If a holiday came along offering fabulous beaches, exquisite ancient temples, and tremendous shopping, many of us would be jostling to get to the head of the queue. But imagine a holiday which offered all this, plus fantastic additional attractions such as gourmet restaurants, on-site water skiing or ice skating, rock climbing walls, water parks, fitness centres and luxury spas. Oh, and swimming pools tailored to every age range. Throw in babysitting services and kids’ clubs for young families, and there’d be a veritable booking stampede. Especially when you realise that these additions come before you reach your destination. When you start exploring the world of cruise holidays, resort holidays will never be the same again.
Cruises mean experiencing diverse cultures and even whole civilisations in one holiday. And the big players in the game – like Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Thomson Cruises – have gone out of their way to attract the young, energetic and time-poor (those of us who have jobs to get back to) as well as the well-healed, retired and time-rich. The bigger vessels in their fleets offer fabulous attractions, including many of the following: ice skating, onboard water skiing, golf courses, water parks, rock-climbing walls and state-of-the-art gyms. But there are also smaller and more intimate ships to choose from too, a range which, when coupled with the excellent cruise deals available around the year, ensure that budgets won’t be broken.
Whether you’re seeking Mediterranean cruises, Caribbean cruises, Far East cruises or Baltic cruises, there’s a fabulous cruise out there with your name on it.