Interesting. Thank you

The Med in August will be hot and the prices will be high.

If you have any flexibility, we've done a few legs when ships are being repositioned to spend the summer in the Greek Islands. A bit early/late in the season, but we've generally had great weather. Possibilities include Lisbon to Barcelona, Barcelona to Rome, Rome to Venice, and Venice to Athens in the spring (with a sprinkling of RTs thrown in.) And the reverse in the early fall. Prices tend to be quite attractive on these legs.

We did a 7 day seabourn med cruise at the end of last July. It was around $4k per person, if I remember right, booked directly with seabourn about six months in advance. No airfare through them though, we flew there/back on points (BA to FCO, cheap Aegean flight to cruise in Athens, then Turkish home from MLA). It was a fabulous cruise and the ports were wonderful, although as others have pointed out, stiflingly hot...."heatwave Lucifer" was no joke.

Hi,
Please see some of the best cruises for first timers below;

Carnival Cruise Line
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Royal Caribbean International
Disney Cruise Line
Silversea Cruises
Holland America Line
Oceania Cruises
Norwegian Cruise Line
Cunard Line
Lindblad Expeditions
Paul Guaguin Cruises
Viking River Cruises

Thank you

New to cruises
 

Cruise Critic is a very good site to obtain information and destinations of cruises. Another feature available on the site is the ability to Join Roll Call where you will find other members sailing on the same cruise. Some of these members schedule tours at very low prices that are available to other members on the cruise.

There is another website call Cruise Compete where you can submit a request and receive bids from several travel agencies.

Two large cruise wholesaler are Vacations to Go and the Online Vacation Center.. The Vacations to Go has an extensive list of cruise by destinations, ship information, ports, Wi Fi charges. Online Vacations Center sends a newsletter with complete cruise packages, air, transfer and hotel.

It appears that you simply cut-and-pasted this list from an article on CruiseCritic.com, titled "12 Best Cruises for First Timers," which appears here:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=129

I notice that "Gauguin" is misspelled as "Guaguin" in both the article and your list.

(Instead of copying things without attribution, it is generally better to give credit to the source. Also, the article gives some details on each cruise line, which is more helpful than just a bare list.)

Getting a decent deal on the NCL Epic. Anyone been on it before? Working out at around $1,700 for August sailing in a Balcony room.

Which one would you suggest around the same price range? I am not to keen on the sink in the room to be honest.

I just completed by 66th cruise and I've had some pretty good ones and some pretty bad ones... Norwegian Epic was the worst of the worst I've ever been on. I've been on ships that are border line ferry boats and even those are better. The staterooms are horribly designed.. they look nice but aren't really functional. They cram in more stateroom than other ships around the same size. The venues are small for the ship of the size, everything is constantly standing room only or sold out. I've been on some of the world's largest cruise ships (Oasis of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas) and never encounter overcrowding on those ships as I did on Norwegian Epic. In addition, the staff and crew seem like they aren't happy working for them. Some staff aren't professional at all, I've heard one staff making drug related jokes in front of kids. During the safety drill that happen on every single cruise, everyone was using their phones and the staff were just chit chatting while the videos play in the background. I've been sat at tables in the restaurants on that ship and ending up waiting an 30-45 minutes before a waiter even came over to offer a glass of water. It was the FIRST and ONLY cruise I've been on where I've consider leaving the ship mid cruise but the only thing that prevented me from doing so is the outrageously expensive last minute airfare from Cozumel to California. Norwegian Epic was my first and LAST cruise on Norwegian.

Of the mainstream cruise lines, I've been on Royal Caribbean, Disney, Princess, Carnival, and Norwegian. If you read my last post, you'll pretty much know I think Norwegian is garbage, and they are. With that said... I really like everyone else.

Disney Cruise Line is great for the family and the food is amazing. The rooms are huge by cruise line standards, after all they are designed for families. Also the service on the ship is amazing! The staff cater to everyones individual needs. Also the adults only areas and dining venue is amazing. When I say the food is great, I mean it is on par or better than the specialty dining venues that other cruise lines charge for. Also Castaway Cay, Disney's Private Island, is one of the best private island I've been too.

