Have you ever thought about taking a cruise? I never thought that I would like cruising, but actually it is quite nice and very convenient. There are a lot of people out there that are 'cruisers', meaning that is all that they do. I could never do that, but I enjoy the occasional cruise, so I tend to alternate land based trips with cruises. Last year I did a cruise from Venice to Rome, with the Greek Islands in-between. I can tell you about that cruise later, but today I wanted to talk about the pro's & con's of going on a cruise vacation so you can make a great decision on your vacation.
First, some of the hesitation I initially had before booking my first cruise where:
I don't want to have to be back on board the ship at a set time, I might be having a great time in Port and to have to plan to be back on ship at 6 pm or so, did not sound good to me. I really like to explore and I was concerned with time constraints
These cruise ships are so big, lots of small cabins - I thought I might be a little claustrophobic
I thought I would be bored after a few days and the idea of a whole day at sea? I was not sure what I would do with myself!
I discovered the answers to my doubts about cruising by taking that first leap and doing a cruise vacation with my pal CJS. The trip sort of came up suddenly. CJS got a post card from American Express Travel with a 'last minute offering' for a 10-day cruise to Tahiti. We had to make a decision fast because the cruise was less than 90 days away -- that was why they were offering this screamin' great deal that included airfare. By some miracle we were both able to get the time off, so we snapped up those cheap tickets and went on our first cruise. And........we had a flippin' BLAST!!
I know we were lucky as hell to have the deal fall in our laps, but it really was a great trip. But here are the answers I came to during this trip:
90% of the time, we had enough time in the port, it was not a problem (on other cruises I did run in to a little of this, but overall this was no longer an issue for me)
Again, lucked out on my first cruise. We were on the R2 (now sailing under the Princess flag) This is a 650 passenger ship, small by cruise ship standards. They have ships now that can sail with 6000! Anyway, it was super comfortable, great service, we never felt like we were crowded
Not at any one time in that first cruise was I bored. We were go-go-go every day. By the time we'd get back on the ship, shower and go to dinner it would be approaching 10pm. Some times we went to the shows at night, other times we were too exhausted from the days activities and went to bed. At any rate, there was no shortage things to do
So, if you have ever thought of cruising, but had concerns - give it another look, its worth it. You get to see a lot in a short amount of time, you really can save some money verses a land based trip and you only have to unpack once! I've been on several cruise lines and various size ships. Each is a little different so here are a few suggestions if you are interested going on a cruise vacation
Do your research! There are lots of web sites out there in regards to booking a cruise but I think the very best is Vacationstogo.com.
Get an idea of how long an itinerary you would like to do 7 days, 10 days, 12 days, 14 days -- there are cruises out there for any length of time, but I would suggest for your first cruise 7 to 10 days is perfect
Think about what size ship you want to be on. If you want to do small like my first cruise, there are many companies to choose from - Oceania is great and usually reasonably priced. The small the ship, the more expensive. A mid-size ship might have 1500-1800 passengers. I know you are thinking 'wow, that is way too big'! But I assure you, it's not. It really doesn't feel like you are on a huge ship. Now when you get above 2000 passengers, that is a whole different story! Princess and Celebrity have some fantastic ships less than 2000 passengers at great prices.
Now, where would you like to go? Tropical? Mediterranean? The Baltic's? There are lots of great itineraries out there, you just need to pick one to start your search on
Lastly -- have specific dates? Its better if you can start out with a range of dates, you will get more options if your dates are a little flexable
Ok, now you are ready to do research on finding a specific trip. VTG has a good search engine for their website, but other sites are good too. Get on the site of your choice and type in your choices
Return to Same Port
You do not need to fill out every box - you can do region, dates, length of cruise & either of the port questions and hit enter. You will get a pretty big selection. At first you might be overwhelmed with the number of choices, but just scroll through and narrow it down to a few that look good to you.
One thing that I really love about VTG, is they have something called their 90 day ticker. You can see the bargain city of short term booking fares for the next 90 days. You can find some AMAZING deals on the 90 ticker. I did a cruise a few years back to Alaska. I booked it about 60 days out - it was $450 for a 7 day cruise! And the last thing I will say about VTG is that if you decide to book a cruise - ask to speak to Joan Mosquinski when you call. She is the best in the business! I've booked many a cruise with Joan and she has the customer service thing down! You do not always get great customer service these days and Joan is a real professional, and gives truly courteous service. Now I hope I have got you thinking about the possibility of cruising!
In my next blog I will tell you all my tips for getting the most of of your cruise, how to get the best deal on excursions and give you some tips on itineraries. Hope to see you back her tomorrow, Travel Safe!
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I love to share travel tips, please feel free to share in your comments, I'd love to hear from you.
Have you ever thought about taking a cruise? I never thought that I would like cruising, but actually it is quite nice and very convenient. There are a lot of people out there that are 'cruisers', meaning that is all that they do. I could never do that, but I enjoy the occasional cruise, so I tend to alternate land based trips with cruises. Last year I did a cruise from Venice to Rome, with the Greek Islands in-between. I can tell you about that cruise later, but today I wanted to talk about the pro's & con's of going on a cruise vacation so you can make a great decision on your vacation. 
Now I hope I have got you thinking about the possibility of cruising!
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love to share travel tips, please feel free to share in your comments, I'd love to hear from you.