Cruises

[kilMARKnock]

7 hours ago, CountyFan said:

We're away on Saturday. What's the script with smuggling booze on board? Presume it's a no-no? 

Just back from Wonder of the Seas and id say it would be hard. Your main luggage goes through the x Ray and if bottles (or other contraband like an iron) are found you have to retrieve the bags yourself as they will not be outside your room waiting on you. You also need to go through airport security style traybetc on your return at the terminal if you go off soI wouldn't bother. We got a half price drinks deal that for me anyway was paying for itself after midday day 2.

[Hard Graft]

Depends who you are cruising with regarding taking drink onboard.  Read the small print and it will tell you.  As stated your cases are x-rayed and you have to go through scanners every time you come onboard.  It is general practice for drink to be kept until the last night of the cruise when it is returned.

If you like a drink then buy a drinks package - ideal as you have no drinks bill surprises at the end of the cruise.

Check this out to see if it is worth it

https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/cruise-drinks-package-calculator/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=your_drinks_package_calculator_is_inside&utm_term=2022-09-23

[pozbaird]

11 hours ago, Hard Graft said:

Depends who you are cruising with regarding taking drink onboard.  Read the small print and it will tell you.  As stated your cases are x-rayed and you have to go through scanners every time you come onboard.  It is general practice for drink to be kept until the last night of the cruise when it is returned.

If you like a drink then buy a drinks package - ideal as you have no drinks bill surprises at the end of the cruise.

Check this out to see if it is worth it

https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/cruise-drinks-package-calculator/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=your_drinks_package_calculator_is_inside&utm_term=2022-09-23

We’ve been on dozens of cruises and never buy the drinks packages. The price of them? You’d need to be really necking it to make it even remotely worthwhile. IMHO obviously. The issue, aside from the price, is that you need to buy them for every day of the cruise. Our next cruise is the transatlantic maiden voyage of the new Carnival Celebration in November. The drinks package is $60 per day, per person. We have port days in La Coruna, Vigo, Santa Cruz, and Funchal. That’s four days where, on average, we’ll be off the ship from approx’ 9am to 5pm. In all likelihood then, the first drink we’d have on board would be with dinner at 7pm. At $120 a day, no way would we make it remotely affordable on port days. Would maybe have a glass of wine with dinner and a couple after dinner around the ship.

It’s obviously horses for courses, but what would interest me would be an affordable drinks package that covered sea days only. On the ship for the entire day, you could, if the price point was fair, make use of it with speciality coffees, beers in the afternoon, and going for it at night. Again, just my opinion. On some cruises, we got drinks packages thrown in - we absolutely made use of it. No doubt whatsoever that it encouraged us to drink far more than normal. We were like kids in a candy store, trying fancy cocktails and pretty much rolling into the cabin every night rather merry.

Edited September 30, 2022 by pozbaird

[welshbairn]

So you don't get duty free prices in international waters on cruise ships then, I gather?

[pozbaird]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

So you don't get duty free prices in international waters on cruise ships then, I gather?

Every cruise I’ve been on, the onboard shops have the same stuff - watches, perfumes, jewellery, blah, blah… duty free my arse. They market it as duty free, but it’s absolute bollocks. You’ll get a far better price for a bottle of Hugo Boss smelly juice at your local Superdrug or The Perfume Shop.

Great for window shopping while on board, killing a few moments as you idly ponder which Tag Heuer you fancy, but fcuk actually buying anything.

[CountyFan]

Just back from our P&O week. Was mostly class, would say we are pretty close to being indoctrinated into the cult (and it is a cult). 

Few bits that were less good - some folk genuinely seemed to not wash for the week and were actually reeking. Most folk were well behaved but there were some characters on board who I think had probably won a raffle or something. Also a huge proportion of guests seemed to just waddle between the various restaurants and buffets and constantly be eating themselves even closer to death. A weird thing to watch actually. The buffet was like Baghdad and we ended up avoiding it entirely. 

We got the drinks package (£39.50 a day per person) and with most drinks at £6.95 or so it easily paid for itself. I didn't consider us massive drinkers but maybe we are if other folk think 40 quid a day for drink on holiday is bad value. 

