I often get asked why I enjoy taking cruises so much.
My question for you is, “Would you consider planning a cruise?”
Here are a few reasons non-cruisers say “no”:
:: “I’ll get seasick.”
:: “I’ll be bored.”
:: “I’ll feel trapped on the ship in the middle of the ocean.”
Here’s my rebuttal:
:: “Yes, you may get seasick but today’s cruise ships are HUGE and you can hardly feel the ship’s movement.”
:: “You could never be bored on a cruise ship because there are continuous activities, something for everyone to do.”
:: “Instead of feeling trapped, you will be mesmerized by the beauty of the endless ocean as the ship makes its way to a port where you can get off the ship and not feel trapped.”
I can totally understand if you took a cruise and decided that cruising is not your first choice of vacations. But cruises offer you a unique way to visit locations around the world. Cruises are luxurious while offering the convenience of resort amenities in the form of a floating hotel.
Here are some reasons to consider taking a cruise this year.
<1> Great Value For Your Money
Cruises cater to all budgets, timeframes, port locations, and destinations. Most cruise lines offer all-inclusive packages that cover your stateroom, food, entertainment, activities, and other amenities. So, while you may think the reservation rate is steep, calculate the cost of a decent hotel room, transportation, meals, entertainment, and activities at a specific destination and you’ll see just how cruises are a great value for your money. While most cruise lines charge extra for alcoholic drinks and mocktails, others may offer you complimentary drink packages.
Cruise lines often offer huge discounts on sailings, even some that may allow young children to sail for free when traveling with adults. Rates depend on the size and newness of the ship, in addition to date of travel as off-peak months have better rates.
<2> Exciting Destinations and Ports
There are so many exciting cruise itineraries from around the world including iconic ports, tropical islands, and historic cities. From Alaska, Hawaii, or the Caribbean to Europe, Australia, Japan, and the Norwegian Fjords. The exciting locations are endless. Each day on the cruise will either visit a port of call or it will be a “sea day.” A “sea day” is a full day of floating on the sea, heading to the planned ports of call.
When you arrive in a port for the day, you have the option of just walking around on your own to explore the town or book a shore excursion set up by the cruise line. Shore excursions offer the opportunity to fully explore each destination with a guided expert. You can select historical tours, adventure sports, shopping excursions, water parks, hiking, biking, or relaxing on a beach.
Worried that you’ll be left ashore on the port of call? No worries as the ship’s Captain will provide an “all aboard” time so you know exactly when you need to get back onboard.
<3> Delicious Food, Lots of Options
The food served on a cruise ship is of the highest quality, offering lots of choices. Whether you prefer an all-you-can eat buffet, fast food, or a sit-down meal, you’ll enjoy a huge array of different cuisines, with the opportunity to expand your taste buds by tasting a little of everything. And why not? The food is free on board so you can eat as much as you’d like.
Most times, cruisers will enjoy the buffet for breakfast as there are dozens of breakfast foods to choose from. At lunch, they’ll frequent a grab and go type of meal while sunbathing near the pool. For dinner, they’ll opt to dress up for a formal dinner in the dining room, where you can expect to be served by an exemplary wait staff team and spoiled like never before. Tell the server that you can’t make up your mind about what to order and don’t be surprised when multiple appetizers, entrees, or desserts suddenly appear on your dining table for you to enjoy.
Also featured on cruise ships, is a selection of specialty dining restaurants that come at an additional charge, but are typically worth the upcharge. Everything from steakhouses to upscale Italian and Asian fare, in addition to dinner theater styles of dining as well.
Of course, in between meals you can always grab a slice of pizza, an ice cream cone, and other sweet treats, along with your favorite juices, specialty coffees and teas.
<4> Get Spoiled, You Deserve It
When you’re on a cruise you are made to feel special from the moment you step on board until the moment you disembark. A cruise vacation takes you away from your home, responsibilities and obligations, with no cooking, cleaning, laundry, or work. You can even enjoy the quiet of “unplugging” from your computer and television.
You may say that a cruise offers the highest level of service comparable with a luxury hotel. The attentive cruise stateroom attendants anticipate your every need whether it be extra pillows or towels, bed turndown service at night, daily housekeeping, or those adorable animal-shaped towel figures on your bed.
As just mentioned with the many dining options, the spoiling holds true for the dining room as the wait staff is at your beck and call from suggesting food selections, caring about your dietary requirements, and continually filling up your water glass. Drop a fork and see how fast it’s replaced. Drop a crumb from your bread and someone will be using a scraper to remove the crumbs.
<5> World Class Entertainment
Included in the price of your cruise fare is a huge selection of Broadway-style shows, live music, and unique performances like jugglers, comedians, and magicians. You can even see plays and musicals like Back to the Future, Grease, Mamma Mia, and Hairspray as featured on Royal Caribbean ships. In addition to top-notch shows in the theatre, many ships offer ice-skating shows, aqua diving and acrobatic shows, parades, and so much more.
If you like music, there is music of all styles from instrumentals such as piano, guitar, and the harp to jazz, country, and rock-n-roll. You can basically travel from lounge to lounge on a particular evening, enjoying different music genres whether for a few minutes or a few hours. The music offerings are continuous and you can transport back to 50s music and travel through the 70s, 80s and then to present time, without ever leaving the ship.
