What Makes The Difference?

When you are choosing a cruise what is the point when you know this is the one for you?  You may think what a silly question as many people would say the cost, and I guess to a certain extent it will be.  However, there are many extras which will make the difference from a lovely cruise to a memorable one.

If we start with the “usual” extras then they would be a drinks package, wi -fi, tips included, on board credit, free parking, free coach travel or could it be excursions included?  For many people it is one of the above (or if you are lucky a few!) but to actually have excursions included in the price I personally think is a great benefit.

For example, Regent Seven Seas cruises are a luxury brand which actually include free excursions as well as drinks, tips, wi-fi, free flights and speciality restaurants! Many people who cruise with Regent will not go with anyone else and you can see why as such a fantastic product but for me the excursions are a real “crowd puller” if you see what I mean.  On say a 10 night Mediterranean cruise you get up to 60 free excursions, if you do your maths that is a lot of money you are saving.  If you are looking to do one excursion per port you could pay around £80 per couple per port – that soon adds up!

Apart from the “usual” excursions Regent also do ones which are a little different and could appeal to you such as “wellness tours” which may include for example yoga practise. Then they do the “Gourmet Explorer” tour which is I guess for those of you who want to try your hand at learning about local ingredients or even creating a menu from scratch.  Regent also have “go local” which gives you a better idea of how a destination is away from the tourists eyes as it were.

Let me not forget that many of the river cruise lines also feature excursions which are included in the cost and most definitely worth looking at.

Of course having all of these extras included means the base price is more then perhaps you would normally pay but as I mentioned before you do have to work out is this the kind of cruise we are wanting and if so would it work for us?

It is your cruise, you save up and plan for this for quite a while, so make it right for you!

Till next time x