Cruises

If you have never been on a cruise before, you are in for the time of your life. There are cruises going anywhere and everywhere that there is water.

Destinations are as exotic as the Caribbean, Alaska and Europe. No driving. No packing and repacking from place to place. All the food you care to eat. Gambling, dancing and all kinds of night life. And best of all, no phones!

I am told it is a shoppers paradise. I dont know as I could care less about shopping, but dont tell my wife and daughters. There are discounts and items you wouldnt find at home. Something for everyone.

I go for the adventure. Snorkeling, sightseeing and visiting places that I have only dreamed about. It gives real images to my thoughts of how I dare to escape the rat race.

You can plan for many months for such a vacation or you can go at the last minute. Real savings are found in the last minute deals. You should never, ever pay rack prices on a cruise. Those prices are only for the uninitiated.

Once on board, you will have access to 24 hour free food including international cuisine. There are three scheduled meals a day and many opportunities to eat in between. I would recommend everyone go to the scheduled dinner. It usually has a different theme for each night of the cruise. The wait staff is superb, they perform a show (based on the theme) for you and you get to meet people from other parts of the world. Hint: Dress up at night and dont go too casual. That is part of the experience.

When you arent eating, there is lounging by the pool soaking up the sun and the suds. There are movies, shows and activities for all ages. You can visit the spa, exercise, read a book at the library or do anything else you want. It is your free time after all!

Every cruise ship has ports of call where they dock for a period of time. Once at port, you can go ashore and do whatever you like or you can go on any number of planned excursions the ship provides. You can even stay aboard and do nothing, but I suggest you get out and see the world if you have never seen that portion of Gods acre before.

From crystal blue water and their reefs of fish, to historic places to mountains and icebergs, I have seen it all You should too.

2006, All Rights Reserved

From weekend workshops to full-service culinary academies, men and women are drawn to cooking lessons. Now you can incorporate your love for cooking with your dreams of high seas adventure because more and more cruise ships are offering cooking-related events onboard.

Originally attributed to small cruise ships that needed an incentive to gain bookings, cooking cruises have grown over the years and are now found aboard large vessels. One of the most recent announcements is from Holland America. Working in conjunction with Food & Wine magazine, Holland America’s Culinary Arts Center will offer demonstrations and seminars from world-renowned chefs, wine experts, cookbook authors and more.

A fleet-wide enhancement, the Culinary Arts Center will be retrofit onto all 13 existing ships and will also be incorporated into the upcoming 14th ship due to launch in summer 2008. Each Culinary Arts Center will include theater-style seating, state-of-the-art show kitchen, plasma screens that allow every participant to see, a display counter for easy viewing and space for guests to participate in preparing some of the dishes. Upgrades to all Holland Americas ships will be complete by summer 2006 allowing each ship to include Culinary Arts Center activities during each cruise.

One small cruise company offers tours featuring chefs from the world-famous Le Cordon Bleu. As you cruise the Baltic Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea, you can enjoy studying under talented instructors. Other small ships sail to Greece, Turkey and other worldwide destinations offering cooking classes based on each region visited.

Over 60 top chefs are slated to appear during the next 12 months on Holland Americas ships including Nick Stellino, chef and host of Nick Stellino’s Family Kitchen V; Jacques Torres, chocolatier, pastry chef and cookbook author; Aaron Sanchez, chef and owner of Paladar, New York City; Michelle Bernstein, owner and chef of MB restaurant in Cancun; Neal Gallagher, chef of Oceana (and voted Best New Chef of 2003); Charles Dale, founder of Aspen’s Renaissance, Range and Rustique restaurants, and the list goes on.

Food preparation, wine tasting, cooking classes, seminars, book signings, question-and-answer sessions and market tours in port are just a few of the activities passengers on various ships can look forward to.

When booking a cooking cruise, look for themes such as grilling, desserts, healthy entrees, Italian, Mexican, etc. In addition, also ask about group discounts. Holland’s Culinary Group Program offers special fares for groups of 25 or more, a cabin for a guest chef, two one-hour demonstration sessions, a complimentary wine tasting or cocktail party and a color group photo.

Most cooking cruises allow you to eat what has been prepared, so you can literally taste the fruits of your labor. However, samples may not be enough for an entire meal. If the cooking tour you book is aboard a smaller ship rather than a large vessel with onboard restaurants, you might be wise to ask if a meal will be served prior to booking your reservation.

Whether you opt for an intimate-sized ship with only a few hundred passengers and a defined itinerary or a large vessel capable of sailing the world, cooking cruises are fun, entertaining and exciting for every member of the family. Ask your travel agent for the details on cooking cruises available in the destinations you want to sail.

People love to hop on a large boat and cruise to an exotic location (often times more than one exotic location) as their vacation or getaway. This is probably because cruises offer many different opportunities that resorts or hotels do not.

Food is one attractant for people. A cruise offers breakfast, lunch and dinner but they also have midnight buffets, afternoon snack buffets, ice cream bars and 24-hour room service available. Food is basically available round the clock. There are casual and formal meals. Large or private meals. Of course depending on the cruise line you choose will determine the quality of the food. You must keep in mind that many of the cruise ships are feeding approximately 2000 people 10 meals per day!

Other people like the entertainment that is available. Most cruise lines run full scale production shows, have bands play, incorporate other special shows like magic or puppet for the children. The Disney Cruise line offers meals with Disney characters and special entertainment geared directly for the younger crowd. Most cruise ships even have floating casinos. Many adults love this, and use this as their evening entertainment. Many cruise lines are like a floating day camp. There are activities planned throughout the day for all ages. If you choose to participate you can, but if you choose to just lay by the pool and read a book or lounge lazily all day you can. You can be as busy or as inactive as you choose.

Cruises offer one-stop-shopping. A cruise offers variety. You can take one flight and get on one boat yet visit as many as seven different islands or locations. To visit that many islands by plane and then stay in a different hotel at each location would be not only expensive but not much fun. Youd have to pack and unpack several times not to mention wasting a lot of your vacation time traveling. Once you are onboard a cruise ship you leave only to visit the places that you dock at. There is no need to pack and unpack and while traveling to your next destination, there is plenty onboard to keep you busy and entertained.

There is a cruise line out there to fit every need of every individual. Below are some of the things that make each line unique.

Carnival Cruises offers something for everyone and is great for the first time cruiser. There are many different ships available that depart from many different ports around the country. Land and sea prices are available for those who need to fly to a port of departure. Destinations include: the Bahamas, Aruba, St. Thomas, St. John, San Juan Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, the Keys, Cozumel, Hawaii, Alaska, Martinique and Barbados just to name a few.

Celebrity Cruises is a higher end cruise line. They have a sophisticated AquaSpa on board as well as a unique art collection offered on their Galaxy ship. They have received a 5-star rating for their cuisine (not food but cuisine) and include an in-cabin entertainment and information center.

Radisson Seven Seas, Seaborn Cruises and Windstar Cruises offer a little more luxury than even the Celebrity line. The Radisson offers ultimate luxury by sailing smaller ships that have only suites available. They also offer unique destinations such as Tahiti, French Polynesia, Antarctica, the Mediterranean, and Europe. The Windstar ships all have romantic trimasted ships and sail to the Caribbean, The Americas, the Greek Isles and Europe.

No matter what you are wanting to get out of a vacation, whether it be entertainment, relaxation, great food, or variety a cruise offers all of that at a great price. The next time you are planning a vacation, dont overlook that great big boat out in the harbor.