Porto was stunning, will definitely be back. Vigo was OK, interesting wee place but not much to it. Glad to have been but wouldn't consider much left to do there. Lisbon was nice, huge place obviously and we only saw a small amount of it. Would probably go back. 

Did a couple of the excursions which were mostly good but christ I could do everything myself faster. A cruise is a week of walking slowly behind fat old people basically. 

[welshbairn]

53 minutes ago, CountyFan said:

Did a couple of the excursions which were mostly good but christ I could do everything myself faster. A cruise is a week of walking slowly behind fat old people basically. 

That's what puts me off a bit, been to a few sights where the queues have been small and you can stroll around in a relaxed way, then suddenly it's swamped and somebody says "oh FF'S, a cruise ship's arrived.". 

[pozbaird]

1 hour ago, CountyFan said:

Just back from our P&O week. Was mostly class, would say we are pretty close to being indoctrinated into the cult (and it is a cult). 

Few bits that were less good - some folk genuinely seemed to not wash for the week and were actually reeking. Most folk were well behaved but there were some characters on board who I think had probably won a raffle or something. Also a huge proportion of guests seemed to just waddle between the various restaurants and buffets and constantly be eating themselves even closer to death. A weird thing to watch actually. The buffet was like Baghdad and we ended up avoiding it entirely. 

We got the drinks package (£39.50 a day per person) and with most drinks at £6.95 or so it easily paid for itself. I didn't consider us massive drinkers but maybe we are if other folk think 40 quid a day for drink on holiday is bad value. 

Porto was stunning, will definitely be back. Vigo was OK, interesting wee place but not much to it. Glad to have been but wouldn't consider much left to do there. Lisbon was nice, huge place obviously and we only saw a small amount of it. Would probably go back. 

Did a couple of the excursions which were mostly good but christ I could do everything myself faster. A cruise is a week of walking slowly behind fat old people basically. 

Can’t say I have ever noticed any personal hygiene issues on a cruise, but the fat fcukers waddling from one buffet station to another is, without doubt, going to be a guaranteed sight - in numbers, should your cruise depart from an American port and feature mostly American guests. No different from Las Vegas though, where fat fcukers waddling towards food is a competitive sport. Usually on mobility scooters not through medical issues, but size of arse issues. 

We recently did our first ever cruise out of the UK, not the USA, and the issue wasn’t lard arse buffet hooverers, it was the Brits on holiday attitude to alcohol. We never really see that in America - they, in general, don’t want to be seen pished as farts and making a kunt of themselves through drink. On our cruise, there were definitely a lot of folk who had the drinks package, and were making it their mission to make sure they downed the fifteen allowed drinks each and every day. Indeed, on the Princess cruise out of Southampton, we saw our first ever bit of real trouble on a cruise ship. Two drunk English guys (sounded like Bristol accents), started a full-on fist fight with each other a few feet away from us in the dining room queue. Absolutely rat arsed already at about 8pm. Security wading in, dragged away swearing, screaming, still trying to punch and kick each other. The absolute state of them. Have never seen anything remotely like it on an American cruise, but it will happen there too no doubt.

The queuing for things is an unavoidable by-product of the situation everyone is in. No different to queuing at airports for check-in, then security, then at the gate, then to actually get on the plane, then off again, then passport control, then at the luggage carousels… can’t avoid it. We try to do our own thing on port days if we can, and avoid the official excursions. However, it’s a case of weighing everything up and sometimes doing the cruise line excursions is safer and better. Not always, obviously. There is always the security blanket of knowing that if anything goes awry on an official organised excursion, the ship will, and has to, wait for you. We experienced it in Hawaii, where the official tour to a lot of different sights and waterfalls etc was by far the best bet. There was a big traffic accident outside Honolulu on the way back and we got stuck in traffic. We were the last folk back on board, but the ship waited for us. Had to endure the friendly ‘pier runner’ reception from those with balconies on the pier side, but cries of ‘it wisnae oor fault’ would have simply wafted towards Waikiki Beach.

