Of course some other people did book the flight and the hotel room separately but it was normally cheaper to do it all together.

This never used to happen when the vacation was a cruise. It was generally listed as the departure port being Barcelona, in the case of a lot of Western Mediterranean cruises and it was up to you to arrange separately to get there.

In order that you know whether the package deal you find is good or bad, you will need to do some investigating.

• Firstly look at the cruise line deals and note down the cost of the whole thing as a package.
• Secondly surf the internet or look through the cruise brochures to find the same accommodation on the same ship for the same week. The prices do vary from month to month and week to week.
• Thirdly go to an airline comparison web site and find out what the cheapest flights you can get are. Remember that they have to be one that allows you the time to get from the airport to the cruise departure terminal to catch the liner and the same on the return journey.

Simply add the prices from steps two and three together and see whether it is cheaper than step one.
You may think though that, if there is very little difference in the price, you might go with the package as it only requires the completion of one application form, one credit card entry etc. It will be less easy for you to make a mistake and will also save you some time.

It is up to you whether you take advantage of a fly cruise package.

A cruise ship is basically one which provides a journey for pleasure. It is a whole experience where the on-board daily activities and the evening dining and entertainment form a major part of the pleasure.

Their focus is to depart from a port, travel around a specified region, as in Western Mediterranean cruises, and then return to that same port for disembarkation. The bit in the middle is what people go on them for.

Traditionally liners have served a different purpose in that the people traveling on them were using them to get from one place to another. An example being the ocean liners that transported passengers between London and New York.

These transoceanic liners had to be constructed to a much higher specification. The Atlantic ocean can get very choppy so they needed a lot of protection from the rough seas. They needed more fuel and had to carry sufficient food and drink for the whole journey whereas the cruise ships can collect fuel and supplies from any port that they stop at.

They also tended to be very lavish as the only people who could travel on them were wealthy and expected luxury.
By their nature they had an extremely high fuel consumption, they had a much deeper draught and their decks were more about withstanding the weather conditions than lying around sunbathing. These points meant that they were limited in which ports they could enter so were not suitable for something like an island hopping Caribbean cruise.

The cruise ships of today have to be built with tourists who like lying in the sun and want to be entertained at any other time. Consequently, most do not normally cross oceans and their main journeys are in tranquil seas where there is a lot of sunshine.

It is true to say that there has been a blurring in the terminology but the construction restrictions still do apply. There are still some vessels that can adapt to both sets of conditions. These are the ones we sail on when doing a world cruise perhaps which will also take a lot longer to return back to the port of origin than a normal cruise.

MS Mona Lisa and MS Marco Polo are two examples of oceans liners that have adapted. Whereas there used to be a few, the Queen Mary 2, operated by Cunard, is only liner now dedicated to the transatlantic trip. Most passengers nowadays, use it as a vacation trip though rather than a way of getting from one place to another.

In the recent past few years cruising has become a more and more lucrative industry with several new ships being built annually to satisfy the demand. We have moved a long way from the way it used to be but I hope that the differences between cruise liners and cruise ships will be remembered for ever.

At present there are seven great ships which operate in this area. They are all 21st century boats as they have all been either built or refurbished recently.

They are:

Independence Of The Seas.

This is the largest of the liners and has a capacity for 3634 passengers when she is full. It is also the most modern having only started doing voyages in 2008. There are all the facilities that you could wish for on a luxury liner spread over fourteen decks.
It always sets sail from Southampton in England U.K. This would make it easy for you to arrange a visit to London as a part of your vacation either before of after your cruise.Apart from its flagship 18 day Western Mediterranean cruise, she also has trips to the Canary Islands and around the U.K.

Adventure Of The Seas.

Built in 2001 and modernized in 2004, this is still a modern cruise ship and offers one of the highest area to passenger ratios in the market. It is based in Malaga in Spain and either sails from there or Barcelona.
She specialises in the shorter cruises of between 4 nights and 7 nights which means that, if you are one of the 3114 travellers, you would be able to combine your cruise and continue your vascations with the opportunity to fit in some sunbathing on the sun soaked Mediterranean beaches as well. This would make up an excellent two week vacation.

Brilliance Of The Seas.

If you take a luxury cruise on the Brilliance Of The Seas which holds 2501 guests, your departure port will be Barcelona in Spain. Most of its trips are of 12 days duration. This is because they are almost all Eastern Mediterranean cruises.
A number of them include in their itinerary a Royal Caribbean Mediterranean cruise around the Greek Isles such as Corfu and you will get a chance to see Venice, Athens and Alexandria in Egypt.

Navigator Of The Seas.

