Cruise Holidays (yes, it's long!)

[Vid]

The recent cruise -

as this was a fly/ cruise MrsVid couldn't pack so much as she could when sailing out of Southampton (shame) and using the stand on the bathroom scales holding the suitcases method a few dresses had to be removed from one case, worked out fairly well at the airport, one bag less than a kilo over which came within their acceptable range anyway. Some odds and ends that we would normally bring from home we left behind to buy once we'd arrived in the US before boarding.

We'd booked a taxi and a room at the Heathrow Premier in for the night before our flight, much more sensible than getting up at 4am to travel from home. I'd expected that the Heathrow side would see longer queues and delays, but was fairly quick and straightforward to get through, unfortunately the flight was delayed by around an hour due to the plane arriving late, no biggie though. I wasn't looking forward to a 9 hour flight, but it passed, had a little sleep in there somewhere and watched a couple of films, reasonably edible food and a couple of drinks. Coach connection from the airport that was also fairly quick from baggage collection to getting aboard and getting going to our hotel.

Against MrsVid's wishes I wore one of my Chelsea shirts and met up with an Arsenal fan and his wife at the hotel who made the exact same comments that he had during our September cruise, I remembered him but he hadn't remembered us, probably due to no Jessica this time, I hadn't the time previously to engage in much banter, this time I was As both he and his wife smoked as well as MrsVid (I'm still happily vaping away) we ended up spending a great deal of time together, him also being a HGV driver seemed to annoy both wives when we were talking shop, don't know why

Those American hotel rooms, more like mini-apartments! Shame the bed was so bloody uncomfortable! I'm not one for taking painkillers unless it really hurts, we had to buy some for both of us following a restless night on our shopping expedition. Biggest failing of the hotel though, NO BAR!!!!

Another coach connection to the ship at around midday, all straightforward enough boarding and we're ready to head for the bar! Disaster to to find that our drinks package hasn't been added to the account! Off we head to Customer Services ready for a massive argument which didn't materialise, most of the others passengers there were also complaining about it being missing from their seapass, all those that made the effort to complain were automatically upgraded to the higher package - worth around £300 to us

From Fort Lauderdale it was over 1 day's sailing to the first stop so they did the first formal night on day 2, too soon, too hot, too uncomfortable and no doubt for the many Brits on board, most still with their body clocks trying to work out what was happening to them. MrsVid had thought that without Jessica this time we should eat at the 2nd sitting (around 8:30pm), this didn't work out for us at all and the first formal night was the only time we turned up that late. We did use the main dining room off and on, but at around 6pm instead. Nothing to either complain about or enthuse about the food or the service at any time, both were okay/ good at all times.

First stop was Labadee, a closed compound on Haiti owned by RCL, nothing special from my point of view, a bay, a beach, some tat tourist sheds/ shops, a couple of huts that served as bars and not much else apart from 'the World's longest zip-wire over water', the wives did that, the truckers sat in the shade drinking beer

MrsVid had organised a excursion ahead of time for our stop at Puerto Rico, 14 of us in a large taxi @$25 a head for a 4 hour tour. Our guide was very informative and showed and told us a great deal about Puerto Rico's history, surprisingly I found it very interesting, but had had enough towards the end and wanted to get back to the boat, you can only take so much culture at a time!

Our other stops were St. Thomas, St. Kitts & St. Maarten which all were basically go ashore, find a bar, drink something, eat something, drink a bit more, wander back to the boat. MrsVid did have a go on a jetski at St. Maarten with the Arsenal trucker's wife, we of course stayed in the shade and drank beer!

From there we had 8 full days sailing across the Atlantic arriving at Southampton in the morning of the 9th (16th cruise day), on 5 of the days we 'lost' an hour at 2pm so that we arrived at the correct time in BST. Believe it or not we missed lunch on a couple of days due to not having enough time, mainly due to us (and new friends) taking in as many quizzes as we could (there are other things to do on board, we've just got hooked on quizzes), winning a bit more tat along the way.

Departure was better organised this time, taxi waiting for us once we'd collected our luggage and home we came.

[unc.si.]

Nice.

Did you go to the beach next to the Airport in St Maarten? It's the one where the big jets virtually skim the fence as they land

Is that 8 days solid on a boat on the way back or do you stop anywhere? Guess there's not many places to stop apart from maybe the Azores, but probably wouldn't go past there if sailing to Southampton?

