50th Birthday Cruise(s)
Saint Anthony was nearly my chosen Saint when I joined the Catholic
Church, although I ended up going with Saint Francis because of his love of
nature. June 13th (Saint
Anthony’s Feast Day) is my birthday.
There are lots of stories I could write relating to this but thought I
would write on cruises as we ended up going on two for my 50th birthday.
This story will not go into detail on the events of the cruises as these
will no doubt be posted later but will be more about the whole thought process
of cruising and whether we would do it again.
I was 50 in 2018 and I wanted to do something memorable to celebrate. As I enjoy travel, a holiday was always going
to be on the cards. My birthday is in
June, but I was living in Australia, Pippi was at college and Ben in School in
UK so to have a holiday with them meant waiting to the end of July/August time.
Good friends of ours, Carl and Jane go cruising a lot and we have had
several conversations about cruising with them.
They love it and most people I have spoken to also have loved the
experience. I was not sure. I liked the idea of seeing lots of places and
only unpacking once but was concerned about seasickness and lots of people in
what seemed like a small place.
I spoke with Pippi and Ben about their ideas and they were happy with
any holiday destiniation. We looked at
Russia but getting visas for us all was a bit of a pain. We considered Romania but had been there for
8 days previously. We thought about Portugal and almost booked it. We spoke about a Mediterranean cruise and
they seemed cool to the idea.
By this point Paul and I were thinking about what to do in June for my
birthday and as the kids did not seem so keen on the cruise, we decided to book
a short cruise from Singapore to Thailand and back – 3 nights, 4 days. When I said this to my kids and suggested we
could go to Portugal instead, they were both disappointed and apparently had
thought the Mediterranean cruise a good idea … So I booked that one as well.
Like us, Carl, and Jane like good food, and had spoken about the high
quality of food and the great service you get on the ships. On our first cruise which was a Royal Caribbean
cruise, the food in the main hall was very average, in fact we paid extra after
the first night to go to the speciality restaurants as it was so disappointing. The ship was a relatively old design with a
shopping arcade running down the middle, there were several pools, lots of bars
including an ‘English pub’ – the Pig and Whistle, a spa (the massage was good),
and lots of entertainment.
Neither my fear of seasickness, nor ‘over-crowding’ were justified but
at the end of the cruise, although I enjoyed it, if had I not already booked
the second one, I would not have done so.
The cruise in August with Pippi and Ben was for 7 nights from Athens to
Barcelona with Princess Cruises. It was
a similar sized ship to the first one, but the layout was much different. There was plenty of space to get away from
everyone, if you wanted to, but also plenty of opportunity to be involved in
all kinds. The food in the main dining
room was amazing, there was nothing else I can say, other than the service was
also out of this world. Breakfast, lunch,
and dinner offered the same quality of food and service. As part of our
package, we had a dinner in one of the speciality restaurants, but the food was
no better – it was still good, but not worth paying the extra for.
The last day from about lunch time, the sea was rough and by evening we
were feeling a little seasick and went to bed early (except for Ben who seemed
to not notice). The cruise was amazing,
we all enjoyed it. There was something
for all of us to do, Ben spent a lot of time in a teenagers club, Pip would
watch films on the deck in the evening, we would all get together for meals,
and for quizzes during the day. It
worked well, and I loved it.
Would I do a cruise again? Yes, although I would want to try to cruise
where the sea is unlikely to be rough
What would I look for? A cruise line with great food and service – check
reviews and ask people (like Carl and Jane) who have cruised regularly.
Tips? Take out the drinks package if you like alcohol, then you drink as
little or as much as you like and not end up with a scary bill at the end. Take
out the photo package, we had so many photo’s taken at professional level on
the second cruise, it was amazing.
Cost? The initial cost of a cruise seems expensive although if you take
in to account that it includes accommodation, all food, all drinks (if you take
out the drinks package) then there are certainly some deals to be had. A great advantage is most of the cost is
upfront. It is quite easy on a city or
beach holiday to not notice how much money you are spending when buying food,
visiting places etc.
Rooms? The cabins are small of course, on both trips we had a cabin with
a balcony which are more expensive, I had said that if we ever cruised again,
that we would not bother with a balcony as we didn’t spend much time out there
at all. However, following the COVID-19 cases
on the cruises where passengers were confined to their rooms, I can see why a
balcony would be a Godsend.
Excursions? This is where we spent more money than we should have, some
excursions were worth it but in some cases, a bit of research beforehand would
have show that we were docked close enough to towns or beaches to not have to spend
the money on an excursion.
Other passengers? I had it in my head that all cruisers would be old …
not the case, the majority were similar ages to us with similar
backgrounds. For some it was the holiday
of a lifetime and for others, they practically lived on cruises, but everyone
we encountered was pleasant and having a good time.
Conclusion, Cruising is a great way to see places quickly. If you go for 10 days to Rome for instance,
you will come away from Rome knowing it relatively well, if you go to Rome for
a few hours on a cruise, you will see enough to decide whether you want to go
back.
It works for families as there is plenty for everyone. The entertainment onboard means that from the
time you get up for breakfast until the time you go to bed, you can be
entertained or find somewhere to chill out.
You can holiday cheaper than going on a cruise of course but at least you
know what you are going to spend with most of it paid upfront.
I would recommend it.
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