At the top of the cruise world there are two kinds of luxury and they do not want the same thing from you. One hands you a bill with almost nothing left on it. The other hands you a smaller ship and a longer leash.
The first camp is the everything included model. Regent Seven Seas is the clearest example. The fare folds in your flights, your shore excursions, your drinks, your tips, and often a hotel night before you sail. You pay a big number once and then you mostly stop reaching for your wallet.
That model has a personality. It fits the traveler who wants the math done before boarding. You are not comparing excursion prices in every port. You are not deciding whether the good wine is worth it. The decision was made the day you booked, and that is the whole appeal.
The other camp sells you the ship and the room to roam. Think Seabourn or Silversea. The fares still include a lot, and the suites and the crew ratios are serious. But the draw is the smaller ship that slips into harbors the big luxury ships cannot, and the freedom to build the trip your way rather than take the package as handed.
These are two different answers to the same question. Do you want the trip solved for you, or do you want the trip handed to you in pieces you get to arrange. Neither is better. They just sort people.
Here is the honest part. The included everything fare looks expensive until you add up what you would have spent anyway. Flights, excursions, a daily bar tab, and tips are not small. Sometimes the big number is the cheaper number once you do the arithmetic. Sometimes it is not, because you would never have booked four excursions and three cocktails a day on your own.
So the question is not which line is fancier. The question is what kind of traveler you are once the ship leaves the dock. If you relax when the bill is already paid, lean toward the included everything side. If you relax when nobody has scripted your day, lean toward the ship that goes where the big ones cannot.
You can sort this out alone. You can also assemble furniture without the instructions. It usually works and it usually takes longer than it should. If you want help matching the style to the way you actually travel, that is literally what we do.
Fair winds and following seas,
Captain Steve
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