You are ready to plan your vacation. Cruising is one of the options but there are a lot of questions and unknowns while planning a cruise vacation. In this article we will try to dissect the various aspects of cruise vacation planning
What kind of cruise
There are a lot of options when it comes to cruise planning. Depending upon what your personal taste is there are various cruise lines to choose from. There are kid friendly cruises like Disney cruises or carnival cruises. If you are into Disney characters you will see them moving on and about on the ship. It’s a kid friendly atmosphere and equally fun for the adults to bring in their inner kid. Carnival cruises have fun water slides, and lots of sports including table tennis, basketball and other activities on their sports deck. On sea days when you are on the ship all day they have sports competitions throughout the day. Besides Carnival is more budget friendly for families that are just starting out
Celebrity cruises from Royal Caribbean offer a more classy atmosphere and more elegance in the interior décor. Their dining menus are all inclusive and are designed by some of the most renowned chefs from around the world. Holland America cruises are owned by carnival and offer a more elegant atmosphere for adult travelers. They are known to dock at some of the best ports around the world
- Destination Ports
- Itinerary
- Cost
- Onboard Entertainment
- Food
- Other Features
Destination ports
Another aspect of a destination port is understanding what you can do at these ports. If you are into historical places, ports like Civitavecchia in Italy might interest you more, which is closer to Pisa and other towns, than a beach port in Honduras. If you are into enjoying all day at a pristine beach then the cruise port in Roatan Honduras might be the right stop for you
Itinerary
The second most critical to selecting the Ports of choice is the Itinerary. It is critical to mingle some fun days at sea on the boat with port days, if you want to slow down the pace of vacation. While port days are lot of fun to visit new towns, experience new cultures, it might get bit hectic throughout the day. Generally you will be up early in the morning getting ready to disembark at your port. There you either will venture into the city on your own or have a pre booked cruise excursion. Pre booking excursion is the most hassle free way of ensuring you maximize your time in sightseeing. You will spend more on excursions than if you were to do the same on your own using local resources. But discovering a new city within the time given by the cruise might get more hectic. When you look at Itinerary and if you have multiple port days back to back it could get a bit hectic. If you prefer a slower pace of vacation you can choose a Itinerary that has more sea days sprinkled in between the port days. On the sea days generally you will have the day on the ship at your disposal. Every cruise liner offers lots of activities throughout the day that you could choose to partake in
COST
The most critical of all factors. There are a lot of cruise companies to choose from. From the most budget friendly gearing towards first timers Carnival cruises offers a lot of features while being conscious of the budget. There are some like Norwegian or Holland America that offer a more upscale experience, more elegant ambience, more dining options and a lot more all inclusive features. During the planning stage while you look at the cost of each voyage it is crucial to look at the cost per night. Also take into consideration what is included into these costs. There will also be excursion costs for each of the port days on a lot of the cruise liners. So be sure to add these up as well. Viking cruises offers all inclusive excursions in their costs, which helps some cruisers as they know all their cost upfront , and you don’t have to worry about compromising excursion for cost
On board Entertainment
Your port days will be filled with excitement of visiting new cities, going on fun excursions. There will also be sea days where you can choose to participate in a lot of onboard activities. Different cruise lines offer different kinds of activities. While kid friendly cruises like Disney , Carnival and Royal Caribbean’s cruises offer a lot of onboard activities for kids including sports, entertainment shows, game contests etc. be sure to check out the activities section on the website for the cruise line you are interested in. Some cruises offer comedy shows and other more activities geared towards the adults. Queen Mary 2 has its own onboard planetarium while Royal Caribbean has a great zipline area. Norwegian has a cool ice bar for customers while Viking has a snow room in its Nordic spa
Food
The best part of cruising is that you don’t have to worry about finding a local restaurant for lunch or dinner or even breakfast. It’s all included in your plan. Almost all the cruises have free meals almost 24 hours a day. Lot of them have celebrity restaurants where menus are set by Michellin star cooks. Some of the more budget friendly cruises like Carnival May not have Michelin star menus but there are still a lot of options for everyone. If you have specific diet restrictions make sure to talk to the guest services and almost all the cruises will accommodate your requirements
Other Features
Each cruise line will have certain included features that come standard with your cabin. While WiFi may be included in some cruises, lot of them charge you an additional fee. Check your cruise liner website for prices. Almost always it will be cheaper to purchase these extras that you desire while you are still ashore than while on the ship. Same concept goes with drinks packages which you could purchase separately. Lot of the ships offer kids club where kids of different ages can get together for a play date
As you can see there is a lot to choose from, and your price most certainly will be based on the various factors mentioned above. While you don’t necessarily have to spend a lot to have fun, choose wisely, code what’s important to you and you will come back with lots of happy memories
