So, you want to take a cruise.
Great.
Which one?
That question can become complicated surprisingly quickly.
There are different cruise lines, hundreds of ships, thousands of itineraries, different cabin categories, different departure ports, and dramatically different styles of cruising.
For someone who has never cruised before, it’s tempting to start by searching for the best cruise line or the best ship.
There may be a better place to begin.
What do you want this vacation to be like?
Because before choosing a cruise line, ship, or itinerary, it helps to understand what you actually want cruising to do for you.
Not Every Cruise Is the Same Kind of Vacation
The word “cruise” describes a much broader range of travel experiences than many first-time cruisers realize.
One traveler may picture a large ocean ship with pools, restaurants, Broadway-style entertainment, children’s activities, waterslides, nightlife, and thousands of fellow passengers.
Another may picture a smaller ship with a quieter atmosphere, fewer passengers, more personalized service, and an itinerary focused heavily on the destinations.
Someone dreaming about Europe may discover that a river cruise places them close to cities and towns along the Rhine, Danube, Seine, or other waterways, with much of the experience centered on exploring ashore.
And someone dreaming about Antarctica, the Galápagos, the Arctic, or another remote destination may find that expedition or exploration cruising isn’t simply another type of cruise.
The ship may be what makes experiencing the destination possible.
All of these can be cruises.
They aren’t remotely the same vacation.
Start With What You Want to Experience
Before comparing ships, ask yourself why you’re taking the trip.
Maybe you’ve always wanted to see Alaska.
Maybe you want to explore European cities.
Maybe the entire family wants a warm-weather vacation where children and adults can find plenty to do.
Maybe you’re celebrating something and want a smaller, quieter experience.
Maybe you’ve dreamed about seeing Antarctica and haven’t quite figured out how you’re supposed to get there.
Your answer begins narrowing the choices.
For some travelers, the destination leads the decision.
For others, the experience aboard the ship matters just as much as where the ship goes.
Neither approach is wrong.
Do You Want the Ship to Be Part of the Destination?
On some cruises, the ship itself can be a major part of the vacation.
Large modern cruise ships may offer multiple pools, elaborate entertainment, specialty restaurants, children’s and teen programs, sports facilities, water attractions, nightlife, and activities throughout the day.
A family taking a Caribbean cruise may intentionally choose a ship because everyone wants to enjoy those features.
They may spend a day ashore exploring a destination and another day happily staying aboard.
For that traveler, choosing the ship first can make perfect sense.
Someone else may look at all those features and think:
“That’s not why I’m traveling.”
And that’s perfectly fine too.
Sometimes the Destination Comes First
Imagine that your primary goal is seeing Alaska.
Suddenly, the questions change.
Which ports does the ship visit?
How much time will you have ashore?
What opportunities are there for glacier viewing?
Does the itinerary visit places you’re particularly interested in seeing?
Where does the cruise begin and end?
Would combining the cruise with time on land make sense?
The newest ship or the largest number of restaurants aboard may not be nearly as important as the itinerary.
The same principle can apply in many parts of the world.
If the reason you’re cruising is primarily to experience the destinations, where the ship takes you may matter more than what the ship offers between ports.
River Cruising Changes the Experience Again
River cruising introduces another way to think about the vacation.
Rather than sailing across large bodies of water between widely separated cruise ports, river ships travel waterways that can place passengers close to cities, towns, historic areas, and cultural attractions.
The ships are generally much smaller than mainstream ocean vessels, and the experience aboard is different.
You aren’t choosing a river cruise because you want a giant water park or an enormous entertainment complex.
For many travelers, the attraction is being able to unpack once while the ship moves them through a region they came specifically to experience.
Wake up.
Step ashore.
Explore.
Return to the ship.
Then continue toward the next destination.
For the right traveler, that can be exactly what they were looking for.
For someone whose idea of cruising revolves around nonstop onboard entertainment, it may not be.
Again, neither is better.
They’re simply different ways to travel.
Expedition and Exploration Cruising Can Make the Destination Possible
Then there are places where cruising can become something more than a convenient way to travel.