Heathrow's pretty slick most of the time. A lot better than most US airports anyway. Sounds like you flew into FLL. Crappy airport but a million times better than MIA.

to be honest, from the write up it didn't sound like you enjoyed this one as much as some of the others?

[Vid]

Nice.

Did you go to the beach next to the Airport in St Maarten? It's the one where the big jets virtually skim the fence as they land

Is that 8 days solid on a boat on the way back or do you stop anywhere? Guess there's not many places to stop apart from maybe the Azores, but probably wouldn't go past there if sailing to Southampton?

Heathrow's pretty slick most of the time. A lot better than most US airports anyway. Sounds like you flew into FLL. Crappy airport but a million times better than MIA.

to be honest, from the write up it didn't sound like you enjoyed this one as much as some of the others?

At St. Maarten we just did the beach and bar, my sunburn still hasn't quite healed, no interest in the airport, fortunately.

There was one unscheduled stop in the Azores on the way back to offload a sick passenger, it was during the night, we were sleeping but clearly plenty of others looking at facebook stayed/ got up for a view.

We landed at Miami, maybe an hour or so to get through the queues at immigration, no issues for us but definitely some others had a lot of questions to answer.

The holiday was okay and that's about it, done the transatlantic now and won't be doing it again. West med again in October on a different cruise line, I'll need a break by then but not particularly positive about it at the moment.

[unc.si.]

MIA airport is one of my least favourite places in the world. It's horrible. Rude, unfriendly staff and if you catch it wrong you can wait for hours. Keep meaning to register for Global Entry, which makes the whole process easier but never get round to booking an interview and I only go there a couple of times a year so never seems worth it.

Have you thought about a Baltic cruise. Some fantastic places to stop at. Oslo, Tallinn, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Bergen, Helsinki etc etc. All fantastic places. Beer's a touch pricey though...

[Vid]

Taking a cruise in October close to MrsVid's birthday seems to have become a habit! We've just returned from a 7 night cruise out of Southampton aboard the MSC Preziosa and thoughts for next October we're brought up within the first 2 days!!

Booked several months ago we thought we'd got a very good deal, around £1500 for the 2 of us including drinks packages, airport transfer and flight back to Gatwick, only to be told by a couple of others that they'd got the same thing for around £200 a head cheaper through a site called Cruise Nation, not had a chance to check it out as yet. We'd booked a balcony this time, whether they had comparable staterooms or not, I don't know, interior cabins would certainly make that sort of difference in price.

The itinerary saw us stopping at La Coruna, Lisbon, Gibraltar, Barcelona and ending in Genoa. On arrival at Gibraltar we received a pm from a FISO member asking some questions ahead of his family's first cruise, I will answer as many as practical as I go along as obviously it will be of help to anyone looking at a cruise in the near future and enable others to chip in with alternative ideas.

Having only used Royal Caribbean previously this move to the significantly cheaper MSC did lead to concerns as whether the standards would also be much lower. The experience was certainly different! All of our RC cruises have been 'complete' cruises, the ship arriving in port from it's previous cruise, virtually everyone getting off (except the few doing 'back-to-back' cruises) and a complete set of new passengers getting on, with very few leaving/ joining at the various ports of call, other than entertainers getting a day or two cruising around their 2 shows on whatever evening.

MSC comes across as 'hop on/ hop off' as their ships sail around Europe. Our cruise actually started from Hamburg and had made a couple of stops before we boarded in Southampton and who knows how many that sailed out of Hamburg were already on board for however many days previously? How many stayed on board at Genoa to continue with wherever it sailed to next?

Boarding, with RC as most passengers would be leaving the ship between 8 & 10am you can roll up from around 11am to check in and board, rooms won't be ready until around 2pm and you might not see your luggage until after 6pm, but nothing to stop you checking in and then going off for a wander of the local area, just make sure you're back at the boat before the gangways are removed! And not to have too much carry on stuff that you've got nowhere to leave if you want to check out the port unless you have a several hour window from around 2pm when you can access your stateroom until departure. MSC was very different in that no-one (except possibly those paying the premium rates or with massive loyalty points) was going through check in before 1pm, even though it was only a few hundred boarding at Southampton rather than several thousand, at least the luggage turned up quickly.

