Newbie cruise questions (generic)

[Seat0B]

So following on from my post in 2024 Travel Plans thread, we (Mr Seat 0A and I, plus Seat Sister 1 and hubby, and Seat Sister 2 and hubby) are all celebrating 40 years of marriage in 2024 and are looking at maybe doing a cruise around Norway/Iceland or similar to see the northern lights in celebration. Edited to add: looking to travel September, October, November

We are all cruising newbies, so after my first foray onto the interwebs today, I have a bunch of newbie questions. Thought I’d throw myself out there and see what the hive mind on AFF recommends.

• What are the pluses and minuses of using the cruise line to book airfares. Many are offering deals of “door-to door” or “flight credit”. From what I can read, this doesn’t really look attractive (QF WP here) but am I missing something?
• from reading other threads, it seems people like to arrive at least a day ahead to departure port to avoid stress from delays getting there. That seems very sensible, and given the eyewatering prices quoted I assume most people just make these arrangements themselves and stay somewhere not associated with the cruise lines?
• the “all excursions included” model seems more expensive at first (eg Viking, Silverseas), but then when you see the costs associated with excursions where you lay as you go (eg Hurtigruten), the all included look cheap! A number of these more interesting excursions say they are a,ready so,d out, so I gather that’s just tough luck. What do people think about excursions?
• And would you ever arrange your own excursions - risks, pros, cons?
• It already looks like we may have to go in 2025 instead as 2024 is all but sold out! Really?? Or will spaces keep popping up?
• what advise about selecting a cabin - there re so many choices, it’s head spinning.
• what else should I be thinking about?

thanks, hoping to learn a lot before I make newbie mistakes!

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm a cruise newbie too - about to go on my second one in December. So I won't attempt any advice except to say I was utterly bamboozled by the cruise lines web sites/pricing etc. When I called one and said that I couldn't follow their pricing etc, the guy actually sniffed "Most of our cruisers are returnees ..."

So my advice is to go with a Travel Agent experienced in cruises. I have one, I bet drron has one too. They can talk directly to the cruise people and get specific answers for you. You may get charged a fee, but it will be minute compared to the overall price AND split between 6. They will be able to present options of not only on cruises but also the airfare included/not included issue.

 

[Seat0B]

I'm a cruise newbie too - about to go on my second one in December. So I won't attempt any advice except to say I was utterly bamboozled by the cruise lines web sites/pricing etc. When I called one and said that I couldn't follow their pricing etc, the guy actually sniffed "Most of our cruisers are returnees ..."

So my advice is to go with a Travel Agent experienced in cruises. I have one, I bet drron has one too. They can talk directly to the cruise people and get specific answers for you. You may get charged a fee, but it will be minute compared to the overall price AND split between 6. They will be able to present options of not only on cruises but also the airfare included/not included issue.

Hey thanks @RooFlyer I’d be happy for your recommendation if you want to PM me!

 

[drron]

1./The plus side to using the cruise line to book airfares were because of the bulk sales they could negotiate cheaper fares. However covid has changed all that as demand outstrips supply on airlines so you read even more horror stories of people's flights organised by their cruise line than people complaining about QF. Of course a lot are Americans who can't get their preferred airlines , connections or times. It's simple. they fit as many as they can on the same flights so that when things get rescheduled it's easier for the cruise line to get replacement flights but those are hardly ever the best way from A to B.

2./ We always go early to the departure port as we would like to loook around. not that unusual if going with the cruise company you are bussed from the airport to the ship. On our last 2 cruises we also wanted to be early to do our covid tests so as no last minute hiccups. At this stage we don't have to worry about that. We always make our own arrangements for these pre cruise visits. we often also stay on in the arrival port.

