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Cruise ships tourist information
Cruise ships tourist information
The golden age of transoceanic passenger travel is long gone, and the only surviving ships from that era are all either converted to cruising, preserved as museums and/or hotels, or are laid-up, but that doesn't mean that traveling across the sea by ship is gone too. In truth, modern-day passenger ships, including Cunard Line's mammoth Queen Mary 2, are actually now much larger and more luxurious than they were years ago. The Cunard "Queens" still occasionally make traditional fast Atlantic crossings, e.g., between New York and England. Happily, most cruise ships seldom segregate public areas or restaurants that passengers may use based on the "quality" of the cabin they've purchased.
The picture of cruise ship travel painted by the circa-1977 TV series "The Love Boat" isn't particularly misleading (except about the inevitable bliss before debarkation and the all-American crew), but it is rather incomplete. Due to economy of scale, most modern cruise ships carry 2,000 to 5,000 passengers. While the luxury segment of the cruise industry boasts small ships...even "boutique" vessels or "mega-yachts"...you'll probably board a small floating city. Voyages range from a few days to full circumnavigations of the globe lasting three months, while fares range from a few hundred dollars to $100,000+.
Luxury cruise lines may have ships carrying 100-800 or so passengers. Larger ships carry 2,000-3,500 passengers, while mega-ships can carry over 5,000...a virtual city on something that weighs many times as much as the Titanic. Each size has its merits, e.g.,:
Smaller ships can visit smaller harbors in highly desirable or unusual locales, e.g., the Riviera, Galapagos, rugged shorelines.
Larger ships may offer a few more amenities...as discussed in "On-board" below...but must use well-sized harbors (or anchor/moor off-shore) with transport and touring infrastructures to handle so many people.
Mega-ships offer huge public spaces and wide-ranging activities, but are limited to major ports...again with even greater infrastructures.
Cruiselines offer widely varying itineraries. Examples range from...
A few days at sea or to a nearby locale. These may offer an introduction to cruising, or just an opportunity to party.
One or two weeks to visit ports and sights in a region...per "Cruise types" below.
A month or more to see a region of the world, or three or more months to go around the world...a lifetime experience.
Each cruise is comprised of one or more cruise segments, e.g., a 1-2 week "round-tripper" will be one segment, while visiting two or more regions may involve 2-3 segments...sometimes of an around-the-world cruise. That way, cruise lines can sell affordable "pieces" of long cruises that otherwise few can consider. Not infrequently, cruisers will buy two or three back-to-back/sequential segments to build a longer cruise, e.g., 7-10 days from Florida to the Western Caribbean, return, then 7-10 days for the Eastern, or two or more world regions when they are far away.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Cruise ships
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Cruise ships - updated Apr 2024
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WHERE TO TRAVEL NEXT IN 2020
Cruise ships Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.