The drinks package, well, the MSC 'all inclusive' package actually included very little, we'd had that included as part of our deal but our first visit to a bar showed that it was insufficient for our needs (and boy, do we need alcohol!) so we upgraded immediately to the premium package that did include virtually everything including bottled water, coffees, ice-cream and cakes @220€ each, the really expensive spirits and wine still incurring charges. MrsVid kept all the receipt copies that we had signed for and totalled up well over £1k earlier, so a big win there and we didn't have to sign for everything, that seems to go out of the window when they're particularly busy. RC's pricing structure is a lot tighter and needs a lot more consideration as to whether to upgrade from a basic package or not, MrsVid's love of brandy probably swinging it for her, I can manage on Stella and red wine, as I do at home. With RC only one of you needs to upgrade (but they will keep an eye open for any abuse) whilst MSC requires all in the cabin to do so, even children. No drinks package and you pay for every drink and also have to pay gratuities on top, have a package then you pay nothing unless you go outside of the package, have a glass of $15 wine you pay the difference to the package base - $12 last time so $3 gets charged, plenty of drinkable wines within the package. RC dropped the need to sign for everything a few years ago if you are drinking within your package, they just swipe your card (which is also your room key and ID getting on and off) leaving you with no idea at all just how much you've drunk on board.

Gratuities, as said in the earliest posts, we initially paid up front but due to our experiences where a handful of staff went above and beyond and others do virtually nothing for their share we wanted to give the money to those we thought most deserved it, whether or not they actually got to keep it for themselves or still had to pool it, I guess it just made them feel better about themselves whilst it still got pooled. RC is something like $14.50 per person per day if you pay up front or allow them to charge it to your account, MSC was 10€/person/day and we were quite happy to leave it to be charged to the account this time. On RSC you can choose to not pay any gratuities at all and I'm quite sure there will be those that don't and when you do choose individuals or on one occasion a decent wedge to a specific bar, you don't know whether it goes where you want it to or goes to a wider group, including maybe some individuals you'd prefer to chuck over the side. On our honeymoon cruise we gave our favourite barman all of the Roubles we hadn't spent, I'd like to think he kept it all but very much doubt it. Money is money and has an exchange rate, doesn't matter what it is, it can be exchanged to a preferred currency or saved until a return to a specific country. MSC is an Italian company, the ship's currency is the Euro, RC is American, on board currency the US Dollar.

Whilst thinking about currencies, chances are you will visit somewhere in Europe again so holding your Euros won't hurt, if you're likely to visit the US/ cruise on a US owned ship then having a few hundred dollars sat somewhere at home is no big deal, Roubles/ Krona / other likely one off visits, try to work out whether you need them in the first place (credit/ debit cards cover most things) and don't buy more than you'll likely need (research your ports of call), certainly use them for tips or take the hit when you sell back at a much lower rate to the one you bought at. Your money, your choice.

more to come .............

[Vid]

Part 2 ..........

still on tips, it's been suggested that you give a fairly hefty tip on day/ night 1 to try to ensure that you get good service for the rest of the cruise, maybe someone has tried this? Our experiences are that on day 1 you don't know which bar(s) you're going to frequent the most so attempting to prime one immediately doesn't click with me. MrsVid smokes and I vape, so we will tend to spend a fair amount of time either in a bar that permits smoking or has quick access to a smoking area. Other factors will include ease of access from your stateroom, how you get on (or not) with others that frequent particular bars, who you find yourselves spending more time with (if anyone), maybe close to your dining area, or nearby to shows or maybe you simply prefer the décor, but chances are where you find at least one decent member of bar staff. On this cruise smoking was permitted in half of the casino, so that got visited several times a day and was where we spent the evenings either side of dinner up to bedtime.

