Cruising is an awesome way to get to know a little bit about multiple destinations in a region, and help you decide where you might enjoy a longer return visit. It's also a wonderful way to travel generally.
I've posted some general thoughts on this subject before, but I've learned a lot more since then about the whole business of cruising. What I am mainly sharing here are things which you might not consider before choosing and booking a cruise, especially if you're a newcomer to cruising.
[1] Travel Agents
First and foremost: if you are going to use a travel agent (strongly recommended for the newcomer to cruising), make sure you choose one who specializes in the cruise biz. Booking a cruise is a highly specialized process, and a specialist agent will have the facts, figures, and sources of information all lined up to help you even before you begin. I've been told that a travel agent can often get you a better fare than you could get by booking yourself. I have yet to verify that myself. I'm stubborn that way.
[2] Timing is Everything
To get a good value-for-money fare, you absolutely need to cruise in off-season times. These vary depending which region of the world you are going to cruise in, but they most certainly do not include the Christmas and spring break school holiday periods. Caribbean cruises over those holiday times are among the most expensive of all, measured on a cost per day basis. The same principle applies to Alaskan cruises in July and the first half of August.
Proof: I've just come off a 16-day trans-Atlantic cruise. In a few months, I'll be doing a 15-day Panama Canal cruise. Last year, I had booked (and then cancelled) a 10-day Mexican Riviera cruise over New Year's (December 27 to January 6). The cancellation 100% credit from that 10-day cruise paid for all of the Panama cruise, and about 40% of the Atlantic voyage. In effect, I got 20 days of cruising from the cost of a 10-day peak holiday period cruise.
[3] Where to Cruise?
Here, of course, it's all about your interests. Beaches? Caribbean or Hawaii. Natural wonders? Alaska or Iceland/Norway. History? Europe, either north or south. Lots of time at sea? Voyages across any major ocean.
[4] Which Cruise Line?
You absolutely need to pick a cruise line based on its style. They are not all the same by any means, even if they look like they are at first glance.
To give a few examples: Carnival has a well-deserved reputation as a provider of hyperactive, whoop-it-up, fun vacations for all. Disney -- well, it's Disney. Nuff said. Princess (my personal favourite) is a classic kind of cruise, more laid back and leisurely. Holland America has gone in for quite a specialization on different types of music, and I may give them a try on that basis. Cunard is more elegant, and more dressy as well. And so on. This is where a travel agent can be a huge help, but you can also learn a lot by visiting sites where cruise passengers share their reviews and reactions.
[5] All-Important: Picking Your Cabin
Even people who say, "Oh, I never spend any time in my cabin," actually do. Unless they're spending the whole voyage sleeping in the cabins of one or more other people, of course. The key rule for picking a cabin, to get a good sleep, is to make sure that there are cabins above you, below you, either side of you, and across the hall from you. Also, one more firm rule: no cabins with connecting doors to another cabin unless your party is also occupying that connecting cabin.
There are cheaper cabins that don't follow those rules: above the nightclub (horrible if you're the early-to-bed type), under the pool deck (deadly if you're not a morning person), adjacent to the elevators, right beside the laundromat (you can learn some interesting multilingual swear words here), or (a sneaky one, this) right across the hall from the uptakes where the engine exhaust rises on its way from the engine room to the smokestacks -- that can get noisy when the ship is cruising at high speed.
The stern: there are often some lovely cabins with stern views over the wake. The problem: in rough weather, the stern rises up over a wave, the propellers get into a mass of foam instead of solid water and can't bite into it, the props speed up, and the vibration for a few moments can get teeth-rattlingly intense. I would especially suggest avoiding the stern on any trans-ocean voyage where heavier weather is more likely.
If you are fearful of motion sickness, a good rule is to get onto a lower deck and near to midships.
Pitfalls: [1] Cruise lines may offer you a discount if you let them pick your cabin
for you. Don't do it. You might get lucky, but you may very well
end up with a dog's breakfast of noise.
[2] Booking at last minute -- they'll offer you a bargain fare to fill
the space, but Pitfall # 1 still applies. At the last minute, you won't
likely get a choice. Be warned.
In short, you need to look at a lot more than just the one deck where the cabin is located.
[6] About That Laundry: To Scrub or Not to Scrub?
