Your Port of call

Now, there are many ports of call all around the World that you can choose to sail from. This makes planning a trip interesting and you can make it as unique as you like. Yes, the cruise lines often all depart from the same port year after year and you’ll find the itinerary is often repeated. Some cruise lines like Royal Caribbean for example, simply move ships around so they may have a couple of their ships departing the U.K one year whilst others are in the Far East and then they just swap them about. This works as it keeps things fresh. It almost feels like a new ship is coming and as they rotate them it means the ships are then for all markets, not just the U.K, Americans or Chinese for example.

One of the hardest things to look for is a cruise for someone who simply doesn’t know where they want to go or time of year and how long for. I don’t think some people realise just how many ships are out there and how many options they have if this search isn’t narrowed down. We like to think that we’re good at our job but we’re not simply going to know where every cruise is and it’s itinerary. You need a starting point and have an idea of where you’d like to go and I’d like to help you with this.

I use a very good tool to do my job and it works wonders. I’d like to share this with you as when you start your search try my tip first and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to use and how quickly you can narrow down a search and find what you’re looking for.

I’d recommend everyone look at the Cruise Time Tables website. I will include the link at the bottom. This is almost idiot proof to use and it’s amazing and I don’t think I could do my job without it.

You can select any country in the World and then select any port you wish to sail from and using the calendar it will show you every single cruise sailing from that particular port. It will show the name of the cruise line, the itinerary and duration. For example, if I were in New York and I had some time and I was limited to just a couple of days to depart, I could select New York and when searching my options I can quickly eliminate what isn’t any good for me. I may have only a week to play with, soon as I see cruises that are more than 7 nights you keep scrolling to the next and so on. I could have someone call me and say they only have a short window and will only sail from Southampton. I can see every cruise going during that time and if it doesn’t show up here then it simply isn’t sailing. Again, narrows the search down very quickly.

You may want to go to a certain destination and not sure what cruises go there. This could be a sentimental reason or just somewhere you fancy going, even just for the day on a cruise. Using this site allows you to select that port of call to be included in an itinerary and in the month you’d like to travel and it will show you all cruises that stop there and where they’re departing from. This is really good, it helps you to quickly learn which ships are going there and where they depart from so to plan your trip with flights or an extended stay will become so much easier. I’d recommend you all have a look. It’s excellent and i’m sure you’ll be as impressed with it as I am.

www.cruisetimetables.com