On RC cruises MrsVid likes visiting the shows, I think she looked in on one on this cruise, general reports were that they were poor, it must be incredibly difficult to cater for the Italian/ Spanish/ German/ French/ English mix that is present on MSC, okay if you like poor opera singing though

We were concerned as to whether the main dining would offer the choice and quality of food we'd find acceptable, some of our RC experiences haven't been great. We'd opted for the 2nd sitting at 8.30pm, a big difference from RC where you'd turn up and be seated almost instantly, here the second sitting wasn't allowed in until the whole of the first sitting had cleared off and all tables relaid. Our table of 6 saw us sat with 2 other British couples, all of us in the mid-40s to mid-50s age range, so plenty of conversation each evening. The food was good, sometimes the choices for each course weren't ideal, sometimes a choice had to be made, portions were the right size, the food was cooked properly and had decent taste to it, not stunning, but certainly functional and you left you neither overfull or still needing something else. RC main dining experiences have been a bit hit and miss, sometimes the food has been very good, but on most cruises there has been at least one meal that has had to be sent back. We didn't give any thought at all to the speciality (pay extra for) dining this time, I'd say our RC experiences with this have been more miss than hit but some have been very good. You can book these ahead or on a daily basis, just like any restaurant though, once they're full, they're full, 2 days before and no chance, turn up on spec and get seated immediately, sometimes. Something like $20/25 a head for the privilege of eating the same food you can order in main dining, just more elbow room.

Not overly impressed with the buffet section though, nice and clean, different layout to to RC and less choice. Clearly they don't stock up fresh very often, things such as bread rolls and burger buns were looking very tired as the days progressed. Back bacon ran out so they used streaky instead, but cooked in the same way rather than crispy, glistening lines of fat, urgh! On the transatlantic you expect the fresh stuff to run out, but not when you dock in a European port every day or two. Usual thing you get with buffets too, the few piling up plates of everything to be thrown away. Even the chips were rationed for the last couple of days!

We did find the arrival/ departure times at the various ports of call strange, with RC we'd been used to arriving early morning and leaving late afternoon at the earliest, giving those that wanted to go off and do their own thing or take in an excursion a fair chance to do so, arriving in Gibraltar at 5pm on a Sunday, erm, what's the sense in that??? Far too late to go anywhere or do anything beyond finding a pub for a drink or two, managed that bit okay

Talking of going ashore and excursions, assuming that you're not literally taking a last minute cruise you have time to research the ports that you're visiting (MrsVid's job this one!) along with the excursions offered by the cruise company via their website. Other sites, such as Cruise Critic or Facebook groups, may well give you alternative or cheaper options that you will possibly have to play a part in organising yourself. Be careful with timings for any of these, including official excursions that may well be set to start before before you dock or end after the ship has left port.

Some ports will lay on free shuttle buses that the cruise company won't advertise as they'll have an arrangement with a local company that will be making money for both companies, taxis may also prove to be better option to get to a local town/ city centre depending on the size of your group and how bothered you are about waiting for 20 or 30 others to fill the bus before the trip back. A 5-10 minute walk may be a far better option than paying $20+ for a 2 minute bus ride. A taxi for the two of us into Barcelona and one back worked out within a Euro or so (cheaper) than taking the shuttle and much more convenient. We've found the same on previous cruises too, the taxis have to be competitive on price and in some places your taxi driver will offer you a personalised tour at a reasonable rate, but obviously that one can be a bit of a gamble. As said in the early posts, somewhere such as St. Petersburg where you need a visa to visit, being covered by the ship's organisation can take a great deal of work out of it for you, but even this is doable yourself if you plan ahead. The more memorable outings have been as part of small groups coming together on a third party site and tend to be a lot cheaper, as long as everyone turns up, you don't want to be paying double if half the others don't show, best to make contact early on in the cruise rather than leave it until meet up time.

I'd say the MSC cruisers were a good 10/15 years younger than a typical RC cruise, many more working age than retirement age. From what I hear the more expensive the cruise line the higher the typical age of cruiser.

For me the ship was in very good condition, laid out well, 99% of the staff pleasant and helpful (there's always got to be at least one that isn't and we found him!), main dining good, buffet so-so, ports of call - 'meh', very little to do on board outside of eating, drinking and sleeping, very good if you need that sort of get away for a few days to recharge, a week or more possibly a bit too long. You can't count on MSC timings to book/ organise excursions or to see some ports in daylight for that matter. If the right deal comes along in years to come then no doubt we'd consider it, but I'm firmly in the belief that where we live only really makes Southampton - Southampton cruises worthwhile.

[Vid]

Another update!

