« Things To Do While You Spend Your Vacation In Corfu | Home | Making the Most of Your Holiday - Things to Do In Barcelona »
Luxury Cruises - Travel In A Hotel To Exciting Ports Of Call
By Dorothy Yamich | March 8, 2009
A luxury cruise vacation can really enrich your life. Not only will you be traveling with like-minded people who love cruising, you will develop great, lasting friendships among your many cruising companions.
When you cruise you can travel to fabulous ports of call anywhere that cruise ships sail. Not only are there mega cruise liners which everyone is familiar with, there are a number of different sizes and types of ships. The medium, and particularly the smaller size cruise ships can navigate further up inland waterways to cities and historic landmarks where larger ships could never go.
The larger cruise ships usually have one or two organized shore excursions at each port of call. If there are two sightseeing excursion events scheduled the same day, one may take place early in the morning and the second one in the afternoon. Most morning shore excursions normally get back to the ship in time for the people to feast on a fantastic lunch buffet.
Occasionally, on a second excursion, you may arrive back at your cruise ship late in the afternoon or early evening. This could possibly make you a bit late for dinner if you’ve been scheduled for the first sitting.
It is also your prerogative to explore the city, town, island, or tourist attractions and landmarks on your own. Just remember that you are responsible to get back on time or your cruise ship could sail without you. However, if you book a shore excursion through the cruise ship, they will not depart the port until everyone is back on board.
Take full advantage of the time you have in port by using it wisely. Some vacationers decide to disembark and go it alone by hiring a car and driver to take them to see and explore the sights. Usually taxi drivers charge by the carload and not per person so if you want to save some money you can split the cost with a few other fellow passengers. If you leave early in the morning you may be able to get back in time to enjoy the lunch buffet.
When you cruise you should bring detailed guide books that cover the destinations you know that you will be visiting. If the weather is less than optimal for your shore excursion you should always take your camera anyway as the weather could improve very quickly.
Don’t judge the port by the dock and its surrounding area. Its usually a freighter loading and unloading area and the major warehouse and industrial district of a town and city. You may have to travel out of the port and into the city or town to really experience the unique tourist attractions, historical sites and the local culture.
What are the differences between a river cruise and a barge tour?
Although they have similarities, there are significant differences between these types of sightseeing tours. Firstly, the ships that navigate the rivers can accommodate approximately one hundred and eighty people, while the barges usually only can accommodate five to twenty-five people. The second big difference is that a river cruise can visit a number of countries and cities in one week, while a barge travels on man-made canals from town to town moving at a much slower, walking pace, and can only cover approximately fifty miles in a week. Thirdly, river cruise ships have an excellent restaurant, lounge, and entertainment, while barges are essentially first-class, floating hotels, and have a dining room, lounge, and sun deck. The most of the popular river cruises and barging tours are located in Europe.
What are luxury cruise tour packages?
Cruise tour packages are similar to regular cruises that stop for half-day or full day shore excursions but give you the best of both a luxury cruise and a land holiday all wrapped up in one. The main differences between the two is that the land part of your holiday includes transportation by luxury motor coach or train travel to a centrally located first class hotel accommodation at your inland destination. You will be chaperoned by a professional tour guide for the land part of your itinerary. These combo cruise and land packages are usually longer, lasting from ten days to three weeks or for even a month or more. On most cruise tours you have the option to take the land segment of your vacation either before or after your cruise.
Besides Europe, you can book a cruise tour for South America, Australia, Asia and the United States. Alaska is one of the most popular cruise tour destinations in the world.
If you’d like to enjoy the best of both worlds - a fabulous dream cruise holiday and a land tour adventure - a luxury cruise tour is the utmost vacation experience.
Topics: Travel |
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.