Cruises have never been so popular. Last year, more than one million ocean cruises were booked in the UK – a seven per cent increase on 2003 – while in the last 10 years the number of bookings has quadrupled. And it's not just in the UK; worldwide the story is the same, with cruise passenger numbers growing 8.4 per cent to 13.4 million in 2004.
So who are these people, and what are they booking? Well, the statistics tell us that their average age is 54.1 (dropping from 56.5 a decade ago), and not much else. What's certain is that there has been a shift from the traditional image of the cruiser – now you are just as likely to see a family on board as a legion of elderly retired couples (while there are some boats that specialise in the family market, there are others that ban children; see below).
Cruising is a catch-all phrase for holidays on boats, and whereas a few years ago it would have meant a slow crawl around the Caribbean, now the choices are almost endless: you can cover any destination, choose your boat type and even your fellow passengers, stay on rivers, or cruise the oceans. Here is a round-up of cruising options for all ages and preferences.
SAILING FROM HOME PORTS
No matter where you live in the UK there's a home port not far away – there are 42 in total, including Southampton, Falmouth, Newcastle, Oban, Dover, Harwich, Portsmouth, Liverpool and Swansea. Over 30 per cent of UK cruise holidaymakers choose to sail from their nearest home port, and the trend is growing (in 2004 there was a 13 per cent increase in cruise bookings starting and ending in the UK compared with 4 per cent for flycruises).
Southampton
Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
+44 (0)1473 742 424, www.fredolsencruises.co.uk offers 22 nights on the Black Watch, embarking January 5, 2006 from Southampton. The cruise visits Lisbon, Portugal, Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Itajal (Brazil), Montevideo (Uruguay), Buenos Aires and then a flight back to London (Gatwick).
Price From £2,214pp.
Falmouth
Travelscope
0870 380 3333, www.travelscope.co.uk has a 25-day cruise to New York, New England and Canada's Maple Leaf Cruise departing Falmouth, September 10, 2006 (with complimentary coaching pick-up points) on board the MV Athena.
Departing Falmouth then on to St John's (Newfoundland), Nova Scotia – with visits to Sydney, Cape Breton Island and Halifax – Bar Harbor (Maine, New England), Boston, New York (two nights), Ponte Delgada (Azores) then to Falmouth.
Price From £999pp for a four-berth cabin, £1,749pp for a two-berth cabin.
Harwich
Thomson Cruises
0870 550 2555, www.thomsoncruises.com has 14 nights on the Thomson Celebration to the cities of the Baltic, departing August 29, 2005. The itinerary for the trip is Harwich then on to Aarhus (Denmark), Tallinn (Estonia), St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Warnemunde (Germany) then a return via Copenhagen, Gothenburg and back to Harwich.
Price From £962pp.
Oban
Hebridean Cruises
+44 (0)1756 704704,www.hebridean.co.ukhas a nine-night British Explorer cruise on board the Hebridean Princess departing November 3, 2005 from Oban. The cruise takes you to Loch Craignish, Jura, Antrim Coast, Bangor, Strangford Lough, Douglas, Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly, Megavissey, Cornwall, Plymouth Sound, Dartmoor, Portsmouth, Thames to Tower Bridge, with disembarkation in London.
Price From £2,270pp.
FLYCRUISES
Ninety per cent of all cruises booked in the UK in 2004 were flycruises and the reasons are obvious. You can escape a chilly winter in the UK, the holiday starts as soon as you arrive and every stop will be in a place you are unlikely to have visited.
In 2004 there was a 69 per cent increase in UK passengers taking Alaska cruises following an increase in the number of ships in the region. Caribbean flycruise bookings rose 25 per cent and was partly due to the introduction of the UK product Ocean Village's winter programme in the region.
Mediterranean
Island Cruises
08707 500414,www.islandcruises.comoffers a seven-night Mediterranean Discovery cruise on board Island Escape, departing April 11, 2006. Ports of call include Palma (Majorca), Olbia (Sardinia), Civitavecchia for Rome, La Spezia, Nice and Sète.
Price From £729pp (including flights).
Caribbean
Ocean Village
0845 358 5000,www.oceanvillageholidays.co.ukoffers a seven-night Coral and Coconuts cruise departing December 6, 2005. Fly from the UK to Bridgetown, Barbados with day two at sea, visiting Tortola, St Maarten, St Kitts, St. Lucia, Mayreau, Barbados.
