No problem with posting the company name as long as it's a personal recommendation. It's when a company tries to promote themselves as a satisfied client that we don't allow and usually ban and we don't like our members to be misled.

luci

Thanks for that Luci

The company I have found the deal with is cruise365.com. Is the deal any good?

PD

I have used 365 before and they had a good deal at the time it was a TA package rather than the cruise line offering and had no problems dealing with them.

For comparison the cruise only at US prices for an ocean view would be around

16th Nov cruise H grade ocean view

$969.00+$62.99(tax)+$56.00(fuel)=$1,087.99 USD

UK RCI cruise only cost is

£501+28+34=£563(so about the same), Cruise line air is £570

So cruise365 flight, transfers and hotel for a week is costing about £500.

For a DIY package the flight costs will be the clincher so I would investigate this first.

You might want to consider a Prominade room saves about £80pp and has a window to the inside.
On this big ship a midships cabin is best lot of walking around if you have front or back one.

How flexable on time away are you(asuming there is a magic date somewhere in there)? There are some good transatlantics this time of year longer cruise same money, and a florida add on would be easy.

Also consider fly into one location back from another it costs about the same for the flight but sometimes the cruises are better vlaue.

Thanks windjammer
So much info for a newbie to take in.

I would consider a transatlantic cruise...never even thought of that.
The main reason that I chose Florida is due to my love of roller coasters (big kid at heart) although my wife isn't that keen on them but she would LOVE a cruise. (You see, best of both worlds). The coasters are not a necessity though if a good transatlantic cruise can be found.

My dates are quite flexible , anytime after October 25 this year would be ok for me. I will continue to look and report back

Once again, many thanks and if you can help further then I won't say no.
PD

The hard part is actuly knowing what is out there.

The transatlantics also have a lot of sea days which may not be what the OH is looking for, but you get value from the ships that way.

For searches I like http://www.vacationstogo.com (register as a US person for bigger list) since it gives a lot of cruises on a single page if you use the the custom search which allows dates rather than months and can narrow further with lots of other options.

The prices are guide since there are extras tax,fuel which varies a lot but for most trips <$200pp covers them. If you see something you like then you can think about trying a UK or DIY package, another option is to investigate flights and try to fit cruises round a flight deal.

The main, small, problem with a theme park add on is that a lot of cruises go from the Miami area and not Orlando(Port C).

Thanks windjammer

Vacationstogo it is then
I suppose that I could drop the Florida bit and take a transatlantic cruise along with a visit to somewhere alse in America.

I am quite flexible in my American aspirations

PD

I also recommend Vacations to go, have used them every for 5 years.

Hi there

jacky,

Do you book waaaaaay in advance or have you booked last minute? I am looking to go away anytime in the three weeks following Oct 25th, for a fortnight's holiday

PD

I've also used Vacations to go and found them great everything went smoothly no problems at all, much better value for money because they price the cruises in dollars and we are getting a good rate at the moment.

If you take a cruise from Fort Lauderdale or Miami you can still visit Orlando, just hire a car. it's only about a 4/5 hour drive.

We flew into Orlando International had 7 days in Orlando and then drove down to Fort Lauderdale the day before our cruise and stayed overnight. Dropped the hire car at Fort Lauderdale airport and the hotel did a shuttle service from the airport back to the hotel. After the cruise free shuttle service back to the airport and picked up another car and drove back up to Orlando stayed another few night and then flew home.

If you need any more information just pm me

We have booked a cruise with VTG out of and back to Miami,picking up
hire car and driving to Orlando for 5days,then flying to Phoenix , pick
up another car and drive to Flagstaff for 2 nights then the Grand canyon
and on to Las Vegas for 8 nights,booked all over internet.
ann
flying home from Vegas

Thanks to all, I am taking it all in.

aarond,
Where are you flying from, and who gave you the best flight deals?

joan123,
Same question for you really, where did you fly from and who gave you the best flght deal?

Who did you both use for car hire.

Did either of you do book it a last minute deal or did you book well in advance?

I look forward to your replies

PD

Hi PD , Flying with US airways, Heathrow/Miami ,Orlando/phoenix .Lasvegas/Heathrow,
cost £745[ but it is August]
car hire with Dollar UK best prices
Ann sorry, forgot to say booked about 6 weeks ago leaving on Aug1st

Hi all,

As you may know from title in this thread I am after a stay and cruise (in that order) to Florida, for my 50th.

