I'm Gary Bembridge, this is another of my cruising tips of travellers. I want to talk
about the five cruise lines that I think are perfect if you are over 40, over 45, a
baby boomers - someone like me - and you're looking for the very best of
cruise lines. As you start to think about going cruising, whether that's quite soon
2020 / 2021 / 2022 or whatever, these are the five that I think you should really
focus on, starting with this one. Cunard is definitely one of the cruise
lines that you should consider. This is a very old traditional cruise line based
out of the UK. It has a very long heritage, it's been going for 180 years.
It really had its heyday, and was very renowned in the glamorous days of the
transatlantic service in the 40s and 50s. It has a lot of history to it, and it's
definitely one to consider. It's one of the big romantic cruise lines, it is
part of the bigger Carnival Cruise Corporation, and it's one of their
flagship brands within that portfolio. Cunard has three key ships, at the time
recording, and one on order that's due to come into service in 2022. They have the
flagship which is the Queen Mary 2, which is the only true ocean liner that exists
in the world. They have the Queen Elizabeth and they have the Queen
Victoria and, as I mentioned, one more to come.
What's really interesting about Cunard is, unlike any other cruise line, they still
hark back to a very traditional way of cruising, and so they have three classes
of travel: Britannia, Princess Grill and Queens Grill. Based on the grade of
cabin you choose to cruise, so Britannia, Princess Grill, Queens grill,
you're then allocated to that specific restaurant. All the restaurants are
slightly different, so Britannia for example has fixed seating twice a day,
then Princess grill and Queens Grill you have your own table, but it's open seated
dining. Cunard are really known for the transatlantic, they're the only
cruise company in the world that runs a regular transatlantic service, which runs
through the summer. They're also really well known for world cruises, all three
of their ships head out on world voyages every single year. They're renowned, of
course, for a very traditional way of cruising with the three kind of grades,
they're also renowned for having a very strict dress code - so even on informal
nights it's jacket and without a tie, but on they have a lot of formal nights
with our tuxedos or dark suits. So very glamorous and one of the strictest in
terms of dress code. Why should you choose Cunard? Well if you're looking for
a very traditional British type of experience, you want to
go with one of the most famous long-established cruise lines, Cunard
definitely one to consider. Also if you want to do the transatlantic, that is
probably one of the iconic cruises that everybody should do once in a life, and
doing that on the Queen Mary - is quite remarkable. It is traditional, it's a
formal experience and it is definitely one of the iconic cruise lines.
So that's why I think you should consider Cunard as a cruise line to go
with. The second cruise liner I think travelers over 40 should consider is
Holland America. Holland America is also a cruise line that has a very long
established history, and I've been on holiday America many times and I
really enjoy my time on Holland America. They were based originally out of Rotterdam,
they also were famous for their transatlantic, they have been in business
for over a hundred and fifty years - so very long established. Their cruise ships
a little bit like Cunard, tend to hark back to them slightly more traditional
type of decor. They do offer a very traditional cruising experience, but unlike
Cunard without all the formality and stuffiness. At the time of recording
Holland America has 14 ships, and they have another one on the way,
and these range from smaller ships right through to sort of mid-range ships
around about 2,000 passengers. So big varied fleet. Holland America are best known
for having a traditional cruising experience but less formal than Cunard,
so they're not as strict when it comes to dress codes. They're also really known
for their links to music, they have on board the Music Walk on most their ships,
which includes a partnership with a Lincoln center stage for classical music,
partnering with BB King for BB King's Blues Club (which has blues jazz type
music), they then have Billboard on Board which is linked with the famous music
magazine, and here they have duelling pianos every night doing different sets
and really really popular, and then on some of the newer ships they also have
the Rolling Stone Rock Room. Then they have the World Stage, which is the main
theater which focuses a lot on music and dance. So they're really well known for
their links to music. They're also well known, and becoming much more well known,
for their link to destinations. Destination immersion through what they
call the EXC, their Explorations Central which is a big focused area which
really focuses in depth on excursions and trying to have more innovative
excursions. So why should you consider Holland America as
one of the cruise lines that would be good for you?
Well, they offer a traditional cruising experience, but as I mentioned not as
formal as Cunard - not as regimented and as strict. They have a dress code,
it's not as rigorously enforced. Also if you're a big fan of music, you have all
those music venues. A lot of people go on Holland America are big into music. They
also have quite a big enrichment program, they have lots of cooking
demonstrations, talks, that kind of stuff. So if that's what you're interested in,
and then again of course if you're interested in excursions and
destinations, they do put more and more emphasis on excursions. They have, for
example, partnerships with BBC Planet Earth.
Another great plus of Holland America say versus Cunard is, because they have
so many ships ranging from smaller ships through to the bigger more modern ships,
is they have a huge range of choice of type of ship that you can cruise with,
but also, very importantly, they also have a bigger itinerary with much more varied
itineraries. Pretty much you can go anywhere in the world with Holland
America, and they have ships based in different regions. So if you wanted to
have a much more varied itinerary Holland America is a great one to look at. My
third suggestion of Cruise Line to consider is Celebrity Cruises.
