Choosing the Right Cruise for Your Bespoke Holiday
Not every ship delivers the same holiday. Before you commit to a fortnight at sea, it is worth knowing which one will suit yours
Cruising is the most diverse travel style, and the experiences aboard one ship can be so very different from the experience aboard another.
There is a version of cruising built for people who want to disappear into the spa deck and never see land close up. There is another built for people who want a Zodiac landing on Antarctic ice before breakfast.
Both are called a cruise. Almost nothing else about them is the same.
When you start to look at the vast and varied offerings in cruise, you can see why Spirit of Travel does not start with the ship.
We start with understanding you; how you want to travel, the pace you find restful rather than restless, and what you actually want to feel when you step back onto the gangway at the end. Only then can the search for the right cruise begin.
Ask five people what a cruise is and you will get five different holidays. A large Norwegian ship with fourteen restaurants and a west end show most nights. A sixty-guest expedition vessel nosing into a fjord no road will ever reach. A private yacht with a crew who know your name by the first evening. A river ship easing past a vineyard at the pace of a bicycle.
The industry sells all of them under one word. The question worth answering before you book your time at sea is not which cruise line has the best deal this month. It is which of these worlds actually suits you, and whether the one you are about to choose is the one you will still be glad of on day nine.
From there, if there is a deal to be had, we’ll make sure you get it.
Expedition cruising has less to do with the ship than with the destination, the experience and the attitude on board. The ships themselves can be rustic or luxurious, but what they share is lecturers rather than a Broadway show, close-up wildlife encounters, and a real sense of discovery. Lindblad, Hurtigruten and UnCruise are just a few that cover this world, with Ponant at the luxury end. It suits people who want the holiday to feel like learning and adventure, somewhere close to the edge of the world.
Nearly every expedition ship is unique, even amongst their own brands, so it is important to full understand each ship to ensure the experience you think you are getting is what the ship will deliver.
These are small to mid-sized ships with all-inclusive ease, where staff learn your preferences within a day. Regent Seven Seas, Silversea and Seabourn lead this world. The destination stays extraordinary, but here the ship itself becomes part of the indulgence.
This is where the spend tends to be high, so the real differences between Regent, Silversea, Seabourn or other Luxury cruise companies are worth understanding before you commit rather than after.
These are mid to large ships built around variety and entertainment. They balance larger passenger numbers with multiple restaurants, entertainment options, and places to relax or otherwise enjoy the ship itself. Viking, Celebrity and Oceania sit in this world, refined without needing luxury pricing to get there.
Every company in the premium category has their particular inclusions and optional addons for sale, understanding what you are getting and what you may need to pay extra for is important.
These carry dozens of guests, not thousands. Emerald Yacht Cruises, the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and Scenic Eclipse lead this world. It feels closer to a private vessel than a cruise in the conventional sense, and it reaches harbours larger ships never will.
The freedom to berth at smaller ports the big ships cannot is one of the draws for this style of sailing, but it is important to know what you get versus what you miss when skipping the larger ports.
River cruising is an entirely different experience from ocean cruising, closer to a slow-moving hotel through vineyards and old towns than an ocean crossing. Avalon, Scenic River Cruises, Uniworld and Tauck are among the lines we trust here.
Details most people never think to ask about, seasonality, tidal rivers versus meltwater, what's actually included, even where your cabin sits on the ship, can make all the difference to the experience
Most people choose a cruise the way they choose most things online: a line’s marketing, a price point, a friend’s recommendation, and hope it fits. The trouble is a fortnight at sea is a long time to discover the ship was wrong for you.
We start the other way round. Before a single line gets mentioned, we want to know how you actually like your days to run, whether you find a full itinerary energising or exhausting, what kind of company you want to keep in the evenings. The world of cruising that fits you falls out of that conversation. The specific ship comes after.
If this feels like the right way to travel internationally, the next step is a short introductory call with Ron. No obligation, no cost. Just a conversation about what you are planning and what it could become.