Our next cruise is in thirty days time, transatlantic from Southampton to Miami on the brand new Carnival Celebration. Really looking forward to it. Will be the usual mix of fat fcuker buffet waddlers, cruise cult junkies with home-made ‘Sally and Sophie on tour’ T Shirts, Brits who measure the success of a night out on how many vodkas they can swally, and who knows what else. Fully expecting though, that 99% of folk will just be folk. Wanting to have a good holiday. For every fat fcuker buffet waddler, there will be a determined gym bunny who doesn’t want to put on six stone on their cruise though, so it all evens out in the end.

[Jamie_B]

Hello all!

I've never been on a cruise before - I've generally thought of it as something my grandparents (and in recent years, my parents) do.

It may well be me becoming an old person myself, but we're looking around at different holiday options and I keep coming back and looking at some of the cruise options - I like the idea of seeing lots of different places and having all the food/drink/entertainment options right on hand.

We have two kids (9 and 6 just now) - I've looked around a bit but I'm hoping P&B's cruise experts might have some answers about taking kids on board? Basically, what can you expect from the accommodation? Is it a case generally of bunk beds/pull out beds in beside a double bed? And in terms of kids activities/clubs etc it looks like there is a lot to do for the wee ones on most of these ships - what's the set up if, say, we wanted to go to see a show in the evening or go on an excursion during the day - are they set up to be open all day and you can go off to do whatever you want?

Not that I'm necessarily suggesting we'd abandon our kids for a week, but it is an option I'm willing to explore 

Cheers!

[hk blues]

16 hours ago, Jamie_Beatson said:

Hello all!

I've never been on a cruise before - I've generally thought of it as something my grandparents (and in recent years, my parents) do.

It may well be me becoming an old person myself, but we're looking around at different holiday options and I keep coming back and looking at some of the cruise options - I like the idea of seeing lots of different places and having all the food/drink/entertainment options right on hand.

We have two kids (9 and 6 just now) - I've looked around a bit but I'm hoping P&B's cruise experts might have some answers about taking kids on board? Basically, what can you expect from the accommodation? Is it a case generally of bunk beds/pull out beds in beside a double bed? And in terms of kids activities/clubs etc it looks like there is a lot to do for the wee ones on most of these ships - what's the set up if, say, we wanted to go to see a show in the evening or go on an excursion during the day - are they set up to be open all day and you can go off to do whatever you want?

Not that I'm necessarily suggesting we'd abandon our kids for a week, but it is an option I'm willing to explore 

Cheers!

^^^

Hiya Gerry, Hiya Pal!   

[Jamie_B]

2 minutes ago, hk blues said:

^^^

Hiya Gerry, Hiya Pal!   

[pozbaird]

On 28/03/2023 at 18:40, Jamie_Beatson said:

Hello all!

I've never been on a cruise before - I've generally thought of it as something my grandparents (and in recent years, my parents) do.

It may well be me becoming an old person myself, but we're looking around at different holiday options and I keep coming back and looking at some of the cruise options - I like the idea of seeing lots of different places and having all the food/drink/entertainment options right on hand.

We have two kids (9 and 6 just now) - I've looked around a bit but I'm hoping P&B's cruise experts might have some answers about taking kids on board? Basically, what can you expect from the accommodation? Is it a case generally of bunk beds/pull out beds in beside a double bed? And in terms of kids activities/clubs etc it looks like there is a lot to do for the wee ones on most of these ships - what's the set up if, say, we wanted to go to see a show in the evening or go on an excursion during the day - are they set up to be open all day and you can go off to do whatever you want?

Not that I'm necessarily suggesting we'd abandon our kids for a week, but it is an option I'm willing to explore 

Cheers!

We don’t have kids, so cannot offer advice on that particular aspect of cruising. Can offer some good pointers though - like everything, there’s tons of YouTube videos about cruise ships and cabins online. My advice would be to search YouTube and watch review videos by a company called Harr Travel. Danny, the guy from Harr, does a great job showing you all aspects of the ships he reviews. He has his own certain style and patter in every video…. ‘Those incredible ocean views… hmm, the dessert station, my favourite….and all at those amazing duty free prices… the kiddos love it, my kiddos love it, yours will too’…. So aye, Danny has the patter, calls kids ‘the kiddos’, but his reviews show what the ship has for the kids, as well as adults. Well filmed, professional, and shows what you want to see and learn about. I know his reviews are online about the big Royal Caribbean ships, Princess, Virgin… although Virgin being adults only, nothing for ‘the kiddos’ there.

