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Cruise Travel
Do you love
cruising or have dreamed about taking a cruise? We have found some great sites on cruising whether your first time
or you are an experienced
cruiser.
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Jump down to our
Know Before You Board chart.
No parachute required! |
Here are some recommended
cruise guidebooks and sites that have a lot of good information on cruising
and links to the major cruise lines. In addition, all Internet travel agencies
and portals have Cruise Travel sections or directories.
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On This Page |
Some General Information Some good general
information on cruising and for fun - links to ship webcams.
Amazon.com We have direct links to cruise book
series, regions and videos.
Know Before You Go - tips on staying healthy and trip
insurance.
Cruise Guides Search the web or pick one out at
Amazon.com.
Cruise Advice Some good websites that offer cruise
advice.
Cruise Sites A good alphabetical list and links
to websites that have comprehensive coverage of cruise lines
and individual cruise ships. |
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On Our website |
Cruise Travel
Where you are now.
River Cruises We have
a nice list and links to famous river cruises in the world.
Lake Cruises We list
and link to many of the famous lake cruises in the world.
Canal Boats and Barges
We cover canal boat cruises in Europe and North America and
barge cruising in Europe.
Antarctic Cruises
We have a good list and links to ships that sail to
Antarctica, as well as, other information.
Sailing Ships
We are talking real ships with sails like in the Pirates of
the Caribbean minus the pirates and cannons.
Cruise Consolidators If you don't book a cruise
directly with a cruise line, you are probably using a cruise
consolidator. We explain what they are and how they can save
you a lot of money. |
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General |
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Some General Information |
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Categories |
In the beginning, there were three broad cruise categories:
mass-market,
premium and
luxury cruises.
Now they have created a new category between
premium and luxury called
deluxe.
Deluxe is one step down from
luxury. (A
luxury cruise is
informally defined as a cruise of elitist travelers who, for example,
like to dress formally when dining.) Whereas,
deluxe cruises are being marketed as a
more informal, sophisticated experience without the tuxedo. |
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Wikipedia |
Cruise Ship Basic background. They also have
separate articles on:
List of Cruise Lines A comprehensive, alphabetical list and links to
specific cruise lines.
List of Cruise Ships A comprehensive, alphabetical list and links to
individual cruise ships. |
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Wikitravel |
Cruise Ships Basic information about taking a cruise. |
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Webcams |
Ah, the view from the
bridge. Some cruise lines have a webcam on the bridge and
other areas of the ship even when they are underway. (If the webcam
picture is black, it may be that it is night time where they are
at.) Thanks
Webcam Galore for this excellent list and links to
cruise ship webcams.
Check out
Costa Cruise Line. They not only have a map showing where
all their cruise ships are in the world in real-time but when you
click on a ship, they show you a map of its route, as well as, a
webcam view from on board. |
First-time
Cruisers |
Cruise experts
recommend that first-time cruisers use a local travel agent who has been on cruises recently. Ask about their preferred suppliers. You'll probably get a
better deal on those lines. Comparison shop on and off the web, then ask your local travel
agent if they can match the price. Also ask if they will pass on any additional savings
from late specials even if you have already paid for the cruise. Some will and some will
not.
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Fodor's |
Fodor's has an excellent "Planning
To Cruise" Section with plenty of tips and links. |
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About: cruises |
About.com has an excellent cruise planning section. |
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Forbes Traveler |
Ports To Avoid in High Season.
Excellent article that you can also view as a
slideshow. |
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Cruise books |
Buy a good cruise guidebook that offers unbiased opinions. Know when to book: Either 4 to 6 months in advance for advance
purchase savings or 1 month ahead to find a last-minute discount because they haven't
filled up the ship. Hey, this sounds a lot like booking a flight! |
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Know |
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Know Before You Board |
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What you should know about the Norovirus, staying healthy and
trip insurance. |
- Norovirus is a highly
contagious gastrointestinal illness whose symptoms are
vomiting and diarrhea. It strikes 23 million Americans
each year with outbreaks at public places like schools,
hotels, and nursing homes, as well as cruise ships.
- It is spread through
contaminated food and by poor hygiene. From the time you
are exposed to the time you show symptoms is about a day
and a half and you will be contagious for at least
another 3 days. There is no preventative medicine
for it.
- If a person who is
sick doesn't wash their hands and touches something,
like an elevator button or door handle or railing, and
you touch the same surface and then happen to put your
fingers to your mouth, you are likely to get it also.
- To prevent a passenger
bringing norovirus on board a ship, some cruise lines,
such as Holland America ask passengers before they board
if they have been sick. If so, they are interviewed by
the ship/s medical staff and if they believe you may
have norovirus you may be denied boarding.
Unfortunately, they do not ask you these questions
before you get the the ship, so you can see a doctor who
could ask you the pertinent questions. Holland-America
turns away about half a dozen passengers a month that
are suspected of having norovirus or some other
contagious disease. See
CDC facts About Noroviruses on Cruise Ships.
- Trip Insurance.