Princess is more traditional of them all. The rooms are a bit small but it's great for a nice relaxing cruise. Also they are the best to take if Alaska is your destination. Princess pretty much have Alaska on lock down. They own lodges throughout Alaska that they use for their land base tour packages. In addition, they have guides that give narration during the tour and special lectures.

Carnival has a bad reputation but I don't really see anything wrong with them. They offer the bare basic of what people expect out of a cruise. They're catering to the masses. They have good food, nothing fancy, but theres nothing wrong with classic comfort food in the dining room. The shows are amazing. The rooms are decent size and functional.

Of all the cruises I've taken, over half, 36 to be exact as of today, were on Royal Caribbean. To me they are by far the BEST of the BEST when it comes to cruises. What I like about Royal Caribbean is they have ships of all sizes that do different set of itinerary. Like the small ships aren't really the best when compared to their midsize or larger ships, but they go to places like Cuba. In addition, the onboard amenities are amazing, especially on larger ships. They are also the best of Disney, Carnival, and Princess combined. They have the traditional element of Princess with similar venues and vibes if that's what you're looking for. They have the party atmosphere of Carnival, especially on 7 nights or shorter cruises. In addition, with their extensive kids and teen program plus their partnership with Dreamwork, they also got the family friendliness of Disney. If I have to classified the type of service found on Royal Caribbean, I have to say it's friendly and family. I say that because everyone I've encounter and interacted with at Royal Caribbean treats me as a friend or part of their family. They don't have the "I have to smile because I'm being paid to". It's laid back, yet professional. Think Alaska Airline / Virgin America when it comes to service. They have something for everyone. If you want luxury, you got it! With their Suite program on Quantum and Oasis Class ships, you'll have access to benefits and amenities that aren't found on other cruise lines. Depending on the suite you get on the ship, you may have access to the onboard "Genie" that can reserve the seats you want at the theater or get you a reservation at restaurants that are full.

Royal Caribbean is also the most innovative cruise line of them all, using the latest cutting edge technology to enhance the cruising experience. Where else can you find robotic bartenders, sky diving simulators, or ice skating rinks with projection mapping technology.

If you want luxury, Royal Caribbean offer wide arrangement of suites such as multilevel Loft Suites, insanely huge suites, and multilevel family suites that comes with a slide connecting the kids room to the living area.

There are a lot of ships to pick from at Royal Caribbean. They're all divided into classes and if you want luxury, I'd go with a Quantum Class ship. Specifically Anthem of the Seas out of Cape Liberty / Bayonne, NJ (Near EWR / Newark, NJ). The reason why is the ship is super modern. When you walk in, it looks like you walk into an modern art gallery. The ship features robotic bartenders, 270 lounge, bumper cars, trapeze school, iFly Sky Diving Simulators, FlowRider surf simulator, Wonderland (the best restaurant at sea), and some of the best production show at sea. The shows in the main theater is "We Will Rock You" and "The Gift", both amazing shows that rival those on broadway. If you want something more Vegas ish, they have that too with Spectra Cabaret and it features aerialist. Think Cirque mixed with Vegas. The ship is huge but not as big as their Oasis Class ship and it doesn't feel big at all. The ship is divided into several area and the elevators are placed such that it's never too far of walk from one venue to another. It's basically a big mega ship with a small ship feel.

Thank you for the very thorough feedback. Going to check out some dates for Royal C.

For your first cruise, I’d recommend Royal Caribbean. ships that fall into the Voyager, Freedom, Quantum, and Oasis Class. They have so much unique activities onboard that can’t be found on other cruise lines. Of those, my recommendation is a cruise onboard

Anthem of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas, and Symphony of the Seas.

If if you want something smaller and cheaper, any Voyager Class or Freedom Class ships are amazing. Of those class of ships, my faviorate one is Liberty of the Seas and Adventures of the Seas.