed. The ship was atrocious, the cabins atrocious, the food atrocious, the staff rude, the drinks sold for ransom, they missed ports and destiinations altogether, put into a commercial dock for repairs in Hong Kong and got ferried in and tried to rip thenm off for taxis they got for a fraction of the cost, couldn't organise anything at all. It got so bad it became funny as the passengers slowly rebelled. She wrote a long diary that kept us entertained for 2 weeks. I doubt it was representative of most cruises though.I think with cruises you definatly get what you pay for, isn't this the company that string vests are acceptable on formal nights.
Have been on 2 weekend cruises with P&O (Southampton to Bruge) which are a fantastic taster. Service is great and I was really surprised at how cheap the drinks were considering you can't really go elsewhere!
Might just be because it was a weekender, but both times there was a complete mix of passengers from young groups/hens to the oldies, but all are pretty chilled out and make for a relaxed atmosphere, even on the black tie evenings (where everyone looks the part).
Our honeymoon later this year will be a cruise around the Med (Barcelona - Monaco - Italy - Greece/Turkey - Italy) and I can't wait
Might just be because it was a weekender, but both times there was a complete mix of passengers from young groups/hens to the oldies, but all are pretty chilled out and make for a relaxed atmosphere, even on the black tie evenings (where everyone looks the part).
Our honeymoon later this year will be a cruise around the Med (Barcelona - Monaco - Italy - Greece/Turkey - Italy) and I can't wait
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