Hints On Booking Cruises

If that is what you have found you must have been unlucky with your choice of cruise company.

If you're referring to river cruises then they are more likely to have set meal times because of the much smaller number of travellers and likely to have only one or two bars.

Most smaller ocean cruise ships, but not all, have the widest choice of meal times and with whom you sit and most have a good choice of restaurants and bars.

For example:- Saga, mentioned on the previous page by @Jenny namaste , has up to about 900 passengers on their new boutique cruise ships with one large silver service restaurant, one large "self service" restaurant that serves the same food as the silver service restaurant and three speciality restaurants.

All their restaurants do not have set seating nor set times but the speciality restaurants will need booking in advance (like restaurants on shore) as they are not as large as the other restaurants. I put the "self service" in inverted commas as most ships nowadays, and especially smaller ones, don't allow you to serve yourself for most things. This became the norm since covid so that you go to the food counters and staff serve up whatever you want. There is mainly a perspex barrier between the passengers and the food. A very good precaution.

With their silver service restaurant you turn up whenever you like and are asked whether you wish to sit by yourself or with x number of people and are then seated as per your request. The self service you just sit anywhere you like.

As mentioned earlier, usually the smaller the ship the more expensive it is but the service and food are generally much better - with a few exceptions. Saga are not cheap but tend to be all inclusive. That includes drinks, tips (can be expensive on some ships), usually one free excursion in each port and usually being picked up at home (and returned) by chauffeur (posher taxi ) so you don't have to worry about getting to the ship and home and all the carrying of cases is done for you - something that is very handy as you get older.

Just for info:- I am not a travel agent and don't work for a cruise company. Over 60 years ago I did work on the cruise ships for a few years and since retiring (last century ) have done a lot of cruising. I also used to write on a cruise forum - even got a free short cruise on a newly launched ship to cover the launch for the press . Mrs Shiney and I never did work out why they chose us but we didn't complain. All my comments are from experience or from speaking to other cruisers.

 

That's a 'fun' situation and is not the type of 'cruise' that people like us will ever go on - or not

That ship was on the news about a month ago and most of their passengers have 'bought' their cabins (suites in posh talk ) with some of them having them for the lifetime of the ship. Don't know how long that would be at the rate they're going.

Apparently there are arguments over whether they have got a proper ship MOT or not. Supposedly they already had it from the previous owners but apparently the paperwork can't be found.

When they interviewed some of the passengers it appears that the shipping company is paying all the expenses of the passengers who are going on holidays instead whilst they clear up the problem.

There are a very few ships that you can buy your cabin and then live on there permanently whilst paying a service fee - like living in apartment blocks in the U.S.