# Mediterrean Cruise for Sept 2010 Honeymoon



## Jwerking (Oct 25, 2009)

Hi Tuggers:

Need you great advice as always.  My daughter has decided to take a 12 day Princess Cruise leaving from Barcelona, Spain On Sept 2 and ending in Venice, Italy on Sept 13th.  No one in the family has ever cruised before - so we are clueless - so please provide any advice.  We are providing the cruise as a wedding gift and they want a balcony room.

Where is the best location for a balcony room?  Middle of ship or ends -front or back?  Best on the  higher decks or lower decks? 

Should we just use a local certified cruise travel agent to book the cruise since we don't know what we are doing?  Or can we same money by using other providers, if so, please suggest companies and sites?

Should we book the airfare at the same time that we are booking the cruise with whatever company we decide to use?  Or just watch the airline for airfare sales - appears Delta is going to be their best bet from Milwaukee- but a RT right now is a total of about $1500 each - which is definitely on the high end.  Do folks agree that about $1000 RT is about the expected price from the Midwest or am I pricing from the East Coast where I live?  They could possibly fly out of Chicago - they are about 2 hrs away - so it check the fares from there.  

How about booking a few hotel nights at each end - should this also be done independently versus thru the travel agent used?

Anything else we should aware of? 

Thanks, bunches!

Joyce


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## dougp26364 (Oct 25, 2009)

First, visit the forums at Cruisecritic.com . There's a forum especially for Princess cruisers and there are also forums for each port of call.

As to stateroom type and location, it's really all personal preference. Generally speaking, mid-ship and lower floor will feel less motion. However balcony staterooms are almost always on higher floors. Sept. weather in the Med isn't predictable so, they could run into the occasional storm that makes the waters a little rougher. 

Personally I prefer a stateroom close to the elevators. For us it makes it a little easier getting around the ship. But it's strictly personal preference. I also always try to pick a stateroom on a deck that's between deckes with staterooms on them. I never book below the pool deck or above one of the lounges. Lounges are open late at night and sound does travel. The pool deck always has a lot of activity with deck chairs being pulled/pushed around. I avoid being under the jogging track as well.


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## Talent312 (Oct 25, 2009)

I echo the recommendation for www.cruisecritic.com. They have a section dedicated to first-time cruisers... http://www.cruisecritic.com/ftc/

I also endorse the mid-ship, cabins-above and cabins-below concept. Too far foward and you will feel the bow move, too far aft, and you'll get engine vibration (don't believe those who say you don't). But close to elevators will put more hallway traffic by your door. I prefer to be between the mid and aft elevators. That way its not such a long walk back from either end... helpful if you've been drinking in one of the forward lounges or swimming in one of the aft swimming holes.

For booking, I prefer to use an online agency that specializes in cruises. A popular site is www.vacationstogo.com, but I  prefer www.bestpricecruises.com which has an excellent search engine and prices as good as any online discounter.  Recently, I've booked a few directly with the cruiselines w/o any problems.

If they plan to cut airport arrival+departure times close to the ship's time of embarkation and disembarkation, they may want to let the cruiseline book flights. That way, the cruiseline handles connection-issues. However, I've found it more economical to book my own flights and hotels B4+after. On a recent cruise, disembarkation was delayed to the point where they started doing it by flight time... meanwhile, we had lunch and a liesurely taxi ride to a hotel. While hotels near the port are convenient, taxi services everywhere are very adept at ferrying folks to and from the ports.

For an international cruise, I'd prefer to have a two-three day cushion on each end, if for no other reason than to see the sights at each... especially for Venice.  Heck, after arriving there, I'd take a week to noodle around Northern Italy!


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## bobcat (Oct 25, 2009)

Talent312 said:


> I echo the recommendation for www.cruisecritic.com. They have a section dedicated to first-time cruisers... http://www.cruisecritic.com/ftc/
> 
> I also endorse the mid-ship, cabins-above and cabins-below concept. Too far foward and you will feel the bow move, too far aft, and you'll get engine vibration (don't believe those who say you don't). But close to elevators will put more hallway traffic by your door. I prefer to be between the mid and aft elevators. That way its not such a long walk back from either end... helpful if you've been drinking in one of the forward lounges or swimming in one of the aft swimming holes.
> 
> ...



I would use a good travel agent. Have them book her plane to arrive one day before cruise. Sometimes, a travel agent will comp you say 100 dollars.  Book a higher deck and in the middle of the ship. Right now, there were some great deals out there. However, they go fast.  Celebrity have some great prices. We booked for May an 11 day trip and three days after to stay in Italy. We received  great prices and we have a verenda, middle of the ship and  a higher deck. Make sure you take out insurance for the whole trip. Include medical. Look over what your travel agent has to offer.