Anyway, I have been reading through all the posts on the cruise board for the fast couple of months or so and I have come up with the following.

1) A cruise and stay, in November of this year, cruising on the Mariner of the Seas, inside cabin (no further details), and staying at the Quality Inn International on International Drive.
Package holiday price £1099.00 per person with Virgin so therefore a package holiday with all its protection. This is actually the deal right at the top of this thread and originally posted in May of this year.

Port Canaveral, Florida
Cococay, Bahamas
At Sea
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
Philipsburg, St. Maarten
At Sea
Port Canaveral, Florida

2) A cruise and stay, in November of this year, cruising on the Crown Princess, inside cabin (code k or l or m"¦doesn't mean to much to me yet), and staying at an un-named hotel in Kissimmee.
Holiday price £699.00 per person with Cruise 1st so therefore unsure what type of protection I am afforded. I have just found this deal after reading another post in which Cruise 1st was mentioned

Fort Lauderdale
Princess Cays, Bahamas
At Sea
St Maarten
St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Grand Turk (Turks & Caicos Islands)
At Sea
For Lauderdale

We dont mind which destinations we cruise to.

I think that the Virgin holiday includes a car although I am not sure.
The Cruise 1st holiday doesn't include a car as far as I know.... Edit see below
A car is not a necessity as far as I am concerned, as long as I have easy access to the main theme parks.....Edit see below

The Virgin holiday is from Manchester, and the Cruise 1st is from Gatwick.
I live much nearer to Manchester than Gatwick although I don't mind driving to Gatwick.

There is a MASSIVE difference in price, £800.00 in total, does that mean that the Cruise 1st is not a package holiday?
What sort of holiday protection would I have booking through Cruise 1st (if any)?

How would we get from our hotel to the ship?
Hmmm"¦ another question to ask the holiday company methinks.
Edit 21.05 28th July... answer see below

As you are all far more experienced than me in these matters, I look forward to your comments as to which would be the best, bearing in mind my wife and me (or I, depends on your pedantry) are first time cruisers, and it will be our first time to Florida.

Go on then, give it to me straight, what do you think?

Edit, 21.05, 28 July.....
Just phoned Cruise1st..
The hotel is the Ramada Plaza, Kissimmee.
Car hire including insurance is £130.00 for total stay
We would drive from the hotel to the cruise ship.
Flights are with XL airways

PD

You would be staying in Kissimmee but your cruise departs from Fort Lauderdale, for the Princess cruise,right?
It is about a 200 mile drive from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale.
From Orlando over to Port Canaveral it's about an hour or less drive. Quiet roads.
I have sailed on Mariner, it's a fabulous ship. I have also sailed on Caribbean Princess, the Crown's sister ship, also very nice, but as far as being a floating resort, Mariner gets it. She definitely has the WOW factor.
The Promenade down the ship centre is the focal point of the ship, it has shops, boutiques, British pub,snack bars, they have a couple of great parades in the evening down the Promenade, it's a great place to stroll. Lots of activities for sports, ice skating, rock wall climbing, fun to watch too if you don't participate. The Ice show they put on is absolutely fantastic.... don't miss it!
I also liked everything about Princess, but it is a little quieter atmosphere onboard. The one feature I really liked was the MUTS- movies under the stars, it's really nice to sit up on deck late at night and watch a movie under the stars,just sailing along.
As far as the Itinerary, they are very similar, all the resorts are great to visit, no problem there- I think Princess Cays has the edge on Coco Cay, but only because it's a bit bigger, still the best day of the cruise.
My choice would be to go from Port Canaveral,save yourself a drive and simplify things.... I'm all for that.
One thing I would not do for your first cruise is a trans-atlantic, the sea can be "difficult" at that time of year whereas the Caribbean is very smooth sailing.
BTW- you show the Mariner sailing as 6 days, they only do 7 days- did you miss a sea day off at the end of the cruise? She usually has 2 at sea days before arriving back at PCN?

http://www.cruise1st.co.uk/about_us.phtml

key bit is

"cruise1st.co.uk is a digital media company and is an internet and teletext trading division of Sunshine Cruise Holidays Ltd. Sunshine Cruise Holidays Limited is a subsidiary of Sunshine Cruises Limited.

