Cruise questions

[spongebob59]

Ok I think we're going to book a fjord cruise but having not been on one before there's a few questions I wonder if you could help with.

1) Thinking of a balcony cabin , is there a lot of difference between the grades available? Don't think we can warrant the suite option.

2) can you choose where in the ship you want and what are the best options, HID doesn't have great sea legs.

Sure they'll be more but that's a start and if you have any other advice please chip in.

Ta.

 

[Deleted member 31467]

Not a huge difference between a normal cabin and a suite, just size really.

Yes you can choose your room, middle of the ship is best if not a great sailor.

 

[Neilds]

I wouldn’t worry too much about not having sea legs, the ships are so big and stable you don’t even know you are moving.
On board the staff will try and push the drinks packages if you haven’t pre bought one, you have to drink a fair bit to make it worth while and if you are on a lot of trips it may not be worth it.

 

[cliveb]

I wouldn’t worry too much about not having sea legs, the ships are so big and stable you don’t even know you are moving.

Ha ha. Went across the Bay of Biscay in a big cruise ship and felt absolutely dreadful.

What is it they say about seasickness? After 2 hours you're afraid you're going to die. After 12 hours you're afraid you're NOT going to die.

 

[clubchamp98]

I wouldn’t worry too much about not having sea legs, the ships are so big and stable you don’t even know you are moving.
On board the staff will try and push the drinks packages if you haven’t pre bought one, you have to drink a fair bit to make it worth while and if you are on a lot of trips it may not be worth it.

Some ships are quite small.
the one we went on was tiny compared to some of the big ones.
it helps get in some of the smaller harbours .
bit choppy at sea though.

 

[PIng]

We've gone for a room with a balcony, not massively more than an inside cabin, but a lot cheaper than a suite. We could choose where on the ship we wanted our cabin, but never having been on one before I didn't know which was best. Opted for somewhere near the front. The drinks packages were expensive and quite restrictive, so we'll just pay as we go along - the prices are not much more than my local. I've booked a couple of day excursions- not cheap but we want to do as much as we can.

 

[SaintHacker]

Ha ha. Went across the Bay of Biscay in a big cruise ship and felt absolutely dreadful.

What is it they say about seasickness? After 2 hours you're afraid you're going to die. After 12 hours you're afraid you're NOT going to die.

A lot of it depends on the type of ship. The P+O and Princess etc ships are cruise ships designed to go relatively short distances port to port so dont handle big swells that well, the Cunard Queens on the other hand are ocean liners so arw much more stable in a big sea

 

[Rlburnside]

Im

A lot of it depends on the type of ship. The P+O and Princess etc ships are cruise ships designed to go relatively short distances port to port so dont handle big swells that well, the Cunard Queens on the other hand are ocean liners so arw much more stable in a big sea

Im sailing 60 miles off the coast of Norway at the moment our ship is 70 meters and anyone prone to seasickness would probably be sick.

Your right about the cruise ships and liners few years ago wife and I sailed across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary and half way across we run into a force 8 gale and the ship ship hardly moved.

 

[Robster59]

We've been on a couple of cruises and have gone for a balcony both times as it's nice to sit on the balcony as the ship comes into port, and as it leaves as well.
Ours were in the Caribbean, and we've tended to choose the itineraries with the most stops so we can get off and have a look around.
We were on Royal Caribbean, which are big ships and never really noticed anything much in the way of swell, and my missus is prone to sea-sickness.
We didn't take on the alcoholic drinks package, but did get the one for unlimited soft-drink top-ups.
When we have booked, you could choose your cabin from the website. We tended to be near the middle. It may be worthwhile thinking of where you want to go inside the ship and choose a cabin either near the lifts to make it easier to get to and from them, or further away if you don't want to be worried about the noise of people walking past.

 

[WGCRider]

Ok I think we're going to book a fjord cruise but having not been on one before there's a few questions I wonder if you could help with.

1) Thinking of a balcony cabin , is there a lot of difference between the grades available? Don't think we can warrant the suite option.

2) can you choose where in the ship you want and what are the best options, HID doesn't have great sea legs.

Sure they'll be more but that's a start and if you have any other advice please chip in.

Ta.

Why are you trying to book a cruise? Surely you already live in a pineapple under the sea?

 

[Newtonuti]

Why are you trying to book a cruise? Surely you already live in a pineapple under the sea?

Badum tssssst!

 

[chrisd]

Mrsd and I have done about a dozen cruises. Recently we did the 4 week back to back Australia and New Zealand cruise. The trip from NZ To Oz across the Tasman Sea was pretty damn rough even on a ship as big as Celebrity's Eclipse, sometimes the North Sea can be awful too, although when we did the Fiords and in a different cruise to Russia stopping in Norway Sweden Finland etc etc we had no issues with the sea.

The biggest problem currently with cruising is that it seems the cruise companies are trying to recover all their pandemic losses as quickly as possible. Costs for everything have shot up and standards have dropped. Our latest trip which was mid October to mid November was nowhere near the standard that we've experienced over the last 25 years

To answer the main questions

Yes you should pick where you want the cabin, we almost always have a balcony as it can get pretty claustrophobic with just a port hole. Somewhere mid ship is usually more stable in rough seas, nowhere near any part of the ship that is noisy and not too near the lifts for the same reason

Watch plenty of the cruise YouTube videos they are pretty honest and will help prepare you for the possible good and bad things on board, like excursions - whether to go on the companies expensive ones or use your own organised trip etc etc
We usually book " any time dining" as we can go more or less what time we like and not be stuck on a table for 8 .

To be fair, there is so much to learn about cruising, but if I can help answer any questions you're free to ask

 

[Neilds]

Another thing to check is the dress code. We are booked with Celebrity in Sep for a Med cruise and they have dropped the dickie bow and tuxedo dress code for formal nights. It is now 'Dress to Impress' which is a bit more relaxed, but still allows the women to wear their bling