Cruises Better Than Other Vacations

The seven-day trip from New York to Southampton, England, aboard the Cunard line’s Queen Mary 2 is the old school, classic cruise experience — lectures and course offerings, relatively low-key entertainment, and a lot of down time. It is an alternative to air transport for those who dislike flying and have both the time and the means to take a leisurely sail.

Noted for luxury, the Queen Mary 2 is not just for elite travelers. Costs range from $1,700 per person (double occupancy) for a tiny inside cabin to $7,500 and upward for a luxury suite. The quality of the dining experience varies with the cost of your ticket.

Ranging from four to eight months, around-the-world cruises define “trip of a lifetime.” They don’t actually circumnavigate the world, but instead focus on the Pacific, or the Americas, or other expansive regions of the world. They also vary in levels of luxury and educational emphasis.

Among the longest and most diverse is Viking’s 245-day Ultimate World Cruise out of London that explores six continents, 53 countries, and 111 ports of call as divergent as Montreal and the Amazon. Referred to as a “value” cruise, considering amenities and price, eight months aboard the 970-passenger Viking Sun costs between $90,000 for a lower deck cabin with a veranda, to $270,000 for the owner’s suite.

There are many cruise lines that ply the many scenic rivers of Europe, stopping at the historic towns and villages that grew up along the waterfront. Often docking during the dinner hour, passengers can stroll the streets of town in the early evening and then enjoy a guided walking tour in the morning. After lunch on the ship, motor coaches leave for various nearby destinations and return passengers back in time for dinner and more cruising. For many travelers, particularly retirees, this is a perfect vacation.

With a 14-day itinerary that includes five countries and dozens of places to explore, Ama Waterways offers one of the more affordable river cruises, taking travelers along a very popular route for river boats. The voyage sails from Amsterdam to Budapest along the Danube, Main, and Rhine rivers to some of Europe’s most storied cities and charming villages.

There are a number of travel companies that offer cruises to Antarctica, all of them lengthy — about three weeks — and somewhat pricey, generally ranging from $13,000 to $17,000.

On the Explorers and Kings tour, travelers experience extraordinary landscapes, from mountains and glaciers to the stark Antarctic environment that locked Ernest Shackleton’s famous expedition in ice. Most spectacular is the wildlife viewing; passengers can expect to see penguins, seals, whales, and many species of seabirds, including the legendary albatross.

Many European countries — France, England, Italy, Germany and Holland among them — are criss-crossed by made-made canals, which offer more intimate access to small towns and villages by way of small canal barges. In some regions you can rent a self-drive barge for an independent adventure with family or friends, or you can reserve a spot on a luxury hotel barge.

European Waterways’ barge tour of Alsace and Lorraine offers a slow and comfortable cruise for just 12 passengers, with many side trips by motor coach through this historic region famous for its combined French and German influences. A unique highlight is a boat lift that carries the barge sideways 450 feet uphill.

For a unique educational vacation, Telegraph Travel Solutions offers a range of tours, each hosted by a celebrity journalist, author, or other expert. This fall, it is offering a 12-day cruise from the UNESCO World Heritage port of Bergen, up the coast of Norway, and across the Arctic Circle, visiting towns, islands, and sites along the way. The promised highlight of the trip is experiencing the natural phenomenon Northern Lights. The cruise will also introduce passengers to Mariella Frostrup, author of “Wild Women,” who will give a talk about some of the 50 adventurous women who are the subjects of her book.

The northern end of Norway’s coast is a famous location for seeing the Aurora Borealis, and the sponsors are confident that it will be viewable. Passengers will be given a free six- or seven-day tour if the lights don’t appear.

America has its own navigable waterways to explore by cruise ship, including the iconic Mississippi River. There are a variety of cruises that explore different parts of the Mississippi and its tributaries, notably weeklong tours of the lower or upper Mississippi. American Cruise Lines offers a 22-day Complete Mississippi Cruise that covers the entire distance between New Orleans, Louisiana, and St. Paul, Minnesota, with many destinations along the way.

Comfortable staterooms have private verandas for fresh air enjoyment of the passing countryside. Passengers disembark at 23 ports of call to visit plantations and antebellum mansions, Civil War battle sites, and quintessentially American cities and towns from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Memphis, Tennessee, to St. Louis, Missouri, and points north in Iowa and Minnesota.

For a scenic introduction to Southeast Asia, Azamara offers a 15-day Vietnam and Thailand Intensive Voyage. The cruise ship takes passengers from Hong Kong through the South China Sea, along the coast of Vietnam to Halong Bay, and on to Thailand. Shore excursions take you into Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, and the tour’s final destination, Singapore.

Many cruise lines offer cruises designed for young adults, often with beach destinations, such as Cancun, Hawaii, or the Caribbean. Sometimes called fun ships or booze cruises, they offer a lot more than alcohol, though, for some, the alcohol is the point. Many focus on music and entertainment, headlining pop stars or comedians, while others stick to party themes. Two of Carnival’s newest ships have on-board breweries.