Just back from a week on RC's Navigator of the Seas, me, MrsVid, granddaughter (now 5) and MrsVid's cousin (our age), 7 nights, ports of call Hamburg, Oslo and Zeebrugge.

I think this report is going to be pretty short, nothing really to add to most of what has been written previously, other than maybe RC's standards are still slipping, or the Navigator is a bit worse than others that we've been on.

With a 5yo along the daily schedule is obviously going to be dominated by what you can and can't do with a child along. As it was half term there were quite a few kids on board, certainly annoying a few of the old farts that really shouldn't book a cruise holiday during school holidays, some extended families covering up to 4 generations and mainly Brits.

Hamburg is difficult to remember, we got a taxi, went into the city centre, wandered about a bit, had a drink or two, chips and ice-cream for the granddaughter and a taxi back, totally forgettable.

Oslo was hot at around 30C, took a train shaped shuttle into the centre, very clean city as most Nordic cities are, a tram to near the Frogner Park, bit of a wander, ice-cream, found a play area for a while and went for the tram back to where the train dropped us off. Things went a bit wrong there as the tram changed number and destination about half-way through, taking us in totally the wrong direction towards the outskirts of the city, no doubt the information was there for those that understood the language, fortunately we were advised by a local to get off and take a tram in the opposite direction for a few stops. This wasted a fair amount of our available time and it took a while to find our bearings and a couple of miles walking to get to the place where we could get the return on the little train shuttle. We made it back to the ship about 30 minutes before sail away, without doubt the closest we've ever pushed it, but obviously it worked out okay.

We didn't get off at Zeebrugge, weather was crap and it had been a very late night before, no way were any of us going to be up at 6am to wake up, breakfast and find our own way to Bruges, been there loads of times anyway so no big deal.

Jessica made good use of the pool, confident enough to go in without a floatation jacket, but smart enough to work out that when tired it makes it a lot easier to splash around without needing too much effort to stay afloat. First 5 days had very good weather, sunshine and 25C+, last couple of days were foggy and a lot cooler.

Food again was hit and miss, generally functional, sometimes overcooked, sometimes a bit cooler than ideal, rarely would a plate be cleared by any of us.

The staff were again okay, a couple stood out but most were simply doing their jobs, no more, no less.

Kids Club was again well used by Jessica, she made one friend that is now going to be a pen pal, at least when they significantly improve their reading and writing skills, they now have a good motivation to do so!

A good holiday for a 5yo, maybe not so much for 50+

[raoul]

part way through reading this thread from the start ... am going on a cruise with Mrs R next week. First ever cruise. Montego Bay / Colombia / Panama / Costa Rica, with TUI.

I think I am roughly the same age as Vid when he did his first cruise, although whether that matters I do not know.

We have booked excursions for 3 out of 4 destinations, and deliberately avoided for one stop (Cartagena, Colombia) so we can explore.

We have a "deluxe balcony", which I am hoping is nice.

Will report back (possibly from the ship itself) but if anyone has some cunning tips on things like the items below, please feel free:

- quality of wine on board
- any cheap forms of wifi to take rather than relying on the ship
- a forex card that avoids most charges
- anything to take (or not to take)
- any other business

Oh, and I need to pre-plan my fantasy moves before I go as transfers will be in very short transfer windows...

[unc.si.]

part way through reading this thread from the start ... am going on a cruise with Mrs R next week. First ever cruise. Montego Bay / Colombia / Panama / Costa Rica, with TUI.

I think I am roughly the same age as Vid when he did his first cruise, although whether that matters I do not know.

We have booked excursions for 3 out of 4 destinations, and deliberately avoided for one stop (Cartagena, Colombia) so we can explore.

We have a "deluxe balcony", which I am hoping is nice.

Will report back (possibly from the ship itself) but if anyone has some cunning tips on things like the items below, please feel free:

- quality of wine on board
- any cheap forms of wifi to take rather than relying on the ship
- a forex card that avoids most charges
- anything to take (or not to take)
- any other business

Oh, and I need to pre-plan my fantasy moves before I go as transfers will be in very short transfer windows...

