What's more important - Ship or itinerary? Help needed for newbie!

[ssb]

Most Mediterranean cruises

tend to be port intensive with little sea days.

And excursions and historic sites are usually the reasons

you are there anyway.

Therefore I would pick itinerary over ship in MED!

 

Now on a transatlantic the ship becomes important.

Relaxing sea days with some wonderful varied ports in between.

 

With a b2b a combo MED TA

is a wonderful way to go for us.

 

Like this November RCL navigator 11/3 and 11/10

Rome to Barcelona (port intensive) then Barcelona to Galveston (sea days)

[pfm18]

Most Mediterranean cruises

tend to be port intensive with little sea days.

And excursions and historic sites are usually the reasons

you are there anyway.

Therefore I would pick itinerary over ship in MED!

 

Now on a transatlantic the ship becomes important.

Relaxing sea days with some wonderful varied ports in between.

 

With a b2b a combo MED TA

is a wonderful way to go for us.

 

Like this November RCL navigator 11/3 and 11/10

Rome to Barcelona (port intensive) then Barcelona to Galveston (sea days)

 

I wouldn't say the ship isn't important in a port heavy cruise. You still need to account for nights(A typical schedule for me on a port day is to be on land from 10-1 then sleep at the pool until dinner, party until everything shuts and then sleep again), as well as the one or two sea days, and time you spend on the ship when in port.

 

 

Maybe this is just me but I don't tend to spend all day off the ship, normally just a few hours in the morning, perhaps a short excursion. I prefer port heavy cruises but spending the afternoon on the ship.

[ssb]

I wouldn't say the ship isn't important in a port heavy cruise. You still need to account for nights(A typical schedule for me on a port day is to be on land from 10-1 then sleep at the pool until dinner, party until everything shuts and then sleep again), as well as the one or two sea days, and time you spend on the ship when in port.

 

 

Maybe this is just me but I don't tend to spend all day off the ship, normally just a few hours in the morning, perhaps a short excursion. I prefer port heavy cruises but spending the afternoon on the ship.

 

Yes if the port is not significant I certainly agree.

It's all circumstantial and relative.

I'll take ship and itinerary if I can.

If you are in Europe in most places or say Holyland

You can be off ship the full day and turn around and do it again the next day

And next day and the next day.

 

Main thing is enjoy your cruise.

[Watson's aunt]

hi

 

Remember the hidden costs. drinks, tours, tips,items to bring home. It all adds up.

 

Mary

[Trolleydolly80]

I've just seen all of your responses - thank you so much for taking the time to try and help me make my mind up.

 

After much, much Googling and pricing up etc, I trhink we are going to go for ... the Western Med cruise on 9th September on the Liberty.

 

I'm booking my own flights (with a saving of £100's compared to their quoted price) and have decided that, cabin isn't important and have gone for a guaranteed outside stateroom - my beleif is that we are guaranteed an outside window this way - albeit an obstructed view, but if there are better rooms available, then we are more than likely to get moved up to one of these - although, I may have understood that wrongly!

 

I'm v excited and have it all on hold and hope to be booking tomorrow - fingers crossed!

 

The ship looks great and, we plan on missing out on one of the ports and having a chill out day on the shipo instead, which i think makes it worth going for the bigger of the three.

 

Now, I just need to work out excursions and whether or not we should spend the £35pp a day for the all inc drinks package...

 

:)

 

Good choice Sian. I might see you onboard? 4 wks today we fly out to Barcelona.

Just a reminder everyone. If you choose to organise flights yourselves, You won't be ATOL Protected. Whereas RCI is, and your flights would be covered under their ATOL membership.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[ticktoneer]

Ship :-)

[Cruiser5356]

Hi all,

 

I'm new to the World of cruising, bar one cruise that I took 12 years ago with my parents aboard the Thomson Emerald, so hoping for some help and advice…

 

After lots of indecisiveness about where to holiday this year, my boyfriend and I have decided to go for a last minute cruise, looking to leave anytime between the 1st and 10th of September (although if the deal warranted it, we could go a bit later during September).

 

When looking at holidays, we were trying to decide between Santorini, Mykinos, Croatia and Italy so wanted to choose a cruise along the lines of this itinerary, if possible. We came across a few, but after research have pushed them aside and believe that, the best line that we could go for with our money is Royal Caribbean, over MSC and NLC (we cannot spend more than £750 each inc flights) - but do correct me if you do not believe that to be true!

 

I have found 3 cruises with RCI which fit my criteria, and was hoping for some thoughts and opinions on which may suit us better.

 

We are a couple of 28, no children. My boyfriend doesn't seem to be able to sit still for more than 5 minutes, so we need a holiday which is fairly active, and we both enjoy a nice meal, drink and entertainment in the evenings - although aren't party animals!

 

With regards to itineraries, my favourite is that of the 7 Night Greek Isles & Turkey Cruise, which includes:

 

Venice, Italy

Split, Croatia

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

Mykonos, Greece

Argostoli, Greece

Venice, Italy

 

However, this is on the Splendour of the Seas, which I understand to be a smaller and older ship. Do you think that this would cater to our needs?

 

Or, are we better off on either the 7 Night Eastern Mediterranean Cruise or 7 Night Western Mediterranean Cruise on the Navigator and Liberty, respectively?

 

We aren't sure if we should put ship or itinerary first and, as it is my first recent cruise and my boyfriends first ever cruise, we want to be sure to make the right choice.

 

Apologies for the long post, but I look forward to your comments.

 

Regards,

Sian

 

You really need to find a balance. I cruised the Mediterranean four years ago on RCI's Legend of The Seas. It's one of their smallest ships but we stopped every day at a different port. I too get very antsy if I'm sitting still for too long, so the fact that we were able to get off every day made up for the fact that it was a small ship. If you have Sea days, then you might want to consider a bigger ship.

[cindivan]

You really need to find a balance. I cruised the Mediterranean four years ago on RCI's Legend of The Seas. It's one of their smallest ships but we stopped every day at a different port. I too get very antsy if I'm sitting still for too long, so the fact that we were able to get off every day made up for the fact that it was a small ship. If you have Sea days, then you might want to consider a bigger ship.

 

I think the only thing that was determined here is everyone has different opinions and desires. :)

 

We did the Navigator with a family of 5 (myself, DH, 3 teen boys) this summer, coming from the US, and had a fantastic time. We determined on this trip we are "highlight people." We don't need to spend a week+ in each city to get to know it, we just want to see the highlights. We went hard during the day in port, but those 2 sea days were key for us in a little relaxation time and we could stay out late before those days and not worry about feeling bad the next day because we could sleep in.

 

We love RC, but won't go on a ship that doesn't have the Royal Promenade. Mainly because there is just not as much going on at night on the smaller ships without it. We love the cruise aspect of a cruise - the nightlife, fun activities... not just a taxi between ports.

 

But it's also true that there are people that just want a ride in between ports and are happy to relax in their rooms every night.

 

To each his own!:p

[Sian230]

For my first thread, it didn't go down too badly - nice to see everyones different thoughts and opinions.

 

We ended up with an inside stateroom, Deck 9, aft and near the elevators, so think it could have been worse.

 

Can't wait for the holiday to begin now!