Cruise Booking Guide - Picking the Right Cruise

Planning which cruise that is right for you is a difficult, and often confusing decision.  The number of factors that might influence a purchase are significantly greater than those of a land based vacation.  After all, if you get stuck at a bad hotel during a regular trip, you can just explore the city well into the night to avoid being on the site.  Cruises, the monstrous hotels at sea, don't allow that option.  The comparable city exploration becomes exploration of the ship, and a number of factors should be investigated before making the leap into a purchased cruise.

Cruises Can Be Affordable, If the Itinerary is Right

For the most part, cruises are relatively affordable considering transportation, food, private room, and semi-inspired entertainment are provided, especially if compared to a direct island vacation.  However, cost may be even more directly tied to the itinerary and cruise line more than anything else.  Not all itineraries are 7 days long, and can be 3, 4, 5, or even 10, 14, 30+.  However the best deals are often in the 7-14 day cruises and plenty of discount cruises deals and promotions can be found on multiple aggregate sites, such as discountcruises.com and even by the cruise lines themselves.

Shorter cruises are often only a small percentage lower in price than comparable 7 day trips, only visit 1 to 2 destinations, while 7 day itineraries can see up to 6 locations if planned correctly. Putting my disdain for at sea days aside, spending nearly the cost of a 7 day trip for 8 hours at a destination and 2 at sea days doesn't make much more sense than just spending time at a nice hotel at the outgoing destination which is often just as nice (Fort Lauderdale and Miami come to mind). 

Similarly, longer cruises (14 day+) are often in locales outside of the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and Alaska and have ample at sea days to span long distances that need to be covered to visit them. While some look very appealing because of the ability to see many exotic places in one go (30 days in the South Pacific + Hawaii, half of which are at sea days), the price rises substantially to reflect it. Many Hawaiian cruises, for example, leave from the continental USA on one leg of the trip, adding in a number of at sea days, while competing companies have the same island itinerary in a 7 day cruise for a fraction of the cost.  Sure, airfare is expensive and might offset that some, but burning through multiple days of vacation doesn't make much sense for the active crowd who could be, at the very least, at a hotel on the beach in Hawaii during that time.

On-board Experience is Key

After choosing a location that is ideal, the monstrously large number of cruise companies out there may dwindle down to a few that are in your budget range.  If one itinerary does not jump out as miles above the rest, it may be hard to differentiate the choices.  If you were to compare three different companies at the same ports and similar prices, the on-shore experience can be written off as being the same with each company.  While there may be slight differences with their excursion practices and costs, if you plan to book itineraries with the ship (something I won't be doing anymore), what you see will be almost the same regardless of who promotes it.  In fact, cruises pay local companies for many excursions, who often contract out to multiple ships so it is just as easy to have the same experience on Cruise A as Cruise B.  Of course, if you book with an outside company, this point goes out the window.

With that, the true difference in cruising will lie in the on-board amenities and features: the room, the food, and the entertainment.  Prices, of course, are reflective of the level of comfort that you require and can range from very affordable, to mind-blowingly expensive in a short increase in comfort. To me, on-board entertainment and room quality is secondary to food, of which I have never really been impressed with the traditional offerings of a cruise food in main dining halls, however new concept ships have been using the restaurant approach over a fixed menu option. 

A minor change in ship offerings could change the price of a cruise substantially and is worth a review before purchase.  All of these are open to personal preference, but these three features should be addressed in determining the ideal cruise for your personal styles.  At the very least, knowing a little of what to expect will help balance potential disappointment later.


Cruising in general is something that is near entirely shunned by the backpacker crowd and many budget minded travelers for fear of being overly expensive.  But it is a great way to see a relatively inaccessible area of the world on a budget semi in-line with most backpackers wallets.  when booking your next cruise, keep these thoughts in mind and your on-board and on-shore experience will be worlds better!