Newbie Questions

[jetsetwilly]

Never really contemplated a cruise before, but having been put off by sky high air fares, I decided to look into it.

 

Found a great cruise during the Xmas school holiday. However....

 

Q1. The ships says that the only rooms left can't accommodate 2 adults and a child, yet the same room type and same cruise 12 months later can do so. Why would they do this? Is it possible that any more rooms will be made available or is sold out SOLD OUT?

 

Q2. Failing that, we will go next year. However, the cruise that is advertised as school holidays departs from Barbados on the Saturday (school finishes the day before). However, there are no flight details other than 'flight included'. Will the flight be on the Saturday morning? If it is the Friday, clearly I can't book it as it would not be in the school holidays. How do you find out about the flight details? 

 

Seems like a real ordeal to book anything

[Markanddonna]

You didn't mention the cruise line or ship, which might help. Cruise companies often release their cabins in blocks. You sometimes see fifteen cabins within a category marked as available. That seems to be their limit until after final payment is due.

 

Also, some big travel companies book blocks of rooms and then release them back to the cruise company after a designated date. So, the answer is that you may not have access to the entire inventory of the ship.  The cruise company's agents sometimes truly don't have access to the true inventory and are told to say the cabin/s is sold out. For example, on the MSC Divina, we were trying to book one of those lovely inside square cabins and were told they were all sold out a year ahead of time. It ended up not being true, but you can't fight with an agent who tells you otherwise.

 

If you are trying to buy flights through the cruise line, you might not get flight details until 30 days before the cruise. Some companies, like Royal and Celebrity allow you to select the flights, seats, etc when you book. NCL does not and only allows up to a two day deviation, which you pay extra for.

 

As a new cruiser, I would call to get answers.  Then, go to that cruise line's board and ask for opinions and advice. This general board likely isn't helpful for your needs.

[chengkp75]

Q1:  The ship has more "berths" (beds) than they can legally sell.  The number of passengers is limited by the number of "seats" in the lifeboats.  They provide more beds than can be sold, so that people who wish to book more than 2 in a cabin, have many choices of different cabin categories.  The cruise you are looking at, likely is near to capacity, so they are not allowing 3 passenger in a cabin booking.  They make more money booking two cabins with two passengers in each, than one cabin with 4 passengers, so as they approach capacity, they try to encourage filling all the cabins at double occupancy.

 

Q2:  Going to Barbados, I doubt that the flight would be on Saturday morning, but you can check with regular airline booking sites to see if there is a flight that goes from your airport to Barbados in the morning, and that would give you an idea if this is possible at all.

[wowzz]

31 minutes ago, jetsetwilly said:

Never really contemplated a cruise before, but having been put off by sky high air fares, I decided to look into it.

 

Found a great cruise during the Xmas school holiday. However....

 

Q1. The ships says that the only rooms left can't accommodate 2 adults and a child, yet the same room type and same cruise 12 months later can do so. Why would they do this? Is it possible that any more rooms will be made available or is sold out SOLD OUT?

 

Q2. Failing that, we will go next year. However, the cruise that is advertised as school holidays departs from Barbados on the Saturday (school finishes the day before). However, there are no flight details other than 'flight included'. Will the flight be on the Saturday morning? If it is the Friday, clearly I can't book it as it would not be in the school holidays. How do you find out about the flight details? 

 

Seems like a real ordeal to book anything

As you are in UK, I assume you are looking at a P&O or Marella (TUI )cruise ?. If so, you will be on a charter flight, which will leave on the morning of the day that the cruise starts. So, in your case, the flight will be on Saturday  morning

You don't say whuch Christmas you are looking at. Christmas cruises sell out really quickly, so you will have little choice now for 2022, and flight options will also be limited. You should be booking 2023 Xmas cruises now.

Depending on which cruise line you are looking at, you can post questions on the appropriate board, so you get  more specific information.

The US booking system, for example is quite different from the UK eg UK TAs cannot block book cabins as they do in the US. 

   

Edited September 3, 2022 by wowzz

[wowzz]

10 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Going to Barbados, I doubt that the flight would be on Saturday morning, but you can check with regular airline booking sites to see if there is a flight that goes from your airport to Barbados in the morning, and that would give you an idea if this is possible at all

Yes, it will be on the Saturday, using charter aircraft, and the flights will not show on booking sites as they cannot be purchased independently of the cruise.

[mjkacmom]

Holiday cruises tend to have a lot of children, so cabins with room for 3/4 book up quickly.

