Red Sea Cruise April - Expensive?

[alid]

We are looking at the Red Sea Cruise with Thomson 15th April 2010 - with a 1 week stay at hotel in Sharm. The cost without any excursions is looking like £1480 each. This seems to be a lot of money - more than I expected it to be and there are no freebies thrown in ( upgrade / AI on cruise etc). I could cruise the Caribbean 2 weeks for less.

I have tried haggling with the Travel Agent but there appears to be no better deals available.

We've never cruised with Thomson before - can anyone advise whether this price is likely to be reduced after Christmas. Also what are the chances of it being booked up if we leave it late to book.

If anyone has any views I would love to hear them.

[jenny wren]

I would suspect that this cruise is selling very well so they don't need to reduce the price.....it is still within the school Easter holidays which also may account for it. the Red Sea cruises always seem to be very popular so I personally wouldn't wait for a late deal but you could get lucky!!

 

You need to book very early (as soon as the cruise goes on sale) to get the free AI.

 

What travel agents have you tried ....we always get the best deal for Thomson with cruise deals dot co dot uk....might be worth a try.

[jodanuke]

Have you tried looking at this cruise on any othe sites apart from Thomson? I have seen this cruise and stay from about £1000 on other sites including the week in Sharm 4* AI - Inside from £1059 and delux cabins from £1319

And if your prepared to wait the price will obviously go down

[kruzseeka]

We are looking at the Red Sea Cruise with Thomson 15th April 2010 - with a 1 week stay at hotel in Sharm. The cost without any excursions is looking like £1480 each. This seems to be a lot of money - more than I expected it to be and there are no freebies thrown in ( upgrade / AI on cruise etc). I could cruise the Caribbean 2 weeks for less.

I have tried haggling with the Travel Agent but there appears to be no better deals available.

We've never cruised with Thomson before - can anyone advise whether this price is likely to be reduced after Christmas. Also what are the chances of it being booked up if we leave it late to book.

If anyone has any views I would love to hear them.

 

Yes, that does look very expensive - and don't forget to make the most of this cruise, you're going to have a fairly hefty excursions bill too, unlike some cruises where a mainly DiY approach is possible.

 

As jenny says, it's probably the Easter hols which are making it so expensive but her recommendation of alternative sites is a good one - they are the agents we use and find their prices are usually best.

 

Are you looking at cabin upgrades too? Not everyone subscribes to this point of view but we just go for the basic cabins and work on the theory that we can afford to go more often that way! We are also in the fortunate position that we can take advantage of later deals. I would suspect there will be some significant reductions nearer to departure (take a look at current offers - on the site mentioned, 19th Nov departures for two week cruise & stay start at £719) - but Easter perhaps not! You take a risk with this approach.

 

We recently booked 4 weeks out for a cruise we desperately wanted to do thinking there wasn't much availability left and paid £250 each more than those who booked in the last week! But then again, we might have missed it altogether and then we really would have been disappointed!! Sorry not to be more helpful - it's a perennial sticky issue.

 

Take jenny and joanduke's advice about the other site though and if you have definite ideas and a commitment to going on a Thomson cruise in future also think of early booking to get the AI package - that at least effectively brings down your holiday cost as there are no bar bills to add on - and all the best in your decision making! :)

[alid]

Thanks for all the good advice - I will definitely check out the other sites. Call me naive, but I somehow thought I would get the best deal from Thomson's direct either via their website or their own TUI travel agents. I hope someone else can beat the price we've had but I am not convinced they will.

This is Outside of Easter Holidays for the kids here so I thought this date wouldn't be a problem. However, we do want to fly from Manchester so any cheap deals from Gatwick will not suit us. Also, this particular cruise does not seem to be available in the summer months.

Not fussed on upgrades - I added that just to clarify that the price we were quoted is the basic price with no additions.

Don't mind paying more if we get more, but I think this is way expensive for Egypt - and as the other poster mentioned - the excursion bill will be huge (although essential).

I think I might take my chances and wait.

[Beckyfaye-2008]

Have you tried some on line Travel Agents, such as Thomas Cook, there are also others.

[alid]

Have you tried looking at this cruise on any othe sites apart from Thomson? I have seen this cruise and stay from about £1000 on other sites including the week in Sharm 4* AI - Inside from £1059 and delux cabins from £1319

And if your prepared to wait the price will obviously go down

 

This sounds great - can you let me know which other site you found this deal on. I have seen this cruise a little cheaper, but not for April departure, and I know that Skytravel had a good deal going from Gatwick but in Nov.

