Delighted for you are now in the position to put all your plans in place. I am sure that you have done the right thing and as I say just keep an eye on the prices.
I use trip advisor a lot for questions regarding places I am going to visit. Hotels restaurants shopping tours etc etc.
I have found them to be a great source of information. Also join a forum on Cruise Critic on your particular cruise. If there is not one already then start it yourself and see where it leads you.
You are certainly going to see a lot of OZ. I love it as I worked out there in the 60's. Have taken 3 holidays there in the past few years and loved it. Melbourne I visited for the first time in over 40 years. I was travelling alone but I came off the Ship in the evening when we docked and felt safe etc. I followed the advice from Trip Advisor travelled into town on the Tram and then came off at the Casino and made my way along the river side with all the lovely restaurants et.
I am way off topic here so apologise for that.

Any questions then PM me and I will be delighted to answer any of your questions. Perth and Kings Park are just beautiful! No where in the World to compare with Sydney Harbour.

Sue

The one day RCI sale for today has one interesting 12 night cruise, sailing from Civitavecchia (Rome) 13th June on Legend of the Seas. Having spent some time investigating this, was told in the end by DW that it does not suit us for family reasons!! Cruise visits Portofino, Livorno (overnight), Venice (overnight), Dubrovnik, Messina (Sicily) and Naples with the odd sea day.

Using http://www.cruisecompete the best offer is from http://www.smartcruiser at $870 pp. They also give what equates to $80pp cabin credit, which means the net price is $790 pp including all taxes, but not gratuities. This is for a category J (superior inside) and there are only half the number of those cabins now available than when I started looking a couple of hours ago, although there are standard and large insides available at the same price. If you do the arithmetic, and if you can get a budget return flight to Rome, it works out at a very attractive cruise only price (£550 - £575). You will get an overnight in a simple hotel, next to the main train station for between 75 and 100 euros at http://www.venere.com

The cruise must be booked by midnight today (tuesday) Eastern American time, which for the UK is 5.00am tomorrow morning.

Just received this from Gill's cruises. You will see that the late July Med one is identical to the deal mentioned in my previous post for 13th June! :


Unbelievable Five Star Scandinavia and Russia
Celebrity Constellation
25 July 2010 for 14 nights
Harwich - Amsterdam - Warnemunde - Stockholm - Helsinki - St. Petersburg (overnight) - Tallinn - Copenhagen (overnight) - Harwich
Over 55 Offer
Inside from £799 pp

Italy and Croatia Delight
Legend of the Seas
31 July 2009 for 12 nights
Fly UK / Civitavecchia (Rome) - Portofino - Livorno (Florence/Pisa - overnight) - Messina - Venice (overnight) - Dubrovnik - Naples - Civitavecchia (Rome) / Fly UK
Over 55 Offer
Inside from £999 pp

CALL US NOW ON 0845 460 6076

Gills Cruises just sent me an offer for:

Balmoral
29 May 2009 for 2 nights
Dover - Antwerp - Dover
Inside from £99 pp

More Solo offers coming through from P&O on late deals

Oriana 20 April is the next one

Various to choose from check with any agent or direct.

QM2 6 night transatlantic at £499 for inside, including flight to NYC and transfer. Being an Eastbound sailing, you will reach the UK without any jet-lag as the 5 hour difference will be spread over the 6 days! Detail as follows from Cruise Kings:

Stunning Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic Offer, from only £499pp, including flights.
The CruiseKings have never seen an offer like this - for you to be able to travel on a ship of QM2's obvious quality, on one of the classic "must dos" of the cruising world and during May (we haven't even seen this price on a November crossing), this is an opportunity not to be missed. Remember this does include your flight from UK to New York and your transfer from airport to ship - it should also be noted that this offer is the proper Cunard package - not just something The CruiseKings have cobbled together.

QM909 - 8th May - Eastbound Transatlantic - 6nts
Fly UK to New York, transfer to ship, 6 glorious days & nights sailing across the Atlantic, Southampton
Best available inside (D1-D8) only £499pp
Best available premium balcony (B1-B6) only £599pp

Great offer but no use to me unfortunately! Timing wrong!

Sue

Lots of bargains!
May 18th or 25th Coral Princess from Vancouver- 7 night, Alaska sailing- Inside starts at $299, OV at $349 and Balcony at $599.
Wish I could go....
OOPS- 25th is from Whittier .. sorry.

emdia43 wrote:

Lots of bargains!
May 18th or 25th Coral Princess from Vancouver- 7 night, Alaska sailing- Inside starts at $299, OV at $349 and Balcony at $599.
Wish I could go....
OOPS- 25th is from Whittier .. sorry.

Taxes will be $100+ on these.

Very impressed with the details people post here. Can I ask exactly where you all look for these deals? We're thinking of cruising the Panama Canal in January/February next year and having enough trouble deciding which cruise line to use, let alone looking up all the deals!!!

Rosalyn

The easiest way is to sign up for emails from TA's. Also they will post you their offers and newsletters.
Also look at TText as well as looking at these boards for offers that others will post. If you are unsure of which Cruise Line to travel with then also to read reviews on both Cruise Lines and also their Ships.
Personally I find that there are better deals with regular Companies eg RCI Princess Celebrity NCL Costa etc etc. I consider rightly or wrongly that Companies such as Thomsons offer less for your money. I would never consider them but others will travel with them if they find a really low price for a week etc.
My personal CC of choice are Celebrity Cunard and possibly Princess. I have travelled with all but try to travel with my first 2 choices.

Sue

Babs135 wrote:

Very impressed with the details people post here. Can I ask exactly where you all look for these deals? We're thinking of cruising the Panama Canal in January/February next year and having enough trouble deciding which cruise line to use, let alone looking up all the deals!!!