No idea about the cruise bit but the Old City in Cartagena is fantastic. I guess you're just there for a day. If you have the evening then there's a great Argentinian bar worth a short refreshment stop at. Can't remember what its called but its more or less opposite a fairly well known restaurant called La Cevicheria (which is fantastic as well). Its probably a parilla actually but you can just go in for a mojito (or an aguardiente if you're brave ). Put it this way it must have taken them a long, long time to decorate the place

[blahblah]

part way through reading this thread from the start ... am going on a cruise with Mrs R next week. First ever cruise. Montego Bay / Colombia / Panama / Costa Rica, with TUI.

I think I am roughly the same age as Vid when he did his first cruise, although whether that matters I do not know.

We have booked excursions for 3 out of 4 destinations, and deliberately avoided for one stop (Cartagena, Colombia) so we can explore.

We have a "deluxe balcony", which I am hoping is nice.

Will report back (possibly from the ship itself) but if anyone has some cunning tips on things like the items below, please feel free:

- quality of wine on board
- any cheap forms of wifi to take rather than relying on the ship
- a forex card that avoids most charges
- anything to take (or not to take)
- any other business

Oh, and I need to pre-plan my fantasy moves before I go as transfers will be in very short transfer windows...

No idea about the cruise bit but the Old City in Cartagena is fantastic. I guess you're just there for a day. If you have the evening then there's a great Argentinian bar worth a short refreshment stop at. Can't remember what its called but its more or less opposite a fairly well known restaurant called La Cevicheria (which is fantastic as well). Its probably a parilla actually but you can just go in for a mojito (or an aguardiente if you're brave ). Put it this way it must have taken them a long, long time to decorate the place

Do you need a bag carrier\jester\therapist for some of your travels?

[unc.si.]

part way through reading this thread from the start ... am going on a cruise with Mrs R next week. First ever cruise. Montego Bay / Colombia / Panama / Costa Rica, with TUI.

I think I am roughly the same age as Vid when he did his first cruise, although whether that matters I do not know.

We have booked excursions for 3 out of 4 destinations, and deliberately avoided for one stop (Cartagena, Colombia) so we can explore.

We have a "deluxe balcony", which I am hoping is nice.

Will report back (possibly from the ship itself) but if anyone has some cunning tips on things like the items below, please feel free:

- quality of wine on board
- any cheap forms of wifi to take rather than relying on the ship
- a forex card that avoids most charges
- anything to take (or not to take)
- any other business

Oh, and I need to pre-plan my fantasy moves before I go as transfers will be in very short transfer windows...

No idea about the cruise bit but the Old City in Cartagena is fantastic. I guess you're just there for a day. If you have the evening then there's a great Argentinian bar worth a short refreshment stop at. Can't remember what its called but its more or less opposite a fairly well known restaurant called La Cevicheria (which is fantastic as well). Its probably a parilla actually but you can just go in for a mojito (or an aguardiente if you're brave ). Put it this way it must have taken them a long, long time to decorate the place

Do you need a bag carrier\jester\therapist for some of your travels?

are you the guy behind 'therapist.com'?

[blahblah]

I'm not that organised

[unc.si.]

actually since that site showing unfortunate url's went around a few years back I cant read 'therapist' without seeing 'the rapist'

anyway, back to cruising with Jane mcVid...

[blahblah]

Like the Italian arm of powergen - their website really was powergenitalia.....

[stevejtr]

part way through reading this thread from the start ... am going on a cruise with Mrs R next week. First ever cruise. Montego Bay / Colombia / Panama / Costa Rica, with TUI.

I think I am roughly the same age as Vid when he did his first cruise, although whether that matters I do not know.

We have booked excursions for 3 out of 4 destinations, and deliberately avoided for one stop (Cartagena, Colombia) so we can explore.

We have a "deluxe balcony", which I am hoping is nice.

Will report back (possibly from the ship itself) but if anyone has some cunning tips on things like the items below, please feel free:

- quality of wine on board
- any cheap forms of wifi to take rather than relying on the ship
- a forex card that avoids most charges
- anything to take (or not to take)
- any other business

Oh, and I need to pre-plan my fantasy moves before I go as transfers will be in very short transfer windows...

