6 reasons why a cruise is a...

Find out how travel agents can highlight the benefits of a cruise holiday without saying the word ‘cheap’

If there’s one word cruise lines don’t want agents to use when selling their holidays, it’s ‘cheap’. So how do you get around that and sell 'value' instead? We’ve picked eight talking points to get you started.

1. Save cash in expensive destinations

The Norwegian fjords are jaw-dropping, much like the cost of eating out in Norway, where a one-course meal and a beer in a restaurant will cost more than US$45. Cue a cruise with food and often drinks included. Venice is another on the ‘best-on-a-cruise’ list. A week’s room-only in a good hotel on the Grand Canal will cost from around US$2,000, but for just a few hundred pounds more, you can spend seven nights sailing the lagoon on Uniworld River Cruises’ La Venezia itinerary with meals and excursions – including a private after-hours visit to St Mark’s Basilica – included.

Venice

2. Shore excursions

Tours can easily add several hundred pounds to the onboard spend, so it's no wonder many cruisers see great value in having them included. Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Viking and Silversea are among the ocean cruise lines that include tours; head to the rivers and you can add AmaWaterways, Uniworld River Cruises and Viking, again, to the list (although Viking includes only one tour per port and charges for others).

Scenic includes a choice of excursions at each port – even its exclusive Scenic Enrich tours. These might be private evening concerts or dinners ashore. That said, some passengers prefer to do their own thing in port, so they see value in not paying for included tours they won’t take. On the rivers, point them towards A-Rosa Cruises or Amadeus River Cruises.

3. Full-board food and drinks

Almost all cruise lines include breakfast, lunch and dinner in the dining room, as well as casual options, such as burgers by the pool and all-day self-service restaurants, which alone puts them way ahead of hotels in the value stakes. Add in all the lines that also include dining in speciality restaurants – Virgin Voyages, Oceania Cruises and many more – and the value is phenomenal. Add to that the all-inclusive drinks packages and the savings for those who enjoy a tipple soon add up.

food

4. Free kids' clubs

Lots of resort hotels bill themselves as family-friendly but then charge for kids’ clubs, bike hire, babysitting and more. It’s little wonder that families are turning to cruise lines’ well-equipped resort ships that press all the right fun buttons for children without charging a penny extra. Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International are leading family favourites, with kids’ clubs offering supervised games and activities for children aged three to 12, and discos and parties for tweens and 13 to 17-year-olds.

Disney Cruise Line adds in free soft-drinks stations by the pool, character meet-and-greet sessions and pirate parties. River cruise line A-Rosa targets the family market with a kids’ club on board A-Rosa Sena, and free cruises for children aged 15 and under on its other vessels.

5. Entertainment and enrichment

Customers are unlikely to book a cruise just for the entertainment, but it all adds to the value. Royal Caribbean International has made its name staging well-known musicals (among the most spectacular is The Wizard of Oz on board Icon of the Seas) that rival anything playing in London’s West End or on New York's Broadway. But whereas a land-based show could set you back US$250-plus for tickets, transport and a night in a hotel, shows on ships are free.

1706895400_IOTS-RR2195 The Wizard of Oz on Icon of the Seas

6. Activities on cruise ships

It’s not just kids who can have hours of fun for free on cruises. The big resort ships are packed with activities for mums and dads, too. Sail on Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras, Celebration or Jubilee and you can ride Bolt, a rollercoaster that reaches speeds of up to 40mph, dropping and twisting as it goes. MSC Cruises’ MSC World America, which launches in April, will have a 90-degree drop slide that promises to take passengers’ breath away. NCL’s Norwegian Prima and Norwegian Viva offer drop slides, go-karts and escape rooms (the last two cost $15 extra, but given escape rooms in cities cost about US$30 per person, it’s still great value). Hotly anticipated Norwegian Aqua will feature an Aqua Slidecoaster – a rollercoaster waterslide – when it enters service in 2025.

8 Carnival - Bolt Carnival's Bolt