Celebrity Cruises is part of the Royal Caribbean group, so
Royal Caribbean have obviously Royal Caribbean, they have Celebrity, they have
Azamara and they also have Silversea as part of their portfolio. Celebrity is
also, like Cunard and Holland America, sort of a premium Cruise Line. They
are different to those other two cruise lines because they are much more
contemporary. They still offer a pretty traditional cruising experience
and the ships are pretty traditional, and not resort like ships, the program
of events is kind of similar to the other cruise lines, but in terms of decor
and style it is much more modern, much more contemporary. The other two, which
look more nautical like and linked to their roots, when you step on board a
Celebrity ship it's much more modern, feels more like sort of a boutique fancy
hotel kind of look to it. At the time recording, they have 11 classic cruise
ships and they are starting to innovate a lot with the introduction of the Edge class
of ship, which is a much more modern style of ship, which is even more
contemporary than their traditional ships, and they have lots of different
features. For example, they've introduced Infinity cabins, where your balcony is
sort of within your room to make the cabins bigger as you don't have a balcony to
step out on. They also have things like the Magic Carpet down the
side of the ship, which is a moving sort of balcony area which when it's sailing
can be a restaurant, but also goes down to the bottom of the ship at tender ports,
so it's easy to get on and off the ship much quicker. Another key thing that
Celebrity focuses on is they're much more focused on the dining experience
and speciality dining, and they have a lot of specialty dining venues - which
will range from Italian to sushi to seafood to steak houses, so much more
choice. They also have a much more contemporary much more modern style of
entertainment, so it tends to be much more modern music, bigger more
glitzy production show style shows. So why would you choose Celebrity over the
others? Well it's definitely for people who like a traditional cruising
experience, not looking for a big resort type ships with all the things
that that brings, but looking for a traditional kind of cruising experience
but they want it to be more modern, more contemporary and they do want much more
choice of dining venues, so speciality dining venues especially. So if you're
looking for something that's more modern, more contemporary, then definitely
Celebrity would be the reason for choosing that. The fourth Cruise Line to
choose is another favourite of mine, and that's Oceania Cruise Lines. Oceania
is part of the Norwegian Cruise Line group, so Norwegian has Norwegian, they
have Oceania and they have Regent Seven Seas. At the time of recording they have six
ships in total, they have another two on order and these range from quite small
ships, so you have ships like insignia which have about 700 passengers through
to Riviera and Marina which have about 1,250 passengers, so much smaller ships
than the other Cruise Lines. So if you're looking for a smaller ship which is able
to go into different and more unusual ports or you just like
being with less people, then definitely Oceania is one to consider. I really like
the small ship experience,. As it is a smaller experience, Oceania
unlike the other Cruise Lines, don't have as much entertainment, it's much lower
key entertainment, they don't have as much choice of dining venues and, of
course, venues in general. So it's a much more compact, much more intimate
experience. All the ships because there are relatively old a lot of their ships
like a lot of the ships like insignia are
R class ships that are about 20 years old, but Oceania in the
last few years have significantly updated and modernized their ships so
they are looking much more contemporary. So, definitely if you're looking for a
smaller ship experience then consider Oceania, and particularly if you're
interested in the destinations, much less than the onboard entertainment. they are
able to cruise all around the world, so they're pretty interesting and diverse
itineraries. They're much more destination focused, and because they're smaller they
go into lots of ports and places that the other cruise lines can't get into. So
Oceania, it's a great experience if you're looking for a smaller ship
experience but again it's still quite a traditional cruise experience. My fifth
suggestion is, if you're looking for an ultra luxury experience, so you
want to go to more premium which are generally a small ship experience, you want to
go to something that's really top-end the cruise line that I chose for this
one is Seabourn. Seabourn is part of the Carnival Corporation group, it's their
ultra luxury line and the competitors to Seabourn are Silversea, which is another
really great line, and Regent Seven Seas. Seabourn have five classic
cruising ships, doing the normal cruising itineraries, and they have moved into the
expedition cruising with in 2021 2022 - expedition ships coming, so they can do
more of the polar regions for example. Why would you choose Seabourn over the
other lines? Well definitely if you're looking to go for a much more premium,
much more ultra luxury experience then, Seabourn is the great one to consider.
They are much more all-inclusive, so you'll find things like you gratuities,
your drinks, all your dining options are included within and the only extra on
costs you're going to have is Wi-Fi and excursions. On a Seabourn cruise they
have a very high space-to- passenger ratio, being a luxury line they also have a
very high crew-to-passenger ratio, so service is very high. It's not a very
stuffy type of service. It's a more polite efficient kind of service. The
cabins are all on the other newer ships are all balcony cabins, or Suites I
probably should call them, and on the some of the older ships you will have at least all
ocean view, so there's no inside cabins. They all have cabins with a view. They
also have a whole lot of really upmarket partnerships, for example in your cabin
you'll find Molton Brown toiletries, with their own Seabourn fragrance, they have
partnership with Tim Rice in entertainment, they have a partnership
with Thomas Keller in the dining with a speciality restaurant and in the main dining
rooms and even the buffet, they have a partnership with Andrew Weil
who's a wellness expert, they partner with UNESCO for excursions. So they have
lots of premium upmarket partnerships as well, if you are
interested in those kind of top end experiences. Seabourn also tend to have
very exotic itineraries, so they don't often just place themselves in a
particular region of the world, they constant moving their ships around, so if
you're looking for somewhere exotic itineraries, definitely Seabourn
if you're on the more premium end. There's five cruise lines that
I really strongly recommend as being perfect to focus on if you're a forty,
forty five-plus baby boomer type traveller. Of course there's many other
cruise lines to consider, so a lot of you might ask why didn't include Princess in
this? Princess is a great cruise line, I would see it fairly similar to Holland
America and Princess is particularly good one to look at if you are looking
at multi-generational travel because they do have a really good kids program,
so they're very good for multi-generational. Viking Cruise Line is
another one that people are very keen on, that's a very all-inclusive experience.
So there are many many other cruise lines to consider, but those are the five
that I think are really really perfect to really focus on if you're a forty, 45
plus baby boomer traveler. I have loads more tips and advice videos about
cruising so why don't you watch another one of those right now?