Three cruises for under £800 compared

So, you’ve got say £800 to spend, and you want to the very most for your money – there are a number of ways to go about this. You can book a cruise that uses up nearly all of your budget and then watch the pennies on board, or you can choose a cruise that uses only around half your budget so that you can splash out on on-board extras or excursions, or you can find a cheap cruise that sales from an exotic port, and make your own way there, adding a few nights stopover before or after your cruise.

1. If it’s the fly-out and stay for a few days option that appeals to you, try Costa Classica’s Far East cruise. Sailing from Shanghai, it visits Nagasaki and Fukoka in Japan before going to Cheju in South Korea. The cruise costs less than £500 each for two sharing an inside cabin but you have to make your own way to Shanghai.
2. If you fancy the cheap cruise and lots of spending money option, consider the Celebrity Century sailings from Barcelona. You need a dirt cheap flight, but as its only a hop, you’ll find plenty on offer, and you get seven nights visiting Cannes, Portofino, Livorno, Civitavecchia and Naples for under £500.
3. If you’d like to spend to your limit, you can fly to New York to board Fred Olsen's Balmoral for a 13-night cruise travelling back to Dover. This cruise visits some really wonderful ports including Halifax and Sydney in Nova Scotia and St John's in Newfoundland with a ‘bonus’ visit to Cobh in southern Ireland on the way home.