Cruising: Where Do I Start?
Hello Friend! Welcome back! I’m glad you’re here!
Today I’d like to get started talking about cruising. This will be the first of many posts regarding the cruise industry and its where a large chunk of my experience comes from. Usually when people find out that I used to work in the cruise industry, they’re exploding with questions. Many of which tend to be “What’s the best cruise line.” To which there is no perfect answer. Cruising options are as diverse as people are and the industry has strived to provide a wide range of selections to fit that diversity. But overall things can be broken down into a few categories to start:
A quick selfie with a professional ice skater friend before the show on board my first cruise ship!
A La Carte
These are cruise lines where your ticket pays for your stateroom, food at the buffet and main dining rooms, and live entertainment. Most additional things will be “pay as you go” and charged to your stateroom throughout your stay like your excursions, specialty restaurants, onboard shopping, drink package, and money for the casino. Some cruise lines that fall in this category are Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian Cruise Lines.
Partially Inclusive
This is somewhere in between All-inclusive and A La Carte cruising. So your ticket will pay for your room and board and entertainment, but maybe your main dining room will rotate to different specialty restaurants throughout the cruise, or you might have free wifi on board, Its basically a few extra creature comforts to keep your experience interesting for a slightly more expensive ticket. Some examples here would be Disney Cruise Line and Virgin Cruises
Courtesy of Disney Cruise Lines’ website
All Inclusive
This type of cruise line covers everything. And I really mean everything. Your plane tickets, your overnight hotel the night before you board, all of your excursions, wifi, drinks, stateroom movie rentals, every restaurant, you name it, your ticket covers it. These are very expensive tickets, however, if you’re in the camp where you would rather pay for it all upfront and not worry about anything except lunch and shopping out in port, then this is going to be the most convenient option for you. The price difference between the a La Carte and the All Inclusive might look drastic, but when you add up everything that the All Inclusive covers into the A La Carte, the pricing comes out about the same. It all just depends on how you want to control your bill. All-Inclusive cruise lines include Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Viking Ocean Cruises, and Azamara Cruises.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises Luxury suite (one of many)
Starting here with what kind of cruise you would like to do is usually what I recommend where to start to people. In the end, you don’t want your dream cruise of a lifetime to be spoiled by a bill that you weren’t prepared for. So preparing in advance by learning about the kind of cruise vacation that suits you best is the first step to take. From there you can learn more about each brand of cruise line and what destinations or experiences they offer. It’s very fun to explore the different ships and the unique ways people have engineered a floating Las Vegas-style hotel. The cruising world is your oyster, explore!
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