I have been selling cruises for 20 years.
The Bahamas and Caribbean are my favourite cruise destination. An incredible choice of Islands and experiences, a perfect year round climate, warm calm seas, along with its own unique culture and Caribbean vibe, makes the Caribbean a perfect destination, both on board your chosen cruise and for exploring and seeing the islands. Generally a Caribbean cruise is quite port intensive with very few sea days on most itineraries.
Celebrity Cruises, Oceania Cruise, Seabourn and Cunard, along with several luxury river cruises and most of the mainstream cruise lines. I was lucky enough to work on board, in a few different positions on some of the luxury cruise lines eventually as a Cruise Director.
Although Luxury Cruises are in the higher end of peoples budgets, the inclusions make them amazing value for money, when comparing costs between the mainstream cruise lines and luxury cruise lines. By the time you upgrade to a luxury cruise line equivalent cabin, add on specialty restaurants, specialty coffees, plus many more extras which are included in the price when booking a luxury cruise, you will find the end cost of the two types of cruise, do not differ that much. While the costs are similar, the extra personal space, more spacious cabins, luxury surroundings, quality of food, stepping up to another level of service, plus all those little touches you may not even notice, at the end of the day are free.
On my extensive wish list for cruising my top destination is the South Pacific islands. For river cruising its the Mississippi on a traditional Paddle Steamer.
After the essential documents needed for travel, the three things I pack for a cruise are... sun screen, comfortable walking shoes and an extra battery Pack for my mobile phone.
1) Pre-book a few key excursions especially those that offer unique experiences. Try not to pre fill every day ashore. The best advice is to speak to your travel advisor to find out about the ports experiences available each day of your cruise.
2) Especially when sailing from a UK ports, and If time allows, pre-book an overnight hotel before the cruise. With the ease of embarkation doing this feels like you have added an extra day to your holiday.
3) Pack what you need. Majority of the cabins on ships will have all of the facilities you need and would expect from a 5-star hotel room. Most ships, especially the newer ones have USB charging points in the cabins. While packing your hand luggage, always pack swimming pool attire, along with a change of clothes for the evening, as it can take some time for the ship to deliver all the cases to the cabins.
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