Cruise Vacations Understanding Your Options
A cruise vacation offers much more than the experience of traveling on the water. Because of the incredible variety of options available to you when selecting a cruise, you can plan your trip to include precisely the mix of activities, adventures and experiences you wantâ€"and build your trip to fit your budget too.
With a land based vacation, your activities usually take place within a relatively small radius of your hotel. The experiences you have are limited to what’s available near the hotel. If there aren’t any good restaurants nearby, for example, your options are to rent a car or take a cab to wherever the better restaurants might be, or settle for mediocre fare.
With a cruise, there is no settling. If you want great food, you can find a cruise line known for its great cuisine. If your goal is to see as much gorgeous scenery as you can, try a cruise that visits a number of different exotic ports. Planning a cruise is like choosing your dinner from a huge a la carte menu that features everything you like to eat. All you have to do to design the perfect vacation is take the time to research your options.
Many travelers believe that cruises offer better value than land based vacations, in other words more memorable experiences for the same amount of money. How is this possible? A luxury resort has to acquire the real estate on which the property will sit. The cruise ship on the other hand shares its “real estate,” the vast sea, with all the other boats. Instead of investing in land, the cruise ship operator can spend their money on amenities for their guests.
Length of the Cruise: Short or Long
Your first choice could be deciding how long a cruise you want to take. Your options run from weekend getaway cruises to adventures of two weeks or more. Your budget is one consideration. Longer cruises tend to cost more. Another thing to think about is whether an adventure at sea is the right vacation for you. If you’ve never been on the water before, you might experience some discomfort from the ship moving through the waves, although because of the stabilization technology these ships have, this is not a consideration unless you are going on a small sailing vessel. If you are used to wide open spaces, the on board accommodations might seem a bit cramped to you. You might consider taking a shorter cruise for your first one, to make sure you like it.
As with any vacation, your ability to relax may depend on being away long enough to depressurize from the concerns of work and daily life at home. A really short cruise, though it may be great fun, may not give you the opportunity to fully relax and recharge before you return to home port.
Water, Water Everywhere: Where Do You Go?
The majority of the earth’s surface is covered by water, and much of it is visited by cruise lines. If you could pick one place for your first cruise, where would it be? Do you want to visit tropical islands in the Caribbean? See the breathtaking unspoiled sights of the Alaskan wilderness? Have a rich cultural, historical experience in Europe? Be in the middle of the action at international hot spots like St. Thomas? Get away from it all in the tranquil South Pacific? Do you want to spend most of the time on the ship or most of the time sightseeing at ports of call? All you have to do is envision your ideal vacation, and then select the cruise that is the best fit.
On Board Action or Peace and Quiet?
Seeing the popularity of theme parks, some cruise lines have become more or less floating theme parks themselves, with every kind of high tech and sports experiences you could find on land. It’s remarkable, really, how many kinds of entertainment they have been able to pack onto the deck of one ship. These cruises have of course been designed to cater to families with younger children.
Other ships emphasize more grown up activities, and have high energy nightlife, dancing and music, even Las Vegas style shows. Some also offer great on board retail stores. You can also find cruises that have a more relaxed atmosphere; some smaller ships with a lower passenger capacity allow for more social interaction among guests. There are even singles cruises designed to help individuals who are looking for love.
Food, Glorious Food
One feature that has become consistent across nearly all cruise lines is providing guests with fabulous dining options. Some ships even have a number of the same type of themed restaurants as you would find on land, so if you feel like fine Northern Italian cuisine one night, you can visit that restaurantâ€"and then try Texas barbecue the next night. But it’s not merely the types of food that makes a cruise exciting, it is also the quality. The more upscale cruise lines offer food that rivals the best restaurants in the world.
