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rdhopkins2

rdhopkins2

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Anyone been cruising before? I've never been personally but am interested in perhaps going on one next year. Anyhow, for anyone that's been, share your experiences with us cruise virgins.

What company / ship did you cruise on?
Where did the ship visit?


What were the cabins / activities / facilities / restaurants / sightseeing opportunities onshore like?

Did you consider the cruise value for money?

Would you cruise again? Did it live up to your expectations before you cruised?

What didn't you like about the cruise?
 
rdhopkins2 said:
Anyone been cruising before? I've never been personally but am interested in perhaps going on one next year. Anyhow, for anyone that's been, share your experiences with us cruise virgins.

What company / ship did you cruise on?
Where did the ship visit?


What were the cabins / activities / facilities / restaurants / sightseeing opportunities onshore like?

Did you consider the cruise value for money?

Would you cruise again? Did it live up to your expectations before you cruised?

What didn't you like about the cruise?
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Thinking of going on a cruise later this year with the missus, never really liked the idea but since i have started working full time, i like teh idea of going on a holiday which is easy and everything is take ncare of, meals, food and grog ect for a straight up price, stopping at some nice tropical places and otherwise just relaxing on a boat, and im not talking a young cruise ect one of the nicer ships like Royal Caribbean

did you go rdhopkins2
 
Went on the Carnival Spirit out of Sydney for a 10 day cruise back in April 2013.

Was excellent. Wife and kids had a great time. Lots to do with the kids, and there is a "no-kids" zone on the back of the ship with a couple of spa's, big bar and lots of places to relax in.

We've just booked out next cruise - 7 night Caribbean Cruise departing 28 December this year. NYE will be amazing!
 

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I've booked my 5th cruise for NYE this year.

Our first cruise was on the Carnival Spirit from Vancouver to Alaska - our son was only 4 and we picked this ship because it had the best kids club for a 4 yr old. I would have preferred to have used a different ship, but we had an awesome time. It was mostly packed with old people, but the scenerey was amazing.

We have done 2 cruises out of Sydney - one was on the Pacific Dawn and the other on the Jewel. Had a great time and made many friends.

Our most recent cruise was NYE from Brisbane. It included Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. We took our 15 yr old and his 17 yr old best mate. We all had an amazing time and have booked to do the same cruise again at the end of this year.

We have looked at a few other options but feel that P&O suit us at the moment with teenagers and its destinations. We looked at Royal Carribean, but to us it looked like a sheep carrier. I know someone who did a RC cruise a few weeks ago and said the ship was very out dated. We saw the Princess in port in Fiji and a lot of pensioners got off that one. Am interested in doing a Captain Cook cruise around Fiji one day - smaller ship, but love where it goes.

castaway.jpg This is Castaway Island off Port Denauru, Fiji...took our son surfing at Cloud Break for the day. We booked this privately with a group called Adrenalin. Don't be afraid to book tour companies not used by the ship - it can save cloud.jpg

Surfing in Fiji

pele.jpg


Pele Island in Vanuatu

ship.jpg

Pacific Dawn at Mystery Island
 
FreoGirl said:
I've booked my 5th cruise for NYE this year.

Our first cruise was on the Carnival Spirit from Vancouver to Alaska - our son was only 4 and we picked this ship because it had the best kids club for a 4 yr old. I would have preferred to have used a different ship, but we had an awesome time. It was mostly packed with old people, but the scenerey was amazing.

We have done 2 cruises out of Sydney - one was on the Pacific Dawn and the other on the Jewel. Had a great time and made many friends.

Our most recent cruise was NYE from Brisbane. It included Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. We took our 15 yr old and his 17 yr old best mate. We all had an amazing time and have booked to do the same cruise again at the end of this year.

We have looked at a few other options but feel that P&O suit us at the moment with teenagers and its destinations. We looked at Royal Carribean, but to us it looked like a sheep carrier. I know someone who did a RC cruise a few weeks ago and said the ship was very out dated. We saw the Princess in port in Fiji and a lot of pensioners got off that one. Am interested in doing a Captain Cook cruise around Fiji one day - smaller ship, but love where it goes.