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## sailingman22 (Oct 25, 2009)

Here are some links that I use to check flight & cruise information.

www.shoretrips.com            shore excursions
www.vacationstogo.com      cruises 
www.jonnyjet.com              a little of everything
www.kayak.com                 flights 
www.yapta.com                 flights

Best of luck on your travel planning.


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## lvhmbh (Oct 27, 2009)

I love Barcelona and Venice.  I would fly in a day or two before the cruise and stay a day or two after the cruise just to get a little flavor of those cities.  Our last cruise was on Celebrity to the Panama Canal and we had an aft cabin with no vibration.  Cruise critic can tell you which ships DO have vibration - Regent Voyager for one - and ones that don't.  All my other cruises have been mid-ship.  Also, go to www.cruisedeckplans.com for some help in judging the cabins and where they are on each deck.  Linda


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## Jwerking (Oct 27, 2009)

lvhmbh said:


> I love Barcelona and Venice.  I would fly in a day or two before the cruise and stay a day or two after the cruise just to get a little flavor of those cities.  Our last cruise was on Celebrity to the Panama Canal and we had an aft cabin with no vibration.  Cruise critic can tell you which ships DO have vibration - Regent Voyager for one - and ones that don't.  All my other cruises have been mid-ship.  Also, go to www.cruisedeckplans.com for some help in judging the cabins and where they are on each deck.  Linda




Thank you everyone for all the suggestions and websites to check out.  The Cruisedeckplans.com is excellent for figuring out where one wants to be. 

LOL, I am certain that they would love to spend an extra few days esp in Venice, but they are young and only have 2 wks vacation.  What a bummer, my daughter actually worked for the Milwaukee Sentinel - their local newspaper and finally got up to 3 wks vacation - but just found another job this summer due to all the buyouts, etc.  Just as well, because a month after she left, they started to lay off people.  So sad for young people these days, the economy sticks, but at least they both have jobs. 

They will spend a two or three days in Barcelona before the cruise, because they are getting married on Aug 29, will fly out on the 30th, and the cruise starts on Sept 2.  We just went to Barcelona with them last summer because we had a family wedding to attend in southern FRance.  But they were only there for about 2 full days, so are exciting about going back because they loved it.  I am encouraging them to at least spend a extra day in Venice - hope that they do as employers are usually pretty forgiving about letting you have leave without pay for a special event like your wedding.l 

Can I ask for help on the online cruise booking sites such as bestpricecruises.com - how can you select the cabin you want mid-ship and high and get a price online?  I clicked around and most of the specific cabins offered are mostly towards the end???  I must admit their prices are less than other ones I have seen on other online sites.  Is there a magic to how this is done??? 

Thanks, bunches, you guys are great!

Joyce


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## Talent312 (Oct 27, 2009)

Jwerking said:


> ... How can you select the cabin you want mid-ship and high and get a price online?  I clicked around and most of the specific cabins offered are mostly towards the end???  I must admit their prices are less than other ones I have seen on other online sites.  Is there a magic to how this is done???



Online agencies only show the available cabins which the cruiseline's computers tell them are available. The cruiseline is likely blocking a group of preferred cabins that were reserved by sponsors of travel-groups (like alumni associations). I know of one group of VA-employees that has completely filled a Rhine River cruise.

You could go online to the cruiseline's booking engine to see if they show others available... http://www.princess.com/find/bookonline.jsp
More cabins may open up if agencies sponsoring the group(s) find that their trip is undersubscribed, but that could be last-minute.


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## Jwerking (Oct 28, 2009)

Talent312 said:


> Online agencies only show the available cabins which the cruiseline's computers tell them are available. The cruiseline is likely blocking a group of preferred cabins that were reserved by sponsors of travel-groups (like alumni associations). I know of one group of VA-employees that has completely filled a Rhine River cruise.
> 
> You could go online to the cruiseline's booking engine to see if they show others available... http://www.princess.com/find/bookonline.jsp
> More cabins may open up if agencies sponsoring the group(s) find that their trip is undersubscribed, but that could be last-minute.



Thanks for the reply.  This is very difficult to do.  I went to the Princess site and picked a couple of options, but the few I tried indicate that they are aft or forward, indicating none in the middle.  Guess all the more reason to use a real travel agent that can figure it out.  Why would Princess charge more for a cabin than a discounter - whatever. 

JOyce


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## lvhmbh (Oct 29, 2009)

Go to www.cruisecritic.com and then the Princess board.  Ask them which cabin area they would suggest for that ship and/or do a search on the cabins board or that board.  They are extremely knowledgeable and, when I was a TA for cruises, I used their suggestions for my cabin location on the Panama Canal cruise.  They were spot on!!!  Linda


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