Which cruise line do you use ?

[Wannabee]

Yeah i liked it, weather was only mid 20s and overcast quite a bit of the time, warmer, sunnier weather would have made me feel more like swimming etc, confirmed for me once again that i prefer to travel to places in their spring/summers than autumn/winters.... But yeah ship was good, food reasonable, reasonable price for it all etc... Enchanment of the Sea looks pretty small to some of those 158,000 behemoths RC is building, bumper cars and roller skating rinks and all on board, maybe another time to some other destinations, but will probably do another cruise...

Our weather was a little ordinary too, so much that the cruise days were swapped around with an at sea day at the start instead of the end. Weather in Nassau was good, spent the day at Atlantis water park and a look around the shops later. Weather was perfect at CocoCay. What made the whole trip was the $55 a day premium drinks package, particularly when the drinks at CocoCay are included too as they are just brought from the ship.

We liked it so much that we have booked another next year on Oasis of the Seas for a 7 night Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. I didn't think I would ever like cruising after 12 years in the Navy, but after our first one, a 3 night comedy cruise out of Sydney, we knew we liked it

 

[Fifa]

It's great to hear you say that. I've just booked with them. I had to cancel an earlier cruise with them and thanks to currency fluctuations I actually received back more than the deposit I'd paid.

They are not able to book Princess cruises though, but are able to cunard and celebrity and others.

I have booked two Princess cruises with VTG about three years ago.
Both cruises were on Diamond Princess - one was Bangkok to Sydney and another Sydney to Auckland.

 

[Pushka]

I have booked two Princess cruises with VTG about three years ago.
Both cruises were on Diamond Princess - one was Bangkok to Sydney and another Sydney to Auckland.

Yes, they asked me if I'd booked Princess with them in the last couple of years as they said they could help me then, but I hadn't. Apparently there's a new ruling out now.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Princess is good but whatever company you choose for New Zealand cruises the vast majority of passengers will be 50+. A younger crowd will appear on the pacific island itineraries.

 

[get me outta here]

Thanks everyone, I'm still searching; some of them have made contact and I'm following up and will start to make direct approached soon. I looked at the erwards as Noreen alerted me to via Virgin site and did not see VTG, but there was another agent, I forget which at the moment. Being on a budget but flexible, I'm willing to wait till the last moment. On my one other last minute experience, 10 days out seems to be most comfortable for them and me.

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Thanks everyone, I'm still searching; some of them have made contact and I'm following up and will start to make direct approached soon. I looked at the erwards as Noreen alerted me to via Virgin site and did not see VTG, but there was another agent, I forget which at the moment. Being on a budget but flexible, I'm willing to wait till the last moment. On my one other last minute experience, 10 days out seems to be most comfortable for them and me.

Come to think of it I used this link Cruisepilot - We have 1000s of cheap cruises available for you and then when the booking process was being finalised it was done by the other company I mentioned ..they must be linked somehow, but I know I earned a Velocity Points ....Good Luck

 

[Magpie10]

Have you had a look at Holland America MS Oosterdam is cruising from Sydney on 14 day to Auckland, did this myself a couple of years ago and waited until 3 weeks out to book and grabbed an absolute bargain, risk is cruise will fill and you miss out, but that is the risk you take leaving it until the last minute. PM me and I will advise of website I kept checking until the deal was to good to risk missing out.

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Our weather was a little ordinary too, so much that the cruise days were swapped around with an at sea day at the start instead of the end. Weather in Nassau was good, spent the day at Atlantis water park and a look around the shops later. Weather was perfect at CocoCay. What made the whole trip was the $55 a day premium drinks package, particularly when the drinks at CocoCay are included too as they are just brought from the ship.

We liked it so much that we have booked another next year on Oasis of the Seas for a 7 night Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. I didn't think I would ever like cruising after 12 years in the Navy, but after our first one, a 3 night comedy cruise out of Sydney, we knew we liked it

I am sure you will love the Oasis we cruised with sister ship The Allure and it was amazing , hoping to do another one in the future

 

[NSWP]

We prefer Princess cruises, done about a dozen with them and got to Elite in their Captains Circle Club, which gives us complimentary laundry, internet, few drinks, handy for long cruises. Good middle of the road cruise line.

 

[Atleastonce]

Our weather was a little ordinary too, so much that the cruise days were swapped around with an at sea day at the start instead of the end. Weather in Nassau was good, spent the day at Atlantis water park and a look around the shops later. Weather was perfect at CocoCay. What made the whole trip was the $55 a day premium drinks package, particularly when the drinks at CocoCay are included too as they are just brought from the ship.