3./ Excursions are often the greatest source of complaints. Yes the included excursions seem to make it more expensive though we are basically only sailing Silverseas and remember the days that apart from the expedition ships all excursions you had to pay for and they weren't exactly cheap. So we are happy with the current arrangement.
Often whether the excursion is really bad or excellent depends on the guide. A wonderful example occurred on our last cruise in Zadar. There were 4 busloads that did the same excursion but rotating when the visited each stop - there were 4. The group I was in thought it was one of the best excursions we had ever done. The other 3 groups rated it poorly. Of course it helped that we had a young guide whose parents lived in Zadar old town so he took us home. We spent longer than any of the other groups there and saw a lot more.
It also helped that his brother was the Croatian minister for tourism Infrastructure so for some unknown reason we had an extra wine to tast at the vineyards plus some nice snacks.
So hard to rate individual excursions as there are so many variables. Sometimes even though the excursions are free we enjoy just getting off the ship and wandering around on our own.

4./ Yes we have organised our own excursions at times after a lot of research. The best for that was in St. Petersburg where the tour company came highly recommended and had virtually all 5 star reviews on TA.

5./ I have looked at the Silversea options from August to November 2024 and most still available
The big negative is you must make sure you are back on time to the ship. They will wait if one of their tours is late but not a private tour.

I have looked at the Silversea site and many of their cruises August to November 2024 are still available including a couple of northern Lights cruise up the Norwegian coast. So I wouldn't give up. And one of them is actually at the lower end of Silversea fares.

6./ cabins. Depends entirely on what you want. I would say there are no bad cabins on the newer Silversea classic ships with the smallest cabin 31 sq metres. Can't give you any idea about other lines. Once we cruised Silversea it just suited us. But there are quite a few out there who don't like it.

Anyway hopefully tomorrow I will find time to start up a conversation with you as to particular Silversea cruises,a low down on the cabins and a couple of ways to save a few dollars.

 

[Pushka]

There are a few cruisers here with a real variety of cruise line experience.

Airfares and timing. I always book my own as we like to arrive a few days ahead to time shift and because of family in UK we have unusual itineraries. USA people tend to fly in and fly out so they like to have airfares included by the cruise line, however in recent times, I'm reading of more and more issues of awful schedules, limiting schedules and too little time given for transits, hence missed flights and sometimes even missed cruises. Viking for instance doesn't allow much variation at all. One cruise I booked included flights and I asked for this to be deleted and they reduced the cost of the cruise for us. As @drron said - Covid changed everything. Add in extreme weather events = assume delays. We are doing a river cruise in December from Amsterdam to Basel that departs on Sunday. We are arriving into Amsterdam on Weds before. We are factoring in fog delays in Dubai and just delays. It means we get to see Amsterdam in winter. We look to see where the cruise line might put up people and see if that works for us. If not we book our own.

Excursions. We've probably booked more of our own excursions than taken those of the cruise ship line and this has always worked very well for us. Check reviews on Trip Advisor and Viator and do the research. Usually privately booked excursions are MUCH cheaper and smaller than the 28 seater provided by the cruise lines. Sometimes you have to take the cruise line trip as there's no private equivalent. Is there a risk of being left behind? Not if you've booked a company that gets cruise Shore Excursion reviews.

Spaces may keep cropping up but then you might need more than the usual number of cancellations. Yes, cruises are very popular overseas and they returned after Covid almost a year before they returned to Oz, which was just last year.

Selecting a cabin. This will vary hugely. We don't book suites usually (but we did over Christmas) so just the basic cabin but always with a balcony. If prone to seasickness then lower deck and midship. Prices are higher for the higher decks for the same size cabin. The more expensive cabins, like suites, provide extras, like laundry, alcohol, and of course larger cabin. But even the basic cabin with a balcony is great. Work out if you want to do laundry, some ships (Viking) have self service laundry, others don't.

 

[drron]

The post from @Pushka got me to explore Viking cruises. Their basic room is 270Sq Feet including the Verandah. A penthouse verandah is 338 sq feet. On Silversea the entry level vista and penthouse cabins ( called suites on Silversea ) are331 sq feet but don't have a verandah. The Silversea verandah suits are 387 sq feet.
Gets interesting to compare at the Viking suite level. their penthouse junior suite is 405 sq feet but the comparable suite level on Silversea is the Silver suite is 785 sq feet. Now that comes with complimentary laundry and premium complimentary wifi.
But all Silversea cabins get equal access to booking excursions and specialty restaurants. They all get a bottle of champagne on boarding with as many replacements as you want in your room fridge.
And the thing that would disqualify Viking from our point of view on the deck plans of the couple of their ships I looked at even the junior suites only had a shower. On our Silversea verandah suites we can have either shower alone or a bath with a separate shower. With my mobility issues a bath is essential for me sometimes.
So for what you get pricing on Silversea v Viking on a like for like basis is very similiar. That was actually an eye opener for me.

