What to choose June Mediterranean Fly Cruises

[Megabear2]

My friend, who is considerably younger than me at 36, wants to go on a fly cruise with me in June.  She's very keen on cultural activities.  Having travelled very much in those areas I have been looking at offerings from P&O, Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean all of which seem to suit for a 7 night cruise.

 

The ships are Azura, Regal Princess, Celebrity Edge and Wonder of the Seas. I had expected a vast difference in pricing but there is only a couple of hundred pounds in it either way and the latter three are offering all inclusive!  I know Azura very well but have only been on Regal Princess for a 4 day staycation of the other three.  The Edge would be in one of the infinite balcony cabins which get varied reviews.

 

I light of the offers on Princess, Celebrity and RC, what opinions do those who know all these lines have on which may be best of the four for us rather oddly matched friends aged 66 and 36?

 

If anyone has experience of the Edge cabins I'd much appreciate views on them.

 

Riviera deck is all that remains on Azura for the dates we can make. Thanks.

[Eddie99]

If it’s any help, I am not a great fan of organised excursions but I am happy to recommend Princess for their various tours.  We’ve enjoyed walking round Herm from St Peter Port and loved the adventures in Alaska, culminating in (safely) watching wild bears eat salmon from a distance of only a dozen feet.  Felt very David Attenborough! 🙂

I haven’t been on Princess in the Med, so can’t give personal testimonials, perhaps others can.  I can tell you that they give infinitely detailed descriptions of what to expect on all their excursions and there should be something to suit everyone 

[janny444]

Hi....we will all have our preferences  but for me  Celebrity would win hands down....I love the style of Celebrity....Azura would be the bottom of the list 

[wowzz]

Most Med cruises are pretty port intensive - we are on Regal Princess in May/June for 14 nights and only have two sea days.

I think the itinerary would probably be of more importance than the ship.

Having said that,  all else being equal, my preference would be The Edge, followed by Regal.  Wonder of the Seas looks more like a floating shopping mall and amusement park than a cruise ship !

I'm amazed that you found a cruise on Edge similar in price to Regal Princess. Celebrity prices always seem to be 20% or so higher than Princess. 

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by wowzz

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, janny444 said:

Hi....we will all have our preferences  but for me  Celebrity would win hands down....I love the style of Celebrity....Azura would be the bottom of the list 

Great minds !

[Megabear2]

15 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Most Med cruises are pretty port intensive - we are on Regal Princess in May/June for 14 nights and only have two sea days.

I think the itinerary would probably be of more importance than the ship.

Having said that,  all else being equal, my preference would be The Edge, followed by Regal.  Wonder of the Seas looks more like a floating shopping mall and amusement park than a cruise ship !

I'm amazed that you found a cruise on Edge similar in price to Regal Princess. Celebrity prices always seem to be 20% or so higher than Princess. 

 

The Celebrity cruise is offering free flights which is what makes it only slightly dearer than Regal.  

 

P&O superior deluxe is £3398 for two, ordinary balcony £2598

Regal Princess £2480 with the package in deluxe but flights are £598 extra

Celebrity Edge is £3438 but includes flights, transfers and upgrade to premium drinks

Wonder of the Seas is £3980 for Ocean facing balcony or £3480 for Central Park View

 

We wanted a bit more room hence looking at deluxe on P&O and Princess.

 

Only worry about Edge is the infinite balcony thing. Some very mixed reviews.  Must admit the ship looks amazingly glamorous and my experience on solstice class ships was excellent.

 

 

 

[terrierjohn]

41 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

My friend, who is considerably younger than me at 36, wants to go on a fly cruise with me in June.  She's very keen on cultural activities.  Having travelled very much in those areas I have been looking at offerings from P&O, Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean all of which seem to suit for a 7 night cruise.

 

The ships are Azura, Regal Princess, Celebrity Edge and Wonder of the Seas. I had expected a vast difference in pricing but there is only a couple of hundred pounds in it either way and the latter three are offering all inclusive!  I know Azura very well but have only been on Regal Princess for a 4 day staycation of the other three.  The Edge would be in one of the infinite balcony cabins which get varied reviews.

 

I light of the offers on Princess, Celebrity and RC, what opinions do those who know all these lines have on which may be best of the four for us rather oddly matched friends aged 66 and 36?

 

If anyone has experience of the Edge cabins I'd much appreciate views on them.

 

Riviera deck is all that remains on Azura for the dates we can make. Thanks.

On pricing I think Celebrity now includes drinks, wi fi and gratuities on all its pricing, Princess prices normally require you to add their £30per day Princess plus package for that, P&O only includes grays, drinks and wi fi are extra, not sure about RCL.

As for Riviera deck, if you are booking a balcony cabin,  the cabins aft of the fwd stairs have a deep overhang putting in a lot of shade.

