Can you give us some idea where you want to sail to- for how long- what time of year- what your budget is.... per person per day. Most of the cruise lines I have been on sell all you can drink Soda (pop) card for around $6 per day for adults and $4 per day for kids. All other drinks are usually included,coffee tea,lemonade,juices at breakfast etc. Drinks in the bars or round the pool are around $6 each,less for beer.
It's a really good value holiday as you can eat as often and as much as you like,with a great variety from buffet to Hamburgers on the grill,to gourmet meals. All the entertainment and activities laid on for you and family to do,there is a lot to do onboard.

There is such a huge variety of ships and itineraries to choose from,let us know what you' re interested in.

Hi Kate 52 and emdia43
Thank you both so much for your replies.
EMDIA43 we were looking to sail straight from southampton if we could possibly around july/august time next year.We were thinking of doing a mediterranean cruise first then if we get on ok with that we were possibly looking at a carribean one for the following year.
Im not sure about the budget as we were just hoping to find a good cruise for a good price.
To be honest until i looked at the holiday truths,i didnt realise how many cruises there were available to travel on.
Thank you for your help.
Angela.
p.s do you get sea sick much on a cruise?

Southampton school hols, may be a bit late for 2008 to get a family 3 berth on some ships unless you can get the early week and miss a bit of term time in July.

Med you will need two weeks.

You will be looking for 2 cabins(or a big suite)

So get these brochures and check out the web sites, if they offer DVD/vidio get them, learn as much as you can.

P&O(various)
NCL(Jade[round trip,Barcelona])
Princess(Sea Princess[round trip],grand princess[rome])
RCI(Independance[round trip]).

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=93370

has most of the links you need

You will need to look for specials like free child places.

Price wise I think you will be looking at over £1kpp + a bit for junior.
Also add aprox $10pppd for gratuities into the budget.

None of the above will give you any problems with food and all are big ships so good for the mixed age range, great kids clubs.

No AI but the costs for drinks are pub prices(south) so not to bad(we sneak some on for top up in the cabin). Soda package for the fizy stuff and sometimes juice.

Other drinks coffee tea and juice are included as is room service.

NCL have not pushed their ship the Jade yet so there should be loads of availability on that and prices currently are around £1kpp for 14n med(can get cheaper than NCL price on the following)

http://www.ncl.co.uk/itinerary/pdf/med_escape_LR.pdf

For the caribbean 2009 you may want to think different time of year, hurricane season in the summer.

Have a good look at the options and come back with your thoughts on which trips you might be interested in. Also have a read of the reviews they can help a lot but make sure you read a few for each ship sometimes you get a review that focuses on the bad and are not ballanced

If you fancy a cheap try out then there is a good deal on the Sea Princess in 6th Oct for 1 week under £500pp, not school hols though.

If the pices are getting a bit high then the round britain cruises ALWAYS come up on offer under £700pp.

Hi Angela and welcome to the cruise forum!

I have merged your post with an existing similar topic which may have some additional information.

luci

HI
Going on the Thomson Spirit next year for two weeks. Never cruised before - just me and hubby going.
Just wondering if you've got any tips for first-timers!
Cheers in advance.

Hi Suzanne and welcome to the Cruise forum!

I have merged your post with an existing topic on New To Cruising which should answer a lot of your questions. Anything that's not answered there, please ask.

luci

Hi

My mum has offered to look after my children and let my husband and I go on holiday. I know nothing about cruising so really any advice would be greatly appreciated.
We would like to go somewhere that is warm i.e. Caribbean but are unsure about ships or routes etc. I also wondered what extra costs we would need to look at as it appears that some of the cruises charge per person per day for tipping and then obviously the cost of drinks and trips etc would be in addition. I had a look on the website and looked at Vacations to go for last minute deals, but I would need to organise flights etc myself, which would be ok. I would like a ship which has good food, entertainment We can travel any time from Feb 12 up until the 18/2/2008 for up to a week.

Any advice would be appreciated

keanda

Hi keanda and welcome to the Cruise forum!

I have merged your post with our New To Cruising topic which may have some information while you wait for specific replies.

Be aware that if you decide to cruise the Caribbean that you will need 8 days due to the overnight flight home and the time difference.

luci

I'm jumping in here without reading the rest of the thread, so apologies! I had hoped to cruise to the Pacific on a Fred Olson cruise this Feb, but couldn't afford it in the end I was also hoping for a last minute cruise, but that isn't going to happen atm either. But it got me thinking. What happens if I do take up a last minute cruise to distant climes? Who gets the visas, or would I have to? Should I get visas in advance just in case?

I would like a ship which has good food, entertainment We can travel any time from Feb 12 up until the 18/2/2008 for up to a week.

I see this may have got lost in the merge,

Personaly I think one week is a bit to short for the caribbean, but Feb has few choices for hot,

As a first timer then a package may be best so for the caribbean Ocean Village may work(£800ishpp) but add say £400 for all the spends door to door. We recon that for two weeks anything under £1kpp is about right so the 1week prices are proportionaly a lot more..

NCL Sun has some great prices if you can find your own flights.

Any of the major US lines will be fine RCI,princess carnival,celebrity,NCL but add $10pppd and another £300+ depending on your drink habbits for extras including excursions.

There is also Thomson in the red sea, <£500pp or canaries <£450pp both including flights.

What happens if I do take up a last minute cruise to distant climes? Who gets the visas, or would I have to? Should I get visas in advance just in case?

No Idea never done one that needed visa's,

I would check the visa requirements, it may be that most places visa is not needed for stays of less than 12/34hrs. and transit visas are ok for getting to the ship.

What's a transit visa? You say you have never done a cruise that needed a visa? Do you not need one for india, dubai etc etc? Anyone else have any advice here please?

Like I said no visa needed for the places I have been

I have not been everywhere yet.

transit visa : for people in transit.

I think you need to lok at more general travel sites and the embasy sites of the counties you may visit.

Thanks windjammer

Only needed to get two visas in 9 years of cruising. One was when we flew into India and picked up a cruise round India and Malayasia and the other was for Australia when we did NZ and Australia cruise last year. In fact, the Australian visa was done over the internet although we did have to go to Indian Embassy in London for the Indian visa. Most countries where you are likely to cruise accept UK passports and you often do not need visas - USA have visa waiver still if you have machine-readable passports or the new chip-encrypted passports.

Hi

We have just booked out first cruise and will go in 2009 with RCI Legend of the Seas. Are the drinks very expensive on boards, e.g. bottle of wine, spirits and lager. Just want to make sure I save enough spending money. Also, if you choose not to do the trips, can you get from the ports easily to the main sights. We are doing the 12 night Italy/Croatia cruise.

Any info would be much appreciated.

Hi
We are on the Carnival Liberty in Aug [carribean cruise]will we be ok with not doing
the formal nights, we still have 2 weeks in the USA after the cruise and do not want
to take clothes we will not need,taking smart evening clothes but not suits for the men
thanks for any info
ann

Bumping this for the new cruisers.

luci