 

[Pushka]

8

The post from @Pushka got me to explore Viking cruises. Their basic room is 270Sq Feet including the Verandah. A penthouse verandah is 338 sq feet. On Silversea the entry level vista and penthouse cabins ( called suites on Silversea ) are331 sq feet but don't have a verandah. The Silversea verandah suits are 387 sq feet.
Gets interesting to compare at the Viking suite level. their penthouse junior suite is 405 sq feet but the comparable suite level on Silversea is the Silver suite is 785 sq feet. Now that comes with complimentary laundry and premium complimentary wifi.
But all Silversea cabins get equal access to booking excursions and specialty restaurants. They all get a bottle of champagne on boarding with as many replacements as you want in your room fridge.
And the thing that would disqualify Viking from our point of view on the deck plans of the couple of their ships I looked at even the junior suites only had a shower. On our Silversea verandah suites we can have either shower alone or a bath with a separate shower. With my mobility issues a bath is essential for me sometimes.
So for what you get pricing on Silversea v Viking on a like for like basis is very similiar. That was actually an eye opener for me.

Is price comparable? Agree that the room size is good on silver seas but we don’t actually spend that much time there. So amenities like plenty of available seating is important. And especially as part of a group. I’m not welded to Viking. I do like the Viking ship size but itinerary will always win out for me. And there are some parts of Viking that annoy me greatly.

 

[drron]

8

Is price comparable? Agree that the room size is good on silver seas but we don’t actually spend that much time there. So amenities like plenty of available seating is important. And especially as part of a group. I’m not welded to Viking. I do like the Viking ship size but itinerary will always win out for me. And there are some parts of Viking that annoy me greatly.

Actually some times SS was cheaper.

 

[JohnK]

Daughter has been mentioning the $90/night, 10 night P&O cruises advertised for next year. Wife is also interested and wants us to go.

I note this offer is for quad room which means we'd have to pay 4 x $900 for the 10 night cruise as we'd not want to share with a stranger.

I'm assuming this is shared bathroom? And I think there's also onboard credit included? Not ready to book but looks like lots to read up.

 

[smckay]

We were on a cruise last year on Ponant, doing the North West Passage. If cost is not an issue you could research them (and if you are referred by an existing pax there are discounts to be had).
The charter flight on this cruise had a technical issue, meaning it couldn't leave Italy for Paris. 9 hours later a substitute plane arrived and they embarked at 19:30, for an 18:00 departure. No food, drink or info was given it seems.
So that's one issue with included flights, they are charter and they are not user-friendly. The one we did in Antarctica had the charter flight leaving Buenos Aires at 5am; meaning a 3am wake up call for pax.

We've always made our own way, arriving at least 2 days early. Gives you a chance to rest, see the sights and leisurely make your way to the ship.

Excursions - the good companies provide them. Ponant did the lot. P&O do not. If you are late on an excursion the ship waits for you on an included excursion. If you are late on a private excursion, the ship sails away right on 16:00 and you have to chase it. Typically though, the excursions not included are expensive.

Cabin selection - the more you pay, the more you sway. Whilst probably not an issue on your one, in rough seas you want to be low deck and mid ship. Window or balcony; if the ship has good common area's chances are you won't be in the cabin. For Northern Lights you want to be top deck, no superstructure in the way so you can watch the lights.
Both cruises we did a balcony was included so we had access to outside. But for mammal watching they don't just hang on one side of the ship so you want to be aft or forward (you'll get to know and love those terms).

