Moved to cruise forum.

Mark

You need to give us a bit more background.

The best destination will depend what YOU like. For us often it is the ship.

Getting bord is also personal some people see mto think lying on a beach for 8 hours is a great holiday.

What were your last 5 holidays what was good what was not so good sumarise.

hi windjammer we would like to visit some places with historic intrest,possibly egypt. we are not very fond of lying on beaches.we were more worried about our 16-year old son getting bored ,many thanks john

Some examples for NCL, most cruise lines do similar trips.

For real ancient historic interest then the Eastern med is ideal.
Athens, ephesis, egypt etc.
We did this one this year


Western med can include some interesting places(Rome, Naples) but not all historic so include, french riviera, pizza,florence.


Baltics is good city destination with St petersbugh as the one, so more modern historic sites.


If you pick one of the bigger ships that attracts families, sports deck, rock climbing, ice skating, that should help avoid the totaly bored son, this kids clubs have games consoles and do other activities aimed at teens,

Someone with teen kids should be able to fill you in on the best options , I suspect Royal Carribbean will be high on the list.

What sort of budget for the cruise do you have as 3 sharing? how long and when were you thinking of going?

Think you have hit it spot on there Windjammer.

Kath x

hi windjammer thanks for your last posting,we like the first optoin you posted athens/ephesis/egypt.it looks like just what we are looking for.budget wise around £5000.we would be looking for around a 15-day holiday,in august 2010. regards john

Kath HT Admin wrote:

Think you have hit it spot on there Windjammer.

Kath x

Know any Travel agent looking for a cruise expert?

johnhainsby wrote:

hi windjammer thanks for your last posting,we like the first optoin you posted athens/ephesis/egypt.it looks like just what we are looking for.budget wise around £5000.we would be looking for around a 15-day holiday,in august 2010. regards john :tup

I will have a look for somthing in the summer 2010, how would Xmas/NY 2009 do? should fit in that budget.

I guess you need school holidays(english/scottish?)

I really think that it would be far too hot in August for sightseeing in Ephesus and Egypt, especially with children. We found Cairo in May was overwhelmingly hot. Ephesus was bearable in March and October!

hi winjammer thanks for your advice,we have been looking on the thomas cooke website and we did not realise,how many cruise oparators there were in buisness and they all appear to be doing deals at the moment.still we have plenty of time to contemplate. regards john

There are loads of options, cruise line, ships, itinerary, cabins, starting points , fly or not, dates.

One option if you live in the south is to try a taster cruise, there is one next week(Sn-Fri) that is currently full but showing cabins occationaly durin gthe day that starts at around £340pp for 5n.

I priced up Xmas NY 14n on the Jade eastern med(extended version of the one above)

3 adults in a balcony will be around £4k for 3 people, tips are £325 so that leaves £675 for trips from your £5k
drop to an inside for < £2700 pluss those extras

Still need some beer/spend money on top.

Agree with the others avoid the Summer for egypt and Turkey too hot.

There is also easter 28 March 12N which is cheaper than Xmas.

Large balcony cabin would be £3065 (bigger cabin than Xmas and cheaper)

or a full suite(great perks, eg butler) with 2 bedrooms luxury bathroom and living room for £5600,( might get cheaper this would push the total over £6500k + spends though


insides start at £1900

hi windjammer thanks for your last posting regarding the costing for the cruises.it gives us something to compare with other companys prices. regards john

I use Cruise Kings or Bolsover. However, winjammer is very god at finding great offers!

Kath x

The key is to start the focus on the cruiselines to understand which are on your radar.

Understand the tradeoff beteen cabin grades(the names are all different) but basics are

inside - usualy the smallest and inside so no windows

Ocean view - usualy a bit bigger with port hole or picture window.

Balcony - patio doors and outside space.

Suites - more space and luxuries, more complicated since each line has diffent styles/ideas on suite living

RCI have complicated things since they have inside cabins with windows over an internal space.

On pricing untill you are getting close to a choice based on the budget there is little point in trying to pick TA yet, just keep an eye on the general trends, prices change a lot over time.

The more choices you have the better the chance you will find a deal.
with your budget you could stretch to two trips(14+7 easy) if you stick to the cheapest insides, or one trip with balconies.

I must update this thread which has some usefull information.
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=93370