…rth had they done it? It got me thinking about other things I have seen on cruise ships that seem a bit off, or odd, so I went on a mission to find out why. These are things that make no sense on a cruise ship. Size is everything So, why are cruise ship pools, like the one on Scarlett Lady, so small? On every cruise ship I have been on, the pools are small, especially in relation to the number of people on board. When I stay in a Las Vegas resort,…
…en the cruise “bible” has to be the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships by Douglas Ward. It is updated every year and reviews cruise lines and ships and rates them based on his own experience. He spends most of the year at sea. (3) CHOSE YOUR BRAND CAREFULLY There are now so many cruise lines, although in reality most are owned by 2 mega companies (Carnival and Royal Caribbean). Carnival is the largest and owns everything from Cuna…
…espite saying she doesn’t gamble much money. I felt it was time to explore cruise ship casinos and find out why you and I aren’t getting all of this. #1 All Cruise ships have casinos? First off, most ocean cruise ships have casinos. Although, Norwegian’s Pride of America, Viking Ocean Cruise, Disney, and Azamara ships do not. Nor do most expedition ships and river cruises. Those cruise ships that do have them will feature them as a highlight in hi…
…partner with the cruise lines that will deliver any items you need to the cruise ship, and they will be installed in your cabin. So for example, there are companies like specialneedsatsea.com, mobilityatsea.co.uk, and scootaround.com. Cruise lines have different rules around the type of wheelchairs or mobility scooters you can bring on board. However, they won’t provide any services to help you get around. So whilst you’ll often find you might ge…
…d last-minute deals on the older ships as everybody tries to go on the new ship in the cruise line. #7: Local Ports My next tip is also to focus on ports that are drivable from where you are, as getting a flight last minute is often expensive. Flight prices tend to go up the closer it gets to departure. So while you might get a great cruise deal the savings may be negated by the cost of the flight to the port. So I recommend focusing on ports that…
Swan Hellenic Minerva. Cruise ship review, tips and advice Swan Hellenic Minerva This review covers my thoughts, advice and tips for travellers about the Swan Hellenic Cruise Line’s Minerva ship. It is based on visiting the ship, tour it and speaking to people who work for the line and on the ship. You can watch my video tour of the ship at the end of the article. I thought the line would be old-fashioned, behind-the-times and stuffy. I thought t…
…m Southampton to Peterhead in the north east of Scotland. I have conducted cruise ship tours for travel agents as well as members of the public, some of whom had a disability of one kind or another. I have been on a cruise holidays, myself. You may be asking: “What do you know about disability, and how do you know cruise ships are fully accessible to people with disabilities?”. I am a full-time wheelchair user, having had Spina Bifida and Hydrocep…
…led Shore Excursions Group. I like them as I can input my cruise line, the cruise ship and the dates, and that brings up all the tours by port. They only show tours that will work with the times my ship is scheduled to be in port, have that return to ship guarantee, and vet local tour providers constantly. If you look at using them, you can get 5% off every tour using my link TipsForTravellers.com/ShoreExcursions and enter the code “TFT5” at check…
…Cruises launched Spirit of Discovery in July 2019, the first of two sister cruise ships (Spirit of Adventure in 2020). These are the first new-build ships for cruising ever for Saga, which had previously bought and refurbished existing cruise ships. The Spirit of Discovery holds 999 passengers and in my blog and video, I discuss the 8 things that I think are best about the ship, and show and explain why. I also talk about one major watch-out and i…
Most Cruisers Don’t Know These Things About Cruise Ship Crew After doing well over 100 cruises, I thought I knew everything about life on a cruise ship. That was until a dinner hosted by a senior crew member on my last cruise, where they revealed a surprising secret about cruise ship crew that I was totally unaware of! That got me wondering what else I, and other passengers, have no idea about cruise ship crew. After much research and talking to…
…It says (and I quote) the “CDC recommends that all people avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises, worldwide, because the risk of COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high”. The timing is interesting as first of all, there are no options for US citizens to go cruising at the time this announcement was made. Yet they still made it. Remember, there are no cruises operating in or out of USA ports, the option for US residents to cruise in t…
