I did a med cruise from Southampton with the family a couple of years ago. (wife, son 9 and daughter 5)- Royal Caribbean, Independence of the Seas ship.
2 weeks from Southampton - visiting Gibraltar, Villefranche-sur-Mer (nice/monaco), Civitavecchia, (for Rome), Livorno (Florence or Pisa), Marseilles, Barcelona, Lisbon, Home.
Something different for a holiday. Long story short - I wouldn't rush back to do one. It was nice but that was it.
Kind of felt that was lost 1.5/2 days each way in terms of nice weather/pool time etc leaving from Southampton, and returning from Lisbon etc - weather was very windy/wet on the way out and very wild on the way home, couldn't sit outside/pools/climbing wall/surfing etc or anything so ended up basically sitting inside, doing inside stuff for 36 hours all the way home.
Inside cabin for 4 people is tiny, and I mean tiny. Kids bunk beds folded down out of the wall. Couldn't swing a cat in there.
Ship was huge, food was excellent, entertainment was very good and impressive shows every night. Basic drinks package was fine for beers/wine etc - could upgrade etc for more cost. Ship was spotlessly clean etc.
At times, pool/outside areas on travelling days felt extremely crowded, packed in between people etc. usual fights for sunbeds etc.
I hated the "prepaid" tips/gratuities nonsense. I thought that was ridiculous and they charged us each (including each kid!!!) $13.50 a day per person x 14 days = $756 in "gratuities" on my account at the end of the cruise. I decided that I didn't wish to pay that much and asked for the "kids" ones to be removed as we had only every used the buffet food/restaurant - never the fine dining etc. I tipped out cabin attendant separately.
Overall - 14 days was too long for me on a cruise. Lovely to see snippets of various cities etc - but overall I felt that it was not a very relaxing holiday as you were up at 6am some morning to leave the boat on a day out/away.
2 weeks from Southampton - visiting Gibraltar, Villefranche-sur-Mer (nice/monaco), Civitavecchia, (for Rome), Livorno (Florence or Pisa), Marseilles, Barcelona, Lisbon, Home.
Something different for a holiday. Long story short - I wouldn't rush back to do one. It was nice but that was it.
Kind of felt that was lost 1.5/2 days each way in terms of nice weather/pool time etc leaving from Southampton, and returning from Lisbon etc - weather was very windy/wet on the way out and very wild on the way home, couldn't sit outside/pools/climbing wall/surfing etc or anything so ended up basically sitting inside, doing inside stuff for 36 hours all the way home.
Inside cabin for 4 people is tiny, and I mean tiny. Kids bunk beds folded down out of the wall. Couldn't swing a cat in there.
Ship was huge, food was excellent, entertainment was very good and impressive shows every night. Basic drinks package was fine for beers/wine etc - could upgrade etc for more cost. Ship was spotlessly clean etc.
At times, pool/outside areas on travelling days felt extremely crowded, packed in between people etc. usual fights for sunbeds etc.
I hated the "prepaid" tips/gratuities nonsense. I thought that was ridiculous and they charged us each (including each kid!!!) $13.50 a day per person x 14 days = $756 in "gratuities" on my account at the end of the cruise. I decided that I didn't wish to pay that much and asked for the "kids" ones to be removed as we had only every used the buffet food/restaurant - never the fine dining etc. I tipped out cabin attendant separately.
Overall - 14 days was too long for me on a cruise. Lovely to see snippets of various cities etc - but overall I felt that it was not a very relaxing holiday as you were up at 6am some morning to leave the boat on a day out/away.
