Really helpful vlogs - thank you! Just booked my first Cruise at end of November, just for a cruise experience, not too bothered about the ports, just for a break and some fun.
The first cruise I went on many years ago was the CMV Marco Polo, a smaller ship a little worn, but we loved it. We did a few CMV cruise before they went bust and very happy with them. In more recent years we have been with Fred Olsen, they are smaller ships, best way of describing them is like a lovely country hotel, a little faded grandeur, great service and great food, less of the glitz. We are cruising on the Iona in August and expecting the ship to be more like a city hotel more glitz, more people and maybe service more basic, I know that P&O only service the cabins once a day and there's no turn down service in the evening. It will be interesting to compare. From the 7th May P&O new alcohol rules came in, you are allowed to take up to 1 litre of wine or champagne, but no spirits or beers as previous allowed.
We have our very first cruise in June on the Iona and your videos have helped us a great deal, and we have discovered that you simply cannot do enough research, resulting in you feeling you have taken the cruise countless times already. Some of the tips we have taken onboard (no pun intended) are : * Use Bluetooth luggage tags. * logging onto the ships wifi whilst waiting outside to embark to book stuff such as restaurants and shows etc. * checking travel insurance to make sure it has missed port cover so should the ship not be able to dock at any ports you get some money back and this is per person too not per cabin. *Some of the paid for restaurants do have food which is covered by the cruise fare meaning you can eat there but not need to pay anything extra. *The many Facebook groups which will show you what each and every cabin looks like onboard - the most up-to-date menus - the latest show news etc. *How not to worry too much about dress codes. *Which sea sickness preventative aids are worth looking into, including the scopoderm patches which last up to 72 hrs before needing to be changed (these are what we are going to be using). And that is just the tip of the Iceberg...as Captain Smith once said.
Thanks for all of your videos we got back from our first cruise and Thursday and loved it now have the bug. Went Brugges and Cherbourg your tips really were useful. Thanks again
Thanks so much for your extensive review of the NCL Prima! I thoroughly enjoyed watching and learned so many little tips for our trip! Tomorrow is check in day and we are so excited! We will be traveling from Canada with a group of friends to London for a few nights first and then off to Southampton to board the Prima. Still not sure about that slide...I'm with you Thanks again for all the time it took doing the videos!
Great video. Some great tips there. I think you can find a positive experience anywhere if you do your thing! We've totally changed our mind on big ships now! Cheers guys 🍻
We just did a week on the MSC Euribia. Lovely ship and facilities. However, we both came back with COVID. Huge viral loads. Even with all our jabs. Now looking at a summer one with a balcony (rather than inside). Love the channel.
Hi Stacey and Kev. Hope you are both doing well and enjoying your east coast adventure. You are correct. The same cruise line can have a totally different experience depending what the ship offers, where it's going and the time of year. Important to do research and try different lines. Thanks for all the tips and the hard work that goes into putting these video's together. ❤❤
Just back from Iona on a northern europe and loved your blogs and videos as it was my partners first cruise and mine on P&O - the service on any atrium level was awful and slow and only good service was in the club house on deck 8. The buffet was awful also but loved your promotion for the quays as we agree the fish was lovely. we look forward to your next adventures - many thanks
Helpful video as always, guys. As others said, gratuties can be removed by politely asking at Guest Services. You are right about thoroughly researching beforehand as these days, there's plenty of info at hand.
Excellent advice for new cruisers, I think lots of people believe a cruise is a generic experience and you pointed out the things to look out for between lines and ships as they can be very different
Virgin are great as there are no hidden/unexpected costs. All food (apart from a v small number of individual menu items), soft drinks, gratuities and wifi are included. They sometimes include shuttle buses from the port to the main tourist areas too. Also, you don't get hassled at all to buy drinks packages, specialty dining, photos, overpriced tat in the shops etc. and there are no announcements urging you to spend more money either.
