Beat the blues with a luxury cruise

Beat the blues with a luxury cruise

It’s undeniable that in 2010 many of us are having to make adjustments to our lifestyles to deal with the current depressing economic challenges.

Take me, for example. In recent months I’ve had to radically change my shopping profile. Whereas in the past I was a regular Pound Shop customer, these days I’ve noticed I’m buying a lot more stuff from the 99p Shop.

Occasional indulgence

But whatever steps we take to weather the recession, I believe we should always try to make room in our lives for at least one occasional indulgence.

After all, it’s good to have something to look forward to that’s different and special. Something that can lift our spirits and transport us away from our everyday routine. Something like a luxury cruise perhaps.

In his excellent blog on luxury cruising last year my colleague, Monday blogger, Phil Davies, pointed out that these days such holidays don’t have to be expensive. We may be feeling the pinch, but so are many cruise operators at the luxury end of the market.

In a nutshell that means there are bargains to be had.

Luxury label

But what exactly are we getting when we sign up for this kind of holiday? Well there are essentially two types of cruising to which the luxury label can be attached.

Firstly, you can book up a luxury cruise on one of the larger ships. This means you have access to all the extensive features of a major vessel, but you also enjoy more exclusive onboard facilities, including a higher standard of accommodation.

Some of my cruiser friends would argue that this is not genuine luxury cruising, but rather a bit of spin by marketing people. However, I think they are being picky.

Superior facilities

There’s no denying that a spacious and luxurious cabin together with more select dining arrangements and other high-end facilities and services can greatly enhance your whole holiday experience.

Alternatively, you can book a luxury cruise on a smaller ship where the whole vessel is geared to delivering a more sumptuous and opulent lifestyle for holidaymakers.

These ships may lack the breadth of recreational features you typically find on their bigger sisters, but they more than make up for that in quality of service and attention to detail.

Passenger to crew ratios

A critical difference is that on these ships you benefit from a lower passenger to crew ratio. In some cases this could even be as low as one to one.

This translates into a more responsive and personal service for each cruiser. You’ll be made to feel important and special, and treated as an individual, rather than as just another anonymous passenger. At the same time, the standard of cuisine will be a lot higher.

Another advantage can be that because the ships take up less space they tend to be able to enter a wider range of ports and in some cases dock in more favourable locations.

Luxury cruise ships

If you’re interested in luxury cruises and want to learn more, you might want to check out some of these specialist ships to see if they meet your requirements:

Alternatively, if you’d simply like to get a taste of luxury cruising for less than £300 per person, you might consider this two night Western European cruise on Queen Mary 2.

Bruce Beckett

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Posted in Advice

03 Mar 2010

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