Thanks both, Not quite 55 yet but heading in that direction
I will call round a few agents he what happens. It might not be worth a balcony that early in May and there seems to be a big difference from OS to balcony

Several teletext today are advertising Celebrity Constellation 9 nights British Isles and Ireland for a lead in price of as little as £550. with Jetline or with other agents at around the £600 mark. Departing from Harwich and is in May.
This is a 5* ship and for someone wishing to dip their toes in the cruise market this would be a wonderful opportunity just to try it. I have sailed on Millennium and Summit and Constellation is the one built around 2003 I think.
Someone was talking about a 4 night cruise to Cork and I am not sure what the price was but this £600 or as little as £550 would be better given it is 9 nights and not 4.

Sue

Check-in cruise club are advertising 7 nights Norwegian Gem (cruise only) out of Barcelona from inside cabin at £399 early May or £349 November, and various higher prices during the main summer season. Brand new ship, with "freestyle" cruising, which gives the informality of Island/Thomson/OV but on a much better ship.

Good spot.

I can back up the rec for the Gem done two cruises on it, US sites have these 7night cruises for about $840 all in, so not a lot in it for a change, these UK advertised prices are good but may not include the fuel sup.

With easyjet flights to BCN these are very good value cruises.

Constellation deal also a good one and no flying

Keep them coming.

Windjammer

Have you ever used an American website to book called Vacationstogo, they are offering quite good prices.

I am considering 20/4 - 7 nights Mexican cruise, from San Diego - Princess cruises, balcony room works out at £406pp, have found flights for £356, including 3 nights hotel in San Diego, total prices comes out at about £840 each, they say it doesn't include all taxes, how much extra do you think they will be adding on.

Any help you can offer would be appreciated.

Huskypup

email this am from Cruise Club UK Celebrity Century May 6 nights including flights £349 inside
Baltic flying to Amsterdam.

Sue

Not used V2G but others have and say they are good the 0800 is a bonus.

To get an idea of the taxes either use the cruiseline booking engine for a quote or another US online agent I use http://www.bestpricecruises.com.

There is another US site that will get you more quotes http://www.cruisecompete.com

I have used VTG on 3 occasions now, absolutely no problem and at incredible prices! Will use them again.

Hi just wondering if you think this a good deal 10 nights cruise only Celebrity Galaxy

med 3rd oct £569 Think flights to and from Rome could prove expensive plus all transfers any thoughts
thanks

I think this is a very good price and if you look at the various options a flight should not be a huge problem. I am sure that the low cost airlines will have flights at a reasonable price.

Sue

Prindy, I agree with Sue, £569 is an excellent price. We did this on HAL Noordam. Rome is a breeze to fly into, and cheap with budget airlines into Ciampino. There is a Terravision "shuttle" bus at reasonable cost (£10ish pp) into centre next to rail Terminii station. What you do is get there a day before sailing, stay overnight at hotel near rail station (£50ish pp), and take train to Civitavecchia in morning (£7ishpp), then taxi (£5pp) to ship. You will be able to board from mid-morning (no matter what boarding instructions say about time) which is like an "extra day" on board.

So for £650ish each + cost of flight you have an 11 night holiday, 10 of these on a 4.5 star ship. Another thing, we have holidayed in the Med for a decade now in mid-october, and weather has been very good, 3 October should be perfect.

Not sure if this is of any use to anyone
I have had this through from a travel agent friend
head up on a 3 day sale from RCL & CEL

Three Day Sale Spectacular
January 22 through January 24, 2008
NOTE: FOR NORTH AMERICA RESERVATIONS, A FUEL SUPPLEMENT OF $5.00 PER DAY PER PERSON FOR THE FIRST TWO OCCUPANTS OF A STATEROOM (SUBJECT TO A MAXIMUM OF $140 PER STATEROOM) WILL APPLY TO ALL SAILINGS DEPARTING ON
OR AFTER FEBRUARY 1, 2008. CANADIAN RESERVATIONS MADE BEFORE NOVEMBER 16, 2007 ARE EXEMPTED.
*Onboard Credit is not redeemable for cash. This offer is valid for new individual bookings only. The booking window is from January 22 through January 24, 2008. Offer is not combinable with any other offer. This offer does
not apply to groups. Offer is based on availability. Certain restrictions apply. Azamara Cruises will track and apply onboard credit and bonus commission to valid bookings. Quest sailing April 26, 2008 not applicable. Prices are
per person, double occupancy, air-inclusive on select sail dates and gateways. Prices are in U.S. dollars. All itineraries and prices are current at time of printing and subject to change without notice. Government taxes and fees
are additional. Certain restrictions apply. ©2008 Celebrity Cruises Inc. Ship's registry: Malta. 08010370 "¢ 1/2008
Azamara European Highlights
Given their smaller size, JourneySM and QuestSM are able to visit places that are not accessible to larger vessels, which
must dock further away and transfer their guests to popular destinations.
Guests can enjoy overnights in many ports of call, including Edinburgh, Scotland; St. Petersburg, Russia; as well as
Venice, Sorrento, and Florence, Italy.
For the guests on each Azamara Cruise ship, every moment at sea embodies the pinnacle of luxury, and each footstep
on shore accentuates the difference between visiting a place and getting a true sense of place.
Prices reduced up to
$900* per person.
Plus the choice of one of the following:
up to$800* per stateroom Onboard Credit
or
equivalent amount converted into
additional stateroom saving

Other med cruises are also inc in the sale

1 of the many cruises im looking at is now $2799 +tax but during the sale it looks like it will be $2499 with $500 OBC for a CAT A1 Balcony

Just had an email from Vacationstogo, Princess Cruises are no longer allowing US travel agents to take bookings from the UK, they are in discussions about it, but she doesn't hold out much hope, she has suggested virtually the same cruise with Royal Caribean, the only difference is it sales out of LA rather than San Diego, which is probably better as the flight is cheaper to LA.

