Who has decided to take a summer staycation cruise?

[zap99]

15 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I'm not averse to variety zap, we just enjoy the quieter more relaxed atmosphere of the smaller more authentic way of cruising. 

Avril

How authentic is authentic?. My brother went on the Windsor Castle to South Africa. That was in the Port out starboard home days ( posh). Carry on cruising was pretty representative of authentic. Can you imagine in 20 years looking back to Iona. I wouldn't go on that little old tub🤣. Each to there own. Ocean Village was fun at the time, life moves on.

[Adawn47]

18 minutes ago, zap99 said:

How authentic is authentic?. My brother went on the Windsor Castle to South Africa. That was in the Port out starboard home days ( posh). Carry on cruising was pretty representative of authentic. Can you imagine in 20 years looking back to Iona. I wouldn't go on that little old tub🤣. Each to there own. Ocean Village was fun at the time, life moves on.

 Maybe I should have said more 'normal', as in a cruise liner, not a huge floating city, with all the noisy crowds that entails. I would have been more comfortable on the S.S Happy Wanderer than Indy any day.

Avril

Edited May 9, 2021 by Adawn47

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

They can be very different.  I have done 3 and had the last one been the first, that would have been it for Royal Caribbean! The first 2 were one week Adriatic cruises out of Venice on small ships - no whistles, bells, climbing walls etc and I was very impressed; those cruises were delightful. 

 

Cruise number 3 was the Canaries, Navigator of the Seas out of Southampton and I have truly never experienced anything like it.  Let's just say there were large groups on board, hell bent on having a good time, making heavy use of drinks packages.  I am about to use some very lazy shorthand here to paint a picture and hope I won't be vilified too much when I say that men in vests, an ample supply of tattoos and piercings and colourful language were much in evidence.  I'm sure we were just very unlucky for I know that Graham and Pauline would not have thought such a cruise was to be recommended either!

 

Unfortunately it is UK passengers not RCG to blame.

I have seen that type on RC and P&O from Southampton but rarely on Royal from Barcelona,Civitavecchia,Venice,Port Canaveral,New York or Malaga.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

We have sailed 3 times out of Southampton on Indy and a once in Explorer and a couple of times with RC in the med, NCL and Celebrity as well and several P&O. I would go on any of them again in a heartbeat. We have 2 booked with P&O as they left the blocks promptly. If folk have their favourite and won't go on another til it is scraped, that's fine. We like the variety.

We have sailed on every P&O and Royal Caribbean ship and most of Princess ships and loved them all both big and small.

We always book balcony or above cabins and do spend a fair amount of time on our balconies looking out to sea or sunbathing.

Graham.

[the english lady]

13 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Unfortunately it is UK passengers not RCG to blame.

I have seen that type on RC and P&O from Southampton but rarely on Royal from Barcelona,Civitavecchia,Venice,Port Canaveral,New York or Malaga.

Our recent cruise have all been on pando from Southamptonwith no problem ,but equally they have all been on the smaller ships, so maybe not UK passengers (with a broad brush) as such, more a certain type of passenger.

[zap99]

13 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Unfortunately it is UK passengers not RCG to blame.

I have seen that type on RC and P&O from Southampton but rarely on Royal from Barcelona,Civitavecchia,Venice,Port Canaveral,New York or Malaga.

There was a very drunk Lady in the MDR on Brittania in the Caribbean. British. They were on a table for 2 next to us. She was very embarrassing.She and her partner were thrown off. They found the condiments from their table in the young ladies bag. I wonder how that got there and who tipped off the Restaurant Manager ?🤔😂

[FamilyCruiserUK]

I remember doing a cruise around the carrib on ventura, had a fab deal and flew from Cardiff. The cruise was full of welsh people bless them who were super happy as just beaten England in the 6 nations. It was also the only cruise out of 9 i have been on where there were a large number of disruptive passengers, some who were kicked off half way through. 

 

Think the cheap drinks package might have had an influence 🤣

[majortom10]

13 hours ago, wowzz said:

Shows how different we all are. The thought of going on a  RC cruise fills me with dread - I would rather stay at home!

Yes and me.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

We have cruised with most of the main stream lines, from 700 pax to 4,500 pax. We love them all, some we remember more than others depending where we went and who we met. We have made some good friends from cruising who we see regularly (or will soon) even though they are not local. Each line offers something a bit different which is great as people are a bit different. As we have got older our tastes have changed and we have adapted accordingly, we have never lost our love for cruising. We have not cruised since Dec2019 and probably won't again till Jan22. Since we started cruising in 1997 we have not had a year without a cruise until covid struck, I think we sometimes forget how lucky we are, as a kid and young adult in the 60/70/80 we would have never contemplated cruising as that was only for rich people. 

As someone who suffered from motion sickness unless I was driving I was not interested in cruising until I was persuaded to go on the DFDS cruiseferry from Newcastle to Gothenburg in 2000.

We did a few to Norway Sweden and Amsterdam and I was only seasick a couple of times so we started proper cruising in 2003 on Aurora and cruised 3 times a year ever since.

[wowzz]

4 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Think the cheap drinks package might have had an influence 🤣

Personally, I don't think it is cheap, especially compared to Princess.

[majortom10]

We have done many cruise but have to admit only on 3 different cruise lines Cunard, Princess and P&O and we have cruised on all current Cunard and P&O ships, also some retired or sold on and quiet a few Princess ships. But I have to be honest our favourite by a long way is Cunard and the best ship IMO is QM2 a true liner and a pleasure to do a TA on which is our favourite cruise.