We liked it so much that we have booked another next year on Oasis of the Seas for a 7 night Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. I didn't think I would ever like cruising after 12 years in the Navy, but after our first one, a 3 night comedy cruise out of Sydney, we knew we liked it

We just got back from the 4 night enchantment of the seas Bahamas cruise. First time cruise and absolutely loved it. Looking to book another out of Southampton middle of this year, north to Finland.

 

[casanovawa]

Finally got around to writing up a quick little cruise review of my cruise on the Royal Caribbean Line in November if anyone would like to know about it, feel free to ask any questions if you want more info...

Cruise Review – 4 nights Orlando (Port Canaveral) to the Bahamas | Life's To Be Lived.com

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Finally got around to writing up a quick little cruise review of my cruise on the Royal Caribbean Line in November if anyone would like to know about it, feel free to ask any questions if you want more info...

Cruise Review – 4 nights Orlando (Port Canaveral) to the Bahamas | Life's To Be Lived.com

Thanks for the review, we did the 7 day Eastern Caribbean on the Allure of the Seas this time last year and really enjoyed it but discovered that 2 days at sea without sighting land was more than enough for us, but has not put us off and in fact on the advice of some regular cruisers from the USA and Canada that we met we put a $100 deposit down for a future cruise, just need to work out the time to do it. We found Nassau to be just OK and like yoiu did our own thing and walked around and shopped, think you would need to be careful in some areas.

 

[casanovawa]

I did end up walking a lot further than I thought i would down all sorts of roads... Not the most remarkable city, but yeah 1 day or so was ok for a bit of a looksie... I can see why those big resorts like Atlantis are self contained with not much need to really go out of it by the sounds of it as you probably wouldn't take a week long holiday down there for the city of Nassau on its own... I actually would have loved to have gone diving with some reef sharks or some of the other dive activities they offer down there, but you had to have dived within the last two years and its been like 6 years or so for me, so I need to go do some refreshing of my training before I cruise again...

I did see a cruise that would take you down to St Maarten, which I am keen to visit, and i think that was about 7 days out of Miami, I would consider doing that but I imagine a week on a ship might be getting up towards my limit...

 

[drron]

Wow.We have 30 days onboard coming up at the end of September.And only 120 pax.

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Wow.We have 30 days onboard coming up at the end of September.And only 120 pax.

The Allure had 6000 people on it but to be fair we rarely saw the same people twice and it never felt that big and the Americans cenrtainly know how to move people around

 

[Pushka]

I have 9 days to go until I am onboard Queen Mary 2 for 23 days - rounding Australia, into Malaysia, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Lotsa sea days. I'm excited. :

 

[sinophile888]

I have 9 days to go until I am onboard Queen Mary 2 for 23 days - rounding Australia, into Malaysia, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Lotsa sea days. I'm excited. :

I am so jealous. I was booked on QM2 from Fremantle, return airfares booked, HK hotel booked and yesterday had to cancel it all. Too risky to be away from medical facilities at present with recently diagnosed AF. Hope to keep our booking on another cruise in October.

I hope you really enjoy the cruise.

 

[Pushka]

Oh, I remember you were going too. That is such a bummer so close to departure.

Hopefully you will be on the mend quickly and able to rebook.

 

[Anna]

Old thread, but still an interesting discussion.

Princess gets my vote over Celebrity, NCL, Star Cruises and P&O. IMO Princess outshines all of them for telephone assistance and service both before and after a cruise, less intrusive upselling on board, pax-friendly disembarkation procedures (walk off when you're ready, just as long as it's after the time your bag will be on the pier) and general post-cruise friendliness. On some cruise lines the crew start to treat you like dirt as soon as dinner is over on the final night, but not on Princess (IME anyway).

 

[Pushka]

I am a few weeks shy of going on Celebrity Equinox in the Med. Agree about Celebrity pre service - it is woeful and in one of my queries, was simply wrong. I decided to ignore what they told me I could not do, and all worked out very well. Booked an Aqua class cabin for less than a normal balcony.

I like the Celebrity onboard experience in preference to Princess though. Their occasional deals are excellent value but you need to keep monitoring. They refund much quicker than Princess. Almost booked an Alaskan cruise with Princess but moved to Celebrity again instead. Just because of dates though.

I don't think NCL is my kind of ship though.