Consider Antarctica.
You can certainly begin researching how you’re going to explore Antarctica independently.
Eventually, though, you may discover why expedition ships exist.
Expedition and exploration cruises are designed around experiencing destinations that may be remote, environmentally sensitive, difficult to reach, or impractical to explore through conventional travel.
The experience may include expedition teams, educational programs, wildlife viewing, small-boat excursions, landings, and opportunities that depend heavily on local conditions.
In this kind of cruising, the ship isn’t necessarily the attraction.
The ship is the tool that allows you to have the experience.
That is a very different reason for choosing a cruise.
Ship Size Matters Too
Even within ocean cruising, ships can offer dramatically different experiences.
A ship carrying several hundred passengers and one carrying several thousand passengers may visit some of the same destinations.
Life aboard them won’t necessarily feel the same.
Larger ships can provide tremendous variety in dining, entertainment, activities, and public spaces.
Smaller ships may offer a quieter atmosphere, easier movement around the vessel, access to different ports, or an experience focused more heavily on destinations and service.
Neither size is automatically better.
The better question is:
Which environment sounds more like the vacation you want?
Then Consider the Cruise Line
Once you begin understanding the experience you’re looking for, cruise-line differences become much more meaningful.
Cruise lines aren’t interchangeable.
They can differ in atmosphere, dining, entertainment, service style, passenger demographics, children’s programming, included amenities, ship size, destinations, and overall approach to cruising.
That’s why asking:
“What’s the best cruise line?”
usually isn’t a particularly useful question.
Best for whom?
A cruise line that’s an excellent fit for a family with children may not be the first choice for a couple looking for a quiet anniversary trip.
A traveler primarily interested in nightlife may value something entirely different from someone who wants lectures about the destinations they’re visiting.
The goal isn’t to find the cruise line everyone else says is best.
It’s to find one that fits you.
Practical Considerations Still Matter
Of course, vacation dreams eventually have to meet calendars and budgets.
Your available travel dates may narrow the choices.
So might the departure port.
Airfare, transportation, cruise length, cabin availability, and overall vacation cost can influence the decision.
That’s not a compromise.
It’s simply part of planning.
Sometimes a traveler begins with a very specific idea and discovers another cruise that fits their schedule, budget, and travel style even better.
Being flexible enough to consider alternatives can open possibilities you hadn’t originally considered.
You Don’t Have to Know Every Cruise Line and Ship
This is another place where first-time cruisers can become overwhelmed.
You don’t need to research every cruise line.
You don’t need to watch a two-hour ship tour of every vessel you’re considering.
And you certainly don’t need to become an expert on the cruise industry before taking a vacation.
You need to understand what you’re looking for.
A knowledgeable travel advisor can help translate that into possible cruise options.
Instead of beginning with:
“Which cruise should I book?”
the conversation can begin with:
What do you want to see?
Who is traveling?
What do you enjoy doing?
How important is the ship itself?
How much time do you want to spend ashore?
Do you prefer a busy environment or something quieter?
What would make you come home and say, “That was exactly the vacation I wanted”?
A good advisor can then research cruise lines, ships, and itineraries that may fit those answers.
The advisor doesn’t decide which vacation you should take.
They help you understand the possibilities.
There Isn’t One Right Way to Cruise
That’s perhaps the best thing for a first-time cruiser to understand.
You don’t have to cruise the way someone else does.
You may discover that you love enormous ships filled with things to do.
You may decide you’d rather be on a smaller vessel headed somewhere you’ve always wanted to see.
You may fall in love with river cruising.
You may discover that the only reason you ever wanted to board a ship was because it could take you somewhere like Antarctica.
And after your first cruise, what you want from the second one may be completely different.
That’s part of the fun.
So before searching for the best cruise line, the newest ship, or the lowest fare, start with something much simpler.
What do you want to experience?
Then ask:
How do you want to experience it?
Find the style of cruising that fits those answers.
Choose the cruise line, ship, and itinerary that can help deliver it.
Then go find out where cruising can take you.