[Essiesmom]

Not all cabins in the same category will hold more than two people.  And has been mentioned, there is a finite. Umber of lifeboat seats in each muster station area.  So if that number has been reached by cabins booked with three or four guests, even an empty cabin may not be allowed to be sold.  EM

[John Bull]

Hi, and welcome to  Cruise Critic.

 

Note Cheng's response - there are more berths than the number of passengers the ship is permitted to carry - this gives the cruiseline flexibility to allocate according to demand.

First cruise of a school holiday has probably been well-booked with 3 and 4 passengers (couple + kid/s), so they want more cabins booked just for couples.

 

Your cruise will be P&O or Marella or MSC.

All three offer fly-cruises (by far the cheapest, simplest & most convenient  for Brits heading to the Caribbean.)

A saturday flight will be mid to late morning, the return flight will be overnight sat/sun. For their larger ships, P&O also offer friday out & friday night back - the ship overnites in Barbados so the flights & cabins are spread over two days and you get a full Saturday in Barbados at the start or end of your cruise.

 

Heed the Flyer's advice to contact cruise-specialist travel agents (google "cruise agents UK). Do it by phone, not website or e-mail, and you'll learn a lot, including which agent is most helpful.

 

But don't go hunting for flights - a direct fly-cruise (those cruiselines charter the aircraft) is the way to do it. And the earlier you book, the better your chances of a direct flight from your closest airport (probably Manchester)

 

JB 🙂

 

[jsn55]

5 hours ago, jetsetwilly said:

Never really contemplated a cruise before, but having been put off by sky high air fares, I decided to look into it.

 

Found a great cruise during the Xmas school holiday. However....

 

Q1. The ships says that the only rooms left can't accommodate 2 adults and a child, yet the same room type and same cruise 12 months later can do so. Why would they do this? Is it possible that any more rooms will be made available or is sold out SOLD OUT?

 

Q2. Failing that, we will go next year. However, the cruise that is advertised as school holidays departs from Barbados on the Saturday (school finishes the day before). However, there are no flight details other than 'flight included'. Will the flight be on the Saturday morning? If it is the Friday, clearly I can't book it as it would not be in the school holidays. How do you find out about the flight details? 

 

Seems like a real ordeal to book anything

I know how you feel about this new experience.  It can be an ordeal, or it can be a satisfying exercise in research and planning.  Picking might be slim this close to the holidays.  Normally I would never advise booking air through a cruise line (they come up with itineraries that depart at midnight with 3 connections) but if it's a charter, that would probably be fine.  Read the reviews here on CC and you'll absorb a great deal of knowledge.  If you can find a real TA that's a cruise expert, you'd be pretty happy ... just be sure that the TA knows what they're doing.  Booking cruises yourself is a lot of work ... I happen to enjoy it but many people don't.  Does the UK have any groups of professional TAs like we have in the US?  That would be a good place to start.  Cruising at Christmas is magic and well worth the effort. 

[jetsetwilly]

Thanks all. All makes sense, too late for this Christmas, need to ring up to check flights for next year's cruise.

 

All seems very complicated, really puts me off

[crystalspin]

8 minutes ago, jetsetwilly said:

Thanks all. All makes sense, too late for this Christmas, need to ring up to check flights for next year's cruise.

 

All seems very complicated, really puts me off

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/22-po-cruises-uk/

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/388-marella-cruises-formerly-thomson/

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/49-msc-cruises/

 

I noticed there was a 'pinned' thread on the MSC board specific to UK passengers.

 

Browse a few pages of these boards, or at least the one you're thinking of. You'll probably find answers or topics that relate to questions you have. If not, start your own thread! 

 

You should probably start to get a feeling of community and possibly someone to walk you through the steps, simplifying the process!

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, jetsetwilly said:

Thanks all. All makes sense, too late for this Christmas, need to ring up to check flights for next year's cruise.

 

All seems very complicated, really puts me off

You still haven't said what cruise line you are booked with.

It really is not complicated at all. 

Two weeks ago I booked a P&O Caribbean cruise for December 2023, through a TA.  Chose my cabin,  chose my airport and chose either economy or premium economy seating. Took 10 minutes.

About 13 weeks before the departure date you will be given the exact departure time of your flight, and, if you wish, you can pay to select your seats.

On the day of travel, you check in at the airport.  The next time you see your luggage  it will be in your cabin. When you arrive in Barbados you go directly from the aircraft to your ship by coach. No need to go through immigration. 

It really is absurdly simple. 

