15 Reasons Why Cruise Holidays are so Popular

15 Reasons Why Cruise Holidays are popular

During the last Christmas, I have been on a Cruise to New Caledonia & Vanuatu, the South Pacific. This was my first long cruise ever and I did enjoy it very much.  Australia is one of the countries where cruising is gaining more and more popularity may be because of our easy access to ports. In my trip I visited the beautiful islands of Port Vila ,Mare, Noumea, Mystery Island & Lifou.

Since I found it as a good option for many travelers, sharing my 15 reasons why the Cruise Holidays are awesome.

15 Reasons why cruising is Awesome

1.Perfect for Last minute Travellers

As you already know, one of the key aspects of this travel site is to make travel more enjoyable for those part-time travelers who take a short break from their busy day to day life to travel for fun or for passion or for both. Which means your time is limited, money must go a long way & you have the expectation of having those picture perfect holidays! For those who manage to get last minute leave approvals & impromptu vacation, cruise deals come as a life savior.

Which means your time is limited, money must go a long way & you have the expectation of having those picture perfect holidays! For those who manage to get last minute leave approvals & impromptu vacation, cruise deals come as a life savior.

Good news is that closer to the departure date (usually the last week), the ticket price starts lowering down. So if you want to steal a deal for a probable vacation, keep your eyes open for the cruise deals.

I found these websites useful for Australian cruises, you may find similar ones in other countries as well.

https://www.cruisesalefinder.com.au

https://www.ozcruising.com.au/

https://www.cruiseabout.com.au/

2. Value for money!

All expense covered unless you choose otherwise.

If you are budget conscious, food & accommodation are covered and there are a lot of free entertainment activities onboard just within the cost you paid while booking for the cruise. Considering the flight, accommodation & food costs which you may have to pay for an itinerary to some of these remote islands, I truly think cruise deals are great value for money.

3. Less Travel Planning

No more accommodations to be arranged, tours to be researched, compared & booked. Cruises come with the options for onshore excursions which is a great way to plan your sightseeing on your shore days.

Unless you choose to design your own port tours( which I chose most of the time), cruising takes away that added stress of travel planning, though this comes at an additional cost than your booking fee for the cruise.

4. Onboard activities/Entertainment for all age groups

When I planned for a 10-day cruise people kept on asking “won’t you get bored staring at the sea for so long! ”

No, I did not stare at the sea for 10 days. Every sea day (where you are cruising but not getting off the ship), as well as the shore day, comes with a daily brochure of activities inside the cruise ship which is so entertaining.

This includes activities for kids, teens (including adventure sports), families & elderly which varied from dance classes, the music of all genres, comedy shows, culinary shows, late night parties, theme parties, casinos, board games, wine/ whiskey/Rum tasting etc.Some of them are daily and some are less frequent.

However, you always have the option to ignore all of them and lie in the pool sipping your cocktail!

5. Stage Shows at no additional cost

Stage shows by the cruise entertainment team, music bands, and comedians at no extra cost!

Since I don’t watch a lot of stage shows, it was entertaining for me to have so many options onboard.

6. Connectivity at your choice

The choice is yours,  during your vacation would you like to be connected with rest of the world or not?

Though the idea of a total isolation is tempting, having my family miles away makes me prefer to have the option of being connected at least once in a couple of days.

The connectivity is not at par with what we have inland, but still, you can choose to be connected if you would like to. Cruise ships provide multiple plans for connectivity (data based costing, social plans only connection, daily plans etc). To give an idea of the cost, I had the social plan option which was 10 AUD per day to connect to social media.  International dialing was around 10 AUD per minute.

Far away from Home - To be connected or not

For those who choose to work from Cruise, ( or make promises to your boss that you will be available on phone & emails )this could be a challenge as the connectivity does not look that great  & is also expensive ( could be specific to the ship I was on! ).

