tui have always had at least 1 ship you could opt for ai there was the topaz then the dream....we did both of them found the drinks to be much better than normal ai

Choose your cabin off the deck plan to avoid being next to or under/over noisy locations. If you sffer from sea sicknes lower decks and midships are more stable. I have been on most of the current fleet . They are not the newest of ships but I enjoy the atmsphere . Research any excursions prior to going and book any you def want to go on also check out the ports of call as you can also do your own thing. Just be aware if you do your own thing and get back late the ship wont wait but it will wait for any delayed ships tour. A.I. seems to be the way all cruses are heading also the dress code is becomming less formal . The family cruise seems to be themarket for most cruise lines so if you cant stand other peoples kids avoid the school holiday period.

It's also worth checking out the itinerary to see whether any transfers to shore will be by tender or whether the ship will be docking at the quayside. I've done 2 Norwegian fjord cruises and enjoyed both but the bigger ships were having drop anchor in the fjord and people were facing long queues for disembarking and embarking to and from the ship. Our ship was smaller and able to dock at the quayside so we could fairly easily and quickly get on and off but we met people from the bigger ships who were disappointed at how long the tender transfers were taking with the result that they had less time ashore than we did. It doesn't matter at the big ports but if your itinerary includes some of the smaller, out of the way places you might want to check this out before booking.

Never been on a cruise. Been tempted a few times but....

To me it's like staying in hotel and hardly ever going outside of it.

"just be aware if you do your own thing and get back late the ship wont wait "

And there's the problem for me. I would be on edge all the time, keeping an eye on the time and wont enjoy the excursion.
Why can't they stay at a port of call for longer, say 1 1/2 to 2 days?

Before doing my first cruise I thought that I might feel the same way, Inca, but for me the continuing attraction of cruising has been that far from it being a floating hotel that I rarely leave, the ship is a hotel that magically transports me overnight to somewhere new to explore nearly every morning. I think that I would probably feel trapped on a long oceanic voyage with a number of successive days at sea but I have always chosen cruises where there has never been more than one full day at sea at a time and we did spend two full days in St Petersburg on one in the Baltic. They've been touring holidays without the hassle of having to keep packing the case :-)

I've done a mix of booking organised excursions - in Norway it seemed the easiest way to see some of the inland areas and in St Petersburg it looked to be the best way to get to visit all the places we wanted to see in the time available with the added bonus of not needing to organise a Russian visa - and doing our own thing when it came to exploring some of the cities and towns. Bergen for example is ideal for doing this and the ship tied up within easy walking distance of the old town and the city centre sights. We've never worried about getting back to the ship in time - take or download a good street map before you go and make a note of where you can pick up the shuttle bus to take you back to the quayside if it is not within walking distance and you'll be fine.

I'm now looking to do one to Iceland but can't make my mind up as to whether I want to do it the winter so I get to see the Northern Lights or in the summer when it will be 24 hour daylight! The summer option is winning at the moment, mainly because I could check into the 'hotel' only 30 mins from home and know that once I check out I'm only a taxi ride away from a cup of tea in my kitchen having visited the Northern Isles and Faroes on the way to visiting Reykjavik and touring the coastline of Iceland.

I think a Baltic cruise would be great!

I really enjoyed the Baltic cruise I did Fiona - it packed a lot into 12 days visiting Copenhagen, Warnemunde (from which you could do excursions to Berlin or Rostock but which is a really nice little seaside town in its own right), Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg (2 full days), Tallinn and Oslo plus a transit through the Kiel canal. And it is a real bonus being able to depart from a Scottish port

That would be a cruise I would be happy to do.

The Crocs enjoyed their Baltic cruise.:yipee

I couldn't do a cruise with days at sea, but would consider overnight cruise.

Although not a cruise, I really enjoyed our trip to the Holy Land from Cyprus. It was a spur of the moment decision as my friend & I had seen it advertised in resort.

We sailed overnight & awoke in Israel. Spent the whole day, with a tour guide visiting all the sights, the Wailing wall being one, then overnight back to Cyprus.

Was great telling everyone how we "popped" to Israel when we got home. So if I could do similar with different countries then I'd definitely consider a cruise.

What puts me off cruising is feeling trapped on board. Plus I'm not a very good sailor & seeing nothing but ocean would unnerve me, especially if there was so much as a ripple on the sea 😢

Most cruises you sail at night to arrive somewhere different in the morning aklthough on a 2 week cruise there wilkl be at least 2 sea days. Cruise ships will be a lot bigger and mor comfortable than your trip from Cyprus to Iisrael Fiona.