Another of the larger liners, she boasts 15 decks on which are included unusual activities such as a basketball court and an ice rink. There is 1 member of staff for around every 2 1/2 passengers so you the 3114 guests all receive excellent service.
This is your opportunity to visit the Vatican City as a part of your holiday as you will be boarding the boat at Civitavecchia which is the port which serves Rome in Italy. It has cruises around both the Eastern and Western part of the Med.

Voyager Of The Seas.

This is another of RCI ( Royal Caribbean International ) Lines Voyager class of ship and also has the capacity to carry 3114 people. The voyages will commence from either Barcelona or from Venice in Italy.
As you probably know, Venice is one of the oldest trading ports in the Mediterranean and is built entirely on the water. It is unlike any of the other places I have ever visited. Make sure that after your week long cruise you take in some of the sights, and smells, of that wonderful city.

Vision Of The Seas.

This is the first of the smaller class ships in the RCI fleet with a maximum of 765 guests per journey. Nevertheless it still has some exciting facilities such as a rock climbing wall.
It is not in the Mediterranean all that often as its base is in Northern Europe. When it does it specialises in The Holy Land cruises out of Istanbul in Turkey or from Venice.
Splendour Of The Seas.
This is the most compact of the range but still has plenty of space for its 720 passengers. You will embark at Venice or Civitavecchia for a twelve night journey around on an Eastern Mediterranean cruise.

Well whatever ship name you choose, we are sure that you will find some good cruise deals and have a wonderful vacation when you travel on a Royal Caribbean Mediterranean Cruise.

Here are four ideas that I came across.

Get a group together.

I found out that, often, if you could get a group of friends together and organize a cruise for them all, then you could get a complimentary ticket. Typically for every fifteen people booked there would be one cruise for free.

Perhaps you belong to a local gardening club, sports club or bridge club. They may want take a cruising vacation but do not feel capable of organizing it themselves. Get fourteen couples together and you and your spouse get to travel for nothing. Of course you will have a lot of work to do and collecting and dealing with them all will be time consuming but it will be worth it.

If you do not think that you have enough friends you can do it on a semi professional level. Set yourself up as a tour leader and advertise yourself to the social clubs in your local community or wherever you choose. Offer to arrange holiday cruises for them.

Get some work on cruise liners.

Admittedly this is a little bit like normal working but it will give you the opportunity to travel for free and you will get some time off to enjoy the places that you visit. In the winter you can be cruising in sunny places. Imagine being in the sunshine all year around.

All your food and accommodation are included obviously and you do not even have to pay the fare or struggle through the traffic jams to get to work every morning. You can be in the office from your bed in a couple of minutes on these free cruises.

Use your talents

Are you good at anything? Maybe you consider yourself to be good at public speaking. The cruise companies are always on the lookout for people to do presentations to the passengers. They have to fill up the time and keep them entertained. There are also always requirements for staff to help with the daily sports and other activities on board.

Maybe you are an entertainer. Apply to the cruise lines and find out whether they can use what you are good at. There is a great need for singers, dancers, comedians, magicians etc to provide the evening entertainment after dinner.

As a general rule there are many more women who go on cruises than men. If you are male and are a competent dancer you could cruise as a dance partner and you will have plenty of dancing every evening. Ladies love to dance after dinner.

Win a cruise.

While you are considering and applying for all the above you can enter the various competitions that appear in the newspapers and other media with a cruise as the prize for the winner. More recently the internet has a lot of this type of offer but, although there will be a winner, it is often an opportunity to get your email address for spam purposes so beware.

Off-line competitions will give you a better opportunity. You will be surprised how few entries the organizers get for some of them.

Some of these ideas will enable you to cruise for free all through the year whilst others will give you the chance of just one cruise. You know which you want so go down the relevant route and good luck in searching for your free cruise.

Of course they do not only travel on Western Mediterranean cruises in Europe, you can join them in most parts of the world. They are probably most popular around the Caribbean.

They sound like a good idea when sitting in your home watching television but do they offer good value for the customer.

Firstly, a celebrity cruise is offered by a number of the major cruise line companies so you know that you will not be totally throwing your money away.

You will know which film star, TV personality, musician, sports person or whatever will be on board in advance. This means that a lot of the travellers will have the same idol as you so you will meet a number of people with whom you have something in common.

Let us have a look at some of the reasons that the celebrity is there:-

1. They might be getting paid by the celebrity cruise lines to join the trip so, although it will not really affect you, you need to be comfortable with it.

2. They might be promoting an upcoming event such as the release of their new movie.

If that is the case you may get an advantage and be able to see clips before the general public get access. This could make you feel that it is worth it in itself. You may even get to shake hands get an autograph or even sit at the same table in the dining room.

