Combining a cruise with a land stay offers the best of all worlds. Not only do you get a good-value holiday at sea but also time to explore in and around your departure port.
The options for cruise-and-stay holidays arc endless. You could have a few nights in popular cities such as Barcelona, New York or Hong Kong at the start or end of a holiday at sea, or add a week in the Caribbean to a voyage around the West Indies.
You can tack a week at the theme parks of Florida to a Caribbean cruise departing from Port Canaveral, or tour India’s Golden Triangle before joining a cruise from Mumbai.
The days on land will open up a new range of sights and experiences. If you’ve never cruised, and arc still not sure whether it’s right for you, it’s a perfect way to hedge your bets as you get to try a holiday at sea without spending your time aboard a ship. And of course, it is a perfect compromise for families or couples who can’t agree whether to cruise or stay.
The easiest cruise-and-stay destinations arc those that arc close to popular embarkation and disembarkation ports and have a good range of hotels, varied local attractions and comprehensive air links.
There are plenty of cruise-and-stay hot spots around the Mediterranean to consider. Barcelona, Venice, Athens and Istanbul are all popular departure ports, and all offer plenty to keep you enthralled during a few days ashore. Rome is another op choice. Its fabulous sights and shopping can be paired with one of the many cruises starting and ending in the port of Civitavecchia, just two hours outside the city.
In the Caribbean, consider a cruise from Barbados with a few nights on land. If you’re feeling flush, Port Ferdinand is a new resort-cum-residential property that has set new standards of luxury on the island. With more companies basing ships in Cuba (think MSC Cruises, Celestyal Cruises and Variety Cruises) a cruise coupled with a few nights in Havana is a perfect break.
In the Far East, cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok are exciting and exotic, and full of attractions and major cruise hubs to boot.
Several cruise lines feature hotels on their websites and in brochures, making it easy to slot on a few nights to cruise bookings, but shop around because a few also include a city stay with the cruise. Regent Seven Seas Cruises includes one night in a hotel before each of its voyages; Voyages to Antiquity usually includes a couple of days at the cities either end of its cruise itineraries.
Thomson Cruises has a huge range of cruise-and-stay holidays built around its departure ports in the Caribbean and Mediterranean and, new from autumn 2016, in Dubai.
You could also consider linking a cruise with one of the world’s many iconic train journeys, for instance riding the Trans Andean railway through Ecuador before joining a cruise around the Galapagos Islands or sailing across the Atlantic to New York before jumping on a train to San Francisco.
One of the most popular options is to package a ride through the Canadian Rockies on the Rocky Mountaineer to a cruise i n Alaska. If time is on your side, choose a one-way cruise to the 49th state and stay a few nights in Alaska itself.
You can enjoy a night travelling through Europe on the Venice Simplon Orient-Express to join a cruise from Venice, twin a ride on the Bergen Line with a voyage around the Norwegian fjords or combine a picturesque rail journey through the Scottish Highlands with a cruise to the Western Isles.