Cruises for Romance


By Judith & Bob Moore
www.ytbtravel.com/affordtravel


When it comes to travel, many people choose a cruises. Dependable Food, Unpack Your Clothes and Ports of Call are some of the advantages. Other's like the excitement of seeing various parts of the world and fly to the nearest airport to pick up a cruise ship that will encompass a part of the world they have always want ed to see.

The prices vary on your accommodations and views, but the food and shipboard activities equate everyone's pocketbook. You can be as alone or as social as you want to be. Your tablemates can be someone who pushes a broom for a living or a wealthy heiress. The activities, shows, gambling, and day excursions all help time slow down to a well remembered adventure. The romantic evenings on the sea provide memories of a very special time together an a few add-on romance packages will provide photos & albums, breakfast in bed, strawberries and champagne delivered to your room or his and her massages. mmmm

With room selection, many people are more comfortable with a window..lucky you if the inner passages and lower decks are a positive. In planning a romantic trip, you do want to consider each ones feelings and opt to create a good environment for both. We know, you are hardly in the rooms, but for some, it matters.

Cruise ships go to a huge number of ports and are as large as air craft carriers with the ultra-delux liners of Silversea, Seabourn, Radisson, SeaDream, and Crystal carrying up to three-thousand. They are heavily staffed to keep things running smoothly to pick up new passengers and go out again immediately. Many of the ultra ships have private restaurants for romantic dinners and wine and food pairing or art auctions to experience. The ship's crew will give your tips on going ashore, shopping, and the best methods to experience the charm, history and knowledge of the area while there.

Honeymoons & Vow-Renewal

Cruises usually leave on a Sunday -so your Saturday wedding gives you the opportunity to get to the ship on time.

If you'd like to have your marriage and honeymoon all in one, you can legally get hitched on many cruiselines, either aboard ship or at one of your ports of call. Couples get married with family and friends on-board for a brief time from the embarkation port. Your guests will need identification to board or leave the ship. A ceremony in the chapel or on deck, plus luncheon, cake and champagne with delight your guests and bring happy memories

Ceremonies for the two of you can also be arranged at various ports of call, including Aruba, Barbados, Grand Cayman, St. Thomas, Saint Marten, San Juan (Puerto Rico), Ocho Rios and Montego Bay (Jamaica), and Cozumel (Mexico) in the Caribbean; Nassau in The Bahamas; Key West, Florida; Bermuda; and Juneau and Ketchikan, Alaska. If you've always wanted to be married on a beach or by a tropical waterfall, this is the way to go. In Alaska, you can even arrange to be married on the ice of Juneau's Mendenhall Glacier courtesy of a helicopter, the company that also handles glacier helicopter tours for the cruise lines. If contemplating marriage in a port of call, remember that your cruise itinerary limits how far you can go, since ships generally stay in port for only 3 to 10 hours.

Wedding packages generally start around $750 for shipboard ceremonies; that price usually includes the services of an officiant (though you can bring your own if you prefer), a bouquet and boutonniere, champagne and keepsake glasses, wedding cake with the little bride and groom on top, and the services of a photographer but not the photos themselves-those will cost extra, should you choose to buy them. The $750 package offered by Carnival-one of the big leaders in shipboard weddings-accommodates eight people including the bride and groom. Prices go up from there based on the complexity and size of any reception you want to have (from a simple open bar and hors d'oeuvres to a formal meal in the ship's restaurant). Prices are also higher for off-ship weddings in port.

Ways to cut costs on cruises are through www.CruiseBrothers.com and www.VacationsToGo.com plus most travel clubs you join will have huge discounts. A travel agent will always know the specials and unique sailings.

Some of the MOST ROMANTIC CRUISES available.

Windstar Cruises: Oh those white sails do it..Pure romance is a day with your loved one in a private cove with Wind Surf or Wind Spirit anchored offshore, bobbing calmly on the waves. With sails furled Windstar offers a truly unique cruise experience, giving passengers the delicious illusion of adventure and the ever-pleasant reality of first-class cuisine, service, and itineraries.

Cunard: Like real royalty, Queen Mary 2 was born with certain duties attendant to its station, and one of the biggest of those duties is to embody the romance of transatlantic travel and bring it into the new century..

Celebrity Cruises: Big, stylish, and glamorous, Celebrity's Millennium- and Century-class ships are romantic like an Art Deco nightclub from the '30s, and the Millennium ship's alternative restaurants will make you feel like you're in the '30s, with their great period detailing.

Sea Cloud Cruises: Really, when it comes right down to it, what setting is more movie-star romantic than a zillionaire's sailing yacht? That's what you get with Sea Cloud I. Star Clippers: With the wind in your hair and sails fluttering overhead, the top decks of the four- and five-masted Royal Clipper and Star Clipper provide a most romantic setting. Below decks, the comfy cabins, lounge, and dining room make these ships the most comfortable adventure on the sea.

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises: They may not be everybody's idea of romantic, but if you and your significant other have always dreamed of chucking it all and taking off on a Harley, these are the ships for you: rum-swigging, T-shirt-wearing, ultra-free, and quirky.