7. Easy access to untouched Islands by cruise ships

Accessibility by air or road is limited to certain islands either because of the cost or because of the less number of services. You may not want exotic islands to be left out of your itinerary just because you did not want to pay for the exorbitant flight tickets ( or because you could not fit the flight timings into your itinerary because of the selective day’s transport services!)

Easy Access to Cruise ships

8. Awesome Dining options

Multi-course fine dining options every single day at no extra cost is simply awesome!  Pantries with multiple cuisine options(the Mediterranean, Asian, Indian, Western …)

Honey Glazed Pork

Hawai Salad

9. Reasonable Room Service

Every time you come back to a neat and clean room, thanks to the good room service. This was much better compared to some of my expensive stays.  I even had cute towel animals waiting on my bed every time I returned.

10. Freedom of Choice – What to do in each port 

Like I mentioned earlier, the shore tours arranged by the cruise save you the hassle of travel planning.

But if you are not a very “tour package” type of traveler, you can still make the cruise work for you. It is more flexible than a package tour. So you get to decide what you do to a certain extent.

For every port days usually, there are shore tours organized by the cruise company at an additional cost. However, it is up to you to choose from them cruise ones or to organize by yourself depending upon the place, costs, and other options. Yes, you do have the freedom of choice!

11. Journey as beautiful as the destination

Being down under in the Southern Hemisphere, it takes a long haul flight for us to get to most of the destinations. Also since holidays are numbered, you would not want to spend anything more than a day’s travel time just to reach the destination.

In a cruise, the journey is as beautiful as the destination itself that you don’t feel the travel time as an additional time to reach your destination, but it just adds on to your vacation ( which is so cool! )

Sunset View from the Cruise

12. Pamper Yourself

For the fitness freak in you, health & wellness sessions starting from morning stretch to yoga to aerobics!

Also, spa facility is available onboard (though I found it expensive).

Watch out for their specials. Afterall, what is a vacation without a good massage!

13. Great for elderly & less mobile 

The interesting thing I noticed was the number of children bringing their elderly parents for cruise holidays. Cruises are designed with wheelchair access, so is a great option to take less mobile relatives/friends on a cruise if generally in a good health condition (though there are in-house medical services, it might not be as exhaustive as on land. So getting the right insurance will be key)

14. Awesome Sailing Away views

Unique views from the decks while sailing in and away.

One thing I always enjoyed while visiting a new destination by air is the first view out of the plane.  Similarly, I just loved the first glimpse of a port/island from the deck. And it is slow, allowing you to indulge in the moment, unlike any other mode of transport.

Sail away sight

15.  Unpack for once

Yes, we hate packing & unpacking and hate it even more, when we have to do it multiple times.

Here we just unpack it for once for the entire trip and then just do the laundry. (only if you have not packed enough stuff for a long-term cruise ! )

I hope I have managed to convince you to book your next holiday on a Cruise.  If it is your first time, please check out the first time cruise tips

If not, do you have any more reasons why you love the cruise holidays?

Happy Cruising!

Pinterest Cruise Holidays

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26 comments

  1. We’ve always made great friends with each cruise we’ve taken, friendships along the way are great to share travel memories. We’ve been on 6 or 7 cruises now and think are a great way to travel to some areas.

  2. Rohini, I am a big fan of cruises two, having cruised from Sydney twice and from Italy another two times. I totally agree with everything you say. I’d also like to add how convenient cruising can be for families. While in port, you can choose to leave your children on board, leaving you with so much freedom to explore the destination at your own pace. As for mobile connectivity, if you are staying close to shore, let’s say cruising the Mediterranean, it is not so much of an issue, you just need to be aware of possible roaming charges. If you are in Sydney I can warmly recommend cruises to the isles, it is a magical experience indeed!

    1. Oh, I didn’t think of the option that kids can be left onboard while you go outside. I work with people who often keep saying they take kids to Fraser island & those sorts of places and they get bored doing nothing! I have already recommended the cruise to many at work. probably should tell them this option as well 🙂
      Ok, I will look for an isles one next .

