The cruise you take depends on your vacation style and preference.
To figure out what kind of cruise to take, you should know the main types of cruise. There are three main types: a touring cruise, a weekend cruise, and a repositioning cruise.
Touring Cruise
Touring cruises usually last about a week, and they have a new stop each day plus a day with no stop (a “sea day”). These are the most common, and they are a lot of fun.
These are amazing cruises because you see a lot of variety! You can visit several different places in one week, and you can have many excellent experiences at each place. The cruise line offers a variety of excursions at each stop.
Touring cruises have two types of excursions: sightseeing and adventure. Common sightseeing excursions include a walking tour o
f a city or a bus tour to nature or historic sites. Of course, there will be many selfie-sights:
Adventure excursions typically involve something active, such as zip-lining, snorkeling, hiking, or bicycling. Often they combine hiking or climbing to historic sights:
Weekend Cruise
Weekend cruises, also called “booze cruises,” are popular with the younger crowds. They’re typically open-bar weekend cruises to the Bahamas. The cruises stop for a day or two at the cruise company’s private beach for some more shenanigans. If you just want a weekend of decompression or partying, then it would be a great option. I honestly haven’t been on one of these cruises, but I know they exist and are enjoyed by many.
Repositioning Cruise
Repositioning cruises allow cruise ships to change home ports, such as when the Norwegian Bliss goes from Alaska in the summer to the Caribbean in the winter.
When a ship repositions along land, there are a lot of ports along the way. For instance, when a ship goes from being an Alaskan cruise, based in Seattle, to a Caribbean cruise, based in Miami, it might stop in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Columbia, and Panama.
Repositioning can take place in any area in the world, but cruises that cross the Atlantic are so distinct that they’re specially called transatlantic cruises. A transatlantic cruise might have a port or two on either side of the journey, but they are notable for having about seven sea days. These cruises are all about the ship.
I love cruising on Norwegian because they have a jam-packed itinerary. For me, transatlantic cruises are the best opportunity to experience the ship you’ve paid for instead of spending most of your time on the ship sleeping.
Transatlantic cruises are about the ship and about the party:
