WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

I wish to take my family on a cruise in July or August of next year to celebrate my 80th birthday. We will be a party of 10: myself and my wife, two sons and two daughters-in-law and four grandchildren, a girl (aged 17) and three boys (ages 14, 12 and 10). I do not wish to fly to join a cruise so we would need to embark at a British port, which probably means a trip to the Baltic or the Mediterranean, but I am open to any suggestions other than a cruise around the UK.

HUW DAVIES

Dear Huw

Cruises are a great way for different generations to holiday together, as you can all do what you want on port days and enjoy quality time with one another on sea days. I advise choosing a ship with clubs for children and teenagers where they will have plenty to keep them entertained. Lines to consider are P&O Cruises (pocruises.com), Royal Caribbean International (royalcaribbean.co.uk), Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.co. uk), Celebrity Cruises (celebrity cruises.co.uk) and MSC Cruises (msccruises.co.uk). All sail from the UK and cater for all ages.

Most cruises from the UK next July and August are indeed to the Mediterranean or Baltic. The Baltic cruises focus on exploring cities such as Copenhagen, Stockholm and St Petersburg. Mediterranean itineraries generally offer a mix of cities and beach calls, which the children will love.

Royal Caribbean has a Mediterranean Beaches cruise from Southampton on July 27 with calls at Barcelona, Nice and Malaga, from £3,070 per person. These will be mostly 14 nights.

P&O sails to the Norwegian fjords and MSC goes to Belgium, Holland and Germany but they are all just a week long.

I’ve also found a 14-night Celebrity cruise to Iceland on August 11. It calls at Reykjavik and Akureyri, where you can visit gushing waterfalls, explosive geysers, boiling mud pools and smelly sulphur pits, from

£1,899 per person.