  3. I’ve never thought of doing a cruise before, but now I’ll think twice! All the dining options look great, as do the activities. And yes, it would be great to unpack just once!

  4. Taking a cruise to remoted and exotic islands is on my wish list! I am glad that you mention that leaving from Australia is becoming more popular and we can book at the same week the cruise ship is leaving for a better price. We are going to do a long-terme road trip in Australia later this year and it would be an awesome way to have a break from the road trip. I don’t think going on a cruise ship sounds boring at all reading your post! The contrary! I belive we would have an awesome time especially our daughter!

    1. Yea, I definitely think so. Especially if you are here towards the second half of the year the weather will be perfect as well. Happy Cruising 🙂

  5. I agree with all these points. I thought I would hate cruising until I tried it. I was pleasantly surprised by the food (wowsers) and the value. The only thing I would say is those day trips are usually exhorbitantly priced and it is possible often to replicate them yourself at little cost. We did all the offered tours our first time, but second time around did none as we figured it was easy to do our own thing. That’s the other great thing. Often times those cruise ships pull straight into the center of town,

    1. Yea, I did a mix of things. Did not want to go with all their shore tours as you can find better options on the shore for a lesser price. Unless it is something definitely worth doing, I don’t really see a need for prebooking onshore tours by the cruise company. we can always take a call once we are on shore.

  6. I agree with you, cruising is the new rave. I think I like it too.It’s perfect for taking that breakand to think your board had so much activities going on plus those delicious looking dishes, it’s worth a try. And who doesn’t like to just unpack once? I do. I’m adding it to my must do in a lifetime list. I look forward to actualizing it.

    1. Happy Cruisin!
      Especially for those who are the planners of their entire trip, this is a cool breeze .. Made just for relaxing! 🙂

  7. I worked on cruise ships for many years, and I would say that your list is very comprehensive! 🙂 And it also brought back some nice memories for me as well! Also, you’re right, there are way more things to do on board than people realize! You can actually have a pretty packed schedule — or you can take it easy! It’s up to you! 🙂

    1. That’s good to know :). After seeing their entertainment team, couple of times I kept wondering how it would be to work on a ship 🙂 I am sure you must have had lots of fun and sightseeing.

  8. Sorry, I am not aware of the environmental laws part but underpaid wages, I guess the worth of what they pay depends upon the country from where the workers are. For eg, I was told what they get paid a month by few of the workers. The amount they mentioned is, of course, a small figure(but almost all expense is covered by the cruise), but when you look at the fact they are from developing countries, this money will go a long way( coming from India I could easily see that ).
    So I think its partially the nature of the job they choose also.

  9. Now that is something I did not know – cruise prices decrease closer to date. Interesting! And a lot of the advantages I have taken for granted. It was nice that you reiterated those for they definitely make sense.

  10. I absolutely love going on cruises! When you said perfect for the last minute traveler, I remember getting a 7 day cruise for $250 per person!! I mean, where could you go where you only spend that just on room and board? Not to mention all the food and entertainment! What I never really noticed and I’m glad you brought it to my attention is the unpacking. When you jump from Island to Island you have to repack and unpack, but a cruise it’s just there the whole time!! Can’t wait to book another.

  11. If you’re visiting Australia and will be there for a few weeks, a cruise holiday is an inexpensive way to see the surrounding islands. I’ve been to Fiji and Vanuatu on cruise ships out of Sydney – loved the food and entertainment onboard, and loved seeing new destinations. It’s definitely the cheapest way to do it. Highly recommended. Sophie Anderson.

  12. Yeah truly agree with you, I also love to travel with a cruise especially when you are at top of the deck and the cold waves touch your face, I will surely plan my next trip with Cruise

  13. Cruise trips are a great option if you don’t have anything special planned for the holidays. Me and my wife went on a cruise around 4 years ago for New Years. One of the best New Years party I’ve ever attended.

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