We have only gone with TUI - done 7 or 8 with them now. Like the boats and they're not the floating cities the Yanks seem to prefer. Did 2 week baltics this year on Explorer (or Discovery, one of...). was fab.

wine is ok. don't expect top of the range but its gluggable. order glasses if you're all inclusive. if you order a bottle then thats extra. water is NOT included in all inclusive...
wifi is a bugbear of mine. ship rates are ridiculous (sorry, no suggestions on alternatives)
Halifax affinity is no foreign charges and works ok abroad


the posh restaurants on board are good for a change, but pricey. we usually go for a balcony. had a hammock included for the baltics . staff are friendly. food quality od good I think - we prefer the waiter service but the self serve is good too. the formal night this time was not really a dinner as such, more a cocktail party. no idea why. I took a tux buyt didn't use it. the entertainment is usually pretty good. seemed less so on the Explorer for some reason (that or i am officially grumpy). the comedians tend to be hit and miss. the last one was a miss - so much so we walked out.

the 'policy' of removing towels etc hogging sun loungers isn't enforced. if you want to lie in the sun, get there early before breakfast to hog your particular recliner

[Zimmerman]

We did a 12 night Baltic cruise last summer. Loved it!

Halifax Clarity is my card of choice for holiday.
Wifi on Royal Caribbean was ridiculous. To the point i didn’t bother... just waited till we went ashore - which as someone who is addicted to picking a phone up, was actually quite nice.

Booze on the RC was amazing. All branded spirits (and some semi decent brands too (like Kraken and Gentleman Jack and Belvedere vodka for example). Had a friend that went with celebrity cruise I think, all-inclusive... and they ordered wine by the bottle of wine (thinking it would save the waiter/bar man the hassle. Got well stung for it/them at the end

Take a four-gang plug thing (if you’re likely to be charging phones/iPads whilst needing a hair drier etc.

Also, one of those cheap and nasty pocket things that hang on a coat hanger. One of them on the back of the bathroom door is some cunning much needed storage space for toiletries.

[stevejtr]

yeah i'd never been to the countries on the trip apart from Russia (and that was in '88) and Germany. very different now... did the day trip to Moscow from St Petes. the Sapsan took 4 hours. when I took my Dad it was single track and took 12...

loved Helsinki, Copenhagen and MrsJtr loved Stockholm (Abba museum of course...) though the Baltic states were lovely too. did a brewery tour in Talinn that was great and Klaipeda was tiny but very friendly. Loved Riga too the market was amazing. Probably the best cruise we've done

[raoul]

part way through reading this thread from the start ... am going on a cruise with Mrs R next week. First ever cruise. Montego Bay / Colombia / Panama / Costa Rica, with TUI.

I think I am roughly the same age as Vid when he did his first cruise, although whether that matters I do not know.

We have booked excursions for 3 out of 4 destinations, and deliberately avoided for one stop (Cartagena, Colombia) so we can explore.

We have a "deluxe balcony", which I am hoping is nice.

Will report back (possibly from the ship itself) but if anyone has some cunning tips on things like the items below, please feel free:

- quality of wine on board
- any cheap forms of wifi to take rather than relying on the ship
- a forex card that avoids most charges
- anything to take (or not to take)
- any other business

Oh, and I need to pre-plan my fantasy moves before I go as transfers will be in very short transfer windows...

No idea about the cruise bit but the Old City in Cartagena is fantastic. I guess you're just there for a day. If you have the evening then there's a great Argentinian bar worth a short refreshment stop at. Can't remember what its called but its more or less opposite a fairly well known restaurant called La Cevicheria (which is fantastic as well). Its probably a parilla actually but you can just go in for a mojito (or an aguardiente if you're brave ). Put it this way it must have taken them a long, long time to decorate the place

Yes, Cartagena for the day. And I chose this one for no excursion so I am hoping we can maybe walk to the city from the ship? We can do a couple of miles assuming it is safe (I have a fairly high threshold on safe and often think the pavement safer than local cabbies but that is largely down to a few dodgy rides in Kazakhstan and I wouldn't want to jump to assumptions).

Santa Marta, Colon and Puerto Limon. And then a week in Montego Bay.

Any advice gratefully received!

[unc.si.]