Your trip insurance may not cover your expenses for
being denied boarding due to being suspected of having
norovirus. Ask and get something in writing as to
whether or not being denied boarding due to suspected
norovirus is covered by trip interruption or other
provisions of the policy. If it is, make sure you
have this in writing including words such as "covers
denied boarding due to suspected norovirus disease."
If the policy does not cover it, see if you can find
another insurer that does cover that.
- How To protect
Yourself. Thoroughly wash your hands with soap
and water as often as possible. Soap and water is better
than alcohol-based gel hand sanitizers but take some of
them along too. Also take along anti-diarrhea
medicine like Imodium AD, Lopex, Dimor, and Pepto
(generic
Loperamide).
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Cruise_Guides |
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Cruise Guides |
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To
Search the Web for an online Cruise Guide or guidebooks - Enter a region, ocean or specific destination +
Cruise guides
(e.g.,
Caribbean Cruise Guides)
or type in your favorite cruise guidebook series (e.g., Fodor's cruise
guides) and the region (Caribbean). It helps if you put this year or the
previous year in. Otherwise, you will get hits for their
guidebooks that are 3 or 4 year old as well as recent editions. |
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See our
Amazon.com Guidebook section above to go directly to a cruise
guidebook series and their cruise book category or go to your favorite
online travel book store. We list many of them on our
Travel Books topic page. |
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Cruise Advice |
About.com-Cruise Guide.
About.Com's Cruise Guide has excellent categories and links.
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Cruise
Mates. A great cruise site
covering all the information that a new or veteran passenger needs to
know.
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Cruise Critic.com.
Anne Campbell and her staff have put together an excellent website
covering cruise lines. A good
place to find the latest cruise information and critiques and tips. You
can also book with them.
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CruiseOpinion.com.
The most comprehensive Cruise Opinions website on the Internet. Organized
by cruise line and ship. Passenger feedback from thousands of
cruises.
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CruiseDiva.com.
An excellent, comprehensive site that also includes detailed information
about things to do before the cruise.
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Epinions.com. This is their page of reader reviews of cruise
websites and cruise lines.
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Cruise_Sites |
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Cruise Sites |
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Small Ship
Cruises.
This
is the most comprehensive small ship cruise site on the web.
It has excellent detailed information about small ship
cruises worldwide. |
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Expedia Cruises
They are an excellent place to find out
about cruises and to book a cruise. They also have a very extensive cruise review
section. |
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VacationsToGo.
America's clearinghouse for discount cruises. One of the top visited
travel websites.
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Captain Cook's Cruise Center Library
(Note: This link will take you to their front page. Click on the image to
go to their log-in page. You must register with them. Registration is
free.) This is Captain Cook's Cruise Centers' Links of general Interest to those taking cruises.
It is one of the best pages you'll find on cruise travel. For example, you can jump over
to any cruise line's web site or check the sanitation ratings of ships. It has many useful
links to cruise-related information.
They also have a list of all the ship companies they
represent which are almost all of the well-known ones. This includes major and smaller
cruise lines, specialty cruises, river lines (ferries and river boats), freighters and
yacht charters.
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CLIA This is the Cruise Lines
International Association site. From here, they have great links not
only to the cruise lines that are
members of the association, but also to other sites related to cruising
including tourism sites at ports of embarkation and debarkation.
Click on Plan Your Cruise and once on that page,
click on Cruise Expert Locator to search for a travel agent that
has completed CLIA training in your area.
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Cruise2.com
The largest cruise portal on the Internet. They are a
"not-for-profit" organization that has a wealth of information
on cruises.
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iCruise.com An
excellent site and cruise portal. They specialize in budget cruise
lines. Their
Cruise Ship Information sections to get a detailed profile
of any ship.
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CruisesOnly
They say they are the world's largest cruise agency. They have a
nice, clean, easy-to-use website.
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Expedia Cruises
They are an excellent place to find out
about cruises and to book a cruise. They also have a very extensive cruise review
section that presents comments from passengers organized by cruise
ship. |
Get Cruising! This is also a good site to
check out cruises. It has just what you expect at a supersite: a cruise selector, ship
profiles, a cruise bookstore, over 500 links, and tips for getting the best deal.
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OceanCruises.com
A beautiful website with comprehensive coverage of all cruises
worldwide.
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Travelocity
- Cruise Section A well done section that includes tips on
everything you need to know to plan your cruise, best cruise
recommendations for all sorts of interests, and a First Time Cruiser's
Guide.
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CruisePage.com.
This travel agency has one of the most
comprehensive cruise line lists on the web. They have great cruise deals. Keep up with
late-breaking cruise happenings by reading their Cruise News and check out their ship
profiles.
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Windjammer
Barefoot Cruises. Caution. As of
October 2007, this popular sailing company was having financial
difficulties and news reports indicate that it might have to seek
bankruptcy protection. It has cancelled some cruises.
For the latest information, go to the CruiseMates Forum's
Windjammer
topic. They are a family-owned company and it is
too bad this has happened. We wish them well.
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