Which companies cruise out of UK and cheapest time of year to cruise?

[Alphamare2000]

It has been very difficult to find it which lines cruise out of UK

There are a few different ports too. I have tried looking talk up but just ended up confusing myself. The big websites that list multiple companies don't have the option to search by country only by port and some of the UK ports weren't listed or they only had southampton.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Also does anyone know which months are the cheaper to cruise out of the UK? Looking at 2015 cruises. Or is a fly cruise good value? There is a Caribbean transatlantic that looks like good value but I think is too early in the year for us.

 

Thanks

[John Bull]

Most of the major cruise lines have cruises out of the UK, & so do a number of smaller lines.

P&O, Cunard, Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean have frequent cruises out of Southampton & some of those also have less-frequent cruises out of Dover & Harwich. Norwegian also sail out of Harwich.

Costa, MSC & Oceana also offer sailings out of the UK, and Carnival have started operating ex-UK cruises

Fred Olsen also offer cruises from the smaller UK ports, and so do little cruise lines like Cruise & Maritime and Voyages of Discovery.

Thomson now seem to station their ships elsewhere in the world & offer fly-cruises.

So quite a bewildering choice.

Don't take this list as gospel - there'll be others that I've overlooked, and cruise lines do change their home ports season-by-season & year-by-year according to demand, so any list is quickly out-of-date.

 

The well-known US cruise ships that we rarely see, except as a mid-cruise port-of-call, are Holland America, Azamara & Disney.

 

You may be over-working the web-sites, looking at travel agent web-sites and cruise information web-sites that are irrelevant to Brit cruisers.

So look at only the sites of cruise-specialist UK travel agents. Cruise Critic rules don't allow us to name any travel agents, but almost all the relevant ones include the word "cruise" and end in "co.uk".

Also, check out newspaper adverts. The Daily Mail, despite it's political bias etc, probably has the best travel/cruise pages of adverts, & of course they're geared to Brit cruisers.

 

Then use the phone. Many offer freefone. You can learn a great deal more by speaking to a travel agent or cruise line - yes, initially it's likely to add to your confusion but you'll gradually build a picture.

 

Cheapest time to cruise?

Booking late, ie 6 weeks or less before the date, will generally give much bigger savings than the time-of-year differences. Great if you're flexible on dates. But with limitations, such as choice of cabins. Check out cruises for, say November/December this year and equivalent cruises for the same months next year, and compare the prices.

 

Depends where you want to cruise, but (other than Christmas week) winter is generally cheaper than summer. And especially the first three weeks of December, when a lot of folk won't cruise because they're preparing for a family Christmas.

All very much the same as land-based holidays.

 

Bear in mind that winter isn't a great time to sail from the UK. The English Channel, North Sea, & Bay of Biscay especially can be stormy & miserable - just imagine being out there last weekend :eek:

And much more limited choice - no sailings to the Baltic, Norwegian fjords etc, most winter cruises head for the Med or Canaries.

But late deals to Med & Canaries are seriously cheap.

 

You have no aversion to flying.

Just my own opinion but a P&O or Thomson or Fred Olsen fly-cruise to the Caribbean, November to March, is ideal.

The weather & seas are likely to be perfect, 8 hours after you've left a cold, wet & grey England you'll be in warm sunshine. And any rain is likely to be short sharp warm showers and everything dried-out ten minutes later.

The Caribbean is made for cruising - lots of different island all well worth a day's visit but very few worth an entire holiday.

A seamless transfer, mainly using chartered aircraft from UK regional airports (everyone on the plane is on that cruise) & you walk direct from the aircraft no more than 30 yards to the coach which takes you to the ship - no immigration, no customs, no baggage carousel, you don't even go into the airport terminal. And the luggage you hand over at the UK airport you'll not see again til it appears at your cabin door.

Those cruise lines are geared to Brits, everything on-board is priced in sterling & on-board costs are much lower than those on US or Italian ships.

You can use US dollars at all the ports-of-call.

 

US ships offer a generally rather more glitzy experience & you'd find very acceptable, but:

- no cheap late deals, because expensive late-booked airfares on scheduled aircraft will outweigh savings on a late-booked cruise.

- higher on-board costs, especially service charges & drinks prices.

- sailings mainly from Florida, so most include more sea days & fewer ports.

- tiresome airport formalities, especially the often-slow US immigration queues.

 

For a Brit's first cruise, a fly-cruise to the Caribbean in the winter is a perfect introduction.

 

All just MHO, as always.

 

JB :)

[Alphamare2000]

Thank you so very much! Your post is extremely helpful!

 

We are taking our first cruise in May because it's our anniversary. I am so excited that I am already looking for more cruises and tryin to work out who sails where etc. the fly cruise winter tip is fantastic as that will really beat he winter doldrums.

 

Thanks again :-)

[luddite]

A general rule for lowest fares: First two weeks of November and December, last two weeks of January. This also lowers the odds of a lot of kids on the cruise.

[RSLeesburg]

A general rule for lowest fares: First two weeks of November and December, last two weeks of January. This also lowers the odds of a lot of kids on the cruise.

 

Hehe... I was trying to find a cruise out of UK for our Thanksgiving break, and we would be traveling with our 5 y/o son. But most of the cruises are too long - our employers are not as generous with vacation days like you have in Europe :)

 

But, from what I can see P&O seems the most family friendly. I would prefer RCI, but they leave at the beginning of Nov.

[Essiesmom]

Go to http://www.cruisetimetables.com and choose any/all UK ports from the top list. Then choose the month you want to cruise. This will tell you who sails then, and their itineraries. EM

[jocap]

Hehe... I was trying to find a cruise out of UK for our Thanksgiving break, and we would be traveling with our 5 y/o son. But most of the cruises are too long - our employers are not as generous with vacation days like you have in Europe :)

 

But, from what I can see P&O seems the most family friendly. I would prefer RCI, but they leave at the beginning of Nov.

Just make sure that your ship is for families- the 2 big family P&O ships will be in the Caribbean by then, and of the remaining 5 ships, 3 are adult only.;)

[RSLeesburg]

Just make sure that your ship is for families- the 2 big family P&O ships will be in the Caribbean by then, and of the remaining 5 ships, 3 are adult only.;)

 

Good point. I had heard that P&O had a few adult only ships. As it is, the P&O cruises the week we were looking at were either 4 day (too short) or 11 day (too long). I saw that P&O has ships sailing out of Barbados that timeframe, but think the cruises are also too long. I have an 8 night booked on Grandeur, but looking at other options. Not too thrilled with the itinerary.

[jocap]

You don't fancy 4 nights on the Queen Mary on the Tuesday, then? ;)....I'm afraid that not much sails from the UK once winter's near, because of the time it takes to get to the warmth. Cunard and P&O are left, plus Saga (more adult only), Fred Olsen and C&M....and most of those will be taking longish journeys through the winter months, and all of them have ships preparing for world cruises in January.

[RSLeesburg]

He, he...I did not see that 4 nighter. I saw one on P&O...

 

If my son was a tad bit older, we would just spend the whole week in London seeing shows in the west end.