Submitted by: Cruise Holidays Guide
Approximately 12 million people will spend their holiday this year on some type of cruise. In fact, cruise ships make up the biggest part of the tourism business for many cities. Over 3,250,000 passengers from cruise ships visited the Bahamas alone last year while more than 1,500,000 passed through the U.S. Virgin Islands.
There isn t a much better way to completely relax than having your entire holiday itinerary planned ahead of time and then living in the lap of luxury for a week or more. There are so many advantages to cruise holidays, like:
All inclusive package deals for couples, families, singles, or seniors that include things like meals, entertainment, spas, and casinos
The convenience of unpacking your bags and putting away the suitcases for your entire holiday rather than living out of a suitcase and toting it from hotel to hotel
If you are traveling from the UK, cruises can be even more convenient than for those who have to add flights to and from the port-of-call to their plans. There are 10 ports in the UK from which a variety of different cruises depart. You can embark on cruises to the Norwegian Fjords, the Mediterranean, and the Canary Islands to name only a few of the destinations.
Many people don t realize that going on a cruise doesn t just mean sailing to the Caribbean or skirting around the coast of the British Isles. If you choose, you can fly to the United States and enjoy the beauty of an Alaskan cruise or start in Hawaii on a cruise of the South Pacific. There are also many different river cruises in Europe, Egypt, and China that may offer more to see than the typical cruise. If you don t want to spend all of your time on a ship, you can book a cruise and stay holiday.
Ocean Cruise Holidays
The more popular ocean cruises travel to the Caribbean with stopovers in the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, and ports in Mexico like Cancun. For a little more exotic cruise holiday, there are South Pacific cruises that take in the Polynesian Islands like Tahiti and Fiji.
Mediterranean cruises may provide the biggest range of attractions and destinations. These include countries like France, Spain, Italy, and Greece all of which are blessed with beautiful weather.
River Cruise Holidays
River cruises are becoming more popular, especially for those who want to see more of the world while on their holiday. Most of these cruises offer many more ports of call than an ocean cruises generally have and there is more to be seen while aboard the ship than vast distances of ocean. The ships are much smaller that the huge ocean liners, with room for only 150 to 300 passengers. Because the ships are smaller and less crowded, the view is great from anywhere on board.
River cruises can be taken on rivers like the Danube, the Rhine, and the Volga in Europe, the Nile in Egypt, and the Yangtze in China.
Cruise and Stay Holidays
Cruise and stay cruises make an ideal holiday for those who want to enjoy the concept of a cruise but not the idea of spending all of their time on a ship. While the typical ocean cruise does stop at the occasional port city, quite often only a few hours is allotted to get of the ship and enjoy the sights. A cruise and stay holiday allows for overnight stays at the beginning and end destinations, giving you more time to soak up the ambience.
For instance, a cruise and stay from Rome to Venice actually starts in Civitavecchia, 60 miles from Rome. If you booked only the cruise, you may fly into Rome but it could take the whole day just getting to the ship and settling in. Booking this holiday as a cruise and stay holiday would allow you as much time as you choose to spend in both Rome and Venice.
When planning a cruise and stay holiday, you can make all the arrangements yourself or allow the cruise line to take care of it all. This can be a benefit because the cruise line will consider your hotel stays as part of the cruise and you will be treated just as if you were on board the ship.
Major Cruise Lines
There are many different cruise lines from which to choose and each one tends to attract a different type of holidaymaker.
The Fun Ships of Carnival Cruises tend to offer group entertainment that attracts everything from families, lower income seniors, and singles. The atmosphere on these ships is quite informal.
Princess Cruise lines are one of the major lines that offers cruises to the South Pacific.
Costa Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and MSC Cruises are all somewhat informal, but not to the extent of the Carnival ships. They attract middle-income couples and seniors.
Windstar Cruises brings in more professionals like doctors and lawyers and young professionals. These cruises do not plan a lot of organized activities as many of the other cruise lines do.
Silversea Cruises attract the middle-aged to older traveler who are upper middle class to affluent.
Viking River Cruises and Uniworld are the leading cruise lines for river cruises.
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