Cheap cruises – affordable fun for everyone

Cruise travel tips..

Huge ships filled with bars, pool tables, spas, gyms and swimming pools tirelessly roam seas and oceans. If you think you need to be some kind of a big shot to afford a ticket to this kind of paradise, think again. A decent one week cruise in the Caribbean is hardly more expensive than a weekend at a five star hotel in Vegas.

Ocean cruise – this phrase makes you think of something romantic. The history of sea cruises goes back to the beginning of the XX century when this kind of travel was almost a must as a part of summer entertainment for metropolitan aristocracy taking a break from cities. In many novels of the time the action takes place in the interiors of luxury cabins and smoking rooms, ladies and gentlemen walking about the decks, and hydroplanes flying over every day to bring strawberries, oysters and newspapers. Not too long ago one could only dream about being a character in one of those novels.

Nowadays ocean cruises can be fun for almost anyone. If you can afford to travel at all, consider looking at some cheap cruise packages.  Prices for a standard week long cruise on a good ship with all expenses (roundtrip flight to the place where the cruise starts, transfers and the cruise itself) are as affordable as ever.

In his novel “The Floating Island”, French science fiction writer Jules Verne described how some “advanced” aristocrats settled with all the amenities on an artificial island, which was powered by big engines through the waters of various countries. Fresh air, new experiences, care free life… Modern cruise liners will probably be much smaller than the floating piece of land from the utopian novel, but as far as the number of places on the ship where you can relax in comfort, find various entertainments, or do anything else you happen to desire, it will certainly give the floating island a run for its money.

For example, one of the largest modern day cruise liners, Queen Mary 2 has 17 decks, and measure 345 m in length, 41 m in width and 72 m in height ( just for comparison – the height of the Statue of Liberty in New York is 93 meters)and it can take up to 2620 people on board. The passengers are offered an array of amenities: many bars, a library, boutiques, kids club, golf simulator, mini golf, winter garden, casino, concert hall, a bookstore, a lecture center, night club, table tennis, kennel for dogs, a planetarium, five swimming pools (one roof-top), a cigar club, a spa (massages, thalassotherapy, sauna, wellness program), beauty salon, gym, ballroom and much, much more.

And if you think that you can only get such amenities on a super expensive liner, you are wrong. For instance, one of the budget class cruise liners offering cheap cruises, “The Golden Princess”, boasts a running track, a library, boutiques, volleyball and basketball courts, golf simulator, nine Jacuzzis, four swimming pools ( one with a “wave”, one with retracting roof), children’s play club, three concert halls, a casino ( the largest on cruise ships) and slot machines, a night club, beauty salon, spa (aromatherapy, reflexology, sauna, massage), virtual reality theater and even a chapel. Even luxury mega yachts, though modest in size (for example “The Pride “, which is owned by Seaborne Cruise Line is 134 feet long and 19 in width and can “only” take 204 passengers), have an extensive list of entertainment available on board.

Going on a cruise you need to understand that it’s a special kind of travel. For some, a trip on a ship across the ocean has a lot of pros, for others, however – solid cons. No wonder tour operators claim that sea and ocean cruises have the most repeat travelers who choose this form of recreation from year to year. At the same time a considerable number of tourists shudder at the memory of their “voyage”. The main advantage of cruises is the huge number of different experiences within one or two weeks spent on the ship.

Besides the above mentioned on board entertainment options, there are numerous ports of call awaiting the travelers. Typically, the ship is idle during the day and tourists are free to do what they want. However, the above features can be quite a nuisance for people who prefer calm and quite pastime without much movement and action or for “party animals” who sleep during the day and “light it up” in clubs at night.

Price

Generally it’s difficult to approximate the price of a cruise, because it depends on several factors: the class of ship, type of cabin, length of trip, and, finally, the geographical area of travel. The vessels, intended for this kind of recreation are divided into two main types: liners and luxury mega yachts. Liners, in turn are divided into classes: standard, premium and luxury. In addition each vessel is assigned a number of stars for its level – from three to five. If you compare the quality of the cabins, restaurants and service to those of a hotel, three star cruise liner equals a four star hotel, four star – five etc.

Cabins are divided into five main types: the inner cabin, a cabin with porthole, cabin with a balcony, mini-suites and suites (suites are the most luxurious multi-room cabins, often with panoramic windows and balconies). Inner cabins are the cheapest – they are in the central part of the ship and have no windows. As a rule, they are preferred by young people, who only use it to sleep, and enjoy the beauty of the ocean on one of the decks. Cabins with portholes are about 1.5 times more expensive than the inner cabins. And suites can be several times more expensive – it all depends on the number of rooms, interior amenities etc.

During one to two week cruise tourists usually have time to visit one to two cities. The area cruise travel covers is very wide: from the Mediterranean in Europe to Australia, North and South America, New Zealand etc. Cheap cruises can be found for pretty much every popular destination. Just keep in mind what you’ll be getting: daily room service, all the food you can eat, and the opportunity to use all the ship’s amenities. And if you get the right package, all you transfers maybe covered as well. So considering the value, cruise travel is something everyone should try at least once.