You might have been knocking around the thought of taking a cruise vacation for a number of years and finally you have come to the point where you need to take care of booking the trip. However, before you take that step, you should be aware of the numerous options in available cruises, so that you can make an informed decision.

Many decisions, both large and small will need to be made, including deciding about the kind of ship, the type of cabin, the duration of the voyage and ultimately, how it all works into your travel budget. The major cruise lines visit about 1,800 different ports that span the globe, and not all of these ports will be places that you’ll be interested in visiting.

Because there are so many destinations, the first thing to do is decide which ones hold the most interest. For instance, you can focus on Caribbean or Mexican cruises if you are looking for warmth and sunshine, or you can go for the scenery and whale watching possibilities of an Alaskan or Antarctic cruise or even a cruise around the Canary Islands.

Once you have narrowed down the general area that you want to cruise to, then you can more easily make your final decision. The cruise lines have a wide variety of offers for different lengths of cruises. You can get away for a long weekend for a 3- or 4-day voyage, for a week, or choose an itinerary of ten days that usually encompasses two weekends. Read more »