Scotjune

Hi, husband and I booked on the 12 day round Britain departing on 01 October.  Hope others are joining us! 

Paying all that extra for YC? Definitely should be "adults only" and that from someone who takes their grandsons on cruises!

Just booked a VGT (balcony guarantee) for the Fantasy on 1/24/15. Could not pass up this "deal" since I have been staring at all kinds of cruises/dates for next year. I hope my 5 year old son has a blast. Heck, I hope my husband and myself have a blast.

Have read many a review on Disney cruises and the majority give such high marks. Can't wait!

 

 

Mariner of the Seas 3/7/2004

Carnival Glory 12/2006

Carnival Liberty 11/24/2007

Island Princess 4/2009

Hi there, we took our 7 year old grandson on Disney Magic - he was enchanted with everything! You will have tears in your eyes when your son meets the "Big M"! The look on his face will be unforgettable! A tip - there is usually a Pirate themed evening - take his outfit with you as the ship prices are horrendous!

Thomson do class seats behind each other as together. However, if you'd paid extra for the premium club cabin, they (at least used to) let you select your seats for free, and don't charge a supplement like they do for the main cabin.

Hi, flying Thomsons to Barbados ex Glasgow on 2 January in Premium and to select seats - the ones we wanted 1a and 1b - cost a total of £110 return! 1a was £15 and 1b was £40! Looking forward to finding out the difference! It is a 767 by the way and not a Dreamliner which we would have loved to try!

Well I do not think they will like being messed about a second time. C deck balconies in the middle are possibly the best ordinary cabins on the ship as the balconies are very big and give you sun and shade. They are at least double the size of any other balcony.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

I agree - if you like balcony and do not want the expense of a suite - midships C deck cabins are great!

We went on our first cruise in January 2014 on-board P&O’s Ventura around the Caribbean. We spent a long time researching and planning and now we’re back I thought that we’d share our itinerary in the hope that some of you may find it useful. This is my first post on Cruise Critic but I did read a number of forums prior to going on our cruise so feel it only appropriate to try and give something back. However, if this post is in the wrong section please accept my apologies.

 

Friday 3rd January – Arrival in Barbados.

 

Saturday 4th January – Barbados. Catamaran Tour booked with Cool Runnings. Taxi picked us up at 9am from outside the cruise terminal. Returned to the cruise terminal at 3pm. Cost $90 each and included snorkelling with Sea Turtles, a buffet lunch and unlimited drinks. http://www.coolrunningsbarbados.com/

 

Sunday 5th January – Sea Day. Formal evening - dined at Marco Pierre White’s "The White Room".

 

Monday 6th January – St Vincent. Mountain biking tour booked with Sailors Wilderness Tours. We were driven up into the mountains and then cycled down through the Mesopotamia Valley. There was still quite a bit of cycling along undulating ground – it certainly wasn’t all downhill. We were met at the cruise terminal at 8:30am and returned at 12pm. In the afternoon we looked round Kingstown and then got a taxi to the botanical gardens. Taxi cost $15 which included return trip and driver waiting while we had a look round. http://sailorswildernesstours.com/

 

Tuesday 7th January – Dominica. We had pre-booked the Dominica Jewel Tour with Nature Isle Explorer Tours which included the Ti Tou Gorge, Trafalgar Falls, Botanical Gardens and Champagne Reefs Snorkelling. Cost $45 each plus $7 in entrance fees. Paid $7 deposit each. Met tour guide outside the cruise terminal at 9am for 9:30am departure. Returned at 4pm. No risk of returning late for ship as entire afternoon schedule revolved around the ship departing at 5pm. http://nietours.com/. Had wine pairing meal at the Glasshouse on Ventura in the evening.

 

Wednesday 8th January – St Lucia. Another island tour booked with Cosol Tours in advance. Met tour guide outside the cruise terminal at 8:20am for 8:30am departure. Cost $65 each and included a fantastic local breakfast, Morne Fortune, Anse La Raye, Canaries, Soufriere, sulphur springs pool and “drive-in volcano”, Jacousie beach between the Pitons, Marigo bay, more food on the way home and unlimited drinks (water, beer and rum punch) all day. http://cosol-tours.com/

 

Thursday 9th January – Antigua. Relaxed morning looking round St John and then taxi to Valley Church Beach at lunchtime ($8 per person each way). Ate lunch at The Nest. Fantastic beach and great food!

