Choosing first cruise - Med from UK

[V_Flagship]

Hi all,

Apologies in advance for the potentially long and rambling post but here goes!

Me and my significant other (aged 31 and 27) are both desperate to go on our first cruise and this is the year we’re going for it! We must sail out of the UK (neither of us are big flyers) and for a first time cruise we feel it simply has to be the Med. I appreciate many people might start with a short break but the 4-7night cruises out of Southampton don’t appeal much as you just can’t get far enough in that time. After much deliberation I feel Royal Caribbean looks a good starting point considering we’re fairly young and would like there to be as much of a mix in demographics as possible. It also seems a good all-round choice for price/food/fun etc.

So anyway we’re kind of set on a 14night Med cruise and the one that we’re leaning towards is the 2nd Sept ‘Med Beaches’ cruise on Navigator as that works well for us timing-wise and we also thought September might be less child-heavy (nothing against children but we don’t have kids so it seems to make more sense to avoid school holiday crowds). My only reservation is that when I initially set out on the search for a cruise I had told myself that it MUST take in at least one of the ‘main’ cities such as Barcelona, Florence/Pisa, Rome. However, the Med Beaches itinerary looks like this...

Gibraltar

Villefranche (Nice)

Ajaccio

Cagliari

Palma

Malaga

Seville (Cadiz)

What does anyone think of this as a first time cruise? I’m a bit concerned that it isn’t very exciting and would love to hear from anyone familiar with the itinerary. One upside of this kind of itinerary (over say a Med cities one) is that I think there’ll be less need to be taking excursions at every port? Would anyone who is familiar with this sort of itinerary agree with that assumption? It’s our first cruise and we just want to relax and enjoy it without too much pressure/long days of excursions. Ideally I’d like to spend most port days exploring the local area and not have to be getting coaches, trains, tour buses all the time. Will this itinerary be good for that?

My next piece of advice is around drink packages. I’ve decided that we DO want the full package but would I be right in thinking that we should get the cruise booked initially and then monitor the price of the package over the next few months in the cruise planner? Would that be the most sensible approach?

I’m also interested in any general thoughts on the Navigator as a ship for a first time cruiser. We don’t have any pre-conceptions, we just want to enjoy eating, drinking and being merry!

So grateful for any information.

 

Thank you.

[Magnetchief]

Can't say much except that we have enjoyed 2 cruises aboard the Navigator.

Both were outstanding, a fantastic ship.

Ref the drinks package, you can monitor it prior to departure, it may drop a couple of pounds a day per person.

Just make sure you purchase it before you board, once they have you on the ship it's harder to get any discount.

[V_Flagship]

Can't say much except that we have enjoyed 2 cruises aboard the Navigator.

Both were outstanding, a fantastic ship.

Ref the drinks package, you can monitor it prior to departure, it may drop a couple of pounds a day per person.

Just make sure you purchase it before you board, once they have you on the ship it's harder to get any discount.

 

Thank you Magnetchief!

[Bizzie07]

Navigator is a lovely ship..so no problems there. The itinerary is good (maybe not the most exciting but fine)we have been to all of these places and you don't need to book excursions if you don't want to. Most of them we have just wandered around. For Cadiz the HOHO bus stops right were you dock. Ajaccio is lovely and you can just wander around. If you want to go up the rock in Gibraltar it may be better to book. We tried just to get a taxi from town and none were available as they had all been booked so we would need to wait until they finished their tours and came back down. Once you start cruising you will be hooked!

[Trixie21]

Navigator is a great ship - you will have no problems on that score.

I would also have said I would have liked to include some one or more of the big port cities. The other Royal Caribbean option is Independence of the seas (which I have not been on but is the favourite ship of UK cruisers). She is undergoing an extensive refit in April so will be in very good shape .

Whatever you choose I hope you have a great time and mind you don't get hooked on this cruising lark!

 

 

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[breeze123]

Our first cruise was a Navigator Med cruise. It was fantastic. We went in the fall and there were still kids but definitely less than summer or spring break time.

 

The city heavy cruises are great but it’s stressful to get everything done in such a short time. I think the beach option is a great way to go.

[Annabellecruiser]

We have been on Navigator and loved our cruise. We are doing a Mediterranean Beaches cruise on Independence in June with a slightly different itinerary than yours, but all your ports are good ones, easy to get around.

 

We had the drinks package included with the booking, but if it had not been we would have still been looking at purchasing even though we aren't big drinkers, a couple of cocktails each night, drinks with dinner, and nice coffees and soft drinks through the day all add up.

 

I'm not sure what sort of stateroom you are looking at but I can highly recommend the promenade view room, that's what we had on Navigator and have booked it again on Indy.

 

Enjoy your cruise, we are absolutely hooked now!

[V_Flagship]

Thank you so much for the replies, really helpful! I’ve looked at the Independence options but the dates for the Navigator cruise at the beginning of September work really well for us so I think I’m just gonna go for it and get booked!