Cruises are a great way to sight see and enjoy traveling. One of the most enjoyable cruises we have

Cruises are a great way to sight see and enjoy traveling. One of the most enjoyable cruises we have been on was for a family reunion. No worries about housekeeping hotels in vancouver canada or fixing hotels in vancouver canada meals, it let us all just relax and visit and enjoy being together.  Most cruise ships offer comfortable staterooms, food, food, and more food, breakfasts, three or four style restaurants for lunch, teas and desserts hotels in vancouver canada and different style restaurants for casual or sit down formal dinners. Exercise hotels in vancouver canada rooms, personal trainers, swimming pools and saunas to get you ready for the next meal. And before the midnight snack, theaters, plays, shows and dancing. When you make your stateroom reservations keep in mind the type of cruise you re going on. It s worth the extra cost for an outside hotels in vancouver canada stateroom with windows and/or hotels in vancouver canada a balcony to be able to have a good view of the Glaciers on an Alaskan cruise but a cruise across hotels in vancouver canada the Atlantic might be more comfortable in a lower deck midship stateroom and a Disney Cruise is all about the entertainment on board the ship.
Tips from the ships crews. When choosing your cabin remember that the ones midship and on lower decks are quieter and less affected by the boat s movement. Most ships let you bring one bottle of wine on board to open and drink in your cabin without a corkage fee. If there are long lines to disembark and re-board at ports enjoy staying on board until the crowds thin down. Maximize stateroom space by bringing incremental sized luggage that fit inside one another for storage. Most ships have self-serve laundries so pack only enough washable clothes for half the voyage. For a break from the crowds stay on board at one or more ports. hotels in vancouver canada And don t forget to bring along some crystallized ginger for sea sickness.
The first day of your cruise hotels in vancouver canada you need to set the tone for the entire trip. You need to get your mind into a complete vacation mode and turn out all other thoughts. So here s some things you should be sure to do the the first day:
Tour the ship – Learn your way around, hotels in vancouver canada especially in relation to your cabins location. If your don t have a view from your cabin, locate one close by. Learn where everything is and make reservations now for the specialty restaurants, after dinner hotels in vancouver canada shows, and the gym. The best times fill up fast. And buy your drink package (If you do plan to buy an alcohol package hotels in vancouver canada or soda card) now on day one in order to get the most for you money.
Skip the buffet - everyone else went straight to the buffet for lunch and you ll have plenty of times for that later. Instead, try the smaller restaurants around the pool area for a hamburger or slice of pizza.
. To help you get started here s how some cruise lines and ships have been rated by passengers. There is a lot of information available hotels in vancouver canada for every ship and cruise line so do your homework, hotels in vancouver canada the effort will pay you back once you re aboard.
Relaxing on deck, on our balconies or in observation lounges hotels in vancouver canada and watching incredible scenery pass right by our noses is a favorite aspect of cruising especially for seniors who aren t as mobile as they once were. Others are still quite active and get off the ship at every opportunity but enjoy the moving panorama between shore experiences, as well. In either case, to satisfy both types of seniors, these scenic itineraries are best when situated close to shore so that the wildlife, edifices and natural beauty can be easily seen and enjoyed. No wonder Alaska, the North Cape and river cruises are such popular scenic itineraries for seniors.
Why: The ships of both lines feature high levels of comfort, service and personal attention. More important, these two lines were the mainstream pioneers of the Alaska market. Their historic hotels in vancouver canada connections give them clout in securing coveted permits hotels in vancouver canada to enter Glacier Bay National Park, and a higher percentage of their sailings include this iconic locale. (There is no such thing as bad scenery in Alaska, but Glacier Bay is the Platinum Standard, and not every cruise goes there.)
Additionally, for those wishing to extend hotels in vancouver canada their cruises with land-based tours, these two lines have an advantage over the competition in that, for the Alaska Railroad segments, they each have their own domed observation cars that are superior to the ones owned by the rail line. (The Alaska Railroad cars have domes that stretch only part of the length of the cars, so only a portion of the passengers can ride in the upper-level observation dome; the cruise line-owned cars have top levels that extend the entire length of the cars so that all passengers can ride up top.)
Why: Homeported hotels in vancouver canada in Honolulu year-round, Norwegian s Pride of America offers ample opportunities for pre- and post-cruise visits to USS Missouri, Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial. Onboard, spend a week sailing America s Archipelago, with overnight calls in Maui and Kauai and a nighttime sail-by of the spectacular lava falls spilling from active volcano Kilahuea. hotels in vancouver canada Freestyle Cruising eliminates the pressure of assigned dining times, seating and tablemates, and lengthy port calls allow seniors to explore at a leisurely pace.