Well worth seeking out - Harr Travel ship review videos, and big 6ft 5in plus Danny telling it like it is.

Edited March 30, 2023 by pozbaird

[The Naitch]

8 hours ago, pozbaird said:

We don’t have kids, so cannot offer advice on that particular aspect of cruising. Can offer some good pointers though - like everything, there’s tons of YouTube videos about cruise ships and cabins online. My advice would be to search YouTube and watch review videos by a company called Harr Travel. Danny, the guy from Harr, does a great job showing you all aspects of the ships he reviews. He has his own certain style and patter in every video…. ‘Those incredible ocean views… hmm, the dessert station, my favourite….and all at those amazing duty free prices… the kiddos love it, my kiddos love it, yours will too’…. So aye, Danny has the patter, calls kids ‘the kiddos’, but his reviews show what the ship has for the kids, as well as adults. Well filmed, professional, and shows what you want to see and learn about. I know his reviews are online about the big Royal Caribbean ships, Princess, Virgin… although Virgin being adults only, nothing for ‘the kiddos’ there.

Well worth seeking out - Harr Travel ship review videos, and big 6ft 5in plus Danny telling it like it is.

Good shout on YouTube - I've been using that to work out which option to go for on our first cruise.

We've settled on something with TUI as they seem to get decent reviews, are all inclusive (not that others aren't, of course) and are doing the Eastern Med around the time we fancy going. Heard that their fleet is ex-Royal Caribbean so that can't be a bad thing.

Edited March 30, 2023 by The Naitch

[carpetmonster]

On 29/09/2022 at 15:41, CountyFan said:

We're away on Saturday. What's the script with smuggling booze on board? Presume it's a no-no? 

If you're doing a Miami cruise, there's a liquor store on NE8th in Hialeah sells Camelbak-bladder type flasks that you can tie round your leg. These kinda things. 

https://www.rumrunnerflasks.com/

[The Naitch]

On 30/03/2023 at 18:57, The Naitch said:

Good shout on YouTube - I've been using that to work out which option to go for on our first cruise.

We've settled on something with TUI as they seem to get decent reviews, are all inclusive (not that others aren't, of course) and are doing the Eastern Med around the time we fancy going. Heard that their fleet is ex-Royal Caribbean so that can't be a bad thing.

That's it all booked up. Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Montenegro on the agenda. Really looking forward to it.

[Hard Graft]

On 17/04/2023 at 16:53, The Naitch said:

That's it all booked up. Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Montenegro on the agenda. Really looking forward to it.

The sail into/out of Kotor is something to see.

[Lofarl]

Been thinking of a cruise next year.  A norwegian one sounds pretty cool.  As does crossing the atlantic and spending a few days in NYC.  f**k me it's a bit expensive though.  I went on one when I was 14.  Quite enjoyed it as a kid.  But as long as they have booze and a casino I'll be fine.  Been watching a lot of cruise vloggers on youtube.  That emma crusies is a wid in that girl next door kinda way.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Lofarl

[Big Rider]

On 17/04/2023 at 16:53, The Naitch said:

That's it all booked up. Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Montenegro on the agenda. Really looking forward to it.

Quite fancy that one myself. Let us know how you get on?

[Sergeant Wilson]

On 06/04/2023 at 00:29, carpetmonster said:

If you're doing a Miami cruise, there's a liquor store on NE8th in Hialeah sells Camelbak-bladder type flasks that you can tie round your leg. These kinda things. 

https://www.rumrunnerflasks.com/

I like your thinking. Do you have to wear Bay City Roller trousers to accommodate the flasks?

I'm getting bullied into an American cruise. I prefer European culture...bacon and eggs, lager, football on the telly etc.

[The Naitch]

11 hours ago, Big Rider said:

Quite fancy that one myself. Let us know how you get on?

Will do. Not happening until October but been adding excursions here and there in the build up.

36 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

I like your thinking. Do you have to wear Bay City Roller trousers to accommodate the flasks?

I'm getting bullied into an American cruise. I prefer European culture...bacon and eggs, lager, football on the telly etc.

Quite right Sarge, you didn’t fight in two world wars to be eating all that foreign nonsense eh?