The most affordable trips are also the shortest; perhaps most well-known are weekend cruises to the Bahamas. Carnival hosts Miami to Nassau three-day cruises for as low as $300, including taxes. The ship has a tequila bar and a rum bar, an “adults only” area, a comedy club, and menus that are meant to appeal to 20-something tastes, with a “burger joint” and fast food sushi.

As an alternative to the family road trip, a cruise can be an affordable and memorable vacation, with plenty of things to do and see for both children and adults. Cruise lines compete to offer the most fun experiences for the best prices, well beyond the swimming pools that were the center of entertainment in the early days of cruising. Different cruises advertise activities that include, water slides, laser tag, climbing walls, go-karts, mini-golf, children’s “camps,” and teen lounges. There is adult entertainment as well, and relaxing downtime while the kids play.

Not surprisingly, Disney offers some of the best family cruises, heavily promoting its own characters and movie themes, but other cruise lines also have highly rated — and less expensive — family excursions. Norwegian Cruise Lines is prominent among them. The Norwegian Getaway sails from Miami to the Caribbean for a seven-day cruise. (There are 11-day cruises from New York.) It offers a range of fun activities on board, and also at its ports of call, including opportunities to see Mayan ruins and go tubing in a rain forest.

There are many seven-day cruises to Alaska from Seattle or Vancouver, all covering essentially the same territory, though they can vary greatly in price based on the accommodations, activities, and menus. The principal ports of call are Ketchikan and Juneau — the only state capital that is not accessible by road — with additional excursions, such as whale watching in Juneau. The highlight of the voyage is the landscape at Glacier Bay.

While most Alaska cruises are on immense cruise ships and are generic in their offering of traditional cruise entertainment and activities, they are relatively inexpensive — several hundred dollars a person. There are also cruises on small ships that offer a more active and adventurous Alaska experience — at many times the price. National Geographic’s Wild Alaska Escape takes passengers on a six-day voyage from Sitka to Juneau aboard a 62-passenger ship, visiting islands and wilderness areas, with opportunities for hiking, kayaking, and visiting historic sites.

Though visits to the Galapagos islands are restricted to protect its wildlife and wild character, there are dozens of vessels that offer tours of four to 10 days, accommodating up to 100 passengers, the largest allowed. Most are smaller, with fewer than 20 passengers.

Though they are all geared toward nature lovers, some boast luxury accommodations, offering high-end linens, gourmet meals, and even butler service. In any case, it is an expensive vacation because of the small ships and tight restrictions on tourism, but also because the cruises start and end in the Galapagos Islands, requiring passengers to fly there, usually by way of Ecuador.

Despite the expense, it is a trip like no other, where voyagers see species of animals and birds that exist nowhere else in the world. Whether penguins, blue-footed boobys or giant tortoises, because of their remote evolution they are not afraid of humans. All cruises have trained guides to talk about the creatures and Darwin’s famous journey; the National Geographic tours, which are pricier than most, are famous for their on-board expertise and educational value.

From ships as immense as those that ply the oceans, to those more closely resembling the riverboats sailing to Europe and Asia’s riverine ports of call, Mediterranean cruise ships carry passengers along portions of the Mediterranan coast to some of Europe’s most spectacular destinations. Some itineraries are based on a particular theme, such as island-hopping or beaches, with many others focused on either the eastern Mediterraean — the east coast of Italy, Croatia, the Greek islands, Turkey and Egypt — or the western Mediterranean — Spain, France, and the west coast of Italy.

Viking offers a popular Mediterranean voyage for travelers interested in the history of the region, taking passengers on an eight-day trip from Rome to Athens. Dubbed the Journey to Antiquities, it covers Rome’s Coliseum and Athens’ Acropolis, but also takes a side trip to Ephesus, Turkey, and the imposing ruins of a once-important Mediterrean port.

For travelers who are curious about less touristy destinations, and perhaps have an interest in geopolitics, three riverboat cruise lines (Scenic, Uniworld, and Viking) offer a European-style river cruise on the Volga River between St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Viking hosts a 13-day Waterways of the Tsars tour beginning at $5,449, including air travel. Passengers live on the ship for a four-day stay in Moscow at the beginning of the voyage, and for four days in St. Petersburg at the end. City tours include visits to Russian homes, parks, monuments, museums, galleries, and historic sites. In between there are a number of excursions to markets, ancient towns, and UNESCO World Heritage sites.

A hugely popular cruising river, the Nile hosts over 200 cruise boats, from traditional Egyptian sailboats with limited toilet and shower facilities and passengers sleeping on deck, and a Victorian steamship on which Agatha Christie modeled her vessel in “Death on the Nile,” to modern luxury cruise ships with air conditioning and other amenities designed for comfort.

Because the climate is hot and lines waiting for locks can be long, it pays to choose luxury for this trip. Fortunately, luxury is a relatively affordable way to view the wonders of ancient Egypt, including the Valley of the Kings and the Karnak Temple. The Sanctuary Sun Boat III offers a four-night cruise from Aswan to Luxor and boasts a stylish design, modern cabins for up to 36 passengers, a pool and sun deck, gourmet dining, and a class in Egyptian cooking, beginning at $1,300.