I get dressed up for weddings and funerals, Kev and Stacey. Don't care for either! 🤣🤣Of course the weddings are happier occasions. We also would enjoy a cruise with less children. (me anyway, Kathy loves kids) I always feel that we've been there, done that, I see no reason to repeat! Until grandchildren which we don't have yet. Some great tips as always! We'd enjoy some of the excursions. Loved the video!
Excellent video guys. If you have medical concerns please ask as many questions as possible about what support and access is available onboard and be completely honest about your needs. If neccesary book through a specialist agency.
On drinks packages: When you see the prices online, please note that they don't include mandatory gratuity. MSC for example +15% in Europe, +18% in US. Also count in some "luxuries" that you get for "free". For me good example is that I get cappuccino instead of regular coffee in breakfast. I get bottled juices. I get water bottles that you can take with you to your room and to ports. These add up for me a significant amount, but I could live without, getting water from Buffet to own bottle for example. But all of these make my time onboard more luxury. Also in Main Dining Room water is not always included. If you are close in your calculation then get it. Drink prices is one less thing to worry about. If you have a package, its possible to cruise with 0 spending onboard.
Great video guys, such good humour as always. The best part about cruising is the planning - I love it. If you're not a planner maybe just cruise with someone who is and we'll sort it all 😂
We are oldies & doing our first cruse in June on the MSC world Europa 10 days in the med! We are only sticking to the buffet as we both don’t eat much, question can we book for one speciality or do you have to take a package interested in doing the steak 🥩 house ??
Cheers guys took on board all your advice and doing are first cruise with P&O in May to Norway 🇳🇴 can't wait 👌👍🏻
@@louisaL1980 iona 👌
Really helpful vlogs - thank you! Just booked my first Cruise at end of November, just for a cruise experience, not too bothered about the ports, just for a break and some fun.
The first cruise I went on many years ago was the CMV Marco Polo, a smaller ship a little worn, but we loved it. We did a few CMV cruise before they went bust and very happy with them. In more recent years we have been with Fred Olsen, they are smaller ships, best way of describing them is like a lovely country hotel, a little faded grandeur, great service and great food, less of the glitz. We are cruising on the Iona in August and expecting the ship to be more like a city hotel more glitz, more people and maybe service more basic, I know that P&O only service the cabins once a day and there's no turn down service in the evening. It will be interesting to compare.
From the 7th May P&O new alcohol rules came in, you are allowed to take up to 1 litre of wine or champagne, but no spirits or beers as previous allowed.
We have our very first cruise in June on the Iona and your videos have helped us a great deal, and we have discovered that you simply cannot do enough research, resulting in you feeling you have taken the cruise countless times already.
Some of the tips we have taken onboard (no pun intended) are :
* Use Bluetooth luggage tags.
* logging onto the ships wifi whilst waiting outside to embark to book stuff such as restaurants and shows etc.
* checking travel insurance to make sure it has missed port cover so should the ship not be able to dock at any ports you get some money back and this is per person too not per cabin.
*Some of the paid for restaurants do have food which is covered by the cruise fare meaning you can eat there but not need to pay anything extra.
*The many Facebook groups which will show you what each and every cabin looks like onboard - the most up-to-date menus - the latest show news etc.
*How not to worry too much about dress codes.
*Which sea sickness preventative aids are worth looking into, including the scopoderm patches which last up to 72 hrs before needing to be changed (these are what we are going to be using).
And that is just the tip of the Iceberg...as Captain Smith once said.
Some great tips there
We have carried out 25 cruises
But your vlogs have helped us out many times
About certain things we didn’t know about
Great help
Cheers
Thanks for all of your videos we got back from our first cruise and Thursday and loved it now have the bug. Went Brugges and Cherbourg your tips really were useful. Thanks again
Thanks and glad you enjoyed your cruise 👍
Thanks so much for your extensive review of the NCL Prima! I thoroughly enjoyed watching and learned so many little tips for our trip! Tomorrow is check in day and we are so excited! We will be traveling from Canada with a group of friends to London for a few nights first and then off to Southampton to board the Prima. Still not sure about that slide...I'm with you Thanks again for all the time it took doing the videos!