No disrespect to US posters, but unless you understand how charter flights and cruises work in the UK,  perhaps it would be best if you did not complicate a simple booking arrangement. 

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, jsn55 said:

but if it's a charter, that would probably be fine

It is a charter!  The major UK cruise lines all sell combined flight/cruise holidays. And because the charter flights are 100% full of cruise passengers, the ship will wait if there  is an issue with a delayed flight.

[crystalspin]

5 hours ago, jetsetwilly said:

Thanks all. All makes sense, too late for this Christmas, need to ring up to check flights for next year's cruise.

 

All seems very complicated, really puts me off

I forgot to include the UK Cruisers board:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/544-uk-cruisers/

and "The Pub":

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/545-the-pub/

 

 

[jsn55]

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

You still haven't said what cruise line you are booked with.

It really is not complicated at all. 

Two weeks ago I booked a P&O Caribbean cruise for December 2023, through a TA.  Chose my cabin,  chose my airport and chose either economy or premium economy seating. Took 10 minutes.

About 13 weeks before the departure date you will be given the exact departure time of your flight, and, if you wish, you can pay to select your seats.

On the day of travel, you check in at the airport.  The next time you see your luggage  it will be in your cabin. When you arrive in Barbados you go directly from the aircraft to your ship by coach. No need to go through immigration. 

It really is absurdly simple. 

No disrespect to US posters, but unless you understand how charter flights and cruises work in the UK,  perhaps it would be best if you did not complicate a simple booking arrangement. 

Oh my, sounds like it might be worth it to cruise out of the UK.  This looks like a divine plan.

[jetsetwilly]

Yes it is a P and O cruise.

 

I guess the thing that makes me less confident about booking is the lack of flight info. What if the flight is issued and is the day before? I'm a teacher so don't have the luxury of a day off.

 

I also can't seem to find much about each port. i.e. Can you explore independently, or do you end up paying for lots of expensive trips? I guess this is all on the boards, need to look harder

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, jetsetwilly said:

Yes it is a P and O cruise.

 

I guess the thing that makes me less confident about booking is the lack of flight info. What if the flight is issued and is the day before? I'm a teacher so don't have the luxury of a day off.

 

I also can't seem to find much about each port. i.e. Can you explore independently, or do you end up paying for lots of expensive trips? I guess this is all on the boards, need to look harder

The flight will not be the day before,  that is 100% certain. The only uncertainty is the precise time of departure , but usually it will be between 7am and 10am.

You can of course travel around independently.  Lots of taxis,  minibuses available at the docks. 

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, jetsetwilly said:

Yes it is a P and O cruise.

 

I guess the thing that makes me less confident about booking is the lack of flight info. What if the flight is issued and is the day before? I'm a teacher so don't have the luxury of a day off.

 

I also can't seem to find much about each port. i.e. Can you explore independently, or do you end up paying for lots of expensive trips? I guess this is all on the boards, need to look harder

 

 

To confirm - if the cruise line, agent & websites say a fly-cruise starts saturday 17 Dec, it's saturday 17 Dec. Flight out and boarding are same-day - and it's a longer day because Barbados is 5 hours behind the UK.

So a 7-hour flight departing UK at 11am  will arrive in Barbados at 2pm. But landing, transferring to a bus, the transfer time, registration at the port and any flight delay will leave you little or no time  to explore Barbados - you can do that on your full day in Barbados at the end of your cruise.

At the airport you go direct from aircraft to transfer bus, no immigration, no luggage carousel you don't even go thro the terminal.  Your luggage, which you last saw at your UK departure airport,  follows in a truck & you won't see it until it arrives at  your cabin door.

 

If the cruise starts Sat 17th Dec., you'll actually spend NYE  on the aircraft flying home.

Next year the home-coming saturday will be  30th Dec (arrive in the UK Sun 31st), allowing you to spend an admittedly-jet-lagged NYE at home.

 

The Caribbean is the easiest place in the world to DIY 🙂

There are only a handful of ports in the Caribbean where you can't sensibly do your own thing, I doubt there are any on your P&O itinerary.

For DIY, you'll find minibuses (Amercans call them "vans") & taxis at the port gate. Stick to minibuses to start with - you'll be sharing with folk who've done it all before. Get out there about 9.30am & negotiate an itinerary & price before you get in, pay when you get back - its the norm.

Drivers at the port are known to the authorities & to each-other they're friendly, reliable & honest, and they know the importance of back-on-board time. Take your beach gear with you -  at the end of your tour drivers will usually drop you at your choice of the ship or shops or beach close by.

