When booking a cruise vacation, there are so many different mainstream and luxury cruise lines to choose from. The possibilities seem endless when trying to narrow down your itinerary search to find the perfect cruise.

It's easy to see how each cruise line has their own unique flair on the cruising experience, which can appeal to certain demographics more than others. Therefore, choosing the cruise line that best aligns with your travel style, preferences, and budget is the one of the most important decision you’ll make while vacation planning.

I recently returned from a 7-night cruise on MSC Seaside, an MSC cruise ship launched in 2018. 

As a budget cruiser, I booked an interior cabin for my sailing, and I was curious to see what a stateroom on this relatively new ship would look like.

The total cost of an inside cabin for two adults, including taxes and fees, was $1518, or just $759 per person. I found this to be a fantastic price for a new cruise ship in the peak summer season, but what made it even better was MSC’s drink package and wifi promo.

With little planning required, cruise line private islands are often favorite ports among cruisers. 

If you are a first-timer visiting one of these islands, it is fair to assume that you have questions about about what’s included and how you should spend your day ashore. Will you, for instance, need to bring a towel from the ship? Can you sit on beach chairs for free? 

Whether you are taking your fifth cruise or first, you want to make sure that you do everything to make your vacation as memorable as possible. 

While there's no denying that cruises are a great bang for your buck with everything that is included in the base fare, there are some add-ons that can make your cruise even more special! 

While there are some high-end experiences, such as booking a suite or chartering a yacht for the day while in port, there are ways to upgrade your cruise for $125 or less! 

While Holland America Line is a well-known mainstream cruise line that sails across the globe, they only operate a fleet of eleven ships, most of which were constructed in the early and mid-2000s. 

The cruise line was founded in 1873 in Rotterdam, Netherlands as a shipping and passenger line. It would not be until 1989 that Holland America Line would be purchased by Carnival Corporation, making it a United States-owned cruise line. 

We share lots of cruise updates and advice here, and this is a weekly roundup of everything you may have missed from this week.

If you are busy but want to keep up with all the helpful cruise advice we share, this is an easy-to-digest look at the recent articles and updates we've shared.

Have you ever considered solo cruising? I had the opportunity to take my first solo cruise on MSC Divina, and the experience surprised me. So what is it like to cruise all by yourself? Fun? Lonely? Scary? Maybe a little bit of everything! 

I have cruised a number of times with my family and traveled a little on my own, but this was a new experience, and I was not sure how I would fare on my own, especially in the bustling port of Nassau. 

Are you someone curious about what it means to cruise in luxury? When it comes to considering or looking into a luxury cruise, the first thing likely to be on your mind is the price. 

Luxury cruise lines do cost more than the average cruise line. But why? What is so special about luxury cruise lines, and do they really offer their guests anything more than what can be found on a mainstream line? 

When it comes to cruising it is very likely that most itineraries will have at least one day exclusively spent at sea. 

For those who are new to cruising, what does this mean? Sea days are an entire day spent sailing, you guessed it, at sea. This means that your cruise ship will not dock at a port, and there will be no shore destinations visited on this particular day.