Cheap Cruise Vacations for Beginners

With the economy in the dumps, now is the time to review cheap cruise vacations for beginners and show how inexpensive and wonderful a cruise can be.

If you’ve never considered taking a vacation on a cruise ship, the current economy should make you look twice and consider how a cruise is the best vacation bargain out there. Seriously, it’s not just for Thurston Howell III and Lovey anymore! I’m not even close to wealthy, but through careful research have managed to average one cheap cruise a year for the last thirty years. Also I want to emphasize that a “cheap cruise” is sometimes a matter of interpretation – for instance, if I find an incredible deal on a luxury cruise line, say fifty percent off – that counts as a cheap cruise. So don’t be afraid that I’m just going to steer you toward down-market lines. I am, after all, an equal opportunity cheapskate!

First of all, a little background on why I love cruises so much: You get to see the world in a luxurious floating resort filled with interesting people. There is a highly trained staff on hand to take care of your every need. You unpack your suitcase once, yet get to experience many places. Plus it’s so romantic to be on board a cruise ship, champagne in hand, sailing (okay, motoring) over the seas while being waited on hand and foot.

Land tours can make for decent vacation travel, but they can be very exhausting because you have to drag your bag everywhere and unpack and re-pack it every night. The bag has to be packed and outside your room at 6am every morning. Okay, sometimes 7am, but you get my point. You have to shower and get ready and re-pack all your things and hope that you don’t need anything in your suitcase for the rest of the day because, too bad, it’s locked in the bowels of the motorcoach. Then comes the next part: Sitting on a bus all day and then having to quickly pull clean clothes from a bag – oops, they’re wrinkled, too bad, no time to iron – this just grates on your nerves and provides added stress.

In contrast, once you arrive on your cruise ship, you can unpack once and never have to worry about re-packing. If, during the day, you’d like to go to your cabin and grab a sweater, retrieve that book, put on lipstick or use your own bathroom, no problem! Anyway, that’s just a little background about why I prefer to travel on a cruise ship versus a land tour.

To get down to the real point of this article, here is why a cruise is the perfect way to have a cheap vacation. On a cruise vacation, many things are all inclusive -- for instance if you were traveling on your own you would have to pay for a hotel every night, plus transportation and three meals a day. On a cruise vacation, one low (I’m getting to this) price covers accommodations and all meals. Really, you never have to go hungry on a cruise ship.

Here is a run-down of a typical day from the point of view of food: the night before, you can leave a room service breakfast order on your door and, at the time you wish, it will be delivered and set up in your cabin to enjoy. Let’s say that is not enough or you just prefer coffee and toast when you first wake up. Well you can always go to the breakfast buffet or have a sit-down meal in the restaurant. Or both – it doesn’t matter and it is all inclusive. Then, if around eleven, you are feeling a little snacky, there is usually bullion and crackers available somewhere. Just to hold you over to lunch. On my last cruise, I actually had a lunch buffet AND a sit down meal in the restaurant, pretty much just because I could! Then around 4:00, it’s tea time! Scones, snacks and little sandwiches are served up to a piano accompaniment. Dinner time arrives and you roll yourself down to the dining room for a leisurely meal with good company. Then, there’s usually 24 hour room service if you don’t feel like going out at all.

If you’re on a land trip, there’s nothing more frustrating than being hungry and wandering around a strange city trying to find edible food for a reasonable price. It’s a pain and it makes you cranky and takes away from the relaxed feeling that a true holiday should give you. I know I always feel a much greater sense of anticipation and excitement in the time leading up to a cruise vacation versus a land tour. I know that once I walk on board my cruise ship, my worries are over and I will be pampered, fed and transported in luxury to a variety of fascinating places.

Right now, cruises are more affordable than ever. There are bargains everywhere you look, because the cruise lines are very motivated. They are offering cruises for under 100 dollars per night. Now where can you stay in a luxury hotel in a variety of exotic locations and have all the excellent service and fabulous food you could want for under 100 dollars per night? Although people are cutting back on their vacation travel, the ships have to sail whether they are full or not. They will still consume the same amount of fuel and pay the same port charges and pay salaries for the full staff if the ship is one quarter full or one hundred percent full. As the departure date gets closer they offer even bigger discounts (if they are not full and if you can travel on short notice.)

Check the internet at cruise specific sites and also look at individual cruise lines' websites. I also recommend not to forget about the value of a good travel agent, particularly one who is a cruise travel specialist. But make sure that you do your own research as well, because sometimes cruise travel agents push one line over another for reasons of their own.

Many lines are offering free airfare, generous on board credits and some are even offering all the free shore excursions you want.

To review, now is the best time in many years to snag a cheap cruise vacation bargain – for beginners as well as experienced cruisers, there’s no time like the present!