Ok, you should go on a luxury cruise! It's fascinating, it's interesting and it's your path of enjoying the nice life. But how do you make the choice of where to go, when and with exactly who? There are so many options with respect to taking a cruise nowadays that it can be really perplexing. Here are a number of tips to consider helping you decide which cruise is right for you.
Each can be quite appealing but are also very distinct.
1. The first thing to consider in taking one of these brilliant cruise trips is when you wish to go? The time of the year can determine the type of cruise. Some cruise ship lines do not offer vacation cruises to the Mediterranean in the winter months, but transfer their ships to the warmer waters of the Caribbean. Alaskan luxury cruises only run in certain months also due to atmospheric condition. Ocean crossing luxury cruises (Transatlantic) take place only as the seasons change so that cruise trip ship companies can reposition their ships to match the high seasons? tourist industry.
2. You'll have to decide on the duration of your luxury cruise. A typical choice is a 7-night cruise, but you can take cruise trips from 3-4 nights to over a month in length, or more. The length of your travel time available may restrict you, but taking a cruise trip for the 1st time may also be a consideration. Limiting your cruise trip to a manageable shorter cruise may help you choose whether a longer luxury cruise at another time may be more advisable. In other words, do you get seasick? Do you like the variety of visiting different ports? Do you aspire to simply stay in one destination and chill out? Do you like the busy atmosphere of the numerous activities on a ship?
3. Next, the ports that you wish to visit can be a great part of which cruise is the right choice for you. Have you always wanted to visit Tortugas, the Bahamas or Caymans? Here's your chance to get a taste of it. Make it possible for one of your chosen destinations is on your luxury cruise itinerary, and there are endless choices of various itineraries available. Luxury cruises are great ways to experience various places. Then you can certainly decide which destination you would like to see more of on a future vacation.
4. Another concern when choosing a luxury cruise is the length of time you wish to be ?At Sea?. For a Transatlantic voyage you are at sea for many days at a time, which limits you to being within the confines of the ship at all times. This can be a bonus if you don?t want the eventfulness of visiting different ports, but it can also be a downside if you need a lot of variety on your vacation. Some cruises offer almost no time at sea, being in a different port every day, and this flurry of activity can be too overwhelming for some vacationers. I recommend a bit of both for a 7-night cruise trip a good happy medium would be 2 days at sea with the other days stopping at various ports of call.
5. Once you have simplified your choice of cruise trip to when and where you wish to visit, the next hardest choice is the luxury cruise line and size of ship you want to use. The size of ship can dictate the cruise line, as some cruise lines offer significantly larger ships than others. Some luxury cruise lines only use smaller, more intimate ships for smaller groups of people. Other cruise trip lines offer huge ships with passengers in the thousands. You must decide whether you like a small personal touch or like the larger groups. (We found that even on a larger ship, there were still areas where we could go to get away from the crowds. Crowding on the huge ships was not a challenge at all.)
6. Fitting the cruise line to your individual personality is perhaps the most important factor in determining your luxury cruise enjoyment. There are many different types of ship lines that cater to varying personalities. Of course, the Disney Luxury cruise Line caters to families, but others such as Carnival Cruise trips cater to more of a party atmosphere for adults, or Norwegian focuses on a more conservative group. Discuss with your travel agent which cruise line fits you best. Cruise lines also offer themed or special interest vacation cruises, such as an art collectors cruise, golfer?s cruises or culinary class cruise trips. These may be great to fit in with the interests in your life-style.
7. Once you have found the best itinerary for you on the cruise trip line that suits your personality, at the best time of year for you, there are still other choices you need to make. Some cruise trip lines offer freestyle cruising, which in other words means that you don't have a set time for dinner at a set table, nevertheless , you can choose to eat when you need. On most cruise trips, however, you have a preset dinner time at an assigned table. You can choose an early dinner (usually around 6-6:30) or a later dinner time (7:30-8:00). In choosing your dinner time, take into consideration your off-ship excursions. You don't want to have to rush back from the shore expedition only to get back in time for supper. You also most often have a choice of how many people you wish to sit with (usually from 4 to 8 -10 people at a table.) Our travel agent suggested a table of 8 on our cruise trip she stated that if you had been at a table for 4 and you didn't be friends with the other husband and wife you were stuck, but a table for 8 offered more probability of finding congenial soul-mates.
8. Shore excursions will also be a major part of your cruise experience. There are many shore excursion packages available, from visiting butterfly farms, swimming with dolphins, exploring ancient ruins, to snorkelling or techinical scuba diving. Of course, if you wish you do not need to go on any shore excursions. You can just choose to stay on-board and benefit from the ship's facilities, or you can simply walk around and visit or shop in the port-of-call.
Picking a cruise can seem overwhelming, but the main point is to suit the luxury cruise to what you want to get out of the ability. If you want a whirlwind of activity choose a party cruise line understanding that. If you want a cool atmosphere, choose more time at sea. If you need to sample various cultures, choose a destination-rich cruise trip. Different types of luxury cruises offer at of those things, and more. Preferably the above has given you an idea in the choices you need to make to get the most enjoyment out of your cruise trip. Happy cruising!
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