ideas for cruise holiday

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john martin

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Anyone got suggestions for a cruise holiday in November/ i am open to all ideas at a reasonable budget.
 
If you could change your holiday to October, I'd absolutely recommend sailing with Celebrity Cruises from Rome around Italy and the Greek islands. We did it two years ago and couldn't speak highly enough of it. Celebrity are an excellent company (better than Royal Caribbean who we sailed with this month), the stops are beautiful and interesting and the ship was amazing.

A cruise in November pretty much means you have to travel to Alaska or the Caribbean. I'm sure they're good too, I just don't know anything about them.

You should have a look at cruisecritic.com - it's a board for people to discuss cruising and they're generally very helpful.
 
john martin said:
Anyone got suggestions for a cruise holiday in November/ i am open to all ideas at a reasonable budget.
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+1 on the cruisecritic website. As markpb says, November is a month where many cruiselines cut back their Med options. Many do sail and can have nice weather but I wouldn't fancy it. Carribbean would be nice, just after hurricane season. Airfares to Florida(Miami, Fort Laudrdale, Tampa) can be steep. Other ports could be NYC for Bermuda and New Orleans for Carribbean. Good website for overall view of cruises available and filters to your choices is www.vacationstogo.com . This one from Palma with Pulmantur might be nice at $299 pp plus taxes. http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=15349
 
Be a bit careful - my relatives (two lots) went Princess Cruises/MSC for last November. Both got stuck in hurricanes - a week apart - , and hence never saw Bermuda. Mind you, it diverted to Boston, and they loved that. However my relatives were coming from Australia and loved Iceland etc. but my mother (from here) hated the cold weather. It was also strange her flying from Dublin to Kiel and then docking in Dublin Port three days later for 8 hours so we popped home for a few hours to have breakfast! There were an a good few days at sea, which were as boring as hell apparently. My mother swears never again, but the other lot have now booked a 104 day cruise for 2014. Personally, it wouldn't be my cup of tea!
 
Yes and they can be very expensive if you book them through the cruise line. The big advantage (apart from convenience) is that if anything happens to the tour which delays your return to the boat, it will wait for you. Equally, if anything happens and the days on port change (we avoided Athens because of a public sector strike), cruise arranged tours will be rearranged automatically.

That said, if the port is near something you want to see, it's probably just as easy to go yourself (I you plan in advance).
 
It is just as easy, and much more authentic to do something yourself, and of course a fraction of the price. Cruisecritic has a forum with discussions on what to do in each port.
 
Always see what the cruise costs, even a european cruise, in US dollars on an american website too.
We have often saved over 50% this way. One example was a 14 night Med cruise that cost €1700 each in Ireland. £1,200 with a uk website. And $800 with a US travel agent. Thats cruise only. Guess who we booked with.
You can even book through US travel agents.
You get ripped off on cruises in Europe. Americans always get things cheaper.
 
Friends of mine go on 2 cruises a year, last October they did a tour of the Greek islands which included a stop off in Turkey somewhere too. They said it was the best cruise they ever went on. The places they stopped off at were so interesting and beautiful. Plus they had great weather. They go with Royal Carribean,
 
We are off on an eastern Med crusie with Norwegian Cruise Line at Easter.
Have done a med and Caribbean cruise before and the med wins hands down. Once youve seen one Caribbean island you have seen them all but in Europe the destinations are so varied and so interesting. you are in Naples one day (visit Pompei or Capri) and the next day in Malta or Sicily and the next day Olympus or Jerusulum. Early November should be quite nice in the eastern med. Not sun bathing weather but lovely for sightseeing.
The general tip is to go for a cabin mid ship as there is less movement. i have found that on the big ships you hardly ever feel movement.

We travel with our children who LOVE cruises. The activities for them are amazing and we have a lovely relaxing break , no driving, no cooking, just a good book on the balcony with free room service and great restaurants and excellent entertainment all day and night if thats your cup of tea. You can do as much or as little as you want. We love exploring the ship as it is massive. On Royal Carribbean my daughter was taught how to ice scate by an ex olympian skater. On The Carribbean Princess we all watched 'movies under the stars' on a 50ft screen sitting on the pool loungers. We were give warm rugs and a constant supply of popcorn and hotdogs as the ship moved through the ocean. Wonderful family memories.
Go for it. The only problem with cruising is that once you start cruising you will want to do it again asap.
Roll on Easter!!!
 
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