Rosalyn

Regarding the cruiseline to use think about what you enjoy on a typical land holiday. e.g. do you like to dress up in evening for dinner; do you like a lot of music/noise around you etc., also are you a couple or are there family involved. The reason I say this is that some of the cruiselines are informal and some very formal, with everything in-between. If you want to divulge some of your preferences there are contributors here who would advise you, and point in a direction.

The other thing to consider is are you comfortable organising own flight, hotel pre-cruise, cruise separately? If you are there are good savings to be had. If you prefer to leave all that to a TA then generally it will cost more, but not always. Prices can vary significantly between various TA's, so you need to watch for that. With some cruiselines e.g. Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and also Norwegian it is possible to book with a US agent in dollars and the price is most often less than the UK equivalent booked locally! A year ago, when the dollar rate was over 2 to the pound it was particularly good value and less so now that the rate is much lower. Booking US will only work if you are comfortable booking own flights and hotel (if needed) separately.

I agree with the previous poster regarding the package cruiselines (i.e. Thomson or Ocean Village).

Best wishes for your "search" and if you have any questions just ask.

Starting with the prices, research is the key and getting the emails is one of the best ways to know what is possible, the more you look at offers the better the feel you get for what a deal is.

As for which line ship, this gets very personal

The itinerary can change the demographic so check out the reviews of similar trips as well as general reviews for the ship/line

Thanks for the advice. Its greatly appreciated As I said in my original post, Panama Canal cruise is still very much in its infancy but you've given me help and a starting point. If I need more help I'll be back!

Rosalyn

A chance to try the NCL suite life for a couple of nights £100pppn
http://www.nclsuitesandvillas.co.uk/

With the best suite perks at sea these are well worth a look against other lines whne the prices go under £100pppd

NCL US has the 2n Jade 29th May(Ex southampton)

$288 == £198 tips are $12pppd
If you fancy this make sure you can max the value by getting on early lunch in Cagnies is a great way to start a cruise even a short one.

There are also still good prices for the 2 5n trips

16May £251.50 inc tips (ex Roterdam)
24May £331.50 inc tips (ex Southampton)

For higher grades check the US for the 24th there are the large aft balconises(BA deck 10) for $551 £378

The independance for the 4 nights 23may starts at £299(cruiseclubuk cancellations) balconies are £500.

I see that gills is offering the NCL Jewel 12n baltic at £599
Cruise club uk has Celebrity Constelation 14n at £699
RCI Jewel seems to be starting at £799 for the 12n
so plenty to choose from if you fancy a Baltics this year.

edit:
Found a better price for the NCL baltic £549pp inc parking
http://www.cruise365.com/searchpages/CRUISE_ncjwba28apr7sep09.htm

Panama canal Jan/Feb 2010
I though I would have a look to see what there is.

Here are some options with simple sample pricing so add tips($10-$12pppd),taxes($250-$300) and flights(<£500 expedia)

Celebrity Constellation $999.
http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=33206

NCL Star $999
http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=33258

Actualy now looking, the options are limited for Jan/Feb, I would spread your dates if you can, you will get more choice.

We did a full transit and got a package deal through a UK TA at around £1200pp I have seen them under that more recently.

here is one for this year, £1099 15n cruise
http://www.cruise365.com/searchpages/CRUISE_ceinpanama25apr09_20090425.htm

Thanks W/J, some good stuff around. We could potentially be interested in the NCL Jade on 24th May for 5 nights. Do you know if NCL honour price drops? The reason I ask is there seems to be significantly high availability still for that cruise, and I do wonder if the price might go lower!! Biggest "problem" for us is a flight cost, which pushes the ppppd up on a short cruise.

This is inside final payment allready so unlikely to honour price drops allthough upgrades are possible.

We got allocated an I for our K gty booking so prices need to drop over £50 for us to move cabin now but if they do I will try for another upgrade.

I think price drops might be via TA only, they have done this for the Jewel baltics both NCL sites are a lot more than the TA offers

There is sometimes some rock bottom pricing in the last few days direct with UK NCL, we got 2n last year for £59pp inc tips. but if you have to fly that makes it a bit risky. Consider the 8n 21st, out from Rotterdam(Amsterdam) back to Southampton, stretch the flight costs a bit( if you have the holland option) only available through the UK at £521(G) but cheaper cabins may open up.

We decided to take the K GTY at £299 a while back(direct to test out my NCL personal cruise consultant, v.good) and our friends have booked a HC BB through the US they were starting to sell so needed to get booked.

I would try to hang on a bit, if you can take the risk the flights will stay reasonable. there may be some offers come through on the suites, or tag on the 2n cruise to the 5n one still get home on the weekend.

Have you checked Ryanair into Bournmouth? £1/£10 options from Glasgow if you can travel light,
http://www.skyscanner.net
Ryanair, Sat 23 May 2009, FR 5952 PIK-BOH, Fri 29 May 2009 FR 5951 BOH-PIK, £2.00 Price is live

Could book these flights and wait on the cruise price, only lose £2 and CC charge(free electron) if you miss the cruise.

20m(£50ish) taxi ride to the port.
http://www.airporttaxis-uk.co.uk/Bournemouth/quotefrom.php

Many thanks for the reply. Yes, I am aware of the Ryanair flights and that is why I was asking about price drops. If I do it the flights need to be booked by midnight tonight. We would need one case which adds £30, still good value but we would need to stay an overnight on return day as flight back is 6.30am, also £50 taxi each way is a killer! The overall price begins to rise, as you can see. You have an excellent deal there at £299 and a relatively short drive.....well done.

Will probably end up passing on it, but if the prices drive down substantially even very close to sailing date would be tempted to drive the 450 miles each way and pay the parking fees at port. This would make more sense if the 2 nighter on the 29th was still there, giving us a full week.