[Megabear2]

1 minute ago, terrierjohn said:

On pricing I think Celebrity now includes drinks, wi fi and gratuities on all its pricing, Princess prices normally require you to add their £30per day Princess plus package for that, P&O only includes grays, drinks and wi fi are extra, not sure about RCL.

As for Riviera deck, if you are booking a balcony cabin,  the cabins aft of the fwd stairs have a deep overhang putting in a lot of shade.

Thanks for the info in Riviera deck, I've only ever had C deck cabins on Azura so wasn't aware of that.  Looking at the pricing I think we are down to Regal Princess and Celebrity Edge.  I quite liked Regal Princess for a four day seacation but wondered how the open deck space is on a "warm" cruise?  Experience on Britannia says she can be a bit tight, does Regal have the same feel?

[silkworms]

Megabear, if you want a superior deluxe on Azura on D Deck (good cabin)

on 2 June for two weeks, I am just about to cancel to release this

cabin.

 

Azura, in my opinion, after Xmas cruise on her, is way below Princess

and Celebrity.

 

PM me if you wish to know when I will cancel.

 

Terri

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Thanks for the info in Riviera deck, I've only ever had C deck cabins on Azura so wasn't aware of that.  Looking at the pricing I think we are down to Regal Princess and Celebrity Edge.  I quite liked Regal Princess for a four day seacation but wondered how the open deck space is on a "warm" cruise?  Experience on Britannia says she can be a bit tight, does Regal have the same feel?

Apart from the the one  sea day, will you actually be on board much during the day ?

[BouncingWheel]

Have you considered NCL Megabear? I see that was left off your list but they seem to be offering good deals at the moment and I think are comparable to Carnival Brand?

[Megabear2]

58 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Apart from the the one  sea day, will you actually be on board much during the day ?

I tend to spend afternoons onboard when it's places like Majorca, Malaga etc.  I assume most people will be off ashore.  My spritely travelling companion is going to do a few long excursions on her own in "big" destinations.

Edited February 18, 2022 by Megabear2

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

Have you considered NCL Megabear? I see that was left off your list but they seem to be offering good deals at the moment and I think are comparable to Carnival Brand?

Good thought. No I hadn't looked at them and ironically I've just moved my Prima transatlantic to the Viva next August.  I did look at MSC but the port calls were short.

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, silkworms said:

Megabear, if you want a superior deluxe on Azura on D Deck (good cabin)

on 2 June for two weeks, I am just about to cancel to release this

cabin.

 

Azura, in my opinion, after Xmas cruise on her, is way below Princess

and Celebrity.

 

PM me if you wish to know when I will cancel.

 

Terri

Thanks Terri. Yes, your sentiments on Azura are being mirrored by most and I think it may be time to say auvoir to her on this occasion.  We can only manage a week or 10 days due to my friend having an important anniversary in June. Thank you for the offer though. 

Edited February 18, 2022 by Megabear2

[Presto2]

4 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

My friend, who is considerably younger than me at 36, wants to go on a fly cruise with me in June.  She's very keen on cultural activities.  Having travelled very much in those areas I have been looking at offerings from P&O, Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean all of which seem to suit for a 7 night cruise.

 

The ships are Azura, Regal Princess, Celebrity Edge and Wonder of the Seas. I had expected a vast difference in pricing but there is only a couple of hundred pounds in it either way and the latter three are offering all inclusive!  I know Azura very well but have only been on Regal Princess for a 4 day staycation of the other three.  The Edge would be in one of the infinite balcony cabins which get varied reviews.

 

I light of the offers on Princess, Celebrity and RC, what opinions do those who know all these lines have on which may be best of the four for us rather oddly matched friends aged 66 and 36?

 

If anyone has experience of the Edge cabins I'd much appreciate views on them.

 

Riviera deck is all that remains on Azura for the dates we can make. Thanks.

 

Having been on EDGE there really is no contest. She is the most beautiful ship we have ever been on and the dining options / system is brilliant. The main atrium is incredible -- I could go on and on all night but we both agreed that she is just incredible.

In terms of an infinite veranda cabin - we spent 18 months researching this and you will get mixed messages from people. I will be honest and say that we moved from one to an aft cabin with a normal balcony and we were glad that we did as it was a beautiful cabin and huge balcony.

I think anyone from 0 to 100 would like her --- she is real class.

(If you can't tell I am a bit of a fan and if we were able to afford her all the time we would go again any time ..... sadly we have yet to win the lottery ;-))

If you want to ask any questions about the IV cabins please ask as we asked them all when we were planning our cruise. (It was our 25th so it was planning like the D Day Landings)

[Megabear2]

16 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

 

Having been on EDGE there really is no contest. She is the most beautiful ship we have ever been on and the dining options / system is brilliant. The main atrium is incredible -- I could go on and on all night but we both agreed that she is just incredible.

