Cruise 2023

[Deep Thought]

Leading on from the Cruise 2022 thread here..

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Deep Thought]

Whats everyone using for cruise searches these days?

I used to use Iglu, but i've found Seascanner to be really good. Also seems to produce cheaper cruises than Iglu too?

www.seascanner.co.uk

[miniman]

We’re looking at a week on MSC from Port Canaveral down to Mexico. Annoyingly flights out there are coming in higher than the cruise itself. We like MSC, any experiences to share?

[Deep Thought]

miniman said:

We’re looking at a week on MSC from Port Canaveral down to Mexico. Annoyingly flights out there are coming in higher than the cruise itself. We like MSC, any experiences to share?

We did our first cruise on MSC in December there on Virtuosa.

Absolutely loved it!

We did time it though to be going outside of school holidays / half term times, and i think that makes a big difference. Ship was roughly half full at between 2800-3000 depending on the port.

We've MSC World Europa booked now for June 2023.

You've probably realised this already, but do book the drinks package at the time of booking - it can be as little as £160pppw to get the Premium Plus package, but it jumps dramatically in price if you add it later.

We also noticed that seascanner was around 20% cheaper than the same cruise booked with MSC themselves.

[DodgyGeezer]

Deep Thought said:

Whats everyone using for cruise searches these days?

I used to use Iglu, but i've found Seascanner to be really good. Also seems to produce cheaper cruises than Iglu too?

www.seascanner.co.uk

we regularly use https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/ but I've also signed up for e-mail updates with a few smaller companies ( https://www.bolsovercruiseclub.com/ spring to mind)

Edited by DodgyGeezer on Monday 2nd January 12:56

[Deep Thought]

DodgyGeezer said:

Deep Thought said:

Whats everyone using for cruise searches these days?

I used to use Iglu, but i've found Seascanner to be really good. Also seems to produce cheaper cruises than Iglu too?

www.seascanner.co.uk

we regularly use https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/ but I've also signed up for e-mail updates with a few smaller companies (https://www.bolsovercruiseclub.com/ spring to mind)

Rather weirdly, we now get some sort of quarterly cruise deals magazine delivered to the house here. We've clearly made it on to some company's mailing list but it seems incredibly old fashioned to have a paper magazine published and sent out. I guess theres still a big element of the cruising community to respond to that sort of approach though.

[classicaholic]

happie33 said:

port out
starboard home …


anyway PO have a fantastic repositioning deal for the arvia … two weeks over to the carribean from southampton and flight home in 5 days time —- 850 per person !!!!

We are on that cruise, if anyone else is on it we can meet up and talk car bks for a bit over a beer!

[bad company]

Mrs BC are booked on this Seabourn cruise from Buenos Aires to Miami. We had this booked this for 2020 and got as far as boarding a flight in London before disembarking and going home due to Covid cancellations.

https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/W3S33...

[MarkJS]

bad company said:

Mrs BC are booked on this Seabourn cruise from Buenos Aires to Miami. We had this booked this for 2020 and got as far as boarding a flight in London before disembarking and going home due to Covid cancellations.

https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/W3S33...

That looks amazing!

[bad company]

MarkJS said:

bad company said:

Mrs BC are booked on this Seabourn cruise from Buenos Aires to Miami. We had this booked this for 2020 and got as far as boarding a flight in London before disembarking and going home due to Covid cancellations.

https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/W3S33...

That looks amazing!

Yes, really looking forward to it. We’ve never been to Brazil, particularly excited about Rio.

[paulguitar]

bad company said:

Yes, really looking forward to it. We’ve never been to Brazil, particularly excited about Rio.

Don't wear an expensive watch.

[bad company]

paulguitar said:

bad company said:

Yes, really looking forward to it. We’ve never been to Brazil, particularly excited about Rio.

Don't wear an expensive watch.

Thanks for that. I think the same advice applies in Manaus and the other Brazilian ports. We’ll leave the watches and Mrs BC’s jewellery in the room safe when ashore.