Normandy is Mecca for World War II vets: a place you have to visit at least once in your life. Along the beaches of Normandy, there s an incredible wealth of places to visit: the D-Day Museum, Omaha and Gold Beaches and, above all, the overwhelmingly moving American Military Cemetery hotels in vancouver canada on the bluffs over the landing beaches, with its acres of white marble crosses flanking tranquil reflecting pools and touching, symbolic statuary.
We like this nine-night hotels in vancouver canada Paris roundtrip because of the amount hotels in vancouver canada of time spent in Normandy: two nights in Rouen, separated by a day s stay in the utterly charming harbor town of Honfleur. Uniworld s River Baroness received a major refurb in 2011, and it has an entire deck of French balconied staterooms. Uniworld tops many Best lists for upscale river cruising, as its food and service are excellent, and quality hotels in vancouver canada local entertainers are brought onboard regularly.
Best Cruises for Vietnam Vets:   Asian Cruises Vietnam has become a popular destination with Vietnam vets. Viking s 15-night cruisetour from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) hotels in vancouver canada fits the bill perfectly. It includes visits to the notorious Hanoi Hilton prison, Angkor Wat, Phenom Penh and other important sites in Cambodia on 14 included tours during nine nights spent cruising the Mekong River. The trip also includes a visit to the famous floating markets of the Mekong Delta. The ship, built in 2002, carries hotels in vancouver canada an intimate group of 66 passengers, all in river-view cabins.
We seniors seek more from our days at sea than a comfy chaise and a drink with an umbrella. The reason is simple: nothing makes us feel younger than learning hotels in vancouver canada a new skill, gaining knowledge or even perfecting a dance step. In fact, many scientists believe that the brain is like a muscle, and challenging hotels in vancouver canada it keeps it tuned-up.
Best Premium Cruises for Onboard Enrichment: Princess Cruises (Grand Class) and Celebrity Cruises (Solstice Class)Online Exclusives -  Why Princess: Princess has an established multidiscipline enrichment program, dubbed ScholarShip@Sea, that draws praise for the sheer number of choices offered, averaging 20 courses per sailing, ranging from culinary arts to photography classes. Computer hotels in vancouver canada classes include Photoshop, HTML and Web design, as well as lessons on fine-tuning your digital photography skills. Passengers hotels in vancouver canada can embrace their craftiness with paint-your-own-pottery workshops, where they can paint pre-molded clay blanks, which are subsequently fired in an onboard kiln. Beyond enrichment, other ship highlights include nightly pasta selections at dinner and Movies Under the Stars, hotels in vancouver canada Princess pioneering Jumbotron-sized poolside screens.
Why Celebrity: Celebrity partners hotels in vancouver canada with great movers and shakers in various fields to impart knowledge to the ships passengers. Celebrity has teamed up with Apple to offer a number of onboard courses hotels in vancouver canada in using computers, hotels in vancouver canada iPhones and iPads. Another partnership with Rosetta Stone lets passengers hotels in vancouver canada study foreign hotels in vancouver canada languages during their cruises. Celebrity Solstice and Equinox feature the Hot Glass Experience, a live demonstration of museum-quality glass-blowing by experts from the Corning Glass Museum; demonstrations take place several times daily.
Oenophiles are hardly neglected, with nightly samplings in Galleria Tastings, a dedicated tasting room at sea. The Solstice-class hotels in vancouver canada ships are also known for the Lawn Club, an expanse of real grass on the ships top decks, and for having one of the best selections of alternative hotels in vancouver canada dining we ve experienced.
Why: Crystal is known for managing the seemingly impossible creating in a large ship a quality of service, cuisine and amenities on a level one would expect only from small, boutique-class vessels. For that reason, it attracts numerous affluent senior passengers who dislike dress codes and set dinner seatings but still insist on the very best on their cruises. Catering to this mature crowd, Crystal offers the Creative Learning Institute, with wide-ranging fields of study, from acting workshops and Berlitz hotels in vancouver canada language courses to Yamaha music lessons and a Computer University.
Solo Cruising. Whether by choice or our personal circumstances, we may find ourselves traveling solo. Since the world of cruising is almost entirely geared toward couples, going it alone can be costly, logistically difficult, and, in a world full of pairs, lonely.
Best Mainstream Cruises for Seniors Traveling Solo: Norwegian Cruise Line s Norwegian Epic Why: The biggest hurdle for solo travelers of any age is the dreaded single supplement, and the upcharge can be as high as 100 percent of the regular fare. Since many seniors are living on fixed incomes, avoiding the extra charge is a big plus. Norwegian has come up with a fabulous idea on Norwegian Epic, installing 128 studio cabins, hotels in vancouver canada each accommodating just one passenger and requiring no additional supplemental charge for passage.
Cabins can cost as little as $50 more and as much as several hu