There are a lot of ways to choose a trip. This is true whether it is a cruise or a road trip. You may want to visit places you’ve never been to before, or choose someplace depending on the time of year. Maybe you choose based on places you’ve been to before and truly enjoyed. Or maybe you’re traveling with others and it’s a joint decision.


Let say you choose a trip based on someplace you’ve never been before. If you’ve never been to Iceland, you may choose a trip that hits 3-4 ports of Iceland. Maybe you would like to leave out of the UK, and be gone 10-14 days. If you search cruises with those parameters you might learn that cruises to Iceland only occur during certain spring and summer months.
Okay, that works with your schedule. So that might be a good choice for a trip.

Cost

  • Next, you may need to consider cost. Depending on how many days you plan to be gone, and what cruise line you choose, the cost will change. Basically the longer the cruise, the most it will cost. So your budget may allow a 10 day cruise, but not a 17 day cruise. Or your budget might be able to handle a 10 cruise, in a balcony room on Hurtigruten, but not afford a 10 cruise in a balcony room on Cunard. So you need to figure out what you can afford, then work within those confines.
  • But before you consider the cruise cost, you may need to consider the entire cost. Will you have to fly to and from your destination? If you choose a cruise to Iceland, that leaves out of London, but you live in New York City you need to fly or get from New York City to London. You need to take that flight cost into account in your budget. And if you have to stay overnight in London before the ship departs, you need to account for the flight, the hotel, meals, and any other incidentals (taxi, airport parking, shuttle cost, etc.). All these costs need to fit into your budget.
  • So your budget needs to include:
    • cruise
    • flight
    • overnight at a hotel
    • meals at hotel
    • incidentals (airport parking, taxi, etc.)
  • Not every cruise may require all of these. I’ve actually departed on a cruise from my home area. That meant all I had to consider was the cruise and the taxi ride to and from the departing pier.
  • And I’ve also had cruises where I’ve flown into the departing port and spent a few days sightseeing before the cruise began.
  • So the cost of a cruise can vary for a variety of reasons. It’s your job to figure out your budget, then figure out what fits within it.