[Jevsy]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Our first was on Island Escape. Good memories of all of them. Nowadays we stick to P&O,RC,Celebrity,NCL. We are loyal and won't cheat. MSC, Princess look interesting though 🤔

Our first cruise was on Island Escape too in 2005 for our Honeymoon. More than 30 cruises later.... 😉

[FamilyCruiserUK]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Personally, I don't think it is cheap, especially compared to Princess.

It was at the time compared to others. Looking at the prices now they are just silly and would have to drink plenty to break even

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

I remember doing a cruise around the carrib on ventura, had a fab deal and flew from Cardiff. The cruise was full of welsh people bless them who were super happy as just beaten England in the 6 nations. It was also the only cruise out of 9 i have been on where there were a large number of disruptive passengers, some who were kicked off half way through. 

 

Think the cheap drinks package might have had an influence 🤣

We have been fortunate that on 54 cruises we haven't witnessed any anti social or bad disruptive behaviour.

Seen a few happy drunk's coming out of RC loyalty and Suite lounges after 3 hours of unlimited free drinks.

Graham.

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, Jevsy said:

Our first cruise was on Island Escape too in 2005 for our Honeymoon. More than 30 cruises later.... 😉

What a fantastic way to spend your honeymoon.

Graham.

 

[majortom10]

I wouldnt have a clue how many cruises we have done but it must be over the 50 mark as we have been cruising since 1997 and done 2 or 3 a year ever since. Just enjoy cruising without having to worry about how many I have done on each cruise line or in total. Have been asked many times at dinner how many cruises have done when sharing a table and have honestly said that I didnt know.

[davemorton]

Well since I have had my first jab, and booked a date for my second, I have now been able to book my cruises.  Decided to do a Princess from S/ton and a Marella from N/castle.  Least I now have something to look forward to. 

[mrsgoggins]

38 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Unfortunately it is UK passengers not RCG to blame.

I have seen that type on RC and P&O from Southampton but rarely on Royal from Barcelona,Civitavecchia,Venice,Port Canaveral,New York or Malaga.

 

Yes, that would be my take on it too!  I was very apprehensive about taking my next cruise (on any ship) out of Southampton after the one I mentioned, but I needn't have worried because they were all fine.  I'm also not too bothered about the size of the ship or cruise line and have sailed with Celebrity, Princess, RCL, P&O and Disney all more than once and Viking Oceans just once (smallest for us at just under 1000 passengers) and there are none of them I would avoid apart from RCL to warm destinations out of Southampton.  

 

 

[grapau27]

16 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

I wouldnt have a clue how many cruises we have done but it must be over the 50 mark as we have been cruising since 1997 and done 2 or 3 a year ever since. Just enjoy cruising without having to worry about how many I have done on each cruise line or in total. Have been asked many times at dinner how many cruises have done when sharing a table and have honestly said that I didnt know.

I have kept a record of all our cruises just for my own memories and if Pauline asks I can say yes we were on that ship etc etc.

I don't get into conversations on board about how many cruises we have done?,what's your Loyalty Status?or politics etc and just steer conversations to something else.

We have enjoyed ourselves cruising and that's the only thing that matters.

[grapau27]

22 minutes ago, davemorton said:

Well since I have had my first jab, and booked a date for my second, I have now been able to book my cruises.  Decided to do a Princess from S/ton and a Marella from N/castle.  Least I now have something to look forward to. 

Pleased for you Dave.

 

[PORT ROYAL]

36 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

I wouldnt have a clue how many cruises we have done but it must be over the 50 mark as we have been cruising since 1997 and done 2 or 3 a year ever since. Just enjoy cruising without having to worry about how many I have done on each cruise line or in total. Have been asked many times at dinner how many cruises have done when sharing a table and have honestly said that I didnt know.

Just caught this by accident.  
It made in smile having being asked first night on the Azura, by a self appointed head of table, as to how many cruises.  Replied seven.  Her response being along the lines of “Oh, we’ve done 11 in five years”.  One’s reply was “Sorry, I should have said this year”.

Did do an evidential count 7/8 years ago for a fun Dinner Party “Charity Donation Wager”, but haven’t bothered since.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by PORT ROYAL

[wowzz]

29 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I don't get into conversations on board about how many cruises we have done?

Graham, I wish there were people like you. 

Why do some people take the first opportunity they can to tell you how many cruises they have been on, and then expect you to be impressed?

[grapau27]

5 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Graham, I wish there were people like you. 

Why do some people take the first opportunity they can to tell you how many cruises they have been on, and then expect you to be impressed?

Thanks Wowzz.

Unfortunately people like to brag probably because they feel inferior and need to try to impress which is sad but I find that type of person boring and try to quickly make our excuses and leave.

[grapau27]

35 minutes ago, PORT ROYAL said:

Just caught this by accident.  
It made in smile having being asked first night on the Azura, by a self appointed head of table, as to how many cruises.  Replied seven.  Her response being along the lines of “Oh, we’ve done 11 in five years”.  One’s reply was “Sorry, I should have said this year”.

Did do an evidential count 7/8 years ago for a fun Dinner Party “Charity Donation Wager”, but haven’t bothered since.

 

 

 

 

 

I wish I had been there,that was a great response.🤣

[mrsgoggins]

1 hour ago, the english lady said:

Our recent cruise have all been on pando from Southamptonwith no problem ,but equally they have all been on the smaller ships, so maybe not UK passengers (with a broad brush) as such, more a certain type of passenger.

I think that most of us posters on here are probably from the U.K. it’s implicit that it’s a ‘certain type of passenger’.