Significance

• Traveling by cruise ship used to be just for the rich and famous. However, with the large number of cruise ship lines in existence today, there are many options for even the budget-conscious traveler. These cruise ships can give frugal vacationers the chance to experience activities and see sites that were not possible in the past on a tight budget.
  
  

Types

• Types of cruise ships range from the variety of destinations to the style of the individual cruise lines. There are cruise ship itineraries that can last for weeks or even a month visiting a large number of exotic locations. There are also shorter cruise ship trips that only go to one or two locations, or even some that have no destination and instead just spend several days at sea before returning to port. Cruise lines vary from the upper-end Norwegian Cruise Ships and Celebrity Cruise Ships to the more casual and family oriented Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise Ships.
  
  

Features

• Cruise ships are no longer just a method to get from one place to another. Instead they are a form of entertainment in themselves. There are trivia contests on the ships, wine tastings, cooking classes, aerobic classes and gambling on the cruise ships. There are also athletic contests such as volleyball, pool volleyball, basketball, ring toss and water polo, just to name a few. Cruise ships have entertainment itineraries they hand out each night for these activities the next day, and for other forms of entertainment including Las Vegas style shows, comedy shows and late-night buffets.
  
  

Considerations

• Decide on the type of vacation you want to take before booking a cruise ship. Cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean and Disney tend to be geared toward families and offer more casual environments. Other cruise lines such as Celebrity and Norwegian aim more for a guest that enjoys fine dining, dressing up in the evenings in formal or semi-formal attire, and in not looking for the bar scene as a form of entertainment.
  
  

Warning

• Be selective about booking your offshore excursions. Cruise ships tend to overcharge for these excursions by anywhere from two to three times what you can book them for by contacting tour companies in the ports that you visit on your own. Researching these tour companies at Cruisecritic.com is essential, though, because there are many that try to take advantage of tourists. Researching these at Cruisecritic.com can help you save money and choose the most appealing options for your and your friends.