Category: Cruising Styles

Cruising alone used to come with a tax. It was called the single supplement, and it hurt. Here is why it exists. A cruise fare assumes two people are paying for one cabin. When you sail solo, the line still wants that cabin to earn what two people would pay. So they charge you extra…

There are two kinds of theme cruise. The one you book on purpose and the one that shows up on your sailing without asking. Both are real. Most people only know the first one. The first kind is the full-ship charter. A company buys the whole ship for a week and sells it back one…

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…

Say river cruise and most people picture the same thing. A long skinny ship on the Rhine. Castles on the hill. A glass of Riesling at sunset. That trip is real and it is wonderful. It is also about two percent of what river cruising actually offers. The rivers nobody mentions are where the interesting…

Two ships pull into the same remote fjord. Both carry fewer than 300 guests. One is an expedition ship. One is a small luxury ship. They are not the same trip, and the difference is the whole point. People mix these up all the time. Small and fancy does not mean expedition. Rugged and remote…

Luxury cruising sounds like a single idea. It is not. Two ships can both call themselves luxury and give you completely different vacations. Start with what the word actually buys. On a real luxury line the fare stops nickel and diming you. Seabourn includes all your meals, premium drinks, gratuities, and even caviar service in…

Most people spend a year deciding whether to do the Galapagos. Then they book the first ship a website shows them. That is the whole trip decided in about four minutes. Here is the thing about the Galapagos. It is not a place you sail near. The national park controls how many people land, where…

There is a cruise where the whole point is that nothing happens. No ports. No shore excursions. No rush to the tender line. Just you and the open Atlantic for a week. This is the ocean crossing, and it is a completely different animal from a repositioning cruise. A repositioning cruise is about the deal.…

There is a difference between a cruise with no kids and a cruise built for no kids. People mix these up all the time. One is an accident of timing. The other is a design choice. The whole-fleet adults only lines are the real thing. Virgin Voyages runs four ships, Scarlet Lady, Valiant Lady, Resilient…

Every cruise line says it is all inclusive now. Most of them are lying by a little. A drink package and prepaid tips do not make a cruise all inclusive. They make it a cruise with a bar tab you paid up front. Real all inclusive means the bill stops at the fare. On Regent…