3. Charity is another reason.

If you support the same good cause, you will get a benefit in two ways as you will help make other people aware of its importance.

4. Will the star be aboard for the whole of the cruise is something you might want to know. These individuals tend to have very busy diaries and may only be able to schedule in a day or two when they are available.

I suppose that the longer they are there, the better value you would consider it to be.

5. Check out how many other passengers are on the cruise because of the celebrity. If the whole ship is a celebrity cruise and the personality is only on the liner for a short time, there is less chance that you can get to talk with them.

You may be infatuated with the person but will your spouse or the rest of the family be equally so? It would be selfish to plan your annual holiday in this way if they do not feel the same.

You will be spending more money than for a normal cruise so you must feel that being out on the seas with them is worthwhile.

If you are in any doubt, you can always try out celebrity cruise ships by getting reduced deals with an onboard value booklet.

I certainly felt that way as all I ever saw were people drinking and eating non stop for the majority of the day when they were not either lounging around on the sun deck or on some far off tropical beach. It is impossible to say that any of those activities are healthy.

Sitting at the captain’s table for dinner whilst dressed in the best fineries was considered to be the highlight of the trip.

Times have changed however. Today’s all inclusive cruise has taken on a new meaning. If you want to have an active holiday instead of a relaxing one you can do that. Personally I like to mix the two.

There are very large areas designated as gymnasiums, fitness centers and health spas. So is is now absolutely possible to be fitter when you get home than when you first embarked.

If this is the sort of cruise that you would like, check out from the internet or the cruise company what facilities are on each ship. When you get on board look out for the daily schedule of events.
It should be possible to start the day off with a gentle organized walk around the decks, then a morning doing a workout class or working with the most up to date equipment to keep your abs in trim. After lunch there could be a game of table tennis followed by a session in the gym or swimming for a while to wind down.

Better still how about going along to the spa and having a relaxing massage. You will find facilities for your favorite type whether it be a Swedish massage, Reiki or whatever you want.

In addition to the actual activities, there are normally some seminars on all aspects of keeping healthy. Goodness knows how you will ever get time to visit the local places of interest when you stop off at ports on the trip.

I am not suggesting that you do not take advantage of the wonderful food and drink that you will be offered. Of course it is still an attractive part of a cruise. You will just be able to get home feeling that you have not lost out on your normal keep fit schedule that you operate at home.

So, I hope that I have established that a cruise can be good for your health.

If you want to be sure to get on the cruise of your dreams it is best to book early however. There is always a risk that it will not be available if you wait until later.

If you are taking Western Mediterranean cruises or another one a long way from home, you will have to make sure that you can make the journey to the departure port in plenty of time.

So you can see that there are some challenges associated with last minute cruise specials. If you are sensible however and search through all the packages offered by the different cruise lines, you can get real bargains.

Personally, I think that the cruise operators do sometimes save a few places back for the people who are not in a position to book early and need to do it at short notice.

One option is for you to surf to each of the cruise websites and see what they have on offer or you can get a middle man to do the leg work for you. The second of these will mean additional expense for you but they may know if something that will not be more expensive in total.

Many people nowadays do opt to do their searching and booking online. It is a lot easier than going out to all the cruise company offices or even visiting a travel agent. It can be done quickly and easily from the comfort of your own home or from your office.

Before you start looking it is best if you have some idea of when you want to depart and where you would like to go to. Or you can simply look and see what the cheapest deals are.

Once you have found something that you really like, our advice is to book it straight away. These opportunities do get snapped up pretty quickly if they are really good.

To help you in the online process here are five tips:-

– get prepared with all the brochures from the local travel office.

They will provide the background cruise information on the trips normally available, the departure ports, length of the voyage and things like that.

If you do this carefully you will get to know the idiosyncracies of each company and even each ship.

– highlight the places you would like to visit.

the person in the travel agency may be able to help you with this as they may well have been to some of the places themselves.

Better still, ask your friends and relations where they have been and would recommend.

– work out how long you want to take for the vacation.

One thing that you can do is to combine a holiday on the beach with the cruise. A cruise will probably last from 4 to 18 days so you can take one week cruising and the second week sunbathing.

– plan your spending budget.

Calculate how much you have available in total and stick to that figure.

Some cruises come as an all in package whilst on others you may have to pay for things on board and excursions when you stop at the various ports.

Check out which type your cruise is and allocate the money accordingly. Don’t overstretch your ability though. You don’t want to spend the whole cruise worrying about how much you are spending. You want it to be relaxing.

When you have all this information either go online or contact the travel agent. Let them know all the details of what you intend to do.

So, I suppose that the final line is “Be prepared”. As long as you are, you will be able to choose from loads of last minute cruise deals.