In terms of an infinite veranda cabin - we spent 18 months researching this and you will get mixed messages from people. I will be honest and say that we moved from one to an aft cabin with a normal balcony and we were glad that we did as it was a beautiful cabin and huge balcony.

I think anyone from 0 to 100 would like her --- she is real class.

(If you can't tell I am a bit of a fan and if we were able to afford her all the time we would go again any time ..... sadly we have yet to win the lottery ;-))

If you want to ask any questions about the IV cabins please ask as we asked them all when we were planning our cruise. (It was our 25th so it was planning like the D Day Landings)

Thank you. Because we are booking quite late in the scheme of things we have a choice of only infinite balconies even in concierge or Aqua class.   The ship looks totally beautiful on the videos we have watched.  I'm a bit worried it's not a real balcony.  We thought it might be difficult just being a window effect.  I really like to sit out on my balcony at odd times of the day. 

 

This business of rain shutting the balcony off is rather worrying. Does just a shower do it or is it a total downpour.

 

Do you get the sun the same as a normal balcony or are you sitting indoors?  I was thinking they were like the conservatory suites on Iona but with just a window?

Edited February 18, 2022 by Megabear2

[Presto2]

19 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Thank you. Because we are booking quite late in the scheme of things we have a choice of only infinite balconies even in concierge or Aqua class.   The ship looks totally beautiful on the videos we have watched.  I'm a bit worried it's not a real balcony.  We thought it might be difficult just being a window effect.  I really like to sit out on my balance odd times of the day. 

 

This business of rain shutting the balcony off is rather worrying. Does just a shower do it or is it a total downpour.

 

Do you get the sun the same as a normal balcony or are you sitting indoors?  I was thinking they were like the conservatory suites on Iona but with just a window?

We thought that it was at the Captain's discretion if the windows are locked from the Bridge but they don't close automatically because of rain we don't think. They get the same sun  but they are not like the suites on IONA. Have a look at Youtube. To be honest, we saw loads as we walked past in the morning and the cabins looked lovely. Before the cruise we posted loads on the Celebrity thread and everyone was really helpful answering questions. EDGE was new so no one knew what to expect.

 

Now there will be thousands of people who have sailed on her and I am sure that someone over on the Celebrity board will help. They're a friendly bunch. They also have an excellent thread about cabins at the top of their page which a lovely lady named VTcruiser started and that will give you CC member info re individual cabins ( the pros and cons)

 

I really would give her a go -- she is an experience. The Magic Carpet is awesome .... your jaw will be dropping all through the cruise as you keep finding things that are ..... awesome !!! I can't put in to words what an incredible time we had on her 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by Presto2

[Presto2]

PS What happens with the windows is that it is in 3 halves. The top half can be dropped down to go infront of the bottom half like a balcony or you can have the top part up like a picture window.

Though we moved to an aft cabin we would definitely give an IV cabin a go

[Presto2]

PPS I meant the window was in 2 halves ------- I'm a teacher so saying 3 halves could get me sacked 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 I can't edit it so thought I'd better put the record straight before I am struck off 😉

[Megabear2]

Ha ha.  Sounds very technical.  Thanks for the explanation, I had read if it rained the thing just locked itself. I assume the captain shuts them in inclement weather and seas.

 

My friend is very excited now I've sent her your video!  I think we just might be booking it tomorrow.  Certainly going to be an experience for me the technophobe. Apparently poor old Azura and Regal Princess not having three half windows(!) is a possible deal breaker.

[Presto2]

53 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Ha ha.  Sounds very technical.  Thanks for the explanation, I had read if it rained the thing just locked itself. I assume the captain shuts them in inclement weather and seas.

 

My friend is very excited now I've sent her your video!  I think we just might be booking it tomorrow.  Certainly going to be an experience for me the technophobe. Apparently poor old Azura and Regal Princess not having three half windows(!) is a possible deal breaker.

I am so pleased for you --- she is such an amazing ship. Say hello to the horse sculpture for me. a group of us called him Mr Ed (after the TV show) and as we watched the ship grow from a piece of metal and following her to when she launched just getting on board was amazing.

 

Happy memories

 

Re the eating arrangements. They have 4 main dining rooms that you get as part of the price you paid. They are all slightly different though. They all have the main menu but also a different specialist menu for the venue. One is French, one Italian etc. You can pre book but are also able to book using your phone on their app. It is really easy and soooo simple ... and I am usually useless

 

You can also use your phone app to do things like turn the lights down etc in your cabin ......

 

The tender experience is amazing as the Magic Carpet moves down to the tender deck and you just walk on to the tender ....  go there at night and you hang over the water ..........

 

Any questions please ask ---- I am excited for you x

 

Here is another one

 

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by Presto2

[Presto2]

Hi, notice we are on another board and have no idea where we are but wondering how you have gone on Megabear2