 

Friday 10th January – St Kitts. P&O organised excursion sea kayaking which cost £42. We were picked up at 8:30am and driven to the south of St Kitts where we then snorkelled for about 20 minutes and then kayaked up the west coast (Caribbean side) to South Friars beach which took approximately 45 minutes. Returned to the ship for about 11:30am and we then looked round Basseterre. Having read positive reviews on Tripadvisor we had a late lunch at El Fredo’s which was about a 15 minute walk from the cruise terminal.

 

Saturday 11th January – Sea Day. Wine tasting at "The Glasshouse" at 11:30am for £10 per person. Booked on board and great fun despite the early time to start drinking. Formal evening – dined at Atul Kochhar’s "East".

 

Sunday 12th January – Grand Turk. Snorkelling and Stingray excursion booked with P&O. Great fun and great experience. Picked up at 8:30am and returned at about 11am. Had lunch at Jack’s Shack about a 15 minute walk up the beach and then spent the afternoon on the beach.

 

Monday 13th January – Sea Day. A second session of wine tasting at "The Glasshouse" at 11:30am which we booked at the end of the first session. Formal evening with Gala Menu in the main restaurants.

 

Tuesday 14th January – Tortola. Went to The Baths at Virgin Gorda. Had read about a tour guide called Egbert who ran this tour and was easily identifiable just outside the cruise terminal wearing a cap with his name on it. Cost $45 each which included the boat to Virgin Gorda, return taxi to The Baths and drinks (water, beer and rum punch again) on the boat back. Left at 9:30am and returned at 3:30pm with approx. 3.5 hours at The Baths. Tortola was the first port where we were able to withdraw US dollars from a cash machine (close to the cruise terminal).

 

Wednesday 15th January – St Maarten. Pre-arranged island tour with Bernards Tours. Cost $45 each and included Orient Beach, Marigot for lunch and Maho beach to see the planes land. Met by tour guide in the cruise terminal at 8:30am and departed at 9:00am. Returned for 2:30pm and we were dropped off in Philipsburg town where it was a 20 – 30 minute walk back to the cruise terminal. Others went straight back to the terminal where there were also several shops. Cash machines available at the cruise terminal with US dollars readily available. http://www.bernardstours.com/

 

Thursday 16th January – Sea Day.

 

Friday 17th January - Return to Barbados. Look round Bridgetown in the morning before leaving for the airport and return flight home.

 

As it was our first cruise we were a little concerned with the risk involved in booking independent excursions. However, we soon realised that there was no need to be worried. All of the tour providers we went with were used to dealing with customers from cruise ships and with the power of Tripadvisor these days, they know full well that if you miss your ship it’s potentially the end of their business.

 

The only other piece of advice we have is to take advantage of P&O’s relaxed approach with regards taking alcohol on board. Once we got to our cabin we emptied our hand luggage then went down to the cruise terminal and purchased a couple of bottles and some beer which we took on-board and back to our room no problem at all.

 

As I’ve already mentioned, this was our first cruise. It certainly won’t be our last. We are in our late twenties/early thirties and thoroughly enjoyed meeting a variety of people, many of whom had a lot more cruising experience than us and many stories and experiences to share. We had a balcony and, in our opinion, this was one of the best decisions we made. Although we dined at all of the restaurants on the ship, fine dining restaurants "The White Room" and "East" aside, our preference was the main dining restaurants (Saffron and Cinnamon). We were on freedom dining and loved the flexibility this gave us and opportunity to meet so many people.

 

If anyone has any questions about anything we did or the cruise in general I’d be more than happy to answer these as best we can.

Thanks for that - we were on that cruise - great memories!

We now give our steward a decent tip on Day 1, usually for bringing our cases and the little extras we have asked for. We only started doing this a couple of cruises ago but it has certainly made our steward more amenable to finding any extras we request (nothing illegal, just extra decaff coffee and sugar, the biscuits we like, taking the hangers away etc). We also leave our automatic tip on but if they have been especially helpful will also put some cash in an envelope. Having a good steward can really make your cruise

Could not have said it better myself - we do exactly the same as you - with the same results!

That's why the C deck cabins are so good, only a small area is overlooked the rest is not.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

I most certainly agree, Dai - mid ships C Deck on Ventura - if you like a balcony - this is the best for the price! Scotjune