We went on Voyager of The Seas in October last year from Barcelona and it was out of this world. Superb and brilliant is how I would sum it up It was our first time cruising and was our Honeymoon We had adjoining rooms with my two daughters from my previous marriage. There was plenty to do for them and for us

We just had two inside cabins, but yes if you can afford it then go for one with a balcony, although there is plenty of decks to sunbathe on

We are just waiting for the brochures to come out for summer 2009 cruises with Royal Carribean. We are taking both our mums with us this next time as well

RCCL Navigator is a fabulous ship- not sure I'd do 3 back to back cruises- you'll be seeing the same resorts over and over....
Splendour of the Seas does a 7 night Greek Islands on May 3rd from Venice which you could follow on the same ship for another 7 night to different Greek Islands..
Or- if you really want to push the boat out in style- wait for May 31st for the Independence of the SEas which will start 14 nights from Southampton around the Med in May.
Cruising is the very best of vacation choices- wonderful value for money, a different resort every day- a great variety of things to do ,or you can choose to do very little and enjoy all the amenities of the ship.
The Med cruises are very port intensive,not many days at sea for relaxing on your balcony.
It depends whether you want to spend much time on your balcony,relaxing, watching the ocean go by or whether you like a hectic pace doing all hte activities provided on the ship.. .
I've had balcony rooms and it's wonderful,but often I just go for a budget room as I really only shower and sleep in there and the money saved can go towards another cruise.
Also-
Emerald Princess (new ship) also does a great itinerary on April 28th for 12 nights.

Hi neil H and welcome to the Cruise forum!

I would go with Navigator of the Seas personally as it's a nicer ship. As a first time cruiser you may find some useful information in the topic New to cruising.

luci

Ok lets sea 4may 2008 14nightish.

Med
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26 Apr RCI Legend of the seas 12n ex rome. looks nice itinery. 4may day at sea.

26 Apr Sea princess ex Southamton(price should drop) 14n

29Apr Celebrity Summit 12n Southamton to Barcelona

30 Apr Emerald Princess 12n Barcelona to venice very nice itinery this one.

2 May Grand princess 12 Rome to Venice.

Transatlantics(usualy good value)
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19 Apr NCL gem NY to barcelona 15n good itinery and cheap at <£550 but end on the 4th in barcelona.
20Apr NCL Jewel Miami Dover
27 Apr RCI Voyager 13N Galvaston Barcelona.
3 May Celebrity Galaxy Miami to Rome
28 Apr Celebrity Century Miami Amsterdam

Caribbean
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Crown Princess ex San Juan. 14n

Baltics
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Celebrity Constellation ex Southamton 14n.

Panama Canal
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25 Apr Coral Princess FtL to vancouver 17n

My favourate out of those I found
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This one is a fantastic cruise at a very good price if the flights can be obtained.( you can do the Med any time)

27 Apr SF to Vancouver Alsaka 14nights on Celebrity Mercury

wait for it cruise only <£600.

http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=26324

My advice would be steer clear of the Thomson or Island or Ocean Village lines. There are better ships at similar prices, or slightly more. Also, given you have not cruised before, would not recommend sailing from Southampton (through turbulent Bay of Biscay) at that time of year.

Would certainly agree with some of Windjammer's Med recommendations, Southampton based excepted. Regarding balcony, at that time of year not worth the premium as weather when ship moving in evenings will not be that warm, bearing in mind your balcony will only be on the "sunny side" at best 50% of the time and more likely only 33%.

Alaska at that time of year will be very cold and dreary. If I were picking one of Windjammer's other ecommendations it would be the 30 April Princess Emerald in the Med which has, as he says, a fantastic itinery.

If you have some flexibility in your dates (i.e. a 3 or 4 week window) you can wait till nearer the time and get a better price. However if you need to get it organised and in the diary sooner then best to book it fairly soon.

Just ask if anything else.

I agree with the others, not Thompson, you can do better, especially for such a milestone There's been some great suggestions. Here's mine. How about Norwegian Gem. With Vacations to go you can get a balcony cabin for £573.00 but you'll have to arrange your own flights to/from Barcelona. Depending where you live you could do it for under £100 each. Details are FastDeal 10647

Thans for replies ,just to say the 3 back to backs although they do return to barcalona ,each cruise has a completley itinary sailing round a differant group of islands on each cruise ,also i have a price on hold to tomorrow on a balcony cabin for the whole cruises of £3000 total price excluding flights,
(balcony on special offer at the moment about £50 more than window cabin) .is this a reasonable price ,best price so far by a long way.
cheers Neil

OK Neil H, have looked at itineries and as you say they are all different and in my opinion excellent for first cruise. Assuming you fly into Barcelona on 26 April and return on final day off ship you will have 2 days to spend in Barcelona between the three cruises. That is ideal as there is plenty to see that would take up the two days. Go for it, you will enjoy.