Sunshine Cruise Holidays Ltd. is a registered company in England & Wales registration number: 03931005. Vat registration No: 747901324. We are fully bonded members of the British travel trust association, membership number: R7942 and are retail agents for ATOL registered companies only"

Need to check The TTA bonds.

The thing to note is Sunshine Cruise Ltd(Island cruises) is 50:50 owned by TUI(thomson) and Royal caribbean so not likely to go bust and if they did TUI would probably honour the deals anyway.

The Cruise1st deal is a great price for what you get, try finding a flight and you will see what I mean. I am looking at £200 for a one way back from NewYork for a Transatlantic.

Virgin. have you checked the dates I looked and they no longer advertise the 9th(Sun) only Weds for Nov which makes it a split stay(4/3)

Both ships good, Mariner has the edge as has been said, but expect to get hooked so you will do both syles at some point.

Things to consider,

Flying back to Gatwick Monday morning, extra day off work.
Car parking during the cruise if you need the car for the return drive, you might be able to drop it off and pick up again for the return drive, if not check the parking rates.
Drive from orlando to Ft.L not done it so worth checking.
With the cruise return to cape canaveral you do that(MUST SEE) on that day before driving back
Hotels is a check on trip advisor/here, Orlando area great for the parks and even at our age plenty of good stuff.

I think Virgin has the edge on package, Cruise1st on price.
For you Manchester flight, shorter drive to the port(and a day out on return) more suitable(maybe depends what you are looking for) ship.
By the time you add in the extras to the Cruise 1st price you are say £600 less thats a lot of spending money to think about.

Actualy tempted myself for something different this year(and still get the cruise fix for my b,day) not done that areas for 20 years. Seaworld was my favourate then.

Checking the Virgin flight LON,Orlando £409(9th), Mariner cruise only(16th) is £440 inside GTY,
cheapest Virgin flight is £376 later in the month need to think about it.

For reference you can usualy get a 2week caribbean cruise for under £1k Nov/Dec allthough this year flight fuel may(small) push this up.

If you decide on Mariner then when you get back to Port Canaveral at the end of the cruise, take a day trip to the Space Center, you most likely will have a late flight back to the UK and that is a great way to use that day up. If you still have a rental car it's an easy drive, if not you can purchase an excursion through the cruiseline that will take you there and then deliver you to the airport at the finish.

Just to add my own two pennoe=rth LOL

We just got a fabulous deal.......

Flying to Orlando 30/12
4 nights in 4 * Raddisson resort in Kissimee
then 7 nights Eastern carribean from Port Canaveral
1 O/s cabin plus 1 inside for 3 peeps (so 1 is a single and therefore v expensive)
2 transfers included (so 1 to pay for at around 90 dollars)etc

Total.....£3347.......around half the cost for similar with Thomson/OV/any other cruise line because of the expensive New yearar flights

We are delighted, esp as my daughter is in Orlando for the whole Christmas/new year period with her b/f......so she will show us round on our first visit to Florida!!!!

Edit....oops sorry...we will be on the Carnival glory...flying with Virgin....
thanks to Winjammer for suggesting we look at the American Cruise lines!

Hi all,

Many thanks for all of your contributions, they are greatly appreciated. I fully understand the time and effort that all of you put into these posts

I have checked cruise1st out on the TTA website and they trade as the following,
Text Abroad Holidays Ltd t/a Cruise1st.co.uk t/a Ski1st.co.uk t/a Holiday1st.co.uk t/a Flights1st.co.uk,
Now you are all thinking...my god...t/a this t/a the other? Anyway they are classed as a current member of the TTA, so no trouble there...I think!

The following is a list of pros and cons, as I see them, in view of your comments.....

Cruise1st) I did not realise that the drive from Kissimmee to Fort Lauderdale was that long and I am minded that I have NEVER driven abroad.

Virgin) I really dont want to do a split stay.

Cruise1st) I am seriously considering wether the drive to Gatwick and the subsequent drive to the cruise ship, is worth the potential saving of £600.00.

Virgin) I shall take it under advisement that the Mariner is the better of the two ships.

Virgin) return to Port Canaveral which means we would certainly do a trip to Cape Canaveral on that final day...especially if we book the trip on the ship and they then take us to the airport after the trip. That is very convenient indeed
Virgin) Leave from Manchester.

I am still pondering and I shall do a bit more research

PD