…-Night Canada, Greenland & Iceland (21 June – 4 July 2026) This is my next cruise adventure. You can get bonus on-cruise updates by becoming a Tips For Travellers Patron on Patreon, and see daily update short video “stories” on my Instagram and Tips For Travellers Facebook Page. Tips for Travellers – Cruises To Date 131: Cunard Queen Mary 2 7-Night Transatlantic (Southampton to New York) (10 – 17 June 2026) 130: Windstar Wind Surf 8-Nights Classic…
…a number of these but the one that I like and has worked for me best is on CruiseWatch.com . I input my cruise and cabin grade and they alert me by email every time fares change, which usually do multiple times as cruise line fares change based on demand I’ve put links to the tracking options in the notes of this episode. If fares go down you must act. Contact the line if you booked direct, or get your agent to if you booked that way, and ask for…
…hing from Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Norwegian Cruise Line, Costa, MSC, P&O Cruises, Cunard, Carnival, River Cruises and more. You’re not necessarily going to score big discounts in fares, but onboard credit helps enormously to make your cruise budget go further. Teachers If you’re a teacher or work in a university, you can also get various discounts and extra onboard credit. Again, a bit like with the healthcare servic…
9 Things Smart Cruisers Always / Should Do in The Run Up To Their Cruise I was on a 2-week cruise recently from Valparaiso, Chile to Buenos Aires and I came across many disappointed or frustrated passengers. Everything went great for me – with no unpleasant surprises – because I did the following in the weeks before the cruise, but others weren’t as relaxed as I was and this is why… Smart Cruisers Check #1: The Sights On this cruise, there were i…
…e service a bit off, I did not find it that different to UK lines like P&O Cruises. MSC Cruises Bad: Where the Money Goes I felt I experienced a few areas where the attractive fares meant money was not there to go into some aspects. First of those was entertainment. The shows themselves are poor versus their other mega-ship resort-style competition of Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Line. While those have big production shows or fu…
…di Schreiner, Jimmy Murphy, and Kirstin Karst. They have 24 European river cruise ships at the time of writing, including the unique AmaMagna, which is double the width of regular river cruise ships. They’re in the luxury category, so a bit higher end than Emerald. I think their ships are beautiful inside, and have really good food, with large menu choices, and on most of the ships, there is a second more fine-dining option, called the Chef’s Tabl…
…d from the sea, and can be 1300 metres deep. They are wide enough for huge cruise ships to sail right into them for many miles. Today there still are glaciers inland, which are popular things to visit both by cruise passengers and land based tourists. Norway’s economy, livelihood and culture is most strongly linked to the sea. Right back to the Vikings that sailed out to explore, plunder and gather spoils across Europe, through to the huge Sardine…
…best thing to do is ask your travel agent, or even better, ask fans of the ship. Cruise Critic notice boards are a great way of finding little quirky cabins that people have sussed out. You’ll also find hidden bonus cabins in the same category normally cost the same price but give you so much more. They’re scarce, they’re hard to find, and you need to move quickly. #6: Spa Cabins The next area of cabins that are worth looking at and again are hard…
…courts if the ship has them. How much do I want to spend in addition to my cruise fare? Most cruise lines do not include excursions in the price of the fare. Doing excursions in every port can add quite a bit of cost to your vacation. The price of excursions can easily average $100 per person per port. So of you have 5 ports of call in 7 days that can be as much as $1,000 or more per couple. Some will provide free transfers into the town if the do…
…in Europe, there is no shore side power to plug into. In Europe, the river cruise ships mostly switch their engines off and use electricity when docked. In Egypt the noisy and fume generating petrol engines run 24 hours a day, seven days a week whether they are sailing or not. And because they dock in rows close in front, I discovered that a cabin like mine close to the front is unbelievably noisy from those engines. That’s why the first and last…
…resume in June. Their competition, Seabourn has announced it will restart ship-by-ship between April and June. While Windstar Cruises says that while most ships will resume in March and April, Star Pride will not return until its July voyage to Northern Europe. Why is this happening and what does it mean for us as cruisers? First of all, these lines sail multi-country and exotic cruises, which will be more challenging to resume with the complexit…
