We are Cruising- Some tips for booking a Sailing Holiday

Australians are hitting the high seas like  never before: the cruise market is rapidly growing world wide, having expanded 35 per cent in the past two years.

It is easy to see why cruising  is popular: it's convenient, often all-inclusive and you wake up to a different view every day-plus the range o activities and ports o call on offer these days is nearly endless.
Some cruisers only offer adventrue sports activities, while other luxury liners have een decked out with the latest high-tech gadgets and incredibly sumptuouse appointments.

And if flat-screen TVs and cinemas aren't enough, many ships offer spa treatments on a par with those at five-star resorts. Other cruise companies are catering to families by offering longer shore excursions. With such mind boggling array of options, choosing the righ cruise can be hard.
Here are some example's to help you decide what type of cruise is the best for you or your family.

We recently decided to look into a Cruise. I found a lot of information about different types of Cruises for all agaes, families, singles, couples.

Cruising for families
If you think cruising is just for couples, you're in for quite a surprise. Royal Caribbean cruises caster to kids of all ages, from bubs to teens, so everyone's sure to have a great time aboard.

The Royal Babies program for little ones aged six to 18 months features interactive activities developed by early childhood experts at Fisher-Price. Hosted by trained youth staff, activities include an introduction to musical instruments and baby gymnastics.
Royal Caribben excels at entertaining the often hard-to-amuse teen set. Some ships have teens-only clubs where teens are free to dance, listen to mjusic and hang out. There's also a surf simulator calle the FlowRider, a rock-climbing competition and a dive-in movie pool party where kids can watch films while having a splash around.

Royal Caribben's new superliner Oasis of the Seas launches in November and will be the world's largest cruise ship. It will haved a dedicated Youth Zone covering an enormous 2669 square metres of space, representing just one of seven "neighbourhoods' on the ship.

Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas will be based in Sydney until April 2009. As well as room for more than 2000 passengers, the ship has a rock climber wall, a casino and two pools amoung other attractions.

Cruising for Couples

European river cruising is more popular than ever. What better way to explore the continent than by sailing serenely along,  with  not traffic in sight?

Luxury outfil Uniworld River Cruises offers intimate cruises for an average of 134 guests per ship. Each bedroom commands a river view, and with a ratio of one crew member to every three guests, you can count on great service. In addition to the superb amenties, free onshore excursions are offered. There's a new Epicurean Adventurer Program
for food and wine connoisseurs on selected itineraries, and for those who want to cruise on land, there are complimentary bicycles available on all the company's ships.

Art aficionardos and wine lovers will be delighted by the Legendary Rhine and Moselle river cruise from Amterdam to Basel. The eight day Enchanting Danube cruise from Budapest to Passau allos you to enjoy the flavours, art and history of the very best that Eastern and Western Europe has to offer.

Cruising for Singles

Sailing solo? Be wary of the single supplement- an additional payment that can cost you as much as a second fare!
There are wahys around this. Companies such as Singles Travel International www.singlestravelintl.com basedm in the Us, can match you with a cabin mate-and guarantee that if they can't find someone for you, they'll pay your single supplement themselves. They also organise singles cruises.
Uniworld River cruising vaivers single supplements on selected cruises.

Learn while you Cruise

Holland America Line offers passengers a diverse menu of "edutainment".

The crews on its liners incljude a party planner who hosts cooking demonstrations and seminars, a travel guide to give lectures on the various destinatons, and even dance directors Cruises of 12 days or more have a book club leader, and there's a "techspert" who teaches passenters about making the most of technology. Topics include getting the best results from your holiday snaps,
arranging a  digital  scrapbook, blogging, greating a slideshow or editing a movie.

Some great links to visit for help are: www.uniworldcruises.com.au  www.royalcaribbean.com.au www.oasisoftheseas.com