View attachment 42967 This is Castaway Island off Port Denauru, Fiji...took our son surfing at Cloud Break for the day. We booked this privately with a group called Adrenalin. Don't be afraid to book tour companies not used by the ship - it can save View attachment 42968

Surfing in Fiji

View attachment 42969


Pele Island in Vanuatu

View attachment 42970

Pacific Dawn at Mystery Island
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Thanks FG,

Funny you say you prefer P+O as they normally have the bad reputation? ect were that lady got drugged ect in the news

Royal Caribbean have just updated there fleet i believe, i went to a presentation on them and celebrity a couple of weeks ago, so it wouldnt surprise me if they were on their last legs when you traveled with them.

IM not bothered by the oldies ect as i want to relax, not worried if there is a young crowd as i will be going with the gf.

I just like the ease of it, seeing 4 or so destinations but unpacking once.
 
Jordie_tackles said:
Thanks FG,

Funny you say you prefer P+O as they normally have the bad reputation? ect were that lady got drugged ect in the news

Royal Caribbean have just updated there fleet i believe, i went to a presentation on them and celebrity a couple of weeks ago, so it wouldnt surprise me if they were on their last legs when you traveled with them.

IM not bothered by the oldies ect as i want to relax, not worried if there is a young crowd as i will be going with the gf.

I just like the ease of it, seeing 4 or so destinations but unpacking once.
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They have really amped up security since that happened and have tried to focus on families. You really can't predict who will be on your ship. You merely have to look drunk on P&O now to be pulled aside.

The guy that had the bad experience on Royal C literally got off the ship last Wednesday! I think the ships up in the US may be in better condition than the ones down here, but they have featured in some of the most recent mishaps.

http://www.wsbt.com/life/travel/18534410
 
Carnival Legend is currently being "Australian-ised" and will be doing cruises from Sydney later this year, along with the Carnival Spirit.

Can't speak highly enough of the Carnival Spirit. Had such a great time (even though it was with the in-laws).
 
FreoGirl said:
They have really amped up security since that happened and have tried to focus on families. You really can't predict who will be on your ship. You merely have to look drunk on P&O now to be pulled aside.

The guy that had the bad experience on Royal C literally got off the ship last Wednesday! I think the ships up in the US may be in better condition than the ones down here, but they have featured in some of the most recent mishaps.

http://www.wsbt.com/life/travel/18534410
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Each ship can be very different from another, despite being in the same class, better off naming the ship than just the cruise line.

Was on RC's Radiance in 2012 and enjoyed it heaps personally.

Btw Jordie the grog isn't included in the price.
 
Cousin Jed said:
Each ship can be very different from another, despite being in the same class, better off naming the ship than just the cruise line.

Was on RC's Radiance in 2012 and enjoyed it heaps personally.

Btw Jordie the grog isn't included in the price.
Click to expand...
the ship they went on was Liberty of the Seas
 
Cousin Jed said:
Each ship can be very different from another, despite being in the same class, better off naming the ship than just the cruise line.

Was on RC's Radiance in 2012 and enjoyed it heaps personally.

Btw Jordie the grog isn't included in the price.
Click to expand...
you can buy packages though yeah, like 50/60 bucks a day
 
I have booked a Mediterranean cruise that leaves Venice on April 20th. Its a 10 day/ 9 night cruise booked through MS Cruises and is on the MSC Armonia. The cruise foes from Venice to Ancona, Santorini, Izmir, Istanbul, Cefalonia and Split. Looking forward to it, but also a bit unsure of what to expect.
 

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Jordie_tackles said:
Let me know how you go sivart.

would enjoy hearing peoples experiences on cruises.
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Good time on the cruise, I would highly recommend it. A few things to point out if you/anyone is considering a cruise though.

* First of all when my wife and I booked our cruise we thought about buying the all inclusive drinks package, however it was around $1,000 per person over the 10 days. So for $2k extra we decided against it. However when we boarded the ship they were offering the drinks package, however this time it was $700 for the 2 of us, so we signed up to that and saved ourselves $1.3k by booking it on the ship. Its fair to say I would have been pissed had I paid the money when I booked.

* The cruise was awesome on a big trip as you would wake up and hit a city at between 8am-10am and stay docked there until somewhere between 5pm-8pm (midnight in Istanbuls case). Then you hop back on have dinner and a few drinks and wake up the next day in another city again. It was a good way to see several places without the hassle of packing up and getting transport to the next place.

