Top 10 Tips For Picking A Cruise Itinerary
On the other hand, if you are new to cruising, you will likely have none of that and even worse, you will more than likely be confused by all of the things that you have to think about when choosing a cruise itinerary.
On the flip side of all of that, this is always one of the most exciting times for many as it is you start to research places and then when you find somewhere of interest, you start to dream of pulling into the port onboard your chosen ship.
It is also the time when small mistake can end of costing you in the long the run, so before searching for your next dream cruise holiday, make sure you check out these top 10 tips for choosing a cruise itinerary.
If you are totally new to the wonderful world of cruising, an itinerary is simply the route that your ship will take for your holiday, so it includes your departure port, your ports of call and your arrival port.
Our Top 10 Tips For Picking A Cruise Itinerary
Departure Port
This is always a great place to start when choosing a cruise itinerary as for many of us it is the one with the fewest options.
If you don’t want to fly before and/or after your cruise, you will need to set sail from your nearest port and that will limit the options you have to pick from in terms of the itinerary.
If you are willing to fly to start your cruise, the chances are that will want to set sail from a destination that you would want to spend time in as most cruisers will spend at least 1 night in their departure port city of choice.
Cost
Whilst we would all love to book into a luxury suit onboard our dream ship that is going to all the destinations we want to visit in a region, the chances off all of that coming to together is slim and the chances of that happening within our budget is slim to none.
With that in mind, it is always best to decide upon a budget before you start looking at available itineraries and you will soon find that a cruise that looks ideal is simply out of reach.
Cruise Length
Some people love short cruises, some love longer cruises and some can restricted by the time they can get off of work.
No matter if it is your choice as to how long you sail or if it is a restriction placed on you, it will have a big outcome on where you can sail.
Holiday Style
If you new to cruising, you may think that all lines offer a similar, if not the same, style of holiday in that it is a ‘cruise’ but even those who have sailed on just a couple of lines will be able to tell you, the experience not only changes from line to line and not only from ship to ship from the same line but also from cruise to cruise.
On the face of it, that seems a strange statement, but it is true.
The fact that each line offers a different style is easy to understand, the fact that the experience can change from ships to ship and even from cruise to cruise maybe harder to understand.
To make it easier to understand, there are some things that tend to be true across all lines and that is the bigger the cruise ship, the more family orientated it is as bigger cruise ships simply have more on offer.
Smaller ship tends to have an older clientele and more couples whilst longer itineraries tend to have an older and more relaxed crowd whilst shorted itineraries tend to have a younger and livelier cruiser.
Cruise Type
There are lots of different types of cruisers to consider and these will impact the itineraries that are available to you.
Amongst the most popular options are Cruise and Stay, Fly Cruises and No Fly Cruises whilst other types of cruises range from all-inclusive cruises to adult only cruises and from private hire cruises to themed cruises.
Choosing a specific type of cruise often means you are going to have a great time, but it does limit the itineraries on offer.
Ship Type
There are some parts of the world where just about every type of ship operate including everything brand new mega ships to small and luxurious ones, but in most places, the choice of ship you would like to cruise on will directly impact the itinerary you can sail.
The huge mega ships of the Caribbean and Mediterranean can only visit large ports, whilst smaller ships may have to visit smaller and out of the way ports as the more popular ports are often picked by bigger ships.
Line
When it comes to choosing a cruise line, many cruisers simply think about the onboard experience, but your choice of line can directly impact on your cruise itinerary.
Some lines only sail in certain regions, some only sail regions for part of the year and some lines offer multiple cruises of the same region but with a different itinerary.
Ports of Call
If you have a specific port of call that you would like to visit, it really limits the itineraries that you can choose from, so this is something you need to decide on before starting your search.
If you really want to visit one of the worlds busiest cruise ports, such as Civitavecchia, Barcelona or Athens, your options are still plentiful but if you want to visit a rarely visited port such as Punta de Bombon, you will be heavily restricted in your choice.
Time Of The Year
There are some regions where you can cruise all year around, including the likes of Hawaii, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean but even those destinations have big changes in itineraries offered at different times of the year.
Aside from those, most destinations you will want to visit are only available during certain months of the year.
This is especially true for cold weather cruises such as those heading to the Baltics or up to Alaska but also for popular sailings in Asia, Australia and South Africa.
Luggage
This one may not be up there in terms of importance for deciding upon an itinerary but it something that often gets overlooked.
Everybody likes to pack differently, with some liking to packs lots of different options for each day ‘just in case’, some like to pack light, and some like to pack plenty for been on shore but less for onboard (or vice versa) and lots in between those.
If you are cruising from a nearby port, it doesn’t matter as much as you can basically pack what you want but if you are flying, you will need to think about whether you can pack light enough for your flight allowance.
There is also the issue of choosing a cold weather itinerary or a warm weather itinerary as both will need different clothing so if you have always enjoyed sunny getaways, maybe stick to those types of itineraries and save on buying a whole new holiday wardrobe.
