Cruise Control

[Chris100682]

Hello, I'm going to bless you people with two questions (two birds with one stone and all that!)

Ok here goes......

Q1. Can anyone reccommend a place that is cheap for hiring cruises? (ideally cruises that are anything from 20 - 30 nights)

Q2. Has anyone ever booked a cruise that covers Australia or around the world? If so, who did you book through and how much did it cost?

Hope you can help

[Chris100682]

Hiring a cruise? Sorry I mean booking a cruise!!

[flipflop104]

Well a very good lady call Jan buchan booked our cruise for us and she would be able to book yours for a very reasonable price if you tell her I pointed you in her direction.

You can call her on 0845 058 7183 or email her on [email protected]

We book our cruises with http://www.pocruises.co.uk" target="_blank">http://www.pocruises.co.uk">http://www.pocruis es.co.uk but if you want to go on one of those then definitely speak with Jan.

[dannydingbat]

Firstly, try the US travel agents to see if they will sell you a cruise online. www.vacationstogo.co.uk will let you see what cruiselines are open to you. The go to www.vacationstogo.com to see what the yanks can book and for how much less. Some (Princess) do not allow them to sell to UK based people as they can get a lot more from us than the Yanks. Also, go to www.cruisequick.com for the best online search engine. All you need to know is when, where and length of cruise that you want. Having done that and found nothing, try directly with the cruiselines themselves. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity (same company) allow you to get a quote direct from them that often undercuts the travel agents. You may have to find your own flights but I have never found this to be a problem. I have never paid brochure price and have never saved less than �400 each, even on a 7 day cruise, and thats about 27 cruises around the world.

[auntiebertie]

..and before you go on any ship make sure you check out what people are saying and what questions they ask before cruising on www.cruisecritic.com. Then click on the Boards link at the top and then you can view all the cruise lines. When you have booked your cruise you can join the Roll call for that cruise and 'chat' to other passengers and possibly meet up on board [if that is your thing].

As for booking companies - I have used Cumbria Cruise Club, and Cruise Traders - I usually check out Voyana but I don't like their customer service attitude so they never get the business!

You don't mention a budget - you can get on an old bath tub like the Funchal and go to Oz or you can get on the QMII....big difference in price! Seabourne offer 6* luxury and all your booze is included! Bon voyage!

[dannydingbat]

Auntiebertie sounds like an experienced cruiser and talks sense. Cruisecritic is excellent for "from the horses mouth" comments. Cruising is very much influenced by what type of person you are and what you want out of it. I would not touch PandO again after the Aurora to Norway in December - smelly curtains and bedcover, cold food and, to cap it all, instant coffee sachets after dinner!! But others will never travel with anyone else. The cruisecritic boards will help you determine what you are likely to find.

[sddsddean]

We book most of our cruises through Airmiles. We get the price from the cruise line and then go round various other 'phone up' agents, but Airmiles always comes up with the best price for us. 0870 5577777

We have booked a Sydney to Los Angeles cruise for Apr/May next year with Princess and that is about �3500ea for 32 nights. If you aim for about �100-120 a day, you are not doing too bad.

[sunny days]

Hi went to Oz from Singapore to Sydney on the Diamond Princess Christmas just gone. Be very careful about booking this ship and its sister the Saphire Princess. These ships are just to big to get in anywhere out of 8 ports on the itinery 4 we didn't get to we had to dock much further away where there was nothing at all to see. The ship itself is great the food is good but I paid a lot of money to see certain ports of call which we didn't. I could go on for hours about how this ship failed us like running out of tea after 16 hours of boarding, taking 5 hours to board at Singapore, not being able to get back on at Darwin where in the end we stormed the ship. The list goes on and on.

We thought about sueing but decided to let everybody know how bad it was.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.