Cruise ships generally have laundromats. Cruise ships also generally offer pick-up-and-deliver laundry service from your cabin. My impression is that rates for cabin service laundry are about half what is charged in major hotels ashore. My experience is that cruise ship laundromats can have as many as half their machines out of service at any given moment. One morning, I came out of my cabin at five to eight, and walked down the hall, passing a lineup of four or five grim-faced people determined to make a run for a machine as soon as the laundromat opened at eight o'clock. Since you can easily have to pay the dryer for 3 cycles -- are you really saving money? My advice is simple: you're on holiday, just go with the pick-up-and-deliver. You didn't pay all that money to spend one whole day of the week trapped in the laundry room, just like at home! Of course, on a shorter cruise of one week of less, it's a simple matter to bring enough clothes for the whole trip.
[7] Tonight We Dress
Back in the so-called "good olde daze," dressing formally for dinner was de rigeuer. Today, a dwindling number of lines follow this principle for all, or certain sections, of the ship. Others, like Princess, still do a couple of formal nights a week, but don't strongly enforce them -- and the buffet is always a casual option. Some just don't do it at all. If you like dressing up to the max, you may well feel more comfortable on a cruise line which continues or encourages this tradition.
[8] The Fare, or When Is "All-Inclusive" Not Really Included?
General rule: your fare includes your transportation by ship, your room, your meals, and your entertainment. Everything else will cost you. Everything.
Exceptions: practically every company has different details within that general rule. Some include more in the fare, but charge you more for the privilege. Some cheaper ones may nickel and dime you for every extra, on the ship and ashore at their "private island paradise" in the Caribbean.
Some things you can expect to pay extra for: drinks, internet, drinks, premium restaurants, drinks, shore excursions, drinks, some of the flashy theme park attractions on the top decks, and did I mention drinks? In some cases, you can save money by pre-paying those extras before you sail. Check it out.
On Princess, my preferred line, the only included beverages are tap water, ordinary tea, ordinary coffee, lemonade, and fruit juice is included at breakfast only. All others cost extra. Now, read that list again.
Cruise fares are getting more complicated all the time. Princess isn't the only line to begin offering a multi-tiered fare program. Just like the airlines, you can pick your fare depending on what you want to have included. I picked a fare which included internet for one device, prepaid "crew incentives" (tips) for the voyage, and free drinks up to $12 per drink. That package saved me money because of my fondness for wine with dinner and cappuccinos at any and all hours of the day.
The bottom line is simple: just like all other businesses, the cruise lines have to pay their bills (fuel not the least of them) and if they don't ding you with the basic fare, they'll have to ding you with the surcharges.
Knowledge is your only weapon. Your best bet is to do some serious research before buying, and make sure you know all the details for whatever cruise line(s) you are considering.
[9] Getting to the Ship
You can buy flights through the cruise line. You will get the benefit of low prices thanks to their bulk-pricing agreements with major airlines, especially in North America. Some of the routings they come up with can get pretty complicated -- one couple on my last voyage had to fly home to Cleveland from Florida via Houston and Chicago. Or you can buy your own, on the nonstop flight of your choice. Either way, there is one absolutely essential rule -- especially nowadays when so many flights on so many airlines are being cancelled or hugely delayed:
Book your flight for the day before the ship sails -- or earlier.
A traveller's tale to illustrate the point. In 2000, I was sailing on an 18-day adventure cruise from Dover in England to the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, Spitsbergen, and the Norwegian fjords. A group of some 15 passengers arriving from Atlanta missed the ship because their flight was delayed. They got put on a flight to Copenhagen and spent a night in a hotel there. The next day they flew to the Faeroe Islands. On Day 3, the ship approached Torshavn in the Faeroes but couldn't land anyone as it was too rough for the ship's boats to take passengers ashore, or vice versa. The gang from Atlanta watched as their ship again sailed away without them, and then were taken back to the airport and flown back to Copenhagen. On Day 4, they flew from Copenhagen to Reykjavik. There they finally got to join the ship on Day 5. I am not making this up, by the way. In 2000, you could only get to the Faeroe Islands from Copenhagen. And the reason why I know the whole sad story? One of the unlucky Atlanta gang was seated at our table in the dining room when they finally arrived on the fifth night.
The moral? Book your flight for the day before the ship sails -- or earlier.
[10] What About River Cruises?
A river cruise is a completely different animal altogether. The only thing it has in common with an ocean cruise is that ships are involved. After that, no comparison. Click on the "river cruises" label in the box of labels on the right-hand side at the top of the page, and you'll find plenty of information in multiple posts about my experiences on two river cruises.
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