You can be bored, bored or you can plan a cruise to Bora Bora. When it comes to the best winter itineraries, the next generation in cruises offers excursions to exotic locales, specialty trips, and adrenaline-pumping outings. Sure, you can still do shuffleboard or jacket-only dinners, but today's luxury cruises offer so much more than tour bus outings and straw-hat markets.
Whether it's whale watching from the deck of a National Geographic Cruise ship or visiting the remote island chains of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, and Fiji, the cruise industry is becoming more niche orientated and geared to individual passions and hobbies, says Peter Frank, editor in chief of Concierge.com. "As people have less time to spend on vacation, they want to satisfy specific interests," he says. "They want to get as much into two weeks as they can."
Theresa J. Wilson, a marketing director at NutriFit in Los Angeles, says that she and her husband just returned from a mid-December cruise to the South Pacific on the Regent Seven Seas. The ship, Paul Gauguin, departed from Tahiti with stops in Bora Bora and Moorea. "Absolutely all food and alcohol were included, with every cocktail imaginable and bottles of wine delivered promptly to your room; water skiing, kayaking, and diving were offered from the marina at the back of the boat; and a library was stocked with books, games, and DVDs. Nothing was too much trouble-it was amazing," says Wilson.
Cruise West's Alaska itineraries feature on-board narratives and lectures about nature and the environment; Crystal Cruises has a 12- day sailing from Athens into the Black Sea and on to Ukraine, Romania, and Russia, ending in Istanbul. Holland America sails around the entire coast of Africa and around South America, and guests on Princess Cruises can extend their stay and catch a train to a private lodge in the Denali wilderness. And if music is your thing, the Rhythm and Blues Cruises feature autograph signings, instrumental workshops, and industry panels for musician networking.
Diana Rohini Lavigne, a writer in the California Bay area, says her recent cruise to Antarctica on the Antarctic Dream was the luxury cruise of a lifetime, with cocktail receptions, gourmet cuisine, and talks by world-famous experts. "On our cruise, we were able to share a meal with the expert and talk about the migration of birds from Antarctica. The ship was small enough that it was able to get into wonderful and less explored nooks."
The key to choosing a cruise, says Frank, is to understand what your lifestyle and interests are. "If you have young kids, you don't want to end up on a cruise line that doesn't have a lot of programs for children, and if you're on your honeymoon, you probably don't want to be on a booze cruise. There's a cruise out there for everyone."