Price From £849pp (including flights).
Alaska
Princess Cruises
0845 3555 800,www.princesscruises.co.ukhas a Splendour of the Glaciers nine-night cruise on board the Sun Princess, departing September 16, 2005. Fly UK to Seattle and then call at Ketchikan, Tracy Ann, Juneau, Skagway, US, Victoria, Canada, back to Seattle.
Price From £1,301pp (including flights).
Asia
Star Cruises
+44 (0)20 7591 8225,www.starcruises.comhas a 12-night holiday: one night's hotel accommodation in Singapore (room only), a seven-night cruise aboard the SuperStar Gemini calling at Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Krabi, Phuket (an overnight stay) and Penang and two nights' hotel accommodation in Singapore (room only) after the cruise.
Price From £1,199pp (including flights).
LUXURY CRUISES
Generally defined as 100-1,000 passengers (ie relatively small numbers), a crew to passenger ratio of at least 1:2, per passenger space of at least 40sqm and a cruise cost averaging at least £350 per day. Those offering luxury cruises include Crystal Cruises, Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, Grand Hotel Voyages and Peter Deilmann Ocean Cruises.
SeaDream 0800 783 1373,www.seadreamyachtclub.com has a six-night trip embarking November 21, 2005. It takes you to St John's (Antigua), Gustavia (St Barthelemy), Iles des Saintes (Guadeloupe), Castries (St Lucia), Mayreau (Grenadines), Bequia (Grenadines), and Bridgetown (Barbados).
Price From £1,447pp.
Crystal Cruises + 44 (0)207 7287 9040www.crystalcruises.comoffers a 12-night Venetian Romance cruise on board Crystal Serenity departing September 20, 2005,
visiting Venice (Italy) (overnight), Split (Croatia), Valletta (Malta), Barcelona (Spain), Monte Carlo (Monaco) (overnight), Civitavecchia (Italy), and Athens (Greece).
Price From £2,466 pp (including flights).
Captain's Choice +44 (0)20 8879 7705,www.captainschoice.co.ukhas a 17-night Exotic Eastern Mediterranean trip July 7–23, 2005 and September 15–October 1, 2006 on board the Silversea ship Silver Wind. Depart Rome, then visit Lipari (Italy), Valletta (Malta), Tripoli (Libya), Benghazi (Libya), Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt, Beirut, Lebanon, Tartous, Syria, Rhodes, Greece, Kusadasi (Ephesus) Turkey, and Istanbul. Based on per person twin share in Vista Suite from London in the UK.
Price From £5,770pp (including flights).
Bora Bora Cruises +44 (0)20 7960 0500,www.boraboracruises.comhas an Island & Sea Package (Motu Miti) taking in four of the most spectacular islands in Tahiti: Bora Bora (the Romantic Island), Taha'a (the Vanilla Island), Huahine (the Garden of Eden) and Raiatea (the Sacred Island). The package includes six days aboard the luxury yachts of Bora Bora Cruises and three days at Bora Bora Lagoon Resort & Spa, meals and airport transfers to Bora Bora Lagoon Resort. The cruise includes a motu picnic, river kayak and snorkelling excursions, an open-air beach movie night, a champagne lagoon breakfast, sunset trekking and visits to a botanical garden and a traditional pearl farm. Three nights at the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort & Spa includes a sunset champagne cocktail, one candlelit dinner on your private terrace or beach, a daily couples massage in the Maru Spa plus unlimited snorkelling, kayaking, windsurfing and use of tennis courts.
Price From £3,378pp/£3,669pp (Garden bungalow/overwater bungalow). Flights are not included. Fly with either Air Tahiti Nui or Air New Zealand to Papeete and get an internal flight to Bora Bora where the package starts and finishes.
CHILD-FRIENDLY CRUISES
Cruises can be very child-friendly with crèches and supervised children's clubs. Cruises give families the option of spending time together whilst pursuing individual on-board interests.
P&O's 0845 355 5333,www.pocruises.comhas a 14-night Azores and Canaries cruise on board Aurora on August 21. It takes you from Southampton, Ponta Delgada (Azores), Horta (Azores), Madeira, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Praia de Rocha (Portugal), Lisbon, Viga (Spain), Southampton.
