What if you could mix important meetings or your favorite activity, hobby or interests with all of the amenities a cruise vacation has to offer to create a special cruise designed just for you or your group? Well, that’s pretty much the idea behind theme cruises. Theme cruises highlight a specific activity or interest, making it the focal point of an entire cruise itinerary. Themed voyages are perfect for meetings on cruise ships of all kinds.
Offered on vessels of all sizes, theme cruises can be created from just about any activity, interest, group or desire — meaning cruise lines are open to just about any theme as long as it’s not obscene. There are literally hundreds of theme cruises in existence today and many popular theme cruises are offered on a regular basis on most ships. While no reasonable theme is out of the question today, the following list represents only a fraction of the types of theme cruises on the market today.
Meetings/Business Meetings, Art, Epicurean/Food Wine, Broadway/Theater at Sea, Murder Mystery, Solar Eclipse, Holiday, Pearl Harbor, Maya Equinox, Cartoon/Action Figures, Health & Fitness, Gay/Lesbian, Motivational/Self Improvement, Personal Finance, Silver Screen/Hollywood Film Festival, Adventure, Natural History/Ecology, Literary, History/Cultural Heritage, Sports/Olympics, Spiritual/Gospel, Golf, Singles, Latin/Salsa, Couples, Country & Western, Booze Cruises, 50’s Sock Hop, Polka/Square Dancing, Christian, Rhythm & Blues, Big Band/Swing, Classical Music/Opera, Contemporary/Dixieland, Jazz, Gambling, Luxury, Glacier, Bridge Tournaments, Family Reunion, Military, and some of the smaller vessels even offer Nude Cruises.
One of the leaders in theme cruises is Crystal Cruises. Not only does Crystal Cruises offer jazz, golf (excellent for business meetings), film festival, health and food & wine theme cruises, these cruises typically travel to exciting places such as the Caribbean and places like Monte Carlo, London and Aspen. A typical golf theme cruise aboard the Crystal Serenity will sail from Rome to London, a transatlantic jazz cruise is not uncommon or how about a Mediterranean/Black Sea food & wine theme cruise?
Cruise West features a variety of food & wine theme cruises and Clipper Cruise Line highlights educational themes and military theme cruises, to name a few. Carnival Cruise Lines is popular for casino theme cruises and Disney Cruise Lines is popular for film festival theme cruises.
Whether you’re interested in spending days or even weeks at sea surrounded by health & fitness types, film buffs or country & western fans, many cruise lines offer set dates for these types of theme cruises, so feel free to book directly through the cruise lines. If you’re interested in creating your own special theme cruise on your own time, most cruise travel specialists can help you through the planning process. You can locate a cruise travel specialists in your area through the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). Cruise Lines International Association lists reputable agencies and agents in your area and beyond as well as information about specific cruise lines and destinations. You can also book a cruise online through the CLIA website as well.
A great place to start your search for theme cruises is Cruisemates.com. Cruisemates.com features a lengthy list of cruise lines along with each cruise lines’ list of theme cruises, available dates, and destinations, from A-Z.