[c8bof]

We are booked onto the MerMaiden voyage of Resilient Lady with VV. First cruise with VV, having only sailed with Cunard and Celebrity before. Excited to be trying something different, especially given all the chat about VV in the 2022 thread.

[Trevor555]

Our new 2023 cruise thread, I promise not to call them boats....

Promise...

I'm kicking the year off on Iona, my cabin's at the pointy end.

[miniman]

In a spectacular pivot caused by flight costs and plans to do a few days at Universal / Canaveral being just as expensive as spending a fortnight there, we have booked with NCL to take a look at Alaska, which we've wanted to do for a while. Premium drinks, 2 speciality dining and wifi added for negligible additional cost. We'll do a few days in Seattle first.

[Deep Thought]

c8bof said:

We are booked onto the MerMaiden voyage of Resilient Lady with VV. First cruise with VV, having only sailed with Cunard and Celebrity before. Excited to be trying something different, especially given all the chat about VV in the 2022 thread.

We're planning on booking Resilient for September, having done Valiant in 2022, and Scarlet in 2021.

Its definitely different with VV. Apparently Resilient is going to have notable differences to Scarlet and Valiant, so it will be interesting to hear what those are!

When is the MerMaiden Voyage? Is that out of Athens?

[paulguitar]

miniman said:

In a spectacular pivot caused by flight costs and plans to do a few days at Universal / Canaveral being just as expensive as spending a fortnight there, we have booked with NCL to take a look at Alaska, which we've wanted to do for a while. Premium drinks, 2 speciality dining and wifi added for negligible additional cost. We'll do a few days in Seattle first.

When are you going? The weather in Alaska makes quite a big difference to the experience. I love it there. Have a drink in the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau. A friend of mine plays guitar/sings old country there. Victoria is a cool little place as well.

[miniman]

paulguitar said:

miniman said:

In a spectacular pivot caused by flight costs and plans to do a few days at Universal / Canaveral being just as expensive as spending a fortnight there, we have booked with NCL to take a look at Alaska, which we've wanted to do for a while. Premium drinks, 2 speciality dining and wifi added for negligible additional cost. We'll do a few days in Seattle first.

When are you going? The weather in Alaska makes quite a big difference to the experience. I love it there. Have a drink in the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau. A friend of mine plays guitar/sings old country there. Victoria is a cool little place as well.

August. Victoria stop is a bit of an odd one, arrive 8pm, depart midnight. Hopefully enough time for a quick look round!

[paulguitar]

miniman said:

paulguitar said:

miniman said:

In a spectacular pivot caused by flight costs and plans to do a few days at Universal / Canaveral being just as expensive as spending a fortnight there, we have booked with NCL to take a look at Alaska, which we've wanted to do for a while. Premium drinks, 2 speciality dining and wifi added for negligible additional cost. We'll do a few days in Seattle first.

When are you going? The weather in Alaska makes quite a big difference to the experience. I love it there. Have a drink in the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau. A friend of mine plays guitar/sings old country there. Victoria is a cool little place as well.

August. Victoria stop is a bit of an odd one, arrive 8pm, depart midnight. Hopefully enough time for a quick look round!

Yep, that's the same hours we used to do there, it's a quick stop, just dinner or a couple of drinks. We often couldn't get into that port due to unfavourable sea conditions. Hopefully, you will be fine when you go.

[Ynox]

Deep Thought said:

Whats everyone using for cruise searches these days?

I used to use Iglu, but i've found Seascanner to be really good. Also seems to produce cheaper cruises than Iglu too?

www.seascanner.co.uk

My mother in law usually has a good eye for finding deals. Otherwise I tend to just use Cunard's website and a good TA (I really like Sovereign, good prices and great service).

I'm off on the Sky Princess in May with the in laws. Be an interesting trip as it's my 13th cruise but first on a line other than Cunard. Got a stupidly cheap deal with a drinks package included. Back to normal business in November with a trip on the Queen Victoria to go see the northern lights.

Also booked 2 trips for 2024 here already. On the maiden of the Queen Anne and also booked a sojourn on the Queen Victoria to fly out to Istanbul and sail back to Soton. Should be fun.