Vacationers these days have a wide variety of travel options to choose from. While planning a holiday, one of the decisions you need to make is whether to take a conventional land holiday, or go on a cruise. With the number of innovative and exciting cruise liners and packages available today, it often makes greater sense to combine a cruise with a land holiday.

A cruise is a truly memorable experience. Nothing conveys the pleasure of a sea voyage more than being on a cruise ship, soaking in the vastness of the ocean and experiencing majestic sunsets. You get a great opportunity to explore some of the finest and most exotic destinations across the world, all in a single cruise package. Depending on your budget and preference, you have many cruising options to choose from, including large cruise ships, smaller vessels or yachts that can take you to remote and rarely visited destinations.

Here are a few important factors that make cruising a perfect holiday option.

Hassle-free Vacationing
Land holidays usually involve moving from one city to another. You end up constantly packing and unpacking as you move from city to city and hotel to hotel. You need to embark and disembark from flights at multiple airports or take trains between cities. You may also end up with different levels of service & food at different locations.

On a cruise vacation, once you have unpacked at the beginning of the cruise, you do not need to do any more packing or unpacking throughout the cruise. Do more and see more, instead of spending your time transporting yourself from one city to another.

All-in-One Package
Cruise packages generally include, or can be customized to give you, a complete set of entertainment, sightseeing and cuisine options. All leading cruise ships offer great experiences onboard including multiple pools, water parks, spas and wellness treatments, shopping centers, gaming, adventure-sports, fine-dining options, amphitheatres, karaoke bars and discotheques.

From lone adventurers and couples on a romantic getaway, to families with kids, cruises liners and packages have something for everyone.
Certain cruise deals may also include flights to and from the starting and destination ports, as well as offshore excursions. All your vacation planning needs are taken care of. All you need to do is sit back and enjoy your holiday.

Unmatched Luxury
Many cruise liners offer luxury packages that include special suites with spectacular views, personalized service, priority luggage transfers, private spas, custom menus and 24 hour butler service. On land holidays, the price you would pay for this kind of a luxury experience would generally be many times the cost of a cruise package with a similar quality of service. 

Different cruise ships provide a varying luxury experiences, such as specialty gourmet cuisine, wine tasting workshops and exquisite lounges.

Shore Excursions
Exploring a destination starting from the shoreline is much more exciting that starting at an airport. Shore excursions usually come at an additional cost, but are a truly exhilarating experience. Aided by professional tour guides, passengers have the opportunity to experience great history, wonderful cuisine and unique local cultures at various ports of call.

Many cruise packages have planned cruise excursions where you are accompanied by guides who are extremely knowledgeable. These planned excursions include transportation to and from the cruise ship, along with privileged access to specific tourist spots.

For the more adventurous traveller, excursions can be unguided as well. However, it is advisable to carry relevant information about the local culture, cuisine and important places to visit, while setting out on an unguided excursion.

Great Value for Money
Cruise packages are designed to give you a fixed itinerary of destinations and ports of call, as well a host of entertainment options on-board, in a single, all-inclusive price. General prices for cruise packages are in the range of $120 to $200 per person, for each night spent on the cruise.

For example, a 6 night cruise may cost anywhere between $700 to $1200, depending upon the cruise liner, choice of stateroom and the itinerary. Considering that the price generally includes meals, accommodation and transportation, the ‘per person, per night’ cost on a cruise often comes out to be equal to or less than a hotel.

For a complete holiday experience that allows you to experience the best of both worlds, you can combine a land holiday with a cruise holiday. This can be done by adding a 3 or 4 night stay at the starting or final port, before or after the cruise. Cruisebay has a range of cruise tours that allow you to experience a combination of a land and cruise holiday. Here are a few Cruise-Tour packages for the festive and winter season:

Author
The author is a travel blogger and writes about popular holiday destinations and cruise packages. In this particular article, he talks about the benefits of choosing a cruise holiday as compared to land holiday. He also covers various cruise options that combine cruises with land holidays.