Cruises

"A Life on the Ocean Wave"

A vacation can be memorable for many reasons – it could be the destination that changes your life for ever, or the people you meet or take with you. Or a special event that takes place during your break. A cruise is probably the most memorable of all types of vacation.

The reason for this is simple. You travel enormous distances while staying in the same place. So you get the best of both worlds: the chance to meet new people along with the time to get to know them, and a variety of different and interesting destinations.

Say, for example, you took a cruise with a line like Royal Caribbean. The basic choices include cruises to Alaska, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, New England and Europe. And within each of the basic categories there are lots of options. Say you decide to take the seven-night Hubbard Glacier tour aboard the Cruise Ship Radiance of the Seas. You start and finish in Vancouver, B.C, and drop in at all kinds of places on the way, including Juneau, Alaska’s beautiful capital. And, of course, there’s the centerpiece of the cruise – the great Hubbard Glacier itself, one of the finest natural sights in North America.

But surely cruising is just for the oldsters? Isn’t it all about rest-cures and seniors relaxing on sun loungers? Not so. There’s a place for all age groups on a Royal Caribbean cruise. In fact, they’re going out of their way to market cruises as family holidays. Right now Royal Caribbean and Fisher Price, the toy company, have teamed up to market cruises to young and old. Royal Caribbean’s promotional road show, The Ultimate Adventure Tour, is traveling around America telling people about the benefits of vacations on the high seas. The people running it are taking with them the Fisher Price Cabana – designed specially for kids! It’s designed to give young cruisers a taste of life onboard, and whet their appetites for cruise holidays.

The other great thing about cruises is the variety of activities cruisers young and old can enjoy. Modern cruise liners have an unimaginable range of activities – some cruise ships even have onboard climbing walls and ice rinks for all the family to learn new skills and have fun. In the evenings there are informal and formal dinners (no need to pack your tux – you can hire one!), live music and dancing.

And all that’s just on the ship. When you hit land lots of activities are organized to help you explore and enjoy the places you visit. And not all of the cities you’ll find yourself wandering around are coastal: one of Royal Caribbean’s European tours includes a visit to Paris, which is a clear hundred miles from the Ocean – luxury coaches whisk you to and from your ship to the inland destination.

Accommodations onboard modern cruise ships varies from the merely excellent to the mind-blowing luxurious. There’s no such thing as a simple ‘cabin’ these days – everyone gets to stay in a stateroom, which vary from cozy interior rooms to huge suites of over a thousand square feet. In some you even get your own grand piano.

A cruise offers everything could want from a holiday: a little adventure, and a lot of fun. You get to visit lots of great new places and make friends that you’ll perhaps stay in touch with for the rest of your life. Each cruise ship is a little world to itself, and taking a cruising holiday can give you the best of not just both, but every world!