Every year, thousands of couples make the decision to get married. If you are planning on becoming one of those individuals, then it is likely that you and your new spouse will plan a honeymoon. When it comes to selecting a honeymoon destination, you have a number of options to choose.
Honeymoons are often thought of as vacations. In a way, the only difference between a family vacation and a honeymoon is romance and the absence of children. Honeymoons are supposed to a fun, exciting, memorable, and provide a lot of private time. Instead of vacationing with the whole family, a honeymoon often only involves the bride and groom.
There are so many different options when it comes to planning your honeymoon. Many newlyweds schedule their honeymoons at popular beaches, ski resorts, or other secluded areas. Today, cruising is also becomming an increasingly poplular choice. It certainly makes a lot of sense.
Possibly one reason a cruise was rarely thought about when selecting a honeymoon destination, is because of their cost is perceived to be very high. Certainly cruise fares appear to be expensive at first look, but this cost should not prevent you from having the perfect honeymoon to go along with the wedding of your dreams. The cost of a cruise begins to look very reasonbable when you consider all that it includes. These floating resorts provide guests with great room accomodations, scores of dining options, entertainment, and visits to many ports for the one fare.
Discount cruise ship tickets are nice, but they are often hard to come by. If you are certain about the honeymoon dates consider booking your cruise well in advance. Many of the popular cruise lines have price guarantee programs where you gain benefit of lower pricing if the cruise fare goes down before your sailing. The down-side of these programs is that there is usually a catch which prohibits cancellation. If you are a very lucky couple maybe the cruise honeymoon will be a gift from one or both sets of parents.
The newlywed couple can determine the amount of private time they want on their cruise. By request they can have a table for two at the main dining room each evening or they can be seated at a larger table to make new acquaintances. They can sleep in late and order room service each morning or they can get up with the sun and hit the gym. When visiting a port they can join a group excursion or venture off on thier own. How about a couples massage in the spa? There are so many options which surely will meet the plans of any honeymoon couple.
Now that you have made the decision so spend your honeymoon aboard a cruise ship, what is next? The first step is to identify the cruise ship itinerary that is the most appealing to you and your soon-to-be spouse. Caribbean, Alaskan, Mediteranean, Baltic or Mexixcan Riviera are all fine destinations, each with distinctly different experiences for enjoyment. There may be multiple itineraries available for each of these cruise destinations so you should take a look at all the port-of-calls available to see which ones are the most interesting. Once you have the itinerary whittled down to one or two, its time to book your cruise.
Consider using a travel agent if you have friends or family who can recommend one that they have a good relationship with and who specializes in cruises. Make an appointment and be very open with the travel agent about what you like about your itineraries and let them do the work for you. If no one can recommend a good cruise speciaist travel agent you may want to consider calling the cruise line directly and speak with their cruise planners. Certainly the cruise line will be trying to sell you their cruise but many of the cruise line agents can answer any questions you could have. If you do not have a highly recommended travel agent, it is better to use the cruise line vacation planners than to use a travel agent who is not very good.
Before booking your cruise, there are other items for consideration. If you are planning your honeymoon cruise during the summer, over Spring Break or during the holiday season, the major U.S. cruise lines likely will have a high number of children on board which should not affect your privacy but be aware that the main pool on sea days could be full of kids. Some ships do have an adult only pool and cruise staff actually enforce it. The cruise fare will also be slightly higher during these peak family vacation months. You may also strongly consider traveling to your cruise port at least one day prior to your cruise date. It would be ashamed to miss your honeymoon cruise becasue of air travel delays.
A honeymoon cruise can be an incredible start to a new life together with your spouse. If you are fortunate enough to "honeycruise" may you have the most enjoyable and memorable vacation of your life.
BON VOYAGE
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