Choosing your Best Cruise Trips

Gold lists, Reader’s Choice Awards, Editor’s Choice Awards, Porthole awards, Readers’ survey honors, World’s Best Awards – are the results of any of the numerous Best Cruise Lines' awards helping you make a decision on your next cruise trips?

For many of us, the awards offer interesting late-night reading (and often dreaming), but are not particularly helpful in making a choice. Hapag-Lloyd’s Europa is considered one of the very best of the best in every area – service, itineraries, cabins, cuisine, on-board programs and so forth – but is it the best cruise line for your next voyage? Maybe not….

The Europa is an excellent choice for well-traveled, discerning cruisers who appreciate exquisite cuisine, stimulating intellectual lectures, and culturally-oriented on-board activities in spacious, sophisticated surroundings.

But if you are planning a family vacation with two active teens or party-filled nights at the disco, Hapag-Lloyd is not the best choice for your cruise.

How do we choose our best cruise trips?

To help narrow the choices for the best cruise lines for your cruise trips, consider these three key factors:

1. Destination / Ports of Call
2. Price /Value
3. Amenities

Ports of Call

As cruising became more popular, the cruise lines expanded their itineraries to reach most parts of the world. Where would you like to go – the Caribbean, Mexico, Alaska, Australia, Europe – north or south?

More exotic cruise itineraries include ports in the Middle East including Dubai, Asia and Japan, Southeast Asia, the Seychelles, South America and beyond.

Many small cruise ships cruise only in one region – for example, the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica, or the fjords along the coast of Norway – and offer authentic in-depth experiences not found on larger cruise ships.

Repositioning cruises, through which the cruise lines seasonally move their ships from one region to another, generally include many days at sea for an opportunity to experience the programs and features aboard the ship in depth. By choosing one of these cruises, you are able to explore an exotic port on land before or after your cruise and benefit from the lower pricing of the ship’s repositioning

Pricing / Value

Generally, the price of a cruise depends on the time of year, the length of the cruise, the size and age of the ship and the cruise line.

Holiday cruises, especially those in December, are the most expensive and are generally fully booked. Pricing for these cruises is the least expensive when the sailing dates are released for sale. “Shoulder season” cruises – for example, December cruises to the Caribbean, April and October-November cruises in Europe – are priced less than high season cruises, but there is a reason. November is chilly and rainy in the Mediterranean; December is a busy month for holiday-planning and fewer people can find the time to cruise.

Repositioning cruises offer a good value, if you are flexible with weather conditions and enjoy many days at sea.

The cruise fare for small cruise ships is generally higher than the large mass-market lines, but small ships may include shore excursions, beverages, gratuities – even spa services in the fares. Silversea and Regent Seven Seas Cruises are small luxury lines that feature all-inclusive cruising.

The least expensive cruise fare may not be the best value, and it is often difficult to make accurate comparisons. Remember to include the cost of transportation to the embarkation and disembarkation ports – and overnight hotel stays depending on available flight schedules. Be sure the fare you are quoted includes port fees, taxes and the recently implemented fuel surcharges. Factor in any special savings – on board credits, future cruise discounts, stateroom upgrades.

Then consider all the extras – a bottle of water, the beverage before dinner or while lounging at the pool, the bingo game and casino enticements to while away the days at sea, and the cost of shore excursions to experience the exciting destinations you visit. Add in paying a premium for eating at a specialty restaurant, the cost of the Kid’s Program and video arcade, and internet access ….

While the offers of 7-night cruises to the Caribbean for $399 per person sound inviting, you will spend much more after adding taxes, port fees, the fuel surcharges, gratuities, travel protection insurance and those “items of a personal nature.”

Choose from the best cruise lines that offer cruises within your budget.

Amenities

Amenities is a catch-all phrase I use to describe the features on a ship that help to make it the best for you. For some, it is a private balcony for romantic starlit dinners; for others it is an assortment of high-energy on-board activities ranging from water slides to surf simulators and ice skating rinks to gourmet cooking classes.

Others seek the ultra-relaxing cruise experience of floating past medieval castles along the riverbanks of Europe – or the adventure of being close enough to a bear in Alaska to actually smell his breath. And still others look forward to indulging in a variety of invigorating and sensual spa treatments.

If you are seeking a cruise with non-stop high-energy activities for your family, consider Royal Caribbean’s fleet with Kid’s Clubs, rock-climbing walls, and more. Carnival’s ships feature water slides for family fun.

If you are seeking total spa immersion and a chance to use your ballroom dancing skills, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 features the largest spa at sea, the 20,000 sq ft Canyon Ranch spa, and several formal balls on each sailing.

Each of the best cruise lines has features and amenities that make it different from the others. Browse through our descriptions of the best cruise lines and small cruise ships to find those that specialize in your key interests, then give us a call at 1-888-825-4529 or send us an email to find the itinerary and pricing for your best cruise trips.