Some ports you don't even need a tour or transport, the beach & attractions are right by the port gate.

There will be one or two places where you might want to take a ship's tour - for instance if you want to join a bike tour if the attraction is hours away from the port (I doubt any on your itinerary), f you want to take the Sugar Train on St Kitts (cruise lines book the entire train), but there are much cheaper options), or if on the last day you want to take a ship's tour which ends at the airport.

We';ve cruised the Caribbean half-a-dozen or more times, and only taken a couple of ship-sponsored tours.

 

Go thro the ports-of-call forums for specfics about each island. In due course, anything else you need to know ask on that forum.

Americans tend toward organised tours, and here on Cruise Critic they share hints about local tour organisers rather than ships' tours. Brits tend more toward DIY, I recall just one occasion on a Caribbean cruise when we pre-booked a shared tour.

 

The Caribbean is made for cruising - small islands well worth a day's exploration but few worth more than a day.

 

BTW the only cash you'll need are US dollars, accepted everywhere.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

 

[wowzz]

Good post from JB.

Can I suggest that the OP also looks at the P&O board,  and asks questions there. He will get much more specific advice and answers there, rather than on this generic board. 

[sleepingcat]

23 hours ago, jetsetwilly said:

Never really contemplated a cruise before, but having been put off by sky high air fares, I decided to look into it.

Hey JSW, lots of good advice already there for you.  But no one mentioned a cruise direct from the UK?  if you want to avoid air fares, and all the horrible airport hassle like  what many UK passengers experienced this last summer, then get on the ship in the UK (or take a train to the med ports and get on there).  a two week cruise to the canaries over xmas will get you a week of fine weather and some interesting stops.

 

(you can cruise to the Caribbean from the UK by ship but sadly it takes longer than you will have available as you work full time, that'll be for later.)  I too recommend the P and O UK boards which are very active and full of good info and nice people.  all the best 

[wowzz]

19 minutes ago, sleepingcat said:

a two week cruise to the canaries over xmas will get you a week of fine weather and some interesting stops.

The middle part of the cruise may be OK, but getting to and from the Canaries in the winter months can be pretty awful. 

Personally I wouldn't recommend that cruise to a first time cruiser.

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

The middle part of the cruise may be OK, but getting to and from the Canaries in the winter months can be pretty awful. 

Personally I wouldn't recommend that cruise to a first time cruiser.

 

Agreed.

The English Channel & Bay of Biscay can cut up rough in winter.

 

But a 7-day Canaries fly-cruise (Marella, not sure if P&O do it) is a relatively cheap and super-simple winter break.

Broadly the same transfer format as UK-Caribbean fly-cruises with P&O, MSC and Marella, except that with Marella (which is part of the TUI  Group), some on the aircraft are on TUI flight-accommodation packages so you have to go thro immigration / luggage hall.

Done that cruise twice in January, also had a week in Tenerife a couple of times. Decent weather all-round

 

JB 🙂. 

[wowzz]

13 minutes ago, John Bull said:

But a 7-day Canaries fly-cruise (Marella, not sure if P&O do it) is a relatively cheap and super-simple winter break.

Azura is now based in the Canaries over the winter, so a P&O fly cruise is certainly feasible. But, I think the OP will struggle to find availability this Christmas,  esoecially as he has a child. 

[John Bull]

44 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Azura is now based in the Canaries over the winter, so a P&O fly cruise is certainly feasible. But, I think the OP will struggle to find availability this Christmas,  esoecially as he has a child. 

 

Yes, school holidays are a bind, a good choice of 7-day Canaries fly-cruises November to January but the only one which I could find that would fit school hols is  24th Dec  P&O Azura (incl flights to/from Tenerife at £920 pp inside, £1100 pp ocean-view, or £1200 pp balcony. Price for third or fourth in the cabin would be a lot less if available.

 

Not the Caribbean, but mebbe suitable for a break this year (and a taster) then a year to save up for 14 days in the Caribbean  next Christmas

 

JB 🙂

[John Bull]

5 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

There will be one or two places where you might want to take a ship's tour - for instance if you want to join a bike tour,(or)if the attraction is hours away from the port (I doubt any on your itinerary), or if you want to take the Sugar Train on St Kitts (cruise lines book the entire train), but there are much cheaper options), or if on the last day you want to take a ship's tour which ends at the airport.

 

JB 🙂

 

Ooooops 🙄

Missed out an important comma there 🤔

 

JB 🙂