There are several good offers in today Mail on Sunday
Celebrity Millennium 12 night 29th August Venice to Barcelona Inside price £879 Ocean view £969 Balcony £1499. My own choice would be that this is a port intensive cruise so I would not pay the extra for the Balcony unless you have a large budget.
Navigator of the seas 11th August 14 nights £1269 sails out of Southampton This is with RCI
If you have a very small budget then there are offers for Island Cruises starting from £599 but this is only for 7 nights. 14 nights is £949

My advice to you would be to look on the Teletext pages 262 228 227 and see what is availibly and also if they are not showing anything you are interested in then call them and ask what is availible for your dates.

First of all I think you need to decide which companies you want to cruise with. Do you want say Thomson or Island Cruise which are package holiday with Charter flight etc. Sometimes they can cost as much as a more upmarket Cruise Company.

You have a child so would possibly be better choosing a ship with a fantastic child programme. RCI are excellent althought P&O Celebrity and the others do have child programmes.
RCI is more casual and with lots of announcments etc about what is happening
Celebrity is more formal and with the minimum of announcements. Fine food and excellent service. They are my Cruise Company of choice. I am however going on the QM2 on Thursday 12th July.
Princess is also excellent with a great child programme. P&O you will find almost all Brits Irish etc. Sail out of Southampton.
Do you want to fly out to the Med important in a short cruise as for the first 2 days sailing out of Southampton you are in the lap of the Gods weather wise.
An awful lot of questions and no definite answer to them. Only you can really say what you are looking for.

Also look at some TA web sites and see what they are offering. There are a lot of offers at the moment and I feel sure you will find one without too many problems. August is the most sought after time as the school holidays are on.

Look aslo at some of the Ships on the WEB sites and then look at reviews of any you are interested in. The internet is as good as anything for the information but also if you can pick up some brochures and just try to see what is most important.

I see also Ocean Village and Ocean Village II have also got offers starting at aroung £585 for 7 and £899 for 14.

Hope this helps. If you want to message me then I will try to give you more information.
Also there is a board on this with Offers and Windjammer has all the info on that so have a read.

Sue

Thanks for that Sue..alot of information...I will have a look on Teletext..now

Key facts

Whats you budget? (per person or total for the 3)
Can you do 2weeks?
Are you flexable on dates?

Location, if down south then a ex UK cruise may be easier and the child place may be cheaper if up north you may as well fly to the med.

Problem may be finding a 3berth cabin for the school hols so this may restict choice. I would phone around to see what may be available to narow the choice.

Another issue is fewer cheap flights for August so the cruiseline packages probably will be better, this means focus on Thomsons,Island and OV. TXT p227 for these. if flexable on date start looking at your ealiest date and watch prices carfully for the last minutes(Island it's usualy the week before)

Another option could be Caribbean there is C&S for £899 on Mariner of the sea.

FANTASTIC Deal Just received an email from a TA. Cancellation.
14th July yes it is this weekend

14 nights in the Med on Navigator of the Seas out of Southampton.
INSIDE price £549 per person. Divide this by 14 and the cost per day is unbelievable.

Also 28th August 11 nights to the Baltic same ship £649!

Hope that someone can take advantage of this deal. If you need the name of the TA send me a message and I will let you know. I am concerned that if I put it here the post may be removed.

Sue

Graham Thanks for the message will respond late today as I am off tomorrow and packing but just off to the school for Grandchildren.

Sue

Hi Sue

No problem mentioning the TA. Genuine recommendations are welcomed, but spam from companies pretending to be satisfied customers is not.

luci

Thank you its just that on Cruise critic you can not say an Agents name. In this case it was Cruise Club UK phone 0800 163 164. They have been around for a good many years now and are OK.

Sue

Probably a good genuine deal, they have them every now and then just need to be ready to go sometimes they are short notice.