The holiday cruise is practically an archetype when it comes to Brits’ holiday preferences. For many in the UK, there is an unavoidable allure to the open ocean, and to sipping various fruity cocktails in the middle of it. Indeed, even in our remaindered post-pandemic travelling state, well over 1.5 million of us were happily cruise-bound in 2022.
There have been many shifts in trend within the world of cruises, but easily one of the biggest shifts noted with regard to cruise trends has been that of cruise length. The extent of this new trend was laid bare with the recent Life at Sea scandal, wherein many adventurous travellers were left stranded after a three-year cruise was cancelled last-minute. Shocking and amusing as the tale is, does it speak to a wider trend?
Shifts in Cruise Trends
Indeed, it does seem that travellers are eschewing shorter bouts in favour of a much longer, curated experience aboard a cruise vessel. This is a trend corroborated both by Oceania president Frank A Del Rio and the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) – the latter of which reported that 43% of cruise travellers were expecting to book longer cruise trips.
The emergence of this trend is no surprise, as regular society has been pulling no punches with regard to stress and hardship. There has never been a bigger appetite for escapism, and there are few holidays which can take you further from normality than a cruise adventure. But what is it that makes a cruise, exactly?
What Makes a Cruise?
A cruise is an extremely unique form of holiday adventure, given its strange combination of globe-trotting sightsee-ism and all-inclusive resort bask-ism; the ship is a home from home, with practically every modern convenience and amenity, while shore stops enable unique opportunities to breeze through some of the world’s most famous coastal destinations.
The longer-term cruise, then, is an exercise in holiday maximalism. It affords all the luxuries of the above, but spread luxuriantly across a month or multi-month odyssey – some of which stretch all the way around the world. Who wouldn’t want to enjoy such excesses?
Planning Your Own Adventure
Of course, the logistics of enjoying such a long cruise are not easy for many to manage. This is why most cruise holidays tend to be the haunt of the retiree, flush with time and expendable income to make the most of their newfound freedom.
Longer cruises are expensive, though, and above most retirement planning budgets. As a retiree yourself, you might use equity release as an easy means of releasing a lump sum expressly for covering your cruise tickets. Of course, you’ll want to insure those tickets, if only to avoid the financial disaster awaiting many in the aftermath of the Life at Sea scandal.
Every cruise ship has its own infirmary, so health concerns are a relative trifle; still, you might want to make sure you have your own stock of essential and prescribed medicines, saving you some potential mad dashes through coastal towns in search of your specific medicine!
