jim98 wrote:

It's not the ship that's made us choose, it's the cruise. It's the only one we can find with a cruise & stay which stops at the places we would like to go to. As it's our first the stops are very important and on this one, Med Explorer, all the stops appeal. I'm pretty sure we could do a DIY with another ship but are reluctant to for this first cruise. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks Jim, that makes absolute sense. Indeed, our first cruise which was with Island was chosen more for the itinery than anything else. You will enjoy the Island Star, and will cruise again after catching the "cruising bug".....just like the rest of us on this forum!

Enjoy.

Jim

If you post the ports you will be visiting, when you want to go and the prices you have found so far, one of our experts may be able to better it. No guarantees though!

luci

First of all, thanks hamrag for the positive feedback.
Luci,

Ports of call are Livorno, Genoa, Toulon, Barcelona and Valencia followed by a week in Majorca. We are flying from Newcastle on 6th June. Island have quoted £1230 each for the cruise & stay in a balcony cabin on Golden deck. We originally planned to go on the Escape on 16th June but there are no flights left from Newcastle ( even though the Island website claims the flights are available?? ).Any advce would be much appreciated, especially with regard to cabin choice.

Thanks,

Jim

Only comment I would make is the price is extortionate! At that time of year (schools still in) they struggle to fill the ship or the resort hotels, and you would get a cruise (inside cabin) & stay for £750 each absolute max. 2 or 3 weeks before sailing date, and possibly as low as £600. If you feel nervous about going that close then try a month before. You will see the deals advertised on teletext P227. Have a flick through just now and you will see some of the prices out into late august/september etc. Early June always has significant price drops. Do bear in mind that the cost difference between a balcony cabin and an inside, or outside cabin is for one week only and not the full two weeks.

Another thing to bear in mind is that Thomson also do cruise & stay with similar itineries, which gives you another option close to required date. If you have a "holiday window" i.e. not absolutely tied to 6 June, but say a week either side you can consider all options and go for best deal. On our first 14 night cruise with Island Escape, sailing mid-June 2004 we paid £1200 each for deck 7 outside, 2 decks below golden.....during the cruise we discovered many people on board who had booked within a month of sailing date and had paid between £499 and £599!!!!! We learned the lesson very quickly.

You mentioned the Escape.....my advice would be do not consider it as this is an extremely old ship, more run down with every passing year. It is a converted ferry, honestly not joking. It was fine 4 years ago, when we were on for our first cruise but reports now are not good. The Star is a much newer ship, originally built for cruising and sold by Celebrity to Island 2 or 3 years ago.....we were on it October 2006 and the fabric of the ship is streets ahead of Escape.

I concur with the basic conclusion this sounds a lot of money, but the stay side may be top notch.

Island leadin price for May June late booking is £299. not sure on the better grades, likely not to be readily available

The flight may be an issue for late availability Newcastle if that is a key important feature.

I would drop the cruise & stay requirement and try a cruise as a stand alone holiday since it opens up more options and give more focus and less comprimise, if it does not work go back to stay holidays.

Many get hooked and wished they had done 2weeks cruise, stay/cruise is usually less disapointing than cruise/stay if it has to be done that way.

7 night cruise from the UK to the med are the easy trips as a try out for cruising, good ports, one sea day, short flights.

Thanks guys.
I agree with the sentiment about the price. However the flight is important as we don't really want to fly from anywhere but Newcastle and my wife is very keen on the 'stay' part. I know I could arrange a DIY flight and stay pretty easily but that involves a number of imponderables like flights being on time etc. I suppose it's like everything else in booking a holiday,the first time you tend to book a package and, once you realise how easy it is, you do it DIY or late.
A quandary indeed but thanks a lot for your input.

Jim

I also would recommend that you think seriously about your cruise based on the price you quoted you can so much more. If you are not keen to wait for a late offer then you could take advantage of early booking discounts.
With some cruise companies if you are booked and the price comes down you can get this applied to your booking.
I am on the 27th August sailing of the Summit Celebrity ship and they are selling this cruise now at £860 for 12 nights from Venice to Barcelona. This is a premier product and can't be compared to Island Cruises. What Hamrag says about the Escape please don't choose this ship. The Star was called Horizon when it was with Celebrity.

Just be careful what you spend your money on and I would agree with Windjammer that to do the stay first is preferable to doing cruise/stay.

Good luck.

Sue

Hi Jim, we were on the Island Star at Easter, and have been on the Escape some years ago.
We had an outside cabin on diamond deck, it was bright and spacious, with plenty of storage space, though the furniture was a bit old. What impressed me most though were the flowers and wine that came compliments of Thomas Cook! They really made a difference. I have a few cabin photos, but don't think I can post them on here.
Haven't been in a balcony cabin so can't help you much with your decision. Golden deck is a good position, not too many stairs to walk in any direction! The only reason I can see to pre book your cabin number is that the two balconies next to the lifeboats look a tad smaller than the others. As to the price- it's always a bit more if you want specific things. Funnily enough, it's exactly what we paid for our first cruise and stay on the Escape - in 2002!! It was school holidays, and we don't regret a penny of it! Just ask if want any help with the ports, I've been to all those, and got lots of helpful advice on here and other forums.

Kate

No problem with posting the photos on here. Just uploaded them to a hosting site like ImageShack first then you can post them in this topic using the Img tags.

luci

http://img295.imageshack.us/my.php?image=resizedcabinto7.jpg
http://img366.imageshack.us/my.php?image=resisedcabinflowersot2.jpg
http://img214.imageshack.us/my.php?image=resizedcabin2dd9.jpg

There you go!! Diamond deck cabin Island Star 2008. First time I've ever used that, good job I've finished my packing!!
Off on the Calypso again tomorrow.
kate

I though I would just check the prices for the cruise bit and they do seem very high for a 7n med trip in June even the insides are not that cheap(£724).

I used http://www.cruise1st.co.uk they do on-line pricing. £882(£837gtw) which makes your stay come to £350 not sure if this is a lot, only do cruises these days.

Why not do the cruise and the stay seperately that way you can focus on getting best deal on each, ok it invloves a bit more travel but if a local airport that is not so bad.

What about doing the cruise this year?

cruise and stay from £699 but newcastle flights might be a problem.
http://www.cruise1st.co.uk/press_4_content.phtml

Many thanks for the photos Kate.
luci

Thanks Kate & Sue, much to think about now. I was particularly interested in which cabin to choose ( if I booked ). On the Star all the balcony cabins are either at the front or the back, sorry bow or stern. Any advice which would be best? I would be happy to book any deck with balcony.

Jim

Wondering if anyone has stayed on Diamond Deck 6 on the Island Star and if in fact they have experienced any noise? Thanks

Have had a cabin on Diamond deck on the Island Escape, and found it to be OK. Should think the Island Star is the same.
Any noise seems to be in cabins at the rear of the ship.

The Island Star is being taken off the Island Cruise site from March 2009.
Royal carribean has sold its half in the Island cruise company (The other half owned by Thomson), Next year the Island Star will be sold to some cruise company in Spain (mainly for spanish people to cruise on).
There is news on the Island cruise website, if you click a message that is displayed on the site.
Don't know if this has already been posted.

Les