by beth king

Created on: October 03, 2009

Our vacations are important to us, we invest our hard earned money and time to insure they are everything we dream of, or as close as our budget will allow. Cruising is a great choice for a vacation but with a few tips and advance planning, you can turn your cruise vacation from a great trip to an over the top vacation of your dreams.

The first thing you should do is talk to your spouse, friend, family or whomever you are traveling with. Take out of the equation the amount of money you have to spend and brainstorm about the things you would like to do.

Think about everything, come up with a list of things that you want to do, see and experience. By forgetting or not factoring in the money aspect, you are free to really narrow down what will make you happy.

Some things to think about and list could be:

1: Do you mind flying to the departure port or would you prefer to drive?

2: How long would you like to be away for?

3: Do you want something that will allow you to be active and busy?

4: Do you want warm, tropical weather?

5: What time of year would you like to travel?

6: Are you interested in seeing as many places as possible?

7: Is food, the quality and amount important to you?

8: Will you spend a good amount of time in your room?

9: Are you traveling with different age groups and need varied activities?

10: Do you want something more luxury with a butler, preferred status?

Next, think about past vacation, list some of the things you liked and disliked and add those to your list. From this point you will narrow down enough information to guide you to the right cruise. Working with a travel agent is usually best. Since each cruise has it's own personality and advantages and disadvantages, working with someone that is in the know can be crucial in finding the right ship. Be careful about reviews you may read online, far too often these are biased and subjective and therefore may be inaccurate.

Once you have your list and know what you want, prioritize. Come up with a budget now. I know the painful part but be realistic, and honest. Your budget may not allow you to have everything you want but if you can have the most important aspects you are more likely to have that great vacation.

Now that you have your list and budget, go over everything with the travel agent. Let he or she work on finding your best matches, maybe giving you two or three choices at the most. Too many becomes overwhelming, remember, it's a vacation not a research paper and planning

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