Other things to consider is the drinks side. All-inclusive or included with meals will be better value than paying for a package. Most packages require both parties to take it up and at about 70 bucks per day per person, that's a stonking lot of cash and booze going down the toilet.
Different restaurant's are good for variety.
Smaller ships - less than 400 pax - will get you better comfort, movement around the ship, meals and experience. Unless you wish to party with the other 1,200 of your new BFF's.

Look at things like gym, spa, entertainment. The last cruise only 2 treadmills were working, then one was broken by a marathon runner who *had* to run 20km per day. Apart from tying up a treadmill for hours it meant others were disadvantaged. In this post-covid era some spas and salons are not open.
Look at gratuities - you will be expected to pay about $10USD/day/person to crew. Some ships state it's not expected and totally optional. Others, well, they just add it to your room tab.

On the positive side, that is a cruise that you will totally enjoy, you will see some very old ice and glaciers and when you are gliding silently down a Fjord in absolute awe, you won't give a damn about the delayed flight or economy class seats only.

 

[Seat0B]

1./The plus side to using the cruise line to book airfares were because of the bulk sales they could negotiate cheaper fares. However covid has changed all that as demand outstrips supply on airlines so you read even more horror stories of people's flights organised by their cruise line than people complaining about QF. Of course a lot are Americans who can't get their preferred airlines , connections or times. It's simple. they fit as many as they can on the same flights so that when things get rescheduled it's easier for the cruise line to get replacement flights but those are hardly ever the best way from A to B.

2./ We always go early to the departure port as we would like to loook around. not that unusual if going with the cruise company you are bussed from the airport to the ship. On our last 2 cruises we also wanted to be early to do our covid tests so as no last minute hiccups. At this stage we don't have to worry about that. We always make our own arrangements for these pre cruise visits. we often also stay on in the arrival port.

3./ Excursions are often the greatest source of complaints. Yes the included excursions seem to make it more expensive though we are basically only sailing Silverseas and remember the days that apart from the expedition ships all excursions you had to pay for and they weren't exactly cheap. So we are happy with the current arrangement.
Often whether the excursion is really bad or excellent depends on the guide. A wonderful example occurred on our last cruise in Zadar. There were 4 busloads that did the same excursion but rotating when the visited each stop - there were 4. The group I was in thought it was one of the best excursions we had ever done. The other 3 groups rated it poorly. Of course it helped that we had a young guide whose parents lived in Zadar old town so he took us home. We spent longer than any of the other groups there and saw a lot more.
It also helped that his brother was the Croatian minister for tourism Infrastructure so for some unknown reason we had an extra wine to tast at the vineyards plus some nice snacks.
So hard to rate individual excursions as there are so many variables. Sometimes even though the excursions are free we enjoy just getting off the ship and wandering around on our own.

4./ Yes we have organised our own excursions at times after a lot of research. The best for that was in St. Petersburg where the tour company came highly recommended and had virtually all 5 star reviews on TA.

5./ I have looked at the Silversea options from August to November 2024 and most still available
The big negative is you must make sure you are back on time to the ship. They will wait if one of their tours is late but not a private tour.

I have looked at the Silversea site and many of their cruises August to November 2024 are still available including a couple of northern Lights cruise up the Norwegian coast. So I wouldn't give up. And one of them is actually at the lower end of Silversea fares.

6./ cabins. Depends entirely on what you want. I would say there are no bad cabins on the newer Silversea classic ships with the smallest cabin 31 sq metres. Can't give you any idea about other lines. Once we cruised Silversea it just suited us. But there are quite a few out there who don't like it.

Anyway hopefully tomorrow I will find time to start up a conversation with you as to particular Silversea cruises,a low down on the cabins and a couple of ways to save a few dollars.

Thanks @drron!

 

[Seat0B]

8

Is price comparable? Agree that the room size is good on silver seas but we don’t actually spend that much time there. So amenities like plenty of available seating is important. And especially as part of a group. I’m not welded to Viking. I do like the Viking ship size but itinerary will always win out for me. And there are some parts of Viking that annoy me greatly.

