Cruise....

[BlueToffee]

Has taken Mrs BT 25 years to persuade me to go on a cruise.

Just returned today from 12 days in the Baltic, fabulous sights to see, sadly the dreaded novo virus hit he ship and 50% of the facilities were shut down. Glad to say that neither of us suffered, but plenty did.

Enjoyed the experience, but would have to think hard about doing another cruise, and so would Mrs BT.

[askyourgran]

That is one of the reasons we haven't been on a cruise, we don't want to be stuck aboard a boat if any sort of disaster occurs. I've gone through the 'what if's' many times. If you get stuck with some people who you can't avoid, stuffy cabins with no air con, dodgy food, dressing up for the evening meal, finding that the boat has been re-named Titanic II....the list goes on. Glad you avoided the bug.

[murraymints]

Seems to happen frequently on cruise ships...don't like the sea ..bad enough on the santander crossing !

[mazie]

We've done 3 cruises when the kids were little and had great times...never had any problems...but that was about 20 years ago. Glad you two missed the bugs BT x

[BlueToffee]

I went reluctantly AYG, but determined not to spoil Mrs BT's fantasy.

Actually enjoyed dressing for dinner on the formal nights, and were fortunate enough to be on a table of 6, with whom we got on extremely well with.

Of course the ship cannot be held responsible for any virus that hits it, and in fairness to them, they managed the situation extremely well, particularly as so many staff suffered too.

Perhaps now Mrs BT will believe me when I tell her two or three times a year that Dover to Calais IS a cruise!

[askyourgran]

Me too, a trip to France is about as far as I will go, and then I stayed outside to see where we were going.

[Hopkirk]

No way would you get me on a cruise ship.

I shudder at the thought.

[EDDIE51]

For 'Cruise ship' read 'floating care home'

[jno]

apparently that's the fourth time this year the same ship has had norovirus. They must have a problem. But it's actually pretty rare, given the number of cruise ships around teh world every day.

Having said that, I've done quite a few cruises and had no problem at all. I'd do another one tomorrow if I had the chance. Ocean or river.

[jno]

read about it here (I'm assuming this was your cruise)... and the law firm that are investigating

http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2008431&c=setreg&region=2

[Ellipsis]

We've been on cruises for each of the last three years and had wonderful times. You were very unlucky, although you were lucky not to catch norovirus - I caught it on a skiing holiday once and it was not pleasant.

Next year we are looking at the Baltic, including St Petersburg - looks fantastic.

[jno]

excellent way to see St Petersburg as if you arrive by sea you don't have to pay the ginormous Russian visa fee.

[Ellipsis]

Good advice thanks jno

[jno]

incidentally, you can write a review of your cruise here

http://www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-reviews/write/details/?utm_source=041013&utm_medium=bulletin&utm_content=0&utm_campaign=Reviews

and they'll send you a free Berlitz cruise ship guide describing in detail every crusie ship in the world, very useful if you want to plan another one. I've done this a couple of times.

[BlueToffee]

Thanks for that link 'jno', most helpful.