cruise

Look at Fred Olsen - we are booking our first cruise tomorrow!

Sounds like a terrific idea. The only thing I would say is that I'd probably try and avoid the Atlantic at that time of the year.

Maybe go for something that is heading for Southern Spain or Greece? You're not going to be guaranteed good weather but you'll give yourselves a fighting chance!

I am booking to go with a recently widowed friend on a cruise. She has been on a few cruises and loves them I have never been on one.
I have agreed to go on a 7 day cruise to try it out, and she has recommended a Norwegian fjord cruise, We are looking at P&O which she said is casual but we are going in June I don’t imagine it will be t shirt weather in December.

Love cruises - you will love it too.
I’ve only been on 4. First with Thomson Cruises, cheap and cheerful……the remaining three with Royal Carribean.
Hopefully, someone with more experience will be here soon, to give you more advice than I can.
The main and first advantage of a cruise is that you see a lot of places in one go
The second is that there’s no set time for meals, that’s if you prefer a buffet. My friends and I loved the fact that we could go in anytime, and there was always something you could eat.
We didn’t like dressing up, so the buffet suited us.
We chose the Balcony option, but for the amount of time, we were on the ship, we may as well have chosen the basic decks 1 or 2.
Actually, the lower decks are more convenient for embarkation.
Good luck with your plans 🚢

A question for those who have been on a cruise - what if you hate it and want to leave early, are you allowed to?

Desdemona

A question for those who have been on a cruise - what if you hate it and want to leave early, are you allowed to?

Of course you could make your way home from a port. We flew home from an earlier port, easy apart from last minute air price.

We cruise with Viking River, in Europe. Wonderful experiences.

We take jeans, no dressing up.

We are first time cruisers, going to Norway in May. We were wondering whether we need to pack fleeces and rainwear. Or will it be warm?

I went to Norway on a cruise in late May 3 years ago. The weather was variable with a couple of very wet days but it was fairly warm. I suggest you take a mixture of clothes. Definitely rain jackets and fleeces with shirts and light jumpers as well. If your trip starts in the UK you can take as much luggage as you wish. I did pack a couple of summer items but only wore them on the ship.

Dawn62 have a look at Marella cruises to the Canary Islands for good weather over Christmas.
They're our favourite cruise line: very friendly relaxed atmosphere, dress up or casual as you wish.
A wide choice of restaurants, bars and buffet, and superb entertainment in the show lounge every evening.

Caribbean at that time of year for decent weather - not Europe

Desdemona

A question for those who have been on a cruise - what if you hate it and want to leave early, are you allowed to?

Who can stop you? ...just get off at the next shore stop with your bag and go ...
Cost you to get home tho

Norther lights cruise on a smaller ship with all balcony, outside cabins?
We’re taking kids and grandchildren ski-ing next Christmas on a once in a lifetime, no expense spared trip to celebrate retirement.
Thinking of a northern lights cruise afterwards to recover 😁 Not into all of the gala shows/dressing up either. Give us room service, a balcony, silence and beautiful scenery gliding by. Fancy one of the Hurtigruten trips.

We have been on several cruises all with P&O. Dressing posh nights….yes. But no pressure to join in. We went to Alta and Tromso one February. Warm clothes needed but it was marvellous. Saw the Norther lights too. Wonderful experience .

If you really want to push the boat out go with Silverseas. Expensive but well worth it.

Also if you only want to go for 7 days you can’t get far and often means the Bsy if Biscay which can be rough in Winter. For some warmth in 7 days a Marella Canaries cruise is perfect. They are also less formal than eg Fred Olsen but in general you can wear whatever you want.

Cruise? Prison with the added danger of drowning.

I would not enjoy going on a huge ship with thousands of people, but I can recommend Fred Olsen. They have smaller ships, and of course less passengers, but also can get into places that the large cruisers cannot. The food was always very good, they had swimming pools , which suited me for some exercise. There was a good choice of things to do, and in particular had very knowledgeable lecturers giving talks about places you were visiting , if you wanted to go to them. The library was very good and a good range of books to chose from. I used to sail my own boat, and enjoyed going up to the observation deck on a night time and looking at the lights etc. You can mix or not as you choose. I went up to the Artic with them , they were excellent .

I can recommend Ambassador cruises - very relaxed, lovely food, friendly staff and good entertainment. No pressure to dress up or join in anything.

We went away last Christmas ... we had 2 days of sunshine and rain and cloud otherwise .. dull Ports of Call , we have decided not to cruise anymore and spend the time in England ....

ArthurAskey

Caribbean at that time of year for decent weather - not Europe

Portugal and Egypt are lovely in winter. Try a small boat river cruise with many stops to explore. Viking River Cruise in Portugal is fascinating.

I can recommend Viking for luxury and relaxation, but when we went on a Mediterranean cruise in March it wasn’t the best weather.

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Our first cruise was a no-fly Christmas/New Year to the Eastern Caribbean in 2000. P&O. m.v.Aurora.
Such a beautiful ship that actually looked like one and didn't resemble a block of flats. It was glorious.

Our two mid-teenage sons were with us and immediately they were recognised by some guys from school who's did the cruise annually. So we had a rule - days and dinner with us and meeting up with their chums after that (although they did sometimes choose to join us after dinner first for the show - they absolutely
l-o-v-ed Tom O'Connor, although they didn't know of him, and came to both his shows).

We absolutely adored the Formal Nights and their wonderful dinners and shows. Even our sons loved donning their dinner suits for the evenings (they still do!) - but they were used to wearing suits for their school uniform which probably helped!

I can't understand why people want to slop around 24-hours a day in jeans and trainers. I want an expensive holiday to be 'special' and entirely different to my usual home life (I will just add though that I've never owned a pair of jeans!).

Just like a weekend away where I like the Country House Hotel experience not a Premier Lodge one!!

Anyway, we were hooked and cruised annually for about 12+ years. Always no-fly as we liked to take all our glad rags with us, and never less than 21-nights. And, anyway, the ship (usually Aurora) was almost as much the destination as the Ports!

But then the ships became SO SO big and the passengers so hoi polloi that we decided enough was enough. We got fed up with noisy drunk passengers, the tattoos (on the women!) and the horrid earrings (on the men!), and their disrespect towards the stewards and crew.

So we transferred our affections to land based holidays on Barbados and where dinner attire in hotels and good restaurants have a strict dress code of 'Elegantly Casual' and absolutely NO
t-shirts, casual shorts or flip-flops.

We still occasionally cruise but only Cunard Princess Grill and no-fly on Queen Elizabeth or Queen Victoria. The (c) 90,000 tonnes size suits us.

However, two separate sets of friends have cruised in recent months on P&O's Aurora and had fabulous times. It's now the oldest ship in the fleet (26-years) and the smallest, but last year had a refit and looks fabulous. It is now also ADULTS ONLY.

Check carefully as to what kind of aura and atmosphere you want. How much noise is acceptable to you. How many kids you want around taking over everything.

Then when you've narrowed down your choice look up all the reviews and comments on CruiseCritic.

If you pick the right cruise for you then it will be glorious and you'll be hooked, but if you don't, then.......
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I would go on the Nile for good weather at Xmas. I’ve been on quite a few cruises and liked them all except Cunard. Fred Olsen still remains my favourite as it often leaves from Newcastle near where I live. I have just tried Saga and that was excellent but went from Portsmouth. Small ships are best.