Thanks @Pushka for your earlier post and advice. What parts of Viking annoy you If you don’t mind saying? I must admit we have sort of narrowed down to Viking or Silverseas already based on itinerary and general sense of inclusions.

 

[Seat0B]

We were on a cruise last year on Ponant, doing the North West Passage. If cost is not an issue you could research them (and if you are referred by an existing pax there are discounts to be had).
The charter flight on this cruise had a technical issue, meaning it couldn't leave Italy for Paris. 9 hours later a substitute plane arrived and they embarked at 19:30, for an 18:00 departure. No food, drink or info was given it seems.
So that's one issue with included flights, they are charter and they are not user-friendly. The one we did in Antarctica had the charter flight leaving Buenos Aires at 5am; meaning a 3am wake up call for pax.

We've always made our own way, arriving at least 2 days early. Gives you a chance to rest, see the sights and leisurely make your way to the ship.

Excursions - the good companies provide them. Ponant did the lot. P&O do not. If you are late on an excursion the ship waits for you on an included excursion. If you are late on a private excursion, the ship sails away right on 16:00 and you have to chase it. Typically though, the excursions not included are expensive.

Cabin selection - the more you pay, the more you sway. Whilst probably not an issue on your one, in rough seas you want to be low deck and mid ship. Window or balcony; if the ship has good common area's chances are you won't be in the cabin. For Northern Lights you want to be top deck, no superstructure in the way so you can watch the lights.
Both cruises we did a balcony was included so we had access to outside. But for mammal watching they don't just hang on one side of the ship so you want to be aft or forward (you'll get to know and love those terms).

Other things to consider is the drinks side. All-inclusive or included with meals will be better value than paying for a package. Most packages require both parties to take it up and at about 70 bucks per day per person, that's a stonking lot of cash and booze going down the toilet.
Different restaurant's are good for variety.
Smaller ships - less than 400 pax - will get you better comfort, movement around the ship, meals and experience. Unless you wish to party with the other 1,200 of your new BFF's.

Look at things like gym, spa, entertainment. The last cruise only 2 treadmills were working, then one was broken by a marathon runner who *had* to run 20km per day. Apart from tying up a treadmill for hours it meant others were disadvantaged. In this post-covid era some spas and salons are not open.
Look at gratuities - you will be expected to pay about $10USD/day/person to crew. Some ships state it's not expected and totally optional. Others, well, they just add it to your room tab.

On the positive side, that is a cruise that you will totally enjoy, you will see some very old ice and glaciers and when you are gliding silently down a Fjord in absolute awe, you won't give a damn about the delayed flight or economy class seats only.

Thanks @smckay - your advice re drinks is very welcome, as well as sea sickness avoidance. We do have 2 who suffer, so that may become very valuable indeed! And yes we are worried about thousands of people all being in the same place at once as we usually travel independently and avoid crowds and “popular” places at “popular” times like the plague. So smaller ships are definitely the go for us, I think.

 

[Seat0B]

I’ve found a few YouTube videos etc on cruising, but are there any Facebook groups etc that people would recommend to learn more about it all?

 

[VPS]

This was the drinks package on my NCL cruise

so $109 US per day plus 20% gratuity so that's $130.8 US which is almost $200AU a day.

My drinks package was included but there is no way I would spend that much on a drinks package

 

[Pushka]

Thanks @Pushka for your earlier post and advice. What parts of Viking annoy you If you don’t mind saying? I must admit we have sort of narrowed down to Viking or Silverseas already based on itinerary and general sense of inclusions.

Viking has this 'thing' where they say they will look after you. Which is largely true, but if you really want information then this is difficult to obtain Pre trip. So kind of treat you like mushrooms, or older folk whom they think can't think for themselves. So you'd ask 'is a port a tender' and their response will be, 'don't worry we will sort it out' when they actually already know (and this is important to know if booking a private shoreex. ). The onboard crew are much more helpful. Perhaps the other is as drron said, that higher category cabins get first dibs on excursions. We tend to book private ones where possible and which work better and are cheaper. The onboard crew are excellent.