Your balcony prices at £1500 each are comparable with vacations to go and are OK, but you can get inside cabins for £1000 each with them!! You will not spend much time on balcony at that time of year due to relatively early darkness and cooler temperatures in early morning/evening, although some people do like a slower start in morning and go onto their balcony. You alone need to decide if that is worth £1000 total.

Have you tried cruise 365.com? We used them for two cruises this year, and they were very competitive.

Navigator looks a good option, that £1k extra for the balcony would buy you another cruise.

It is not far off paying for the 14n transatlantic prior to these 3, I guess a month off work is too long.

Many thanks for all the help ,decided to go ahead and book the 3 criuses ,plus decided to treat ourselves to the balcony cabin seeing as it is both our birthdays whilst we are away and being our first cruise we wanted to make it special also couldn,t fault the itinary of all the 3 criuses going to a lot of lovely places probably more than just 1 normal cruise .just to say Thomas cook were ubeatable for the price at this
currant time including all the online sites that i tried ,they seem be able to get more free upgrades and discount than other agents i tried which were quite a few .
Once again many thanks for the advice and will probably be logging on soon to find out all the best tips to help us enjoy our cruises .
cheers Neil

I think you did the right thing, the balcony makes all the difference. Lovely for leaving port and also relaxing after long days out.

Whilst still being off work thought i,d just log on to see if anyone can recomend an hotel for 1 night in Barcelona prior to my cruises.As we will be flying there 24 hours before cruise.
cheers Neil

Hi Neil
We are going on The Voyager Of The Seas in September next year and have booked this hotel : Hotel Royal Ramblas Barcelona, it was £100 for the night (double) we booked with Hotels.com.

We booked the Hotel Gran Ducat for one night in October 2007. It is 3 star, but modern in style and furnishings etc. and brekkie was included in our deal. You will see this hotel on all the normal hotel booking sites. We would always go back in future for reason outlined above and also location, which is explained below.

At Barcelona airport, about 12K from city centre you can walk out the door and within a few yards walk onto the Airport bus which goes to Playa Catalunya (2nd and main stop i.e. the bus empties), which is the main square in Barcelona. The Gran Ducat is 150 yards from drop point. When you get off the bus you walk straight ahead for about 50yards, turn first right and the hotel is about 100yds along that street on the left hand side.

You will be advised by Royal Caribbean that boarding is from 2.00pm....rubbish!! You can get on any time from late morning. We called taxi at hotel, easy 10 minute ride through traffic at about 25 euros including tip. There was already a long queue for boarding at 12.00 noon. If we were doing this again would go down about 10.30, gives an "extra day" on ship, although some may prefer to spend that time in Barcelona...very much a personal call.

Neil ... if needed, you may be able to pick up more info and recommendations in the BARCELONA Q&As topic in our City Breaks forum.

David

I stayed at the Olivia Plaza Hotel right in the Square. It is a minimalist hotel and is 4*.
Breakfast was included and the best price I found was with FindSpainRooms.

It now has a new namd the FSR but if you click into the find Spain Rooms it will find it for you. I paid £92 but this was for single occupancy.

Sue

Sorry for delay in replying ,had to buy a new computor plus been away on hol , thanks for replies on hotels ,got this sorted now ,just paid my final bill for all 3 cruises and noticed an onboard service charge of nearly £150 as this wasn,t explained to me at the time of booking i have asked for this to be took off my bill ,this they have done and are going to remburse the money to me.
After reading some topics was this the right thing to do , will the service and attention that i hope to get change for the worse due to taking this charge off ,do the staff waiters cabin staff etc know what i have done , i just think that its best to tip the people that look afer you etc .
Because i have booked 3 back to back cruises but keeping the same cabin ,will i have to check in for every cruise , or can i do this online for each cruise before i go .
Also do RCI supply dressing gowns in the cabins ,and do they supply towels to take off board on excursions ( trying to keep luggage weight down for flight ).
Probably many more questions to ask as time gets nearer .

many thanks Neil

Hi no you obviously have not noticed this when booking. It is always put on but I never prepay tips. You will be asked again on board by way of a note in your stateroom if you wish the tips to be added to your account.
When the tips are pre paid or when paid on board on the 2nd last morning( just before you get the envelopes on the final night) the people concerned are given their tips and you would be given vouchers to place in the envelopes provided.
Again it makes no difference to the Staff and at the end of the day it is your choice. I have only paid tips on board when I have had quite a bit of OBC and find that I might not spend it all otherwise I tip as you wish to do.
Sorry this is so long winded.

Thanks for reply , there seems to be alot of debate surrounding this tipping subject , very confusing for us first timers .
Here is another question can you hire suits on board the navigator rather than pack one, due to weight restrictions for flight .If so any idea of prices.
cheers Neil