Price From £1,519pp.
Disney Line Cruises +1 800 951 3532,www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.comhas a seven-night Western Caribbean Cruise on board Disney Magic, departing October 22, 2005 based on a family of four (two children under 10 years of age). It sails from Port Canaveral, Key-West, Grand Canyon, Cozumel, Castaway Cay, Port Canaveral.
Price From £2,264.
NO CHILDREN ALLOWED
If you prefer to cruise without children, P&O's Arcadia and Artemis are both "adults-only" ships. Arcadia is geared toward a younger crowd and Artemis an older clientele.
Arcadia features fashion, interior design, cuisine and wellbeing, with Artemis concentrating on antiques, classical music, history and archaeology. In addition, Arcadia has an Asian fusion restaurant created by the celebrity chef Gary Rhodes and an Oriental themed "chill out" area for yoga and t'ai chi sessions.
P&O 0845 355 5333,www.pocruises.comhas a 12-night Mediterranean (West) cruise on board Artemis, departing August 24. It takes you from Southampton to Vigo (Spain), Lisbon, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Tenerife, Madeira, back to Southampton.
Price From £1,199pp.
RIVER CRUISES
The best way to approach a city is by river – after all, it's the reason so many historic cities are in that location in the first place. River cruising became more popular last year (with a 23 per cent increase in bookings) following several years of difficulties faced by the river cruise sector, due to water levels in Europe and geopolitical problems causing a decline in Nile cruises.
River cruises outside Europe grew by a third with considerable growth in China. The trend in Europe was the growth in cruises on less well-known rivers such as the Elbe. Trips on Dutch and Portuguese rivers grew by 250 per cent. They can be ideal for those who prefer to travel in small numbers as they make more stops and you have more time ashore to sightsee. Unlike ocean cruises they travel by day and moor up at night.
Travelscope 0870 380 3333,www.travelscope.co.ukoffers a six-day Romantic Rhine and Moselle cruise on board the MS Fortuna departing May–October. It takes you from Dover/Folkstone to Boppard, Rudesheim, Winningen, Cochem, Koblenz, Dover/Folkstone.
Price From £299pp.
Peter Deilmann River Cruises + 44 (0)20 7436 2931,www.peter-deilmann-rivercruises.co.ukhas a seven-night cruise along the Danube on the MV Mozart . The cruises depart every Sunday from March to October. The itinerary starts from Passau and the circular trip takes in stops at Durnstein, Vienna, Esztergom, Budapest, Bratislava, Melk and Grein.
Price From £1,000 for an inside cabin, £1,200 for an outside cabin (with window).
SPECIALIST CRUISES
Specialist cruise ships are aimed at those who are seeking an experience beyond a floating holiday resort. They do this by focusing on the destination rather than the cruise ship. The Passenger Shipping Association (PSA) has launched a Specialist Collection made up of seven small ocean and river ship cruise operators. The members of the Specialist Collection are:
Voyages of Discovery +44 (0)1444 462150,www.voyagesofdiscovery.com
Swan Hellenic 0845 3555 111,www.swanhellenic.com
St. Helena +44 (0)207 575 6480,www.rms-st-helena.com
Orient Lines 0845 658 8090,www.orientlines.co.uk
Orient Express +44 (0)207 805 5100,www.orientexpress.co.uk
Norwegian Coastal Voyage +44 (0)208 846 2666,www.norwegiancoastalvoyage.com
Celebrity Xpedition +1 316 554 5961,www.celebrityexpedition.com
A SPECIALIST CRUISE...
Noble Caledonia +44 (0)207 752 000,www.noble-caledonia.co.ukhas an 11-night "Exploring the Galapagos" cruise on board the Lobo del Mar (16 passengers), departing October 1. The first leg is a flight from London Heathrow to Quito, with the cruise visiting Baltra, Bartolome Island, Rabida Island, Santa Cruz Island, Floreana Island, Espanola Island, Sante Fe and Santa Cruz, before returning to Quito and a homeward flight to London Heathrow (via Madrid).
Price £2,195pp.
For more information on cruising, visitwww.discovercruises.co.uk