Anyone else incountered this.

I am very excited I have just booked Celebrity Millennium for the 27th Nov New Zealand to Australia. 14 night cruise and then at the end I am flying to Perth and staying for Christmas and NY there. Had been going to Australia in any case my brother lives there and they want me to stay for the festive season. Isn't it great retirement!! Freedom to do what you want. My cruise is for single occupancy which always makes it expensive.

To get back to topic. I was told by VTG that Cunard would not allow them to book for Uk residents. This was for a 19 night T/A on QM2 with New England between. So starting and finishing in the UK. Hamrag and many others including Windjammer have done this without a problem up till now. You certainly cant book on the Princess web site. X and RCI do not allow any discounting of fares in the US but what they do is they will give OBC etc as a sweetner.
It is noted that Cruises with Cunard are cheaper in the US and the company obviously dont want to lose this revenue!. It was going to cost me just £260 less to do the Qm2 and I am going on her on the 29th February.

What I need now is something inbetween. Hamrag has said his concern was that it is a long time March-November. He was joking and he knows me well enough to know I will be on on the outlook.
Now that I have this gap maybe I will be able to scoop up one of these really cheap deals that come along. There seem to be deals coming along daily. What the cruise lines like to do is discount early now to fill their ships early and you will find that the Fjords and the UK Ireland except for early in the year are expensive. This because now the US folks have done the Med. etc and so are looking for other places. I noticed this particularly for the Fjords even the Victoria is expensive for that part of the world. Canaries will always be less expensive and of course early and late for the Med. also.

Just keep the offers and the information coming. I think you all do a grand job!!

Sue

thanks booked the cruise for Celebrity Galaxy 1st Oct paid £569 inside but have got $150 onboard credit per cabin

So much for cheap flights from Belfast only Aer Lingus flying to Rome £158 it was even £24 return to bring the 2 cases

Hope to find a decent hotel at the right price

Hi sue,

For the ex-uk Norway, not much chance for that one, we are looking at NCL Jade and a 4berth 2room suite is going to cost £6k for 4 and even 2 insides would be £3.5k but we would not be happy with those so two OV come to over £5k which makes the suite best value but stupid expensive.

Round britain keep an eye on the Grand princess prices thats probably the best chance guess around £700 for the 12n but then there is the Single sup.

Celebrity Constellation 24th april 9n £650 not rock bottom yet but might go a bit lower .

Cheap flights to Barcelona and the possibility of a deal on NCL Gem, also the Barcelona Istanbul NCL cruises got down to £495 last year but the flight can add a fair bit especialy Istanbul

NCL Jewel in Sept to NY via Iceland currently around £500+flight might drop and is an interesting TA itinery.

There are always the cheap Island cruise if you don't mind slumming it a bit but it would be days at sea.

Something will come up just need to be packed and ready to go.

Windjammer I have done the Fjords so 9 or so years ago I did price it for the QV and it would cost me £2650 just for the 12 nights. It is out of Harwich and no transport except the train and 3 changes if I recall. Due to this I took a taxi from Harrogate to Harwich return so a costly deal.
I am not particularly interested in doing the Fjords again except that my friend has not done them. When we travel together we each have our own room and so I am always paying the hefty supplement.
I looked at VTG web site and if you click on to the single fares it tells you what the prices are for single occupancy as well as the percentage of surcharge. I am not always looking for a cheap cruise but rather one that meets all my needs. The QM2 I could have done cheaper but I wanted a direct flight from Manchester to NY (this then adds a taxi fare round trip of £140 plus a tip. The company with the lowest single supplements is Holland America but not for their Med offers reductions but still high prices.
Then I wanted the Marriott Marquis Hotel Times Square so all this pushed the price of the cruise up but it meets my needs and did add about £300 basic and then add the taxi on so £450.

Some would say it is not worth the extra but I have certain Airlines I don't want to fly with and being able to avoid Heathrow and changing terminals etc are a pain.

I may go to Munich in the summer as I have many friends there actually in Ingolstadt and they have been wondering why I have not been for so long/
There may well be low cost cruises with good prices for singles but I would not travel with Fred Olsen NCl Costa MSC etc. But Princess certainly Celebrity Cunard and perhaps RCI but not on these huge new ships. I sound a real pain its just that I know what I want and that is me and many others would disagree with me.

Windjammer do keep the offers coming. I see on the Teletext the Constellation is at £530. 9 nights but for me it is Harwich and I would have to pay double and then more than £350 £400 for a taxi.
Have a good weekend everyone.

Sue

What dates is the Constellation Sue ?

Kath x

Kath, if you look at W'J's post just before Sue it appears to be 24 April.

Just checked vtg to get route...it goes from Harwich to Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, St Peterport and return to Harwich. Appears good value, but around UK & Ireland at that time of year....?

The repositioning sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Harwich for 13 nights on 11 April may be around same price + flight to FL.