Thanks and hope all of you have an amazing time. Let us know how you got on when you get back 😁
Thanks again guys 😁
Off on arvia in April, so will be rewatching all of those vlogs 👍
Great video. Some great tips there. I think you can find a positive experience anywhere if you do your thing! We've totally changed our mind on big ships now! Cheers guys 🍻
Thanks so much
This was great, you guys, thank you!🎉❤
We just did a week on the MSC Euribia. Lovely ship and facilities. However, we both came back with COVID. Huge viral loads. Even with all our jabs. Now looking at a summer one with a balcony (rather than inside). Love the channel.
Thanks so much, Shame you ended up with Covid but hope you're feeling better now 😊
Hi Stacey and Kev. Hope you are both doing well and enjoying your east coast adventure. You are correct. The same cruise line can have a totally different experience depending what the ship offers, where it's going and the time of year. Important to do research and try different lines. Thanks for all the tips and the hard work that goes into putting these video's together. ❤❤
Thanks MaryAnn
Just back from Iona on a northern europe and loved your blogs and videos as it was my partners first cruise and mine on P&O - the service on any atrium level was awful and slow and only good service was in the club house on deck 8. The buffet was awful also but loved your promotion for the quays as we agree the fish was lovely. we look forward to your next adventures - many thanks
Helpful video as always, guys. As others said, gratuties can be removed by politely asking at Guest Services. You are right about thoroughly researching beforehand as these days, there's plenty of info at hand.
Excellent advice for new cruisers, I think lots of people believe a cruise is a generic experience and you pointed out the things to look out for between lines and ships as they can be very different
Excellent tips
Great vlog as per usual.
Virgin are great as there are no hidden/unexpected costs. All food (apart from a v small number of individual menu items), soft drinks, gratuities and wifi are included. They sometimes include shuttle buses from the port to the main tourist areas too. Also, you don't get hassled at all to buy drinks packages, specialty dining, photos, overpriced tat in the shops etc. and there are no announcements urging you to spend more money either.
Virgin sounds great 👍
I get dressed up for weddings and funerals, Kev and Stacey. Don't care for either! 🤣🤣Of course the weddings are happier occasions. We also would enjoy a cruise with less children. (me anyway, Kathy loves kids) I always feel that we've been there, done that, I see no reason to repeat! Until grandchildren which we don't have yet. Some great tips as always! We'd enjoy some of the excursions. Loved the video!
Thanks so much Dave and Kathy. As soon as we are home we'll catch up with what you have been up to. Hope you're both well 😁😘
You can remove gratitutes
Excellent video guys. If you have medical concerns please ask as many questions as possible about what support and access is available onboard and be completely honest about your needs. If neccesary book through a specialist agency.
On drinks packages: When you see the prices online, please note that they don't include mandatory gratuity. MSC for example +15% in Europe, +18% in US. Also count in some "luxuries" that you get for "free". For me good example is that I get cappuccino instead of regular coffee in breakfast. I get bottled juices. I get water bottles that you can take with you to your room and to ports. These add up for me a significant amount, but I could live without, getting water from Buffet to own bottle for example. But all of these make my time onboard more luxury. Also in Main Dining Room water is not always included. If you are close in your calculation then get it. Drink prices is one less thing to worry about. If you have a package, its possible to cruise with 0 spending onboard.
Great tips 👍
Great video guys, such good humour as always. The best part about cruising is the planning - I love it. If you're not a planner maybe just cruise with someone who is and we'll sort it all 😂
Thanks so much
We are oldies & doing our first cruse in June on the MSC world Europa 10 days in the med! We are only sticking to the buffet as we both don’t eat much, question can we book for one speciality or do you have to take a package interested in doing the steak 🥩 house ??
You can book for one once onboard, we could only book packages beforehand 👍