<6> Continuous Onboard Activities
If you want to keep busy on a cruise, you can elect to join daily, non-stop fun activities designed for all ages. Most activities like trivia, sports contests, and music events are included in your cruise fare. The same holds true for the kids’ clubs, mini golf, go karts, shuffleboard, table tennis, and kids pools that feature splash pads.
If you like adventure, there are water parks on board with water slides, rock climbing, and zip lines. If you like sports, there are pickleball, soccer, volleyball and basketball courts located on the higher levels of the ships.
There are also fee based activities like tours of the bridge, escape rooms, and some over the top thrill rides on ships. You can pamper yourself at the spa and treat yourself to a massage, facial or manicure. Or if you prefer some quiet time, you can head to the “adults-only” pool to read a book and take a swim. Most cruises offer swim aerobics every morning of the cruise. And if all you want to do is nothing while the ship sails from port to port, you can do that, too. Anything is possible aboard a cruise ship.
<7> Family Friendly – Fun For All Ages
A cruise makes for such a nice family vacation as there are activities specially designed with children in mind. A typical post cruise comment from family cruisers is that their kids were apprehensive about going to the kids’ club, but by day two of the cruise, parents couldn’t convince their kids to leave the kids’ club. There are also plenty of kids-only areas like splash pads, pools, and slides. Teens also have designated areas to make friends and participate in sports, movies, arcade games, and other activities.
Extended families typically turn to cruising for family vacations that reunite parents, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. That’s because cruises provide fun for all age groups while still providing plenty of opportunity for together time. Families love to participate in family karaoke, family dance parties, and family game shows.
As for grown-ups, there are plenty of adult-only pools and whirlpools, bars, lounges, and specialty restaurants to enjoy some alone time in addition to listening to talented musicians perform along with late-night dancing.
<8> Go at Your Own Pace: Choose Relaxation or Adventure, or Both
Whether you enjoy relaxing or adventure seeking, you will design your daily itinerary any way you like. Cruises post a daily activity schedule, and you can show up for activity after activity or just sit on a chair and enjoy the view of the ocean, while sipping a cup of tea. If you like to keep busy, you may want to play a round of mini-golf, zip-line across the ship, rock climb, visit the fitness center, go ice skating, or challenge yourself in an escape room.
Shopping is always fun aboard cruise ships especially when the products are offered in a “side-walk sale” type of display sprawled along the main promenades of the ship. You could literally be walking to dinner or heading to an activity and suddenly you’re browsing for ship-related souvenirs, t-shirts, jewelry, candy, sundries, even duty-free alcohol to take home with you. There’s no exchange of cash while onboard, so shopping is as easy as swiping your stateroom key and the purchase is made.
The benefit of cruising is that it’s your vacation and you can do whatever you want. Some cruisers unplug from all mobile devices while others purchase the WI-FI package and enjoy their favorite social media, YouTube videos, catch up on emails, or read e-books.
<9> Socializing and Making New Friends
When you take a cruise, you can keep to yourself but before long, you’ll be chatting with fellow cruise passengers. Whether watching the cruise leave the port at the sail-away party, playing trivia, or taking a dip in the pool, you instantly begin conversing and making friends from around the country and even the world. The same holds true if you take an excursion with other cruise passengers while visiting ports. Spending a few hours with the same folks as you enjoy a tour of a new city has a sneaky way of forcing unexpected friendships.
And if you’re remembering the classic television show, “The Love Boat”, I suppose there are plenty of opportunities to make a love connection aboard a ship as well. When you’re on “cruise time,” you feel a sense of relief, peace, and a joy that is shared by other cruise passengers so making friends or a potential love interest could indeed happen.
<10> Cruises are Convenient
Once you step on board the cruise ship, you’ve arrived at your home away from home and your vacation begins. Your luggage will be waiting for you by your stateroom door. You don’t have to get back in the car to go find restaurants, or activities, or entertainment.
Here’s the best part: You only unpack your luggage one time. So, once unpacked, you’re in vacation mode. Your stateroom is your main hub for the duration of the cruise. The ship sails you to exciting destinations so you may say that the captain does the driving for you.
I enjoy the convenience of walking around the ship morning, noon, and night and always feeling safe.
Here is a quick list of how I plan a cruise:
<1> Pick a departure port that is convenient for you to travel to whether driving, flying, or taking a train.
<2> Select the number of days you want to cruise from 3 nights to 7 nights … and some cruises are even longer.
<3> Select a cruise line and ship that matches the dates you’re looking to vacation on.
<4> Confirm that the ports of call meet your criteria whether you’re looking for beach visits like in the Caribbean or historical destinations as in Europe.
<5> When you find the ideal cruise, make your reservation online or call to speak with a cruise agent.
<6> Study the ship decks to determine what level and area you want your stateroom to be located.
Once you book your cruise, you will be notified to plan excursions at the ports of call, make specialty dining reservations, book WI-FI, beverage packages, and entertainment reservations (if applicable).
Warning: Cruise Vacations are Contagious
You know how people say you can’t just eat one potato chip? Well, you can’t just take one cruise because once you cruise, you’ll be “hooked.” Cruises are such a well-rounded vacation that you’ll create lasting memories. From breathtaking ocean views to fun activities and world class entertainment, you’ll immediately want to plan your next cruise.
Bon Voyage!