have booked 1st cruise
 

We've done it! - booked our 1st cruise. We are booked on Holland America for a Med cruise in May for 12 nights. Does anyone have help on booking a hotel in Lisbon? We are staying there for 2 nights and that is where our cruise leaves from. Any help on getting a good hotel and transportation to the cruise ship would be appreciaed.

Great!! What about seeking help from HAL? Usually cruise lines have pre or post cruise hotel accomodations.

And those pre and post packages can be very expensive. The first step is to determine where the ship departs from. Second, use this site and others to get a handle on a convenient hotel. Thrid, since your are on your own, use a cab to get to the ship. The cost of the cab will be much less that the difference you would have to pay to use the ship's pre cruise package.

For ease, you can book with HAL but you will pay a premium to do so. For some, it is worth the cost as HAL will take care of everything.

tripadvisor.com is a good resource for hotel recommendations. You can do price checks from their site as well.

Are you on the Noordam? Great choice!

Noordam is in Alaska this year

We are on the Prinsendam.

I am now officially jealous:)

Have a great cruise!

Enjoy your first cruise. I'll bet it won't be your last. :-) Actually this has given me a good idea. Go to Lisbon which I've always wanted to see anyway, see friends there and hit the seas. Thanks Barb. :-)

Hi, Barbara8585! Count me in w/ the jealous ones too! Congratulations! I am trying to book our "first cruise" but running into problems. What date does your HAL May Med cruise depart & from where?

wow, Prinsendam is a smaller and very elegant ship. It caters to an older crowd. I really think your teens would be bored. You, however, would get your taste of luxury, especially in her suites!

ok...that's it...I'm leaving the guys @ home!! LOL This whole thing is making me crazy!;) What about a line called MSC? They have a 7 day Med cruise out of Venice May 20-27 that gets me back home in plenty of time for the June 6th thing. Fly to Venice May 18; Fly home to Toronto May 29. Any comments?

kfusto: I just read your reply on the other post that I topped on MSC. Anything else to add?

If it is one of MSC's newer ships: Lirica, Opera, Musica, Sinfonia, I think you might have found a solution. Beautiful ships,

I loved the food but it is not mainsteam cruise food. Great Italian cuisine. No 24 hour a day food, midnight, burgers. etc. Very European clientele. Tell your sons the girls are pretty!

These ships are more like large yachts, I found Sinfonia elegant and classy and the itinerary was great. Lots of port time and we docked right in the middle of every one except Tunis.

I did the roundtrip Genoa. Had a Cat 11 suite with a very nice balcony, walk in closet, nice bathroom. Went with my mom . They have a very nice wine tasting at 5 every day. You can sample Italian wines at reduced prices. Also, you can order half carafe of very good house wine at dinner, nice for when only one person is drinking.

Happy to answer anything else. I would do MSC as long as school was in session.

Was going to post for you on a new thread and suggest you check them out.

Just do not go with the expectation of a north American experience. It is soooo not Carnival, NCL, RCI. But, lots of activities and the teens should be happy.

kfusto: Thx again! The ship is MSC Armonia. May 20-27/07 Venice, Bari, Santorini, Mykonos, Athens, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Venice.
Shd I do it?

Have you read the reviews at cruisecritic? I strongly suggest you do. This is an old ship and according to what I know, not at all a luxury experience.

I would not, personally, unless I was only looking for a cheap Med cruise. I do not think this is your goal.

They have many ships in the Med in May. IMO, you should check out those.

wow, sorry, had my ships confused! Armonia is a sister to Sinfonia. I was thinking of Melody and Rhapsody which are the older two and which I would avoid. Unfortunately, this forum does not allow edits of posts:(

The have only 132 suite on this ship and no other balcony cabins. I would suggest you book a suite for the space and amenities. Best of all worlds would be a suite for you and inside across for the teens!

Let us know what u decide.

kfusto: Do you mean the suites do not have balconies? No balconies at all on Armonia?

I mean that ONLY the suites have balconies, same as on Sinfonia. Most newer ships these days have a lot of standard cabins with balconies, up to 80% on newer mass market ships. They are very popular but not so important in the European market where MSC plays.

Also, MSC's suites are amongst the smallest I have ever seen but very well appointed and quite nice. This is why I suggest you look for two cabins if you are able to pay the price. Mom and I each had our own suite as we like our personal space. They had a special promo and it worked out really well for us.

I have found that booking the my pre-stay hotels with the cruise lines has been a costly mistake. My last two cruises were out of Miami on Princess and on Royal Caribbean. The time I booked with Princess I paid almost $300 for two people, one night stay in Miami! This last trip I booked my pre-cruise with an online travel agent mytrip411.com, the hotel cost me $139.00 for the night. For an airport hotel at the last minute I consider that to be a pretty good deal.

How do the two hotels compare? Was the other one on the same category?