U.K. cruises
Cruises to or from the United Kingdom
If it's one of the seven deadly sins—gluttony (booze; food), greed (gambling), sloth (spas), extravagance (shore excursions)—it's how a cruise lines makes all its profit
Book your own cruise excursions for up to 40% less than the cruise ships charge
Cruise discounters links
- Cruisedirect.com - One of the top cruise discounters in the business, consistently underselling the higher rack rates you'll see posted on the web sites of the cruise companies themselves. CruiseDirect.com even has a last-minute page with discounts on soon-to-leave ships.Partner
- Cruisecompete.com - You know the commercials for LendingTree.com? That whole "When banks compete, you win..." spiel? Well this the same thing for cruises. You put in the date and destination and ship (any or all of those), and it sends your cruise request to a whole bunch of cruise brokers and discounters. Each of them then contacts you with a quote on how little they can do that cruise for you. Basically, it does the shopping around for you, pretty cool, huh?Partner
- Vacationstogo.com
- icruise.com
- Cruises.com
- Priceline.com - The famous discounter of hotels rooms also does cruises.Partner
- Cruise411.com
- Whitetravel.com
U.K. & adventure cruises links
- Gadventures.com - G Adventures is always good for a sailing trip along the Scottish islands (often accompanied by a trip up the Norwegian coast).Partner
- Expeditions.com - National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions are not cheap, but certainly top quality—especially since Lindblad teamed up with the venerable National Geographic to co-brand their adventurous cruises around the British Isles (plus Antarctica, the Galapagos, Alaska, Svalbard, the Amazon, Egypt, West Africa, Panama and Costa Rica, Papua New Guinea, the Mekong, the Pacific Northwest, Baja, Greek Islands, the Baltic, New Zealand, and a few other less exotic destinations).
- Travltips.com - For a truly offbeat adventure, book a berth on an ocean freighter. Yes, container ships and cargo liners often have quite nice cabins available for paying passengers. They charge about $100 a day, including meals, and voyages tend to be long—most at least a month and change, some two or three months. There won't be a lido deck, or a stand-up comedian in a theater, or that many other passengers (most can accommodate just five to twelve people), but you will get a unique ocean-going experience of long days at sea, BBQs and movie nights with the crew, and a chance to experience the kind of genuine nautical life few cruisers will ever know.
Cruising resources links
- Cruisecritic.com - Independent website devoted to cruising in all its forms, with very active user forums and loads of intel on ships, cruise lines, ports of call, etc. Probably the #1 place to go online for cruise info. Now owned by TripAdvisor—though they apparently know you don't mess with success and their presence is largely unfelt. (Disclosure: Several of the senior editors of this site happen to be friends of mine—though I've been recommending it since long before I met any of them, and before they worked there.)
- Cruisemates.com - Similar to CruiseCritic—though rather smaller—with good message boards and some editorial content as well.
- Singlescruise.com - Books groups of singles (ages 21 on up, but mostly 35–55) onto cruise ships, offering its own onboard program of events and mixers—and, most importantly, matching you with a same-gender cabin mate (of roughly the same age) so you don't have to pay the dreaded "single supplement." Nice Northern Ireland itinerary.
Shore excursions links
- Viator.com - A generalist site for booking day trous and activities, with a special "Shore Excursions" section in many cities. Also good for booking private transfers from ports into major cities. Partner
- City-discovery.com - A generalist site for booking day trous and activities, with a special "Shore Excursions" section in many cities. Also good for booking private transfers from ports into major cities. Partner
- Shoretrips.com - Specialist in shore trip excursions.
