Cruising at sea, calling into a different port every day or two soon becomes a lifestyle you soon get used to, so short cruises can be a little exasperating. A fortnight is all right but a month is much better.

Think of it, a different language and a different culture each day for weeks! The Mediterranean Sea is not considered to be a substantial sea, but it must be the most diverse region in the world, because there are countries like Portugal, Spain and France to the northwest; the Middle East is represented by Turkey and The Lebanon in the northeast; Arabic countries like Egypt and Lybia line the northeastern shoreline of the African Mediterranean and Arabic/Berber countries like Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco bring us back to within miles of Spain on the northwestern African Mediterranean shoreline.

In fact, the Mediterranean Sea covers about 2.5 million square kilometres and has over 120 large seaports around it. The variety of food, culture and language is pretty extraordinary. If you are searching for variety, you will absolutely find it when cruising the Mediterranean Sea.

If you get a kick out of history, then you will not be disappointed by the ruins from the immense Greek, Roman and Egyptian empires that spread around the region prolifically. I should not think that there is a single area without something to remind the population about the power of the Roman army 2,000 years ago.

There are dozens of different Mediterranean cruises available many of them specializing in one specific aspect or region of the Mediterranean. Some go for romantic destinations others specialize in Greek, Roman or Egyptian history.

The last Mediterranean cruise I went on was essentially two cruises back-to-back. I flew into Barcelona from my home town. I did not have to take care of my baggage from my hometown until I saw it on my bunk on the cruise liner. That was a great touch. On the first part of the cruise we steamed east to Sicily and then north along the Italian litoral to the French Riviera and back to Spain.

The second leg went east to Sardinia and then south to Africa and returned along the coast calling into Tunisia and Malta on the way back to Spain. They were two completely different cruises on the same ship and separated just by a week from one another.

The luxury and the dining experience was wonderful and I discovered the saying to be a fact that you can expect to gain about a pound in weight every two days unless you take lots of exercise, so make sure you pack your swimming costume, even if you do choose to leave your exercise gear at home.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on various subjects, but is now concerned with the Bikini Cup D. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Swimwear for Big Busts.

A holiday in Hawaii is considered to be very costly because of the high profile it has in films and TV series like ‘Hawaii 5-0′, but it is possible to find fairly reasonable vacations in Hawaii, if you do a little research. Search the Net for last minute package deals and if that fails, attempt putting together your own vacation from various cut-rate components.

You might be pleasantly surprised how much it costs to have a holiday in Hawaii compared to a comparable one in say, St. Croix, Barbados or even Florida. Look for actual hotels or guest houses in areas that are just outside the tourist traps and you will probably get a better deal. Lots of these hotels have their own website and so offer seasonal or last minute discounts directly to private patrons.

Hawaii is one of the most beautiful regions in the locality and indeed in the world. The coast is famous for its natural beauty – the swimming and diving are renowned, but the hinterland is beautiful as well, if you like walking, riding or driving by jeep. There are spectacular volcanoes, waterfalls and forests.

Hawaii has been turned into a paradise for sports people of all types. There is very little that you could want to do and cannot on Hawaii. There is ample opportunity for most land, sea and air sports ranging from mountaineering, to diving to hang-gliding. You can rent Jeeps, mountain bikes, yachts and even a helicopter.

Most visitors take a vacation in Hawaii for water sports such as swimming, diving, snorkeling, fishing and water skiing, but power boating and yachting or just sailing a dinghy is common enough too.

There are also lots of natural and man-made historical sights to see on all the islands, but the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Big Island is just about the most well-known although most of the smaller island such as Kauai, Lanai, Maui, Molokai and Oahu all have their attractions as well. It is only a case of reading up on Hawaii before you go and trying to select a hotel in a spot that makes your interests easily available.

There are plenty of web sites and books on Hawaii to help you with your research, but you can also travel around with no trouble once you get there, so that you could have a week on one island and a week on another offering different pastimes as a specialty.

This can all be arranged quite easily if you put your tour together yourself, but it might be more awkward if you endeavor to patch two package holidays together. You will not regret your holiday in Hawaii whether you go alone, with the family or as part of a group.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on several topics, but is now involved with the Bikini Cup D. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Swimwear for Big Busts.

If you have never been on a cruise before you really must try it. I would not recommend it as a family vacation, but I have seen families on cruises. Cruising might suit a family with older children or you might find a cruise which is planned with children in mind. However, in my experience, the typical cruiser is over 50 and married.

I know that they do 18-30 cruises and all kinds of themed cruises, but if you just go on a normal cruise, most of your fellow passengers will be older. Many of them are celebrating something too – retirement, Golden Wedding Anniversary, 70th birthday, that sort of thing. These people want a relaxing time and do not really want children running around and jumping in and out of the pool. Dinner can be late and the evening’s entertainment is not child orientated either. If you want to take children, look for a specialty cruise.

A cruise is relaxing and all about pampering. Luxury and pampering and world class food. I put on five pounds on a two week cruise and friends said that was unusually little! I will tell you about the food on my last cruise.

Breakfast lasted from 7 AM to 10 AM and there was a buffet with food from all around the world: fruit, porridge, toast, bacon and eggs, ham, cornflakes and all the variations, sausages, rice, Chinese food, prawns, fish and more. Elevenses started at 11 AM and had tea, coffee, cakes and biscuits, help yourself.

Lunch was a two hour affair commencing at 1PM consisting of four courses. There was a choice of set plans, but if you wanted to mix and match you could – I think the plans were only to make it easier for the elderly to make up their minds. With 1,200 people to give food to in two sittings, the waiters try to speed selection up in very subtle ways, but never outwardly. High tea was from 4 to 4:30PM: tea, coffee, cakes, biscuits and sandwiches.

Dinner was at 6:30PM and was a five course meal in the same vein as lunch and at midnight there was a barbecue on deck until 2AM. Everything that was served was first class and there was no restriction at all on how much you could eat.

Entertainment was after dinner and there were two shows to match the two dinner sittings, but you could sit there for both shows if you liked. There was a different show every night ranging from solo artistes to bands. There were theater plays and musical shows, it was very grand. There was also a piano bar playing jazz and a disco every night

I would recommend a cruise to anyone, but it is a good idea to check what sort of cruise you are booking as some are themed and if you do not like the cruise’s theme, you may not get the full enjoyment out of it.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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