Ease into summer with a relaxing cruise

    To many, a true vacation would entail exotic adventures and sights without the stress of driving and being cramped up in a seat for many hours or dragging large suitcases of luggage. For a relaxing vacation with beautiful views, great food, sunbathing and a great amount of pampering, a cruise may be the answer for you.

    Once just for the rich and famous, the variety of cruise lines building more and more ships have made prices lower. Cruises can now be the ideal vacation for the common student, too.

    After so many years of honing and upgrading, cruise trips now range from two-day trips to over-two-week vacations. Not only are there world-class chefs cooking all-you-can-eat buffet-style meals, there are vegetarian and low-fat entrees for the diet-conscious. Many cruise lines also include mini-golf stations, spas, complimentary massages, musicals, shows, gyms and even ice skating rinks in addition to the usual pools, water slides and arcades.

    Other than the usual cruises in the Caribbean, Hawaii and Mexico, cruise lines now travel to more ports and countries than ever before. The four-star Pacific Princess will be traveling from Osaka, Japan, to Bangkok, Thailand, on a 16-night cruise, passing through 10 ports and seven countries for as low as $1,498 per person. Stops along the way include Miyajima Island off of the coast of Japan with the famous Itsukushima Shinto shrine, the port of Shanghai in China, the archipelago of Okinawa, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore and fishing villages in Malaysia. Through the entire trip, guests on the ship will have access to spas, a fitness center, a cabaret, a casino and an ocean-view stateroom.

    For Mediterranean cruises, Costa Cruise Lines is offering 10-day cruises for $1,524 per person. The cruise begins in Italian town of Savona and passes through Barcelona, Spain, and then to the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. Teeming with gardens and picturesque ocean scenes, the cruise stops at Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Funchal.

    For those looking to travel to the South Pacific, Princess Cruises has cruises based in the French Polynesia. Princess Cruise Line offers a 10-day cruise for only $699 per person to French Polynesia. The cruise can be considered an “island-hopping adventure,” including stops at Bora Bora and the port of Rarotonga. Cruises to Mexico can be found for about $336 at http://cruise.com. This Web site is also an excellent resource to compare and contrast the prices of various cruise companies.

    Good deals on cruises are not difficult to find, just make sure to check all the deals from different companies and sources before booking. Last-minute tickets from cruise lines trying to fill ships can also be hundreds of dollars cheaper than booking months in advance.

    More to Discover
    Donate to The UCSD Guardian
    $200
    $500
    Contributed
    Our Goal

    Your donation will support the student journalists at University of California, San Diego. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment, keep printing our papers, and cover our annual website hosting costs.

    Donate to The UCSD Guardian
    $200
    $500
    Contributed
    Our Goal