Cartagena is safe. Not just safe by Latam standards, just safe generally (in the areas that you're likely to go anywhere near anyway, as long as you're not wandering round with a laptop under your arm and a rolex on).

just looked where the ships dock, Manga. No problems with safety walking there, and you can go through Getsemani, which is nice and you probably wouldn't see it on a tour. Don't skimp on time in the old city though, its stunning. Clock tower area at night gets interesting though

I guess December is one of the better times of year to go comfort wise, but its pretty uncomfortable walking too far though. Think I've been 3 times, but all in July - October, when the humidity is turned up to 11. We're talking Singapore / Bangkok levels of miserableness and there's not a lot of aircon in Cartagena. I can't imagine walking 2 miles in that weather.

If its a mega humid day get a cab. They publish official rates if you want a laugh.

[raoul]

Cartagena is safe. Not just safe by Latam standards, just safe generally (in the areas that you're likely to go anywhere near anyway, as long as you're not wandering round with a laptop under your arm and a rolex on).

just looked where the ships dock, Manga. No problems with safety walking there, and you can go through Getsemani, which is nice and you probably wouldn't see it on a tour. Don't skimp on time in the old city though, its stunning. Clock tower area at night gets interesting though

I guess December is one of the better times of year to go comfort wise, but its pretty uncomfortable walking too far though. Think I've been 3 times, but all in July - October, when the humidity is turned up to 11. We're talking Singapore / Bangkok levels of miserableness and there's not a lot of aircon in Cartagena. I can't imagine walking 2 miles in that weather.

If its a mega humid day get a cab. They publish official rates if you want a laugh.

Thanks for that. I lived in Singapore for 3 years so trust me I know humidity

[Brightwater]

- a forex card that avoids most charges
Halifax Clarity

Oh, and I need to pre-plan my fantasy moves before I go as transfers will be in very short transfer windows...
If you play Sky you need to offload to caretaker manager or use a VPN

[raoul]

- a forex card that avoids most charges
Halifax Clarity

Oh, and I need to pre-plan my fantasy moves before I go as transfers will be in very short transfer windows...
If you play Sky you need to offload to caretaker manager or use a VPN

Aha. I don't play Sky but do play FPL, TFF, SDT and Fanteam. Any known issues accessing those abroad?

[Brightwater]

I have never had any problem with FPL in US and Europe. Don't know about the others.

[Zimmerman]

I accessed the Sun from the baltics

[Vid]

Cartagena, hmm, been there once, 3 months rain in about one hour 5 years ago, what do you say admin?

[Vid]

MrsVid has booked a 7 nighter with P&O next Easter, Southampton - Portugal/ west side of Spain and back again, us and the g/daughter (she'll be 7 by then), should be thrilling

Also looking at P&O (if this one is any good) for a transatlantic Spring 2021 (no idea where the money is coming from, I haven't got any!!!!).

[unc.si.]

I have never had any problem with FPL in US and Europe. Don't know about the others.

I've accessed FPL all across S America and Asia. China's the only place I can remember that I've had issues

[raoul]

So...did a cruise. First time. Will try to be concise but first some context...

I do not see either of us as typical cruise types. But mrs. R suggested it and I said yes ... on condition we had a balcony. So we did.

Montego Bay - Santa Marta - Cartagena - Colon - Puerto Limon - Montego Bay. Jamaica, Colombia twice, Panama and Costa Rica.

So the idea is you book, and then they sell you excursions in each port. Or you can stay on ship for the day in port. Or wander around yourself if you want.

Excursions... we did these in 2 ports, and our own thing in the other two. Both excursions were fun. Make sure you check how long, how much walking, is lunch provided etc. And on excursion days you'll be breakfasting early with a crowd so be warned.

More feedback soon

[unc.si.]

Looking forward to hearing about how you got on in Cartagena. Funnily enough was on a call with someone from there yesterday and was wondering if you'd been yet.

supposed to be some fantastic beaches at Santa Marta. Didn't realise it was big enough for cruise ships though. not much else there though is there apart from beaches, unless you go up into the Mountains?

[raoul]

Still on holiday in Barbados...well part holiday. Working as well. So cruise reports will trickle in.

Regarding venues, Cartagena was beautiful and historic. Bit annoying to get street vendors trying to sell at one every minute ... literally no break from them. But all friendly enough.

Santa Marta we went on a beach day at a resort. All pleasant enough.

Panama we went on a chair lift up high above rainforest. Nice. Even saw some wildlife.

Costa Rica had to stay on ship due to work emergency deadline but it rained all day so we were happy enough.

Next post ... the ship and cruise life itself.