[jacknorman]

Try Portland, which is part of Thomson. Always cheaper. we are doing the cruise 3rd dec, then stay sonesta beach 1 week after. Upgraded to a/i on cruise and upgraded to deck 3/4 inside, for £1000. The free a/i on cruise goes off early, then half price, then £140, Which is too much for some. You cant book cruise and stay on line but give them a ring. cheers

[jenny wren]

I should have said that cruise deals is also part of TUI the Thomson parent company ....... they have always given us the best prices....another factor is that the weather is getting hotter in April so the prices rise then from the cheaper winter rates.

 

Good luck!

[alid]

Try Portland, which is part of Thomson. Always cheaper. we are doing the cruise 3rd dec, then stay sonesta beach 1 week after. Upgraded to a/i on cruise and upgraded to deck 3/4 inside, for £1000. The free a/i on cruise goes off early, then half price, then £140, Which is too much for some. You cant book cruise and stay on line but give them a ring. cheers

 

 

Jack - that is fab information. I will try Portland. sounds like you got a great price - now I am even more miffed at my price. I am resigned to waiting until after Christmas if I can't get better than £1480. thanks for the reply.

[jodanuke]

One of the TV selling programmes had this on offer about 2 weeks ago as well. Prices started from anout £800 or so with upgrade on board to AI for £49 Also not sure if we can name cruise sites on here, but the one I just looked at was errrr, cruise1st.

 

I have been on 6 or 7 cruises, off again in 2 weeks time, which will be the 3rd this year. We often go away 4 times a year, both abroad and on cruises.

 

We have NEVER booked from either a travel agent, nor from the cruise companies own site. Or from travel agents sites such as Thonson, Thomas cook, Portland etc, etc.

Try putting cruise in Google and have a browse at the HUNDREDS of cruise companies...

Peter

[jacknorman]

The one joanduke is referring to was on sky travel who use virgin cruises and yes the a/i was £49

[kruzseeka]

Now I might be mistaken in this - but I seem to remember reading about someone who booked via the company referred to by the last two posters and there was a reference to transfers from the hotel to the port for cruise & stay holidays not being included - and sometimes the hotels can be a distance from the cruise port. Just check the small print carefully - as I say, my memory could be letting me down here, but I'd rather warn you so you can check it out.

 

As jenny has said, Portland and cruisedeals are all part of the TUI company and always include free transfers.

[Cymro1953]

Hi Kruzseeka,

I noticed in the newspapers in the middle of this last week that they had a bold "includes transfers" in their cruise adverts that were not there before. (Not Red Sea)

 

Berwyn

[alid]

The one joanduke is referring to was on sky travel who use virgin cruises and yes the a/i was £49

 

 

Yes I saw this - sounded like a fab offer - however when i rang Sky travel it was for earlier in the year (Feb) and was only available with Virgin flights from London (so Virgin flight / Thomson cruise). I have asked in the Travel Agents (TUI) about this same offer from a local airport and they won't entertain it - they have no £49 offer on for AI on the Cruise.

 

Alid

[wldt]

WE have done this cruise twice. It is a good cruise for ports and weather but no way is it worth anything like that. Make sure you pay the £35 to book your cabin as we were on the Caribean cruise this Easter and the noise and vibration from the engines were horrendous. Choose a cabin mid ship

[alid]

WLDT - thanks for this info. Totally agree and I think Thomsons are over inflating the price. The tip about booking your room is a good one - I wouldn't have thought of doing this.

.

During the time I have been humming and hawing about whether to pay £1480 for this cruise it has gone up to £1569. I am gutted and have now dismissed this as not do-able. I will re-check the price after Christmas (when I expect it will be fully booked as there seems to be little availability now) and if it is not significantly cheaper we will be going elsewhere.

I might use my £1500 to go to Thailand or somewhere!!!

 

If anyone reading this can advise what they are paying for this cruise (15th April departure from Manc) it would really help to bring some perspective.

[jacknorman]

The red sea magic leaving on thusday is down to £389. It may pay to take a chance on the last minute

[yorkshirephil]

The red sea magic leaving on thusday is down to £389. It may pay to take a chance on the last minute

 

We have booked this one, albeit the price was £429 on Friday last week I still think its a great deal.

 

I certainly wouldn't pay the £1480 that Alid was quoted, especially cruise and stay. Even for school holiday time that is steep. I would take my chances and wait, if the ship is full there will be plenty of other options.

[iant]

This does seem expensive as I have been booked on this for a while now and got cabin upgrade, AI ,weeks stay at Baron Palms AI and upgraded flights for not much more. PS sorry for jumping in at the end of this discussion For information this is my first cruise ever i am expecting a hefty bill for excursions but you only do it once.

Ian t