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The considerations when choosing the ship for you are influenced by your finances, the holiday itinery and your favoured lifestyle.

What you can afford will dictate which ship you will choose, as well as the length of your cruise. If you can only afford a short, 5-7 days cruise for instance, your choice of ships will be limited to companies offering short cruises. Obviously your vacation circumstances will also dictate limitations, as cruise ships have a seasonal itinery throughout the year. If you can only cruise in the autumn, winter and spring months for instance, you're unlikely to be able to cruise to Alaska which has a short high summer season.

Alaska is more expensive, because the number of passengers who can be accomodated in that short season means that places are at a premium. To preserve Alaska's ecological balance, the number of ships is limited too making Alaska an exclusive cruise location. This has a knock on effect on which cruise companies 'do' Alaska. To cruise waters, companies have to pay local authorities, and to keep the area exclusive the port authorities can afford to put a premium on the costs, making Alaskan cruises up market.

If you're fairly free about your destination, when you can travel and how much it will all cost, the next consideration is your lifestyle. If you're twenty five, single and fit, you're not going to choose a cruise ship and itinery that is suited to the retired, unless you prefer maturity in your choice of partners that is. Similarly, if you are retired and want to enjoy a sedate, calm, pleasant atmosphere, you won't be looking at the Disney ship itinery.

Most modern ships cater for everyone, but there are generally a majority of similarly cultured people at the same. In the middle of the summer when a lot of factories and companies are closed and children are off school, the cruise ships itinery will have been carefully planned to meet the demands of the vacationing workforce and families. Cruises will be shorter than in spring, when retired folk can enjoy a longer vacation, and ports of call are likely to be about the fun and shopping than the history of the area.

All these considerations will be somewhere in the brochures. At times the info is subtle, for instance, pictures of families eating, let you know that the cruise is designed to accomodate not only families, but the age group that people with growing children fit into.

A brochure that shows young romantics having fun partying reflects the expected passenger age group and lifestyle and a brochure that shows retired couples gazing wistfully out to see is telling you that the cruise itinery will suit the more mature generation.

The best advice then, when choosing your cruise is to pick up as many brochures as you can from your local travel agent and go through them thoughtfully, finding out about the companies, the ships, their destination and their target market...i.e. the social grouping they are aiming at attracting to sail with them: for instance, a brochure with a strong feature on the gym is trying to attract folk who would consider access to a gym a must have on their holiday.

Choosing a cruise ship to sail on is a major holiday investment as it's likely that you can't afford more than one or two good cruises a year, so choose carefully, it would be a shame to invest in holiday memories of how bored or disappointed you felt.

Learn more about this author, Wendy Bradley.
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