* There isn't a lot of entertainment geared towards people between 18-35ish unless you have kids. Now this is fine as my whole time on the ship was spent in either one of the many bars, eateries, by the pool or in the casino. Now if you don't like to drink or gamble it could be shit boring. They did provide entertainment in that there was a theatre type show on every night, they played bingo a couple of times a day, there was a good selection of movies in the cabin on tv, there were 15-20 extra channels (however they were in Italian), you could hire board games, do an aerobics class or hit up a games room (I wanted to hit this up, but something felt a bit weird about a 30 year old guy playing FIFA against teenagers).

* The MSC Armonia is the ship I was on and it had two outdoor pools with decking and two outdoor spas. There was a gym, a childcare centre, mini golf course, nightclub, 3 restaurants, 6 or 7 bars, casino, duty free shops & theatre. There were probably a few other thing that I cant recall ATM.

* The rooms are small, but there is enough room in there to get by. The cupboard space is adequate to store your clothes with draws and hangers. The bathroom is tiny, but there is a shower, toilet and sink. The bed was comfy and there were cleaners who would come in and clean the room and make the bed twice a day.

* Despite 90% of the cruise ships patrons being and speaking only Italian almost all of the staff could speak rather good English. All instructions were in English as well as 4-5 other languages.

* For a fair few places I would recommend doing the tours that are offered at an additional charge. The reason being that a lot of the cool stuff can be an hour away from where the ship is docked. The problem is they can be expensive when you start paying $100-$150 each per day, so we choose to do 3 over the 10 days from memory. Sometimes especially in Europe tours can get cancelled as they wont be enough English speaking people booked on a tour or they will mix the tour with another language speaking tour.

Now for the cities that we visited.
Ancona- Nice place, very hilly and a little boring. Nice to stop over for a few hours, but that's it
Santorini- A bit over hyped imo, the main village is very picturesque and cool to hang out in for a few days, but the rest of the island is a hole, half built houses, graffiti and rather ugly looking
Izmir- This place was terrible, feral dogs & cats everywhere, smells like sewerage, dirty, polluted, you name it, this place had it. Spent 3-4 hours checking it out and then we got back on the ship early.
Istanbul- We had almost 24 hours here, cool city with some amazing history. Glad I did it as a cruise as it was great place to see, but a few3 days here would have did my head in. However the Spice markets and Grand Bazaar are amzing places
Cefallonia- Amazing, some of the best beaches I have ever seen, amazing hilly areas, beautiful scenery and not touristy like the other Greek islands. This is the one place I could have easily spent a week at just relaxing.
Split- Lovely little village, very friendly and relaxed, could have spent a little more time here.


I would recommend a cruise to people as we had an amazing time. A great hassle free way to see many places in a quick amount of time. However I'm not sure if I would do one from Australia that goes out to the islands (Fiji, Vanuatu ext) as the whole days spent at sea can get a bit boring, unless you went with a group of people. Now that's fine if you like Bingo or your a kid, however there is only so much drinking and eating one person can do. So if you were at sea for a few days at a time it may get a bit monotonous. Other than that the pros greatly outway the cons. I would give the wole experience an 8.5/10

1959368_10152076103023008_7119061646875400862_n.jpg

Myrtos Beach in Cefalonia

1604425_10152076281953008_1834773637655875321_n.jpg

Cruise ship docked in Santorini

10329267_10152076109603008_1577860956222710859_n.jpg

Melissani caves in Cefalonia

1969207_10152069737853008_9031000690052469770_n.jpg

View of a mosque from ship in Istanbul
 
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Thankyou very much sivart your response was greater than I could have hoped for! A cruise is definitely on my list, sounds like me and my girlfriend are if a similar age to you and your wife. I can definitely handle the cruise you went on, couple days at cities, couple at pools, bars restaurants ect, 50/50 sight seeing and relaxing ect really seems great to me
 
Thinking of maybe going on one later this year.... like the idea of an easy to organise, low maintenance holiday.

Me and my girlfriend are both a bit boring really, we like a quiet life and don't want to go out clubbing every night, but at the same time, would like there to be some other people around our age group (mid-late 20s) to have dinner and a few drinks with.

My perception though is that it's either full of old age pensioners or dickheads like what happened on P and O.
 
Never cruised before but just booked one in April next year. Brisbane to Vanuatu and a couple other places. Really excited, anybody provide advice on the drink packages. Or just thoughts in general.
 

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