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My 5 Favourite Cruise Itineraries

We have done many cruises in the past few years and we have done many different itineraries, these are my top 5 picks:

1- South East Asia:

We did 19 days from Hong Kong to Singapore, then continued to Malaysia back to Singapore and I have to say this one was my favorite itinerary so far. The port of calls included, other than Hong Kong and Singapore,  Halong Bay, Da Nang and Saigon in Vietnam. Bangkok, Ko Samui, and Phuket in Thailand, Kuala Lumpur and Georgetown in Malaysia. The cruise was fantastic and it gave us the opportunity to explore many destinations in one trip without having to pack and unpack several time!  This is also a great itinerary for someone that has never been to Asia before. The cruise line takes care of all the immigration and paperwork required and you just enjoy the new destinations.

Passengers on board of this particular cruise were very different from what we were used in North America, making it a pleasant surprise. In fact, most passengers were from Asia, South America, and Australia. The food onboard was also Asian influenced. Every night, in the main dining room, a specific food of the country we were in was on the menu. This was an incredibly nice touch from the cruise line. It made us feel we were actually experiencing Asia at its fullest.

2- Panama Canal

We were lucky, living in Vancouver at that time, to be able to board the ship from Vancouver for 21 days all the way to Fort Lauderdale. This was another incredible itinerary. The Canal was the highlight of the cruise but there were many other ports of call that we deeply enjoyed. The itinerary included some great port of calls on the California Coast like San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. I was particularly impressed by the small beach town of Huatulco Mexico and the fantastic Cartagena Columbia. Due to the length of the journey passengers on board this particular cruise was a little older than us.

This is an itinerary that I strongly recommend to any avid cruiser.

3- Mexican Riviera

This itinerary is particularly great for people living on the west coast. It is the perfect winter getaway. The port of calls of Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan are fun and easy to explore. We did this itinerary departing from Los Angels (San Pedro) and from San Francisco. From San Francisco, the cruise is 10 nights long while from Losa Angeles is one week. However once we did the Baja California cruise, from Los Angeles, 10 nights that included the port of La Paz and one of my favourite town in Mexico Loreto. This last itinerary was actually fantastic and I deeply enjoyed it. The passenger onboard is always great and looking to enjoy and have fun. On this itinerary, there are always some fun parties to go to, such as the Love Boat Deck Pary, a personal favorite of mine.

4- Mediterranean Cruise

A Med cruise is a great way to explore many destinations in Europe in a single trip without having to catch many different transportations. I would say that a Med cruise should be in every cruiser bucket list. The beauty of these type of cruises is the fact that is usually sold as 7 nights itinerary from Rome to Athens, or from Athens to Barcelona or from Barcelona to Rome. This way it is possible to combine two or more one week and do a round trip all over the Mediterranean. Great stops include Barcelona, Mallorca, Palermo, Naples, Rome (Civitavecchia), Livorno (for Florence), Athens and the Greek Islands. These crises are very seasonal and they are usually from April to early October. Some Italian cruise lines (Costa Crociere) do Med cruises year-round. We did it in February one week and we were lucky and we found an amazing weather. Calm seas and warm temperatures. We did it again in August and it was spectacular. We had 20 days of sunshine out of 21. The seas were incredibly calm and smooth. The crowd on board in August was in the mid 30 with lots of family and a great number of kids and teenagers. The vibe on board is fun and relaxed. Due to the warm weather and calm seas there were a great number of deck parties that we deeply enjoyed.

We recently completed a 21 days Med cruise and it was a blast. You can read all about it here.

5- Alaska

The Alaska itineraries are an amazing way to explore the wilderness and beauty of the north. We loved the Southbound itinerary from Wittier to Vancouver with the opportunity to see the majestic Hubbard Glacier and the round trip from Vancouver. The port of calls of Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway are rich in Goldrush and pioneer history. I particularly loved going there right at the beginning of the season, early May, when there is still a lot of snow on top of the peaks and the ports are not too crowded with tourists. Glacier Bay National Park is so magnificent that will require its own blog post!

These are my favorite pick I’d love to hear from you.

-Andrea

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