The drinks package for Viking is $35AUD a day but they provide free alcohol during lunch and dinner and the pours are very generous and last for a few hours and also free barista lattes etc as well tea. The suites get alcohol in their stateroom, topped up everyday for free, lower cabins get soft drinks and nibbles replenished daily for free. We had many sea days last trip so bought the package. The river prices are in euro and seem much more expensive.

Facebook groups - I'm in several. One called Viking Cruise Fans is pretty good.

 

[drron]

Thanks @drron!

Sorry I will get around to giving you a PM. just a few extra things happened in the last 2 days. Nothing bad in fact very good as we are getting a couple of things fixed after waiting a while for action.

 

[Seat0B]

Sorry I will get around to giving you a PM. just a few extra things happened in the last 2 days. Nothing bad in fact very good as we are getting a couple of things fixed after waiting a while for action.

Thanks - not really urgent at my end so please don’t feel pressured. Glad you’re getting things done!

This was the drinks package on my NCL cruise

so $109 US per day plus 20% gratuity so that's $130.8 US which is almost $200AU a day.

My drinks package was included but there is no way I would spend that much on a drinks package
View attachment 338683

Is there any way to find out the cost of drinks on board before making the decision on drinks packages?

For example, I would probably have 2 coffees or more per day, so coffee package is probably worth it. For alcohol, I’m a very modest drinker and would call 3 drinks in a day a pretty heavy day - some days I just don’t drink at all. So how would I find out what that would cost to pay as you go for days when I might want a glass or 2 of bubbles?

And re the water - if I just want to drink water with a meal, do I have to buy the water package or is water free?

Sorry, so many questions. Cruising seems very opaque to me.

 

[RooFlyer]

One thing I've learned about drinks packages - if one in a cabin wants it, both pax in the cabin must take, and both pay, even if the other is teetotal.

Then there is the quality of the booze you get over what's 'included'. My first cruise, on Ponant in Australian waters last year, I hadn't heard of 'drinks package' beforehand (obviously didn't hang out in the right forums!). So first day, I was offered package, and as I had a Virtuoso credit for exact same amount (200 euro for about 10 days), I grabbed it. I wouldn't do it again on same cruise - the quality of the 'package' booze just wasn't much above the included booze - in fact some commented on my TR that the package Champagne was inferior to the included stuff!

The good stuff, for dinner wine for instance, you still had to buy off the menu, just like any other restaurant.

Others might say if all that is normal on other cruises/cruise lines.

We've always made our own way, arriving at least 2 days early. Gives you a chance to rest, see the sights and leisurely make your way to the ship.

I booked my Antarctic cruise this December towards the end of last year, when 'it' and testing was still a thing. So as soon as available, I booked my flights to Chile, arriving a week prior - I was planning to hole up in some remote Andean mountain village. Now I have a week in the Chilean vineyards

 

[tgh]

Lots of helpful info here ; cruising "nous" tends to be osmotic as there is so much to learn and experience that a few words here will alway barely scratch the surface.
We started out on a mainstream line , tried Seabourn and then settled as SilverSea regulars, mainly for the high quality expedition cruises offered.
For me the primary benefit of all inclusive lines is that the whole day is seamless , I abhor having to assess a cost value of anything once aboard.

Champagne for/with breakfast in your suite comes as a bottle, not a glass..
Coffee (real) anywhere anytime.. in fact the same goes for champagne really.. you can live on the stuff and they will not turn a hair.
I always have a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice on wakening..it is placed in the fridge by the butler late at night so not perfectly fresh but from a real orange so near enough…
The included wines on SS and Sb are variable, but once a nice example is found it can be requested at the start of the meal service if tonights offering does not suit. Polite but firm opinions in this area always result in sommelier interest and better plonk in the glass...
Historically the mark up on the premium wine list has been fair although history is not a great guide as the lines are in different territory post Covid.

Finally.. Post Civid all cruise lines are hocked up to their eyeballs and servicing a truly massive debt load.
They have to find a way to survive AND pay the piper.. to that end the whole process is finely calculated to the last half a cent ..Caveat Emptor